GDT: 1/24/21 3pm ET, Buffalo at Washington, MSG & ESPN 1520

[Radar]

1 hour ago, erickompositör72 said:

Me! I'm excited. I'm actually very excited to see what Hall/Staal/KO can do together. I think our bottom 6 are fine, as well.

I think outside of in goal (?) and coaching (?) I'm not panicking. I like RK's demeanor but not yet ready to say he's the guy although I hope he is. Just think be may be too fatherly with team and we'll see on that. I said on a thread last night at this point I'd rather have a Lindy  Ruff type but that's just me.

 

 

[Brawndo]

4 hours ago, jsb said:

Thoughts on the game and team in general:

1. They just played 4 away games against the Flyers and Capitals and took 5 out of 8 points from it, who wouldn't have taken that at almost any part of last year
2. I thought we played pretty well so far this year discounting the 1st game with the caveat that except for the short period of time Jack-Sam and Victor were together yesterday none of these forward lines are the same as last year. You can tell that the other teams were a more cohesive unit mainly because the Sabres as a team haven't been together much more than 3 weeks yet. They're still in training camp mode in a regular year after not playing in 10 months
3. You can complain about their cohesiveness but you can't complain about their competitiveness 
4. Jack and Hall are in a different stratosphere as far as being dynamic players. At times they are just flying around the ice. Having said that they are pretty much the same player and I wonder if splitting them up so they can control play on 2 different lines may or may not be best for the team other than the PP
5. I think Reinhart is under rated on this board and nationally, he's tougher on the boards, is responsible defensively, scores and you basically never see this guy make a major mistake that kills the team. 
6. For the Risto haters, he leads the team in TOI, Hits by over double than the next highest guy, Blocked shots, has the best +/- on the team and is 5th in scoring. Oh yeah lets trade this guy because he stinks, I'm looking at you @Brawndo, I'm looking at you 😀
7. Stall is not the dynamic 2C you think of but I think he and Okposo are great mentors for the younger guys in particular in subtle ways of playing the game, positionally, controlling the puck in the corners, etc..... And if the young guys are watching they'll learn a lot
8. The defense is playing at a higher level overall and if Dahlin is their biggest problem they'll only get better. He looked more confident yesterday
9. Great win for Ullmark, that has to help him mentally although that 3rd goal, yikes. Can he or this team have worst puck luck than they already have had

He has lead the team in TOI for the past few years. Blocked shots and hits are great but they also mean His team does not have the puck.
 

Plus/Minus is a flawed stat, but I am glad to see the team is performing better with him on the ice
 

Now if you want to come back at me with the Risto-McCabe Pairing was leading the entire league in expected goals for heading into the weekend, there you go. 
 

Its a very small sample of only six games but Risto and more noticeably McCabe( who has been outstanding this year) have been the Sabres best defenseman this year. 

But as Ink mentioned, there are signs of the old Risto returning. 
 

All this being said I would not hesitate to move Risto in the right deal 

[bob_sauve28]

1 hour ago, erickompositör72 said:

Me! I'm excited. I'm actually very excited to see what Hall/Staal/KO can do together. I think our bottom 6 are fine, as well.

They were not together long, but they really clicked. I remember the first time they were on ice together KO made a nice feed to Hall who had speed in over the line and he found Staal for a nice shot in the slot 

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Well we are all over here excited we got 3/4 points... so did Washington. 

Picking up 6 points every 5 games will almost always get a team into the playoffs.

Play at a 0.500 pace against the Caps & Phlyers (needed 1 more point in the homestand to be there, but have 4 more games to get 5 points & back on pace against Washington), play at a 0.750 pace against the Rags & Joisey, a 0.600 pace against the Pens & B's, and 0.550 against the Aisles and they're there.  

(Technically, they can't play precisely at 0.600 or 0.550, but they need 28 points in those 24 games, so steal an extra point or 2 from 1 and drop it from another & they get there.)

Is it tough to do that?  Yes.  Is it impossible?  Not even close.  Keep the bottom 6 and 5 of the 6 D playing the way they have & get the top 6 & Dahlin going better (& that WILL happen) and then it comes down to goaltending.

[Taro T]

22 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

They were not together long, but they really clicked. I remember the first time they were on ice together KO made a nice feed to Hall who had speed in over the line and he found Staal for a nice shot in the slot 

It's interesting.

The team scored 0 ES goals in the 1st 1/2 of the game and people were up in arms.

The lines were then changed, and they scored 0 ES goals in the 2nd 1/2 of the game but people were happy.

[bob_sauve28]

6 minutes ago, Taro T said:

It's interesting.

The team scored 0 ES goals in the 1st 1/2 of the game and people were up in arms.

The lines were then changed, and they scored 0 ES goals in the 2nd 1/2 of the game but people were happy.

Winning just seems to make everything ok 🙂 

[Eleven]

10 minutes ago, Taro T said:

It's interesting.

The team scored 0 ES goals in the 1st 1/2 of the game and people were up in arms.

The lines were then changed, and they scored 0 ES goals in the 2nd 1/2 of the game but people were happy.

It goes back to what @inkmanwrote yesterday.  We're desperate for a sign of hope.

Edited January 25, 2021 by Eleven

[dudacek]

2 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

They were not together long, but they really clicked. I remember the first time they were on ice together KO made a nice feed to Hall who had speed in over the line and he found Staal for a nice shot in the slot 

I liked what they did in the O-zone. It also seemed (unfortunately) that they spent more time in the D zone than any other unit.

