GDT: Buffalo Sabres @ Washington Capitals 3/15/23 7 pm tv and radio

[JohnC]

Attached is a link from NHL.com showing the standings. The loss was disappointing because of the penalty call against Tuch. This was a victory that we allowed to be snatched out of our grasp. It wasn't a smart play on Tuch's part. Getting the point for the SO loss is somewhat of a consolation. 

This was a game that is difficult to say who stood out. On the blue line I liked the play of Power and I thought that Lyubushkin had a good game. 

There were too many occasions where the Sabres were stuck in their own zone with the Capitals controlling the puck. 

UPL in the shootout is a disaster. He's worse than Lehner in SOs. The goal off his chest was a bad goal but the other goals in regulation can't be blamed on him. I still get nervous when he is in between the pipes. 

The Sabre play of the game for me was Krebs pass to Gergs who converted. Krebs fought to get the puck, dig it out behind the net and then get it to Gergs. 

https://www.nhl.com/standings/2022/wildcard

 

[sabremike]

2 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

You are right. 4 points behind the islanders with 2 games in hand.  Time to throw in the towel

I’ll see everyone on the draft thread cause the season is over as of tonight ! 

 

Look at our remaining schedule (particularly playing 6 of the last 8 on the road), we couldn't afford to piss away a point tonight. And we aren't just competing with the Isles for that last spot.

[Randall Flagg]

8 minutes ago, SwampD said:

One simple fix would go very far with team. Be ready for the GD pass in the defensive zone.

They are always ready for them when playing O.

So many times tonight they a chance to not only get the puck out, but with speed and numbers and the one guy who needed to get the pass wasn't paying attention.

Well, at least we still have the tiebreaker against Washington.

The d zone coverage issues don't even bother me, good teams will always cause those. The Sabres have the puck with time and space in their zone, with guys who are good with the puck, and it immediately turns into scoring chances against, probably 30 times per game 

[KC Scouts]

Just now, PromoTheRobot said:

I'm all for adopting a chaser on shootouts. This slo mo BS is a joke.

That would be more fun to watch

[Stads]

19 minutes ago, Sabel79 said:

We’d be better off with a cardboard cutout of an actual goalie 

[spndnchz]

That early losing streak really sucks right now

[KC Scouts]

Lets see how Donnie spins this one in the post game comments.....

[Sabres73]

5 minutes ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

He is. He's one of the worst shootout goalies I've ever seen. He's made a fool of on every shot.

I wonder if they should seriously consider, if in this same situation with UPL going into a shoot-out - they may want to put in the back-up?

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Bloody Hell !!

That's all.

[KC Scouts]

BTW how many goals was Bryson out for tonight?

[Stads]

Just now, spndnchz said:

That early losing streak really sucks right now

It certainly does

[TageMVP]

I like Tuch and he's an essential part of the team but that penalty he took was something like a Tom Wilson would do 

He's a leader, he cannot take penalties like that at critical junctures, let alone at all 

Disappointing 

[Stads]

1 minute ago, KC Scouts said:

BTW how many goals was Bryson out for tonight?

Only player who went -2

[KC Scouts]

Just now, Stads said:

Only player who went -2

shocker

[Stads]

2 minutes ago, Sabres73 said:

I wonder if they should seriously consider, if in this same situation with UPL going into a shoot-out - they may want to put in the back-up?

You want reward the guy for making it to OT, but I'd be open to it

[Sabres73]

2 minutes ago, KC Scouts said:

BTW how many goals was Bryson out for tonight?

He was -2 for the night, worst on the team

[DarthEbriate]

15 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Irwin should have got a roughing too.  Tuch didn’t have the puck and Irwin was way out of position so he pushed him off the point.

That was a terrible call to put Washington in a huge advantage.  

16 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

To be honest I didn’t see much of any there with Tuch. He brushed him.

Refs jobbed us; UPL is bloody inconsistent and stresses me out in net.

You're looking at it from the Sabres' post-loss perspective and the slow motion replays on the near-ice angle. That's not what the ref sees. He sees Tuch's hand come upward and make contact with Irwin's head. It's a point-of-emphasis roughing punch to the head. The refs are purposely looking for something to negate the powerplay because they don't want to determine the outcome of the game and they know they just jobbed the Caps more on the initial call on the phantom slash. There shouldn't have been a Sabres PP to begin with, so negating it evens out the game as far as the refs are concerned. It was a terrible decision by Tuch.

[HumanSlinky39]

3 minutes ago, Sabres73 said:

I wonder if they should seriously consider, if in this same situation with UPL going into a shoot-out - they may want to put in the back-up?

It's REALLY hard for a goalie to come in cold like that, but he literally could not do worse.

[Pimlach]

20 minutes ago, sabremike said:

He's been great this season but on a PP late in a must win game HE POPPED AN OPPOSING PLAYER IN THE FACE RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REFEREE. You just can't do something like that, it cost us the game.

They both should have went off.   What kind of call was that to call half the play???
 

The PK is the worst in the league and it shows.  They gave up 2 goals out of the 2 regulation PK.  we had chances to kill that penalty.  They needed to win a face off and clear the puck.  That’s all.   They failed to clear the puck again. 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Pimlach

[Sabel79]

Christ. 

UPL is not an NHL goalie. 
 

That is all. 

[TRIP65]

12 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Cozens is going to be a star.  He is 21 dude.  
 

The whole team overpassed.  The goalie was terrible and we let him of the hook. 

I like Cozen's, should have said that first. But Lately you have to admit Cozens has made a LOT of mistakes

[Randall Flagg]

I'll grant any goalie-lover that the defense sucks.

 

No goalie lasts long in this league spitting out the rebounds that UPL does

[KC Scouts]

Donnie

Lost our game 

Lucky we got one point 

Need to move on fast

I don't want to pin a loss on one guy

Results matter, we need to be better

🤮

 

[sabremike]

4 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

The d zone coverage issues don't even bother me, good teams will always cause those. The Sabres have the puck with time and space in their zone, with guys who are good with the puck, and it immediately turns into scoring chances against, probably 30 times per game 

It drives me crazy. I wonder if it's like the nutty soccer strategy where guys hold onto the ball in their own end to draw the opposing player to close in that seems to backfire horribly in just about every game? It almost has to be a coaching strategy because your first, second and third priorities when you have the puck in your own end is to get it out of your own end.

[Pimlach]

15 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

You're looking at it from the Sabres' post-loss perspective and the slow motion replays on the near-ice angle. That's not what the ref sees. He sees Tuch's hand come upward and make contact with Irwin's head. It's a point-of-emphasis roughing punch to the head. The refs are purposely looking for something to negate the powerplay because they don't want to determine the outcome of the game and they know they just jobbed the Caps more on the initial call on the phantom slash. There shouldn't have been a Sabres PP to begin with, so negating it evens out the game as far as the refs are concerned. It was a terrible decision by Tuch.

Baloney.  They should not have given us the PP if they were looking to negate it. That is not how officials are trained. 
 

Irwin and Tuch were being stupid so you send them BOTH to the box.  They let the instigator win by using your ridiculous logic. They created on 6 v 4. 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Pimlach