GDT: Tampa Bay Lightning at Buffalo Sabres, 7:30p EST NBCSN

[That Aud Smell]

14 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Why can't it last?

Last night’s win was just this side of a fluke. A fun fluke, but a fluke. If you simulate that game 10 times, TB wins 8.5 times (ha). So, 17 of 20. 85 of 100.

Lots of work for this team to do; lots of  growth needed.

[LTS]

19 hours ago, Doohickie said:

He's so big that he doesn't look like he's moving fast, but two strides will take him from the center red line to the goal line.

Takes a lot of room to turn a battleship around.

No, he's slow.  He started last night faster than usual but it quickly regressed back to the norm.

10 hours ago, SwampD said:

He's 21 and 6'5". He skates just fine.

While I disagree that he skates just fine and I partially allow for 21 and 6'5, the problem I have is that regardless of all of it, his "just fine" skating is not NHL caliber.

10 hours ago, Samson's Flow said:

Good. Okposo taking the shift with Larsson and Zemgus

Noted that right away. It was a smart change and I think spells the end of the Thompson lineup experiment.  He's just burned out of the 4th line. The only place left is Rochester and I wouldn't even guarantee time there at the moment.

10 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Not that there's a high standard, but easily Tage's best game of the year.  He played much better than any other game this year.

Until he got pulled because he had slowed to nothing, couldn't control the puck, couldn't make a pass, and couldn't body guys...

9 hours ago, IKnowPhysics said:

Not sure if it was figured out yet, but that was AJ Mleczko on color.  Gold in Nagano, Silver in Salt Lake, national title with Harvard.  Patty Kaz winner.

Did some work for NESN, got hired to NBCSN just this year.  First woman color commentator in an NHL Playoff in the 2nd round last year.  Also got hired to MSG for Islanders this year as a studio analyst.

Her cadence/timing was a little rough around the edges during play, but experience will polish that.  Her work during packages in intermission (where she's had more practice) was sharp.  I think she shows a lot of promise and I look forward to hearing more.

She was rough to start but it cleaned up as the game progressed.  I had heard her on other games in passing so I was surprised at the beginning that she was fumbling the words and not doing a great job of providing insight. Even the insight portions really cleared up by the end.

It's certainly a change of pace that takes the ear/brain a few moments to adjust to.  That said, I think she does a very good job given her experience and I do suspect it will only improve. As for some of the things she says, I always wonder how much of it is "storyline" from NBCSN directives.

[nfreeman]

9 hours ago, IKnowPhysics said:

Not sure if it was figured out yet, but that was AJ Mleczko on color.  Gold in Nagano, Silver in Salt Lake, national title with Harvard.  Patty Kaz winner.

Did some work for NESN, got hired to NBCSN just this year.  First woman color commentator in an NHL Playoff in the 2nd round last year.  Also got hired to MSG for Islanders this year as a studio analyst.

Her cadence/timing was a little rough around the edges during play, but experience will polish that.  Her work during packages in intermission (where she's had more practice) was sharp.  I think she shows a lot of promise and I look forward to hearing more.

I thought she was pretty good too, and I was glad to have the NBCSN "B team" last night, as I find Emrick kinda annoying.

 

Separately:

- Holy mackerel the difference in goaltending this year vs last year is ginormous.  Lehner would NEVER have kept it together in the 3rd period and delivered that win.

- I didn't think Reino had much impact on the top line but I did think his departure from Sobotka's line had a big negative impact on that line, which was the Sabres' least effective line last night.

- I thought TT did fine on the checking line, which was still pretty effective last night.  KO took some of TT's shifts at the end, but I thought that was just to have a veteran there while the Sabres were trying to seal the win.

- Beaulieu played less than 10 min -- I wonder if we'll see Nelson next game.  (Risto:  28 minutes!)

- Stamkos had multiple great scoring chances.  Most nights he cashes at least 1.

- Bottom line is that the Sabres aren't going to win many games when they get outplayed like that for the better part of 2 periods while trying to nurse a 1-goal lead against a top-echelon team.  And TB would definitely manhandle them in a 7-game series.  OTOH, for a team trying to dig their way to respectability from DFL 3 times in 5 years, it's a good win if for no other reason than it builds their confidence in Hutton and in each other.

