GDT - Thunder Bolts & Lightning @ Sabres - November 28, 2022 - 7:00 PM (EST) - MSG and WGR

[Taro T]

The good:

3 of the 4 lines were working tonight.  And Granato realized the other line wasn't working & limited their ice time.  (Apparently 1 shift not enough.)

For the 2nd game in a row the Cozens line was deployed as a true 2 and this time they flat out dominated.  They gave up almost no scoring chances typically going against Stamkos & could've had 4 goals easily rather than just 2.  They looked like a true #2 tonight.

Cozens burying a rocket.  He gets chances, and it isn't all that important that he become a finisher as both his linemates are finishers, but IF he can start converting even 1/3 of the chances he gets, the Sabres are about to have 2 #1 lines after a decade + that never had one unless Eichel was on the lineup.

Dahlin & Samuelsson just keep getting better & better together.

Whatever analytics guru saw something in Jost deserves a bonus.  He's got that "4th line" humming & they were deployed as the clear 3rd line because of it.

Granato seemed to be (except for the late Stamkos goal) matching lines.  Are we FINALLY out of "development" & into "let's act like other NHL teams" by matching lines & unbalancing the forwards ice time when they don't deserve to get balanced ice time.

The bad:

The Mitts line was not good.  Believe their 1st goal against was on Power taking the wrong man, but he' a rookie & it seemed Olofsson had time to recognize it but did so too late.  Granato has the other 3 lines rolling.  Will be interesting seeing how he gets this one there too as Mitts & Olofsson seem to have absolutely no chemistry though they have in the past.

Power, even w/ the assist, did not bring his A game.  Fully expect he'll bounce back in Detroit.  And still nearly won it had the puck settled down for him.

UPL.  He needs to get his movement under control better & take away the bottom of the net.

The ugly:

The shot Lyubushkin took off his ankle/foot.  Fear that's broken.

The PK.  They'd been pressuring the past couple of games and looking good.  This one they gave way too much space.

 

Don't envy Detroit.  They're in for a ticked off team.

 

[FanaticSense06]

6 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

the bigger the conspiracy, the harder to pull off.... you would need a lot of people involved in fixing all the sports and they would all have to keep quiet to a man.... not likely 

Your just ignorant, plenty of people including players of these "professional sports" have come out and said the games are fixed.

 

You think your going to hear that kind of thing on the mainstream news buddy? You do realize these are multi-billion dollar corporations right? That literally sign multi-billion dollar contracts with "media" channels such as FOX, CBS, etc.

 

Wake the F up.

Edited November 29, 2022 by FanaticSense06

[SwampD]

8 minutes ago, SDS said:

Wait. What? 

You really don’t think that Kucherov didn’t know what he was doing when it saw an opportunity to hit the goalie?! Really. He did it cuz he knew it would work. Dahlin had nothing to do with him hitting the goalie.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Can we give up on UPL?

[Porous Five Hole]

Just now, GASabresIUFAN said:

Can we give up on UPL?

I’m ready to.  KA gets another kick at the can this off-season to fix the crease when Anderson retires. 
 

UPL until Levi is ready is absolutely not an option.  

[Huckleberry]

2 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

I’m ready to.  KA gets another kick at the can this off-season to fix the crease when Anderson retires. 
 

UPL until Levi is ready is absolutely not an option.  

He might come in and claims his spot on the team right away, never know.

[SwampD]

We really need a Kucherov, and a Cernak.

Next year. I’m just sure of it.

Edited November 29, 2022 by SwampD

[sabremike]

Breaking: An outraged King Geoffrey has just issued a Giraffatwah against tonight's officials and is offering a million acacia leaves as a bounty. Many of the violent and terrifying group known as the Giraffenians are on their way to Buffalo in an attempt to collect:

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, Huckleberry said:

He might come in and claims his spot on the team right away, never know.

Fully expect to see a steady diet of Levi the last couple of weeks.  Hoping that he's alternating w/ Portillo but not expecting it.

[SwampD]

The Girgs tackle is hilarious. At 5 minutes left in the 3rd.

[grinreaper]

3 minutes ago, FanaticSense06 said:

Your just ignorant, plenty of people including players of these "professional sports" have come out and said the games are fixed.

 

You think your going to hear that kind of thing on the mainstream news buddy? You do realize these are multi-billion dollar corporations right? That literally sign multi-billion dollar contracts with channels such as FOX, CBS, etc.

 

Wake the F up.

