GDT:Caps at Sabres 7pm MSG, WGR

[Doohicksie]

2 hours ago, Doohickie said:

They mentioned in Ullmark's interview that he's stopped 84% of shootout attempts when nearly a third of shootout attempts result in a goal.  That's impressive.

[PerreaultForever]

Quite a surprise. I guess that was a glimpse of what Kreuger hockey is supposed to be, or at least what he's been trying to get to all year. Not sure why we couldn't see this sooner, but there it was. Usually we get a glimpse like this and it turns into false hope but maybe this time it's different. maybe?

Ullmark is better for sure, but it's not all on the goalie being better. The play in front was uncharacteristically decent tonight against a physical team no less so that was encouraging.

The Jack question is clear. He's definitely playing hurt. Lazar on the OT draw proves that. Ribs, intercostal muscles, probably something like that. I hope they shut him down when we are officially out at least. He will need time to fully heal if it's something like that.

In the end the season failure does come down to Ullmark's injury and Skinner not being last year's Skinner (or close to it). Probably could give us a 10 point swing or so. So the bad news is the spin will probably be that the "process" is in fact working and we will be waiting.......... 

[OverPowerYou]

Still no march regulation wins since 2018

[dudacek]

Linus is really, really good at shootouts.

Kahun’s mix of skill and hockey sense continue to surprise me. I admit I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. How any GM, let alone a cup winner could possibly prefer Conor Sheary boggles my brain.

Every time the team plays well against a team with a force of nature player like Ovi, I want Risto on my playoff team.

I posted a few days back that Baby Rasmus has yet to have the type of game that you can look at and say “we won that game because of him.” How about tonight? Two absolutely sick assists capped by conjuring the guy who used to be the Sabres best 26 in the shootout. That was #1 overall talent on display tonight.

You know, I don’t think the guys down on some of Ralph’s decisions are completely out to lunch, but giving Kahun and Dahlin the nod ahead of 17% Shootout scorer Jeff Skinner was the right call, wasn’t it?

I think tonight was par for the course for Sam Reinhart. Game tied late wins a puck in the corner, fakes driving hard around the back of the net only to unexpectedly thread a needle through the slot to set Monty up for what should have been the clutch winner. Goal gets called back. Sam (who has the team’s best shootout percentage among frequent shooters at 35) misses in the shootout (like Jack and Victor and Mojo). Sabrespace talks about Sam’s miss.

Jack looked more like Jack than he has in two weeks. Ralph talked about the post-Vegas games being a mourning period the team is starting to come out of. That’s what I’m seeing.

I know many here disagree, but when the goalie plays well, I see the Sabres as a well-coached team with a balanced blueline and a distinct lack of creativity up front. Ralph is a good leader. I haven’t decided yet what tier of coaches he belongs in, but he has at least partially addressed the morale and own-zone tire fire issues that plagued the team last year. Coaching is not the problem.

Not really game related but has anyone else noted that Alex Nylander has one more point than Jeff Skinner?

[Kristian]

Hutton in net, and Sabres lose tonight. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

[sabresparaavida]

6 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

 

The Jack question is clear. He's definitely playing hurt. Lazar on the OT draw proves that. Ribs, intercostal muscles, probably something like that. I hope they shut him down when we are officially out at least. He will need time to fully heal if it's something like that.

Lazar has been taking OT draws since before Jack has appeared injured.

[Ross Rhea]

6 hours ago, dudacek said:

Linus is really, really good at shootouts.

Kahun’s mix of skill and hockey sense continue to surprise me. I admit I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. How any GM, let alone a cup winner could possibly prefer Conor Sheary boggles my brain.

Every time the team plays well against a team with a force of nature player like Ovi, I want Risto on my playoff team.

I posted a few days back that Baby Rasmus has yet to have the type of game that you can look at and say “we won that game because of him.” How about tonight? Two absolutely sick assists capped by conjuring the guy who used to be the Sabres best 26 in the shootout. That was #1 overall talent on display tonight.

You know, I don’t think the guys down on some of Ralph’s decisions are completely out to lunch, but giving Kahun and Dahlin the nod ahead of 17% Shootout scorer Jeff Skinner was the right call, wasn’t it?

