GAME DISCUSSION THREAD

[Corp000085]

7:30pm

 

LETS GO BUFFALO!!

[spndnchz]

Get ur fill of the Sabres now and tomorrow. Atlanta game not on TV because of versus exclusive window.

 

Let's see these lines get some goals tonight!

 

And the chance to .500 in W-L tonight.

[spndnchz]

Vokoun's last game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl670-0540g

 

ouch.

[nfreeman]

Vokoun's last game

 

ouch.

Wow -- that looks almost exactly like Lalime's brain lock a couple of weeks ago.

[Stoner]

Get ur fill of the Sabres now and tomorrow. Atlanta game not on TV because of versus exclusive window.

 

Let's see these lines get some goals tonight!

 

And the chance to .500 in W-L tonight.

 

But the Sabres have 13 wins and 18 losses?

[NowDoYouBelieve]

Get ur fill of the Sabres now and tomorrow. Atlanta game not on TV because of versus exclusive window.

 

Let's see these lines get some goals tonight!

 

And the chance to .500 in W-L tonight.

 

Well...kinda.

[NowDoYouBelieve]

This team is 10-5-2 since the arrival of Miller back to the starting lineup. We haven't looked great in some of the losses (and honeslty, some of the wins).

 

But we've also beaten some really good teams during that stretch, and I think you can't deny that the Sabres are experiencing something of a mini-resurgence here. We're still on the outside looking in and might be that way for a little while. That's the price for digging yourself such a hole. To me, the Sabres are a good team that has acted mediocre. I am confident that we will find ourselves in Slot #8 or better by the end of the season.

 

All that said, part of the grand process of coming back is beating subpar teams like the Panthers. They're not terrible, but they definitely go in the "should win" section when you look at the schedule. So let's get it done.

 

Sabres 4-1.

[R_Dudley]

But the Sabres have 13 wins and 18 losses?

 

Exactly what I thought.

 

With the new tie breaker rule this year being wins in regulation and the current log jam of teams in the mix for a playoff spot, this looks like it will come into play and the team needs to be thinking this way from here on out as well.

 

Lindy that's your job to get this message through loud and clear.

 

This team is 10-5-2 since the arrival of Miller back to the starting lineup. We haven't looked great in some of the losses (and honeslty, some of the wins). But we've also beaten some really good teams during that stretch, and I think you can't deny that the Sabres are experiencing something of a mini-resurgence here. We're still on the outside looking in and might be that way for a little while. That's the price for digging yourself such a hole. To me, the Sabres are a good team that has acted mediocre. I am confident that we will find ourselves in Slot #8 or better by the end of the season.

 

All that said, part of the grand process of coming back is beating subpar teams like the Panthers. They're not terrible, but they definitely go in the "should win" section when you look at the schedule. So let's get it done.Sabres 4-1.

 

 

Good post and right on.

 

This team has no cushion whatsoever and needs to knuckle down and be ready to play hard every night until they are in a playoff spot. Then I am sure the way this season is going they will need to maintain that pace just to keep that spot.

 

They have no one to blame but themselves so I say no Christmas vacation and lumps of coal in their stockings for all of them. They have been really bad, literally and figuratively.

 

Road to redemption continues tonight and tomorrow.

 

Let's go B'Lo.

[shrader]

Get ur fill of the Sabres now and tomorrow. Atlanta game not on TV because of versus exclusive window.

 

I hope you mean the Anaheim game on Tuesday. I'll be in the air back to Buffalo during that one on a Jet Blue flight, so I'll be listening anyway.

[CallawaySabres]

Here begins the softer schedule for the next 10 games or so where they can really catch up to some teams above them. An 8-2 run is coming up so get ready...

[shrader]

Exactly what I thought.

 

With the new tie breaker rule this year being wins in regulation and the current log jam of teams in the mix for a playoff spot, this looks like it will come into play and the team needs to be thinking this way from here on out as well.

 

Lindy that's your job to get this message through loud and clear.

