Your Highlights of the Season So Far

[GASabresIUFAN]

Lyubushkin’s SH OT goal got me thinking.  Dangerous I know, but I began to wonder if this is the highlight of the season so far.  

The others that come to mind were Anderson’s milestone victory, TnT’s first 6 pt night against Det or his 5g/6p night against CBJ.  Also Dahlin’s NHL record 5 game goal scoring streak by a D to start the season.  Oh yeah, tonight was TNT’s league leading 4th hattie of the season.  Power’s OT against Dallas was a great play and Tuch OT winner against Boston on New Year’s eve was pretty memorable as well.

Other thoughts? 

Edited February 25, 2023 by GASabresIUFAN

[GASabresIUFAN]

Here are some videos of the nominees so far.

Power’s OT Winner (His 1st of the year)

Lyubushkin’s SH OT Winner - His 1st of the year and 1st as a Sabres.

 

Tuch’s OT winner over Boston on New Year’s Eve

 

[Sabres73]

Cozens OT winner against the Islanders with the long pass from Dahlin

[bg17]

Overtime win vs Minnesota. Insane action and the roof came off when VO smoked one with 15 seconds left. 

[Cage]

Tuch OT winner against Bruins.  Bruins are top team in the league and had 2 man advantage in 3rd period that was killed off and then tying the game late in dramatic fashion.  I think its the run-away winner!

[Thorner]

Jets game in Winnipeg and specifically the dominant second period. 

[John Tucker]

Krebs fight vs Clifton!!  The little varmint has spunk!

[JohnC]

6 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Here are some videos of the nominees so far.

Power’s OT Winner (His 1st of the year)

Lyubushkin’s SH OT Winner - His 1st of the year and 1st as a Sabres.

 

Tuch’s OT winner over Boston on New Year’s Eve

 

I'm not sure which game but there was a tic-tac-toe play from Skinner to Tuch to Tage for a score. I think it was a game at Dallas? It was a beauty!

[dudacek]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

Jets game in Winnipeg and specifically the dominant second period. 

 

24 minutes ago, JohnC said:

I'm not sure which game but there was a tic-tac-toe play from Skinner to Tuch to Tage for a score. I think it was a game at Dallas? It was a beauty!

The one I’m thinking of was in the Winnipeg game: Tuch driving hard down the the right wing, Skinner finding him with a Josh Allen laser, and Tuch sweeping it back against the grain to Tage in the high slot.

Fooled Helly so badly he was almost in the corner.

I think that game was as good as the Sabres have played all year; 60 minutes of utter domination in terms of flow of play.

Biggest moment? I think the OT in Boston was special. Still feeling the high from last night too.

Something about beating a bully.

[GASabresIUFAN]

I've added some poll questions.  They are incomplete, I'd like some nominations.  Please post a video if you can so that I others can see the highlight. Thanks

[nfreeman]

Mine is beating Boston, in Boston, on 12/31/22.  Going into that game, they had won 5 in a row, most recently a home win vs Detroit, to climb to 1 game over Deluca .500.  They could end the year by either losing to their longtime tormentors and falling back to .500, or killing the beast in its lair to enable them to start 2023 2 games over .500 and in good position to finally break on through to the other side.

They took a 2-1 lead into the 3rd.  Bergeron tied it on the PP, and freaking Marchand scored on a breakaway with less than 8 minutes left to give Boston a 3-2 lead.  The Sabres pulled the goalie with a couple of minutes left to try to tie it, but the Bruins got possession in their zone and passed it to Pastrnak -- one of the best goal-scorers in the NHL -- near the Sabres' blue line.  Pasta aimed for the ENG, but Dahlin blocked it, took two strides and sent a home run pass off the boards in the Bruins' zone for the perfect ricochet to Tuch, who left a nifty drop pass for Cozens, who immediately rifled in the GTG. 

Then, in OT, Cozens neatly stripped it from Bergeron in the Sabres' zone, rushed it up the left side and made a beautiful pass to Tuch for the GWG.

It was a fantastic win.  Hopefully we'll look back on it this summer as a milestone on the way to something great.

 

 

[French Collection]

2 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Mine is beating Boston, in Boston, on 12/31/22.  Going into that game, they had won 5 in a row, most recently a home win vs Detroit, to climb to 1 game over Deluca .500.  They could end the year by either losing to their longtime tormentors and falling back to .500, or killing the beast in its lair to enable them to start 2023 2 games over .500 and in good position to finally break on through to the other side.

They took a 2-1 lead into the 3rd.  Bergeron tied it on the PP, and freaking Marchand scored on a breakaway with less than 8 minutes left to give Boston a 3-2 lead.  The Sabres pulled the goalie with a couple of minutes left to try to tie it, but the Bruins got possession in their zone and passed it to Pastrnak -- one of the best goal-scorers in the NHL -- near the Sabres' blue line.  Pasta aimed for the ENG, but Dahlin blocked it, took two strides and sent a home run pass off the boards in the Bruins' zone for the perfect ricochet to Tuch, who left a nifty drop pass for Cozens, who immediately rifled in the GTG. 

Then, in OT, Cozens neatly stripped it from Bergeron in the Sabres' zone, rushed it up the left side and made a beautiful pass to Tuch for the GWG.

It was a fantastic win.  Hopefully we'll look back on it this summer as a milestone on the way to something great.

That will be tough to repeat when we meet them in the first round, but perhaps a building block.

