GAME DISCUSSION THREAD

[nfreeman]

:beer: Sweet.

 

They deserved to win they were the better team and I'm glad to see they were able to close the deal. Double sweet Derek Roy's on my fantasy team and got me some points tonight.

 

Some oberservations; I like the MM's combination Meyers/Morrison and am okay with Rivet Sekera but I am not sold on Leopold and Monty. In fact based on tonight I would rather see Weber and Monty tomorrow, probably little chance of that. Ennis was good and I love the Neidermeyer, Grier, Hecht line, Timmy looked like timmy again nothin special but Vanek had some looks and Pominville was average nothin special.

 

Anyone notice how much other teams grab Kaleta around the head, makes me wonder with his neck problems being known if thats not on purpose. I didn't think it was possible but I despise Chris Neil and Rutuu more everytime I see them.

I agree on most of this, although I thought Leopold made a number of nice plays. He sure looked bad on Ottawa's goal though. He was 3rd on the team in ice time.

 

I thought the Sabres looked great tonight. They didn't score much and the PP didn't produce any goals, however, they got chances. In the first 40 minutes, it should have been a really lopsided score for the Sabres. We let Ottawa hang in there and they obviously knew besides getting their butts kicked for 40 minutes, they were still just one goal away from tying this game and they got a break late in the 2nd with the Leopold mess up. Sabres play like this tomorrow, they will blow the Rangers out of the building.

 

Despite the mess up, i did like Leopold's game. I really like what he brings to our team. He skates the puck way up, almost got caught once when he tried it on a 4v4 but Ruff loves for the defense to bring the puck up the ice and he's definitely the best we have and have had in years, with obviously Myers. Nobody else can touch Leopold in that aspect of the game on our roster.

 

Looked good- Best players on the ice IMO were Roy and Vanek. I thought Vanek, even with no goals, looked dangerous all game long. He had tons of chances. Somebody noted in pre-season via a source (Mike Schopp i think) that Vanek is in the best shape of his life and is the most committed he's ever been.... looked like it tonight. Will it keep up?

 

Looked bad- Hecht and Stafford. I thought Stafford was excellent in the first, he crashed the net and fought by the boards, but for whatever reason, he disappeared. Not sure if Ottawa got under his skin or if he was just too frustrated that any of his first period chances didn't go in, but he looked bad. Actually, as the game on, he got even worse. Hecht i thought was terrible all game long in even strength situations. He was very valuable as he usually is in the penalty kill. Not sure if this stat is out there, but wonder if he led the forwards in turnovers?

 

Looked ugly- Discipline. The Sabres got just one penalty through 40 minutes of the game but received 5 penalties in the final period. Out of the five, they received two penalties in the final three minutes of the game. If they want to play low scoring games, that has to improve.

 

Looked promising- Penalty kill, with Leopold, Morrisonn and Niedermayer additions, i think we will have another elite PK unit.

 

Want to see- I think they need to work Nate Gerbe into the lineup. I love the toughness of the fourth line but not sure it's needed on a nightly basis. Unless we play Philly, Ott, Tor, Bos and teams like that, i think it'd be wise to play Gerbe on the fourth line. Add some speed, some spark to that line and add depth to the PP.

Good post. Roy certainly responded well to wearing the "A." His line was the best on the ice for either team.

 

Regarding the discipline, I don't think I saw a replay of Stafford's penalty at the end. Grier's penalty with 20 seconds left was, I think, a BS call because the Ottawa stick he "slashed" didn't break -- it just fell out of the Ottawa player's hand. I could be wrong, but I think the automatic penalty only occurs if the stick breaks.

 

My other observations:

 

1. Niedermayer-Hecht-Grier is going to give up very few goals against this year. They are all tough and smart with good size. Their line is going to win the territorial advantage most of the time.

 

2. Ennis is going to be a force, and the most entertaining Sabre since Max was good in -06-07. He had the 2nd-most ice time on the team among forwards.

 

3. Connolly had a lousy game. Pommer played a decent all-around game but didn't create much offense. Still, that line had a number of chances. Vanek looked good.