I think tonight was par for the course for Sam Reinhart. Game tied late wins a puck in the corner, fakes driving hard around the back of the net only to unexpectedly thread a needle through the slot to set Monty up for what should have been the clutch winner. Goal gets called back. Sam (who has the team’s best shootout percentage among frequent shooters at 35) misses in the shootout (like Jack and Victor and Mojo). Sabrespace talks about Sam’s miss.

Jack looked more like Jack than he has in two weeks. Ralph talked about the post-Vegas games being a mourning period the team is starting to come out of. That’s what I’m seeing.

I know many here disagree, but when the goalie plays well, I see the Sabres as a well-coached team with a balanced blueline and a distinct lack of creativity up front. Ralph is a good leader. I haven’t decided yet what tier of coaches he belongs in, but he has at least partially addressed the morale and own-zone tire fire issues that plagued the team last year. Coaching is not the problem.

Not really game related but has anyone else noted that Alex Nylander has one more point than Jeff Skinner?

I cant help but wonder if JBot called Pitts GM and asked for a favor and a little help "winning a trade" because he is on the hot seat.

[Zamboni]

30 minutes ago, Ross Rhea said:

I cant help but wonder if JBot called Pitts GM and asked for a favor and a little help "winning a trade" because he is on the hot seat.

Lol that’s not how it works... you know that.

[Tondas]

Jack is injured and playing through it.  I think it's a sports hernia type thing that he'll have to get fixed in the off season.  I give him credit for playing through it in a lost season. That will go a long way in the locker room and it's what a good leader does.

[Torpedo Forecheck]

16 minutes ago, Tondas said:

Jack is injured and playing through it.  I think it's a sports hernia type thing that he'll have to get fixed in the off season.  I give him credit for playing through it in a lost season. That will go a long way in the locker room and it's what a good leader does.

I hope it's that and not back problems.

[lost in dc]

Thank you Sabres!!!!

[SwampD]

8 minutes ago, NY2buffalo said:

Happy to see some positivity for the organization. People were saying that the team was never going to win a game again this season, but the team did. Glancing at the Washington forms this morning, and just the difference in respect for the team is astounding. I think there's a lot of jealously here against the players and wealthy people in general.

Who would have ever guessed that fans of a team that recently won a Stanley Cup and is in first place heading into the playoffs would get some love, and a team that will now miss the playoffs for the ninth season wouldn’t? 

Your shtick is getting old.

[SwampD]

It was good to see Eichel smile after his goal. Seems like his drought was weighing on him pretty heavily.

... Even more heavily than the weight of the rest of the team.

[matter2003]

9 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Quite a surprise. I guess that was a glimpse of what Kreuger hockey is supposed to be, or at least what he's been trying to get to all year. Not sure why we couldn't see this sooner, but there it was. Usually we get a glimpse like this and it turns into false hope but maybe this time it's different. maybe?

Ullmark is better for sure, but it's not all on the goalie being better. The play in front was uncharacteristically decent tonight against a physical team no less so that was encouraging.

The Jack question is clear. He's definitely playing hurt. Lazar on the OT draw proves that. Ribs, intercostal muscles, probably something like that. I hope they shut him down when we are officially out at least. He will need time to fully heal if it's something like that.

In the end the season failure does come down to Ullmark's injury and Skinner not being last year's Skinner (or close to it). Probably could give us a 10 point swing or so. So the bad news is the spin will probably be that the "process" is in fact working and we will be waiting.......... 

I have no idea how he is playing with an intercostal muscle strain if that is indeed the case...I ended up going to the ER for it due to using crutches for about 3 weeks and it was so bad that I couldn't even hardly take a breath....it was the only time in my life that I thought about whether it would be better just not to breathe anymore.

6 hours ago, Kristian said:

Hutton in net, and Sabres lose tonight. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

We still seem to let in a bad or crazy goal every game...I have often wondered how is it teams always seem to score goals against the Sabres that bounce off a player in front, or get some crazy bounce that the Sabres themselves never seem to score?

[Randall Flagg]

The cool thing about the Eichel goal was that my sister and I said "yes" and began a high five, before the pass even got to his stick. You just knew that he wouldn't miss.

[Ruff Around The Edges]

Nice win, seeing Ullmark in net just has me wondering what could have been if he didn't get injured.

Even if this team was able to muster 4-6 points more over his absence we would be right in the playoff chase.