You know what's funny? You are calling someone else ignorant and misspelling you're. As far as stating that the games are fixed you should name the people that you are stating that have come out and said so. i personally believe that good teams and star players tend to often get the benefit of the doubt. Look at how Tom Brady was protected by the officials and got enough roughing the passer calls that made defensive players a little timid. As far as some big conspiracy theories regarding fixing scores or games you must be nuts to think that wouldn't be found out considering the amount of people who would have to be involved. 

[HumanSlinky39]

Tonight solidifies for me that we are a solid netminder away from being a very good team.

 

 

[SwampD]

1 minute ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Tonight solidifies for me that we are a solid netminder away from being a very good team.

 

 

I think we are a solid netminder from getting bounced in the first round.

 

Which would be AWESOME!!!!!!

[Ctaeth]

1 minute ago, SwampD said:

I think we are a solid netminder from getting bounced in the first round.

 

Which would be AWESOME!!!!!!

Lol.  I feel somewhat despondent agreeing with this

[fiftyone]

46 minutes ago, Goldseatsaud said:

 

Six goals on 25 shots

Addressed by others, but look at each goal. Yeah the line is bad, but which of those do you want stopped? Maybe the first (though Samuelsson is just standing at the far post watching). Second and third are not on him. Maybe the 4th he could have controlled the rebound on the initial stuff better? Fifth no chance and the 6th we talked about.

He wasn't good, but most of those are in the net regardless of who's tending it. 

[Huckleberry]

1 minute ago, SwampD said:

I think we are a solid netminder from getting bounced in the first round.

 

Which would be AWESOME!!!!!!

2nd round, we play the leafs in the 1st 😛

[nfreeman]

44 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Now we're really picking up speed!

The Asplund-Mitts-VO line was dreadful tonight and overmatched against any cycling of the puck. They've been together at times last season, too, and... if they can get a transition breakout, fine. But the defense won't be there. UPL overcommitted side-to-side too much and TB's PP is red-hot to boot. Figure out a way to kill some penalties and they'll be OK.

This IMHO is where the game was lost. As someone pointed out upthread, the Mitts-VO line was on for both 5 v 5 goals against, including the killer with five minutes left that changed the game from a 5-3 happy victory to a vulnerable 5-4 nail-biter.  

DG has to know that Mitts and VO get caved in consistently and cannot play together. It’s obvious to everyone here. He needs to swap Mitts and Jost, so that both Mitts and VO are playing with two guys whi can drive play. 

 

18 minutes ago, FanaticSense06 said:

Your just ignorant, plenty of people including players of these "professional sports" have come out and said the games are fixed.

 

You think your going to hear that kind of thing on the mainstream news buddy? You do realize these are multi-billion dollar corporations right? That literally sign multi-billion dollar contracts with "media" channels such as FOX, CBS, etc.

 

Wake the F up.

You sound insane and hostile.

Chill out or keep quiet.  

[grinreaper]

9 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Can we give up on UPL?

Not yet but he certainly needs to work on his game and improve or he'll be riding the bus to games. I remember when Ryan Miller first played for the Sabres and performed poorly. The guy was basically in tears after a game. It was good that the team didn't give up on him. Will UPL become a GT like him? I doubt it but until Comrie comes back there aren't a lot of options. Maybe GMKA can find one in a trade but I'd guess he's been trying that and the cost is too high. 

[HumanSlinky39]

29 minutes ago, Taro T said:

The good:

3 of the 4 lines were working tonight.  And Granato realized the other line wasn't working & limited their ice time.  (Apparently 1 shift not enough.)

For the 2nd game in a row the Cozens line was deployed as a true 2 and this time they flat out dominated.  They gave up almost no scoring chances typically going against Stamkos & could've had 4 goals easily rather than just 2.  They looked like a true #2 tonight.

Cozens burying a rocket.  He gets chances, and it isn't all that important that he become a finisher as both his linemates are finishers, but IF he can start converting even 1/3 of the chances he gets, the Sabres are about to have 2 #1 lines after a decade + that never had one unless Eichel was on the lineup.

Dahlin & Samuelsson just keep getting better & better together.

Whatever analytics guru saw something in Jost deserves a bonus.  He's got that "4th line" humming & they were deployed as the clear 3rd line because of it.

Granato seemed to be (except for the late Stamkos goal) matching lines.  Are we FINALLY out of "development" & into "let's act like other NHL teams" by matching lines & unbalancing the forwards ice time when they don't deserve to get balanced ice time.

