GDT: Buffalo Sabres @ Colorado Avalanche 01/02/25 9PM --MSG

[Believer]

7 hours ago, Broken Ankles said:

Zucker IS the only professional hockey player in that room.  The others are acting.  

Yep. Our roster has plenty of overpaid and overhyped pretenders. 

Coming to the conclusion it may take a partial tear down and rebuild with a new GM and Coach. Hard to fathom the failure over Adams tenure.

[WhenWillItEnd66]

This was just a typical Sabre's game. Hung with a top team, but stupid mistakes cost the win. I just enjoy the hockey and can care less about this team. They are what they are and are NOT going to change. As long as you do not care if they win or not, they have been more or less fun to watch. If you have any expectation of winning, they are a tire fire. 

[Believer]

7 hours ago, Pimlach said:

As soon as they got the lead they changed to passive play. 

Yep.

How many times have we seen the Sabres lose in the final minutes of a game or OT?

Is it a lack of veteran on ice leadership or bad coaching strategy?

In either case, there is no commitment to win when the game is on the line and it matters.
 

[SABRES 0311]

5 minutes ago, Believer said:

Yep. Our roster has plenty of overpaid and overhyped pretenders. 

Coming to the conclusion it may take a partial tear down and rebuild with a new GM and Coach. Hard to fathom the failure over Adams tenure.

Yep. 100%. A partial tear down is needed. This means some of the fans’ golden boys like Cozens and Power need to go.

Not just because they were overhyped and overpaid. Not just because they don’t actually have the skill some fans say they do. But also because you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelette.

New, quality players requires this organization to give what other teams may see as quality players in return.

[Believer]

7 hours ago, Familykwi said:

Not to mention, with an empty net for over three minutes and not one single moment of player control to take a legitimate shot on goal is ridiculous. 

Zero puck pursuit on the PK or a man down with an empty net.

This is coaching, imo.

[Indabuff]

7 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

 I can picture the parade in my head. 
 

 

 

[LGR4GM]

23 minutes ago, Believer said:

Zero puck pursuit on the PK or a man down with an empty net.

This is coaching, imo.

Pegula was cheap and didn't want to pay assistant coaches. They kept all the old ones so Terry didn't have to pay old and new ones. He's a hack.

I could run this team better. 

[LTS]

8 hours ago, 7+6=13 said:

What happened in the OT was almost entirely, not mental. IMO they aren't fragile.  They played one of the best teams and had them.  To me they got overwhelmed physically at the end.

 

 

I disagree, what happened in OT is very mental. Tage Thompson made the one play he's not good at. He tried to initiate a board battle. For all the size Tage Thompson has what he has not learned how to do is lower his mid-point when battling on the boards. As such, Toews is able to get lower and bump him causing the turnover. This is something Thompson does repeatedly. Thompson's mentality leads to better solutions, in the immediate situation of the game the prudent choice is to skate it back over the blue line like most players would do. All the Sabres players were covered, including Power coming into the zone.

Thompson does get overwhelmed physically, but it's a mental situation. Do you think Toews should be able to out muscle and out work Thompson? It starts with a mentality that "I will not lose this puck." Thompson clearly didn't have that versus Toews mentality which was "I will take this puck."

They didn't have them. That's just rationalization. What the Sabres had was a lead and then the Sabres forced Colorado to play a harder game. Colorado did and they won. Saying they had them is like saying you have a pool shark just before they take all your money.

7 hours ago, 7+6=13 said:

Painful loss. I hope this causes them to come together like no other time - because I think this kind of loss has the power to just as easily do the opposite.  They needed this win and if it's torture for us, it has to be unimaginable for them.

If they didn't come together after giving up a 4-0 lead versus Colorado earlier this year why would you think it would be different now?  If it were "unimaginable" for them then they would not lose.  Unimaginable is wanting to win as bad as you want to breathe. I am sure they are disappointed. I am sure they don't like the outcome but they've been doing this for over a season now. Nothing has changed. I don't think this one is the one that changes anything. I appreciate your optimism but at some point you have to recognize that they are who they are. Rationalizing their continued failures is only hurting yourself, much like someone facing an abuse issue saying "It will be different this time."

