Doohicksie

The Hockey Guy was watching the Buffalo coverage; cites a comment by Rob Ray. He then did a full 20 minute video about why VGK sucks at home.

We're not supposed to get precipitation but they're saying we're gonna go down to about 10 degrees with 20-30 mph winds here in north Texas. Hoping it's not a repeat of the deep freeze we had a coupla years ago.

I think that's part of the point: The Sabres tend to take more high quality shots while the Knights take a below average number of quality shots. Fewer shots for the Sabres but more are likely to go in.

When you're leading the league at a 12.3% shooting percentage you can play like that. The Sabres got a couple of great looks and buried them, plus a seeing eye puck from the point. The Knights are in the bottom half of the league in shooting percentage at 9.9%. Vegas had too many great looks last night, granted, but UPL was up to the challenge.

There are some issues that even technology cannot solve.

So basically he's what we hoped Eichel would be?

4 points out with a game in hand? Bubble territory.

Oh @pi2000 you have the attention span of a gnat hockey player. 😉

There's a key concept buried in there: building this team. This team isn't a finished product, nor is it as good as it likely will be in a month, or two, or three. This is readily apparent to me in how the team looks with half our regular Dmen out. A month a go it was a disaster. Now it's a winning streak. If you don't think Pilut, Clague and Fitzy haven't grown as part of this team since November you're not paying attention. Are they studs? No. Can they hold down the fort? A month ago, no. Now? Eh.... almost, with good goaltending. By the end of January, will they know what Granato wants out of them and come closer to giving it to him? I would say yes. Can the forward ranks grow to produce more consistently while being more responsible defensively? Again, I say yes. Some teams are all they'll ever be already. They're constituted similarly to the way they were last year and the year before. They have the same coach and are playing the same system. The Sabres are still developing and growing and will be a better team by the end of the season than they are now. They will be playing a system closer to Granato's vision, and more consistently. Cup contenders? Doubtful. But will they manage to win a series? I wouldn't count them out.

He's on a pace for 67 right now. I'm not saying he'll get 70, just that it's possible.

What if they're in playoff position at the end of Comrie's conditioning stint? Can you sit UPL if he's the hot hand?

I've heard that's the plan, yeah.

One thing I noticed on several shots is that when he was down in the butterfly he was shifting his shoulders upward toward high shots (and made a few saves doing so). I don't remember him doing that previously. It's like Tage in a way.... finally figuring out how to use the height advantage.

It would take a pretty good slump for him to miss 50 this season. 70 is not out of the question. 40 in my mind is his absolute minimum. I feel like he's not as streaky as some scorers. He maybe be slow to start the season but once he gets up to speed he's been pretty consistent last year and so far this year.

If he ever figures that out they'll just step aside and give him the goal. I bet that puck was 120+ mph.

Since they didn't score, Sabreland was happy with it. Cassidy not so much; he said in the postgame he would have rather had the power play. The commentators on the Vegas postgame put it this way: Given the choice, who wouldn't want a breakaway?

We are here: (cued up to the right spot):

I'm glad I'm not making that decision. I like the idea of keeping 3 goalies on the roster but we've already had to play a game with 5D because we didn't have enough healthy skaters with the club so I doubt KA goes that route. I'd like to see UPL get his fair shake as long as he's playing well. It would be nice to hit on a goalie for a change. In the end I think Adams will send him down if Comrie and Anderson are both healthy. I heard Comrie will likely play a few in Rochester as a conditioning stint so we're a ways away from making that call. Who knows if all three goalies will be healthy once he's played those games?

And for the record, they did get a forward line change in toward the end by getting the puck to the neutral zone.

The Sabres can't control that though. Just win and the rest will take care of itself.

Let's get into the playoffs and not worry so much about advancing. The Sabres are excellent these days against lesser teams and is learning how to play better teams. A win is a win, especially when half your D corps is hurt. Last time the Sabres had this many players injured they were in the middle of an 8 game losing skid. Right. That's pretty much how the league works these days.

[Morgan Freeman voice]: "And indeed he was the first star that night."

More rearranging deck chairs.