GDT: Sabres @ Chicago Blackhawks 10/19/24 8:00 PM EDT; MSG/CHSN, ESPN+

[triumph_communes]

Levi hasn’t looked great so far this year. Okay but not great. Just keep rotating them til one decided to show up

[Archie Lee]

8 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

... no Levi hasn't been better than UPL. In fact, they've been exactly the same:

 

That was before last night.

I don’t see a reason to break the rotation now. At some point you need to be willing to give the majority of starts to the goalie playing better, but I don’t think one game in Chicago should redefine the start that UPL has had. We are better if both goalies are playing well, so I hope they stick with the rotation for at least 3-5 more games (2-3 more Levi starts).  

[Archie Lee]

6 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I only saw parts of this game because, Go Dawgs. That said, Samuelsson looks awful, truly playing like butt. Ruff can't tell about accountability and not make him sit one game. 

Jack Quinn is really disappointing me this season. He has all the tools and the brains, but just looks lost. If he can start clicking with Kulich, he can drive that line but he needs to simplify his game. 

Samuelsson may be the most disappointing player on the team to me. I remember an Appert interview from the time when Samuelsson was first promoted to the NHL. Appert described Samuelsson as “miserable to play against”.  The impression Appert gave was of a player who takes every opportunity to hit, stick, cross-check an opponent; the sort of big D man who plays to the edge of the rules and makes the opposition reluctant to go to certain areas of the ice. I don’t think I have ever seen that sort of play from him. Further, that description Appert gave seems polar opposite of Samuelsson’s huggable-bear personality. For those who saw him in Rochester a lot, has something changed on that side of his game?

Re: Quinn - and Cozens and Benson and the PP - the collective lack of production is perhaps a silver lining. They will not combine for 0 goals this year. The positive regression is coming. It was never the case that we needed everyone to rebound or progress. If the 1st and 3rd lines continue to play well, we might get by with Quinn, Cozens, Benson and the PP just eventually getting to last year levels of actual goal production. 

[JohnC]

https://www.nhl.com/video/buf-at-chi-recap-6363507672112

I didn't watch the game because I couldn't find a station to view it. Based on a five-minute clip of the game taken from NHL.com it appears that UPL made some critical stops that prevented us from letting this game slip away. Based on the clip, it seems that our first line played as a first line in this game. Tage seems to be moving well and playing with confidence. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

I fell asleep on the couch in the 3rd. 

 

But, anywayssss

For a team hoping to break a loooonnngg playoff drought, you have to beat Chicago. The fact that we lost to CBJ and then allowed Chicago to make this a close game.... That doesn't make me feel good about this team. 

I have my fears that we will get rolled by most of the good teams, we cannot continue playing sub par hockey, which, last night, was Meh hockey; we just got lucky because Chicago isn't good as well. 

Samuelsson cannot be put in the lineup next game, idk why he hasn't sat yet, but the whole accountability thing must only apply to rookies and young'ins to Ruff. Woof, he's been bad. 

[Porous Five Hole]

30 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

I fell asleep on the couch in the 3rd. 

 

But, anywayssss

For a team hoping to break a loooonnngg playoff drought, you have to beat Chicago. The fact that we lost to CBJ and then allowed Chicago to make this a close game.... That doesn't make me feel good about this team. 

You will take this win and you will like it!

[LTS]

12 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

I don't now if he was tired or it was a long shift...it just looked somewhat like Samuelsson was tired. Even flipping the puck along the boards wasn't a great play but it wasn't terrible...just...he got caught from behind, didn't put anything on the flip around the boards, got knocked off his feet by a smaller guy...didn't skate hard to the front of the net.

Its like he didn't make a mistake, and wasn't even super lazy...it just looked like everything he did was done with 80% effort when it called for 85-90% effort.

Samuelsson's biggest mistake was not going to get the puck that was slowed up coming behind the net. He instead slowed up for it to get to him at which point he was going to be pressured from behind and the only outlet (the strong side wall) was sealed.  Laziness.  He was then not aggressive through the rest of the play costing the Sabres a goal.

It was laziness, pure, unadulterated, laziness.  He's terrible and needs to sit (which I think is everyone's opinion at this point)

11 hours ago, Carmel Corn said:

Nice sportsmanship by Bedard there to check on Dahlin after he went down.

It really was. I was impressed by that even if was Krebs' stick that caused the puck to deflect up.  I'll take that crap over the "I must fight you because you hit my player" mentality.  We saw that on display last night and the most comical thing about it was that Bertuzzi took offense to it when it was his buddy pass that got his guy hit in the first place.

Overall.. a win.  Not impressive by any means.  The team does not inspire confidence. They still look 100% like they did last year and that's disturbing.

[LGR4GM]

since Levi came up... this is basically all from that 1 game. Numbers don't really stabilize until about 15ish starts 

 

[inkman]

8 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Even teams. UPL the difference. Peterka still good. Samuelsson still bad. 4th line was better than they've been. Quinn is a weakling. 

[Pimlach]

6 hours ago, #freejame said:

The Sabres are now winless when I watch and undefeated when I don’t

Hmmm 

[Jorcus]

2 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

Samuelsson may be the most disappointing player on the team to me. I remember an Appert interview from the time when Samuelsson was first promoted to the NHL. Appert described Samuelsson as “miserable to play against”.  The impression Appert gave was of a player who takes every opportunity to hit, stick, cross-check an opponent; the sort of big D man who plays to the edge of the rules and makes the opposition reluctant to go to certain areas of the ice. I don’t think I have ever seen that sort of play from him. Further, that description Appert gave seems polar opposite of Samuelsson’s huggable-bear personality. For those who saw him in Rochester a lot, has something changed on that side of his game?

Re: Quinn - and Cozens and Benson and the PP - the collective lack of production is perhaps a silver lining. They will not combine for 0 goals this year. The positive regression is coming. It was never the case that we needed everyone to rebound or progress. If the 1st and 3rd lines continue to play well, we might get by with Quinn, Cozens, Benson and the PP just eventually getting to last year levels of actual goal production. 

 

One has to keep in mind that it may take Samuelsson time to get back to where he was. It can take players time to get back up to speed after a long time off. This team has also gone 2 defensive transitions since he last played. Remember how Clifton sucked the first 20 games of last year? Once he got comfortable his play improved. 2 years ago we could not win a game without Sammy in the lineup. That shut down D man is in there someplace waiting to come back out. He will get better I am pretty certain of that. 

Quinn has had periods in his past where his production has gone to almost zero. It happened when he was an Amerk. Maybe there is something wrong but he has been the most disappointing player so far. Cozens gets his chances it sucks that he does not score on them. Quinn does not even seem to get many good looks.