GAME DISCUSSION THREAD

[PromoTheRobot]

I just think he deserves a chance. Doesn't every player? He was brought here for a reason, and it wasn't to waste away down there.

A chance??? Who's stopping Raffi from doing something??? He gets minutes, doesn't he? It shouldn't matter what line he's on. Make a friggin' play once in a while.

 

PTR

[Realist]

Since the Sabres held the 2-0 lead in game 2, they have been outscored 7-2. This team's problems are the so called "goal scorers". Our top 6 would be nothing but support players on most teams. There is no one on this team that can turn the game around by putting it on his shoulders.

 

The problem is not Miller or the defense, its scoring and only scoring. The only time we had sustained pressure last night was during the last 5 minutes. What happened to the other 55 minutes of the game? They skate the puck down, get lucky if they can cross the blue line, take a shot and its right back the other way. There is no cycling of the puck in the Bruins end, they just can't win any battles to put constant pressure on Boston.

[Stoner]

I loved Chara's comment to Gaustad last night when they met behind the net after the whistle. Gaustad must have been goading Chara into a fight, which Chara laughingly declined. "I'm doing you a favor," he said. Good stuff. Sabres are getting punked during play, and after it.

[waldo]

No one seems to be willing to admit that Rask has outplayed Miller.Its Rask that looks like the calm veteran.That being said,our powerplay ineptness is also killing us slowly.The B's are'nt afraid of our powerplay which allows them the freedom to take chances with their agressive style.And to add to that the refs are letting them play which has'nt helped us because our forwards are mostly of the small variety.How many times did you see our forwards bounce of the Bruins after attempting a hit?

the pp has been killing them all year

[nfreeman]

No one seems to be willing to admit that Rask has outplayed Miller.Its Rask that looks like the calm veteran.That being said,our powerplay ineptness is also killing us slowly.The B's are'nt afraid of our powerplay which allows them the freedom to take chances with their agressive style.And to add to that the refs are letting them play which has'nt helped us because our forwards are mostly of the small variety.How many times did you see our forwards bounce of the Bruins after attempting a hit?

Miller played very well last night. The 2 goals he gave up were great NHL scoring plays. How many point-blank shots from the slot did he stop following feeds from behind the net? I thought Boston had quite a few more good chances than the Sabres did.

[bunomatic]

Overall this series the difference between the 2 goalies has been that rask has made the stops he needs to make,Miller has'nt.How many times have you seen Rask out of position?Now ask yourself the same of Miller.He's being outplayed.To be fair Rask has faced less quality chances but he's made the stops he should make.

[Claude_Verret]

You can point the finger at certain players or aspects of the Sabres game, but the Bruins have out worked, out hustled and out grinded the Sabres as a whole for the last two games. The Sabres deserve to be exactly where they are right now. Unless they decide that they want to go to the trouble of matching, or heaven forbid exceed that intensity, their season will be over by the weekend.

 

Having said that, this series is far from over.....

[ntjacks79]

I agree.

 

This is a weird Sabres team. They either can't find any open ice, or it's a 7-1 blowout. I see them lighting up Rask next game to build our expectations.

I hope you're right. All I've seen so far is a 3-seed get beat in every aspect of the game... with a tie in goal (and the 3-seed Goalie is a Vezina candidate, making a tie unacceptable).

[tom webster]

Out of all the things that could be identified as a reason for us being down 2-1, this may be truer than most want to admit... bravo to you!

 

 

So Ruff is coaching Roy and Connolly to be invisible. Now I have my answer.

 

Seriously, for all the posts and analysis, the only difference in this series has been the absense of the Sabres top two centers. If either one of them played up to their ego, Buffalo would be up 3-0.

For all the complaints about Torres, he is tied for the team lead with Tallinder and Vanek which pretty much tells you the story there.

[kishoph]

Lindy needs to start changing up his strategies.

 

Or system constantly allows the Bruins to clog up the neutral zone, or forecheck the living bejezus out of us, because it involves five players down low.

 

How often tonight did we see two defensemen in our zone practically standing still with the puck, while the Bruins retreated? We have no breakout plays, whatsoever.

 

Lindy's being out-coached in this one.

 

 

I agree with you about the breakouts, they're just terrible getting out of our end and I think a large part of that is lousy passing. I'm sick of seeing Boston hiting tape to tape passes and the Sabres missing 10 foot passes or just throwing it to an area in the neutral zone only to have the opposistion out hustle us to the puck. Another thing that is getting to me is the lack of toughness. How many times are they gonna let Boston abuse our "finesse forwards" I use the word finesse because I don't want to get banned for calling them what I really want to. Still they need to reach down and grab a pair and start playing with some spark and toughness. They have to take it to the Bruins if they're gonna have a chance at winning this series.

[SabresRepublic]

Hecht is huge loss. I think with just Hecht in(without Vanek) we take the series.

 

I agree! The Germanic clan's contribution to Sabres success is irreplaceable after 82 weeks of fine-tuning!

With both in there, B's have NO chance! Now, they have simply made it interesting beyond the plan!

And, it can be done even if we falter to 3 - 1!

 

GO BUFFALO SABRES!!!

[billsrcursed]

So Ruff is coaching Roy and Connolly to be invisible. Now I have my answer.

 

Seriously, for all the posts and analysis, the only difference in this series has been the absense of the Sabres top two centers. If either one of them played up to their ego, Buffalo would be up 3-0.

For all the complaints about Torres, he is tied for the team lead with Tallinder and Vanek which pretty much tells you the story there.

 

I didn't want to believe it either, but our "system" isn't working. You can pick out 1 or 2 guys like everyone else on the board if you wish, but when you look at this GDT, you pretty much have our entire roster hand picked save for maybe Kaleta broken down into individual "it's their fault, they're invisible in the playoffs" posts.

 

All of these guys have 1 common denominator; Ruff.

 

he's coaching not to lose instead of coaching to win, plain and simple.