GAME DISCUSSION THREAD

[wjag]

still need to work on the kabusted PP. While they did have better zone presence tonight, they still weren't getting quality shots.

 

Guys whose game is still in a funk

 

1. Mike Grier... How long has it been since he has scored a goal?

2. Tim Kennedy .. His game, well you know...

3. Stevie M .. Played a better game tonight, but needs to get that point shot through..

[Iron Crotch]

Jamie Benn (2 points for the Stars tonight) and Tyler were teammates last year in Kelowna... the Rockets were pretty good. :)

[matter2003]

still need to work on the kabusted PP. While they did have better zone presence tonight, they still weren't getting quality shots.

 

Guys whose game is still in a funk

 

1. Mike Grier... How long has it been since he has scored a goal?

2. Tim Kennedy .. His game, well you know...

3. Stevie M .. Played a better game tonight, but needs to get that point shot through..

 

Grier is not here to score goals...

Kennedy has been average to below average for quite some time now...

Sekera had a brutal giveaway on the 2nd goal.

 

No reason to be rushing Stafford back in the lineup anytime soon...Mancari did more tonite than Stafford has done in 10 games...

[wjag]

Jamie Benn (2 points for the Stars tonight) and Tyler were teammates last year in Kelowna... the Rockets were pretty good. :)

Benn looks like he has real speed. He blew by the Sabres defense tonight

[LabattBlue]

Game thoughts...

 

- This was one of the more entertaining games I have attended over the last 3 years..

 

- Torres showed some good energy and picked up an assist, but he seemed like he had hands of stone several times when making or receiving a pass.

 

- The Sabres really played well in their own zone in the 2nd and 3rd periods after a "loose" first period.

 

- Kaleta with a really good scrap against Ott.

 

- I forgot how much Turco loves to play the puck. He deserved a better fate tonight. Without him it could have easily have been 8-3.

 

- Myers with a great game offensively. He seemed to have a little extra jump in his step tonight.

 

- Mancari with a nice goal and an even better assist on the GWG by Vanek.

 

- I don't know what the stats are, but considering how many 1 goal games they have won, it seems like forever since the Sabres had scored an EN goal.

 

- I don't know if it was the fight or all the goal scoring, but the crowd seemed to be more into the game than usual.

 

- Vanek with a beautiful shot on the GWG, but WTF was he thinking trying to pass to Roy when he was point blank in on Turco?

 

- 3 in a row with Minnesota coming to town on Friday. Make it 4. GO SABRES!!

[FogBat]

I love it when we beat Dallas. I really do. It's sad that it still won't change the outcome of 1999.

 

Then again, I have to remember that NO Dallas sports franchise has won a title in its respective sport since Bettman handed them the Cup back then. :D

[NowDoYouBelieve]

Game thoughts...

 

 

 

- Vanek with a beautiful shot on the GWG, but WTF was he thinking trying to pass to Roy when he was point blank in on Turco?

 

 

 

It seemed like he didn't have very good control of the puck. If his pass had landed, it would've been a tap-in for Roy...but, alas.

[NowDoYouBelieve]

I love it when we beat Dallas. I really do. It's sad that it still won't change the outcome of 1999.

 

Then again, I have to remember that NO Dallas sports franchise has won a title in its respective sport since Bettman handed them the Cup back then. :D

 

And of course Buffalo has had the last laugh, as the Bills go for their 5th consecutive Super Bowl title this season.

[billsrcursed]

It seemed like he didn't have very good control of the puck. If his pass had landed, it would've been a tap-in for Roy...but, alas.

 

I believe Turco made a helluva stick check as well. Like you said, if that gets through, it's a tap in. I'm not upset with Vanek's decision there...

[carpandean]

4 points and a +4 puts Myers back in the discussion with Duchene for the Calder (he was still in it before, but his case had weakened a little.) It's really going to come down to the non-statistical part (though, being a top-pairing defenseman with a +7 is statistically pretty impressive) of being a defenseman, which is considered harder to learn early, versus the offensive production of Duchene. Anyone who watched tonight should know the right answer, but we'll see what the league does. A couple more games like that would make the decision easy.

[VansTheMans]

Was in attendance tonight.

 

AWESOME game.

 

Myers ripped it up. :worthy:

[DR HOLLIDAY]

Was in attendance tonight.

 

AWESOME game.

 

Myers ripped it up. :worthy:

 

Myers was worth the price of the ticket just by himself........ :beer:

[nfreeman]

Did I just read that right? Myers with a 4 point night? Dare I say it? He's the best player we've had since; no I can't say it. I won't say it. Kid's a player.

Tyler Myers holy moly. The Myers of "old."

As the yoots would say, OMG. He's not from this planet.

 

I love it when we beat Dallas. I really do. It's sad that it still won't change the outcome of 1999.

 

Then again, I have to remember that NO Dallas sports franchise has won a title in its respective sport since Bettman handed them the Cup back then. :D

You must be kidding.

 

And of course Buffalo has had the last laugh, as the Bills go for their 5th consecutive Super Bowl title this season.

There we go. It had to be said.

 

My game thoughts:

 

- nice tic-tac-toe from Torres to Rivet to Mancari on Mancari’s goal.

 

- Very tough call on the disallowed goal in the 1st. Myers didn’t put much into that contact with Robidas. Even so, it was great to see him toss Robidas like a rag doll into Turco. Almost worth the goal.

 

- Sekera has more offensive skills than any other defenseman on the team except Myers, but he’s still susceptible to the big turnover, as on Ott’s goal. Still, he was 2nd on the team in ice time tonight, with over 22. He came back from the Olympics confident and fast.