 

Minor nitpick here. It's not just wins in regulation. It's the fake wins (shootouts) that don't count in a tie breaker. So that OT loss against Boston a couple weeks back could sting a bit more if by some chance the two teams end up tied. That extra point would still count for them in tie breakers.

[spndnchz]

Guess it was too early. Yes, Anaheim, I meant W-L not W-L-OT. baby steps. Win baby win!

[nfreeman]

An 8-2 run is coming up so get ready...

Good man.

[dan213]

We've owned the Panthers recently. Now is the time to put a run together to make up some ground in the east.

 

Lets Go Sabres!

[JujuFish]

But the Sabres have 13 wins and 18 losses?

And yet they'll still be at .500 points percentage with a win. Of course, you knew what she meant, anyway.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

And yet they'll still be at .500 points percentage with a win. Of course, you knew what she meant, anyway.

 

Umm...no

 

The Sabres have gone to 9 OT games where 3 points were awarded.

 

The Sabres have captured 30 out of 71 points awarded in their games.

 

The Sabres are .422 points percentage.

 

 

 

You see, it's sort of like the Sabres go out to dinner with a real team. They each order 30 dollars worth of food and drink. The bill comes and the Sabres take 30 dollars out of their wallet. But you see, there is tax and tip to worry about. So the real team is left contributing 41 dollars to make up for the Sabres subpar contribution.

 

See how that works?

 

By the way, something tells me that anyone who tries to say the Sabres are .500 with a straight face are just the type to short a bar bill as well.

[Eleven]

Umm...no

 

The Sabres have gone to 9 OT games where 3 points were awarded.

 

The Sabres have captured 30 out of 71 points awarded in their games.

 

The Sabres are .422 points percentage.

 

 

 

You see, it's sort of like the Sabres go out to dinner with a real team. They each order 30 dollars worth of food and drink. The bill comes and the Sabres take 30 dollars out of their wallet. But you see, there is tax and tip to worry about. So the real team is left contributing 41 dollars to make up for the Sabres subpar contribution.

 

See how that works?

 

By the way, something tells me that anyone who tries to say the Sabres are .500 with a straight face are just the type to short a bar bill as well.

 

That's a shiotty tip after the tax is taken out. These hypothetical people depend on tips to make a hypothetical living, you know.

[spndnchz]

Umm...no

 

The Sabres have gone to 9 OT games where 3 points were awarded.

 

The Sabres have captured 30 out of 71 points awarded in their games.

 

The Sabres are .422 points percentage.

 

 

 

You see, it's sort of like the Sabres go out to dinner with a real team. They each order 30 dollars worth of food and drink. The bill comes and the Sabres take 30 dollars out of their wallet. But you see, there is tax and tip to worry about. So the real team is left contributing 41 dollars to make up for the Sabres subpar contribution.

 

See how that works?

 

By the way, something tells me that anyone who tries to say the Sabres are .500 with a straight face are just the type to short a bar bill as well.

 

You need to watch it's a wonderful life backwards.

[JujuFish]

Umm...no

 

The Sabres have gone to 9 OT games where 3 points were awarded.

 

The Sabres have captured 30 out of 71 points awarded in their games.

 

The Sabres are .422 points percentage.

 

 

 

You see, it's sort of like the Sabres go out to dinner with a real team. They each order 30 dollars worth of food and drink. The bill comes and the Sabres take 30 dollars out of their wallet. But you see, there is tax and tip to worry about. So the real team is left contributing 41 dollars to make up for the Sabres subpar contribution.

 

See how that works?

 

By the way, something tells me that anyone who tries to say the Sabres are .500 with a straight face are just the type to short a bar bill as well.

The Sabres are most definitely not .500 winning percentage, but with a win they will be .500 points percentage, whether you want to admit it or not. Stop being obstinate.

[carpandean]

Umm...no

 

The Sabres have gone to 9 OT games where 3 points were awarded.

 

The Sabres have captured 30 out of 71 points awarded in their games.

 

The Sabres are .422 points percentage.

