GDT - Lightning @ Sabres - October 17, 2023 - 7:30 PM (EDT) - ESPN & WGR

[Sabres Fan in NS]

 

 

[Doohicksie]

No, seriously.... at some point we must win.... right?

[bob_sauve28]

Oops!! I'll erase mine! 🤣

[bob_sauve28]

Lightning Splits and Trends

The Lightning had a record of 46-30-6 last season and were 8-9-17 in overtime contests.

In the 23 games Tampa Bay played that were decided by one goal, it picked up 25 points.

In 11 games last season when the Lightning finished with only one goal, they picked up three points (1-9-1).

Tampa Bay failed to win all 11 games last season when it scored a pair of goals.

The Lightning scored more than two goals 64 times, accumulating 101 points (47-10-7).

Last season Tampa Bay recorded a lone power-play goal in 36 games, posting a record of 20-12-4.

When it outshot its opponent last season, Tampa Bay posted a record of 28-13-6 (62 points).

The Lightning's opponents had more shots in 39 games last season. The Lightning went 18-18-3 in those contests (39 points).

[Sabres Fan in NS]

MUST WIN !!

GO SABRES !!

[zow2]

Sorry folks but it's only game 3 and this is a must win.  The Sabres are already falling behind every other wannabe team in the division who are looking improved.  Tampa just lost in regulation to Detroit and Ottawa and they are without a top flight goalie now.  

If they lose tonight I'm already writing it down, No playoffs.   You can't chase the pack all year, it won't work.

[LGR4GM]

Listening to Granato, I think they are looking to move olofsson off that line with Cozens. He talked a lot about Quinn and how him being out has impacted Cozens. Talked glowingly about jjp and didn't mention olofsson at all. I put this in the gdt because I think it's something to watch this game. They can't keep rolling a line that's being caved in like that if they want playoffs. 

[inkman]

15 minutes ago, zow2 said:

Sorry folks but it's only game 3 and this is a must win.  The Sabres are already falling behind every other wannabe team in the division who are looking improved.  Tampa just lost in regulation to Detroit and Ottawa and they are without a top flight goalie now.  

If they lose tonight I'm already writing it down, No playoffs.   You can't chase the pack all year, it won't work.

Like 17 year old me on prom night, this is a little premature 

[inkman]

10 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Listening to Granato, I think they are looking to move olofsson off that line with Cozens. He talked a lot about Quinn and how him being out has impacted Cozens. Talked glowingly about jjp and didn't mention olofsson at all. I put this in the gdt because I think it's something to watch this game. They can't keep rolling a line that's being caved in like that if they want playoffs. 

Honestly, this is probably my biggest gripe of Meatballs.  Wants to make 110% sure that something doesn’t work before making a change.  Dude, everyone knew VO was a problem.  Sticking him with two of our top players was a bad idea.  I’d love for the analytics team to get involved (maybe they are and he’s being stubborn?).  

[Stads]

2 minutes ago, inkman said:

Like 17 year old me on prom night, this is a little premature 

Could you explain that further? Did you arrive early to pick up your prom date? Thank you for your consideration in this matter

[Pimlach]

4 minutes ago, inkman said:

Honestly, this is probably my biggest gripe of Meatballs.  Wants to make 110% sure that something doesn’t work before making a change.  Dude, everyone knew VO was a problem.  Sticking him with two of our top players was a bad idea.  I’d love for the analytics team to get involved (maybe they are and he’s being stubborn?).  

He has 2 games of information to assess. If he moves VO in game 3 that seems to be about right. 
 

He has to come up with 4 lines, not just fix 1. 

[bob_sauve28]

27 minutes ago, zow2 said:

Sorry folks but it's only game 3 and this is a must win.  The Sabres are already falling behind every other wannabe team in the division who are looking improved.  Tampa just lost in regulation to Detroit and Ottawa and they are without a top flight goalie now.  

If they lose tonight I'm already writing it down, No playoffs.   You can't chase the pack all year, it won't work.

I hate to say it, and Sabres, please, please, please prove me wrong, but this feels like another of those 10 game losing streaks 

😔

Go Sabres! Prove me wrong 

 

And Alex Tuch needs to show up 

[French Collection]

32 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Listening to Granato, I think they are looking to move olofsson off that line with Cozens. He talked a lot about Quinn and how him being out has impacted Cozens. Talked glowingly about jjp and didn't mention olofsson at all. I put this in the gdt because I think it's something to watch this game. They can't keep rolling a line that's being caved in like that if they want playoffs. 

Something needs to change in regards to VO, DG scratched him last year and it didn’t seem to help.  VO is who he is and can’t change his game so….

[Mustache of God]

Sabre Trek 3: The Search for Win.

[bob_sauve28]

3 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

Sabre Trek 3: The Search for Win.

Hey look, they scored!!!! 

 

[RochesterExpat]

I’m starting to feel I’m the only one left who doesn’t think the sky is falling.

Sabres win this one by at least 4. Tampa can’t matchup effectively and the mismatches become apparent. Sabres confidence gets a boost and it creates a snowball effect of momentum.

[zow2]

40 minutes ago, inkman said:

Like 17 year old me on prom night, this is a little premature 

Ha,  I sure hope I'm wrong.

