GDT: 1/15/21 7pm ET Washington @ Buffalo - FREE GAME ON NHL.com

[Huckleberry]

3 hours ago, MODO Hockey said:

Im so tired of this team already.. ***** sake, i do not feel any positivity around it either. I hope that changes, if they dont turn this arouns next 10 games im out.

Its rough, but I'll keep watching , in the end its the only hockey team I want to see win.

[Radar]

16 minutes ago, #freejame said:

This is what I keep wondering. There has been so much unwarranted optimism around here. We're still the exact same team.

We really had two major needs. Build a second line. Improve goalkeeper. They accomplished the second line hopefully. We do need to see how some of our younger players develop. Not getting what's wrong with the power play. Cost us the game last night. 

 

[Huckleberry]

3 minutes ago, Radar said:

We really had two major needs. Build a second line. Improve goalkeeper. They accomplished the second line hopefully. We do need to see how some of our younger players develop. Not getting what's wrong with the power play. Cost us the game last night. 

 

They didn't shoot the puck, 10 passes in a row , loose puck.    only the 3rd PP they couldn't set up in the offensive zone.   The other 4 were fine except the fact they did not shoot.

[Weave]

6 hours ago, nfreeman said:

He certainly was tonight.

My 2 cents:

- They were much improved tonight, especially Reino, and carried the play for most of the game.  Sam looked damned good last night.

- In fact, that was a pretty good and entertaining hockey game that I enjoyed most of other than the power play. Agreed.  They frequently carried the play.

- Risto brought the thunder a few times, including IIRC one on the dude who laid out Staal. TWO on the dude who laid out Staal.

- Reino and Skinner were their best 2 forwards tonight.  Reino transformed the top line once he joined it. Where the hell is Jack?  He's not been dominant at all.

- Skinner has been their best forward so far for the season.  Woulda been nice if he had buried one tonight though.  And I liked his post-game comments -- that's a solid pro move. I think he and Hall have been the most dynamic these first two games.

- Ullmark was much better than Hutton but he made 19 saves and gave up 2 short-side goals and I thought the GWG wasn't great goaltending.

- Another disappointing outing from Eichel, Dahlin, Staal and Olofsson.  I think maybe the long layoff hits the high-end skill guys most, and the precision skills execution needed on the PP?  Are there any elite players from any of the other non-bubble teams that are off to good starts?  Disagree on Olofsson.  I think he's been good.  His passing has been noticeably good these first two games.  Jack is a problem.  Not that he' a reason we lost, but just isn't showing any real intensity out there.  It's almost as if he is deferring to Hall.  He's been quite passive.  And Dahlin needs to start showing some development in the D zone.

- In any case it just seems like it will take a number of games for Eichel and Dahlin to regain their sharpness.  I am pretty confident they'll get there -- I just hope they aren't 2-8 by then.  The season is done of we get to 2-8.

- For those doubting RK:  he had them ready to play tonight on a quick turnaround after getting smacked around last night, and Skinner is playing much harder than he did last year.  Their execution on D was much better than last year.  Certainly their PP execution needs to improve, but I think it will.  Now let's see if RK can summon this kind of effort out of them again vs Philly despite losing tonight.  I think he'll be able to. 

 

 

 

 

Partially hiding the quote window when you are editing inside of a quoted post sucks.  Oh well.  Won't try that again.

 

Edited January 16, 2021 by Weave

[#freejame]

21 minutes ago, Radar said:

We really had two major needs. Build a second line. Improve goalkeeper. They accomplished the second line hopefully. We do need to see how some of our younger players develop. Not getting what's wrong with the power play. Cost us the game last night. 

 

We have a head coach who isn't a hockey coach who should have surrounded himself with the top hockey assistants Terry's money could buy and did not. We have an inexperienced GM who should have surrounded himself with the top hockey minds Terry's money could buy and did not. We have a team that is a conglomeration of 3 GMs over six years with no cohesion, no moxie, no will, no identity, no culture, and no idea what it takes to win. I'm tired of the platitudes from Ralph. I don't care if every game is a hard fought game if we lose them all. His quote last night was a spit in the face. This franchise is so far from being a winning franchise, and it has been so long since we have seen a winning franchise that too many people forgot what it looks like. It isn't this and it was evident long before the season started. I'll eat my words if I'm wrong but I'd be shocked if that were the case. 