The only flaw with this logic is the Sabres could not have achieved 100% of those points. They could have won all 31 games it OT and been 0.667 by your standard. If the Sabres win tonight, they will have received 0.500 of all possible points that they could have gotten in their games. It's really just another indictment of the current points system.

 

Your argument does have some merit, though, as 0.500 doesn't mean what it used to. The average points achieved per game is something like 2.2 or 2.3 now (it changes every year, but I did calculate the average over a few seasons once), so 0.500 is not "average" any more. That's why I don't use 0.500 in my charts; the median (middle) team is the last to make the playoffs and has typically had 93 +/- 2 points.

[nfreeman]

Umm...no

 

The Sabres have gone to 9 OT games where 3 points were awarded.

 

The Sabres have captured 30 out of 71 points awarded in their games.

 

The Sabres are .422 points percentage.

 

You see, it's sort of like the Sabres go out to dinner with a real team. They each order 30 dollars worth of food and drink. The bill comes and the Sabres take 30 dollars out of their wallet. But you see, there is tax and tip to worry about. So the real team is left contributing 41 dollars to make up for the Sabres subpar contribution.

 

See how that works?

 

By the way, something tells me that anyone who tries to say the Sabres are .500 with a straight face are just the type to short a bar bill as well.

 

That's a shiotty tip after the tax is taken out. These hypothetical people depend on tips to make a hypothetical living, you know.

The Sabres are most definitely not .500 winning percentage, but with a win they will be .500 points percentage, whether you want to admit it or not. Stop being obstinate.

The only flaw with this logic is the Sabres could not have achieved 100% of those points. They could have won all 31 games it OT and been 0.667 by your standard. If the Sabres win tonight, they will have received 0.500 of all possible points that they could have gotten in their games. It's really just another indictment of the current points system.

 

Your argument does have some merit, though, as 0.500 doesn't mean what it used to. The average points achieved per game is something like 2.2 or 2.3 now (it changes every year, but I did calculate the average over a few seasons once), so 0.500 is not "average" any more. That's why I don't use 0.500 in my charts; the median (middle) team is the last to make the playoffs and has typically had 93 +/- 2 points.

 

The latter 3 posts really carry the day in this dispute, but still: a shining moment for DD. And who among us can say that the Sabres' offseason "improvements" don't bring to mind exactly that kind of lame check-splitting maneuver?

[nfreeman]

Also: the article in TBN today about the post-game locker room music (which I will refuse to link out of dismay with the contents) made me sick. "Billie Jean?" "Don't stop til you get enough?" Are you joking?

 

I think if someone put on Michael Jackson in the Flyers' locker room, Pronger would break the iPod and the player in half.

[korab rules]

Exactly what I thought.

 

With the new tie breaker rule this year being wins in regulation and the current log jam of teams in the mix for a playoff spot, this looks like it will come into play and the team needs to be thinking this way from here on out as well.

 

Lindy that's your job to get this message through loud and clear.

 

 

 

 

Good post and right on.

 

This team has no cushion whatsoever and needs to knuckle down and be ready to play hard every night until they are in a playoff spot. Then I am sure the way this season is going they will need to maintain that pace just to keep that spot.

 

They have no one to blame but themselves so I say no Christmas vacation and lumps of coal in their stockings for all of them. They have been really bad, literally and figuratively.

Road to redemption continues tonight and tomorrow.

 

Let's go B'Lo.

 

The bolded part is all true (minus my one little correction).

 

The only flaw with this logic is the Sabres could not have achieved 100% of those points. They could have won all 31 games it OT and been 0.667 by your standard. If the Sabres win tonight, they will have received 0.500 of all possible points that they could have gotten in their games. It's really just another indictment of the current points system.

 

Your argument does have some merit, though, as 0.500 doesn't mean what it used to. The average points achieved per game is something like 2.2 or 2.3 now (it changes every year, but I did calculate the average over a few seasons once), so 0.500 is not "average" any more. That's why I don't use 0.500 in my charts; the median (middle) team is the last to make the playoffs and has typically had 93 +/- 2 points.

