GDT: Montreal @ Buffalo, 7pm MSG, 10/13/2016

[qwksndmonster]

Even though it didn't go so well, it was an honor and a pleasure to GDT with you fine folks once again.

[hockeyhound]

I know its just one game; however, tonight's performance was embarrassing.

 

Let's Go Buffalo.

[JJFIVEOH]

Appears I didn't miss a whole lot of maybe I'm glad I was working all evening. Not a lot of optimism in here.... Usually after a loss its split in here, but I'm getting a bad feeling from catching up on the board

 

The sky is not falling and the natives have been waiting for five months for something to be miserable about. With the Bills winning streak and nice weather, the home opener was next in line. Half the board would have been bitching if they won. 

[Thorner]

 

Not wearing any Sabres gear today, but here's my game face/hair.

Blake? Is that you?

 

IIRC, you were on the "our NHL depth is worrisome" train with myself and others, right? Yup.

I was on this particular locomotive, too.

Edited October 14, 2016 by Thorny

[wjag]

I had the good sense to shut it off mid-second.  Just wasn't their night.

 

On to game 2

[Huckleberry]

Nah, screw that rule. I 100% support Liger's decision and ###### you to the hockey gods.

 

Bylsma Kvetch: Why are Gionta and Grant getting PP time over Larsson? Does Dan think he'll play worse with tons of space?

 

Ennis looked super rusty. Didn't have it going at all. Nelson was bad. Franson was bad. O'Reilly wasn't good with the puck but still made some really nice plays away from it in the O-zone.

 

Foligno was good. More of that please. Not worth 2.25 my ass.

 

Larsson was really good. Smooth offensively, smart defensively, and like Neo said, a hound on the forecheck.

 

McCabe and Bogosian were good. I loved Bogo's nastiness tonight.

 

Sam wasn't spectacular 5 on 5 but his PP work? Damn. That pass was ridiculous. Thank god Matt Moulson buried it.

 

Speaking of which, Moulson is still useless 5 on 5.

 

Risto was just kinda meh. Gorges was Gorges.

 

It's absurd how much having Jack out changes the profile of our team. His speed creates so much offense and opens up so much space. Can't wait to have him back.

 

On the Kane injury, I don't think Emelin was at fault there. I don't really know what Kane was doing. Looked like another injury due to his reckless style.

 

I liked Dan's handling of the lines after Kane went down.

O'Reilly got saved by Samson in the D zone quite a lot actually, Was wondering why Samson wasn't put on a different line but I guess O'Reilly was playing at like 50%.

But if we want a somewhat of a real top 6 the next two months, Samson and O'Reilly need to be split up.

 

Samson, Larsson, McCabe, Bogo and Foligno were the only ones up to speed it seems.

Grant didn't dissapoint me either as a  bottom 6.

To much dump and chase going on again, only saw Risto, Samson and O'Reilly carry the puck into the offensive zone a couple of times.

 

on our D

Gorges , franson and Nelson made a lot of questionable plays, Nelson is a reason that 2nd goal happened , he got to fancy at our own blue line, while franson was way out of position ( which happened a lot and if I felt like Nelson had to cover that up to much.)

 

All I saw Ennis do tonight , was fall over , dump the puck in and chase, fall over again.   For someone that is supposed to be a puck hog, he sure lost it a lot.

[CallawaySabres]

Ennis looked totally invisible. I said The only way this team survives without Eichel is ifine Ennis, Kane and Lehner all take the next step.....not a good sign

[Doohicksie]

Ennis looked totally invisible. I said The only way this team survives without Eichel is ifine Ennis, Kane and Lehner all take the next step.....not a good sign

 

No, he was very visible.  On the doorstep many times.  He just couldn't bury it.  Maybe has the season wears on he'll get his timing or something.  Or maybe he just can't finish anymore.

 

[GoPre]

Ugghhh.... I've always picked up Gamecenter. Only reason I dont have it right now is because of moving and waiting for the internet to be installed. I'll still pick it up. Simply because I love hockey. Must admit I didn't see last nights game. But from what I've read, this could be another long season. Is there a solid top 3 ranking for the draft? Hopefully winger? Let me add I do not and will not pull for the Sabres to lose. Just bites in matter of hours the season went from so much excitement to an oh no here we go again....

[Randall Flagg]

Last night was pretty rough after all the waiting we had done and what happened 24 hours before the season started. The team was obviously as rattled as we were. They're going to pull together. Some parts looked tank-y, but overall it wasn't any worse than their bad nights last season. There were stretches of good play in the Montreal zone that will get longer as they get players back and get more comfortable. The season isn't over. I think I'm avoiding Sunday's game for my mental health though.

[ubkev]

I'm mad that I couldn't watch closely last night. I had the game on, but I was putting together a friggin fireplace TV stand on orders from my wife and I'm afraid that I can offer zero insight on the game(not like my insight is ever very insightful). But hey, we didn't get shutout!

 

I'll let them play for about 10 games or so before I panic .

[darksabre]

Reviewing the box score today, by all metrics except score the Sabres were the better team last night. 