 

4. Morrisson/Myers will be better than Tallinder/Myers.

 

5. Miller was very sharp.

 

6. Rivet-Sekera was decent -- both were much less shaky than at times last year. Rivet played 15 minutes and Sekera over 16.

 

7. Montador is still the defenseman most likely to commit a spectacular turnover. I thought he had a pretty decent game though.

 

8. Beating Ottawa in the first real game in forever in the real white jerseys is a fine way to start the season. Let's see if they are determined enough to get another W tomorrow in the home opener.

[JohnRobertEichel]

If I were Lindy, I would bench Montador/Sekera/McCormick for Weber/Butler/Gerbe tomorrow night...more so because of the fresh legs for the back-to-back, as opposed to bad play. Your thoughts?

 

Awesome game, by the way. I can nitpick on problem areas, but the bottom line is that the team showed up for 60 minutes against frigging Ottawa IN Ottawa and came out with a regulation win.

[JohnRobertEichel]

Sooooooo nice to see a team from Buffalo win a game tonight. Sundays have been tough of late.

 

It is quite possible that the Sabres already just won more games than the Bills will win all season.

[Guest]

Awesome game, by the way. I can nitpick on problem areas, but the bottom line is that the team showed up for 60 minutes against frigging Ottawa IN Ottawa and came out with a regulation win.

In OPENING night in Ottawa no less. Sent them fans home winless.

[TheMatrix31]

Hey guys, great to see we won and Roy was able to find the net twice. I was recording the game b/c I was at work, and then the Braves game started. Ended up getting spoiled on the result, I guess that's the drawback of following Sabres players (I'm looking at you, Myers) on FB and news sources on Twitter.

 

Stupid me.

[wjag]

Undefeated in the Division, in the Conference and on the road.

 

Maybe, just maybe, a major monkey is off their back.

 

Nice way to start the season and ruin Ottawa's home opener.

[Eleven]

I don't want to speak for TW but since you invited him to Jades i think i should post this. I went to Puck Drop and was gonna go there for lunch afterwords and i PMed TW to see if he would be open for lunch and he told me the place didn't make it.

 

That sux.

[Calvin]

Good game mostly. Mostly because they did more positive things than negative and that's never a bad way to start off the season.

 

-Vanek managed to get a bunch of chances with both Pommers and TC being largely invisible. That's not a very good thing, but also not a bad thing. Good to see Vanek hungry and fighting for the puck. If TC stays in his invisibility cloak this contract year we'll have a hard time getting that bucket of wings for him at the deadline. Pommers.. hopefully he learns a thing or two from Roy's play tonight, and he cannot be on the first PP unit anymore, he really cannot.

-The Roy line was very good in the first two, and then Stafford pulled out his guitar during the break and we didn't see him in the third until his elbowing penalty (isn't that a rare call in the NHL?!). I'd give both Roy & Ennis straight 'A's, they were excellent!

-I was gushing about the third line all night long - it was exactly what we all wanted it to be. Nieds does not get enough credit for offensive work that he does, and he will get more than 10 goals this season. Grier, if only he was a few years younger, some times he looked slow but the spirit was still willing.

-The fourth line will need some offensive help - another poster above noted it too, that we don't need the heavy lumber against every single team this season. I liked what they brought in the hustle, but were not able to set up possession and create some pressure at the opposition's blue line. Kaleta scores some very good goals but they are almost always on counter-attacking rushes. Goose continues to look lost with the puck and if it weren't for the faceoff ability (what was his percentage yest?) he really needs to rework his skating. McCormick is the grit we need, I like what he brings!

 

-The M&M pair will be just fine, and I think we'll be happy to see them play close to 30min a game.

-Monty and Leopold on the other hand, will be setting a few hearts aflutter. Maybe Leopold is not going to turnover the puck as spectacularly as yesterday, maybe he will. Monty we know will do it roughly once a game. If they're both going to do it then they can't be on the same line.

-Rivet and Sekera were decent enough, I have no problems with them being the third pair. It was good to see Rivet being physical again though.

 

-Miller held strong and didn't concede any top shelf shots from point against the Sens. He did nothing wrong all game, and that's all we need from our Vezina-goalie.

[carpandean]

-The M&M pair will be just fine, and I think we'll be happy to see them play close to 30min a game.

