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

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Skilled scoring when opportunities present themselves is not luck. I remember hard working, low scoring Sabres teams of the past. Gotta have those finishers

He’s not saying the finishes themselves were lucky, merely the overall result due to the way one team was much more dominant than the other - which is true 

Teams on one end of that flow and tilt won’t win many games. 

- - - 

Believe it or not, and some have an issue with this, the human brain*is* capable of enjoying a victory *and* engaging in conversation about the ins and outs of how your team played in an effort to understand the broader context of how the team is performing and looks this year. Some even find that discussion fun and engaging. 

It doesn’t NEED to be solely a competition to see who can be the *most* positive at any given time, to determine who, I imagine, the true fans could only be.

Crazy, I know 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Thorny

[bob_sauve28]

We have the 5th worse PP in the league right now 

[Doohicksie]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

22 hours ago, steveoath said:

Yay Sabres, boo Oilers.

4-2 win. Hinestrosa with a multipoint game. 

Well, you did get the score right. 

And Hinestroza did have one point at least.

[Doohicksie]

3 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

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.

Did you even watch the 3rd period???

3 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

As badly as they were dominated they played strong defense in their end. In past seasons when teams would bottle is up in our end we'd be chasing our tails and give up a goal within a minute. This time EDM was totally frustrated until they pulled their goalie.

Yes... they did maintain their structure defensively.

3 hours ago, matter2003 said:

I have much more faith in Comrie to continue this than I do Anderson.  Comrie was ranked #2 in the entire NHL in expected goals saved above average per 60 minutes next to Shesterkin last year.

He saved 3 goals over expected last night alone.

[Doohicksie]

4 hours ago, matter2003 said:

The Sabres have looked really good in their defensive zone on balance I think from what I have seen so far.  Very good coverage of the guys without the puck, for the most part do not chase the player with the puck and often times force tough passes to guys who are either covered or tied up or a shot that is relatively easily saved. Light years ahead of any time I can remember over the last decade.

One of the best developments is that they make sure that if they don't get the puck, they tie up a man.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Doohickie

[Doohicksie]

3 hours ago, SwampD said:

I also thought VO had a pretty decent game, at both ends of the ice.

People forget, or don't even notice, that VO is a good two-way player.

[LabattBlue]

4 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

One of the best developments is that they make sure that if the don't get the puck, they tie up a man.

Not sure how you can find anything positive on the defensive side of the game(other than Comrie) on a night when they gave up 48 SOG. 

[mjd1001]

14 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Did you even watch the 3rd period???

Yes I did, and I stand 100% by what I say. That they were outplayed in the 3rd period, but they rarely totally lost control of the game. Very few of the chances the Oilers had in the 3rd were screened chances or off of huge rebounds.

They gave up a lot of 'good' chances, Comrie had to make a lot of 'good' saves, but not many of the nearly impossible type saves where he was hung out to dry.  Edmonton had a lot of shots, and if there was a rebound many were either cleared out of the zone or their players were kept away from the rebounds right in front of the net.

Edited October 19, 2022 by mjd1001

[wingnut]

Comrie nearly held them to one goal. In the goal mouth scramble goal, Hyman fell on top of Comries stick and pinned it on the ice and then held it with his hands as he was getting up inhibiting Comrie from moving. Maybe he gets in a better place to stop that one, maybe not - but that looks like goalie interference. 7:37 of the highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlKduwSqAX4&t=457s

 

[DarthEbriate]

8 minutes ago, wingnut said:

Comrie nearly held them to one goal. In the goal mouth scramble goal, Hyman fell on top of Comries stick and pinned it on the ice and then held it with his hands as he was getting up inhibiting Comrie from moving. Maybe he gets in a better place to stop that one, maybe not - but that looks like goalie interference. 7:37 of the highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlKduwSqAX4&t=457s

Pretty blatant, but the ref is looking past it at the goal mouth and not at what's happening wide of the net. Maybe Comrie can make a bigger visual deal of trying to tug the stick away, but I'm not sure how else you'd alert the referee in time to negate the shot. It's happening too quickly in real time.

[MattPie]

28 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

Not sure how you can find anything positive on the defensive side of the game(other than Comrie) on a night when they gave up 48 SOG. 

I think the 24 shots in the first two periods is a positive. You're just succumbing to recency bias on the 24 shots in the third coloring your judgement.

(this is meant entirely as a joke).

[DarthEbriate]

34 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

Not sure how you can find anything positive on the defensive side of the game(other than Comrie) on a night when they gave up 48 SOG. 

The PK was solid. Lyubushkin was good. The second period was well played overall (and part of that was puck possession offensively, even if both goals were just transition/breaks).

