Stoner Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 That celebration, after Myers' goal, made me think about... June. Damn, every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in! This grumpy old man loved it, loved it, loved it! A team is reborn!
nfreeman Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 That celebration, after Myers' goal, made me think about... June. Damn, every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in! This grumpy old man loved it, loved it, loved it! A team is reborn! My man! A few other items: 1. Miller is great. 2. Grier is great at what he does. He's a huge difference-maker on this team. What a great move by Darcy to bring him back. 3. Roy had a crappy game. He was atrocious on that PP with 5 minutes left in the 3rd. 4. Connolly was part of the Keystone Kops routine that resulted in TB's 2nd goal, but I still thought he had a pretty good game. 5. Further to XB's point about Butler -- he had 29 minutes tonight. Very solid and a great hit on Drew Miller. 6. Another pretty solid game from Tallinder. 7. I'm going to the game vs NJ on Wednesday. Go Sabres. That was a great win.
BetweenThePipes00 Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 Random thoughts .... Lots of good stuff to come out of this game even if the argument could be made that Miller stole it for them. I say good, that's what they pay the guy for, to do that here and there. I thought effort was decent all night, even when they got caught running around in the second period a lot. Sometimes you have to credit Tampa, they worked hard all night and they are really not that bad, at least up front. Stamkos is for real and Hedman looks like he might be too. Not a playoff team or anything but they are getting better. Montador and Paetsch looked shaky but ... 38's first game and Montador's third partner in 8 games in Buffalo ... recipe for some troubles. Agree with everyone that mentioned Butler, just so solid tonight. I didn't like Roy or Vanek much tonight. MacArthur continues to surprise me in a good way. Not their best game but a road win is a road win and good to get a streak going after the Atlanta loss.
rickshaw Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 Roy usually leads the team in that category, and was in the top 10 in the NHL last year in that category. FWIW, Ovechkin, I believe, led the NHL in giveaways last year. Don't know what it means, but it was the case. Myers is going to make his mistakes, but I'm okay with a guy giving the puck away because he's aggressive in the offensive zone, which is the case with Myers, than one who's giving the puck up in the defensive zone creating chances for the other team. The latter does not seem to be the case given his +/- for this year. Edit: Here's the stat line from last season in terms of giveaways and sure enough Ovechkin led the NHL and Roy was third. http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchKey=20092ALLAASAll&sort=giveaways&viewName=rtssPlayerStats So he's got 9 giveaways this year. Shoot the man. He also has a solid plus 8. Has 2 goals, 3 assists and a shootout winner in just 8 games. He's made Tallinder a player again which is amazing in itself. Giveaways??? Who cares. They're obviously not ending up in his net so woopdeedoo. The kid is 19! Nineteen. The toughest position to learn is defense and so far, I'm impressed.
SF Sabres Fan Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 Coming in late from the west coast. I watched the game with some old Buffalo friends. Great game- somehow I knew we'd win. We all felt it. I have good feeling about this team. I love Grier. Good to have him back from SJ.
SabresFan526 Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 So he's got 9 giveaways this year. Shoot the man. He also has a solid plus 8. Has 2 goals, 3 assists and a shootout winner in just 8 games. He's made Tallinder a player again which is amazing in itself. Giveaways??? Who cares. They're obviously not ending up in his net so woopdeedoo. The kid is 19! Nineteen. The toughest position to learn is defense and so far, I'm impressed. I agree 100%. I'm totally impressed by Myers. I think he's a legit candidate for the Calder Trophy. The shootout winner last night is what legends are made of. The fact that he's made Tallinder into a good player I think is the biggest testament to how good Myers is. A great player is someone who makes the players around him better, and he's already done that with Tallinder. This is why I said in my previous post, I seriously am beginning to think he's the best defenseman on the team. Who freaking cares about giveaways? Until it becomes a problem and it's causing goals in the back of the net or at the very least scoring chances for the other team, then they don't matter at all. And given that he's a +8 this year, he's obviously not making critical giveaways that are going in the back of the net. I'm not worried at all. He's going to make his share of mistakes, but wow he's impressive. I still can't believe how well he skates with the puck, let alone for someone of his size. I can't even imagine Hal Gill or Chara skating like that. He looks like Campbell when he's skating the puck up the ice and he's 6'8. Unreal!