Having said that, I do think Kruger deserves credit for the efforts in Philly and last night, this team hasn't mailed it in and hopefully they build off of this in the effort to change the culture of this franchise going forward.

Kahun is looking like a nice find so far...good job JBot

[Stoner]

4 hours ago, Zamboni said:

Lol that’s not how it works... you know that.

Unless......... Rutherford needs Botterill in Buffalo, so one of his rivals can continue to be kneecapped.

11 hours ago, dudacek said:

I think tonight was par for the course for Sam Reinhart. Game tied late wins a puck in the corner, fakes driving hard around the back of the net only to unexpectedly thread a needle through the slot to set Monty up for what should have been the clutch winner. Goal gets called back. Sam (who has the team’s best shootout percentage among frequent shooters at 35) misses in the shootout (like Jack and Victor and Mojo). Sabrespace talks about Sam’s miss.

I've been thinking about this recently. How do you analyze a player's game? There are hundreds of individual plays (low hundreds? I'm not sure). There's no way a human can process all that (Randall comes pretty close). So we're down to "big plays." A small play that prevents a big play (goal against) tends to be missed or forgotten. And a big play like Reinhart's pass is also left behind. It's not fair. Recency bias? "Big Moment Bias"?

[spndnchz]

29 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Unless......... Rutherford needs Botterill in Buffalo, so one of his rivals can continue to be kneecapped.

I've been thinking about this recently. How do you analyze a player's game? There are hundreds of individual plays (low hundreds? I'm not sure). There's no way a human can process all that (Randall comes pretty close). So we're down to "big plays." A small play that prevents a big play (goal against) tends to be missed or forgotten. And a big play like Reinhart's pass is also left behind. It's not fair. Recency bias? "Big Moment Bias"?

Divide by pie. It’s just that simple. 

[Kruppstahl]

32 minutes ago, spndnchz said:

Divide by pie. It’s just that simple. 

Divide by pi you mean.

Dividing by pie gets messy.

 

 

[MattPie]

2 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Unless......... Rutherford needs Botterill in Buffalo, so one of his rivals can continue to be kneecapped.

I've been thinking about this recently. How do you analyze a player's game? There are hundreds of individual plays (low hundreds? I'm not sure). There's no way a human can process all that (Randall comes pretty close). So we're down to "big plays." A small play that prevents a big play (goal against) tends to be missed or forgotten. And a big play like Reinhart's pass is also left behind. It's not fair. Recency bias? "Big Moment Bias"?

I think you just made the case for Fancy Stats. If a player is making all the right little plays, that should show up in stats that essentially say, "fewer opponent chances while this guy is on the ice taking opponents into question" or the opposite for offence. Our own biases will highlight what we want to see (Rienhart is bad because his shootout was terrible) and not what we "don't want" to see (Reinhart's pass to Montour was incredible).

1 hour ago, Kruppstahl said:

Divide by pi you mean.

Dividing by pie gets messy.

 

You guys can divide near me all you want, I'm not cleaning up the gore though.

[Formerly Allan in MD]

Ullmark continues to progress.  That's a major plus.  Now all we have to do is figure out how to score more often.  We had multiple good chances against the Caps that went awry.  But it was a good game and win.

[Huckleberry]

5 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

The cool thing about the Eichel goal was that my sister and I said "yes" and began a high five, before the pass even got to his stick. You just knew that he wouldn't miss.

One of the best PP goals I seen this year, I knew the moment the puck went to Dhalin it was going back to Eichel, and you could just see all the caps on the ice trying to follow but getting gassed.

Edited March 10, 2020 by Huckleberry

[Tondas]

Just now, Huckleberry said:

One of the best PP goals I seen this year, I knew the moment the puck went to Dhalin it was going back to Eichel, and you could just see all the caps on the ice trying to follow but getting gassed.

They really did have great puck movement on that PP.  Need to see much more of that.

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

2 hours ago, Kruppstahl said:

Divide by pi you mean.

Dividing by pie gets messy.

 

 

Randall ÷ Pi = Eleven

[Ross Rhea]

8 hours ago, Zamboni said:

Lol that’s not how it works... you know that.

I know but Kahun seems better than ERod and Sheary combined. I cant believe Pitts GM lost that trade that bad.