[Doohicksie]

14 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

- Beaulieu played less than 10 min -- I wonder if we'll see Nelson next game.

...and assisted on both goals.  Weird, huh?  Seriously though, he's no longer the whipping boy he was last season.  He's not a top pairing guy but he's been playing pretty well.  That said, I don't have a problem with bringing Nelson back for a few games.  Beaulieu is more of a veteran presence; Nelson I think is a bit faster.

[bob_sauve28]

10 hours ago, WildCard said:

Mitts will be a legit #2 center next year. Oloffsson will be an upgrade to Pominville. Pilut will upgrade our bottom pair. Dahlin will be a #1 d man. CJ Smith will provide much needed depth. ERod will continue to improve. We will shed useless cap.

And

We have three 1st round picks 

And Skinner might be gone ? 

[thewookie1]

4 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

And Skinner might be gone ? 

Instead of worrying about something we can’t control and have no inside information on; let’s just enjoy him.

[R_Dudley]

10 hours ago, WildCard said:

True, but it's a playoff berth is a huge step for these guys. We don't need to be a top 5 Cup contender like Tampa is this year

Yes it's a very huge step.

Actually making it to the first round and getting experience with what the playoffs are like will be something new to them and another step in their learning curve.

[R_Dudley]

10 hours ago, pi2000 said:

While I'm happy they won, I'm not too thrilled about how bad Tampa made them look the last two periods.   

It was like BUF was a JV team playing against a varsity squad.    Just shows us how far away BUF is from being a contender.  

Baby steps, you knew they were not at Tampa's level yet so its a measuring stick. They know it too... 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I don't care how it looked overall.  The Sabres beat a very good team.  Bottom line.

Also, Hutton is growing on me.  The problem is he is not a Sweede.  (just kidding).

GO SABRES!!

[R_Dudley]

2 minutes ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

I don't care how it looked overall.  The Sabres beat a very good team.  Bottom line.

Also, Hutton is growing on me.  The problem is he is not a Sweede.  (just kidding).

GO SABRES!!

But, he's a a Hoser wanna be, does that count / ?...

He certainly hosed and grounded the Lightning

Plus he is giving your boy Ullmark time to adjust to the big leagues and some competition to step up too. 

 

 

Which I do expect Linus will make it back to playing well. Just needs to keep practicing 

[Marions Piazza]

it's weird how a win can still get some scrutiny here. it's seems like only a win that was a complete game, like a 4-1 win where the Sabres dominated the play for the full 60 minutes doesn't get picked apart. I'll concede that TB outplayed them last night for good portions of the game, but there's nothing wrong winning a game like that and i don't think its a cause for concern. Hutton played great, but not everyone was 'on' last night, yet we still won, I think that should be celebrated more than a dominating 4 or 5 goal win because it showed that even when they aren't perfect or play a complete game that they are still winning.

i don't see why they can't keep up this pace either, young guys like Mittelstadt and Erod or going to get better and better, especially CM. Some of the really good players in Roc are going to get some chances to shine in Buffalo. The fact that we can say that Larsson has been serviceable if not, pretty good at his job this year is encouraging. the team is buying in and i have a feeling that we haven't seen the best of them yet and we will soon. there are shades of 2006

[LGR4GM]

24 minutes ago, Marions Piazza said:

it's weird how a win can still get some scrutiny here. it's seems like only a win that was a complete game, like a 4-1 win where the Sabres dominated the play for the full 60 minutes doesn't get picked apart. I'll concede that TB outplayed them last night for good portions of the game, but there's nothing wrong winning a game like that and i don't think its a cause for concern. Hutton played great, but not everyone was 'on' last night, yet we still won, I think that should be celebrated more than a dominating 4 or 5 goal win because it showed that even when they aren't perfect or play a complete game that they are still winning.

i don't see why they can't keep up this pace either, young guys like Mittelstadt and Erod or going to get better and better, especially CM. Some of the really good players in Roc are going to get some chances to shine in Buffalo. The fact that we can say that Larsson has been serviceable if not, pretty good at his job this year is encouraging. the team is buying in and i have a feeling that we haven't seen the best of them yet and we will soon. there are shades of 2006

Part of the problem is the myth that even good teams play 60minutes. Teams have bad periods and bad shifts. Sometimes that hurts them and sometimes it doesn't. The amount of people seemingly looking for perfection is odd to me. We won last night. Is that style going to get us a lot of wins, no. But idc because it was good enough last night. 

