GDT: Sabres @ Oilers, 10/18/22, 9pm, tv and wgr

[Doohicksie]

 

[PerreaultForever]

Told ya we could win this game. 

Sure, we hung on and almost blew it. A little more veteran presence might have helped calm these kids in the late 3rd but overall we matched their speed and when you do that they show their weaknesses. 

Comrie is solid. Peterka is the real deal. 

Keep these lines and when Granato thinks he's ready Quinn for Vinnie but otherwise this arrangement is the better one. 

Oh and have I mentioned I'm really starting to like this Lybushkin guy!!!!!!!

 

[Wyldnwoody44]

Some good hockey tonight. 

That 2nd period Sabres team looked unstoppable, if we can find a way to put that effort into all 3 periods, this team could really go places. 

Comrie was great, I didn't see the Panthers game, but he looked steady and solid, no bad rebounds, poised! 

Boosh is a maniac out there and bringing some old school hockey to this team, love it! 

I agree that we're going to have nights of Jubilation and nights of frustration with this young team, but I am starting to see the correct build in the same way the Bills started a few years ago. 

Thankful to see some real NHL hockey being played by the Sabres! 

[Huckleberry]

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

A couple of random thoughts

1) Comrie and Anderson through 3 games are giving the Sabres the type of goaltending needed to make and win in the playoffs.  That said, it's 3 games with another 79 to go.  If they can stay healthy and keep this up, this team will have a legit chance to be very good.

2) However, the 3rd period made it clear and to quote Robert Frost, we have "Miles to go before we sleep,"  The Sabres don't have anyone close to as talented as McJesus and Draistaitl.  We have to win through collective will and rolling 4 lines and they all have to contribute.  

3) Nice to see TnT return to form and as I said pregame, I like Asplund, Mitts and VO together and I thought they had a really good game

4) Lyubishkin really stepped up tonight until he got, but Joki's game is still lacking. Dahlin has taken his offense to another level.  Now if he can be a fraction better on D, he'll become a mega star.

5) Rookie Watch:  JJP is making the most of his limited playing time and is getting better and better each shift.  Power was better tonight, but needs to be more assertive.  

6) I love Vinnie's energy, but he does seem to turn the puck over to much.  

[Huckleberry]

One thing I hat about krebs being on the PP, he tries to force things to much.

You can see what he is trying, but always that pass in traffic, take the easy passing lanes and control the puck.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Huckleberry

[FrenchConnection44]

Insane goaltending by Comrie. He was a beast. We may have struck gold there. 
 

Loved the second period. Some really good plays. Nice to see Power play well but still lot of room for improvement from him. Dahlin really coming into his own as a top end Defenseman. Played well on both ends. Tage’s goal was world class. A lot to like about this young team. Peterka with a nice goal. He’s got talent. 
 

Still, the Oilers just dominated them for the entire 3rd period. Wore us down. The talent is there but we still need to get stronger. I said this last year. There are several players who need to hit the weight room in the off season and add some physicality to their game. Cousins is a prime example. Really good, smart player. Unselfish. Made a very good play at the end to help seal it. But at 6’3 with that frame, he needs to be playing in the 205 range, not 185, if he is going to hold up against guys like McDavid and Draisaitl. Has to get more physical for those face offs and overall. Really could say the same for Power and a few other young guys who could stand to add some more leg power and upper body muscle over the next couple of yrs. 

But have to love the fight in this team. Good back checking and intensity the whole game in spite of wearing down physically in the 3rd period. 
 

Let’s Go!!!
 

 

[RochesterExpat]

Comrie stole the show.

McDavid is just insanely talented. That third period was quality goaltending stopping an offensive storm that I’m not sure many teams, much less Buffalo, successfully weather 9 times out of 10. McDavid was on the ice for more than half the third period and never slowed down. That’s quite the performance to witness.

[Broken Ankles]

4 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

A couple of random thoughts

1) Comrie and Anderson through 3 games are giving the Sabres the type of goaltending needed to make and win in the playoffs.  That said, it's 3 games with another 79 to go.  If they can stay healthy and keep this up, this team will have a legit chance to be very good.

2) However, the 3rd period made it clear and to quote Robert Frost, we have "Miles to go before we sleep,"  The Sabres don't have anyone close to as talented as McJesus and Draistaitl.  We have to win through collective will and rolling 4 lines and they all have to contribute.  