7 hours ago, 7+6=13 said:

I just thought it was impressive we went up on them again and it showed something to me.  Then it happened again.  I just can't ignore that there it's a positive thing they were winning late, again.

 

I would agree here. The positive of this was the Sabres ability to score 5 goals against the Avs.  They played well until they couldn't handle what the other team was putting up. Of course, if Colorado had played the whole game like they did the last 5 minutes then perhaps the score is different. We don't know. 

Overall this game was one team wanting it more and the Sabres failing to make the smart play in OT.  I don't blame Power for driving the net in OT. In 3 on 3 the defense needs to flow into the forward spot. As Power comes in the zone, if the Avs player doesn't cover him well then Tage can give him the feed. However, Power is blanketed and Tage makes the decision to try and turn back against Toews. This was the mistake as I said earlier. Thompson cannot doesn't out leverage people and Toews bumped him. Tage also should have realized at that point, he's the last man back and can't make that play. He has to carry it out of the zone and retain possession, let the team regroup and attack again.

 

[JP51]

58 minutes ago, Believer said:

Yep. Our roster has plenty of overpaid and overhyped pretenders. 

Coming to the conclusion it may take a partial tear down and rebuild with a new GM and Coach. Hard to fathom the failure over Adams tenure.

As hard as I have been on Adams its not hard to fathom the failure (although I totally get what you are saying) I think the ship has been rudderless almost even before Pegula because of financial resources, but definitely rudderless with Pegula. Adams is just the typical unqualified GM that Sheppard's a rudderless process. So to me firing Adams isnt enough... I think there needs to be a purposeful direction set by a competent POHO and GM that number 1 Pegula agrees to step away from and allow to do their thing, just provide resources... this to me is more than players, its scouting, internal operations etc... Once they have an opportunity to assess let them make the decisions on if a tear down or a re tool is needed. But something needs to change.  I just don't know the extent of the change cause I am not a GM with the direction etc... I personally think the FO needs to be blown up and a major re tool on the players...

But... if TP fires Adams and goes to Pittsburgh to hire an assistant cause he likes them, or tries to lure away Ben Johnson from the Detroit lions like he did Kreuger cause he believes in the style... etc.. or bring in Gil Perrault because he was his idol... then nothing will change... He needs to leave his fan boy parochial view of the game behind and start to run it like a professional organization where players play, coaches coach, GMs manage owners own and provide resource... this also means a commitment to funding the entire organization including traveling scouts if his GM, POHO deem that necessary.  He needs to do all of these things just to bring the team up to the level of a legitimate NHL organization. Then they can begin to build. 

He has done this with the Bills... if you look at them under Wilson when he got older... he hired Buddy Nix without any other interviews because he knew the name... Russ Brandon because he was like his son , cash to the cap etc... the result was a rudderless bad to almost mediocre team for decades. Pegula changed that when he did the above. That is what needs to be done here. 

Edited Friday at 01:45 PM by JP51

[Jorcus]

53 minutes ago, Believer said:

Zero puck pursuit on the PK or a man down with an empty net.

This is coaching, imo.

Talk about coaching. Was the timeout with 20 seconds to go a good move? Helping the Aves best players time to rest and set up a play? We would have been better off replacing our players with a fresh group and tell them to attack the Ave's and with 20 seconds left if you have to tackle a guy or smash him to the ice go do it. By the time they would sort out the penalty there would be less then 10 seconds left in the the worst case scenario. What a stupid end to the game. Bad coaching for sure and that was Lindy's fault. 

[Jorcus]

I have to amend my previous post. I think it was after an icing so we could not replace players but still. I think the time out hurt more than it helped. 

[mjd1001]

So the Sabres had a 3-0 lead....and lost.

They took a 4-2 lead 1 1/2 minutes into the 3rd period, knocking out the other teams starting goalie...and lost (only 3 shots the rest of the 3rd on that backup)

They took a 5-3 lead with less than 4 minutes in the game...and lost.

They had a guy score a hat trick to give them that late 2 goal lead....and lost.

They held that 2 goal lead with just 2 1/2 minutes left in regulation...and allowed 3 goals in just over 3 minutes...and lost.

 

Funny thing is, This is NOT EVEN the worst collapse they had against THIS team within 1 month.

