GDT: Devils @ Sabres Feb 2, 2025 - 1:00PM, MSG 📺, WGR550 📻 🎙

[ska-T Palmtown]

Dear lord ... if you omit the parts of this thread about the result, you'd think the Sabres lost by at least 5. Y'all need to take a deep breath and get a grip. With a few exceptions, the messaging on this board goes back and forth like a tennis match. 
"We need to learn to win!" ... they win "yeah, but not the way i wanted them to!" 

If you think this team are such "***** losers" and you are "***** done" ... then BYE! there's the log off button ... do it, I dare you. Oh, you're not done .. ok, lol.

[KC Scouts]

I could give a ***** if they won. They are going nowhere. The needed a response. Don't want to ruin the 5 minute penalty? FINE....score a goal on that ensuing PP and not give up the shorty. When you have the 3 goal lead again.....RUN one of the "Hughes" darlings, and I mean RUN them, and then get ready to Brawl. It is how this kind of thing gets handled. What do you think the Bruins, Flyers or Panthers response would be, especially in their own building? Even in today's NHL, It would be exactly what I described...... Of course I am fantasizing about this because the Sabres are the biggest collection of Sissy Mary's in the NHL.

[jad1]

17 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Ray stated his opinion that the priority was to not disadvantage your team after the hit. How do you know he feels the exact opposite of what he said? Ray is not a wall flower. He typically expresses his opinion of the need to "address" (as he often describes it) issues when they arise. In this case, the tide was starting to turn against the Sabres in a game that was close. 

We got the freaking win, and now the chorus is all about not retaliating even when a response at that time may have hurt our chances of winning. As @PromoTheRobot pointed out the referee quickly intervened and called the major. A subsequent retaliation would have not helped us to win. 

The Sabres did not play a soft game. There were some noticeable lulls but much of it can be attributed to a talented offensive team that is very good offensively. 

Some quick thoughts on this game: The first star should go to UPL. He had a number of big time stops. My second star would go to Tage who made a couple of nifty passes in close range to Zucker and Peterka for scores. 

Dahlin is our best player and drives the play as much as anyone does. I thought Tuck played well.

We need to re-sign Zucker. I have been critical of the GM but this was a terrific pickup. The McLeod acquisition was a solid pickup. 

There are many people who are harshly critical of Power. What they are seeing is not what I am seeing. I thought he had a very good game. 

Three wins in a row is a step in the right direction. It's still unlikely that we will qualify for the playoffs but I hope that at the minimum we can get back into the playoff picture even if it ends up being another futile attempt. 

 

That Ray comment is funny because he defended Dahlin getting a retaliation penalty in the first period after Dahlin got an elbow in the face.  He said he was perfectly fine with the penalty, and the Sabres killed it off.

Thompson takes an elbow while the Sabres are up two, and now a retaliation will cost them the game?

Doesn't seem consistent.

[Pimlach]

4 hours ago, JohnC said:

Ray stated his opinion that the priority was to not disadvantage your team after the hit. How do you know he feels the exact opposite of what he said? Ray is not a wall flower. He typically expresses his opinion of the need to "address" (as he often describes it) issues when they arise. In this case, the tide was starting to turn against the Sabres in a game that was close. 

We got the freaking win, and now the chorus is all about not retaliating even when a response at that time may have hurt our chances of winning. As @PromoTheRobot pointed out the referee quickly intervened and called the major. A subsequent retaliation would have not helped us to win. 

The Sabres did not play a soft game. There were some noticeable lulls but much of it can be attributed to a talented offensive team that is very good offensively. 

Some quick thoughts on this game: The first star should go to UPL. He had a number of big time stops. My second star would go to Tage who made a couple of nifty passes in close range to Zucker and Peterka for scores. 

Dahlin is our best player and drives the play as much as anyone does. I thought Tuck played well.

We need to re-sign Zucker. I have been critical of the GM but this was a terrific pickup. The McLeod acquisition was a solid pickup. 

There are many people who are harshly critical of Power. What they are seeing is not what I am seeing. I thought he had a very good game. 

Three wins in a row is a step in the right direction. It's still unlikely that we will qualify for the playoffs but I hope that at the minimum we can get back into the playoff picture even if it ends up being another futile attempt. 

 

Because Ray likes getting paid.  Just know that Ray would have done the exact opposite.  But he can’t criticize the team on the air.  

 After the hit  Seigenthaler (#71), first takes a path to Kukich who backs away, then he takes a stick poke at Muel to let him know he would be ready to go.  The ref stepped in then not before.   Watch the replay.   Samuelsson skated around in circles.  

