With a win tonight, a chance to reprise 05-06 holiday surge

[Stoner]

(Of course they can still do it with a loss, but just play along.)

The 05-06 Sabres were nothing special before their road game on the Island on Thanksgiving Eve. They were 11-9-1. They did sit in the last playoff spot.

Buffalo dipped the Sticks in their own tartar and went on a rip of 15-3-1 through New Year's Day, ending up just three points out of first in the East. The road was tough with 8 home and 11 away.

With a win tonight the Sabres will host the Wild on Thanksgiving Eve with that same record of 11-9-1 and in a similarly uncertain playoff situation as Drury Briere and the boys.

While in 05-06 the home and road games were fairly spread out, this time it's 7 of 8 at home and 7 of 9 on the road. The holiday sked culminates in Dallas on NYE.

14-2-1 will suffice.

 

[JujuFish]

That 05-06 team was also trying to break the longest playoff drought in franchise history. Of course, the record was only 3 seasons then.

[Taro T]

On 11/23/2024 at 12:42 PM, Stoner said:

(Of course they can still do it with a loss, but just play along.)

The 05-06 Sabres were nothing special before their road game on the Island on Thanksgiving Eve. They were 11-9-1. They did sit in the last playoff spot.

Buffalo dipped the Sticks in their own tartar and went on a rip of 15-3-1 through New Year's Day, ending up just three points out of first in the East. The road was tough with 8 home and 11 away.

With a win tonight the Sabres will host the Wild on Thanksgiving Eve with that same record of 11-9-1 and in a similarly uncertain playoff situation as Drury Briere and the boys.

While in 05-06 the home and road games were fairly spread out, this time it's 7 of 8 at home and 7 of 9 on the road. The holiday sked culminates in Dallas on NYE.

14-2-1 will suffice.

 

More similarities: the starter missed time in November due to injury and they had a 3 headed goalie monster with management wanting to put at least one of those goalies being waived with the intension of spending time in Ra-cha-cha and also one of them finding himself on a west coast team.

Almost nobody expected that team to make the playoffs.  In no small part because it had been years since the offensively challenged team had seen the playoffs and they simply walked away from their best pure goal scorer who was viewed as an impediment to playing winning hockey.

Edited November 24 by Taro T
Edited for precision. D'oh.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

One big difference - in 05/06 they were not trying to exorcise the demons after a tragic decision by management.

They were slowly rebuilding the team from the ashes of a Cup final run a few short years prior.  Big difference, but I hope for the best.

[Stoner]

Of course they ain't going 14-2-1. Probably. But if this group really wants to make a statement about ending the drought, 6-2-1 at home and 4-3-1 on the road would work nicely.

[Thorner]

We aren’t that team. 

Let’s just make the playoffs 

[GASabresIUFAN]

They are 9-5 in their last 14 after starting 1-4-1, and that includes a 3 game losing streak.  That’s progress.  They need to keep improving.

Edited November 24 by GASabresIUFAN

[nfreeman]

3 hours ago, Stoner said:

(Of course they can still do it with a loss, but just play along.)

The 05-06 Sabres were nothing special before their road game on the Island on Thanksgiving Eve. They were 11-9-1. They did sit in the last playoff spot.

Buffalo dipped the Sticks in their own tartar and went on a rip of 15-3-1 through New Year's Day, ending up just three points out of first in the East. The road was tough with 8 home and 11 away.

With a win tonight the Sabres will host the Wild on Thanksgiving Eve with that same record of 11-9-1 and in a similarly uncertain playoff situation as Drury Briere and the boys.

While in 05-06 the home and road games were fairly spread out, this time it's 7 of 8 at home and 7 of 9 on the road. The holiday sked culminates in Dallas on NYE.

14-2-1 will suffice.

 

This is freaking gold.  An early holiday gift.  Thank you good sir.

 

2 hours ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

One big difference - in 05/06 they were not trying to exorcise the demons after a tragic decision by management.

They were slowly rebuilding the team from the ashes of a Cup final run a few short years prior.  Big difference, but I hope for the best.

Yes, but it was 2 tragic decisions.  The first was the dismantling of the great 2005-06 team, which culminated in firing Lindy.  Then the abomination you are referring to.

 

1 hour ago, Thorner said:

We aren’t that team. 

Let’s just make the playoffs 

I'm glad you're back, but this is really begging for a big honking red X.

[#freejame]

2 hours ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

One big difference - in 05/06 they were not trying to exorcise the demons after a tragic decision by management.

They were slowly rebuilding the team from the ashes of a Cup final run a few short years prior.  Big difference, but I hope for the best.

Ehhhh they were coming out a lockout and an owner being thrown in jail. There were more than a few organizational demons courtesy of management. 

[Stoner]

Narrator: They would have their chance.

[shrader]

9 hours ago, Taro T said:

More similarities: the starter missed time in November due to injury and they had a 3 headed goalie monster with one of those goalies being waived with the intension of spending time in Ra-cha-cha and also finding himself on a west coast team.

