Sabres Home Record.

[deluca67]

This topic has come up time to time in different threads. It really does deserve it's own thread.

 

After another dismal loss at home the Sabres are now 8-9 at home. This team is not making the playoffs with a sub .500 home record. The lack of toughness, mental and physical, when this team plays at home is deeply disturbing. They lost a chance to tie the Devils in points and basically laid down for the Devils who beat them in pretty much every one on one battle. That has really been more of the rule than the exception this season at home.

 

Even if this team can sneak into the playoffs I have to wonder, if they can't handle the pressure of playing at home how will they handle the pressure of a playoff game?

[jwcolour]

They are really bad at home and I don't know what kind of explanation there is for it

[carpandean]

They are really bad at home and I don't know what kind of explanation there is for it

They're trying to be fancy. You know, to put on a show for the fans. :wallbash:

[LabattBlue]

They're trying to be fancy. You know, to put on a show for the fans. :wallbash:

I'd buy this if they were good games in losing efforts, but the losses I've seen this year were by the scores of 5-2, 6-1, 3-0, 2-0 & 5-3. If they are trying to "put on a show", they are failing at it.

 

:angry:

[bottlecap]

I think there's a core group of incumbent guys on this team who can't get motivated to

play for the city of Buffalo.

[SwampD]

Yep! Scoring twice in the minute directly after the Devils scored shows no mental toughness at all.[/sarc]

I thought we played a pretty good game. The Devils went up on a suspect 5 on 3 and we just couldn't catch up. We had our chances and other than Holik's blow to the General's head, the teams were pretty even physically. My problem with them at home is that in front of our own net, they play the puck instead of the man. And I've seen it too many times for me to not believe that it is coaching.

[Chief Enabler]

This topic has come up time to time in different threads. It really does deserve it's own thread.

 

After another dismal loss at home the Sabres are now 8-9 at home. This team is not making the playoffs with a sub .500 home record. The lack of toughness, mental and physical, when this team plays at home is deeply disturbing. They lost a chance to tie the Devils in points and basically laid down for the Devils who beat them in pretty much every one on one battle. That has really been more of the rule than the exception this season at home.

 

Even if this team can sneak into the playoffs I have to wonder, if they can't handle the pressure of playing at home how will they handle the pressure of a playoff game?

It would be awesome if we played all our home games in Hamilton

[R_Dudley]

Yep! Scoring twice in the minute directly after the Devils scored shows no mental toughness at all.[/sarc]

I thought we played a pretty good game. The Devils went up on a suspect 5 on 3 and we just couldn't catch up. We had our chances and other than Holik's blow to the General's head, the teams were pretty even physically. My problem with them at home is that in front of our own net, they play the puck instead of the man. And I've seen it too many times for me to not believe that it is coaching.

 

It is evident in front of the net but also from the other blue line in. The games I've seen where we force the play, playing the man not the puck from center ice in, we have faired so much better.

 

So I've been wondering about that as well, is this teams coaching/strategy to pook the puck rather than play the body/man?

 

Given the amount of pluggers vs. highly talented players we have I find that hard to fathom. <_<

[rbochan]

They're trying to be fancy. You know, to put on a show for the fans. :wallbash:

 

I'd buy this if they were actually being fancy and putting on a show for the fans (other than a horror show).

 

 

My guess is to keep them the #%^$#! away from Chippewa.

[Taro T]

Yep! Scoring twice in the minute directly after the Devils scored shows no mental toughness at all.[/sarc]

I thought we played a pretty good game. The Devils went up on a suspect 5 on 3 and we just couldn't catch up. We had our chances and other than Holik's blow to the General's head, the teams were pretty even physically. My problem with them at home is that in front of our own net, they play the puck instead of the man. And I've seen it too many times for me to not believe that it is coaching.

In past years, the strategy was definitely to play the puck and not the man to make sure they didn't take themselves out of the play. It seemed they were getting away from that at the beginning of the year. How much of that was Rivet and how much of it was coaching is debateable. (It probably was a combination of the 2.) But since Rivet isn't shaming the rest of them into making people pay to go in front of the net, it doesn't seem that anyone else wants to step up. At least not on a night in - night out basis.

 

Another thought on the hitting / more passive game (all over the ice, not just in front of the Sabres' net) is that prior to the team suffering multiple injuries there was some competition for playing time and a threat to sit if a guy wasn't playing out of character was more credible than it is now. The team just doesn't have the constitution to be pounding people; there are 2 players that like to hit people at any time (Rivet and Kaleta) and a few that like to do it when the situation calls for it (Spacek, Goose, Mair, Paetsch, and Lydman). Paille used to hit people and Kotalik can get goaded into it on occassion but it simply isn't in his makeup.

[Stoner]

Maybe it's that strange goal music that is creeping out the Sabres. Did LQ pick that too? (SabresTV recently revealed it was LQ who chose "Shipping up to Boston" as the PP intro music.)

[jimiVbaby]

Maybe it's that strange goal music that is creeping out the Sabres. Did LQ pick that too? (SabresTV recently revealed it was LQ who chose "Shipping up to Boston" as the PP intro music.)

It does sound a lot like "Praise the Lord we scored" music, rather than the old celebratory songs. But, I really enjoy Arcade Fire's though so I don't mind it.