GAME DISCUSSION THREAD

[carpandean]

Every time I see Peca play I wanna puke..He still plays large..

I still think that he would have been a good addition to last year's team; especially for the incentive-laden contract that Columbus picked him up for.

[...]

I told you The Skill would be back, at least in body....

 

The main thing from tonight is this: Lalime exposed something we've all known for several games now, which is that the Sabres have lost whatever it is they started the season with. They're just not buying into the defense-first mindset. I guess I would say that on the opposite end, we see how well Miller is because he's been "covering" for the rest of the team.

 

Count me as one of the people who do not blame Lalime for this game at all. He was left to essentially fend for himself those first three goals. I actually blame the fourth goal on Lindy - there's no excuse for teammates not being able to communicate on the ice, no matter how few regulation games they play. He should be put back in net sooner than later - ideally after the rest of the team figures out that there's a system they have to follow.

[Two or less]

This could just be because I'm all over Connolly's jockstrap, but did it seem like (at least for the first half of the game) every time his line was on the ice, he was creating all sorts of chances? Sometimes he got too fancy and gave an extra pass, sometimes the shots got blocked, one time it was just out of Pommers reach of what would have surely been a goal, and then on the off occasion Leclaire just made the save.. but at least they were getting opportunities. It sure seems like Connolly and Pominville have good chemistry going, and they were really the only two players that had a decent night imo.

 

I still question Lindy's decision to put Lalime back in the net. Could have been just resting Miller for Pittsburgh, but at 4-1 the game wasn't over. You can't really blame Lalime for all 6 goals, but regardless one can assume Miller would have stopped some of them, whether it be by skill or chance.

 

I disagree with you. He put Miller in, kinda like why St Louis put Mason in. The team responded and played great. The Sabres? Had nothing. Even with Miller, we had little to none offensively and looked lazy in our own end. It was a lost cause. He had to throw the game away and get ready for tomorrow. It was a smart theory of trying to get the teams attention, but it failed.

[Kristian]

I told you The Skill would be back, at least in body....

 

The main thing from tonight is this: Lalime exposed something we've all known for several games now, which is that the Sabres have lost whatever it is they started the season with. They're just not buying into the defense-first mindset. I guess I would say that on the opposite end, we see how well Miller is because he's been "covering" for the rest of the team.

 

Count me as one of the people who do not blame Lalime for this game at all. He was left to essentially fend for himself those first three goals. I actually blame the fourth goal on Lindy - there's no excuse for teammates not being able to communicate on the ice, no matter how few regulation games they play. He should be put back in net sooner than later - ideally after the rest of the team figures out that there's a system they have to follow.

 

 

QFT

[deluca67]

Roy did have a good game last night. Six dives not one misconduct penalty called. I hope that's not a sign that his game has slipped back to that of two seasons ago.

[SabresFan526]

Roy did have a good game last night. Six dives not one misconduct penalty called. I hope that's not a sign that his game has slipped back to that of two seasons ago.

Yeah, but offensively, he was pretty good two seasons ago. If his game reverted back to the offensive play of two seasons ago I'd be happy, but right now he's been bad offensively and especially bad defensively. I know he got the assist on Pommer's goal, but come on, he needs to be much better than he is now.

 

As for the dives, he did dive a few times. I felt on one instance, though, when Connolly drew an interference penalty, he very easily could have been called for a dive. I thought Connolly's dive was far worse than some of Roy's last night. And in Roy's defense, most of them were tripping calls, so he's bound to fall down when he gets tripped. Are they dives? Probably, but I wouldn't fault him for falling down when he gets tripped.

[LabattBlue]

Yeah, but offensively, he was pretty good two seasons ago. If his game reverted back to the offensive play of two seasons ago I'd be happy, but right now he's been bad offensively and especially bad defensively. I know he got the assist on Pommer's goal, but come on, he needs to be much better than he is now.

 

As for the dives, he did dive a few times. I felt on one instance, though, when Connolly drew an interference penalty, he very easily could have been called for a dive. I thought Connolly's dive was far worse than some of Roy's last night. And in Roy's defense, most of them were tripping calls, so he's bound to fall down when he gets tripped. Are they dives? Probably, but I wouldn't fault him for falling down when he gets tripped.

Maybe its just me, but I don't see a lot of jump in Roy's skating this season. I can recall may times over the last couple of years where Roy can really turn it on.

[SwampD]

Yeah, but offensively, he was pretty good two seasons ago. If his game reverted back to the offensive play of two seasons ago I'd be happy, but right now he's been bad offensively and especially bad defensively. I know he got the assist on Pommer's goal, but come on, he needs to be much better than he is now.