CallawaySabres Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 just imagine what this offense could be if Vanek AND Roy decided to show up most nights. Secondary scoring and Miller have saved this team - if Vanek and Roy could be difference makers, it would be nice
wjag Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 My game thoughts 1. I settled up with the officiating when they didn't call that obvious Buffalo tripping penalty. In the end it was 2 blown calls to 1. I'm okay with that as long as you swallow the whistle for the whole game.. And they pretty much did. 2. There were a lot of reasons they lost games last year. Miller's performance in SOs last year was one of them. He looked invincible tonight. He flat out embarassed St Louis. So the question in my mind was what's up with Miller? What happened to him last year and what did he change this year? I know this is the first one, but he looked back to 2007 form. 3. The Grier-Kennedy-Hecht line works harder than any other line, night-in, night-out. Was surprised to see Kennedy taking the opening draw in the first and third period. Don't remember who did it during the second. I still think Kennedy gets pushed off the puck way to easily. 4. I'll be the first to call it, Roy is in a funk. Sure he is getting the assists, but he is on the ice more than other forwards. His shot just seems off. His instincts just seem off. 5. Vanek has become a bi-polar player. Either he has a good night or he has no night. Last night he had no night. I was surprised to see him early in the shootout. His in close moves look awful. He'd be better off just blasting from 15 feet out. 6. Myers used his reach several times last night. What an advantage. The move on the goalie wasn't so much as slick, as it was he still had reach left when Smith tried to close him off. Lindy said in the presser that he's done it in practice, ergo, Miller/Lalime fell for it to. Somehow fitting he won the game. 7. Do you think Miller had words with Butler after the game? He DUMPED his brother pretty hard in front of Grandma and Grandpa. 8. Kaleta was on the getting end last night. He drew one penalty, but was clearly targeted by Tampa. He took one hit that dumped him hard. HN and RJ were saying it was illegal because he didn't have the puck. The TV view didn't really show it too well. My reaction was it was real close as he was about to get the puck. Either way, he got pasted. 9. Buffalo is now starting to win faceoffs. It is very noticeable, especially in the offensive zone after penalties and icings. I know Gaustad is responsible for a bunch of them. It is amazing, one skill, is so important to a teams ability to execute and how bad they have been for so long at it. Nice to see the improvement. Having Gaustad take the initial draw and head to the bench is a pretty good coaching move. 10. And finally. I HATE THE BUFFALO PP. It lacks imagination. It lacks creativity. They are finally winning the draw, so that is an improvement. They spend their whole time taking blue line shots and hoping for the Vanek/Gaustad tip. They remain ABSOLUTELY vulnerable to short handed goals. Tampa had at least two quality attempts short handed last night that I recall.
cgang Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 My man! A few other items: 1. Miller is great. 2. Grier is great at what he does. He's a huge difference-maker on this team. What a great move by Darcy to bring him back. 3. Roy had a crappy game. He was atrocious on that PP with 5 minutes left in the 3rd. 4. Connolly was part of the Keystone Kops routine that resulted in TB's 2nd goal, but I still thought he had a pretty good game. 5. Further to XB's point about Butler -- he had 29 minutes tonight. Very solid and a great hit on Drew Miller. 6. Another pretty solid game from Tallinder. 7. I'm going to the game vs NJ on Wednesday. Go Sabres. That was a great win. Miller is why we won this game-- solid performance. Didn't like our skating and getting the damn puck to the net but, what the hell, we won on the road not playing our best and showed heart to tie it and then win in the shoot out. Agree 100% with your comment on Grier. I tend to forget about Kennedy (Myers play has sort of overshadowed him this season). I thought he was pretty good. He still hasn't scored that first goal yet, but he caused the turnover that lead to the Grier goal and overall had a pretty good game.
JujuFish Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 2. There were a lot of reasons they lost games last year. Miller's performance in SOs last year was one of them. What are you talking about? Miller was 8-2 in shootouts last year.
wjag Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 What are you talking about? Miller was 8-2 in shootouts last year. Really.. I must be in a time warp then. I clearly remember him looking bad and losing shootouts the year before he would have won. So if he was 8-2, then his team bailed him out because he let more goals through. Maybe that is what I remember.
JujuFish Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 Really.. I must be in a time warp then. I clearly remember him looking bad and losing shootouts the year before he would have won. So if he was 8-2, then his team bailed him out because he let more goals through. Maybe that is what I remember. No, you're remembering 07-08. He was 2-8 that season before winning his last two shootouts. Last year Miller was terrific.
matter2003 Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 Really.. I must be in a time warp then. I clearly remember him looking bad and losing shootouts the year before he would have won. So if he was 8-2, then his team bailed him out because he let more goals through. Maybe that is what I remember. Miller was awful in shootouts the year before last when they missed the playoffs after winning the presidents trophy the year b4... Last year he was back to his stellar self most nights in the shootout...not sure what happened in that one year when he looked so bad, but it appears it was an aberration as he has been excellent in those situations every other year...