3) Nice to see TnT return to form and as I said pregame, I like Asplund, Mitts and VO together and I thought they had a really good game

4) Lyubishkin really stepped up tonight until he got, but Joki's game is still lacking. Dahlin has taken his offense to another level.  Now if he can be a fraction better on D, he'll become a mega star.

5) Rookie Watch:  JJP is making the most of his limited playing time and is getting better and better each shift.  Power was better tonight, but needs to be more assertive.  

6) I love Vinnie's energy, but he does seem to turn the puck over to much.  

He registered zero give aways last night, but your guy Casey had two glaring turnovers in the defensive zone.  

[mjd1001]

5 hours ago, Doohickie said:

 

It is kind of a curse of being good and having high expectations.  The reason the Sabres have the potential to be fun this year is the expectations are kinda low.  Beating expectations is fun.  The Oilers after going deep into the playoffs last year with probably 2 of the leagues top 10 players, expectations are deep, deep playoff runs and probably a Stanley cup appearance or win.

When you have those high expectations, every loss, every bad PERIOD can bring angst and hand wringing for fans.

Its not that different than with the Bills right now.  If/When the Bills play a team that is drastically inferior and they lose (or just are losing at halftime), for many fans, that is not going to be a fun game and instead will be stressful for them.

As Sabres fans, its nice we get to enjoy the 'ride up'.  I have said it here many times, in Pro sports, there are really just 2 things that make a fanbase happy: 1.) winning the championship.  2.) Exceeding expecations.  If you can do neither of those, many fans are going to be upset with the season.

[mjd1001]

4 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

One thing I hat about krebs being on the PP, he tries to force things to much.

You can see what he is trying, but always that pass in traffic, take the easy passing lanes and control the puck.

Krebs is the next guy that could use a day in the press box. He just needs to 'slow down' and let the game come to him, and be aware of his limitations and play to his strengths.  I think last night was his best game so far. However, he has had some giveaways so far and lost some battles on the boards (that led to opportunities/goals against).  

Also, the coaching staff must recognize something is 'off' in his game, or maybe, just maybe he has a slight injury?  He only had 9:51 ice time last night, with only about 6 minutes being even strength.  For the year, he is only getting just over 11 minutes ice time per game and just over 8 even strength. 

Very, VERY low ice time minutes, especially even strength.  Again, either he is nursing a slight injury, or the coaches just think he needs to work on something because they are not using him much and as each game goes by he is used less and less. (compared to last year, in 3 games this year he is getting 3-4 minutes less ice time per game, most of that coming out of his even strength ice time.)

[bob_sauve28]

How did they look? Shots make it seem like they got dominated but our goaltending seems great! 

[sabresouth]

Great game. Hopefully Comrie's game last night was the rule and not the exception.  If so we will be in the hunt  for playoff spot.  TNT's goal was great. Dahlin has got it figured out.  Now if we can get Tuch and Skinner going. The young kid's are holding their own and will improve  continually although it will feel  agonizingly slower than we like.  We want them ready now. But it's fun to watch them grow.

[LGR4GM]

35 minutes ago, sabresouth said:

Great game. Hopefully Comrie's game last night was the rule and not the exception.  If so we will be in the hunt  for playoff spot.  TNT's goal was great. Dahlin has got it figured out.  Now if we can get Tuch and Skinner going. The young kid's are holding their own and will improve  continually although it will feel  agonizingly slower than we like.  We want them ready now. But it's fun to watch them grow.

Tuch has 3pts in 3 games. 2g and 1a.

[ddaryl]

26 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

How did they look? Shots make it seem like they got dominated but our goaltending seems great! 

I would like to know this as well. I read through most of the thread. Looking at the stat sheet I'm trying to figure out how we got outshot as much as we did and still pull off the win.

 

Excited about Cromrie's performance.. No doubt he was the star of the game

[Doohicksie]

47 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

How did they look? Shots make it seem like they got dominated but our goaltending seems great! 

First period was an early push by the Oilers and the Sabres played kind of a bend-not-break game on defense.  The Sabres scored right off the faceoff on a power play, wicked wrister from Dahlin in the high slot.  Off the ensuing faceoff Thompson had a good opportunity but then the Oilers turned it up ice and scored on a break.  Comrie really had no chance as it was a shot following a cross-ice pass that beat him.

