GDT Sabres Season Opener: Sens @ Sabres 10/13/2022, 7pm, MSG, ESPN+, RDS, WGR

[SDS]

13 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

So allow me to explain why I started this GDT at 10pm last night.

I wanted to post that screen grab of how many tickets were left. I couldn't find a thread where it would be appropriate. So I figured what the heck. Besides, consider it a tribute to a Sabres team that's doing everything BEFORE they need to.

Then start a new topic, which I guess you did, but it didn’t have to be this one. It’s OK to start new topics.

[PromoTheRobot]

1 minute ago, SDS said:

Then start a new topic, which I guess you did, but it didn’t have to be this one. It’s OK to start new topics.

It just seemed like such a minor thing for it's own thread. SS isn't like TBD where every random thought gets a thread.

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

ESPN+ appears to have crashed just as the game ended.

Well they don't show the postgame.

[SwampD]

1 minute ago, PromoTheRobot said:

It just seemed like such a minor thing for it's own thread. SS isn't like TBD where every random thought gets a thread.

It's fine.

We won.

Now you have to start every GDT at 10pm the night before.

Right?

RIGHT?!

 

With the ticket sales, of course.

Right?

RIGHT?!?!!!!

 

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, Norcal said:

I liked that Quinn took the body a few times tonight.

He's shown some willingness to do that while his game develops. 

Could say the same about Peterka.  He didn't shy away from contact.

[Cheektorado]

4 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

It just seemed like such a minor thing for it's own thread. SS isn't like TBD where every random thought gets a thread.

The "Bills never win a close game, bad coaching" was an interesting thread.

sarcasm.

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, Ctaeth said:

Missed a majority of the game, but I heard bits and pieces on the radio. 

One bit that I heard they were interviewing Peterka post game and asking him how he felt after his first goal.  He responded "I was like holy f***!", which I found to be pretty funny.  Censors must have been furious 😆

It's up on the Sabres website like that.  At least it was when I listened to it.

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

 

Not a sellout but not bad.  If they string a few wins together, the fans will be there.

[PromoTheRobot]

5 minutes ago, Cheektorado said:

The "Bills never win a close game, bad coaching" was an interesting thread.

sarcasm.

Which one of the 4?

[Doohicksie]

46 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

So allow me to explain why I started this GDT at 10pm last night.

I wanted to post that screen grab of how many tickets were left. I couldn't find a thread where it would be appropriate. So I figured what the heck. Besides, consider it a tribute to a Sabres team that's doing everything BEFORE they need to.

[K-9]

1 hour ago, Flashsabre said:

I thought the two players that would have a good game tonight would be Anderson and JJ.

Anderson because he always plays well against his former team.

JJ because his good buddy Stutzle was playing and he is a competitive warrior and would not want to be shown up.

Good call on the JJ/Stutzle angle. They were virtually the entire German team at the U20 a couple years ago. Both had good tournaments. 

[nfreeman]

If you thought TT’s line was lousy, as I did, here are some fancy stats to bolster that view:

 

[Doohicksie]

7 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

If you thought TT’s line was lousy, as I did, here are some fancy stats to bolster that view:

 

What those charts tell me is that Tage's line was busy with the Stützle line.

And that meets my eye test; they seemed to be pre-occupied with Ottawa's best line.  But that freed up Cozens' line against softer competition.  This is how you want the team to work.

[Doohicksie]

9 hours ago, dudacek said:

Tonight they’ll [the middle six] be playing mostly against guys like Pinto, Motte, Kastelic, Watson, Holden and Brannstrom, so I sure as heck hope not.

Asplund and Tage will be seeing a lot of Norris and Stutzle.

And this kind of deployment will be the case more nights than not.

Yeah... @dudacek got it.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Doohickie

[Doohicksie]

3 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

Definitely. But we must remember that Hagg looked very solid in the first week last season, too, then just faded away.

I can remember watching Boosh when the Sabres played the Leafs last season and he stood out as the best defensive Dman for TO.  That's precisely what the Sabres needed.  Hagg was never a solid NHLer; he's a tweener.

Hagg's currently on the Red Wings bottom pairing which is his ceiling.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Doohickie

[nfreeman]

10 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

What those charts tell me is that Tage's line was busy with the Stützle line.

