Was this win a sign of good things to come?

[R_Dudley]

Well I recorded the games and watched later so I couldn't post in the GDT but after watching those last two games are two of the best games I have seen in the last couple years. Complete games played for 3 periods as a team. Very refreshing to finally see that.

Have they arrived, I am cautiously optimistic. Yesterdays game when down 2-0 didn't have me feeling the need to bale like looking away from a bad accident like last season because they looked different and were playing solid even though behind.

Sometimes puck luck has you lose games you shouldn't but you can tell when guy's are still playing hard. I can live with that sans the final result.  Lets hope they truly are learning to win. 

Still need to see how well the coaching and team handles being scouted and game planned to stop what is working for us,  That's the mark of a team arriving, that and not getting the opposing back up goalies ...       

[Andrew Amerk]

1 hour ago, Weave said:

I know I would very much like my thoughts on that trade to be quieted.

What they do with the draft pick might end up deciding who “won” that trade. 

[DarthEbriate]

I don’t know if this was a sign of things to come, but it was a great comeback win against a good defensive team on the road. 

My expectations are that this team is competing for a wildcard until the end (against teams from the Metro). 

But what this road trip taught me is that this team could be fun to watch. And that’s more interesting to me in the short term than the likelihood of a playoff berth. 

[Doohicksie]

...

Edited October 23, 2018 by Doohickie

[IKnowPhysics]

There's some things to like and some others to watch out for longer term.

Defense:

• Dahlin was paired with Nelson.  Okay, that might work... but we also might have to shelter the ***** out of them so they don't get killed.
• Bogosian and Scandella pair played great both games.
• Risto paired with McCabe.  They tried this pairing a little last year and it didn't work.  It didn't really work that great in LA, but was alright in ANA.  This is a wait and see, but if it doesn't work and they are forced to eat minutes to shelter Nelson-Dahlin, then it could make us bad.

Forwards:

• The Skinner-Eichel-Pominville line was dominant in both games.  Pommer recorded his 700th point in LA.  Skinner is leading the team with +8.
• The line of Sheary-Reinhart-Sobotka also quietly crushed it.  They didn't score any goals, but their possession was better than Skinner-Eichel-Pominville in ANA yesterday, likely due to better matchups.  This is the clearcut 2nd line in 5v5 minutes.  That said, Sheary hasn't recorded a point in four games and is lagging the team with -7 in 9GP.
• The 3rd line was Larsson-Berglund-Girgensens.  They held their own defensively and ended up creating a couple high danger scoring chances.
• 4th line was Rodrigues-Mittelstadt-Okposo.  Rodrigues, by the way, has 4 points in the last 7 games.  Okposo on the 4th line is a put-the-veteran-with-the-kids move by Housley, not a demotion: Okposo got powerplay time and scored a PPG in ANA.

Goalies:

• Ullmark has played 94 minutes of 5v5 and has yet to allow a 5v5 goal.  That includes 13 high danger shots against.  Even with only two games under his belt, Ullmark's Goals Saved Above Average is 6th among goalies, making his 5v5 GSAA/60 (2.12) by far the highest in the league.
• Hutton has seen 311 minutes of 5v5 (5th most) and has corresponding ranks of GA and saves.  Hutton's 5v5 GSAA is 0.04, so he's riding middle of the road.

 

[IvanPutski]

4 hours ago, Brawndo said:

https://www.naturalstattrick.com/

I will have to check that out.  Thanks

 

[klos1963]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I can accept that.

Did you know that they last time we won back to back game in SoCal was 2003?

i'm not dismissing the wins out west, just saying to get to a playoff opportunity, need to win a lot at home.

[erickompositör72]

2 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Is it too weak to just say maybe? We see signs the culture change may have been accomplished, and that was the essential step one so I'm optimistic, but it's way too early to tell.

Also last game was the first one where it looked like they were actually all on the same page playing the system, and that change might be the most important of all. Maybe the guys like Kane weren't cancers but maybe they were uncoachable. Maybe their egos get in the way and they just do their thing their way and sometimes they gets points, but if the team, the kids, see the main guys not buying in, it's harder to get anyone to buy in and systems fall apart when pieces don't fit.

I don't think it's that, I think it's just about game style and resulting chemistry. When SJS plugged Kane into their system, it seemed like a far better fit. He seemed to click on his line immediately.

Just like Skinner-Eichel-Pommer seemed to click. I hope they can keep it up, and other teams are unable to "figure them out"- I'm cautious in my optimism, as I remember a similar feeling of optimism when Vanek-Hodgson-Pommer seemed to click for a few games... we know how that turned out ?

Edited October 23, 2018 by erickompositör72

[Doohicksie]

6 minutes ago, erickompositör72 said:

we know how that turned out ?

CoHo was diagnosed with malignant hyperthermia and had to retire early? ?

[MattPie]

2 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Of the nine EC teams in a playoff position* on Oct. 22, 2017, seven made the playoffs.

*Three teams were tied for two wild card spots.

A fair bit of cherry-picking there — five of 10 WC teams in a playoff position went on to the postseason.

I bet other seasons line up. Anyway, it's pretty refreshing to be arguing it this way, rather than talking about how tough it is to dig out of an early hole.