The two points means little, the season is over with the exception of building the culture for next season.  No response is the current culture.  It wasn’t just the hit on Tage.  The hit in Zucker was late and dangerous.   The hit on Kulich was unnecessary.  

The team is weak and flaccid. 

Edited Monday at 04:35 AM by Pimlach

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, DarthEbriate said:

Back into the mix? Name a team with a .700 points percentage this season.

 

There are four teams in the league above .600 and none above .673.

Look, I didn't say it was going to happen. I just spelled out what has to happen.

Just for comparison, the Sabres went 16-11-3 in their last 30 games two years ago when they got to 91 points. That's .583. This year that only gets them to 82 points .

[Slack_in_MA]

Happy for the win. But if you’re trying to build a non-losing culture and want to become an attractive option for quality players, do you think those other players weigh an early February one goal win more heavily than a chicken-***** response to a cheap shot on one of the team’s stars? If I’m them, I’m thinking “they don’t stick up for each other; they probably wouldn’t stick up for me either”.  IMO

Edited Monday at 01:26 AM by Slack_in_MA

[PerreaultForever]

20 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Because Ray likes getting paid.  Just know that Ray would have done the exact opposite.  But he can’t criticize the team on the air.  

 After the hit  Seigenthaler (#71), first takes a path to Kukich who backs away, then he takes a stick poke at Muel to let him know he would be ready to go.  The ref stepped in then not before.   Watch the replay.   Samuelsson skated around in circles.  

The two points means little, the season is over with the acceptation of building the culture for next season.  No response is the current culture.  It wasn’t just the hit on Tage.  The hit in Zucker was late and dangerous.   The hit on Kulich was unnecessary.  

The team is weak and flaccid. 

Exactly. The other side of this sort of thing that some people don't get is these sort of things are how you break whatever culture building you have. If the players on the ice don't see other players having their back or standing up for them do you really think they will go full out all the time in the future? If a game gets physical they will back off or play scared. It will hurt their game all around. 

What is it Ruff and everyone kept saying about Rob Ray night? How he selflessly had the backs of his teammates. How he didn't need to be told and did what had to be done. Where is that now? 

I guess we are just lucky this didn't happen on Rob Ray night. That would have been even more embarrassing. 

[LGR4GM]

3 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Lindy obviously felt the way I did, and got a win. Three in a row. Whoop-de-doo, right?

Pyrrhic. Victory. 

[CallawaySabres]

This pathetic franchise is getting everything they deserve as they get absolutely demolished in the national media about the non-retaliation.

[PromoTheRobot]

45 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

This pathetic franchise is getting everything they deserve as they get absolutely demolished in the national media about the non-retaliation.

Is that happening? Share some posts. EDIT: Never mind, I found one from Mike Harrington. https://buffalonews.com/sports/professional/nhl/sabres/buffalo-sabres-nhl-new-jersey-devils-lindy-ruff-tage-thompson/article_7e06933c-e188-11ef-b423-0ba22532bfcd.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

Edited Monday at 02:37 AM by PromoTheRobot

[PromoTheRobot]

41 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Pyrrhic. Victory. 

Another loss with a blown 3-0 lead would have felt sooo much better, am I right?

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

Because Ray likes getting paid.  Just know that Ray would have done the exact opposite.  But he can’t criticize the team on the air.  

 After the hit  Seigenthaler (#71), first takes a path to Kukich who backs away, then he takes a stick poke at Muel to let him know he would be ready to go.  The ref stepped in then not before.   Watch the replay.   Samuelsson skated around in circles.  

The two points means little, the season is over with the acceptation of building the culture for next season.  No response is the current culture.  It wasn’t just the hit on Tage.  The hit in Zucker was late and dangerous.   The hit on Kulich was unnecessary.  

The team is weak and flaccid. 

The one person who has never been reluctant to advocate responding back when required is Rob Ray. He stated a position and gave a reason for it. He made the point that given where the game was at it wasn't the right time to retaliate.  His position at that time had absolutely nothing to do with a fear of it affecting his job. 

[PromoTheRobot]

5 minutes ago, JohnC said:

The one person who has never been reluctant to advocate responding back when required is Rob Ray. He stated a position and gave a reason for it. He made the point that given where the game was at it wasn't the right time to retaliate.  His position at that time had absolutely nothing to do with a fear of it affecting his job. 