Almost nobody expected that team to make the playoffs.  In no small part because it had been years since the offensively challenged team had seen the playoffs and they simply walked away from their best pure goal scorer who was viewed as an impediment to playing winning hockey.

I don’t mean it to come across as a nitpick, but is my memory just shot? Wasn’t Noronen traded?

[Taro T]

25 minutes ago, shrader said:

I don’t mean it to come across as a nitpick, but is my memory just shot? Wasn’t Noronen traded?

Yes, he was.  Please point out where in the quote you quoted it says differently.

Edited November 24 by Taro T

[Big Guava]

10 hours ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

One big difference - in 05/06 they were not trying to exorcise the demons after a tragic decision by management.

They were slowly rebuilding the team from the ashes of a Cup final run a few short years prior.  Big difference, but I hope for the best.

Neither is this team. Nobody on this team has been here for 13 years. That's stuff fans worry about, not players.

[shrader]

17 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Yes, he was.  Please point out where in the quote you quoted it says differently.

Was he waived before that? I can’t even remember what I ate for breakfast today let alone that. 
 

Im not looking to pick a fight here, just asking. 

[_Q_]

10 minutes ago, shrader said:

Was he waived before that? I can’t even remember what I ate for breakfast today let alone that. 
 

Im not looking to pick a fight here, just asking. 

No worries, lots of coping and seething around here these days.

[PromoTheRobot]

22 hours ago, JujuFish said:

That 05-06 team was also trying to break the longest playoff drought in franchise history. Of course, the record was only 3 seasons then.

You have to remember that for most of the NHLs existence, 75-80% of teams made the playoffs. So you would have to be terrible not to make it.

[Taro T]

18 hours ago, shrader said:

Was he waived before that? I can’t even remember what I ate for breakfast today let alone that. 
 

Im not looking to pick a fight here, just asking. 

He played a couple of games in Ra-cha-cha.  But in trying to get more info on when they happened it seems they were on a conditioning assignment, not as a transfer at the beginning of the year.  Had been thinking that was at the very beginning of the year before Don Waddell got a hard on for trying to trade for 1 of the 3 but it seems it was later in the year when Regier finally agreed to look for a trade for him.

Spent way too much time trying to find which games he actually played for them that year.  Just know he lost both of them.

So it appears that no, none of the 3 were waived that year.  Oops.

EDIT:  His time in Ra-cha-cha was on a conditioning assignment from Feb 28 - Mar 5.  He was recalled on Mar 6 and was traded to Vancouver on Mar 9.  So, no, he never was waived to Ra-cha-cha that year.

Edited November 24 by Taro T

[dudacek]

It’s odd the difference three games can make. Even three precarious games against less-than imposing opponents.

I was kinda waiting for the 1/4 pole to cement my impressions of what this team is. At the 18-game mark I had pretty much written off these Sabres as last year’s team on repeat. Sure there were reasons for optimism; there always are if you squint.

But the hard facts were this: this is team that clawed its way back to .500 three consecutive times, and three consecutive times it failed to push past that most ordinary of signposts; this was a team in desperate need of separating itself from the pack that in the course of a few weeks managed to fall to the Islanders, the Flyers, Detroit, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Montreal.

These have been the hallmarks of the Kevyn Adams Sabres: the persistent refrain of not quite being able to get over the hump, of squandering opportunity after opportunity to turn the corner.

California was different.

Long road trip, three games in four nights, top scorer unavailable, top PKer unavailable, jacked arena saluting a legend, backup goalie making his first start, a parade of penalties, and — most consequentially — mediocre opponents: these are circumstances that inevitably seem to bite my team in the ass.

But they didn’t. Not this week.

The Sabres did not play particularly well in California, but they did something they have not usually been able to do in these types of situations at this time of the season: they gritted it out and found a way to win.

The coach has been preaching from day one that this team needs to find ways to win when it doesn’t have its “A” game, preaching that this is the difference between the playoff teams and the also-rans..

Somehow, after a 1/4/1 start, these Sabres have reeled off a 10/5 run. That’s not an insignificant sample size.

Over that stretch, they have the NHL’s 7th-best record, its 11th-best offence, its 11th-best defence, its 11th-best PP and its 6th-best PK. And that has vaulted them into 3rd place in the Atlantic.

Is it a blip? Probably. We’ve certainly been conditioned to expect that it is. Every team gets hot once in a while, even Buffalo. The December schedule looks much tougher. The play of the 2nd line has been a major hole that needs to be mended.

But progress has to start somewhere and winning games when they matter is something different. And it’s much better than the alternative.

In a month this thread may be laughable.

But the fact that it exists at this particular moment without actually being laughable…I guess that’s something.

Edited November 24 by dudacek

[Captain Caveman]

On 11/23/2024 at 12:42 PM, Stoner said:

(Of course they can still do it with a loss, but just play along.)

The 05-06 Sabres were nothing special before their road game on the Island on Thanksgiving Eve. They were 11-9-1. They did sit in the last playoff spot.

Buffalo dipped the Sticks in their own tartar and went on a rip of 15-3-1 through New Year's Day, ending up just three points out of first in the East. The road was tough with 8 home and 11 away.

