GDT: 2/22/21 7pm Sabres at islanders

[jsb]

   VS.   

The Buffalo Sabres shorthanded on defensive men will take on the NY Islanders in what will be the 1st of 5 games in 7 days for the team. To say that these games and especially this one is important to the standings would be an understatement. Can they light a fire under these circumstances and show some heart, we'll see Sabres fans. With Risto and McCabe both out for the foreseeable future, can Dahlin be ready to shoulder the responsibility of keeping the D corps respectable?? Will HCRK just let him play and gain some confidence or are his detractors correct in saying he's just another dumb blonde on skates?? Casey M. gets his first chance after being sidelined in the  Covid protocol and can he try and stake a claim to more playing time. Will the 5v5 scoring finally return for this team or will this end up being a full year of disappointment?? If there is a bright spot in this season, the PP and PK have been the team's highlights. Then there's the Ralph K and Skinner episode, will they finally have a meeting of the minds or is this a matter of Sooner or later one of them must know what's next.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

The Sabres are 7-4-2 all-time on February 22.

February 22, 1989: Darcy Wakaluk stops all 13 shots faced in relief and the Sabres score five unanswered goals to erase a three-goal deficit and defeat the New York Islanders 7-5.

February 22, 2007: Patrick Kaleta records his first career point (an assist) in his NHL debut vs. Ottawa. The Sabres win the game 6-5 in a shootout after the teams combine to record 136 penalty minutes.

February 22, 2011: And in a day that may still end up in infamy, Terry Pegula announces his purchase of the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres would finish the season by going 16-4-4 in the 24 games after the purchase to make the playoffs.

 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres’ special teams are plus-7 this season, with 15 goals for and eight goals against. Entering play Sunday, they were tied for the third-best differential in the league and 3rd best PP percentage at just over 41%
• Buffalo’s penalty kill is 18-for-20 (90.0%) in the team’s last 11 games against the Islanders.
• Taylor Hall has recorded 18 points (9+9) in his 18 games against the Islanders dating back to the beginning of the 2013-14 season.
• Jack Eichel has totaled 10 points (3+7) in his 10 meetings with the Islanders since the beginning of the 2017-18 season.
• Victor Olofsson has scored in three of his five career games against the Islanders.
• Linus Ullmark is 3-2-1 in six career games against the Islanders with a .922 save percentage and a 2.16 goals-against average.
• The team ranks 2nd in the league in face-off won percentage and all 4 primary face-off men, Eichel-Stall-Eakin and Sheahan over 50%
• The Sabres are the least penalized team in the league and have the best differential of penalties for and against.

NHL News: Anaheim Ducks finally call up Zegras, so we'll see if his debut is soon. Dubois scores twice including a nifty OT winner in a win over the Canucks. @dudacek may need to give us an update as to how long they'll let this season pass them by before they make some changes to the roster. The Penguins Crosby played his 1000th game the other day, Toronto is tearing up the North Division and unless there's a complete fallout they'll end up the #1 seed there plus Matthews is on a 56 goal pace in a 56 game season so far. Being to dumb to go to college doesn't seem to have fazed him and in comparison the Sabres top 5 goal scorers have a combined 20 so far which includes Olofsson, Reinhart, Stall, Lazar and Rieder and where the heck are our supposed 3 top goal scorers, Jack, Hall and Skinner?? A total of 3 so far. 14 games and we have a total of 3 goals from those guys. Good thing Okposo is banging them home, OH WAIT, he doesn't have any either. 33 million dollars in salary and we have 3 goals total from them. Yikes, yes I'd say that even overtakes the GK's as the #1 problem why this team in under the Deluca 500. 

LETS GO BUFFALO

Some information was found on this website https://sabresdigitalpressbox.com    I'm also back with power and safe water at the house, so I'm back at this also.

[PerreaultForever]

Depleted D and so many games close together meaning Hutton has to start some of them does not bode well. 

[Pimlach]

No Risto, no McCabe, no Borgen.  
 

Sabres still not scoring.  
Isles 4 (one EN) - Sabres 2 

[Zamboni]

Yea this unfortunately has loss written all over it.

Isles - 5

Sabres - 1

Okposo, Cozens, or Joker with a goal

[K-9]

Musty Winter

[Cal Naughton Jr]

Mister Wiggles

[Derrico]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

No Risto, no McCabe, no Borgen.  
 