The first two games they played against 2 of the best goalies in the NHL, Shesterkin and Sorokin.   Tonight they will not be playing against a world class goalie.  Let's see some goals for and some saves on our side.

[Mustache of God]

8 minutes ago, RochesterExpat said:

I’m starting to feel I’m the only one left who doesn’t think the sky is falling.

Sabres win this one by at least 4. Tampa can’t matchup effectively and the mismatches become apparent. Sabres confidence gets a boost and it creates a snowball effect of momentum.

I'm okay as I can be with a slow start. We've seen where blazing fast starts have gotten us the past few years. If we can get a handful of wins in October and then instead of falling apart in November, we actually start to continue to tack on wins I'll be a lot happier.

I also recall last season our top line took a few games to "get going".  I'm not panicking yet but it'd be nice to see these guys look like they're trying for most of the game.

[zow2]

30 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

I hate to say it, and Sabres, please, please, please prove me wrong, but this feels like another of those 10 game losing streaks 

😔

Go Sabres! Prove me wrong 

 

And Alex Tuch needs to show up 

I agree. Prove all the concerned fans wrong.   And if you count preseason the losing streak is already at 4 😒

[LGR4GM]

15 minutes ago, RochesterExpat said:

I’m starting to feel I’m the only one left who doesn’t think the sky is falling.

Sabres win this one by at least 4. Tampa can’t matchup effectively and the mismatches become apparent. Sabres confidence gets a boost and it creates a snowball effect of momentum.

You aren't. I don't think the sky is falling. 

I think they played a bad game against the Rangers and got unlucky against the Islanders but were the better team. I think some guys need to get going obviously but if we lost 2 games like we just did in January, there would be grumbling but not like this. 

 

Sidenote. Granato talked about splitting Tuch up from Tage and Skinner as a way to make it harder for teams to line match. Not sure how you do that with the way things are now. 

6 minutes ago, zow2 said:

I agree. Prove all the concerned fans wrong.   And if you count preseason the losing streak is already at 4 😒

No one should count the preseason because it has 0 bearing on the actual season point totals. 

[dudacek]

Without mentioning either player directly, Granato seemed to be hinting at Jost in for Olofsson on WGR.

Skinner Tuch Thompson Dahlin Cozens = 1 point combined in 2 games. That’s not going to continue.

Hope we see Levi again.

[Ctaeth]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Without mentioning either player directly, Granato seemed to be hinting at Jost in for Olofsson on WGR.

Skinner Tuch Thompson Dahlin Cozens = 1 point combined in 2 games. That’s not going to continue.

Hope we see Levi again.

If that's the case (which I hope it is), I wonder how they would adjust the rest of the lines with Jost coming in?  Makes it a kind of interesting puzzle with Jost only having played center (as far as I know).  I'm assuming they don't want to mess with Greenway/Mitts/Benson or Skinner/Thompson/Tuch (yet). I'm sure there's more, but here's a few possibilities off the top of my head:  

1.   Move Krebs up to the Cozens line & move Jost to fourth line center?

2.  Move Jost in directly for VO to the Cozens line (either Cozens/Jost kicks out to wing) 

3.  I could even see them moving old man Okposo up there to the Cozens line and keeping Krebs/Jost both on the fourth line with one of them kicking out to wing.  

[dudacek]

26 minutes ago, RochesterExpat said:

I’m starting to feel I’m the only one left who doesn’t think the sky is falling.

Sabres win this one by at least 4. Tampa can’t matchup effectively and the mismatches become apparent. Sabres confidence gets a boost and it creates a snowball effect of momentum.

They wanted it too bad and were squeezing the sticks in game 1 and got thoroughly outplayed as a result. 

They played good enough to win in game 2 and didn’t. 

That’s the NHL. It happens. Your job is to limit how often.

The fan base is allowed to overreact to a 2-game losing streak. The team is not. 

[Night Train]

25 minutes ago, zow2 said:

I agree. Prove all the concerned fans wrong.   And if you count preseason the losing streak is already at 4 😒

And if you count the pickup games at the Amherst Center, It's like 16 !  

 

[dudacek]

4 minutes ago, Ctaeth said:

If that's the case (which I hope it is), I wonder how they would adjust the rest of the lines with Jost coming in?  Makes it a kind of interesting puzzle with Jost only having played center (as far as I know).  I'm assuming they don't want to mess with Greenway/Mitts/Benson or Skinner/Thompson/Tuch (yet). I'm sure there's more, but here's a few possibilities off the top of my head:  

1.   Move Krebs up to the Cozens line & move Jost to fourth line center?

2.  Move Jost in directly for VO to the Cozens line (either Cozens/Jost kicks out to wing) 

3.  I could even see them moving old man Okposo up there to the Cozens line and keeping Krebs/Jost both on the fourth line with one of them kicking out to wing.  

It’s 2, from what I read Don said.

• Cozens hasn’t been himself.
• Cozens and JJ miss Quinn
• JJ has been pretty good.
• We need to get them going without messing the other lines

Unless Savoie is ready, I read that as Jost slides in for VO, period.

Edited October 17, 2023 by dudacek