GDT: Rangers @ Sabres - October 12, 2023 - 7:00PM, MSG-B📺WGR📻

[zow2]

Year after year they just can’t earn many points in the home arena. Too many regulation losses downtown and here we go again.  

[rickshaw]

If this team really is different and ready to make the next step, this game should be a serious wake up call for them. How they’ll react? But their schedule isn’t easy to start. Best fix it lickety split

[Crusader1969]

So much for the perfect season I was expecting

the key to making the playoffs will be no long losing streaks.  Don’t let 1 loss turn into 2.   I expect much better on sat night 

[Sidc3000]

Just now, Spoonman said:

@Sidc3000 & his clan!

@Doohickie

soooo cute.  Unfortunately I’m definitely not a troll just a disenfranchised fan who wants a team to play well on both sides of the puck. The other teams have learned that they just need to control their offense and it’s a win. 

[...]

4 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

The broadcast crew simply CANNOT start leaning into "yeah but they're young" "they will learn". I can't take it. This team is supposed to be like the Rangers. They are supposed to be coached as well as them. They need to be held to that standard. 

Agreed. However, I fear they are going to do exactly that: offer excuses early and often.

[Pimlach]

A home opener loss. I thought they were still in preseason mode for the most part. 
 

A few players stood out to me. I liked what I saw from Peterka, Benson, Clifton, Greenway, Johnson and Levi.  
 

Hoping Peterka takes a step this year. Benson got involved and made things happen.  Clifton was hitting and he did good joining the rush.  Greenway was working hard and being a presence, and I have not had many positive Greenway comments until tonight.  
 

The 4th line was -2.  

[inkman]

Most embarrassing lost in franchise history?  

[Randall Flagg]

We managed 5 goals in 3 games against the Islanders last year I believe. So it'll be good practice to try and figure out how to counter the way these teams play us

[Sabres Super Fan]

As usual everything was great until they dropped the puck and the Buffalo Sabres actually had to play hockey. This nonsense has gone on 12 plus years not being prepared while all the other NHL teams are prepared minus the Arizona Coyotes that have no home and play at a college facility. You can’t have Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch invisible and not difference makers on opening night. The Buffalo Sabres are in trouble if Tage Thompson had a career year. Tage Thompson was one of the worst players on the ice tonight that can’t happen if the Buffalo Sabres are going to make the playoffs. One goal isn’t going to get it done. Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadians and Ottawa Senators are three potential wins? I don’t see any other wins that isn’t going to get it done 3 wins potentially in October. I hope I am wrong but the Buffalo Sabres can’t play when they are playing for something. When they are 20 points out of it in garbage time on the NHL schedule the Buffalo Sabres will win and be hot. Why? Because there is no pressure. The Buffalo Sabres don’t respond well to pressure it has been there downfall for over a decade. You don’t have money players like Rick Martin, Rene Robert and Danny Gare that were gamers and scored big goals in clutch the current Buffalo Sabres the moment is always too big for them with excuses that has to change or this team isn’t going to make the playoffs in my opinion. Go Sabres! Let’s Go Buffalo 

Edited October 13, 2023 by Buffalo Sabres Fan

[Weave]

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?

In all seriousness, I was only able to watch the 1st period due to an 8pm meeting with a customer in China that ran until just now.  We looked a step behind NYR. I liked the physical response near the end of the first and thought it bode well for the team coming out to start the 2nd with a little more jump.

Holy ***** hell, what the hell happened?

[#freejame]

I thought the third line was pretty easily our best. Krebs needs new line mates and more ice time. Benson looked good, but needs to get stronger. Wonder if he’s sent down to muscle up and Krebs takes his place.  

First line was a major disappointment all around. I liked VO tonight and thought the second line played pretty well. JJ looked much bigger, he’s going to have a great year. 

Dahlin was sharp and looked every bit of his contract. Joki and Power could have been better, especially on the second goal. There were a few instances once we were down I thought OP should have pinched a bit more and taken a chance, but instead Rags left the zone. Better to be conservative I guess. 

EJ was sound. If he can just be steady like tonight I’d be happy. Clifton was fun to watch, but I’m not sure he was the strongest positionally. Much like the pinball, he was all over the place. Sammy looked like a year older version of him. He’s still not going to be his best until he’s stronger and meaner. 

Levi was fine tonight. He could definitely park on kicking out his rebounds a bit more and locating puck position he’d be able to bail out his D a bit more. He recovers very well, but also has a tendency to look a little lost at time. That will probably fade in time, and as a result some of the fun scrambling saves will disappear. Who knows how long that takes though. 

The biggest issue tonight was the lack of adjustments. Our players seemed to spend too much time early on trying to make fancy plays to beat the worlds best goalie, when they should have been driving the middle and working to get second and third chances. Until we are better than our opponents, we aren’t going to be able to overmatch every team with our game. We need to make changes and that comes from behind the bench. We were in this game after the first, but we spent too much time spinning our tires into the second that once we were down 3-0 there was no coming back. 

