GDT - Ducks at Sabres - December 7, 2021 - 7:30 PM (EST) - ESPN+ / HULU & WGR

[Stoner]

10 hours ago, Sabel79 said:

They’ve been posting some…things… on social media.  

All I saw was a decal of Cuomo on a mirror. Andrew, to be clear.

[Stoner]

10 hours ago, darksabre said:

Gabe's Gate is cancelled and Paula's donuts are disgusting (except for the red velvet ones) 

A bit strong. They were good. We went to the one in Larkinville.

[SabresVet]

31 minutes ago, eman said:

The team is a complete mess once again. At season's end, I would like to see Donny Meatballs record vs. Ralph's final season. This team has regressed yet again from the one that started the season. I no longer see Donny's "coaching style" as being superior. Defense still butter soft, still no grit or pushback whatsoever, and the passing is a mess once again. What happened to this team from the one that started the season?

It's not all on Granato, but they were 9-16-3 under him to close out last season.  And 8-14-3 to begin this year. 

 

[klos1963]

11 hours ago, inkman said:

I need someone on the ice or field in Buffalo to care 1/100th the amount I do. 

There are other ways to show you care. And the game isn't played like you want anymore. No violent reactions, just doesn't happen.

[klos1963]

1 hour ago, eman said:

So why do we continue to sing Coach Don Granato's praises? Same old same old as Krueger.

singing?  We know the team lacks talent. Not every player on the roster was waiting to breakout with a new coach. We will probably have 6 -10 new players on the roster by next season. Then you can start to more accurately gauge how good a coach he is.

[eman]

34 minutes ago, SabresVet said:

It's not all on Granato, but they were 9-16-3 under him to close out last season.  And 8-14-3 to begin this year. 

 

I'm not saying it is. In fact forget that, yes, I'm saying the continued piss poor defensive play is on Granato and his staff! I thought it was originally on Steve Smith. But he's long gone and the defense is just as pathetic as it ever was and that is on Granato and staff. It is horrid and you can at least teach or continually practice the basics. 2-0 flattered the Sabres last night catching a Ducks team that was ripe for the picking on the second end of a back to back. They will get mauled in their next 2 games unless the Sabres goaltender is brilliant to keep things close. I have never seen such a weak and soft D for over 3 seasons now! (under 3 different coaches) No improvements there. None. I want to see Granato's record at seasons end. It will be similar to Kruegers. This team has regressed yet again from the one that started this season.

[eman]

16 minutes ago, klos1963 said:

singing?  We know the team lacks talent. Not every player on the roster was waiting to breakout with a new coach. We will probably have 6 -10 new players on the roster by next season. Then you can start to more accurately gauge how good a coach he is.

People are on the Don Granato as saviour band wagon and I am not seeing it anymore. The defense is exactly the same as it has been under coaches Housely, and Krueger (weak and soft) That can be taught and there is no improvement whatsoever. That is why you have a coaching staff and yes, it's on Donny Meatballs.

[inkman]

27 minutes ago, klos1963 said:

There are other ways to show you care. And the game isn't played like you want anymore. No violent reactions, just doesn't happen.

There are still players and teams that fight but that wasn’t what I was referring to in that post.  I need players to act like they care.  Josh seems like he does.  Outside of him, I’m not sure. 

[inkman]

8 minutes ago, eman said:

People are on the Don Granato as saviour band wagon and I am not seeing it anymore. The defense is exactly the same as it has been under coaches Housely, and Krueger (weak and soft) That can be taught and there is no improvement whatsoever. That is why you have a coaching staff and yes, it's on Donny Meatballs.

It’s the same players.  Miller, Butcher, Dahlin and Bryson aren’t exactly Chris Pronger.  It also falls on the younger inexperienced forwards.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m concerned about their ability to defend. I’m not ready to crucify Granato for it…yet.  

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

I couldn’t watch. Sounds like I was lucky. How did UPL look? 

Good. Maybe even great.  The Sabres were playing notably better defense, probably to the detriment of their offense.  

[PromoTheRobot]

8 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

I couldn’t watch. Sounds like I was lucky. How did UPL look? 