I said basically the same thing, but after looking at their ice times, I remembered something. Morrisonn won't get Myers' PP time. So, we may see Myers get close to 30 minutes (over 24 last night in a first of back-to-backs), but Morrisonn won't likely top 25 minutes (only 20 minutes last night.)

[DR HOLLIDAY]

Where is the negative bastard crew at??????

[bunomatic]

Not much to be negative about. Great effort and a good result. I will mention the even up calls by the refs though. Maybe its me but it seemed like they were doing everything in their power to give the sens an advantage to even it up and with the homer play by play it really stuck out.

[inkman]

I'm still trying to figure out how Neal and Ruutu are allowed to get away with their transgressions on the ice. These guys are the definition of dirty and are pretty much given a free pass by the commissioner to do it on a nightly basis. Until Bettman figures out how to take that BS out of the game the league will not be taken seriously.

[bob_sauve28]

A few items I'd like to see tonight:

 

- chemistry on the TC-Vanek-Pommer line

 

- Morrisson introducing himself emphatically to Neil.

 

- Ennis playing like he belongs on the top 6

 

- Stafford continuing strong preseason play

 

- Gaustad-McCormick-Kaleta doing some damage

 

- The first Senator that jostles Miller paying a heavy price

 

- Rivet looking rejuvenated

 

- Sekera looking like he earned that #6 spot, not won it by default

 

- Myers

 

- Better execution on the PP

 

Go Sabres.

LOL, Yes!

 

So happy they won!! :clapping:

[Two or less]

I'm still trying to figure out how Neal and Ruutu are allowed to get away with their transgressions on the ice. These guys are the definition of dirty and are pretty much given a free pass by the commissioner to do it on a nightly basis. Until Bettman figures out how to take that BS out of the game the league will not be taken seriously.

 

Same. I hosted a party for the game at my crib and we kept saying that. They are such thugs its not even funny.

[deluca67]

I agree on most of this, although I thought Leopold made a number of nice plays. He sure looked bad on Ottawa's goal though. He was 3rd on the team in ice time.

 

 

Good post. Roy certainly responded well to wearing the "A." His line was the best on the ice for either team.

 

Regarding the discipline, I don't think I saw a replay of Stafford's penalty at the end. Grier's penalty with 20 seconds left was, I think, a BS call because the Ottawa stick he "slashed" didn't break -- it just fell out of the Ottawa player's hand. I could be wrong, but I think the automatic penalty only occurs if the stick breaks.

 

My other observations:

 

1. Niedermayer-Hecht-Grier is going to give up very few goals against this year. They are all tough and smart with good size. Their line is going to win the territorial advantage most of the time.

 

2. Ennis is going to be a force, and the most entertaining Sabre since Max was good in -06-07. He had the 2nd-most ice time on the team among forwards.

 

3. Connolly had a lousy game. Pommer played a decent all-around game but didn't create much offense. Still, that line had a number of chances. Vanek looked good.

 

4. Morrisson/Myers will be better than Tallinder/Myers.

 

5. Miller was very sharp.

 

6. Rivet-Sekera was decent -- both were much less shaky than at times last year. Rivet played 15 minutes and Sekera over 16.

 

7. Montador is still the defenseman most likely to commit a spectacular turnover. I thought he had a pretty decent game though.

8. Beating Ottawa in the first real game in forever in the real white jerseys is a fine way to start the season. Let's see if they are determined enough to get another W tomorrow in the home opener.

Montador and Leopold looked like real liabilities out there Friday night. As bad as they looked Morrisson and Myers looked great together. I hope they are ready for the ice time they will have to log.

 

Vanek needs to bury some goals quick. Nights like last night are how goal scoring slumps are born.

 

I'm keeping a close on the specialty teams. Giving up 6 power plays against better teams is not a good idea. 1 for 5 on the power play is respectable on the road.

 

Two keys from Friday that I hope become a season long trend? 22 hits and 20 blocked shots. Well above the average from last year of 17 hits and 12 blocked shots per game. Lets hope it's a sign that this team is finally willing to do what it takes to win.

[spndnchz]

Roy's "Royal hands" video

 

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=35&id=77834