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

It goes back to what @inkmanwrote yesterday.  We're desperate for a sign of hope.

We're also conditioned to reject one when we see it.

Edited January 25, 2021 by dudacek

[Pimlach]

I had a lot of work to do before the Bills game on Sunday.  
 

The Sabres won and I didn’t watch any of it.    I can’t be me jinxing them?  

[GASabresIUFAN]

13 hours ago, MODO Hockey said:

He looked slimmer, word on the street is that momma took his fortnite station away. Other than that, same as usual, he was terrible to say the least.

 

6 hours ago, JohnC said:

Bland. Right now he is an inconsequential player. At best he is a fill in player. He needs a change of scenario and a fresh start somewhere else. 

 

5 hours ago, nfreeman said:

My 2 cents:

- I thought that was another entertaining and hard-fought hockey game.  The Sabres are flawed, to be sure, but I think the complaints that have been voiced here recently about not playing hard are way off base.

- I'm happy for Linus that he played great in OT and the SO and got the W, but the Sabres need an upgrade in net.  They just do.

- Mitts looked better yesterday than he did at any point last season.

- Hall was with Staal and KO in the 3rd period, while VO was with Jack and Sam.  Interesting.

- Excellent bounceback game from Dahlin, who looked very poised, assertive and confident.

- Miller is low-key coming on as a real contributor.

- There was a point in the 1st period when the Caps were blasting the Sabres repeatedly with huge bodychecks -- Hall and Staal each caught a couple, and Montour got checked from behind hard into the boards.  The Sabres didn't fight, but Staal went looking for payback and got a little and more importantly the Sabres didn't wilt under pressure.

- Eichel is finding his stride.  He's playing with more speed and intensity and looking more dominant.  The goals will start to come soon.

@nfreeman, I'm going to tend to agree with you here.  I'm not sure what others were seeing or what they expected with 8 minutes of 5 on 5 ice time in his first game back in the NHL in over a year.  RK trusted him on the PP and he conducted himself fine.  He had no giveaways and wasn't on the ice for any goals against.  His skating looked fine and he look confident carrying the puck.    He now has as many points as Skinner and Thompson, and more then Dahlin and Eakin.  Did he dominate? No!  Did he look lost out there? No.  My guess is he did enough to earn another shot soon.  Honestly he looked better in his 8 minutes at even strength then Thompson has in 4 games.

Edited January 25, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[GASabresIUFAN]

http://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/sabres-notes-ralph-krueger-explains-why-dylan-cozens-was-scratched/

Just read RK's comments on Casey's play last night.  He had a very different opinion then some of the posters here.

Quote

He looked really good in his feet. I thought he was moving really well.  It looks like the offseason has been good to him.  We've loved him with the taxi squad, we liked him through training camp.  He added a nice element to our game tonight, becomes a strong option when you look at how we walked into his first game after so long.  He made good defensive decisions and reads.

Isn't the bold very interesting?  Sounds to me like a maturing player.

Edited January 25, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[JohnC]

14 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

 

 

@nfreeman, I'm going to tend to agree with you here.  I'm not sure what others were seeing or what they expected with 8 minutes of 5 on 5 ice time in his first game back in the NHL in over a year.  RK trusted him on the PP and he conducted himself fine.  He had no giveaways and wasn't on the ice for any goals against.  His skating looked fine and he look confident carrying the puck.    He now has as many points as Skinner and Thompson, and more then Dahlin and Eakin.  Did he dominate? No!  Did he look lost out there? No.  My guess is he did enough to earn another shot soon.  Honestly he looked better in his 8 minutes at even strength then Thompson has in 4 games.

I'm not a Mittelstadt basher. But the best one can say in his short stint is that he didn't hurt you while on the ice. With a young player what's more important than the stats on a player is whether one can visualize his future upside. I want to see it and am eager to see it but as of yet I don't see it. My belief is the best thing for his development is to go back to Rochester when it opens up again and get a bountiful amount of playing time so if he gets a call to move up to the big club he would be more developed.  Sometimes one's earnest hope never materialized. 

[MODO Hockey]

18 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

http://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/sabres-notes-ralph-krueger-explains-why-dylan-cozens-was-scratched/

Just read RK's comments on Casey's play last night.  He had a very different opinion then some of the posters here.

Isn't the bold very interesting?  Sounds to me like a maturing player.

The again this coach is as clueless as Mitts is so that was pretty much expected.

You believe in this fornite kid no worries, thank god were all different. 

If he proves me wrong then praise the lord, but to be honest that is not going to happen. Kid is mediocre at best.

[Broken Ankles]

4 hours ago, Taro T said:

It's interesting.

The team scored 0 ES goals in the 1st 1/2 of the game and people were up in arms.

The lines were then changed, and they scored 0 ES goals in the 2nd 1/2 of the game but people were happy.

For the record, I fell in this category, but my rationale was Casey had no business on FL#2 to start.  He clearly was outclassed in camp and Cozens has shown much better in a limited viewing, and at least deserving of that RW role.  We can debate all day about why Skinner seems be relegated to FL#4 (or whatever RFK calls that line)....but there is no way in hell Casey gets those minutes before Jeff, or really any other player dressed for the game.  With two player changes the lines needed to be shuffled more aggressively.  RFK seeing the err in his ways early was a good sign, but a mistake nonetheless to start. 

Edited January 25, 2021 by Broken Ankles