And that meets my eye test; they seemed to be pre-occupied with Ottawa's best line.  But that freed up Cozens' line against softer competition.  This is how you want the team to work.

…busy getting completely worked over by Stutzle’s line, I’d say.  

[Doohicksie]

7 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

…busy getting completely worked over by Stutzle’s line, I’d say.  

Completely worked over?  Eh.  Okay, they allowed a goal.  VO also opportunistically canceled out that line's poor +/- ratings at the end of the game.  The point I was making is Tage's line contained the damage from the Stützle line so that other lines could have a chance to excel against weaker competition.

I'm not going to condemn any line this early in the season.  Let Donny review the video with them, let them skate a few games together and get used to full speed NHL play again... then we can evaluate.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Doohickie

[dudacek]

Random observations before reading the thread:

• The team certainly wasn’t itself to start - a little overwrought maybe? But it got better as the game went on.
• My patience for the Dunleavy complaints is going to go away in a hurry if I am forced to listen more play by play team’s like Ottawa. No excitement, no insight no humour, no stories - nothing but catering to the pre-existing Ottawa narrative and pretending it wasn’t vanishing before their eyes.
• The preseason whipping boys, Krebs and Jokiharju, both had solid games and Peterka justified the organization’s faith in him.
• Power looked like he wasn’t quite ready for the speed tonight and Quinn was overmatched.
• Tuch made some good plays and Mitts was dialed in and working, but that line had no chemistry at all.
• Skinner Tage Olofsson were…OK? The first two can do more. I did like a lot of the details in Victor’s game tonight though, how he was doing things beyond being a shooter.
• Boosh is going to hurt us at times with his aggressiveness, but please don’t change. The dude is a beast. Exactly as advertised and what our group needed.
• The power play - particularly the first unit - was way out of sync. Our entries were terrible.
• Dylan Cozens looked real good. I like how he’s going to be an integral part of the PK.
• Asplund looked good at centre and his line was solid. I’ve been saying we can win some games because our bottom six is going to be better than the opponent’s and that held true tonight.
• Anderson certainly played like a number one. His ability to read the play continues to be stellar.

Pretty even game. Ottawa made more mistakes than we did, but we’re capable of better than we saw tonight. Tougher test Saturday. Hope you guys enjoyed it.

Edited October 14, 2022 by dudacek

[Drag0nDan]

9 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

…busy getting completely worked over by Stutzle’s line, I’d say.  

They just struggled all night gaining the zone so they never really got going.  Occaisionally they were on top of each other, sloppy, and i felt like they were also quite tentative.  Their shifts always seemed to start with the defense waiting for them to get into position, and the corresponding zone entry attempt being sloppy as a result.  Couldn't turn puck possession into anything, pucks in skates, just a sloppy bad day.    

What they didn't do was try and overly force the issue and create bad turnovers in the neutral zone.  Silver lining i suppose.  

[PerreaultForever]

Well that was pretty enjoyable. 

I don't think we really outplayed them and all those break aways will kill us against a team with better talent but there were a lot of things to like in this game. 

I did not think Anderson was going to steal games for us this year, which he did, so I guess the question is how many games does he have in him?

I thought the Cozens line was the best. Peterka looked very different from what I saw in preseason. He showed me a little of that snarl I'd heard about and played very well. The team as a whole showed more team toughness and that's going to be important. 

Dahlin looks like he's ready to be dominant and Power looked fine. In fact, I'm more worried about Jokiharyu than him after this one. He's still running around and chasing pucks too much. Power was the more positional sound player of the two. 

I did however think Mitts looked awful. At this moment, he is the weak link. 

Nice to start a season with a win. 

[Zamboni]

That was a fun season opener to go to.

There were 15,000.+ tickets sold. But there definitely wasn’t that many in the seats. I would guess 11,000 to 12,500 were actually there. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

I did however think Mitts looked awful. At this moment, he is the weak link. 

I don’t think Granato or the analytics agree with your assessment.

