Doohickie

...and for good reason.

We coulda had Justin Bailey but the Sharks just signed him. Did he even try?

Yeah, well, have fun with that. On the one hand, it feels like the Sabres "lost a competition" by not signing him; on the other, the record of other players who had the same surgery extending their careers is pretty dismal.

Yessir. https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/buf-vs-nyr/2023/11/27/2023020322

He's played in 4 games: the first was a gem, the rest were stinkers. Small sample size and all that, but I don't see Comrie as the answer to anything. But I think the answer to the goalie situation is to move Levi to the A for development and get what you can out of Comrie.

This is the worry with every goalie. Even established goalies sometimes fall off the table, you never know what you're going to get. I think we all felt the same about Ullmark until we didn't, if you know what I mean. But I also think there's a weird chemistry kind of thing where the team feeds off the goalie's ability to make the big save and his ability to make the big save is boosted by the team's play in front of him. For the Sabres right now, UPL is HIM.

Early in the Rags game there were several defensive lapses leading to prime scoring chances and UPL blocked both the initial shot and the rebound. When a team plays a high pressure game (as the Sabres needed to in order to beat NYR), there will be defensive lapses and a goalie that stands tall definitely inspires confidence. It was a high risk/high reward style the Sabres played last night and they squeaked out a goal in each of the first two periods. There were 3-4 saves UPL made in those periods that you wouldn't fault the goalie for if they went in. The Sabres seemed to improve as the game went on, and in the third period they outshot NYR 17-3 (!) but the first two periods were virtual dead heats, shots-wise, and one could say NYR had the higher danger chances in those first two.

As pointed out in the comments, that's not a very long stretch.

UPL's miracle paddle save has been tweeted by the NHL

While I agree that Cozens is inside his own head, I also can't blame him for passing off to linemates like JJP and Benson. Cozens will be fine and that line will score its share of goals.

I kind of remember Ullmark turning the corner... at first no one hear wanted to believe it but by the time he left he was very impressive. Are we seeing another goalie take that same developmental step?

And it served notice to the Rangers/put them back on their heals a bit.

And not just by a little. LOOK AT THOSE SHOTS The Sabres out shot them 17-3 when the Rags were trying to catch up, and the Sabres had one and a half times the Rangers shot total over the whole game! Holy hell.

While I can't argue the stars, I thought during the first period our best forward was JJP. He opened the scoring and was tilting the ice when he was out there. At least deserves an honorable mention.

MLS? Is that a sport or a disease? Multiple Lateral Sclerosis or something? I kid, I kid.

fify

Someone raided his top shelf.

You forgot out hustled.

JFC you really are from the future aren't you?! I'm telling ya...

That last change was a thing of beauty: One player at a time while they kept the Rangers at bay in the neutral zone, finally got all 5 changed.

That was a classic case of Casey looks bad until he doesn't.