GDT: Pittsburgh at Buffalo, Sept. 16, 2019, 7pm (at Penn St.), WGR, online stream.

[...]

Awful.  Freddy has his hands full.

[Andrew Amerk]

1 minute ago, ... said:

Awful.  Freddy has his hands full.

After one meaningless preseason game? 

Is Team Stormcloud reuniting? 

[Zamboni]

10 minutes ago, MillerVaive said:

Well for a preseason game i imagine theres a lot the team can take out of it & learn from & also build off of.

Lots of positives & some negatives for sure. Goaltending is gonna be a big question mark that hopefully improves from this game & last year.

Whats the deal with the broadcast goal screens tho?

Does anyone actually think this looks good?

It’s not a Sabres/MSG product. It’s most likely a Penn State graphics/media dept. thing. But to answer your question, no, no it doesn’t look good.

[LGR4GM]

Just now, Andrew Amerk said:

After one meaningless preseason game? 

Is Team Stormcloud reuniting? 

Apparently. 

Considering the way the Sabres outplayed and out shot the opposition, this was actually mildly encouraging. 

Also, clearly gt was a major issue. Good thing it's our backup AHL guy so we can all relax. 

[Randall Flagg]

Random thoughts: 
This is unscientific, but I enjoyed how often it appeared that Dahlin and Jack were on the ice at the same time. I'd try to make that happen as often as possible within reason during the season.

The lighting in that arena was terrible.

Initial thoughts on Joki are that he should get top pairing minutes in Rochester. 

Scandella had the best play of the night, batting a puck out of mid-air around a guy and then beating him to it in the corner and getting it out of the zone.

Dahlin skates even better than last season, but PA would be sad to hear about that Pittsburgh breakaway goal! Beautiful pass to Sheary though.

Tage was fine, but did not look different from how he did last preseason. Gotta see him play against real players. 

Nothing really stuck out super far positively or negatively, which makes sense given what the game was 

 

 

[triumph_communes]

Already can’t stand Vesey.  His puck fumbling would fit well with Rodrigues- on a 3rd or 4th line with Sheary   

 

Thompson is a beast among AHLers, just like last year. Will it translate this time?  He was more aggressive than last year  

 

Joki is like Dahlin- for every 5 awesomes there’s a dunce moment. -4 Dahlin tonight?  Eek. 

 

I like what I saw in Cozens. Going to be a rough wait for him as he brings an element this team needs now.  Plays smart yet physical.  Good balance and not always tied up  

 

Miller seems safe. Scandella slow on his feet and his head. Gilmour wants to play, it’ll be an interesting camp watch for him. Nelson sucks, team is in trouble if he is the 7D

 

I hope Skinner and Eichel are reunited for the real games. Eichel obviously on cruise control out there. Trying to force things through a lot of sticks. 

 

Whole team played aggressive and held the lines for two periods. Took their feet off the gas and looked like tank teams again. Glad Krueger got to see it first hand. 

 

No no comment on the goalies.

[Randall Flagg]

I desperately need these guys to make a big trade or something. Ever since I re-watched those games for that project, I've been in a hockey malaise, and as things stand, this is the least excited I've ever been for a Sabres season by a large margin.

[pi2000]

51 minutes ago, Zamboni said:

It’s not a Sabres/MSG product. It’s most likely a Penn State graphics/media dept. thing. But to answer your question, no, no it doesn’t look good.

It was the same on the Pit broadcast.

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, MillerVaive said:

Does anyone actually think this looks good?

Looks better than Sabres Lose

[inkman]

56 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

I desperately need these guys to make a big trade or something. Ever since I re-watched those games for that project, I've been in a hockey malaise, and as things stand, this is the least excited I've ever been for a Sabres season by a large margin.

I think you need some of this guy.

 

[dudacek]

10 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

Random thoughts: 
This is unscientific, but I enjoyed how often it appeared that Dahlin and Jack were on the ice at the same time. I'd try to make that happen as often as possible within reason during the season.

The lighting in that arena was terrible.

Initial thoughts on Joki are that he should get top pairing minutes in Rochester. 

