GDT: Sabres @ Penguins - Nov 11, 2023 - 7:30pm, MSG/ESPN+📺WGR📻

[SwampD]

How is it different this year?

 

Another wet fart.

[Stoner]

Is it possible the Sabres didn't really threaten to score?

[Carmel Corn]

Just now, SwampD said:

How is it different this year?

 

Another wet fart.

It might be worse actually....

[Nitro60]

Sabres seem to play poorly against the Pens.   This was a sleep walk of a game.

[Pimlach]

2 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

Sabres go 4-1-1 before tonight and now they lose on a back to back (3 in 4) and now they suck and they should fire the coach? 

Yes, welcome to Sabrespace.  
 

We are a tortured fan base. 

[...]

They need to turn over the coaching staff. The Sabres look confused and discombobulated even in the games they win.

[Gatorman0519]

1 minute ago, Crusader1969 said:

Thanks I was hoping for your prognostication since it’s always wrong.  

Prognosticators prognosticating on a prognosticated time of the year where prognosticators get prognosticated. 

[JohninMinn.]

1 minute ago, Gatorman0519 said:

Embarrassing effort tonight. Humiliation. This team is spinning its wheels. The Bruins wagon coming in to town. Yikes. 

Funny thing is this team can beat Boston the way they beat the Lanch.

[...]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

Is it possible the Sabres didn't really threaten to score?

Looked that way.

[Randall Flagg]

I was at the game last night so I'll throw my summary for that one in here too - they played exactly the same. It was the worst looking team I had seen live since they bussed us up from St. Bonaventure to watch a tank team lose by 5 to Nashville. The worst game I'd ever seen a skater have in person to that point had been Michael Frolik - but Cozens took the mantle. Couldn't see a thing, couldn't do a thing, and away from the puck, spent more time struggling to stand up/falling down than actually trying to make a play. It was baffling. But they woke up enough for the third period and got enough bounces, and Levi stood on his head, so they escaped with 2 points. I was going to let the ugliness in their game slide because of that, but then they looked exactly the same today.

Sabres fans have quite a knack for finding a franchise that makes "questionable moves" in the offseason, making fun of them for it, and then having to enjoy watching that team completely embarrass their team on the ice. This happens EVERY SINGLE YEAR. It is insane behavior. WE are the joke, folks. Our team, not theirs, not Boston, not whoever else we have mocked throughout the years. Their teams still make ours look like it doesn't belong in the same league. 

We've lost three in a row to this "over the hill" team that needs to get on with rebuilding already. And they put us to shame - they are faster than us, they play our game better than us, they grind us into dust. We cannot complete a pass and cannot stop them from looking like the Harlem Globetrotters. We have not made an opponent team look the way Pittsburgh made us look tonight, in living memory. We've had good, great games, even this year. But we have not made a team so incapable of completing passes. 

This is not a good hockey team. It's not close. I don't even know where to begin. It sounds harsh - it's not. The good things about last year are vanished. The only good thing about this year has started to get scored on. We are apparently all-in on Patrick Kane at every level of the organization, owner included. What are we even doing here. I am losing my mind. 

Edited November 12, 2023 by Randall Flagg

[Believer]

1 minute ago, Crusader1969 said:

Sabres go 4-1-1 before tonight and now they lose on a back to back (3 in 4) and now they suck and they should fire the coach? 

It’s not the recent record… It’s the lack of consistent play by the team… B2B games is no excuse for poor passing, no PP,  and lack of physicality.

It’s a coaching issue… 

[SABRES 0311]

I’m a little concerned for this team now. I really thought they’d be in a better position at this point.

[pastajoe]

Not playing Savoie and playing 7 D really made a difference tonight. 🙄

[Randall Flagg]

3 minutes ago, SwampD said:

How is it different this year?

 

Another wet fart.

Easy - they're worse at hockey by a fair amount. 

3 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Is it possible the Sabres didn't really threaten to score?

I did not see them come close even once, without exaggeration

[Mango]

11 forwards was a bit of a mess. We’re basically playing 2 lines. Then subbing Greenway, Mitts, and Skinner all over the place to make sure anybody outside of the top 5 or 6 forwards don’t touch the puck. 

I feel so strange saying this,  he we don’t really have anybody to fill out the 3rd and 4th lines very well. There have been 5-6 forwards who have been good to great and everybody else has been a major liability. 

 

[Crusader1969]

I think they should bring up Kulich and Rosen and let them play besides Cozens.   Think that’s better than what they have out there so far this year 
top comprised of Tuch , Mitts, JJP, Thompson, skinner and Greenway

 

[thewookie1]

Just a rough night all around, team looked flat a good deal and when they perked up everything seemed to just never go their way. 