I never really believed this until I started doing the math for Lost Point. A few bad games early, and even winning two in a row the Sabres still need the next one to get back to a playoff pace. They're in the wildcard slot right now, but on pace for 91 points which is safe to say *not* going to make the playoffs.

[erickompositör72]

7 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

CoHo was diagnosed with malignant hyperthermia and had to retire early? ?

forgive me, it wasn't a shot at CoHo. I wish the dude the best

[Taro T]

9 minutes ago, MattPie said:

I never really believed this until I started doing the math for Lost Point. A few bad games early, and even winning two in a row the Sabres still need the next one to get back to a playoff pace. They're in the wildcard slot right now, but on pace for 91 points which is safe to say *not* going to make the playoffs.

But beating Moe-ray-all on Thursday will have them EXACTLY where they need to be - on pace for 96 through 80 games, where a split in the final 2 games would get them to 98 which would nearly guarantee a playoff spot.

[Doohicksie]

2 minutes ago, erickompositör72 said:

forgive me, it wasn't a shot at CoHo. I wish the dude the best

At the time he didn't even know he had the condition.  So yeah, he was judged on his performance.

[GASabresIUFAN]

https://buffalonews.com/2018/10/22/mike-harrington-sabres-hope-to-take-flight-long-term-in-wake-of-wild-trip/

Even Harrington agrees.  Wow.

[sabills]

13 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Of the nine EC teams in a playoff position* on Oct. 22, 2017, seven made the playoffs.

*Three teams were tied for two wild card spots.

A fair bit of cherry-picking there — five of 10 WC teams in a playoff position went on to the postseason.

I bet other seasons line up. Anyway, it's pretty refreshing to be arguing it this way, rather than talking about how tough it is to dig out of an early hole.

The line over the last few years has been to be in playoff position come (American) Thanksgiving. That'll be tough, but doable. There are 13 games between now and then, and they play Montreal twice, Ottawa twice, the Canucks, and the Rangers in there. Not that those are all easy wins, or that I expect them to win them all, but its not a particularly tough stretch of the schedule. If you can come out of those 6 games with something like 8-10 points you should be feeling pretty good.

[mjd1001]

Because of how the road trip ended, Thursday nights game against Montreal is huge.  Not so much for the long-term success of the team, but for the fanbase and Sabres marketing dept:

-This is the first time in a LONG time the team has been over .500 even a few weeks into the season.  

-A lot of fans know they won the last couple games, but many did not see all of the games on the west coast

-This will be the first home game in a while...the first game in a LONG time (years) where fans are going into it thinking this team is truly different, BETTER than what they have seen in the past few years.

If the Sabres come out and play well and win, you are going to see some momentum with the fanbase finally unlike anything during the season in years. If they play poorly and lose...it'll be "same old Sabres" to many fans.

[sabills]

Whens the last time this team was TWO games above 500?

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, sabills said:

Whens the last time this team was TWO games above 500?

This Thursday evening.  ?

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, sabills said:

Whens the last time this team was TWO games above 500?

1st 2 games of last lockout IIRC.

[Doohicksie]

Apparently this is our best October since 2011.  If you listen to the players though, they don't seem satisfied; they feel the need to claw for more.  If they continue to have that unsatisfied feeling, it really could mean that the positive change is real.  The time of accepting anything other than a win..... could it be in the past?

[Kruppstahl]

We won't really know until they put a chunk of wins behind them and show consistency.

We have been lucky lately catching dead flat teams, like the Kings, who showed no interest in playing hockey a bit after noon local time.

This group of Sabres has also sucked it up for a single game and put together a solid effort only to relapse to 2 or 3 straight losses again.

I thought this year would be solid improvement but no playoffs.  Got off to a shaky start.

Today we sit in a playoff spot.  If we can make the playoffs this year it would be Christmas and my birthday coming at the same time.

 

 

 

[pi2000]

If they want to be taken seriously as a playoff contender, then they need to beat teams like Montreal, especially at home.    

Last year at this time their record in one goal games was 2-4.

This year at they're 2-0 in one goal games.

[Norcal]

5 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Because of how the road trip ended, Thursday nights game against Montreal is huge.  Not so much for the long-term success of the team, but for the fanbase and Sabres marketing dept:

-This is the first time in a LONG time the team has been over .500 even a few weeks into the season.  

-A lot of fans know they won the last couple games, but many did not see all of the games on the west coast

-This will be the first home game in a while...the first game in a LONG time (years) where fans are going into it thinking this team is truly different, BETTER than what they have seen in the past few years.

If the Sabres come out and play well and win, you are going to see some momentum with the fanbase finally unlike anything during the season in years. If they play poorly and lose...it'll be "same old Sabres" to many fans.

This. I really hope they play like they did at Anaheim, that was fun to watch!

[Doohicksie]

4 hours ago, pi2000 said:

If they want to be taken seriously as a playoff contender, then they need to beat teams like Montreal, especially at home.    

Last year at this time their record in one goal games was 2-4.

This year at they're 2-0 in one goal games.

wut.

Every game the Sabres have played thus far has been decided by a minimum of 2 goals.... unless you're talking about the NYR and ANA games in which the Sabres potted EN goals.

[pi2000]

36 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

wut.

Every game the Sabres have played thus far has been decided by a minimum of 2 goals.... unless you're talking about the NYR and ANA games in which the Sabres potted EN goals.

right, I'm not counting ENGs.