On to another elite goaltender with a team playing a suffocating transition game. Time to shine, Donny!

[RochesterExpat]

If Greenway plays like that the whole season, I think he’ll end up my new favorite player. 
 

If the team plays like that the whole season, I think I’m going to find a new favorite team.

[LGR4GM]

Just a few thoughts. I'm not going read the thread because ppl need to vent and I get that. 

Peterka had moments but both olofsson and Cozens were bad. Plays died on their sticks all evening. 

The defensive zone detail is awful. It's something coaching needs to address and has needed to address. 

The drop pass on the pp is dumb. It worked 0 times. 

The Sabres abandoned blue lines like they were chernobyl.

Skinner, Thompson, and Tuch were meh.

Benson is really good, but I still maintain he should go back to the WHL. 

Greenway played well. He deserves some recognition for putting in the work he did. 

Not much else to say. They weren't good enough, they didn't look sharp, they seemed lazy at times, unprepared is a good word. Where the go from here is up to them but tonight wasn't acceptable. 

[lowsabre]

81-1, then?

[pi2000]

Outcoached.

Granato is a great developmental coach, but this team needs to take the next step system wise.

Still giving up too much.

Is he the guy to take this team to the next level?   

[Carmel Corn]

3 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Outcoached.

Granato is a great developmental coach, but this team needs to take the next step system wise.

Still giving up too much.

Is he the guy to take this team to the next level?   

Buffalo should have replaced their asst. coaches, especially for special teams.  Peca would look nice behind our bench vs. the Rags.

[ExWNYer]

4 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I'm not going read the thread because ppl need to vent and I get that. 

It was a typical GDT. Up and down. It wasn't all negative. I think people were more disappointed than anything that the air went out of the balloon quickly after the anticipation and promise of opening night.

[K-9]

5 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Outcoached.

Granato is a great developmental coach, but this team needs to take the next step system wise.

Still giving up too much.

Is he the guy to take this team to the next level?   

I think it’s certainly a valid concern. And I think Okie alluded to the system issue in his post game remarks about how teams are gonna play that 1-3-1 and they need to figure out a way to beat it. I wonder how good of an in game coach DG really is.

[CallawaySabres]

That game was just brutal to sit through from start to finish. The crowd was dead and nobody stood out on the Sabres at all.

it’s hard to imagine this team as being in the playoff hunt this year but who knows. Leaving once again with 10 minutes to go because my kids were asking to is all too familiar. That will be my last game for a while as it just seems like a total waste of money and time 😞

[Zamboni]

Just got home from the game. Glad I missed this world is burning GDT 😂

 

Best part of the evening was going to Chefs with my wife. They played without urgency. Rangers blocked almost everything.  Levi played fine. It’s game one. I’m not gonna fret about game one. Rear view mirror … let’s see what they correct for Saturday. 

[Gatorman0519]

25 minutes ago, Weave said:

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?

In all seriousness, I was only able to watch the 1st period due to an 8pm meeting with a customer in China that ran until just now.  We looked a step behind NYR. I liked the physical response near the end of the first and thought it bode well for the team coming out to start the 2nd with a little more jump.

Holy ***** hell, what the hell happened?

Same things that always happen year in and out. Pick any typical terrible game the past decade… this one had it all. 

[PromoTheRobot]

I thought they had energy early and while they didn't have many chances, they also limited the Rangers chances. But NY pounced on the Sabres errors. Then later in the game when the Sabres tried to press, the Rangers blocked shot after shot. Shesterkin was solid but that's easier to do when your guys don't let shots through.

[GoPuckYourself]

14 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Outcoached.

Granato is a great developmental coach, but this team needs to take the next step system wise.

Still giving up too much.

Is he the guy to take this team to the next level?   

This is exactly how I feel. Seems like already too much of the same as we saw throughout last season, of course the sky is not falling but already a home loss when that was our achilles heel.

[HumanSlinky39]

32 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

A home opener loss. I thought they were still in preseason mode for the most part. 
 

A few players stood out to me. I liked what I saw from Peterka, Benson, Clifton, Greenway, Johnson and Levi.  
 

Hoping Peterka takes a step this year. Benson got involved and made things happen.  Clifton was hitting and he did good joining the rush.  Greenway was working hard and being a presence, and I have not had many positive Greenway comments until tonight.  
 

The 4th line was -2.  

The physicality stood out to me. Yards different from the past few years. Didn't look like a "finesse" team at all. I'm hoping that's scheme and not a one-off bump against a hated rival. If this team can throw 18-20 hits a game versus the 8-10 we've grown use to, it'll pay dividends. 

[Believer]

2 hours ago, Believer said:

NHL Center Ice not working…

Was able to stream from my phone and mirror to the tv, but the audio was garbled… 

Rangers looked mid season form… We looked like the guys just met yesterday…

Down 2 on three shots in the first few minutes is a tough hole to climb out of… 

First of 82… Onward to Saturday… First game jits for Levi and the boys are behind them.