GDT - Bruins at Sabres - November 24, 2021 - 7:00 PM (EST) - MSG and WGR

[carpandean]

I watched the Amerks (AHLTV) on my TV and just the Sabres box score on my computer.  Happy with my choices.

[K-9]

10 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Same old same old. We simply cannot play against solid defensive teams that drive the net with their physicality. It will be a long second half of the season. Some actual goaltending might have made it closer, but we were not in this game after about the first 5 minutes or so. 

Probably meaningless but slightly irritating observation, too much smiling on the bench after falling behind 4-1. Tanking going to result in teaching this next young core to be okay with losing like they did with the last young core? Hope not. Probably not a big thing, but it irritated me. 

We sit next to the bench and I noticed this, too. In my book, it’s unacceptable in every way. First time I have to question Granato’s grasp of the situation. If he or the assistants didn’t notice it, they’re not tuned in. If they did, it wasn’t addressed because they were laughing it up the entire second period. This might be indicative of deeper issues and that’s concerning.  

[Thorner]

11 hours ago, bunomatic said:

It irritated  me as well. Losing should never be tolerated. Who knows maybe someone farted ? Damn I hate this lose n learn mantra that this team is going with. Feels too much like a tank. And with the lowest common denominator goaltending it feels even more like a set up to fail situation. I get the development aspect to what KA is touting but I think the development happens faster with competent goaltending and the occasional win.

yep. said it all offseason. until they prioritize winning, they won't win. until they grasp that what they are doing is a self-fulfilling prophecy, the losing will continue. They do have it backwards. 

[Pimlach]

38 minutes ago, K-9 said:

We sit next to the bench and I noticed this, too. In my book, it’s unacceptable in every way. First time I have to question Granato’s grasp of the situation. If he or the assistants didn’t notice it, they’re not tuned in. If they did, it wasn’t addressed because they were laughing it up the entire second period. This might be indicative of deeper issues and that’s concerning.  

I saw the laughing for a bit.    I am not so sure that having fun and keeping spirits up is a bad thing?  The team knows what they are and I am sure they knew that their goaltending let them down in the first period.  As coach, I would be telling them to recover and win the 2nd period, and they did play a decent  2nd, even if it looked like Boston let up.  
 

They stayed in the game and stopped the bleeding once Toker came in.   Boston took their cheap shots too.  Miller took on  Foligno.  Zemgus blasted McAvoy.   Someone should have smashed Marchand.  They gave up a lot on the 5 min PP but the game was long over.  

I been saying it since I came here.  This goaltending is never going to give this group a chance to succeed.  It is horrendous. I see another bottom 3 finish and its all because of the goaltending.  Shameful.  

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I saw the laughing for a bit.    I am not so sure that having fun and keeping spirits up is a bad thing?  The team knows what they are and I am sure they knew that their goaltending let them down in the first period.  As coach, I would be telling them to recover and win the 2nd period, and they did play a decent  2nd, even if it looked like Boston let up.  
 

They stayed in the game and stopped the bleeding once Toker came in.   Boston took their cheap shots too.  Miller took on  Foligno.  Zemgus blasted McAvoy.   Someone should have smashed Marchand.  They gave up a lot on the 5 min PP but the game was long over.  

I been saying it since I came here.  This goaltending is never going to give this group a chance to succeed.  It is horrendous. I see another bottom 3 finish and its all because of the goaltending.  Shameful.  

Teaching that mentality would be exactly the issue. Or else, the players realized that for themselves? It's not "screw that, I'll MAKE us win", it's, "We know we can't do this with the GT we have?" 

That's not a promising outlook imo 

[Indabuff]

16 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I been saying it since I came here.  This goaltending is never going to give this group a chance to succeed.  It is horrendous. I see another bottom 3 finish and its all because of the goaltending.  Shameful.  

Anyone check in on this guy lately?

[Kristian]

Aaron Dell is very bad, that much is obvious.

Dustin Tokarski is shaky at best.

Craig Anderson is injured.

It’s bad.

[Pimlach]

35 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Teaching that mentality would be exactly the issue. Or else, the players realized that for themselves? It's not "screw that, I'll MAKE us win", it's, "We know we can't do this with the GT we have?" 

That's not a promising outlook imo 

I get the concern but I think it’s overblown.  They can’t do anything with the GT they have.  No matter how much positive spin you apply.  They will win a few here and there, that’s it.  
 

Sticking together is more important and they are doing that.  Laughing on the bench at whatever happened is not the end of the world.  If I see them screwing around every game then I will join your concern.  We saw them laughing at something once.  I also saw them hitting, fighting, battling …. Against Boston they are completely outmatched on most shifts.  Half the team is comprised of AHL players.  
 

You try playing 63 more games in front of Dell and Toker, they both play like low level AHL goalies.  This mystique about how hard it is to find a goalie is *****.  
 

Blame the front office.  This was predicted by the most casual of fans. 
 

 

[Thorner]

7 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I get the concern but I think it’s overblown.  They can’t do anything with the GT they have.  No matter how much positive spin you apply.  They will win a few here and there, that’s it.  
 