Reminds me of last year when Tuch was out. His fire and forechecking ability seems to help this team get into a groove when bounces aren’t sitting for us. Without him, Tage and Dahlin try but again if bounces are working against us and the team looks flat; not much happens. Mitts and JJP played well but Mitts gets literally hugged and the refs do nothing.

just show up against Boston and we’ll be happy again.

Olofsson needs to be gone, Maybe the Avs could use him on their awful Powerplay in some manner. Our powerplay is more in need of better motion and puck management on zone entries

[Crusader1969]

2 minutes ago, Believer said:

It’s not the recent record… It’s the lack of consistent play by the team… B2B games is no excuse for poor passing, no PP,  and lack of physicality.

It’s a coaching issue… 

4-2-1 is actually pretty consistent.  They didn’t have their game tonight.   Move on to the next one vs Boston

[Taro T]

42 minutes ago, FrenchConnection44 said:

Ryan Johnson is about the Only bright spot tonight. 
 

UPL is a half of a bright spot. He played really well for most of two periods. Fluke goal of his face mask. Then a bad goal. And then an “own goal” by EJ. 
 

This team has regressed. They don’t play together and I think the mixing of lines every which way doesn’t help. Only hurts. Granato’s an NHL coach. Gotta know your team and figure it out dude. 

Disagree.  The 1st 2 goals against, in what had been a scoreless game were both bad.  There was bad luck on that 1st goal against, but he can't flinch like that when the puck hit his mask.  (If he has to flinch, flinch upwards.  Puck doesn't end up in the net that way.)

The 2nd goal is inexcusable in a 1 goal game.

And realize that @PromoTheRobot will disagree vehemently, but put that 3rd goal as much on UPL as it was on Johnson.  Watch the replay.  He doesn't even begin to move to his right until the puck is already deflected (and he NEVER reacts to the deflection).  Had that shot been on net without the deflection it was still beating him.  He didn't get across to the post at any point on a shot that was originally going wider than the post.  Had he reacted timely, he had a legit shot at stopping the puck because it was quite high in the slot where it was deflected from.

If they get through the 1st tied 0-0, which they really should've been able to do, it's a brand new game in the 2nd.  When your team is struggling, you can't give up bad goals.  Give them an opportunity to win; don't make the slog even tougher.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Taro T

[Randall Flagg]

Kyle and Zemgus were as big a whiff as any move/lack of move this summer too. They have fallen off a cliff. They get sent out there to play defense - and it sure is all they do! Putting them out after we score, or after the other team scores, simply guarantees that the momentum will go towards the other team, they will get a nice shift to practice their offensive zone play 

[Carmel Corn]

Just now, Randall Flagg said:

Kyle and Zemgus were as big a whiff as any move/lack of move this summer too. They have fallen off a cliff. They get sent out there to play defense - and it sure is all they do! Putting them out after we score, or after the other team scores, simply guarantees that the momentum will go towards the other team, they will get a nice shift to practice their offensive zone play 

After KO hits 1,000 games....he needs to sit out with an UBI or LBI for a while, for the good of the team.

[Believer]

No player should be interviewed tonight… 

Interview the Captain and the Coach.

 

[eman]

2 minutes ago, Believer said:

It’s not the recent record… It’s the lack of consistent play by the team… B2B games is no excuse for poor passing, no PP,  and lack of physicality.

It’s a coaching issue… 

It is absolutely a coaching issue! There is more than enough talent on this club but I believe (and I don't know this for a fact, I am assuming) that Don Granato may be too nice of a guy. Completely unemotional behind the bench so I can't imagine him being any different in the dressing room. We need a coach with some passion and no Mr. Nice Guy with this crew. You don't have to be the players friend. The players will accept your message if it translates into wins and prosperity for all. 

[Mango]

1 minute ago, Crusader1969 said:

I think they should bring up Kulich and Rosen and let them play besides Cozens.   Think that’s better than what they have out there so far this year 
top comprised of Tuch , Mitts, JJP, Thompson, skinner and Greenway

 

Cozens not getting going this year is holding our 3rd line back. Certainly there are some other personnel issues. I felt like he sorta half way arrived last season, now I’m frustrated that even with a lesser role as 3C, I’m still seeing nearly zero impact injury or not.

Maybe we can catch some lightening in a bottle with Rousek, Biro, or Kulich. But the lower lines have to start contributing. 

[Carmel Corn]

Just now, Believer said:

No player should be interviewed tonight… 

Interview the Captain and the Coach.

 

Why bother....nobody from the Buffalo media asks tough questions, but rather pitch nothing but underhanded softballs.