nfreeman Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Hope nobody minds me seizing the opportunity to start one of these. With 105 points and 5 games to go in the regular season, Sabres are: 3 wins away from last year's total of 52 1 win away from 2 consecutive 50-win season 14 goals away from 300 for the year 5 points ahead of Pittsburgh, which has played 2 more games 7 points ahead of both Ottawa & NJ, each of which has played 1 more game tied with Detroit and Nashville in points; Detroit has played 1 more game & Nashville has played 2 more equipped with 7 healthy defensemen All in all, a pretty good situation. And this time next week Connolly and/or Max could be getting ready for their 1st game back. Friday night, we play a desperate Ted Nolan-coached team that is 2 points out of the playoffs but getting lousy goaltending and trying to get by with 4 NHL defensemen. There is likely to be plenty of hitting, fights, and scoring. I'm looking forward in particular to seeing the 2nd performance of the DAZ line. I think we can also count on fireworks of a different sort from Mair-Peters-Paille (although Briere or Zubrus will probably get most of Petey's shifts). Who thinks we'll see Conklin this weekend? I'd play him on sat. night but I'm not at all confident that Lindy will. Frankly, I'm still smiling to myself over that huge win last night vs. the Devils. Prediction: Sabres 5, Islanders 2.
darksabre Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 I think you play conks tomorrow and then let miller play out the rest of the season with the exception of maaaybe boston.
ExiledInIllinois Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Is DiPietro still out with headaches?
DWarner Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 I believe so, but think he did travel with the team, so you never know.
wjag Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Oh so conflicted on this... If Buffalo wins and Ottawa loses to Montreal, meet your 2006-2007 Northeast Division Champs... However, that means Montreal would stay alive in the playoffs. Montreal scares me with their PP and PK units. They would be a DANGEROUS first round opponent. I can never root for the Sabres to lose, so I guess I'll root for all 7th and 8th place teams to win this weekend and keep the madness going.... Tonight, the Sabres are NE Champs....
EdwardSauve Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 I believe so, but think he did travel with the team, so you never know. DiPietro is out. Probably for the rest of the season. He is unable to fly because of headaches. Ryan Smyth is a gametime decision with a leg. If the Sabres don't ROLL tonight I will be shocked. However, they should expect a feisty game right out of the blocks from a Ted Nolan coached team.
Corp000085 Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Thanks for starting the GDT nfreeman. I'll give my thoughts on the game now: From an outsider, conklin SHOULD start tonight or tomorrow night, however there's about a 75% chance miller will start both games. There's a chance the sabres could wrap up the division tonight, so lindy must play his starter till that's accomplished. Miller plays tonight. if by some miracle montreal beats the sens tonight, then conklin will go tomorrow. If not, lindy will play ryan miller both nights, and i don't really have a problem with that. Lydman is back, so that will shuffle the defensive pairings plus it will probably add paetsch to the 4th line wing. Does that mean that the sabres can truly roll 4 lines? yes. And that will be a big factor. Rolling 4 lines is absolutely huge at this stage of the season. However, the superstitious part of me dreads paetsch playing wing. Both games this season where paetsch played wing, he lasted about 1 period each before being forced back to defense because of a major injury. Hope 3rd time's the charm for our glass defense. This could also be the last weekend of balls to the wall competition before garbage time. If the sabres take care of business, they will lock up the #1 seed in the conference, but not overall in the NHL. Lindy ruff will use nashville as motivation. Remember that clown (was it scott nichol) who sucker punched yaro spacek? Lindy needs to motivate the sabres right up to the gun. Last year they fought for the division title till the 2nd to last game of the season. This year, unless they choke tonight and tomorrow, they should have things in the bag. Motivation is critical. With that all said and done, i'll get back to tonight's game. I hate looking ahead and worrying about other stuff. The sabres need to be ready for the wounded dog. The islanders are beat up and down both sides of the street and they're amidst a major controversy in the handling of their goalie's serious head injury. The sabres need to get up early and play a full 60 minuite game like they did wednesday. I see no reason why they should lose the game, unless the islanders physical game gets in their head. I see miller shining again, but this time only letting in 1 or less goals.
wjag Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Just got finished reading the out-of-town news on the NYI. Sounds like DiPietro news is not good. They just aren't the same team without him in goal. When the NYI were surging out of the pack it was because of the play if DiPietro IMO. I just don't see how they can make it into the playoffs without him. Looks like it's gonna be the Blake show. Last time they played on the island Asham netted a pair.
ExiledInIllinois Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 This is game #77, not #79... Hope we are not getting ahead of ourselves and looking past the Isles? Game #79 is @ the Pens on Tuesday... :nana: :nana: :nana: You dog! You changed that right in front of my eyes!!! :D :D Good... Least there won't be a hex on the Sabres... That wrong number would have bothered the schit out of me all night! :bag:
shrader Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Ahhh crap, I'm going to miss the last 3 games, and possibly the 4th one too. I guess I better make the most of the games this weekend. Beer at shrader's place! Corp, I love the comments about 4 lines. I don't think we've been capable of fully doing that even once this season. So we've yet to see what this team is really capable of doing. And then when Max (and possibly Connolly) is/are healthy... :D
LabattBlue Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Oh so conflicted on this... If Buffalo wins and Ottawa loses to Montreal, meet your 2006-2007 Northeast Division Champs... However, that means Montreal would stay alive in the playoffs. Montreal is alive for the playoffs regardless of the outcome of their game tonight.
wjag Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Montreal is alive for the playoffs regardless of the outcome of their game tonight. True enough, but they simply can't chance losing the two points. Toronto left a HUGE point on the ice last night. With just ten points left and everyone tied or within three, every point counts. Teams that want to be in need to probably run the table of remaining games.