With a win tonight the Sabres will host the Wild on Thanksgiving Eve with that same record of 11-9-1 and in a similarly uncertain playoff situation as Drury Briere and the boys.

While in 05-06 the home and road games were fairly spread out, this time it's 7 of 8 at home and 7 of 9 on the road. The holiday sked culminates in Dallas on NYE.

14-2-1 will suffice.

 

I'd take 13-3-1

[JujuFish]

6 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

You have to remember that for most of the NHLs existence, 75-80% of teams made the playoffs. So you would have to be terrible not to make it.

This is true. But I will also note that after their first two seasons as a franchise, they didn't suffer back-to-back seasons of .500 or below (points %) until 01-03. During their current drought, they had 10 consecutive seasons without finishing above .500 points percentage.

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, JujuFish said:

This is true. But I will also note that after their first two seasons as a franchise, they didn't suffer back-to-back seasons of .500 or below (points %) until 01-03. During their current drought, they had 10 consecutive seasons without finishing above .500 points percentage.

Making that streak slightly more impressive, 3 point games weren't a thing until '99-'00 (pretty sure that was the year the "loser point" was born) so you actually had to win 1/2 of the games that had a decsion in order to get to that 0.500 winning percentage.  (Guess it also makes that stretch during the drought that much worse too.)

[French Collection]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

It’s odd the difference three games can make. Even three precarious games against less-than imposing opponents.

I was kinda waiting for the 1/4 pole to cement my impressions of what this team is. At the 18-game mark I had pretty much written off these Sabres as last year’s team on repeat. Sure there were reasons for optimism; there always are if you squint.

But the hard facts were this: this is team that clawed its way back to .500 three consecutive times, and three consecutive times it failed to push past that most ordinary of signposts; this was a team in desperate need of separating itself from the pack that in the course of a few weeks managed to fall to the Islanders, the Flyers, Detroit, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Montreal.

These have been the hallmarks of the Kevyn Adams Sabres: the persistent refrain of not quite being able to get over the hump, of squandering opportunity after opportunity to turn the corner.

California was different.

Long road trip, three games in four nights, top scorer unavailable, top PKer unavailable, jacked arena saluting a legend, backup goalie making his first start, a parade of penalties, and — most consequentially — mediocre opponents: these are circumstances that inevitably seem to bite my team in the ass.

But they didn’t. Not this week.

The Sabres did not play particularly well in California, but they did something they have not usually been able to do in these types of situations at this time of the season: they gritted it out and found a way to win.

The coach has been preaching from day one that this team needs to find ways to win when it doesn’t have its “A” game, preaching that this is the difference between the playoff teams and the also-rans..

Somehow, after a 1/4/1 start, these Sabres have reeled off a 10/5 run. That’s not an insignificant sample size.

Over that stretch, they have the NHL’s 7th-best record, its 11th-best offence, its 11th-best defence, its 11th-best PP and its 6th-best PK. And that has vaulted them into 3rd place in the Atlantic.

Is it a blip? Probably. We’ve certainly been conditioned to expect that it is. Every team gets hot once in a while, even Buffalo. The December schedule looks much tougher. The play of the 2nd line has been a major hole that needs to be mended.

But progress has to start somewhere and winning games when they matter is something different. And it’s much better than the alternative.

In a month this thread may be laughable.

But the fact that it exists at this particular moment without actually being laughable…I guess that’s something.

A lot of what you say would fall under the category of being mentally tough and resilient. That skill can be learned and I believe coaching is a big part of it.

Once these skills are trusted, they can be used as building blocks for more success.

[shrader]

53 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Making that streak slightly more impressive, 3 point games weren't a thing until '99-'00 (pretty sure that was the year the "loser point" was born) so you actually had to win 1/2 of the games that had a decsion in order to get to that 0.500 winning percentage.  (Guess it also makes that stretch during the drought that much worse too.)

And another note, 2005 would be the first year of the shoot out, right? I wonder how many of those 15 wins came from a shootout. That team was good so I’m assuming most were legit wins. 

[Kristian]

7 hours ago, Captain Caveman said:

I'd take 13-3-1

Unacceptable 🤣

[That Aud Smell]

On 11/23/2024 at 11:48 PM, shrader said:

Im not looking to pick a fight here, just asking. 

YOU may not be.

12 hours ago, shrader said:

And another note, 2005 would be the first year of the shoot out, right? I wonder how many of those 15 wins came from a shootout. That team was good so I’m assuming most were legit wins. 

Remember how good Kotalik was at the SO, though?

Speaking of players who were (in fact) waived in connection with the 2005-2006 season, I have such a fond memory of watching the CBC guy being on-ice after the final game of the 2006 eastern conference semi-finals where he was interviewing Pominville (who'd just scored the series clincher in OT). CBC guy pointed out that the Sabres had placed Pominville on waivers before the season started -- no one claimed him (and I am not sure what kind of waivers those were) -- and that Pominville then spent a fair amount of time in Rochester before making his way back to the big club. It was such a good thing to point out in the moment -- you could see Pominville get emotional, thinking about it.