In the second period, Tage used his size and reach to cut back into the middle of the ice after being forced wide to get a tap-in goal.  Oilers pressed but on the counter-strike Hinostroza passed to Peterka on a clean breakaway from center ice and JJ buried it.  Lyubushkin had two huge hits in the game, one of which rivaled the Cream of Umberger Soup hit by Brian Campbell.  Boosh would leave later in the period after blocking a shot off his skate.  Hopefully he won't be out long because the Sabres are a better team with his physicality.

The third period was frenetic as the Oilers applied the full-court press with McDavid and Draisaitl on the ice most of the period (McD had 10:14 of ice time in the period).  The Sabres played desperate defense.  I think they outsmarted themselves trying to do cross-ice passes to get around Comrie, but the Sabres were pretty effective in stopping those passes and tying players up in front of the net.  Still, Comrie had to come up huge in tight and he did, allowing one goal on 20+ shots for the period, with about a minute and a half to go.  The Oilers pressed more but then Cozens broke up ice, got blanketed by an Oiler but managed to push it up ice to Tuch who fended off an Oiler to get the empty netter.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Doohickie

[LGR4GM]

That was an ugly win. There is a lot to clean up in the defensive zone and if we want to win often this season we need to find ways to control the puck better. A bit of a dumpster fire but low and behold, Eric Comrie was lights out. I also think you can see the Sabres have added a lot of shooting talent to this team over the last couple years and that helps as well. I have no idea when Rasmus Dahlin learned to do powerful accurate wrist shots but I want to live in that world forever. 

They need to figure out some of the defensive misques and they still aren't firing on all cylinders which actually gives me more hope for this season... and yes that seems odd. In the previous years when they started hot they were firing on all cylinders for the most part and then once that wasn't the case anymore, the season went to *****. This year, I would hope we see continued improvement from such a young lineup. I do think they need to seriously explore trading someone (prospect wise) to LA for one of their 27 RHDs... Helga Grans for example. 

[PromoTheRobot]

9 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

I was wrong!  😊

Certainly not for the effort by the Oilers.

[LGR4GM]

18 hours ago, steveoath said:

Yay Sabres, boo Oilers.

4-2 win. Hinestrosa with a multipoint game. 

Well, you did get the score right. 

[PromoTheRobot]

52 minutes ago, ddaryl said:

I would like to know this as well. I read through most of the thread. Looking at the stat sheet I'm trying to figure out how we got outshot as much as we did and still pull off the win.

 

Excited about Cromrie's performance.. No doubt he was the star of the game

Buffalo won the goaltending duel. Stew Skinner got beat like a mule.

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

How did they look? Shots make it seem like they got dominated but our goaltending seems great! 

EDM goalie was weak.

[CallawaySabres]

Comrie is AAAALLLLL business. It looked liked someone just killed his dog in the post-game interview and he was going to go find the guy afterwards. He may just be on a mission this year.

[bob_sauve28]

7 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Buffalo won the goaltending duel. Stew Skinner got beat like a mule.

EDM goalie was weak.

Or did our outstanding offensive players make him look that way? 😇

[klos1963]

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

How did they look? Shots make it seem like they got dominated but our goaltending seems great! 

They had a good first period, excellent 2nd period and were totally dominated in the 3rd.

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Or did our outstanding offensive players make him look that way? 😇

Skinner looked hypnotized on the TT goal, as did the entire Oilers squad frankly. What's funny is Power pulled the same move in the 1P but the puck rolled off his stick last second. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by PromoTheRobot

[mjd1001]

45 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

That was an ugly win. There is a lot to clean up in the defensive zone and if we want to win often this season we need to find ways to control the puck better.

I am wondering how much of it was that it was an ugly win, vs how much of it was the way they decided to play, going into a shell in the 3rd.  It seems the Sabres figured out that by collapsing the D and Forwards toward their own net, the Oilers would control the puck AND they would get off shots but those shots would not be of the extremely dangerous kind.  A lot of Edmonton's goals are of the tick-tac-toe passing variety, but last night they had very little of that puck movement.  1 pass maybe and then a shot that Comrie could see.  

I'm sure they would rather control the puck more than they did in the 3rd, but maybe part of it was a strategy call based on how Edmonton was playing.  Add to that the Libyuskin injury and a shorter bench for the D-men, and that adds to the possibility.