nfreeman Posted March 30, 2007 Author Report Posted March 30, 2007 This is game #77, not #79... Hope we are not getting ahead of ourselves and looking past the Isles? Game #79 is @ the Pens on Tuesday... :nana: :nana: :nana: You dog! You changed that right in front of my eyes!!! :D :D Good... Least there won't be a hex on the Sabres... That wrong number would have bothered the schit out of me all night! :bag: Isn't this game #78? ie after tonight, we will have 4 left -- #s 79, 80, 81 and 82? I did try to change it last night but wasn't able to -- so I'll thank corp for the "correction".
slugspirit Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Mike Dunham's recent games.... 2005-2006 Game By Game Log 2006-2007 Regular Season Game By Game Stats Game Dec GA SA SV SV% SO PIM TOI EV GA PP GA SH GA Mar 27, 2007 vs. NJD L 3 32 29 .906 0 0 46:35 1 2 0 Mar 17, 2007 vs. FLA L 6 33 27 .818 0 0 59:19 6 0 0 Mar 15, 2007 vs. OTT L 5 28 23 .821 0 0 43:16 5 0 0 Mar 13, 2007 vs. MTL L 5 32 27 .844 0 0 43:27 4 1 0 Feb 1, 2007 vs. ATL W 2 32 30 .938 0 0 60:00 2 0 0 Jan 26, 2007 vs. ATL O 2 28 26 .929 0 0 57:24 2 0 0 Jan 16, 2007 vs. PIT L 5 22 17 .773 0 0 60:00 3 2 0 Jan 2, 2007 vs. PHI L 3 35 32 .914 0 0 59:05 3 0 0 Dec 15, 2006 vs. PIT 2 6 4 .667 0 0 19:45 2 0 0 Dec 5, 2006 vs. OTT L 4 35 31 .886 0 0 58:30 2 2 0 Nov 30, 2006 vs. PHI L 3 23 20 .870 0 0 59:10 0 2 1 :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t:
Monkeygirl Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 I don't think we WILL see Conklin tonight, but I think we SHOULD. Give him the last 2 home games to lighten Miller's workload. We've only started the guy once since trading for him. I think Lindy should do what he did last year. Play Miller 5 games and leave the very last game for Conklin so Miller can rest. Of course we all know that game would be against Philly and our former beloved Marty, but I still think it would be a good idea.
wonderbread Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 . Ryan Smyth is a gametime decision with a leg. with a leg? Is that like Max is out with a wrist? or lydmans out with an upper body.
EdwardSauve Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 with a leg? Is that like Max is out with a wrist? or lydmans out with an upper body. Yes, I wrote that sarcastically. When the playoffs atart and I can't make it into work due to a bleeding ulcer, can I call in and say I am "Out with an abdomen"?
wjag Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Just looking at the standings and noticed I guess what I knew, but just saw for the first time in print, Pittsburgh is now the number 2 seed. That is quite an accomplishment to chase down the Devils. Pittsburgh has played one more game so that can change again tonight. But right now NJ vs Ottawa in Round 1... I like it.
JujuFish Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Isn't this game #78? ie after tonight, we will have 4 left -- #s 79, 80, 81 and 82? I did try to change it last night but wasn't able to -- so I'll thank corp for the "correction". After tonight, we have 5 left. @MON, @PIT, BOS, @WAS, @PHI
wonderbread Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Yes, I wrote that sarcastically. When the playoffs atart and I can't make it into work due to a bleeding ulcer, can I call in and say I am "Out with an abdomen"? i like it maybe when i am hung over someday i could advise my boss a i am going to be out with a mudbutt
carpandean Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 After tonight, we have 5 left. @MON, @PIT, BOS, @WAS, @PHI Yeah, we have a game-in-hand vs. much of the league (only 5 teams have played just 76 games) and two vs. many teams (seven including Pittsburgh, Nashville and Anaheim). That's why we technically lead the league right now despite a points tie with Detroit and Nashville (though, I think that we may have the tie-breaker vs. both as well), who have played 77 and 78 respectively. A win tonight would make good use of that game-in-hand :thumbsup:
bob_sauve28 Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Hope nobody minds me seizing the opportunity to start one of these. With 105 points and 5 games to go in the regular season, Sabres are: 3 wins away from last year's total of 52 1 win away from 2 consecutive 50-win season 14 goals away from 300 for the year 5 points ahead of Pittsburgh, which has played 2 more games 7 points ahead of both Ottawa & NJ, each of which has played 1 more game tied with Detroit and Nashville in points; Detroit has played 1 more game & Nashville has played 2 more equipped with 7 healthy defensemen All in all, a pretty good situation. And this time next week Connolly and/or Max could be getting ready for their 1st game back. Friday night, we play a desperate Ted Nolan-coached team that is 2 points out of the playoffs but getting lousy goaltending and trying to get by with 4 NHL defensemen. There is likely to be plenty of hitting, fights, and scoring. I'm looking forward in particular to seeing the 2nd performance of the DAZ line. I think we can also count on fireworks of a different sort from Mair-Peters-Paille (although Briere or Zubrus will probably get most of Petey's shifts). Who thinks we'll see Conklin this weekend? I'd play him on sat. night but I'm not at all confident that Lindy will. Frankly, I'm still smiling to myself over that huge win last night vs. the Devils. Prediction: Sabres 5, Islanders 2. Nice post
Corp000085 Posted March 30, 2007 Report Posted March 30, 2007 Nice post i agree. my game discussion threads tend to be boring. its so hard to create new material for 82 games. . thanks again for starting the thread, as i was planning my vacation. (colonial williamsburg is a great spot, if you're into that thing, which i very much am)
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