GDT: Sabres vs Pens- October 6, 2023 - 7:00PM, MSG/NHLN📺WGR📻

[Gatorman0519]

The Don has a lot to fix before next Thursday. 

[thewookie1]

40 minutes ago, Scottysabres said:

Onky, It's not an experiment. That's our first pair defense almost certainly.

If there was only a top 4 grizzled veteran RHD that was available for trade.......(Pesce)

Supposedly Pesce vetoed it 

[Believer]

Benson, Victor, JJ looked good… Skinner played hard… Forgot to add Mitts… 2nd Star

Edited October 7, 2023 by Believer

[CTJoe]

14 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

I still cannot believe Adams has put all the eggs in the Levi basket and will once again go with the same goaltending minus Anderson, it's almost comical at this point.

Levi wasn't good tonight but this isn't on him.  If Clifton wasn't on the ice for all 7 goals against, he certainly was on for 6 of them.  Unmitigated disaster of an experiment putting him with Dahlin.  Dahlin was -4 tonight and I can't blame him for any of the goals. Levi won his first 2 ames this year

[Scottysabres]

8 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

Supposedly Pesce vetoed it 

Bummer if true

Edited October 7, 2023 by Scottysabres

[Randall Flagg]

Preseason is preseason, and it is pretty easy for me to ignore the things I didn't like and get excited about the things I did. It's why I was in the Bills thread after that Pittsburgh game in August, calling people out. Would you rather be the Steelers or the Bills right now? The team that showed up and balled out in the preseason or the one that got shellacked? Trick question, I'd rather be the better team regardless of what happened on that field that night

That stance is definitely easier to hold when you have the Bills' track record - they are in the midst of a stretch that, if capped with a Super Bowl win at some point, will be remembered in history. (please enjoy this and do not take it for granted btw!!) 

It's harder to hold when the Sabres' track record is, er, exactly what we didn't like about tonight. 

I am still excited about the year - excited at the players Tage and Casey have turned into, excited that it is pretty clear we are going to see some electric hockey, excited and impressed at Benson - what do we expect here? Is this really happening? We will see. 

I'm also nervous - coming to any one of us in early April with this roster, pointing at Connor Clifton, Erik Johnson, and the same goalies, would have had every single poster on this board sputtering in disbelief. This could be an INSANE blunder, a "how could you do that oh my god you need to be fired yesterday get away from my hockey team" blunder, if there are too many nights that look like our zone and crease did tonight. I don't think the fact that it happened in a preseason game is what makes me nervous, rather seeing the visual example of what it would look like and thinking of how disturbingly plausible it is.

But I'm excited nevertheless, I bought seasons after all. I'm ready for the bullets to fly. 

Donny said offense was the hard part, and he can teach defense to anyone. Kevyn said we have 3 NHL goalies. I really hope they weren't just blowing smoke

See you guys Thursday!

[Taro T]

Hopefully the biggest take away for Granato tonight is that until Clifton is comfortable in this system, he should not be the #2.  Whether he plays with Power or Johnson, would really like to see him down the depth chart some.

Totally understand why Don is trying him with Dahlin, if they both play the way they can it could be a very good pairing.  But it is clear, from Granato's comments earlier about why Clifton didn't play until the final 2 PS games and watching Clifton in these 2 games, that Connor is not up to speed yet.  And they really shouldn't be playing him on the top pairing until he is.  MHO.  Granato's MMV and likely will.

Liked the movement on the 1st PP; both units.  But the 2 late PPs didn't have nearly as much movement and didn't do nearly as well.  Still hate the entries on the PP.  Amazing how bad they still are at that aspect of it.

Levi had a stinker early in the year last year and it didn't phase his play at all.  Expecting this one will roll off his back too.  Sure that he wants the 1st 2 back, nothing he could do on the net off the pegs goal nor the Geno goal.  The one where Jost got caught trying to cover for the D change it looked like Levi made the 1st save but the rebound went right back to the Pen.  Considering Dahlin was still high, not sure that one is on Levi but he likely wants that back too.  The last goal, pretty sure he'd like back but he realized it was Crosby that was coming out above the goal line.  Can't cheat to cover the pass because Crosby will bury it if you go off your line early.  Won't put that one on him either.  Don't recall the particulars of the go behind goal, so no opinion on it.

They had good moments.  Just not enough of them.  Glad that they'll be opening against an offensively challenged squad as it might help to settle them down a bit.

 

And still say 103 this year.  Donnie G will figure out the pairings.

[SabresBillsFan]

16 minutes ago, Slack_in_MA said:

Sabres we’re outplayed tonight, for whatever that’s worth.

They always have trouble with the Pens.

[Randall Flagg]

Just now, SabresBillsFan said:

They always have trouble with the Pens.

I won't be convinced that our nightmares are in the past until we toy with this team like the Bills do the Pats nowadays

[Buffalonill]

42 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

Remember how the last game of the preseason vs the Penguins went last season? 

We Missed the playoffs... So what kind of motivation am i  looking for?

[K-9]

Thought Marty made a great point about Benson when he said that regardless of who his line mates have been, he has been the line driver for that line. No surprise given how determined he is in puck pursuit. 

[Taro T]

13 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

Supposedly Pesce vetoed it 

He vetoed a trade to the Sabres or just a trade elsewhere?  Bummer if it was the Sabres he wouldn't come to.

8 minutes ago, CTJoe said:

Levi wasn't good tonight but this isn't on him.  If Clifton wasn't on the ice for all 7 goals against, he certainly was on for 6 of them.  Unmitigated disaster of an experiment putting him with Dahlin.  Dahlin was -4 tonight and I can't blame him for any of the goals. Levi won his first 2 ames this year

Pretty sure Clifton was on the ice for 5 of them.  Same as Dahlin.