Sabres still not scoring.  
Isles 4 (one EN) - Sabres 2 

Wow you're giving the Sabres 2 goals?  I'll be surprised if that happens. 

[SwampD]

2 for Skinner tonight.

1 for Dahlin. The narrative of him being held back will (begin to) die.

Hall finally finds some chemistry.

[Stoner]

9 minutes ago, SwampD said:

2 for Skinner tonight.

1 for Dahlin. The narrative of him being held back will (begin to) die.

Hall finally finds some chemistry.

Sodie pops in the press box?

[inkman]

12 minutes ago, SwampD said:

2 for Skinner tonight.

1 for Dahlin. The narrative of him being held back will (begin to) die.

Hall finally finds some chemistry.

That’ll be hard from the press box 

 

[Drag0nDan]

3 minutes ago, inkman said:

That’ll be hard from the press box 

 

It's honestly hitting "didgomezscore" levels of ridiculous.  

[SwampD]

21 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Sodie pops in the press box?

Wuh?

Dumb.

[Marvin]

38 minutes ago, inkman said:

That’ll be hard from the press box 

 

My head hurts.  What the hell is going on?

[Norcal]

2 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

My head hurts.  What the hell is going on?

Tough love 😒

[bob_sauve28]

7 hours ago, jsb said:

   VS.   

The Buffalo Sabres shorthanded on defensive men will take on the NY Islanders in what will be the 1st of 5 games in 7 days for the team. To say that these games and especially this one is important to the standings would be an understatement. Can they light a fire under these circumstances and show some heart, we'll see Sabres fans. With Risto and McCabe both out for the foreseeable future, can Dahlin be ready to shoulder the responsibility of keeping the D corps respectable?? Will HCRK just let him play and gain some confidence or are his detractors correct in saying he's just another dumb blonde on skates?? Casey M. gets his first chance after being sidelined in the  Covid protocol and can he try and stake a claim to more playing time. Will the 5v5 scoring finally return for this team or will this end up being a full year of disappointment?? If there is a bright spot in this season, the PP and PK have been the team's highlights. Then there's the Ralph K and Skinner episode, will they finally have a meeting of the minds or is this a matter of Sooner or later one of them must know what's next.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

The Sabres are 7-4-2 all-time on February 22.

February 22, 1989: Darcy Wakaluk stops all 13 shots faced in relief and the Sabres score five unanswered goals to erase a three-goal deficit and defeat the New York Islanders 7-5.

February 22, 2007: Patrick Kaleta records his first career point (an assist) in his NHL debut vs. Ottawa. The Sabres win the game 6-5 in a shootout after the teams combine to record 136 penalty minutes.

February 22, 2011: And in a day that may still end up in infamy, Terry Pegula announces his purchase of the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres would finish the season by going 16-4-4 in the 24 games after the purchase to make the playoffs.

 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres’ special teams are plus-7 this season, with 15 goals for and eight goals against. Entering play Sunday, they were tied for the third-best differential in the league and 3rd best PP percentage at just over 41%
• Buffalo’s penalty kill is 18-for-20 (90.0%) in the team’s last 11 games against the Islanders.
• Taylor Hall has recorded 18 points (9+9) in his 18 games against the Islanders dating back to the beginning of the 2013-14 season.
• Jack Eichel has totaled 10 points (3+7) in his 10 meetings with the Islanders since the beginning of the 2017-18 season.
• Victor Olofsson has scored in three of his five career games against the Islanders.
• Linus Ullmark is 3-2-1 in six career games against the Islanders with a .922 save percentage and a 2.16 goals-against average.
• The team ranks 2nd in the league in face-off won percentage and all 4 primary face-off men, Eichel-Stall-Eakin and Sheahan over 50%
• The Sabres are the least penalized team in the league and have the best differential of penalties for and against.

NHL News: Anaheim Ducks finally call up Zegras, so we'll see if his debut is soon. Dubois scores twice including a nifty OT winner in a win over the Canucks. @dudacek may need to give us an update as to how long they'll let this season pass them by before they make some changes to the roster. The Penguins Crosby played his 1000th game the other day, Toronto is tearing up the North Division and unless there's a complete fallout they'll end up the #1 seed there plus Matthews is on a 56 goal pace in a 56 game season so far. Being to dumb to go to college doesn't seem to have fazed him and in comparison the Sabres top 5 goal scorers have a combined 20 so far which includes Olofsson, Reinhart, Stall, Lazar and Rieder and where the heck are our supposed 3 top goal scorers, Jack, Hall and Skinner?? A total of 3 so far. 14 games and we have a total of 3 goals from those guys. Good thing Okposo is banging them home, OH WAIT, he doesn't have any either. 33 million dollars in salary and we have 3 goals total from them. Yikes, yes I'd say that even overtakes the GK's as the #1 problem why this team in under the Deluca 500. 