He was solid. But he also didn't face any really dangerous chances. I guess the good news is the Sabres players better D. (Though it could also be due to the Ducks being tired.) The bad news is Stolarz, the Ducks goalie, was even better he shut the Sabres out 

Edited December 8, 2021 by PromoTheRobot

[SabresVet]

51 minutes ago, eman said:

I'm not saying it is. In fact forget that, yes, I'm saying the continued piss poor defensive play is on Granato and his staff! I thought it was originally on Steve Smith. But he's long gone and the defense is just as pathetic as it ever was and that is on Granato and staff. It is horrid and you can at least teach or continually practice the basics. 2-0 flattered the Sabres last night catching a Ducks team that was ripe for the picking on the second end of a back to back. They will get mauled in their next 2 games unless the Sabres goaltender is brilliant to keep things close. I have never seen such a weak and soft D for over 3 seasons now! (under 3 different coaches) No improvements there. None. I want to see Granato's record at seasons end. It will be similar to Kruegers. This team has regressed yet again from the one that started this season.

Not disagreeing with you.  It's Adams' and Granato's team now and they're accountable for that performance.  One would think having another off-season to re-shape the roster in their image would improve results.  Alas, it has not...at least not yet.

Teams have adapted to Buffalo's style of play, identified their weaknesses, and capitalized.  It's why when homers talked up Granato as this tremendous coach, I needed to see more.  How he would adapt, how the players would be put into a better position, and of course the talent they had would respond.  So far, the results have been underwhelming.  

[Wyldnwoody44]

Also, Murray is huge out there, but he did not look like an NHL'er last night. He was pushed off the puck easily and seems to be noticeably slower than the other skaters. 

[bob_sauve28]

29 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

He was solid. But he also didn't face any really dangerous chances. I guess the good news is the Sabres players better D. (Though it could also be due to the Ducks being tired.) The bad news is Stolarz, the Ducks goalie, was even better she shut the Sabres out 

They had a female goalie??? 🕺

 

Sorry, couldn't resist 😇

[inkman]

7 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Also, Murray is huge out there, but he did not look like an NHL'er last night. He was pushed off the puck easily and seems to be noticeably slower than the other skaters. 

Accurate 

[Mustache of God]

9 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Also, Murray is huge out there, but he did not look like an NHL'er last night. He was pushed off the puck easily and seems to be noticeably slower than the other skaters. 

It'll be nice when he's replaced by Tuch.

[SwampD]

2 hours ago, klos1963 said:

There are other ways to show you care. And the game isn't played like you want anymore. No violent reactions, just doesn't happen.

Do you watch any other teams? It certainly isn't as often as it used to be, but I see it all the time, just not in Sabres games.

[Thorner]

14 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

They are having a bad night on offense, but a surprisingly decent defensive game. UPL looks confident making faces but he hasn't had to face a breakaway.

 

14 hours ago, Gatorman0519 said:

Are we really going to get good goaltending finally and not score a goal? 

Don't find it that surprising, honestly. Like I mentioned yesterday, the game itself is so fluid, so all of these components have a massive affect on each other in real time. Look at the forward roster: it's not actually good at scoring goals. Or, I should say, it's not good at scoring goals without playing an unsustainable system that leads to league-worst goals against rates. If they actually commit to a sound style, like they did for UPL, that offense is going to dry up, quick. They don't have the raw talent to create and score without heavy manipulation from the coach.

It's not just the goalies. It's not just the D. It's not just the forwards. We all saw it coming it - the roster isn't good. Not one area of it is good enough. 

It's the only way you can lose 15 out of 18 games, finding yourself in 29th place by points % after a 5-1-1 start.

[Thorner]

13 hours ago, Norcal said:

Yep. It wasn't what they are making it out to be.

I bet they've tried that in practice a dozen times.

No pressure, easy to do. UPL reacted a little late but what could he do. 

No idea what Asplund was doing on that one

[dudacek]

11 minutes ago, Thorny said:

 

Don't find it that surprising, honestly. Like I mentioned yesterday, the game itself is so fluid, so all of these components have a massive affect on each other in real time. Look at the forward roster: it's not actually good at scoring goals. Or, I should say, it's not good at scoring goals without playing an unsustainable system that leads to league-worst goals against rates. If they actually commit to a sound style, like they did for UPL, that offense is going to dry up, quick. They don't have the raw talent to create and score without heavy manipulation from the coach.

It's not just the goalies. It's not just the D. It's not just the forwards. We all saw it coming it - the roster isn't good. Not one area of it is good enough. 