Oh, Rob Ray must be a huge p-word now, just like Lindy Ruff, huh?

[JohnC]

4 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Oh, Rob Ray must be a huge p-word now, just like Lindy Ruff, huh?

Some people find it outrageous that they won and didn't conform to their line of thinking. There are many who would have preferred for the players to react in such a manner that jeopardized a win. I'm not in that camp. 

[OverPowerYou]

2 hours ago, KC Scouts said:

I could give a ***** if they won. They are going nowhere. The needed a response. Don't want to ruin the 5 minute penalty? FINE....score a goal on that ensuing PP and not give up the shorty. When you have the 3 goal lead again.....RUN one of the "Hughes" darlings, and I mean RUN them, and then get ready to Brawl. It is how this kind of thing gets handled. What do you think the Bruins, Flyers or Panthers response would be, especially in their own building? Even in today's NHL, It would be exactly what I described...... Of course I am fantasizing about this because the Sabres are the biggest collection of Sissy Mary's in the NHL.

I am in an NHL depression right now because of the Sabres (lack of) relevancy. 
 

who would be the toughest team in today’s NHL?

[JoeSchmoe]

The vengeful side of me (and that side is strong) would have liked to see Noesen get his head pounded in, because it's kinda awesome.

The cynical/analytical side of me (just as strong) says reacting does nothing. Seriously, who is actually deterred from doing anything by fighting?!?!  Even if Bob Probert is on the other side of the ice you can always turtle. Scummy move, but so are hits like that.

Edited Monday at 03:20 AM by JoeSchmoe

[inkman]

Power with a crazy amount of shots 

[Richard Noggin]

5 hours ago, Carmel Corn said:

After hearing the team’s post game responses, my statement to them is that culture is more important than a win today.  No response to the hit means our culture sucks.

That's exactly what Ruff claims to be selling to his team all the time: process over results. Bigger picture, honest evaluations over short-term, results-based feedback.

A complete lack of retaliation seems more like a bigger picture failure in favor of chasing short-term results. Especially with this franchise, and these submissive young talents during yet another lost season. Gotta choose blood brotherhood over a fleeting special teams opportunity. Try to turn that competitive corner and play more like angry, tribal grownups. 

[Stoner]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

The one person who has never been reluctant to advocate responding back when required is Rob Ray. He stated a position and gave a reason for it. He made the point that given where the game was at it wasn't the right time to retaliate.  His position at that time had absolutely nothing to do with a fear of it affecting his job. 

And had the Sabres retaliated, Rob would have criticized it?

He is going to defend whatever the team does.

[JoeSchmoe]

38 minutes ago, inkman said:

Power with a crazy amount of shots 

Too bad it's such a pea shooter of a shot. 

[inkman]

I’m bummed that this team has made us turn on each other.  The team shouldn’t be last in the conference and shouldn’t just stand around on the ice when the other team is practically begging the Sabres to do something.  

[PerreaultForever]

Really bugging me to read all these players saying they didn't see the hit as if that explains it. Pile of garbage. 

[LGR4GM]

9 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Another loss with a blown 3-0 lead would have felt sooo much better, am I right?

What a bad faith response. The Sabres are up 4-2 and would have played 2 mins at 4v4 at worst if they retaliated. Also, shows you secretly have no faith at all in this team if you automatically assume they would have lost by responding. Also also, by castrating his team, Ruff almost did lose this game as any energy they had died. They were abysmal on the 5v4 and gave up a shorty.

Pyrrhic victory. 

8 hours ago, JohnC said:

Some people find it outrageous that they won and didn't conform to their line of thinking. There are many who would have preferred for the players to react in such a manner that jeopardized a win. I'm not in that camp. 

The players did react in a manner that jeopardized the win. 

[Scottysabres]

8 hours ago, inkman said:

Power with a crazy amount of shots 

Jell-O shots?

[Archie Lee]

Watching a lot of NHL hockey, I will say that it isn’t always clear when a team will respond and when they won’t in these situations. The issue with the Sabres is less about this one situation than it is that after all this time under Adams and with much being made about changing the culture and, to a degree, the make-up of the team under Ruff, they still don’t respond in these situations in general. If you are a team that typically responds, you can plausibly point to the game situation or to nobody on the ice seeing the hit. When you are a team that doesn’t typically respond, it all just seems like more excuses.

Anyway, every failure today brings me back to the same thing:  this is what we have after almost 5 years of Adams as GM. There is just no reason to think that he is capable of managing the big picture needs that have to be addressed for this team to become a playoff group.