Some quick thoughts: Krebs is the best passer on the team.  Dylan’s line is a huge matchup problem for other teams when we are at home, just like Vanek, Roy and Max back in the day.  Anderson was spectacular tonight.  I thought the Sabres were the better after the 1st.  My Son-In-law asked me why Mule got such a big extension.  We saw why tonight.  He allows Dahlin to be creative.  DG calls him the “Antidote,” I call him Dahlin’s security blanket.

Edited October 14, 2022 by GASabresIUFAN

[Broken Ankles]

3 hours ago, nfreeman said:

My 2 cents:

- Very exciting win and great start to the season, as many have already noted.

- The outcome could've easily gone the other way, as Ottawa had plenty of chances and probably more than the Sabres had (although the Sabres had quite a few).

- Goaltending was the difference.  Good for Anderson for delivering that gem at age 41 against his former team.  The Sabres will need to give up fewer chances than that to win most nights though.

- JJP was the Sabres' best forward through 2 periods.  Cozens and Mitts were the 2 best by the end of the game though.  But that was a terrific showing by JJP.

- Did not like Skinner's game or TT's.  As someone noted upthread I think those 2 are better with Tuch and hope DG switches Tuch and Olofsson, both of whom were OK but not great.

- It was great to see Cozens looking like a force of nature (JJP was keeping up with him and the 2 of them were outstanding together especially in the 2nd) and Mitts looking consistent, focused and effective.  Those are 2 great developments for this team -- really 3 because JJP should be included.

- Dahlin looked confident, in control and frequently like the best player on the ice.  Power was pretty shaky but Joki did very well covering for him on a number of occasions.  Mule was very solid.  Loobie was tough and made a few very nice plays but also a few brain locks.  Bryson did fine and I think helped kill the first shift of the 5-on-3 and a good shift at the end before VO's 1st ENG.

- The Zemgus-Aspy-KO line got better as the game went on and was very effective in the 3rd.

- Ottawa is good.  I think these Ottawa-Buffalo games are going to be highly competitive and entertaining for a long time.

I agree with almost all of this….except Mitts.  I thought his advanced metrics were deceiving, and he didn’t drive play at all, like Cozens did.  Thought he gave up the puck too often (5 times), and had only one quality SOG.  Others were weak.  His lack of speed is concerning.  His contributions on the PP were lacking.

Also agree with mentions upthread and you about Tuch back with Tage. 

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I don’t think Granato or the analytics agree with your assessment.

Some quick thoughts: Krebs is the best passer on the team.  Dylan’s line is a huge matchup problem for other teams when we are at home, just like Vanek, Roy and Max back in the day.  Anderson was spectacular tonight.  I thought the Sabres were the better after the 1st.  My Son-In-law asked me why Mule got such a big extension.  We saw why tonight.  He allows Dahlin to be creative.  DG calls him the “Antidote,” I call him Dahlin’s security blanket.

Analytics can deceive. 

Agree on the D pairing. I suspect that is why they extended him now. They see this combination long term. I've been arguing for years that Dahlin needs a rock beside him and a set pairing. I think we finally have it. 

Power however, might need a better partner. 

[That Aud Smell]

6 hours ago, Doohickie said:

What those charts tell me is that Tage's line was busy with the Stützle line.

And that meets my eye test; they seemed to be pre-occupied with Ottawa's best line.  But that freed up Cozens' line against softer competition.  This is how you want the team to work.

I do not want the Sabres’ cornerstone  center’s line merely busy with the other team’s top line. And I certainly don’t want that line getting its ass kicked, which is what happened last night. That line needs to be a lot better than it was in order for this team to have a shot at 95+ points.

[triumph_communes]

JJP was electric. Wow. 
Cozens is a top center.

Anderson played great. Too many breakaways, can’t rely on that every game. 
 

Top line was neutered. I think one of the wingers needs swapped with Tuch. Tuch wasn’t quite himself tho 
 

Krebs was more bad than good. Giveaway machine. Very frustrating. 
 

Power and Lyubu with a lot of needless potentially costing giveaways. I like that Lyubu looks for the hits, we needed that, but a lot of guys were getting behind him in neutral zone. Power is underestimating competition and needs to step up. 
 

A win is great. Looked shaky tho, gotta clean off the rust. Lines still need blendered imo