[Sabre fan]

Oh well there's always next year after we fire this coach (hopefully not Adams yet though as he seems to have potential)

[Weave]

2 minutes ago, #freejame said:

We have a head coach who isn't a hockey coach who should have surrounded himself with the top hockey assistants Terry's money could buy and did not. We have an inexperienced GM who should have surrounded himself with the top hockey minds Terry's money could buy and did not. We have a team that is a conglomeration of 3 GMs over six years with no cohesion, no moxie, no will, no identity, no culture, and no idea what it takes to win. I'm tired of the platitudes from Ralph. I don't care if every game is a hard fought game if we lose them all. His quote last night was a spit in the face. This franchise is so far from being a winning franchise, and it has been so long since we have seen a winning franchise that too many people forgot what it looks like. It isn't this and it was evident long before the season started. I'll eat my words if I'm wrong but I'd be shocked if that were the case. 

You've summed up my concerns regarding the team rather succinctly.  I've just lost the emotional edge your post includes.

[gilbert11]

10 hours ago, SwampD said:

Jesus ****ing Christ!!!! Will someone just ****ing score!!!! 

****!!!!

I'm so ****ing sick of watching this team not be able to score.

It's like watching someone struggling to squeeze out a big dried constipated crap.

****!

Have you already forgotten that they scored 4 goals on Thursday?

[Kristian]

Completely missed the start of the season, with all this Covid chaos.

Sad to see I really didn’t miss a thing....

[LabattBlue]

Two games against Philly and then two more at Washington.  1-5? 0-6? 

[Trettioåtta]

Hockey is a funny game and the lesser team doesn't always lose. Want a good example? Last night. The Sabres dominated and didn't win.

At this stage in the season I care far more about how we are playing than what the results are. I get that a win is a win, but fluky wins won't make for a successful season in the long run. I want the Sabres to dominate the game, and from there the wins will flow.

[sabremike]

When the other team has clearly phoned it in and said "Here, have two free points" and you "dominate" and still lose I don't want to hear "Well, we looked good". No, you had a game you should've won but failed to. Seriously, how many of you think this team isn't going to end up 0-6 to start the season at this point? 

[Gatorman0519]

52 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

Two games against Philly and then two more at Washington.  1-5? 0-6? 

If we only win 3-4 out of the first ten, season will be over without a ridiculous win streak somewhere.  We can afford that type of start.  

[Pimlach]

10 hours ago, sabremike said:

Denis Potvin (the only defenseman who IMO is even in the same conversation as Orr) was not Denis Potvin the first few years of his career and that was with Al Arbor as his coach, who you must concede was a wee bit better than Ralph. Victor Hedman, the undisputed best defenseman in the league didn't light the world on fire his first few years. 

^ This is incorrect regarding Potvin.  

Potvin won Rookie of The Year, he was a first team All Star his 2nd season (and again for the next 4 consecutive season, plus 2 more for a total of 7), then he won the Norris Trophy in his 3rd season.  All three of his Norris Trophy season came before the Islanders won their first Cup. 

Dennis Potvin was a star player from the start.  

[sabremike]

7 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

^ This is incorrect regarding Potvin.  

Potvin won Rookie of The Year, he was a first team All Star his 2nd season (and again for the next 4 consecutive season, plus 2 more for a total of 7), then he won the Norris Trophy in his 3rd season.  All three of his Norris Trophy season came before the Islanders won their first Cup. 

Dennis Potvin was a star player from the start.  

Fair enough. Just remember reading a lot how he was often in Radar's doghouse his first several years and it clouded my view. But the point on Hedman was true so I'm batting .500.

[nucci]

4 hours ago, Radar said:

We really had two major needs. Build a second line. Improve goalkeeper. They accomplished the second line hopefully. We do need to see how some of our younger players develop. Not getting what's wrong with the power play. Cost us the game last night. 

 

we hear this every year.

[Kristian]

6 minutes ago, nucci said:

we hear this every year.

Ever since 2007.... Every. Damn. Year........

[Kristian]

1 hour ago, sabremike said:

When the other team has clearly phoned it in and said "Here, have two free points" and you "dominate" and still lose I don't want to hear "Well, we looked good". No, you had a game you should've won but failed to. Seriously, how many of you think this team isn't going to end up 0-6 to start the season at this point? 

Are they still playing the one-trick pony umbrella PP that was figured out by every team in the league by mid November 2019?

[Pimlach]

11 hours ago, Brawndo said:

Neither is continuing to pick subpar coaches and GMs and holding on to them for the sake of continuity. 
 

For the record I would keep Adams for awhile longer though. 

Agree on Adams.  I just feel that 10 years of change breeds the problems we have.  Of course once you find the right person to run the team you hold on.  Darcy ran his course, Murray and Bots were failures.  Adams deserves a few years.  RK still strikes me more as a front office guy than an NHL coach.  