[RochesterExpat]

2. Highlight of the Year So Far Acheivements Division

The real answer here is Peyton Krebs' growth into, well, whatever it is he's become. He is night and day different from last season. That's an achievement unto itself 😉

[Taro T]

22 minutes ago, RochesterExpat said:

2. Highlight of the Year So Far Acheivements Division

The real answer here is Peyton Krebs' growth into, well, whatever it is he's become. He is night and day different from last season. That's an achievement unto itself 😉

He's night and day from what he was in October.

[JohnC]

5 hours ago, dudacek said:

 

The one I’m thinking of was in the Winnipeg game: Tuch driving hard down the the right wing, Skinner finding him with a Josh Allen laser, and Tuch sweeping it back against the grain to Tage in the high slot.

Fooled Helly so badly he was almost in the corner.

I think that game was as good as the Sabres have played all year; 60 minutes of utter domination in terms of flow of play.

Biggest moment? I think the OT in Boston was special. Still feeling the high from last night too.

Something about beating a bully.

That's it. It was the Winnipeg game. As you point out it was one of the best games that they played under Donnie. The flow and pace of the game that lasted all game long was impressive. That type of game would be difficult to duplicate. 

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, JohnC said:

That's it. It was the Winnipeg game. As you point out it was one of the best games that they played under Donnie. The flow and pace of the game that lasted all game long was impressive. That type of game would be difficult to duplicate. 

Actually, all 3 games that Comrie has started since his emergency start against Seattle the Sabres have played some of their best hockey.  (The 2nd period vs Anaheim not withstanding.)

[msw2112]

It's pretty awesome that we can have this debate right now.  We may have more highlights to choose from this season than the 5-10 seasons before it combined!

After the poor showing against the Leafs, the Sabres could have folded their tents and said "we're a good young team, but aren't ready for the big boys yet."  Especially when Tampa took early control of the game and the 1-0 lead.  But they fought their way back into the game.  They lost multiple leads and then were on the wrong side of some terrible officiating in the final few minutes of the third period (borderline too many men, missed call on elbow against Okposo, borderline delay of game at the end), but fought through it and came out with the win.  I was impressed (and pleasantly surprised).  I liked the fire of the team after the Okposo incident, including Granato going ballistic on the bench.  Tampa tried to intimidate the Sabres, but failed.

Edited February 24, 2023 by msw2112

[Taro T]

5 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

It's pretty awesome that we can have this debate right now.  We may have more highlights to choose from this season than the 5-10 seasons before it combined!

After the poor showing against the Leafs, the Sabres could have folded their tents and said "we're a good young team, but aren't ready for the big boys yet."  Especially when Tampa took early control of the game and the 1-0 lead.  But they fought their way back into the game.  They lost multiple leads and then were on the wrong side of some terrible officiating in the final few minutes of the third period (borderline too many men, missed call on elbow against Okposo, borderline delay of game at the end), but fought through it and came out with the win.  I was impressed (and pleasantly surprised).  I liked the fire of the team after the Okposo incident, including Granato going ballistic on the bench.  Tampa tried to intimidate the Sabres, but failed.

To the boled, yes, they could have done that.  But at what point in the Granato era have they done that?  Yes, they've had bad games and bad stretches as well.  But they have never given up and have never simply sat back feeling sorry for themselves since Don took over.

These guys don't let adversity simply bury them.  That change in mindset alone has been so instrumental in making these past 2 seasons enjoyable to watch.  This is the most fun Sabres team to watch since '06 by far.  They aren't elite, and they can't consistently beat the GOOD teams, but they can compete with everybody.  (There will be nights like Tuesday when they don't, but they don't quit, and their next game against the Loafs can play out much differently.)

[msw2112]

We are in agreement.  The intent of the comment was to praise the team for NOT folding their tents and I agree that they have NOT done this during the Grantao era.  All teams lay eggs from time to time (such as the Kings getting beat 6-0 by the Sabres in Buffalo recently), but good teams put those performances in the rear-view mirror and move forward with better performances.  Granato and staff do a good job in this regard, whereas Sabres teams of the recent past would go into downward spirals from which they couldn't recover.  Pretty much from November on....

Edited February 24, 2023 by msw2112

[Swedish Bikini Team]

10 hours ago, Sabres73 said:

Cozens OT winner against the Islanders with the long pass from Dahlin

On Ryan Miller Night no less. My write-in vote for #1 & 3. 

[Thorner]

2 hours ago, JohnC said:

That's it. It was the Winnipeg game. As you point out it was one of the best games that they played under Donnie. The flow and pace of the game that lasted all game long was impressive. That type of game would be difficult to duplicate. 

Was the type of game the eBug could have been in and we’d have won anyways 

[Getpucksdeep]

Dahlin hit vs San Jose in evil goathead jersey. One more block in the build toward the Norris.  

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Sabres win on back to back nights taking 4 points on a Florida trip.  Anderson stops 53 of 54, Tnt adds 3 assists, Skinner scores 2 to get to 600 pts for his career and the Sabres are in a playoff spot.

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Sabres win on back to back nights taking 4 points on a Florida trip.  Anderson stops 53 of 54, Tnt adds 3 assists, Skinner scores 2 to get to 600 pts for his career and the Sabres are in a playoff spot.

Think the Athletic still has them under 10% chance of getting in?

[GASabresIUFAN]

3 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Think the Athletic still has them under 10% chance of getting in?

So your saying there’s a chance.  

The Athletic’s model sucks.  It uses past seasons in it’s calculations.