GDT: Sabres @ VGK - Fri. 10 pm ET, Dec 15, 2023, MSG-B, SCRIPPS 📺 WGR 📻

[Porous Five Hole]

Just now, Doohickie said:

This is where Krebsie is a major contributor.  There will come a day when he is Hinostroza and dropped by the team but right now they need him.  If he can improve his game a bit, maybe they keep him on.

Funny you mentioned that on the day the Pens waived Hiney

[Doohicksie]

9 minutes ago, 7+6=13 said:

Benson is the real thing

In case the guys in the back aren't listening

[Spoonman]

7 minutes ago, Spoonman said:

How many nights could you have said that in Sabre land back in the day....

@Thorny am I Jack-ing with a nerve? Just playing around. 

I honestly thought both sides had plus and minus in that whole relationship and the unraveling. I don't blame Jack for being frustrated w losing, and whatever went down on the surgery he wanted for his body. I also don't blame Sabres, if their doctors were saying otherwise. Trade went down. I don't think he needed to go off on fans when he came back.... deal with it - why you are paid a gawd awful amount of $.

Anyhow did not intend to jump on your last one! Just doin' the Spoon thing....

[...]

20 minutes ago, Claude Balls said:

That 2 game stint in Rochester seemed to do Devon well. He must really hate busses. 

 

[JohninMinn.]

2 minutes ago, JohnRobertEichel said:

LOL. Bro, you're just angry that I'm not still playing for your team. Check the box score. Guess who scored tonight? Oh, that's right. Check the standings. Vegas at the top. BuffaLOLOLOLO Sabres at the bottom. Gotta log off and finish showering. Peace out. - Jackie Boy

See you in the Cup finals Jackie.

[Brawndo]

[JohnC]

Before I go to bed just some quick thoughts about this game. 

Levi is the first star by far. 

Benson played really well. He is as good as anyone on this team to get to the right spots. For a youngster who is not fully physically developed, he plays tough and is a gritty kid. Don't be fooled by his baby face. 

Cozens looked good in this game. So did Mitts. I thought that Cozens and Mitts fed off of each other. 

Vegas is one of the best teams in the league. They are physically tough. Although Vegas dominated the play in the beginning of the game, after that sequence the Sabres went toe to toe with them. 

I thought the Sabres played as hard throughout this game than they have all season. I don't recall any lull in their play in this game. 

In order to make this win meaningful the Sabres need to win against the Coyotes. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

The best thing about Benson is his brain.  He steals a pass to create a 2 on 1 for Tuch’s goal.  Watch how he moves in the O-zone to put himself in a perfect position to score.  Also watch how he made a play during a line change to set Cozens up for a breakaway chance.  

He may already be the smartest forward on the Sabres.

[Thorner]

19 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

This team is a friggin yo-yo.

I’d settle for yo-yo tbh, at least we’d be .500. We’ve been fair a bit below that.

I didn’t see the game as mentioned, biggest takeaway before I see the highlights at least seems to be goaltending. Shocker. Looking at the preliminary numbers, this is the kind of performance we need more consistently between the pipes. That other teams get more often than few and far between. See, it’s actually ok for your goalie to provide significant positive value and not just stop the ones he’s “supposed” to, ie the ones that go without saying for a pro goalie. For the millionth time, I’ll say we should waive Comrie: ride Levi for now   in a 1/2 and if/when he falters, if Comrie somehow gets claimed, it’ll be easy to find another goalie of his caliber. The dudes I played with tonight are available. Though they might be little bit beyond his level 

Edited December 16, 2023 by Thorny

[sabresouth]

This team plays differently with Levi in net. I believe they play better and more aggressive because they believe in him to make the saves. When upl or comrie are in net I believe they already think they are going to loose. And that is why we see two different teams play. Just my personal opinion on this. 

[Spoonman]

3 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

In case the guys in the back aren't listening

Here, @Doohickie use mine.... Hey @7+6=13 If you need stocking staffers for Christmas, you can order on Amazon....

[pi2000]

4 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

This team truly is an enigma; you could honestly convince me we have two teams and that they alternate who's playing.

Benson could easily become something akin to either Skinner with Defensive play or even Marchand

He reminds me of Doug Gilmour, but man he looks like a little kid out there.  He just keeps making plays tho it's incredible he dropped to 13th.   It's exciting to think about what he can become after he matures physically.

Kudos to KA for not passing on him like a dozen other GMs did.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 minute ago, Thorny said:

I’d settle for yo-yo tbh, at least we’d be .500. We’ve been fair a bit below that.