[#freejame]

36 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Agree on Adams.  I just feel that 10 years of change breeds the problems we have.  Of course once you find the right person to run the team you hold on.  Darcy ran his course, Murray and Bots were failures.  Adams deserves a few years.  RK still strikes me more as a front office guy than an NHL coach.  

Murray was fine and we would been in the playoffs by now if he were still at the helm. Terry and Kim didn't like him so they canned him at the expense of the organization. Ralph Wilson hated Lou Saban and kept him around to win two AFL championships. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by #freejame

[eman]

4 hours ago, #freejame said:

We have a head coach who isn't a hockey coach who should have surrounded himself with the top hockey assistants Terry's money could buy and did not. We have an inexperienced GM who should have surrounded himself with the top hockey minds Terry's money could buy and did not. We have a team that is a conglomeration of 3 GMs over six years with no cohesion, no moxie, no will, no identity, no culture, and no idea what it takes to win. I'm tired of the platitudes from Ralph. I don't care if every game is a hard fought game if we lose them all. His quote last night was a spit in the face. This franchise is so far from being a winning franchise, and it has been so long since we have seen a winning franchise that too many people forgot what it looks like. It isn't this and it was evident long before the season started. I'll eat my words if I'm wrong but I'd be shocked if that were the case. 

Nailed it to a tee!

[LTS]

I'm not going to wade into too much yet.  The team clearly needs work.

But, Skinner deserves to be moved up and a few more offensive players need to be added to the lineup.

The whole team needs a kick in the ass and they clearly are not in game shape given how dead tired they were near the end of the 3rd last night. I don't think they are alone in being out of shape but it doesn't matter.

They are certainly not fun to watch, they play with no speed or creativity.  If this is indeed what Krueger wants then I'm not going to be around for long.

[Taro T]

12 hours ago, Thorny said:

The issue of maximizing how much you are able to benefit from your best goal scorer supersedes the trust issue. If they didn't want to play him in the top 6, fine. They had ample time to ensure he had line mates that weren't waiver/pto players. 

I care about the result. They are judged for their result. If Skinner is with Sheahan and Lazar, it's their fault.  

The answer can't be to play him with those guys. If that's what happened, we've also actively made the wrong choice on game day. Because if your game plan and system relegates it's best scorer to L4 with nobodies for functionality purposes, dayummm that's a bad game plan/system. 

To your edits note.  When pasting copied text choose "paste as plain text" or you can get all sorts of weird things happen to it.

[LabattBlue]

I think the whole McDermott “leader of men” stuff led dumb and dumber to thinking RK could fix the Sabres because of his leadership/motivational skills.  
 

Here is the skinny...in a game of QB roulette, the Bills picked Allen, and he is going to make Beane and McD look great for many years to come.  Not that they are terrible, maybe just not the next great GM/HC duo ready to be knighted. 

[Taro T]

11 hours ago, nfreeman said:

He certainly was tonight.

My 2 cents:

- They were much improved tonight, especially Reino, and carried the play for most of the game. 

- In fact, that was a pretty good and entertaining hockey game that I enjoyed most of other than the power play.

- Risto brought the thunder a few times, including IIRC one on the dude who laid out Staal.

- Reino and Skinner were their best 2 forwards tonight.  Reino transformed the top line once he joined it. 

- Skinner has been their best forward so far for the season.  Woulda been nice if he had buried one tonight though.  And I liked his post-game comments -- that's a solid pro move.

- Ullmark was much better than Hutton but he made 19 saves and gave up 2 short-side goals and I thought the GWG wasn't great goaltending.

- Another disappointing outing from Eichel, Dahlin, Staal and Olofsson.  I think maybe the long layoff hits the high-end skill guys most, and the precision skills execution needed on the PP?  Are there any elite players from any of the other non-bubble teams that are off to good starts? 

- In any case it just seems like it will take a number of games for Eichel and Dahlin to regain their sharpness.  I am pretty confident they'll get there -- I just hope they aren't 2-8 by then.

- For those doubting RK:  he had them ready to play tonight on a quick turnaround after getting smacked around last night, and Skinner is playing much harder than he did last year.  Their execution on D was much better than last year.  Certainly their PP execution needs to improve, but I think it will.  Now let's see if RK can summon this kind of effort out of them again vs Philly despite losing tonight.  I think he'll be able to. 

 

 

 

Wonder what the injury that caused Eichel to miss a few days was?

Olofsson and Staal have also been disappointing, but Staal wasn't nearly as bad last night as he was the 1st night.  Olofsson was better too, but still has some room to get back to where he was right before he got injured last year.

Dahlin just needs to get out of his own head.  As soon as he does, he'll be fine.