Clifton was out for 4 of the 1st 5 and the 7th.  And he was an instrumental piece of 4 of the 1st 5 and the 7th.

[pi2000]

looked like a beer league game, yikes.

withholding judgement until 10g in the regular season.

scary performance by Levi tho, .806 sv%.   what is it with Sabres goaltenders stinking it up on home ice?

[K-9]

I’d be surprised if Levi doesn’t use this as fuel. 

[Scottysabres]

2 minutes ago, Taro T said:

He vetoed a trade to the Sabres or just a trade elsewhere?  Bummer if it was the Sabres he wouldn't come to.

Pretty sure Clifton was on the ice for 5 of them.  Same as Dahlin.

Clifton was out for 4 of the 1st 5 and the 7th.  And he was an instrumental piece of 4 of the 1st 5 and the 7th.

Boston sent us a Trojan Horse as a thank you for Ullmark?

Bill Billicheat and Jan Brady would approve....

[thewookie1]

2 minutes ago, Taro T said:

He vetoed a trade to the Sabres or just a trade elsewhere?  Bummer if it was the Sabres he wouldn't come to.

It’s been mostly here say but there was a lot of smoke that Pesce exercised his NTC during the offseason and Buffalo was a primary interested party

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, Scottysabres said:

Boston sent us a Trojan Horse as a thank you for Ullmark?

Bill Billicheat and Jan Brady would approve....

A lot of times, D-men have difficulties in their 1st season with a new team.  But once they're finally used to the new system and their new partner, they're fine.

Hoped it wouldn't be the case with Clifton because of his time with Granato on the NTDP, but right now it looks like it will take him some time to get used to the differences from being on a very solid team defensively to being on one that is offense first.  IF that is the case, really hope that Granato recognizes it quickly and adjusts his plans until Connor is up to speed.

[FrenchConnection44]

Whenever teams play poorly there is a tendency to say, “it’s just preseason.” The outcome is not the issue. It’s how the team plays. Last preseason game you want starters to play well.
 

But what we are seeing is the same defensive lapses we saw last year on a regular basis. That’s just not a positive. 
 

Maybe even more than signing new players to help we needed to hire a defensive assistant coach to help teach better defensive fundamentals for both forwards and Dmen? 

[JoeSchmoe]

Tonight VO earned the spot he already had. Keep him.

Benson makes the team.

Greenway would be easily replaceable. Don't like his game at all.

Love the spark from Krebs, but I don't see him staying ahead of similar talent in the pipeline. I don't think he's around when this team wins the cup.

[Believer]

Post game interviews are up on the Sabres site…

Looks like Benson and JJ interviews scrubbed… Neither said anything new… Bad questions.

Edited October 7, 2023 by Believer

[GoPuckYourself]

1 hour ago, CTJoe said:

Levi wasn't good tonight but this isn't on him.  If Clifton wasn't on the ice for all 7 goals against, he certainly was on for 6 of them.  Unmitigated disaster of an experiment putting him with Dahlin.  Dahlin was -4 tonight and I can't blame him for any of the goals. Levi won his first 2 ames this year

I agree it's not all on him and it's pre season but we 100% need another veteran goalie to help him along the way.

[GASabresIUFAN]

The first 28 minutes were ok, but sh…t that was awful.  Levi and defense were pretty bad.  I liked Benson with Mitts and Greenway.

[Weave]

Woof.

[PerreaultForever]

Well, "obviously" that was disappointing.  Announcers in mid season form with the list of excuses though. Already sick of hearing about "the good things they did" already and the season hasn't even started. Complete garbage hockey. Absolutely no idea how to play defense at all. IF we play like this, we will definitely not make the playoffs. 

I guess this isn't unexpected. Lots of talent and the ability to score a goal quickly at any time (eg. Mitts goal) but absolutely atrocious D, and by that I don't mean the defensemen, but the team. 

I watched this carefully and even replayed chunks of it to be sure and I think the thing about Clifton is two fold. First, he's used to playing on a highly structured team where players cover the gaps and rotate into empty positions and not on this hurly burly mess of running around and chasing puck carriers or waving sticks near shooters, but from a distance. You can see he kind of doesn't know where to go as a result. Also, perhaps most importantly, there seems to be zero communication between the D on the team as a whole and it impacts the new guys the most. It's all just a mess of running around and chasing just like every year before. THIS is not on Clifton, or Dahlin, or Power (who also is struggling mightily) it's on the COACHING. Preseason is the time to get this together and it seems we have not. Not in the least. So unless they fix that, Cliffy will become your new whipping boy.

On the upside, if you noticed, his outlet passes were crisp and damn near perfect tape to tape. 

Levi looked like a rookie goalie can look. It wasn't his fault, but he wasn't great either. He will crumble under this kind of assault and lack of D in front of him. Looks like a guy who, as most young goalies do, needs a few years in the AHL first. We are in trouble unless this was an outlier. 

Benson. Super talented but he really looks like a child. The good is he can score and create chances out of very little and do it often. The bad, as you could see on Carter's goal, he is a child among men and that will show in tough situations as it did there. The risk, is he gets crunched and injured. I would still send him to juniors.

As is often the case, I don't get the Skinner love. Cost us the first goal, gave the puck away a lot, refused to play D and just ran around and tried to be annoying until he was shoved and then just looked scared. Whatever. Nothing new there.

A couple good things in this sea of disaster, Peterka looks like he has matured fully. Poise and solid play. He's a young man now and no longer just a kid. This is clear. He should have a very good year. Possibly a major break out.  Also, Mitts looks like he is capable of being a good 3C. 

 Otherwise, if this is it we will suck - AGAIN.

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Hey Donnie, maybe try different D pairings.