wjag Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 No, you're remembering 07-08. He was 2-8 that season before winning his last two shootouts. Last year Miller was terrific. Miller was awful in shootouts the year before last when they missed the playoffs after winning the presidents trophy the year b4... Last year he was back to his stellar self most nights in the shootout...not sure what happened in that one year when he looked so bad, but it appears it was an aberration as he has been excellent in those situations every other year... Uncle
JujuFish Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 9. Buffalo is now starting to win faceoffs. It is very noticeable, especially in the offensive zone after penalties and icings. I know Gaustad is responsible for a bunch of them. Gaustad is unreal so far this season. He's best in the NHL right now at 69.2%. The next closest is 64.6%. That said, without Gaustad's numbers, Buffalo is winning only 43.7% of faceoffs.
nfreeman Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 Random thoughts .... I thought effort was decent all night, even when they got caught running around in the second period a lot. Sometimes you have to credit Tampa, they worked hard all night and they are really not that bad, at least up front. Stamkos is for real and Hedman looks like he might be too. Not a playoff team or anything but they are getting better. I agree -- Tampa looked much improved. It took a pretty solid, disciplined, 65-minute effort to beat them. The shootout winner last night is what legends are made of. Heh -- When I saw him come out for the shootout (before he scored), I said to my wife: "The legend is born." Pretty good move by Darcy to trade up and grab him, eh? 5. Vanek has become a bi-polar player. Either he has a good night or he has no night. Last night he had no night. I was surprised to see him early in the shootout. His in close moves look awful. He'd be better off just blasting from 15 feet out. 8. Kaleta was on the getting end last night. He drew one penalty, but was clearly targeted by Tampa. He took one hit that dumped him hard. HN and RJ were saying it was illegal because he didn't have the puck. The TV view didn't really show it too well. My reaction was it was real close as he was about to get the puck. Either way, he got pasted. 9. Buffalo is now starting to win faceoffs. It is very noticeable, especially in the offensive zone after penalties and icings. I know Gaustad is responsible for a bunch of them. It is amazing, one skill, is so important to a teams ability to execute and how bad they have been for so long at it. Nice to see the improvement. Having Gaustad take the initial draw and head to the bench is a pretty good coaching move. 10. And finally. I HATE THE BUFFALO PP. It lacks imagination. It lacks creativity. They are finally winning the draw, so that is an improvement. They spend their whole time taking blue line shots and hoping for the Vanek/Gaustad tip. They remain ABSOLUTELY vulnerable to short handed goals. Tampa had at least two quality attempts short handed last night that I recall. Vanek and Roy both need to step up. I think at this point pretty much everyone is targeting Kaleta. He'll inevitably miss some games, which is probably why having Mair as the extra forward is useful. I agree on faceoffs being much improved. Gaustad is really adding value here. I noticed that MacArthur is now the primary faceoff guy when the TC-Mac-Pommer line is on. Speaking of that line -- I know Kennedy-Hecht-Grier is doing great together, but I wouldn't mind seeing Hecht or Grier moved up to TC's line for Mac. TC's line as is just seems to be ineffective on the forecheck. I think maybe it needs more size.
deluca67 Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 I'm glad about the 2pts and it looks like (i know it's really early) they hit the jackpot with Myers. It also looks like Miller may be taking that next step up. That said, there wasn't much to like about the last 5 periods this team has played. I can't wait for this team to get through this soft patch of the schedule and start going up against the better teams in the league. Is this team for real or are they simply fattening up by feeding off the bottom. Two other things. 1) If Connolly isn't scoring he is useless. 2) If Tallinder continues to play well do the Sabres consider extending him? I think it would be a huge mistake. I don't trust that Tallinder has rediscovered his game enough to tie up more money into him.
Eleven Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 I'm glad about the 2pts and it looks like (i know it's really early) they hit the jackpot with Myers. It also looks like Miller may be taking that next step up. That said, there wasn't much to like about the last 5 periods this team has played. I can't wait for this team to get through this soft patch of the schedule and start going up against the better teams in the league. Is this team for real or are they simply fattening up by feeding off the bottom. Two other things. 1) If Connolly isn't scoring he is useless. 2) If Tallinder continues to play well do the Sabres consider extending him? I think it would be a huge mistake. I don't trust that Tallinder has rediscovered his game enough to tie up more money into him. 1. Yes. 2. Not unless he agrees to a pay cut or a one-year contract with a series of club options. While Myers is turning out to be a terrific defenseman, I don't think he's having quite the impact on Tallinder that some people think. The contract year syndrome is what's got Hank's motor running all of the sudden.