In the third they backed off in full Alamo Death Star mode and couldn't win a faceoff or outbattle anyone on the boards for possession and looked terrible, but before that there were definite bright spots.

[Doohicksie]

The Hockey Guy's take.  Pretty much the same as this thread, but it's nice to hear it from someone outside of our little fan base.

 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

And Hinestroza did have one point at least.

Hinestroza is the type of valuable utility player where he could play on any line, including the top line (for short term), and not be a liability. I'm glad that we kept him. 

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, LabattBlue said:

Not sure how you can find anything positive on the defensive side of the game(other than Comrie) on a night when they gave up 48 SOG. 

There were some toughies but realistically a lot of the shots where handled only because even though they were from close in, the defenders prevented the Oilers from getting clean shot off either due to sticks in the lane, body checks or just taking space away.  Out of those 48 shots, perhaps 10 were true threats to score (and only two did).

It's the same thing only different when the Sabres were in their post-tank years and they'd outshoot the opposition and lose, not because the shots were from too close, but because they were from too far away.

[MattPie]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

The Hockey Guy's take.  Pretty much the same as this thread, but it's nice to hear it from someone outside of our little fan base.

 

Not sure, both times I've watched that guy he's been wearing Sabres gear.

[Doohicksie]

2 hours ago, MattPie said:

Not sure, both times I've watched that guy he's been wearing Sabres gear.

His teams are:  1.  Vancouver; 2a. Boston; 2b. Dallas.

He wears various jerseys for his videos so he can write his jersey collection off on his taxes.  Duh.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Doohickie

[RochesterExpat]

1 hour ago, LabattBlue said:

Not sure how you can find anything positive on the defensive side of the game(other than Comrie) on a night when they gave up 48 SOG. 

The 48 shots is oddly misleading because they weren't even close to evenly distributed. After the first 10 minutes of the first period through to the start of the third, Buffalo played well defensively and the game was evenly matched. The problem is Buffalo played half a game where they were even with Edmonton and then played half a game where they wanted to showcase Comrie.

Buffalo can't continue to win by playing half games. They show they can play at the level of contending teams, but they aren't showing they're able to do it for the full 60. It's fine to have the odd night off once in a while as it happens to every team--and those are the games you need your goalie to save you--but it can't be consistent.

The Ottawa game was misleading because Buffalo had more high danger scoring chances, but everyone remembers the breakaways on Anderson. Otherwise that came was relatively even throughout. Against Florida, Buffalo again played half of a game. This time they played poorly in the second period and couldn't get through the lockdown the Panthers put on during the third.

Just my $.02 from the peanut gallery.

[bob_sauve28]

Just watched the game. Thought they played a great road game. Got the lead and hung on. Comrie was very solid but not spectacular. Not a lot of rebounds and the defence did a fine job clearing people in front. Peterka's smile is good to see 🙂 

[Taro T]

11 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

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.

Wondering how much of the issues w/ falling back on their heels in the 3rd was due to going an entire season without worrying about protecting a lead even when they had one late?  This really was the 1st time they actively & intentionally were protecting a multigoal lead against a team that on paper at minimum is better than them.  They never (or extremely rarely) changed up their style last year.

Figuring out how to defend that lead is something they still need to learn to do.  This'll be a teaching moment for the coaches.  Losing Lyubushkin didn't help any, nor did playing against 97 & 29.  But courtesy of Comrie, they did defend that lead.

 

[Taro T]

8 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

We have the 5th worse PP in the league right now 

But at this time a day ago, it was the worst in the league.  

Baby steps.  😉

 

[bob_sauve28]

11 hours ago, Taro T said:

Wondering how much of the issues w/ falling back on their heels in the 3rd was due to going an entire season without worrying about protecting a lead even when they had one late?  This really was the 1st time they actively & intentionally were protecting a multigoal lead against a team that on paper at minimum is better than them.  They never (or extremely rarely) changed up their style last year.

Figuring out how to defend that lead is something they still need to learn to do.  This'll be a teaching moment for the coaches.  Losing Lyubushkin didn't help any, nor did playing against 97 & 29.  But courtesy of Comrie, they did defend that lead.

 

I thought that was actually a bright spot in this young season. They held off a talented Ottawa team with the lead and won. And then this game in Edmonton. 

[Doohicksie]

45 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

I thought that was actually a bright spot in this young season. They held off a talented Ottawa team with the lead and won. And then this game in Edmonton. 

Some might argue that merely hanging on and your goalie bailing you out is not "protecting the lead."  At least not in a sustainable sense.

I think it gives Donny lots of video to help them improve, plus they got 4 points out of those two games.