[...]

The Sabres will not dominate TB 4-1, that's not realistic.  No one is "concerned" for the current group and what they're doing today.  I put concerned in quotes because I think the connotation in context suggests those of us not jumping for joy over this win think the current Sabres aren't good.

I don't think that's true, it's certainly not true for me.  However, this win in particular showed us where we are at.  If there's any concern it's that they lucked into a win here, and while a lot of people are saying it's a confidence building game, the players know it was a stolen game.  There's not a lot to hang their hat on other than Hutton and luck for the win.  If anything, that reality might not do for their confidence what most people here are saying it will - they might take from it they were lucky this time and that's it.  Other than the 2 points this game, in the locker room, might not mean a thing.  And that is a waste.

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by ...

[jsb]

More Larsson and Girgs love plus guess what, TT was on that line also for all but the last couple of shifts in the 3rd

 

[darksabre]

1 minute ago, jsb said:

More Larsson and Girgs love plus guess what, TT was on that line also for all but the last couple of shifts in the 3rd

 

I'll be honest, I think it's really weird to plug the checking line's performance given that their best player was lady luck. 

[jsb]

9 minutes ago, darksabre said:

I'll be honest, I think it's really weird to plug the checking line's performance given that their best player was lady luck. 

She was on FIRE though!!!!

[Samson's Flow]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

...and assisted on both goals.  Weird, huh?  Seriously though, he's no longer the whipping boy he was last season.  He's not a top pairing guy but he's been playing pretty well.  That said, I don't have a problem with bringing Nelson back for a few games.  Beaulieu is more of a veteran presence; Nelson I think is a bit faster.

I have actually really liked Beaulieu's game this year and he looked especially good with Dahlin last night (who doesn't ? ). I am surprised to see that he only got ~10 minutes of ice time. I think his play style and ability fits in really well with what Phil wants to do on Defence and he is starting to look more like the player we thought we were getting from Montreal last year.

[LGR4GM]

If Beaulieu were replaced tomorrow by Pilut, I would probably celebrate. 

[Doohicksie]

I'm not so sure I would.  Next year maybe but I don't see the need to pull Pilut up to the NHL.

[Samson's Flow]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

If Beaulieu were replaced tomorrow by Pilut, I would probably celebrate. 

Don't get me wrong, my appreciation for Beaulieu does not prevent me from wanting to see Pilut after he has been lighting up the AHL. Nate just hasn't been the unmitigated disaster that he was last year, and that has been a pleasant surprise.

[North Buffalo]

TT is an interesting case... not sure that he isnt figuring it out and effort he needs to put forth... careful with criticism watch we find out its marfan syndrome or something else undiagnosed... but his stamina seems to be an issue.  Could be he is still figuring out how to push his body.  Not sure yet and to me jury is still out.

[dudacek]

Credit where due:

Beaulieu is not the disaster he was last year.

The Sabres held the best roster in the league to 30 shots, blocked a ton, and visibly frustrated their offence. They didn’t catch a sleeping Tampa team; the game was not handed to them. They were outplayed, but they held their own and won.

[Stoner]

36 minutes ago, jsb said:

She was on FIRE though!!!!

See, I dunno if she was on fire on fire.

28 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

If Beaulieu were replaced tomorrow by Pilut, I would probably celebrate. 

Pilut and Casey on the same team. Interesting.

[That Aud Smell]

4 minutes ago, dudacek said:

They were outplayed, but they held their own and won.

That's fair.

Did someone say upthread that this game was like the other side of the coin from that Rangers game earlier in the season? 

When those two games are taken together, we can see that the team is getting what it deserves.

[nfreeman]

Also — pretty nice to see Dominik and Andreychuk in attendance!

(Although I think I saw that attendance was only in the 15K range — seems like it’s going to take a while for the city to really jump back in.)