BetweenThePipes00 Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 I'm glad about the 2pts and it looks like (i know it's really early) they hit the jackpot with Myers. It also looks like Miller may be taking that next step up. That said, there wasn't much to like about the last 5 periods this team has played. I can't wait for this team to get through this soft patch of the schedule and start going up against the better teams in the league. Is this team for real or are they simply fattening up by feeding off the bottom. Two other things. 1) If Connolly isn't scoring he is useless. 2) If Tallinder continues to play well do the Sabres consider extending him? I think it would be a huge mistake. I don't trust that Tallinder has rediscovered his game enough to tie up more money into him. They may be feeding off the bottom a bit but at least they are doing that and banking some points. They didn't always do that the last two years ... after NJ on Wednesday, it's three more from the "bottom" ... get 'em while the gettin's good. Tallinder has been better, but to me it is just in the "I don't notice him screwing up" kinda way, not the "Wow, Hank looks like 05-06 again" way ... I agree they better not extend him, even if he keeps this up all season. He has been fine but not deserving of a raise, and the way things are going around the league, many veterans who hit the market ended up crawling around and taking pay cuts ... he could easily be one of those guys.
carpandean Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 just imagine what this offense could be if Vanek AND Roy decided to show up most nights. Secondary scoring and Miller have saved this team - if Vanek and Roy could be difference makers, it would be nice Vanek and Roy both need to step up. Agreed, but I would also add Connolly and Pommer. Each of the four have had their moments, but for the most part, have been disappointing. That's a lot of money and expectations without much return, right now.
North Buffalo Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 Agreed, but I would also add Connolly and Pommer. Each of the four have had their moments, but for the most part, have been disappointing. That's a lot of money and expectations without much return, right now. Agreed, but Pommer doesn't appear to be losing his hustle the way Connolly and Vanek have. I see Pommer at least forechecking and going into the corners doing the dirty work. Vanek is a little hesitant, protecting himself and Connolly not sure the drill unless he is nursing an unknown hurt, his legs look slow.
LabattBlue Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 So he's got 9 giveaways this year. Shoot the man. He also has a solid plus 8. Has 2 goals, 3 assists and a shootout winner in just 8 games. He's made Tallinder a player again which is amazing in itself. Giveaways??? Who cares. They're obviously not ending up in his net so woopdeedoo. The kid is 19! Nineteen. The toughest position to learn is defense and so far, I'm impressed. The point on Tallinder is a good one. He has been very solid....so far.
LabattBlue Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 1) If Connolly isn't scoring he is useless. If you say this about Connolly, what do you say about Vanek? At least Connolly is on the PK.
R_Dudley Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 I agree -- Tampa looked much improved. It took a pretty solid, disciplined, 65-minute effort to beat them. Heh -- When I saw him come out for the shootout (before he scored), I said to my wife: "The legend is born." Pretty good move by Darcy to trade up and grab him, eh? Vanek and Roy both need to step up. I think at this point pretty much everyone is targeting Kaleta. He'll inevitably miss some games, which is probably why having Mair as the extra forward is useful. I agree on faceoffs being much improved. Gaustad is really adding value here. I noticed that MacArthur is now the primary faceoff guy when the TC-Mac-Pommer line is on. Speaking of that line -- I know Kennedy-Hecht-Grier is doing great together, but I wouldn't mind seeing Hecht or Grier moved up to TC's line for Mac. TC's line as is just seems to be ineffective on the forecheck. I think maybe it needs more size. Yes move is looking like that video scouting may pay off for once ;) Vanek looks very slow and tentative, makes me wonder what the upper body injury was/is and is he 100%, Roy's just playing the perimeter and pass it off game way to much again. seems afraid of the slot 1. Yes. 2. Not unless he agrees to a pay cut or a one-year contract with a series of club options. While Myers is turning out to be a terrific defenseman, I don't think he's having quite the impact on Tallinder that some people think. The contract year syndrome is what's got Hank's motor running all of the sudden. This
SwampD Posted October 25, 2009 Report Posted October 25, 2009 -Vanek needs to take skating lessons. If he added his legs to his game he would be unstoppable. -The year Carolina beat us and went on to win the cup, Rod Brind'Amour was unbeatable on faceoffs and Laviolette used him the same way as Lindy is using Gaustad. Kinda goes against Lindy's line from last year that possession isn't all that important. -Butler is our best defenseman, in my opinion by a lot. He's really good. -It's funny, but I feel like this team is going to have more trouble with the fast skating,"softer" teams this year than the lock down, grittier teams. I know it's early but that make me hopeful for later in the year (and beyond?).
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