Scandella had the best play of the night, batting a puck out of mid-air around a guy and then beating him to it in the corner and getting it out of the zone.

Dahlin skates even better than last season, but PA would be sad to hear about that Pittsburgh breakaway goal! Beautiful pass to Sheary though.

Tage was fine, but did not look different from how he did last preseason. Gotta see him play against real players. 

Nothing really stuck out super far positively or negatively, which makes sense given what the game was 

 

 

Noticed the Eichel/Dahlin thing too, so I doubt we were imagining it. I like it as a strategy. I also like the idea in general of an attacking defenceman out with each line to compensate for our lack of impact forwards, if we go with three balanced lines.

I liked Joki a lot tonight minus the coverage on what I think was the third goal. You run with this kind of defence corps, you’re going to see a lot of that - great transition and possession numbers, sprinkled with ‘whoops’ Call it Jake Gardiner hockey. Our Corsi numbers must have been sick tonight.

Great play by Marco, and generally a quiet game for him, in a good way.

Dahlin just needed to get puck up ice and get off when he made that horrible giveaway. Otherwise he looked good.

Tage looked stronger and more reliable than he did in last year’s exhibition. He still did Tage things. Gotta see him play against real players.

it really stood out positively how badly the ice was tilted, how easily the Sabres moved the puck out of our zone and up the ice. And negatively how they came out for the third like the game was already won.

10 hours ago, triumph_communes said:

Already can’t stand Vesey.  His puck fumbling would fit well with Rodrigues- on a 3rd or 4th line with Sheary   

 

Thompson is a beast among AHLers, just like last year. Will it translate this time?  He was more aggressive than last year  

 

Joki is like Dahlin- for every 5 awesomes there’s a dunce moment. -4 Dahlin tonight?  Eek. 

 

I like what I saw in Cozens. Going to be a rough wait for him as he brings an element this team needs now.  Plays smart yet physical.  Good balance and not always tied up  

 

Miller seems safe. Scandella slow on his feet and his head. Gilmour wants to play, it’ll be an interesting camp watch for him. Nelson sucks, team is in trouble if he is the 7D

 

I hope Skinner and Eichel are reunited for the real games. Eichel obviously on cruise control out there. Trying to force things through a lot of sticks. 

 

Whole team played aggressive and held the lines for two periods. Took their feet off the gas and looked like tank teams again. Glad Krueger got to see it first hand. 

 

No no comment on the goalies.

I agree on Cozens. He battles hard, goes to the net and has skill.

Gilmour was an adventure both ends of the ice.

Jack and Vesey didn’t look natural but they were trying.

Edited September 17, 2019 by dudacek

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

Pretty sure in the tank year we took Carolina to OT at 4-4 while being outshot something like 50 to 15 lol

Sabres fans were nooooooot happy

a goalie coach will not bring returns in the first preseason game in Penn State Arena with the AHL backup 

Johansson isn't even the AHL backup once all the goalies are healthy.

He's Cincy's starter again now that the Hamburgler & UPL are slated for Ra-cha-cha.

Just because he looked way better than expected  against Juniors &  AHLers last week doesn't bump him up the depth chart.

[Stoner]

How did RaKru look?

[...]

2 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

How did RaKru look?

What does this mean?  Did he look nice in his suit?  Did he give the impression that he belonged behind the bench?  Or is this just another opportunity you took to try and institutionalize your bastardized short-hand for RK, Freddy, Krueger, HCRK, Ralph, etc.

[Stoner]

1 minute ago, ... said:

What does this mean?  Did he look nice in his suit?  Did he give the impression that he belonged behind the bench?  Or is this just another opportunity you took to try and institutionalize your bastardized short-hand for RK, Freddy, Krueger, HCRK, Ralph, etc.

Did you like the cut of his jib? Dan and Phil looked like turds back there and coached same.

[darksabre]

4 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

How did RaKru look?