We had to walk the dog for a few weeks.

[Thorner]

4 minutes ago, Spoonman said:

@Thorny am I Jack-ing with a nerve? Just playing around. 

I honestly thought both sides had plus and minus in that whole relationship and the unraveling. I don't blame Jack for being frustrated w losing, and whatever went down on the surgery he wanted for his body. I also don't blame Sabres, if their doctors were saying otherwise. Trade went down. I don't think he needed to go off on fans when he came back.... deal with it - why you are paid a gawd awful amount of $.

Anyhow did not intend to jump on your last one! Just doin' the Spoon thing....

Not at all, it was just objectively wrong so you get an X. Sorry dems da rules 

Just now, GASabresIUFAN said:

We had to walk the dog for a few weeks.

Well done. 

Really well done 

[Taro T]

7 minutes ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Once again, never know which version of this team you're gonna get from game to game. Totally hapless against COL, turn around and look very formidable against an elite VGK team. Figure it out, Granato.

A BIG part of it, IMHO is the goaltending.  When the goalies are on their game to start, the team seems to feed off it.

Earlier in the year UPL was on.  Levi's been winning (5-1-2) since coming back from injury and has been ON since coming back up.

Really happy with Levi's game tonight.  His rebound control for the most part was much better than it's been.  That 2nd goal seemed to have a bad bounce off him to the front of the net and in most of his games this year he's let that sort of goal get into his head a bit.  It didn't at ALL this time.  He also had prior to coming back up let in a late goal in most games.  That didn't happen this time either.

Absolutely loved the "Toyota big save" play because that had his anticipation, tracking, awareness, and flexibility all on display.

Didn't Mittelstadt and Cozens play pretty well together last year in limited opportunities together?  (Or is that just misremembering?)  Would like to see both the Thompson line and the Mittelstadt line stay together for a bit.  If those 2 lines can generate some chemistry, in a couple of weeks they could have a 3rd scoring line with Skinner and Quinn flanking somebody (maybe Krebs?).

They still break down too much defensively, but they seemed to be maintaining better gaps through the neutral zone and had quite a few nice breakouts and shutting down scoring chances.  Takes all 6 guys working together to do that.

Expect they'll give UPL tomorrow's game.  If they play the way they did tonight they should be able to get their 1st 2 win streak since early in the year.

[...]

Does this game happen with Skinner in the lineup?

[Spoonman]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Not at all, it was just objectively wrong so you get an X. Sorry dems da rules 

Well done. 

Elon: I will take X, er, Twitter for $44 billion 

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2023 by Spoonman

[Doohicksie]

11 minutes ago, Claude Balls said:

He is never coming back, lol

No.  Levi is not going back to Rochester.

11 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

Funny you mentioned that on the day the Pens waived Hiney

Did they now?  He's a good player, someone will pick him up.

[Thorner]

3 minutes ago, sabresouth said:

This team plays differently with Levi in net. I believe they play better and more aggressive because they believe in him to make the saves. When upl or comrie are in net I believe they already think they are going to loose. And that is why we see two different teams play. Just my personal opinion on this. 

Exactly lol. I’ve theorized this a bunch and I think you are absolutely right. It’s not surprising: the “we need goaltending” thing has always been staring us RIGHT IN THE FACE and not only that it’s the one area that goes a long way towards masking other issues. It’s why the “who even was there?” logic was always so bad: it’s season 4. You absolutely had the ability to pay what was *necessary* to bring in a good goalie, regardless of what other teams were willing to (which is the biggest factor in who moves and who doesn’t)

[SwampD]

Just now, ... said:

Does this game happen with Skinner in the lineup?

Great question. I don't think that is and indictment of Skinner, just an endorsement of what Benson brings.

Man, did he inject a level of energy into that top line that it has needed.

[Spoonman]

3 minutes ago, ... said:

Does this game happen with Skinner in the lineup?

A better question is, did the game even happen yet?

[Doohicksie]

10 minutes ago, ... said:

 

Holy f**k!

[Thorner]

4 minutes ago, ... said:

Does this game happen with Skinner in the lineup?

Unless he was suiting up in goal, of course 

[GASabresIUFAN]

13 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Prove me wrong Sabres.

At least the Yotes also played tonight.

[Thorner]

4 minutes ago, Spoonman said:

Elon: I will take X, er, Twitter for $44 billion 

 

 

 

Tweet that, tweety-bird