GDT: Colorado at Buffalo, Dec. 1, 2022, 7pm, MSG, WGR

[matter2003]

9 minutes ago, Curt said:

Previous game they were outplayed and won, so maybe it evens out……..?

They lead 4-1. At best it was a push.

[DarthEbriate]

20 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

Frustrating game. 2nd time they outplayed a team and lost this week.

Certainly. The silver lining is that if the offense keeps this up, they'll storm through SJ, CLB, the PIT home and home, and LA before a rematch with Colorado. Beat the bads, try to stay even with the goods. That's where we're at.

[matter2003]

19 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Fragile? They don't seem fragile to me. 

 

Definitely not fragile. This team has some spunk and toughness to them. Need to get better goaltending.

[Berg]

We lose this game also because of lame tactic. They read our defense, our attack and block almost all offense chances. 

[Curt]

8 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

They lead 4-1. At best it was a push.

They led 4-1 and then they played like crap.  They got outplayed.  IMO

[Refuting]

10 hours ago, Toilet_Mop said:

7-5 Sabres 

Nailed it 

[Gatorman0519]

Going to be a long frustrating year.  At times they look good and others brutal. 3 wins the past month shows it despite all the goals we score. 

[HumanSlinky39]

With tonight's dynamic performance, UPL has saved 99/117 shots on the season, giving him and .846 save percentage. Other than the outlier against STL, he has saved .783, .760, and tonight's .846. He hasn't just been bad, he has been abysmal and his poor play has cost the Sabres the last two games he started. 

Coming into this season, I actually had some hope for him. He played quite well last year before getting hurt, tallying an strong .917 save percentage and 2.74 gaa in 9 starts. He was actually >.900 in his first 7 starts. He played well against some pretty good teams. He can play well.

Now, he's just a total mess. He looks timid and just horribly out of position too frequently. He seems to have little confidence. If he had a track record of strong AHL play, I'd be more apt to say he can still come around. But, that stretch of good play last year looks more like a fluke than anything else. He's only 23 years old, so in theory he could still develop into an NHL goalie. The Sabres don't have time to wait, though. He's going to be passed by Levi and probably Portillo (provided he signs) in the pecking order. I don't have a problem with KA and Granato giving him a run for a few games to see what he has, but I don't know how much more they need to see. He's bad and is a long way from being anything more than an emergency call up as an NHL goalie.

This is a young team and losing these kinds of games isn't good for their development. They need to learn how to WIN. UPL has directly cost them the last two games he's started. Enough is enough. Jettison him to Rochester and give Subban a run. He can't be much worse. At least he provides you a backup anthem singer to boot.

Edited December 2, 2022 by HumanSlinky39

[Believer]

17 minutes ago, sabresparaavida said:

No they aren’t. 

How so? Can you explain?

[HumanSlinky39]

23 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Get some goaltending.

They aren't going to bring anybody else in. Andy should be good for 30-35 starts and they have Comrie. I know a lot of people are down on Comrie, but the defense hung him out to dry A LOT when Joki and Muel were out. I'm betting KA is gonna ride them. I'm not crazy about the idea of throwing Levi out there straight out of college without some AHL time, but maybe they do? I don't know who is out there and I'm too lazy to go look at this hour, but I wouldn't mind to see them go get a passable vet on an expiring contract via trade for the right price. Don't think they will, though.

[Sidc3000]

29 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Get some goaltending.

Ok, what’s available? 

[JoeSchmoe]

5 minutes ago, Sidc3000 said:

Ok, what’s available? 

I mentioned a guy we should make a grab at as a number 3 in another thread and got roasted for it.

That guy has an AHL .939 save percentage vs kkkkkk's .898 in Roch.

[thewookie1]

A legitimately good moral victory; now can someone play goalie please!

[Dreams Burn Down]

Overall, they played the Avs tough.  As stated upthread, the 5-on-3 in the second and some weak goals hurt us.  Any team will make you pay for these, but a team like the Avs will turn off the lights on you.  Yet, there we were in the game late in the third.  This team had the Bolts dead to rights and played the defending champs very well.  There is a lot to like with this team.

While at the game, I tried to focus on the third line.  As others have said, there's simply not much there.  Krebs had one open look and demurred for whatever the reason.  Mitts had some hustle and actually found his way in front of the net to harass their netminder once or twice.  VO could not get out of his own way.  I mean, the line was responsible for four shots, two hits, and two penalty minutes (crap call on Krebs I know.)  There's simply no sugarcoating how inconsequential this line is.

[Eleven]

 

53 minutes ago, Dreams Burn Down said:

Krebs had one open look and demurred for whatever the reason.

Someone needs to inject some confidence into this kid, or he's going to be a 4A player for his career.  And he's too talented for that; I don't want to see it.

[grinreaper]

2 hours ago, Believer said:

Can you explain??…. Aren’t blocks counted for shots at the net??… Every block helps the goalie, in my opinion… Their goalie got plenty of help…

Sure I can explain. No, blocked shots are not counted as shots on net, but I wasn't referring to blocks. I was referring to "hits". 

[PerreaultForever]

Closer than I expected but kind of all the same problems keeping them from winning.  Some good offensive moments some bad defensive lapses. Too many perimeter shots and poor net front defense. 

Cozens still looking very good. If that kid line does in fact mature together as is clearly DG's hope, well then we will have the 2 offensive lines we need after all. Got to work on getting that third line though. It's still a mess. 

[SwampD]

Still trying to figure out what Krebs did at the end there to warrant a penalty. That was complete BS.

Pretty decent game though.

Whatever.

[Berg]

2 hours ago, SwampD said:

Still trying to figure out what Krebs did at the end there to warrant a penalty. That was complete BS.

Pretty decent game though.

Whatever.

I had the feeling throughout the game that Colorado had 6 players on the ice and we had 5.

[bob_sauve28]

 

[nucci]

9 hours ago, Sidc3000 said:

Ok, what’s available? 

That's a lazy take. Adams has been GM long enough to be able to find quality goaltending. There's enough talent and scoring to be a playoff team with just decent goaltending...

[JohnC]

6 hours ago, SwampD said:

Still trying to figure out what Krebs did at the end there to warrant a penalty. That was complete BS.

Pretty decent game though.

Whatever.

I was as befuddled by that phantom call as the player was. It made no sense to me. When Colorado is on the PP they are masterful at quickly moving the puck around. Given more open space they are even more lethal.

There is no question that Colorado is an elite team. Considering that the Sabres were playing a back to back coming off a road game and Colorado was resting in town I thought the Sabres gave them a good and energetic effort. The Sabres gave them a good challenge. The Sabres certainly have some obvious deficits that need to be addressed, but after this game I was more encouraged than discouraged about our pathway.

One observation about this game: Cozens is emerging as a player. You can see the confidence he has that he is capable of being one of the big boys in this league. 

 

[mphs mike]

12 hours ago, Sidc3000 said:

How many goalies go straight from college to the NHL? 

Don't know, but Barasso went straight from HS to the Aud

[matter2003]

10 hours ago, JoeSchmoe said:

I mentioned a guy we should make a grab at as a number 3 in another thread and got roasted for it.

That guy has an AHL .939 save percentage vs kkkkkk's .898 in Roch.

He also has around a .900 NHL save percentage the last few years here and around a 3.35 GAA.  Not much better than UPL or Comrie. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by matter2003

[JoeSchmoe]

3 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

He also has around a .900 NHL save percentage the last few years here and around a 3.35 GAA.  Not much better than UPL or Comrie. 

Agreed, but given we're not getting a number 1 or number 2 goalie, it'd be nice to at least improve our number 3.