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

[GASabresIUFAN]

11 hours ago, Berg said:

About our problem at the gate, only the lazy did not say.
But this problem is even more exacerbated when the team plays non-aggressive. 6 goals out of 25 shots is a direct result of too soft defensive play.

You forgot to circle the 3 goals they scored on the PP.  The goaltender needs to be your best PKer and our goalies stink.

[Carmel Corn]

3 hours ago, SwampD said:

Oh, my god! That’s the point. Guys use their bodies to gain positioning. 

Agree...I'd like to see one or two more true "power" forwards on this roster who can finish their checks, win some 1-on-1 puck battles and not be afraid to go to the more meaty parts of the ice vs. playing a perimeter offense game.

[Berg]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

You forgot to circle the 3 goals they scored on the PP.  The goaltender needs to be your best PKer and our goalies stink.

The number of violations with such a soft play in defense is especially surprising to me.

[Contempt]

3 hours ago, Grinder said:

You guys have a pretty ridiculous view of what hostile is

I don't think he's hostile, I just don't want to hear him anymore.

[Claude Balls]

17 hours ago, grinreaper said:

I think the poster that I was responding to was referring to the whole team. That's what I took from his post and was answering. Do you want to answer that? 

Nah, that's all I got, lol.

[Believer]

Was my bowling night so missed the game… Just watched a replay of the last six minutes of regulation and the OT… Looked like a great effort by both teams… We gave it away to a savvy team that knows how to finish games… Wouldn’t blame UPL for the last goal… He came out of the net to cut the angle… Stamkos shot a bullet to his spot… No chance to get a blocker up in time… Heartbreaker

[Thorner]

15 hours ago, Toilet_Mop said:

Because they score 45797335543 goals once every 5 games 

There is some merit to this - very much front-runners in that we seem to score a lot in games we are already scoring a fair few. Including a lot of EN goals.

Still, maybe it’s not *quite* reflective of our offence, but even accounting for all those factors it’s doing very well: we are certainly a good goal-scoring team 

[Thorner]

I know people dislike talking about handedness, if I had to guess it’s probably NOT a factor in this case, but correlation (likely) or causation, it DOES almost always lately seem to be the line with all left shots that can’t find success. Even the 4th line always has handedness balance. I wonder if there’s an outside shot it slightly ups the degree if difficulty re: things like exit pass options, etc

Prob not, just thinking about it this afternoon. But it’s line 3 always and it always has all left shots. I’d try Hinostroza there just to rule it out

[Pimlach]

18 hours ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

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

 

 

We are goalie away from being competitive for a playoff spot.  There is much more work to do to be a very good team.  

[Zamboni]

43 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

We are goalie away from being competitive for a playoff spot.  There is much more work to do to be a very good team.  

That is the biggest piece isn’t it… Good goaltending. And we have collectively been saying that for quite some time. collectively we see that a lot of the other pieces are already in place.

[grinreaper]

8 hours ago, triumph_communes said:

The Jost penalty was a bit ol mental lapse. They played on their heels and did something stupid. 3 guys were all on one player and one felt the need to hook?

The coach doesn’t know how to close games. Only keep rookies thinking positive. Not going to make it to the next step with this guy. 

I would venture to guess that DG does know how to close games but this young team hasn't yet learned it. Is that DG's fault? IMO it's too soon to tell. They haven't exactly had a ton of games in the last year that they needed to practice that. Anyway, the Sabres are the youngest team in the NHL and their pipeline in the AHL & college are of course younger yet. At this time and in the near future we need a teacher that can remain calm and develop his players. I don't think there' is any immediate cause to find out if he's going to lead the Sabres to a Cup. The one thing that I do know is that once the losing streak ended last year he was able to inspire his players and give them the room to play an aggressive, entertaining game. Dahlin, Tage and Skinner are prime examples of DG's approach.

[Stoner]

3 hours ago, Thorny said:

I know people dislike talking about handedness, if I had to guess it’s probably NOT a factor in this case, but correlation (likely) or causation, it DOES almost always lately seem to be the line with all left shots that can’t find success. Even the 4th line always has handedness balance. I wonder if there’s an outside shot it slightly ups the degree if difficulty re: things like exit pass options, etc

Prob not, just thinking about it this afternoon. But it’s line 3 always and it always has all left shots. I’d try Hinostroza there just to rule it out

[Thorner]

4 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Think about it. 

Think again. 

What do you think? 

Just think! 

[K-9]

7 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

[grinreaper]

10 hours ago, Radar said:

Two reasons we lost: Penalty kill toward bottom in league and goaltending toward or maybe bottom of league. Physicality or lack of it is not why we lost.

Too often people think that getting outhit is an indication of soft play. While that can be possible, more often than not I'd suspect that getting outhit is because your team has the puck more. Last night the Sabres pretty much controlled the play and won the majority of the battles along the boards. There is no doubt in my mind that they have the speed and skill and can compete with teams like the Bolts. As nearly everyone has mentioned here they need better goaltending and improvement in the defensive corps. They also need experience for the young guys and a better penalty kill.

[Pimlach]

2 hours ago, Zamboni said:

That is the biggest piece isn’t it… Good goaltending. And we have collectively been saying that for quite some time. collectively we see that a lot of the other pieces are already in place.

It absolutely is the biggest piece.  A top tier goaltender will make the most impact at this point.  

[Zamboni]

3 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

It absolutely is the biggest piece.  A top tier goaltender will make the most impact at this point.  

Heck I don’t even think the team needs “top tier”. (I interpret that to mean top 10) I would be ok with “slightly above average” 😂

 

A semi deep team can do some serious damage with “slightly above average” goaltending. 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Zamboni

[SwampD]

14 minutes ago, Zamboni said:

Heck I don’t even think the team needs “top tier”. (I interpret that to mean top 10) I would be ok with “slightly above average” 😂

 

A semi deep team can do some serious damage with “slightly above average” goaltending. 

So, top 16?

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Think about it. 

Think again. 

What do you think? 

Just think! 

[Grinder]

15 hours ago, Contempt said:

I don't think he's hostile, I just don't want to hear him anymore.

That’s totally fair