The bad:

The Mitts line was not good.  Believe their 1st goal against was on Power taking the wrong man, but he' a rookie & it seemed Olofsson had time to recognize it but did so too late.  Granato has the other 3 lines rolling.  Will be interesting seeing how he gets this one there too as Mitts & Olofsson seem to have absolutely no chemistry though they have in the past.

Power, even w/ the assist, did not bring his A game.  Fully expect he'll bounce back in Detroit.  And still nearly won it had the puck settled down for him.

UPL.  He needs to get his movement under control better & take away the bottom of the net.

The ugly:

The shot Lyubushkin took off his ankle/foot.  Fear that's broken.

The PK.  They'd been pressuring the past couple of games and looking good.  This one they gave way too much space.

 

Don't envy Detroit.  They're in for a ticked off team.

 

Excellent summation. 

 

Re: Cozens - in the predictions thread a couple of months back, I think I pegged Cozens for something of a breakout season with 20G/40A/60P. 22 games in, he's pacing 22/37/59. That would be an excellent year 3 with more room to grow. Dylan's place is probably going to be a good to very good 200 ft guy who sets up his linemates and provides some good secondary scoring. He's getting there.

Edited November 29, 2022 by HumanSlinky39

[HumanSlinky39]

5 minutes ago, SwampD said:

I think we are a solid netminder from getting bounced in the first round.

 

Which would be AWESOME!!!!!!

This year, absolutely. But there's a pretty damn high ceiling with this current core, especially as guys like Cozens, Quinn, JJP and Power continue to develop. That doesn't even count the plethora of prospects in the pipeline. KA gets a lot of guff for not going out and addressing immediate needs, but he's done an incredible job of building a core and stocking the farm with more promising assets for down the road.

[Thorner]

9 minutes ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Tonight solidifies for me that we are a solid netminder away from being a very good team.

 

 

Back to my point about how we always face back ups, though: sure, we gain tonight from having a true #1 in there..but Tampa also can do the same thing re: vezina winner vasilevskiy. I agree we’ll be much better once we have a true guy, but today is a good example of what I was getting at when I say the improvement isn’t just “plug and play”. Much of that improvement in this case would be offset by also getting THEIR best roster

[KC Scouts]

Just got back home from the game…

Disappointing crowd for a division rival and  a team that has recently won two cups. I know it’s a Monday night but TP needs to understand something. 11.000 is not getting it done. The “ let’s watch the kids develop “ mode is a money loser.

Luukkonen sucks, I’m sorry he just does. He’ll never be a legit NHL goalie (at least not for the Sabres…lol ). Another “swing and a miss” from a former GM.

Granato didn’t recognize that after the Skinner goal that made it 5-3. Cooper stuck out his big boys and they just “steamrolled” the Sabres in front of the net and scored faster than he could say “we should have been ready for that”. Cmon Donnie, You didn’t think they would make an immediate response to getting scored on?

[Billznut]

15 minutes ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Tonight solidifies for me that we are a solid netminder away from being a very good team.

 

 

If only Adams believed the same thing. 

[Contempt]

47 minutes ago, FanaticSense06 said:

Did you even read the post? Because if you did I dunno how you could even ask this question...

 

It does not matter if someone did or did not commit a penalty, the refs call them when they want to call them, not when or because a penalty occurs, period end of story buddy.

Then why do you watch at all?

[Thorner]

18 minutes ago, fiftyone said:

Addressed by others, but look at each goal. Yeah the line is bad, but which of those do you want stopped? Maybe the first (though Samuelsson is just standing at the far post watching). Second and third are not on him. Maybe the 4th he could have controlled the rebound on the initial stuff better? Fifth no chance and the 6th we talked about.

He wasn't good, but most of those are in the net regardless of who's tending it. 

The math isn’t being fairly represented by breaking down each individual goal, this is what people misunderstand when it comes to math and sample sizes. 
 

Say, for argument, UPL had only a 25% shot to make any one of the 6 saves. If you break it down individually, you can make a case for how realistically we couldn’t have expected a stop as he only had a 25% shot on each. But if you get *6* chances with 25% odds, looking from the perspective of the data set as a whole, one would be CORRECT to assume and predict that at least one will go our way. This is why I said the thing about: if the total against is high enough, there’s assuredly blame to go around for the goalie 
 

Just because it’s very unlikely on any *one* spin that a roulette wheel comes up on #4, if you spin it 500 times you can expect it to land 4. 
 

if it somehow didn’t, it would be a statistical anomaly, it wouldn’t be a case of “well what did you expect? Which one spin do you think should have hit?” No, it’s that, when the spins are all viewed in totality, the math changes 

hope this makes sense 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Thorny