Our defense was abysmal. There's no way around that. And it gave Montreal the game. I think Risto missing pre-season was a major detractor. 

 

We're going to need Kulikov back to add some speed. And we need Risto to re-establish some chemistry with the team. 

We are still going to need to trade for some defense at some point. We have nothing in the pipeline. No depth. Not the kind a cusp playoff team needs.

[3putt]

Unless we admit we are not a cusp playoff team. If one takes the pov that we are waiting for dead space to come free with Gionta, Gorges Moulson and Franson coming off the books, we are right on schedule.   :flirt:

[darksabre]

Unless we admit we are not a cusp playoff team. If one takes the pov that we are waiting for dead space to come free with Gionta, Gorges Moulson and Franson coming off the books, we are right on schedule.   :flirt:

 

This is certainly possible. 

[nucci]

Unless we admit we are not a cusp playoff team. If one takes the pov that we are waiting for dead space to come free with Gionta, Gorges Moulson and Franson coming off the books, we are right on schedule.   :flirt:

great, one more season without playoffs.....what's one more?

[darksabre]

Unfortunately we still have another year of Gorges and a few years of Matty Mo. Kulikov is a UFA. We could have pretty much no defense going into next year unless we get some more guys under contract. 

 

Moulson is a major problem. He's going to need to get waived. 

I don't think GMTM is going to wait on stuff like this. It needs to happen sooner rather than later. 

[SwampD]

Unfortunately we still have another year of Gorges and a few years of Matty Mo. Kulikov is a UFA. We could have pretty much no defense going into next year unless we get some more guys under contract. 

 

Moulson is a major problem. He's going to need to get waived. 

I don't think GMTM is going to wait on stuff like this. It needs to happen sooner rather than later. 

Why do you have such a problem with our leading goal scorer.

 

:bag:

[darksabre]

Why do you have such a problem with our leading goal scorer.

 

:bag:

:lol:

[LGR4GM]

I'll give them exactly 10 games before I hit the panic button. I think the western road swing this early will be good. 

[darksabre]

I'll give them exactly 10 games before I hit the panic button. I think the western road swing this early will be good. 

 

Agreed. I think I posted something to that effect last night. My hope is at the 10 game mark we'll see some improvement, or GMTM will have identified what changes he needs to make right away. 

[SwampD]

:lol:

And with all the injuries, until Samson realizes how good he is, Moulson is probably going to hold that spot for a while.

 

:bag: :bag:

 

 

As for our defense, I actually thought our defensemen did what they were supposed to do most of the night. The problem was (once again) that when they got the puck to the forwards on the half boards, they couldn't get it out of the zone and we would end up pinned in for far too long.

[darksabre]

And with all the injuries, until Samson realizes how good he is, Moulson is probably going to hold that spot for a while.

 

:bag: :bag:

 

 

As for our defense, I actually thought our defensemen did what they were supposed to do most of the night. The problem was (once again) that when they got the puck to the forwards on the half boards, they couldn't get it out of the zone and we would end up pinned in for far too long.

We do half board outlets so wrong. There's something tragically missing from the execution of that method. The pass never seems to catch the forward in stride so he had to hold up which lets the defender at the point cover up and turn the forward back into his own zone.

[bob_sauve28]

And with all the injuries, until Samson realizes how good he is, Moulson is probably going to hold that spot for a while.

 

:bag: :bag:

 

 

As for our defense, I actually thought our defensemen did what they were supposed to do most of the night. The problem was (once again) that when they got the puck to the forwards on the half boards, they couldn't get it out of the zone and we would end up pinned in for far too long.

We must of been watching different games then. The defense was putrid, with the exception of McCabe. Nelson does not belong in this league, Bogo needs to wake up, Risto better not be the next Big Post-Contract-Stafford dud, and the others are just nothing special. The lack of depth on defense is really a problem to say the least 

Unfortunately we still have another year of Gorges and a few years of Matty Mo. Kulikov is a UFA. We could have pretty much no defense going into next year unless we get some more guys under contract. 

 

Moulson is a major problem. He's going to need to get waived. 

I don't think GMTM is going to wait on stuff like this. It needs to happen sooner rather than later. 

GMTM maybe made a mistake there. If he walks we really lost on that deal, especially since we have zero depth on D. Heck, its less than zero! 

[nfreeman]

It's only one game, but I was pretty disappointed in Ennis.  He was completely ineffective.  And where was the speed?

 

Hopefully he finds his groove again.  If it happens, though, it'll probably take 10-15 games.

[Randall Flagg]

I'm not sure which it is. But for some reason, our defensemen spend a lot of time either fumbling pucks or passing them around, making our forwards stop in the neutral zone and allowing Montreal to clog everything so that our forwards have nowhere to go and aren't moving anyway, leading to the bad-pass-chip-into-zone thing, and we never win that race because we're waiting for passes. But maybe the defensemen aren't making the pass because of the way Dan has the forwards breaking out. Did any of them cross through the center of the ice even once? It was all north, no tricks. I don't know.