It's the only way you can lose 15 out of 18 games, finding yourself in 29th place by points % after a 5-1-1 start.

Such a good observation.

There was so much recent talk about defence that I decided to track what individual defencemen were doing with the puck in our zone. What I discovered was initially surprising, but when I considered it in the context of what played out on the ice, it wasn't surprising at all.

Unlike most of the season the Sabres played it safe last night. As a result, they made life easier for the goalie and harder for the forwards.

It shouldn't be surprising that a system that encourages offence yields 6-4 games and a system that encourages defence yields 2-0 games.

Donnie can influence how they play and how they work, but he has no power over how talented they are.

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Such a good observation.

There was so much recent talk about defence that I decided to track what individual defencemen were doing with the puck in our zone. What I discovered was initially surprising, but when I considered it in the context of what played out on the ice, it wasn't surprising at all.

Unlike most of the season the Sabres played it safe last night. As a result, they made life easier for the goalie and harder for the forwards.

It shouldn't be surprising that a system that encourages offence yields 6-4 games and a system that encourages defence yields 2-0 games.

Donnie can influence how they play and how they work, but he has no power over how talented they are.

At least we know the players are still fully bought in to what Granato is preaching (not that I thought they'd tune out this quickly). He does appear to be apt at getting the team to play the type of game he wants them to. Like you summed up, there's only so much he can have the roster actually positively create.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Thorny

[woods-racer]

18 minutes ago, Thorny said:

No idea what Asplund was doing on that one

Where was the defenseman that should have been between the 2 Ducks' players(Zegras/Milano)? Asplund being behind the scorer seem the right position for a forward.

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, woods-racer said:

Where was the defenseman that should have been between the 2 Ducks' players(Zegras/Milano)? Asplund being behind the scorer seem the right position for a forward.

Maybe at first. 

But he stood there in one spot so long in a fluid game that Milano made a sandwich and caught up on squid game

[Norcal]

23 minutes ago, Thorny said:

No idea what Asplund was doing on that one

I agree. Stick check, cross check, body positioning.

Anything but whatever he was doing. 

Miller should have been on Zegras ass too, but no. 

No other team in the league allows that goal.

In fact, It will be interesting to see what happens the next time someone tries that move against a team other than Buffalo. 

[Weave]

46 minutes ago, Norcal said:

I agree. Stick check, cross check, body positioning.

Anything but whatever he was doing. 

Miller should have been on Zegras ass too, but no. 

No other team in the league allows that goal.

In fact, It will be interesting to see what happens the next time someone tries that move against a team other than Buffalo. 

My initial reaction to that goal was, wow that's an embarassing way to get scored upon. 

The first time Eichel did that faceoff move where he pushes the puck ahead and gets around the other centerman, it resulted in Jack getting an earfull from the center he embarassed.  It was a good while before he attempted that move a second time.  I would not have hated a Sabre giving Zegras some business over that goal.

Granted, with D Lo on that team our guy would have promptly got his ass kicked.

[eman]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

 

Don't find it that surprising, honestly. Like I mentioned yesterday, the game itself is so fluid, so all of these components have a massive affect on each other in real time. Look at the forward roster: it's not actually good at scoring goals. Or, I should say, it's not good at scoring goals without playing an unsustainable system that leads to league-worst goals against rates. If they actually commit to a sound style, like they did for UPL, that offense is going to dry up, quick. They don't have the raw talent to create and score without heavy manipulation from the coach.

It's not just the goalies. It's not just the D. It's not just the forwards. We all saw it coming it - the roster isn't good. Not one area of it is good enough. 

It's the only way you can lose 15 out of 18 games, finding yourself in 29th place by points % after a 5-1-1 start.

But what bothers me more is that everyone was talking up what an improvement the Sabres have shown in their play under Coach Granato. That was true up to a point. What I see now is almost a carbon copy of the Housely & Krueger era's. Starting to show a bit of lax effort, still a weak defense and a soft one. It is the coaching staff's responsibility to teach them to take the body at the very least. Don't have to be over physical but stay on your guy and use your body to at least try an push them out of position or off the puck. Under Granato, I still see the D leaving guys completely unmarked and no one is getting in anyone's way defensively. 2-0 last night was a case of Anaheim out for a skate on the second leg of a back to back and exerting just enough effort for the 2 points. In other words, a textbook road game.