LETS GO BUFFALO

Some information was found on this website https://sabresdigitalpressbox.com    I'm also back with power and safe water at the house, so I'm back at this also.

Welcome back! Hope your Texas winter storm experience was not too terrible. 

[IKnowPhysics]

19 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

My head hurts.  What the hell is going on?

Article is making guesses, based on the practice lines from yesterday, which is an imperfect predictor of scratches.  Could just be the coaches trying out different combos for when the taxi squad swaps in.  Plus, even if the line combos are correct, I'm not 100% that Skinner-Asplund-Thompson is the line that sits.

 

I'm hoping Ullmark gets the nod for both starts.

[SwampD]

11 minutes ago, IKnowPhysics said:

Article is making guesses, based on the practice lines from yesterday, which is an imperfect predictor of scratches.  Could just be the coaches trying out different combos for when the taxi squad swaps in.  Plus, even if the line combos are correct, I'm not 100% that Skinner-Asplund-Thompson is the line that sits.

 

I'm hoping Ullmark gets the nod for both starts.

Wait. That’s why people are saying he’ll be in the press box? Because of the order Harrington put the practice lines in a tweet?

2 for Jeff tonight.

[dudacek]

Since Nov. 1, 2019 — despite playing more games — Jeff Skinner has scored fewer goals (7) and/or fewer points (14) in a Sabres uniform than

• Marcus Johansson 5/21
• Jimmy Vesey 9/18
• Johan Larsson 5/16
• Zemgus Girgensons 11/15
• Conor Sheary 6/15
• Kyle Okposo 8/14
• Curtis Lazar 8/14

He's well behind Risto, Dahlin and Montour in points and barely ahead of McCabe, Miller and Jokiharju. Heck, he's only 4 points ahead of Taylor Hall. Mittelstadt has as many points in two games this year as Jeff has in 14.

This isn't a slump, it's 60 games and 18 months of not producing.

I say it's about ***** time he sits out.

Edited February 22, 2021 by dudacek

[LTS]

Yay.  A game when I have no varsity hockey games to watch instead.  I mean.. Yay?  Not sure I'm happy about this.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

That’ll be hard from the press box 

 

That's dumb.

The Sabres must play every single good player they have.  The roster is depleated.

Islanders?

I thought we were playing Jersey again tonight.

[LTS]

Just now, New Scotland (NS) said:

That's dumb.

The Sabres must play every single good player they have.  The roster is depleated.

What is it about Skinner that makes you think he's a good player?

Skinner WAS a good player.  Right now, and for a year he has NOT been a good player.

There's some concept out there that Jeff Skinner is blameless in this.  He's played games with pretty much everyone on the team and continues to produce absolutely nothing.  ZERO.

If this were Tage Thompson you'd say sit him, he's worthless.  And guess what, Jeff will be 6 feet away from Tage tonight.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

3 minutes ago, LTS said:

What is it about Skinner that makes you think he's a good player?

Skinner WAS a good player.  Right now, and for a year he has NOT been a good player.

There's some concept out there that Jeff Skinner is blameless in this.  He's played games with pretty much everyone on the team and continues to produce absolutely nothing.  ZERO.

If this were Tage Thompson you'd say sit him, he's worthless.  And guess what, Jeff will be 6 feet away from Tage tonight.

Jeff is a highly skilled player that is in a funk.  He needs to play.  The Sabres are a better team with Jeff in the lineup.

It's okay it seems that @SwampD is the only one in agreement on this.

[pi2000]

They just won their first game in forever and now RK is making lineup changes...   What could possibly go wrong? SMH

Anyway, another terrible matchup for the Sabres... Trotz is just light years ahead of RK when it comes to strategy.     I see a 5-1 NYI win, Sabres get maybe 20 shots on goal.    Just an ugly ugly game, exacerbated by lack of depth on the back-end.

 

[Cal Naughton Jr]

50 minutes ago, IKnowPhysics said:

I'm hoping Ullmark gets the nod for both starts.

Maybe Hutton’s car will get snowed in 

[miles]

this will be a winner