GDT: NJ Devils @ Buffalo Sabres, 10-5-2019, 7pm ET (MSG, WGR)

[LGR4GM]

5 minutes ago, grinreaper said:

 Just got back from the game. Left a couple minutes early and rode down in the elevator with Jason Pominville and his wife & kids. As far as the game went it's the second in a row that I thought we were playing an AHL team and just toying with them.

He will forever be one of my favorite Sabres

[Doohicksie]

3 hours ago, Ogrish said:

Krueger will be coach of the year.

And yet, that's not his goal.

[spndnchz]

2 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

 

Yes.  I think that's called "swagger."  I've heard of teams that had it, but only very good ones.

 

 

So.  We're good.  Very good.

Pause. There was a few minutes of no. No. No! They recovered from it which is great but they should know they can can’t just put skates on the ice to win.

[Doohicksie]

It was amazing to me how.... when one of the Sabres made a mistake, there was another there to back him up.  I can't remember the exact sequence, but there were three OH SHITS in a row, each as minimized by the player providing backup.

[GoPuckYourself]

Awesome back to back victories but not to be a debbie downer, didn't we win 10 straight last season? Just saying there is so much more season left to play, I love what they're doing so far though, they look really good.

[Doohicksie]

Yes they did, but they shouldn't have.  These two, they should have won.

[spndnchz]

[Thorner]

3 minutes ago, spndnchz said:

❤️

[Brawndo]

From Twitter:

Botterill should be fired for not firing Housley sooner and then rehired for hiring Krueger. 

[spndnchz]

[erickompositör72]

1 minute ago, Brawndo said:

From Twitter:

Botterill should be fired for not firing Housley sooner and then rehired for hiring Krueger. 

Says a lot that he was JBotts's guy even before he hired Housley.

Looks like JBotts knows what he's doing. So happy that we'll be seeing an end to "JBotts is an awful GM" posts!

[Doohicksie]

2 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

I have a zit on my chin that I swear wasn't there when the game started. So funny.

 

2 hours ago, bunomatic said:

Zitnick ?

"Is that a Zhitnik?"

"I don't know, Šmehlík."

"Ew, no way.  That's Grošek!"

[Zamboni]

5 minutes ago, spndnchz said:

 

What section were you in?

i have seasons in 320. From that perspective you aren’t too far from me.

[Doohicksie]

2 hours ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Guys, this team has me at full attention 

I think I need a towel.

[Andrew Amerk]

Just got home from the game. Wow. I haven’t been to a Sabres game with THAT atmosphere since...playoff games. Fans were singing and had every chant going. The uppers even got a successful wave going:

 

[Brawndo]

[inkman]

6 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

He laughed in Taylor Hall's face. Swagger. 

[Doohicksie]

2 hours ago, Ogrish said:

You would think we are winning a playoff game by the sounds of the crowd!

INCREDIBLE

When Ralph said he thought it was a great building and had a great atmosphere I did a spit take.  Not this building.  Not this team.  The guy has a way of willing things into existence.

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Guys, this team has me at full attention 

 

[Doohicksie]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

My god, did Risto make Miles Wood his bitch tonight.

I thought the Sabres made the Devils their bitch tonight.  The whole team.

[LTS]

Kid had his own puck drop at 6:45pm tonight.  The arena WiFi let me down a bit but I managed to stream a good portion of the game by propping the phone up in the scorer's box (I run the clock).  Thankfully our game went quickly (team won, 6-1, and my son was moved up from D to center and netted 2 goals and had an assist, not bad).

Shot home and was able to watch most of the 2nd and 3rd on TV.

Dayumn.  I mean, I'm holding reservation until they play within their own division, but if they play hockey like this and lose, I can live with it.  It's clear, at least for now, you are going to have to outwork the Sabres and they aren't going to make it easy.  

But hell yeah to the atmosphere in the arena... regardless of where things go, people should hang onto that feeling.  That's what can be.... and hopefully what "is".

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, Randall Flagg said:

Two points in the bank are, as always, a sweet treat. 

On the standings sheet, they're always the same. When the whole entertainment angle of the sport is factored in, they're rarely the same. This was one of the special ones that don't happen all that often. A home blowout on Pominville day was probably the last one. Maybe Skinner to clinch the 10th win a few weeks after that.

Jack and Sam are ready to be one of THOSE NHL duos. Victor is the perfect complement. And Skinner will not be left out if Johansson continues to bring that neutral zone game. Mitts, Sheary, Vesey were quiet, but sound, and the "guts" guys in 17/22/28/21 did their jobs well. I thought the active sticks of the third line were incredibly disruptive in all zones. 

Both on the power play and at ES there is a lot of horizontal movement with the puck, and it opens things up a lot. They're just starting to do this largely for the first time, so they're only going to get better at picking their spots. That's the kind of thing that fixes the kind of thing we SUCKED at the last few years.

Sometimes Jack, Sam, and Victor are playing hot potato! Ralph will tell them to get selfish once in a while, because they can all beat goalies with their shots. 

The defensemen are otherworldly in transition. SO many breakaways and 2 on 1s that Rick's voice inflection was nonexistent in calling them by the third period. Just another 2 on 1.

What do you do when Montour gets healthy? Obviously, things won't be perfect anymore by then, so the answer will likely become clear. But right now, the pairs are humming so well. Risto McCabe was an underrated duo last season, and they're phenomenal this year. Their physical engagement is a gift to an old-school fan, and is useful in this modern NHL the way they're doing it. Scandella-Joki are like Risto-Pilut last year, for the same reasons. Colin Miller was smart and steady for Dahlin, who just went off today. The entire shift before Kyle's goal was something that I've only ever seen Erik Karlsson do in the NHL, and I'm serious. He broke 3 Devils' ankles in 30 seconds, and then created the goal. 

Hutton with some big saves at important times that gave the team confidence to bounce back after goals against.

These were the kinds of games that the offseason Krueger optimism hoped dearly for. They're the kind of games that put butterflies in my stomach, imagining what it would be like to do a project on why we're so GOOD.They are just two games, but they are good signs. And they make me ready for the next one! 

I won't comment on the content of this post, other than to thank you for using the correct spelling of complement.  Well done, Randall.  Well done.

[...]

41 minutes ago, spndnchz said:

Pause. There was a few minutes of no. No. No! They recovered from it which is great but they should know they can can’t just put skates on the ice to win.

RK said during the post-game presser there were things he didn't like that they will have to fix. Thankfully.

I would think the core players, by now, have learned that winning doesn't come easy.  I expect that any swagger they display will be tempered by some humility.

[LGR4GM]

I don't know if we're good, but we're not boring 

[Doohicksie]

57 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:

Donchaknow...