 

- Myers is a beast.

 

- It's not a coincidence that the Sabres' worst stretch of the season came while Kaleta was out. He had a big game tonight after another one against the Rangers.

 

- It would be great to see Mancari force his way into the lineup. He got 18 minutes tonight (as did Vanek), and Lindy said that line was the best line in this game.

 

- Gotta figure Lalime plays on Friday night vs the WC also-ran and then Miller plays in Detroit on Saturday.

 

- I know a number of posters have liked Gare's work on TV, but I think he's pretty lame.

 

- Good win, and they didn't need a great game from Miller to get it.

[wjag]

4 points and a +4 puts Myers back in the discussion with Duchene for the Calder (he was still in it before, but his case had weakened a little.) It's really going to come down to the non-statistical part (though, being a top-pairing defenseman with a +7 is statistically pretty impressive) of being a defenseman, which is considered harder to learn early, versus the offensive production of Duchene. Anyone who watched tonight should know the right answer, but we'll see what the league does. A couple more games like that would make the decision easy.

I think it's a done deal. Watch any, and I mean ANY, out of town sportscasts on the Sabres and there was only one Sabre the gush about (before the Olympic break). Everyone mentions Myers as the Calder trophy winner.

[inkman]

I love it when we beat Dallas. I really do. It's sad that it still won't change the outcome of 1999.

I have utter indifference to the Dallas Stars. The same goes for the Carolina Hurricanes.

[FogBat]

I have utter indifference to the Dallas Stars. The same goes for the Carolina Hurricanes.

:thumbsup:

[spndnchz]

Most fun at a game in years.

 

Mancari's vision, Myers' hustle and fire, Kaleta dropping the gloves, sweet.

 

Moments I remember:

Miller's toe save, while on his back!

Pommers actually faking the slapper from the top of the circle and making a move around the d-man.

Myers complaining to the ref about the call against him. It was like he was a helicopter over the referee.

A nice play by Tallinder to break up the 2 on 1.

 

Torres seemed to be better tonight as far as his positioning, but he still seems kinda spastic with the puck. Is this the way he always plays?

[Doohicksie]

Good stuff! :D

 

What do the Dallas announcers have to say about the Sabres play so far?

Sorry, I forgot to check back in the thread. If you watch the NHL.com video highlights (there are the game highlights, plus a highlight reel of just Tyler Myers) you'll get a pretty good idea of how the Dallas announcers covered the Sabres. Basically, Daryl Reaugh (the league's best color man IMO with a good combination of hockey smarts and goofiness to keep it light) was effusive in his praise of the Sabres, especially Myers and Mancari. They called Sekera a turnover machine, though, and kind of harped on that after his giveaway led to Ott's goal. But especially when Myers was doing his mad end-to-end rushes resulting in decent scoring chances, they were just in awe of the guy. I know Myers has caught flack of late for making "rookie mistakes" but he really dazzles the rest of the league.

 

The Dallas announcers recognize that this is getting to be do-or-die time for the Stars and they're just not getting it done (except for the Caps game), but they try to make the games as entertaining as possible, and if that means going OOOH and AAAH about the up-and-coming players on the opposing team, they are not above that.

 

I'm not sure what the Buffalo announcers said about the Miller save that hit his pad, then went off the post and trickled in behind him before Lydman got to it, but that was a pretty amazing save. The Dallas team showed every conceivable angle before getting a good view showing how close that came to going in (and what a great save Miller made).

[Stoner]

4 points and a +4 puts Myers back in the discussion with Duchene for the Calder (he was still in it before, but his case had weakened a little.) It's really going to come down to the non-statistical part (though, being a top-pairing defenseman with a +7 is statistically pretty impressive) of being a defenseman, which is considered harder to learn early, versus the offensive production of Duchene. Anyone who watched tonight should know the right answer, but we'll see what the league does. A couple more games like that would make the decision easy.

 

I don't think that one game is going to weigh that heavily. He'll probably have to get back to his early season level for the rest of the season to win it, although I will admit to not knowing much about the competition.

 

By the way, the Hockey Writers vote for this one, and most of the major NHL awards.

[Doohicksie]

Torres seemed to be better tonight as far as his positioning, but he still seems kinda spastic with the puck. Is this the way he always plays?

I think that's just his style. He reminds me of Afenigenov where he always seems on the edge of control with the puck. The big difference, though, is that Torres keeps it moving foward where Afenigenov did way too much lateral skating trying to get away, and when Torres gets challenged he doesn't try to dipsy-doodle around the opponent but just dumps it in deeper. I really like his hustle and energy. If Vanek used is talent and played with that kind of hustle, he's be at 40 goals again this year.

 

I don't know if Torres will gel with the team or not, but compared to other recent trade deadline acquisitions, he seems to be really trying: skating, hustling, hitting, whatever it takes to lift the team. I think if he keeps hustling like that,the scoring will come.

[FogBat]

I tried to go through the "NHL Message Boards" thread to find the Dallas Stars forums and see what they had to say about the game last night. No one started a thread about it (for one). Second, those threads are nowhere near as good nor as active as SabreSpace is - not by a long shot.

[nobody]

I have utter indifference to the Dallas Stars. The same goes for the Carolina Hurricanes.

 

 

Is that in the same family of diseases with mad cow?

[Stoner]

Is that in the same family of diseases with mad cow?

 

Somewhere, up there, Clip Smith just played a tuba tribute to that one.

[SwampD]

I have utter indifference to the Dallas Stars. The same goes for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Is that in the same family of diseases with mad cow?

I thought that's what a gay bull had.

[nobody]

"BuffaloAnchorman"