 

[Jorcus]

3 minutes ago, Jorcus said:

I have to amend my previous post. I think it was after an icing so we could not replace players but still. I think the time out hurt more than it helped. 

I checked again it was not icing it was a puck in the benches that stopped play so we could have changed and not rested. 

[mjd1001]

1 hour ago, SABRES 0311 said:

Yep. 100%. A partial tear down is needed. This means some of the fans’ golden boys like Cozens and Power need to go.

Not just because they were overhyped and overpaid. Not just because they don’t actually have the skill some fans say they do. But also because you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelette.

New, quality players requires this organization to give what other teams may see as quality players in return.

I agree with most of what you say.

I just want to throw out there that this team looks a lot better if your #1 goalie didn't have a save percentage that starts with .8xx...and he wasn't one of the worst in the league this year in high danger save percentage.

Yeah, the team has problems, but they shot quality he is facing isn't that much worse (if any worse) than what he faced last year.  He is just making a LOT less saves and letting in a LOT more soft goals than he did last year.

Maybe the Sabres coaching staff, top to bottom, isn't the best in the league. But a coaching staff can look REALLY good or REALLY bad simply based on goalie play. And right now the Sabres are not getting good goalie play.

[SabresBillsFan]

The Sabres need a team President and to hire some quality assistant coaches. Pegula needs to stay out of the daily operations of both of these teams.
 

I think people are blind about the Bills when they start comparing the two franchises. If Allen isn’t there the Bills would be in the same boat. As much as we all want them to win it all, it’s not going to happen with that defense. 

Edited Friday at 02:20 PM by SabresBillsFan

[SabresVet]

1 hour ago, Believer said:

Yep. Our roster has plenty of overpaid and overhyped pretenders. 

Coming to the conclusion it may take a partial tear down and rebuild with a new GM and Coach. Hard to fathom the failure over Adams tenure.

I can't see Adams moving a player that he re-signed like Thompson, Cozens, or Power.  Doing so is an admission his plan didn't work.  

And Pegula has the perfect front man in the GM role who won't make a sound when TPegs wants to meddle.  

But anyone with a pulse know that the plan failed last year and a shake-up is warranted now more than ever.  

I don't put much blame on Lindy - yet.  He can't make up in half a season for an owner and GM who have steered this organization toward a cliff the past 4.5 years.  

[Ross Rhea]

8 hours ago, Broken Ankles said:

COL is 7th in the west.  Not one of the best teams.  They lost because they are mentally and physically weak. 

Physically weak is one thing, which Sabres teams have been for quite some time now, throw in the mentally weak part and its a disaster. Need more alpha males, not beta males.

[Carmel Corn]

Watching this team play (and lose) against one that truly has superstars convinces me that we have none on this team.  Dahlin and maybe TNT will have their moments, but we have no other game changers in our core.

It’s time again to burn it down and get a true superstar…..however we can get one….just don’t let GMKA be trusted to do so.

[Stoner]

Again, what was Dahlin doing on the tying goal?

[thewookie1]

1 minute ago, Stoner said:

Again, what was Dahlin doing on the tying goal?

Trying to prevent a cross crease attempt seeing as they love to do that throw to the front and jam play.

[Sidc3000]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

This a false narrative that Adams and Pegula have pushed to explain away their incompetence. 

How is this a false narrative? Don’t you think most players who have the required time or age would have one?  If you have one wouldn’t the Sabres be on it?  If I was the team steward, I would be pushing it constantly 

Edited Friday at 02:33 PM by Sidc3000

[Kr632]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Pegula was cheap and didn't want to pay assistant coaches. They kept all the old ones so Terry didn't have to pay old and new ones. He's a hack.

I could run this team better. 

I agree with this and have said it before. 

[Stoner]

I wonder if someone has a job to monitor social media. And if the braintrust of the Sabres secretly smiles at seeing 571 posts for this game.

They still care!

[That Aud Smell]

The Sabres have never been a bigger bummer than they are this season. It's not even close.

[JustOneParade]

I'll never forget what Jason Botterill said when he became GM. He was talking about the Amerks at the time but is applicable to this Sabres team now. "Getting your brains beat in every night is NOT development".