 

As for the dives, he did dive a few times. I felt on one instance, though, when Connolly drew an interference penalty, he very easily could have been called for a dive. I thought Connolly's dive was far worse than some of Roy's last night. And in Roy's defense, most of them were tripping calls, so he's bound to fall down when he gets tripped. Are they dives? Probably, but I wouldn't fault him for falling down when he gets tripped.

This is just crazy. I'm not sure what you saw. I know he had one bad giveaway, but Roy was not bad defensively. In fact when the rest of the team was playing chase last night, struggling in their own zone, he was the one guy who consistantly made the right play and moved the puck. Yea, he's not scoring but defense is the last thing I worry about with him.

[Stoner]

Count me as one of the people who do not blame Lalime for this game at all. He was left to essentially fend for himself those first three goals.

 

Goalies are always left to fend for themselves. That's the nature of the job. Hockey is a crazy sport full of scoring chances, unexpected bounces and the like, no matter how well you play defensively. Any time a goalie gives up four goals on eight shots, it's his fault. The Columbus goalie was certainly left to fend for himself. He made the saves. It's not that complicated.

[carpandean]

Goalies are always left to fend for themselves. That's the nature of the job. Hockey is a crazy sport full of scoring chances, unexpected bounces and the like, no matter how well you play defensively. Any time a goalie gives up four goals on eight shots, it's his fault. The Columbus goalie was certainly left to fend for himself. He made the saves. It's not that complicated.

I actually can't think of one Sabres' chance in the game that was as good as those that they gave up on the first three. Seriously. In addition, the Sabre's shots were either low or into LeClaire's chest. The first goal was a trailer who was not picked up and placed the shot up just under the cross bar. The second was a diving deflection of a point shot that was placed in the upper corner, glove side. The third was a wrist shot from short distance that rang in off the post. These were great chances and great shots. Swap in Miller at those instances and I'm not convinced that he saves any of those either. Even Lindy said that you couldn't fault him for any of those three. Clearly, he didn't "stand on his head" like he did when the team did the same thing to him in the first Atlanta game, but if I had to allocate blame, most of it would go to the other 5 guys on the ice. I'd also give them the blame for not scoring more than a single 5-on-3 goal.

[SabresFan526]

This is just crazy. I'm not sure what you saw. I know he had one bad giveaway, but Roy was not bad defensively. In fact when the rest of the team was playing chase last night, struggling in their own zone, he was the one guy who consistantly made the right play and moved the puck. Yea, he's not scoring but defense is the last thing I worry about with him.

Look at the stat line. Roy was -3 +/- last night and is now -3 for the season. He's a -4 in the last two games, the last game they won and he was a minus player against St. Louis. I'll be the first to admit that Plus/Minus can be an overrated statistic, but it kind of proves the point that I'm making that he has not been very solid in the defensive zone. Additionally, when Lindy specifically calls out Roy and the rest of his line after a bad defensive performance, I can't be the only one seeing this. Specifically,

 

The Roy line, that's not good enough.

 

http://www.buffalonews.com/489/story/493939.html

 

Just calling it like I see it and the plus/minus seems to support my case. Roy and his line need to be better in the defensive zone and cannot play like they have the last few games.

[Stoner]

I actually can't think of one Sabres' chance in the game that was as good as those that they gave up on the first three. Seriously. In addition, the Sabre's shots were either low or into LeClaire's chest. The first goal was a trailer who was not picked up and placed the shot up just under the cross bar. The second was a diving deflection of a point shot that was placed in the upper corner, glove side. The third was a wrist shot from short distance that rang in off the post. These were great chances and great shots. Swap in Miller at those instances and I'm not convinced that he saves any of those either. Even Lindy said that you couldn't fault him for any of those three. Clearly, he didn't "stand on his head" like he did when the team did the same thing to him in the first Atlanta game, but if I had to allocate blame, most of it would go to the other 5 guys on the ice. I'd also give them the blame for not scoring more than a single 5-on-3 goal.

 

Goalies have to stop great scoring chances. I just can't accept this "homer" way of evaluating goalies. If that's Brodeur in goal, you'd say he was a sieve. By your logic, a goalie could have a 4.35 GAA and be doing just fine. I mean, don't get me wrong. Those first three were all good goals. But the annals of hockey are filled with former goalies who got beat only on "perfect" shots. Lalime was not good enough last night, and he had plenty of company.