 

This post made me laugh. Don't mess with carp! I don't give a crap what our winning percentage or ppg average is, all I care is that we are in the top 8 by the end of the season.

 

I am feeling strangely optimistic today. Maybe its because I am coming off three straight days of booze fueled Christmas parties and heading into a weekend of several more. Maybe its because I finally finished watching the Bruins game, and was strangely excited by some of the things I saw. Suddenly, we have a real first line, a couple of players who don't back down from Chara, and a defenseman who makes the forwards from the other team look over their shoulder before they go into the corners.

 

I look at the standings today, and we are 10 points behind the DIVISION LEADER with a game in hand and a VERY winnable game in front of us tonight. Forget the flow chart and statistics and whether Clinton banged that ho or not, we are 10 points back with 50 games to play. Winning the division is still an achievable goal. Boston is nothing special. Their goaltending is starting to come back to earth. Even with the goaltending they were receiving, they are barely holding on to 8th place. We have slain the dragon that was Ottawa, and the spleefs are still our bitch. The Sabres are playing better and better, and starting to string some wins together. If we could only get Butler to share the day old shrimp he keeps in his locker for Rivs with Connolly, and get Adam back up here we would really be in business.

 

The thing that scares me the most right now is our "Veteran Leadership". Rivs is done, thank goodness (Sorry Mrs. Rivet). I will hold off on passing judgment on Nieds now that his knee is better but he had better show something soon. Grier seems like he has hit the wall. The downside of signing "Veteran Leadership" is they can fall off a cliff at any given moment. Seems like someone gave us a moment. Maybe some wins will rejuvenate the geezers, but I worry about that 3rd line betraying us. I don't know that they have 1:15 PK shifts left in those old legs anymore.

 

Go Sabres! Light up the Panthers tonight. One game at a time...

[Stoner]

Also: the article in TBN today about the post-game locker room music (which I will refuse to link out of dismay with the contents) made me sick. "Billie Jean?" "Don't stop til you get enough?" Are you joking?

 

I think if someone put on Michael Jackson in the Flyers' locker room, Pronger would break the iPod and the player in half.

 

Another hard hitting expose by John Vogl that belongs on sabres.com. I can't imagine Mike Harrington writing it.

[Realist]

This post made me laugh. Don't mess with carp! I don't give a crap what our winning percentage or ppg average is, all I care is that we are in the top 8 by the end of the season.

 

I am feeling strangely optimistic today. Maybe its because I am coming off three straight days of booze fueled Christmas parties and heading into a weekend of several more. Maybe its because I finally finished watching the Bruins game, and was strangely excited by some of the things I saw. Suddenly, we have a real first line, a couple of players who don't back down from Chara, and a defenseman who makes the forwards from the other team look over their shoulder before they go into the corners.

 

I look at the standings today, and we are 10 points behind the DIVISION LEADER with a game in hand and a VERY winnable game in front of us tonight. Forget the flow chart and statistics and whether Clinton banged that ho or not, we are 10 points back with 50 games to play. Winning the division is still an achievable goal. Boston is nothing special. Their goaltending is starting to come back to earth. Even with the goaltending they were receiving, they are barely holding on to 8th place. We have slain the dragon that was Ottawa, and the spleafs are still our bitch. The Sabres are playing better and better, and starting to string some wins together. If we could only get Butler to share the day old shrimp he keeps in his locker for Rivs with Connolly, and get Adam back up here we would really be in business.

 

The thing that scares me the most right now is our "Veteran Leadership". Rivs is done, thanks goodness (Sorry Mrs. Rivet). I will hold off on passing judgment on Nieds now that his knee is better but he had better show something soon. Grier seems like he has hit the wall. The downside of signing "Veterean Leadership" is they can fall off a cliff at any given moment. Seems like someone gave us a moment. Maybe some wins will rejuvenate the geezers, but I worry about that 3rd line betraying us. I don't know that they have 1:15 PK shifts left in those old legs anymore.

 

Go Sabres! Light up the Panthers tonight. One game at a time...

 

 

Don't let Deluca see this or he's going to have a conniption right here.