Doohicksie

But that Tage Thompson.... he's pretty good, innit?

At this point in the season the Sabres are done. The odds are against them and to overcome such odds just doesn't happen in sports. They should just give up and start polishing their golf clubs because long odds like the Sabres face can't be overcome in sports.

Haven't we already hashed and rehashed the Ullmark situation? Is this thread even REMOTELY about goaltending? Anyway, I just popped in to say that while Tage may not have the best one-timer in the league, I think it's safe to say he has the most intimidating one. When he connects like he did on his second goal last night it's just a sight to behold: Fast release, heavy shot, 100 mph. If I'm a goalie I'm not going out of my way to stop that.

So that puts Bryson at -5 for the season otherwise, which means he's *still* the worst Sabres defenseman for +/- ...although Pilut is right there at a -4 in 14 games (so if you take the 8 gamer out, Bryson is -5 over 18 games... so they're basically the same at ~ -.28 per game.

I'm curious if you (or anyone else) looked at the period that the D was depleted to see how much of that -15 came during that period. He was, after all, fighting above his weight class. If you give Comrie a pass for those games you might have to give Bryson similar consideration. Even with that historical information though I thought he was our worst defender last night. In a game where the Sabres didn't allow a goal, he was the only Dman that did not have a positive +/- rating. Interestingly, the +/- leader of the D corps was Clague at +2

I was looking at it more from the standpoint of how L.A. plays: Pepper the goalie with long, harmless shots and hope for juicy rebounds. The Sabres used to play that style. It's good for generating lots of shots but not so great for generating goals.

If Tage sets the tone: Make good money but don't be excessive about it, maybe several of the other players will follow suit. One thing to consider is the Sabres offered Tage and Muel long term contracts before they were proven quantities so the Sabres assumed considerable risk to do that. There's something to be said for that I think.

Nat King Cole felt that smoking improved the timbre of his voice and smoked because of that. He died of lung cancer at 45.

My concern would be that Dylan's agent would say that they want a bridge deal then, and at then end when he's a UFA he will go elsewhere. I would hope Dylan would want to be part of what is building in Buffalo, but agents are greedy.

There was a shift late in the third against L.A. where Okie/Jost/Gus didn't *do* anything in the offensive zone... other than totally disrupt the Kings' attempts to clear the puck and get it up ice. You could tell they weren't really trying to score but they totally stymied the Kings from actually doing anything themselves. It was a thing of beauty.

Cozens is a good pivot and provides stability and backbone for the line. Peterka is speedy (both ways) and a good finisher. Quinn is just the complete package. Is there anything he doesn't do well? And the extra factor of them all seeming to know where they are puts them over the top as an effective line. On JJ's goal yesterday everyone oohs and ahs at Quinn's pass but Peterka's pass was just as good, perhaps better considering he had to get it through the defenseman. And even before that, the break was made by some tough board work by Quinn and Cozens and a quick pass up ice from Cozens. Cozens was caught up behind the play but Clague had joined the rush to further confuse the defense. If the vision those three have could be transferred even a little bit to Casey, with his tool set, he'd be so much better than he is. Instead he skates into a dead-end and then looks for an outlet but by then he's under too much pressure to make a play. If he were a quarterback he'd be admired for his passing but would have terrible pocket awareness and would take too many sacks. From that standpoint, I think spending a couple of games in the press box with a coach might do him a world of good.

To be honest I thought the vast majority of Andy's saves fell into the "routine" category. There was that one on the one-timer to his left (I think it was the save of the game), but mostly L.A.'s shots were from the periphery and even though the Kings crashed the crease they just couldn't finish... that was really the story of the game: A lot of effort and hard work from the Kings but no finish.

Jeff typically turns that around on them and draws penalties when they're trying to goad him. This incident was different; it wasn't about Jeff (he takes a lot of abuse and uses it to his advantage actually). It was about protecting the goalie.

Nothing wrong with the other team thinking you're a bit unhinged.

You know who plays okay with the bottom D? The Cozens line. Maybe because they can generate O without much help from the D.... just dump the puck up ice and let them take over, none of this driving offense from the blue line crap. And defensively the Cozens line is very good about backchecking so they can help make up for deficiencies of a bottom pairing. Quinn in particular is great on the back check; almost like he's greedy and wants to get back on offense as quickly as possible.

My family isn't that dysfunctional but the song does strike a chord with respect to holiday gatherings. Good gravy... that song is almost 30 years old!

Did he? I've forgotten a lot of that he said-she said.

LIke McDavid.

BTW, I'm pretty sure the Eastern Conference has been beating the Western Conference this year (early on at least this was the case)... is there any way to look that up?

I had a whole post composed but I decided not to put it in a Tage thread. Regardless of the past, the team's current leaders, whether lettered or not, are concerned with the success of the Sabres and how they can contribute to that success. Tage is a big part of that but I sense his leadership is not anything to do with power and everything to do with service. It's part of what makes him a star imo.

I'm treated by some of the same Dr and looking at same surgery. Some patients were there when he was. His name has never come up with any of the medical professionals but I've overheard stories of a guy throwing a tantrum in the office yelling, throwing things and slamming doors. Then speeding away in a loud sports car. Any time someone get out of line the stories about him start up again. Patients that were there at the time will chime in and say his name and continue with stories on how much of an ass he is. On the other hand, based on Jack's results thus far, he was right.

'tis the season for this gem of a song

Jost did fine there when we first claimed him. They moved him up to put Krebsie with the vets. I think that worked.

Did anyone else notice that late in the game Jost was back on the fourth line and Krebs had moved up to the third? Do you think he's "graduated"? It will be interesting to see if they leave him on the third line going forward. It will also be interesting to see what they do with Mitts when Skinner comes back off suspension.

I wanted to see what the L.A. coverage thought of the Sabres in the third period so I'm rewatching it with their coverage. I have to say this: Anderson in his red and black goalie pads stirs feelings in me that a goalie has no right to stir.