Doohicksie

First unit: D+

Skinner gonna skin.

Well Oopie's playing well so far.

Playing too much in our own end. 11 forwards, they'll be switching around.

True but it's still only Vinnie.

Hey now, what do you have against horseradish?

Last night, our tight checking game matched their tight checking game, but their offensive firepower couldn't match ours. Not by a lot, but by enough.

Here's the thing: Minnesota dictated the pace of play last night. The Sabres style is freewheeling; the Wild style is tight checking. The Wild forced the Sabres to play the Minny style and yet the Sabres still got the W. I also think that by beating the Wild at their own game for the first two periods, it loosened things up in the 3rd and the Sabres had more space. This is significant because while the Sabres have a run-and-gun team there are other teams in the league that play a style that smothers that, and last night's game demonstrated that the Sabres can play that kind of game and win. The other significant thing about last night is I think it's the first time this season we got the Devon Levi of last season.

He's like a cross between the best qualities of Vanek and Skinner.

Set up the Live Feed.

He's being asked to be the glue that holds the misfit toys together. Cozens has had the role in the past. I think Krebs has a good mental approach and he will get through the misfit toys phase, but that's as much about his wingers as him I think. It's obvious to all of us that VO needs to go, that KO has lost a step. I think Kevyn would like to move VO but hasn't found the right trade partner yet, and basically gifted a rosters spot to KO in gratitude for the leadership he's provided. I hope that KO requests some maintenance nights eventually and his role gets reduced. Love the guy, but as a player he's not what he once was. Anyway, with more dynamic wingers I think Krebs will be much better. I think his ceiling is bottom 6 C though and we can't expect more than that out of him.

He is how the whole team needs to play come playoff time (assuming that can get there). I feel that he will be one of our top playoff performers; his game is suited to that style of play when there's no room to maneuver.

HE HAD A PARTIALLY DISLOCATED SHOULDER WHEN HE COULDN'T DO A SINGLE PULLUP. Does no one remember that?

I want to agree with this but the wildcard is his agent. Will his agent try to milk every last dollar out of the Sabres and will Casey empower all negotiations to the agent? It could be a different result if so.

It was almost disappointing to see him opposite Quinn who was to my eye so much more ready. Without Quinn it seems like JJP seized the opportunity and took the next step. I'm looking forward to the reunion tour. I like to think it will be Quinn and JJP with Cozens driving them; I think that would break Cozens out of his funk (if he's still in it).

*the asterisk indicates that although it's called beef, it is actually disappointment.

Maybe water?

I'd pay to see that.

I think you rotate sitting all the Dmen not named Power or Dahlin. They're all playing well but using RyJo to let everyone sit every fifth game will keep the corps fresher.

Much better than firing on 0 cylinders.

Against MN, if you clear it you clear it. If you get cute they can steal it away.