Sticking together is more important and they are doing that.  Laughing on the bench at whatever happened is not the end of the world.  If I see them screwing around every game then I will join your concern.  We saw them laughing at something once.  I also saw them hitting, fighting, battling …. Against Boston they are completely outmatched on most shifts.  Half the team is comprised of AHL players.  
 

You try playing 63 more games in front of Dell and Toker, they both play like low level AHL goalies.  This mystique about how hard it is to find a goalie is *****.  
 

Blame the front office.  This was predicted by the most casual of fans. 
 

 

Oh, I definitely blame the front office. As exciting and fun and blinding as it’s been to...lose 10 of 12. 

Culture! 

- - - 

I don’t care about them laughing on the bench. I took issue with what I bolded. If their mentality is “we know what this is” - management has failed 

[K-9]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

I saw the laughing for a bit.    I am not so sure that having fun and keeping spirits up is a bad thing?  The team knows what they are and I am sure they knew that their goaltending let them down in the first period.  As coach, I would be telling them to recover and win the 2nd period, and they did play a decent  2nd, even if it looked like Boston let up.  
 

They stayed in the game and stopped the bleeding once Toker came in.   Boston took their cheap shots too.  Miller took on  Foligno.  Zemgus blasted McAvoy.   Someone should have smashed Marchand.  They gave up a lot on the 5 min PP but the game was long over.  

I been saying it since I came here.  This goaltending is never going to give this group a chance to succeed.  It is horrendous. I see another bottom 3 finish and its all because of the goaltending.  Shameful.  

I can appreciate what you’re saying, but I can’t agree with it. Being down 4-1 after giving up 22 shots on goal in a period and getting your ass handed to you in the process is never something to laugh about on the bench during the game. There are times to have fun and there are times not to have fun. Last night was a time for the latter. Especially for us fans sitting there feeling miserable while the team is yucking it up. 

[Buffalonill]

I was excited the 1st 7 games thought things are different  I give up we're the Detroit ***** lions nothing goes right

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, K-9 said:

We sit next to the bench and I noticed this, too. In my book, it’s unacceptable in every way. First time I have to question Granato’s grasp of the situation. If he or the assistants didn’t notice it, they’re not tuned in. If they did, it wasn’t addressed because they were laughing it up the entire second period. This might be indicative of deeper issues and that’s concerning.  

Yup, and I've been saying it for years (and yes, I'm not the only one). The country club atmosphere started when the Pegulas arrived and the theme seemed to be pamper the players and they will want to be here and they will perform and it's never changed. The bar for performance on the ice is incredibly low. 

Kyle said a lot of the right things at the start of this season and it briefly felt like we were going to change the culture and re-instill some pride in the jersey (along with a sense of obligation to the fans) a thing that used to exist in Buffalo long ago, but this made me think that maybe it's not going to happen this time either. 

[inkman]

6 hours ago, carpandean said:

I watched the Amerks (AHLTV) on my TV and just the Sabres box score on my computer.  Happy with my choices.

Please join our Amerks threads anytime you feel 

[carpandean]

9 minutes ago, inkman said:

Please join our Amerks threads anytime you feel 

I'm there.  I'll try to post more.

[Kristian]

50 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Yup, and I've been saying it for years (and yes, I'm not the only one). The country club atmosphere started when the Pegulas arrived and the theme seemed to be pamper the players and they will want to be here and they will perform and it's never changed. The bar for performance on the ice is incredibly low. 

Kyle said a lot of the right things at the start of this season and it briefly felt like we were going to change the culture and re-instill some pride in the jersey (along with a sense of obligation to the fans) a thing that used to exist in Buffalo long ago, but this made me think that maybe it's not going to happen this time either. 

The smiling on the bench while losing goes back to before the Pegulas.
 

I have no love lost for the current ownership, but fair needs to be fair - I definitely remember Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, Drew Stafford etc. having WAY too much fun losing, during the last years of OSP’s reign.

[PerreaultForever]

5 minutes ago, Kristian said:

The smiling on the bench while losing goes back to before the Pegulas.
 

I have no love lost for the current ownership, but fair needs to be fair - I definitely remember Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, Drew Stafford etc. having WAY too much fun losing, during the last years of OSP’s reign.

You could be right about that I don't really remember. You're probably right about it. 

I'm probably over reacting but I'm just sick and tired of float teams that don't care. I want to like this team so bad, but they just make it so hard to do. 

[Kristian]

1 minute ago, PerreaultForever said:

You could be right about that I don't really remember. You're probably right about it. 

I'm probably over reacting but I'm just sick and tired of float teams that don't care. I want to like this team so bad, but they just make it so hard to do. 

No arguments there, couldn’t agree more.

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

Yup, and I've been saying it for years (and yes, I'm not the only one). The country club atmosphere started when the Pegulas arrived and the theme seemed to be pamper the players and they will want to be here and they will perform and it's never changed. The bar for performance on the ice is incredibly low. 