I liked his post-game. He was very clear in his explanation of what his process is. He talked a lot about teaching situations and how he needs to figure out when his players respond best to learning and how they learn as individuals. Mentioned that during games he's not planning to do too much teaching, that teaching is for between games. He wants guys to focus on the concepts he's championing and to just go out and play so that he can start getting tape of them in game situations (rather than practice) to see where those concepts need work.

If people wanted a mean coach, Ralph ain't it. We're going to be hearing about how he's a players coach soon.

One thing that was interesting is that he mentioned how much more technology is available on the bench than there was the last time he was a coach. He said he needs to play with these tools to see how they can be effectively deployed.

[SwampD]

17 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

How did RaKru look?

Connected.

[bob_sauve28]

22 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

How did RaKru look?

Desperate for a win. He put his big guns out there in OT against the Pens scrubs. I figured he'd Marv Levy it and put Tage or some other up and comers out but he wanted that win, which is fine 

[miles]

15 minutes ago, darksabre said:

I liked his post-game. He was very clear in his explanation of what his process is. He talked a lot about teaching situations and how he needs to figure out when his players respond best to learning and how they learn as individuals. Mentioned that during games he's not planning to do too much teaching, that teaching is for between games. He wants guys to focus on the concepts he's championing and to just go out and play so that he can start getting tape of them in game situations (rather than practice) to see where those concepts need work.

If people wanted a mean coach, Ralph ain't it. We're going to be hearing about how he's a players coach soon.

One thing that was interesting is that he mentioned how much more technology is available on the bench than there was the last time he was a coach. He said he needs to play with these tools to see how they can be effectively deployed.

I want to see this interview. I really like what he has said so far. I was unsure about him when I first heard they hired him, but so far I like what he has to say. If it translates to wins then great, if not I suspect he will get 2 years to be a winning team. 

I hope that the players respond to him and really make an effort to become great. The Sabres have some really talented players that just haven't been able to put it all together yet. I don't know if they have enough to be a play off team yet, but honestly I think they are close. 

 

Honestly, think this year will be a great year for the Sabres 

Edited September 17, 2019 by miles

[Randall Flagg]

8 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Desperate for a win. He put his big guns out there in OT against the Pens scrubs. I figured he'd Marv Levy it and put Tage or some other up and comers out but he wanted that win, which is fine 

Tage had at least 2 shifts in OT 

[bob_sauve28]

2 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Tage had at least 2 shifts in OT 

ok! 

[dudacek]

55 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Tage had at least 2 shifts in OT 

Miller, Dahlin, Gilmour, but not Joki, right? Scandella might have had one?

Add Risto and Montour and I wonder if the Sabres actually play two D sometimes this year in OT. We have a lot of guys who seem built for it.

[Doohicksie]

2 hours ago, ... said:

your bastardized short-hand for RK, Freddy, Krueger, HCRK, Ralph, etc.

You forgot RFK (i.e., Ralph F-ing Krueger)

[Kruppstahl]

14 hours ago, triumph_communes said:

Already can’t stand Vesey.  His puck fumbling would fit well with Rodrigues- on a 3rd or 4th line with Sheary   

 

Thompson is a beast among AHLers*, just like last year. Will it translate this time?  He was more aggressive than last year  

 

Joki is like Dahlin- for every 5 awesomes there’s a dunce moment. -4 Dahlin tonight?  Eek. 

 

I like what I saw in Cozens. Going to be a rough wait for him as he brings an element this team needs now.  Plays smart yet physical.  Good balance and not always tied up  

 

Miller seems safe. Scandella slow on his feet and his head. Gilmour wants to play, it’ll be an interesting camp watch for him. Nelson sucks, team is in trouble if he is the 7D

 

I hope Skinner and Eichel are reunited for the real games. Eichel obviously on cruise control out there. Trying to force things through a lot of sticks. 

 

Whole team played aggressive and held the lines for two periods. Took their feet off the gas and looked like tank teams again. Glad Krueger got to see it first hand. 

 

No no comment on the goalies.

* see Jody Gage.

 

 

 

 

[inkman]

30 minutes ago, Kruppstahl said:

* see Jody Gage.

 

 

 

 

You can. Every game he's at the BCA!