Kyle said a lot of the right things at the start of this season and it briefly felt like we were going to change the culture and re-instill some pride in the jersey (along with a sense of obligation to the fans) a thing that used to exist in Buffalo long ago, but this made me think that maybe it's not going to happen this time either. 

I’m not defending the team.  The bar is low because the talent is low.  There are not enough good  players  to force everyone to play their best on every shift.  On a good team you have a few bad shifts and your benched. There is a 4th liner or a spare player reader for more ice.   

[Pimlach]

4 hours ago, K-9 said:

I can appreciate what you’re saying, but I can’t agree with it. Being down 4-1 after giving up 22 shots on goal in a period and getting your ass handed to you in the process is never something to laugh about on the bench during the game. There are times to have fun and there are times not to have fun. Last night was a time for the latter. Especially for us fans sitting there feeling miserable while the team is yucking it up. 

I would like to see the video again of the laughing and joking that has some of you stirred up.  I am not known as a softie but what I saw was one instance of it and it amounted to nothing. I am a hard ass most of the time.   I have coached losing teams and winning teams.  There is a time to kick players ass, and if you have to do it too much then it stops working  - unless your willing to change some players.  I am not willing to empty Rochester for this disaster of a roster to play in front of Dell and Toker.     

 I look at this team and I see maybe 8 players, a few vets, and a  whole bunch of fluff.  63 games to go.  
 

 Boston had one dangerous scoring chance and yet they had 4 goals.  The Sabres were pushing back, fighting, checking, not backing down.  Look no further than a poor goalie leaving big fat rebounds, taking poor angles, and just not covering enough of the net. 
 

maybe later this week I will look at the game again.   

Edited November 25, 2021 by Pimlach

[K-9]

48 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I would like to see the video again of the laughing and joking that has some of you stirred up.  I am not known as a softie but what I saw was one instance of it and it amounted to nothing. I am a hard ass most of the time.   I have coached losing teams and winning teams.  There is a time to kick players ass, and if you have to do it too much then it stops working  - unless your willing to change some players.  I am not willing to empty Rochester for this disaster of a roster to play in front of Dell and Toker.     

 I look at this team and I see maybe 8 players, a few vets, and a  whole bunch of fluff.  63 games to go.  
 

 Boston had one dangerous scoring chance and yet they had 4 goals.  The Sabres were pushing back, fighting, checking, not backing down.  Look no further than a poor goalie leaving big fat rebounds, taking poor angles, and just not covering enough of the net. 
 

maybe later this week I will look at the game again.   

The video is only a snippet of what I witnessed a few feet from the bench for the entire second period. They were much too comfortable in that embarrassing position for my liking. Resigned, almost.  I’m glad they were pushing and fighting and trying to get back in it, but whether or not the yucking it up impacted what was happening on the ice is not important to me. It was a loser’s optic. 

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, Pimlach said:

I’m not defending the team.  The bar is low because the talent is low.  There are not enough good  players  to force everyone to play their best on every shift.  On a good team you have a few bad shifts and your benched. There is a 4th liner or a spare player reader for more ice.   

In a way that might be true, but we also had so called talent that didn't get it done and lost their love and didn't play well while here and so on. 

On a team like this, as they're all kind of equal, that should also still send a message that you can sit if you have the wrong attitude. But we don't. We give the harder workers away for free (Lazar) and keep the floaters (Bjork). Neither is all that good, but the one with the right attitude is fitting in with a more talented team that likes him for his work habits and attitude. Just an example. 

Hell, Montour's playing with Florida. So was/is he talent? He sucked here. Now he's on a team undefeated at home. There's more to this than just we need more talent. 

[inkman]

5 hours ago, Kristian said:

The smiling on the bench while losing goes back to before the Pegulas.
 

I have no love lost for the current ownership, but fair needs to be fair - I definitely remember Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, Drew Stafford etc. having WAY too much fun losing, during the last years of OSP’s reign.

Do you want the players to put a .45 in their mouth?  Where does this “not enjoying” losing stop ? 

Edited November 26, 2021 by inkman

[PerreaultForever]

2 minutes ago, inkman said:

Do you want the players to put a .45 in their mouth?  Where does this “not enjoying” losing stop ? 

So you're okay with it? You think it's what? a positive attitude? 

[Pimlach]

5 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

In a way that might be true, but we also had so called talent that didn't get it done and lost their love and didn't play well while here and so on. 

On a team like this, as they're all kind of equal, that should also still send a message that you can sit if you have the wrong attitude. But we don't. We give the harder workers away for free (Lazar) and keep the floaters (Bjork). Neither is all that good, but the one with the right attitude is fitting in with a more talented team that likes him for his work habits and attitude. Just an example. 

Hell, Montour's playing with Florida. So was/is he talent? He sucked here. Now he's on a team undefeated at home. There's more to this than just we need more talent. 

True.  But we need more talent.  

[Kristian]

5 hours ago, inkman said:

Do you want the players to put a .45 in their mouth?  Where does this “not enjoying” losing stop ? 

Not sure I follow? Was just pointing out it’s been around for a long time.