what is with all the complaining?

[bob_sauve28]

Doesn't Carolina have a strict no fighting policy? I remember reading that somewhere.

Never heard of that, but one thing is for sure, they didn't win the cup by winning fist fights.

 

One thing I like about the new NHL though, its that fighting has become a smaller part of the game. Sure its cool sometimes, but it got to annoying extremes in the past. Half hour delays while they cleaned up the ice, etc.

[wjag]

No game, so I'll dive right into this :)

 

I love the fact that these guys are 20-4-2. That's an awesome record and well ahead of my lofty expectations for this year at this stage.

 

I am concerned about the style of the play though. They have blown , what's the number 7/8 two goal leads so far. While it makes for nail-biting, edge of your seat exciting finishes, I don't think it can carry a series when it counts.

 

The last few games have not been good. The Ranger's game needed to be stolen back when they were "well rested" and the Caps game epitomized bad play early, They let one Ranger line (albeit a good one) to completely dominate them. They let the Capitals blow all four tires on the bus before they knew they had a single flat. Do the Rangers and Caps deserve credit, hell yes. Are they professionals, hell yes. Should the Sabres lose 10-20 games this year, hell yes. Was this one of those games, hell no.

 

It's not that they lost, it's how they lost that is worrisome. They have played maybe three games this year (Rangers, Montreal, and Flyers) where they played a complete game. Okay, we are all coming around to the risks of this style of play. But can you honestly say they have played well in the last dozen or so games?

 

I can't. And when I watch our competition out west, I see what appears to be a polar opposite. Anaheim is playing fundamentally better hockey. They don't have to rely on a third period comeback every game to win. They get early goals, build leads and make them stick. Sure they had a bad beat by the Flyers, but that is only one. Buffalo has had three now and it could have been four or more depending on your definition (Ottawa 2, Washington, Boston, Rangers). Sure they won two those, but it could just have easily gone the other way.

 

So what would we like to see? How about a some tighter D? A lot of folks will say, hey the D has been banged up and once they get back, things will be better. Well maybe. I just don't know if this is the case. Afterall, when they were all healthy, this is still the style they played during the first ten games. It required shootouts and OTs and come from behind and blown leads. What's changed? Nothing IMO other than the names on the jerseys.

 

I don't know if you should change the character of this team because they are lighting the lamp. But their style of play is worrisome. All I want from them is some renewed emphasis on D ala Carolina last year. Good offense, better than average D. What we have now is good offense and average or below average D... Build some leads and hold them or every team in the league will know that they just need to hang around with these Sabres because they can be caught in the third period.

 

20-4-2 is awesome. 20-4-2 with some D would be much better... Not complaining, just wishing...

[Sabretooth73]

of course id love to see "complete games" every night, but its an 82 game schedule....they aint gonna be perfect every night. And "kristian" i started this thread beacuse of seeing a lot of other threads complaingin about this team and they are 20-4-2. They know how to WIN....no matter how you slice it, the game is about winning and losing, period. Looking back last year i dont remmeber nor does anyone here who outshot who, or who had more big hits, etc... in just about every game. Its about getting the W. yeah, there is room for improvement, and they have time to do so....56 more reg season games, before the playoffs start. They will be fine, I hope. I just dont see a need to complain that much after one 7-4 loss. And, I can accept criticism/worries/concerns, etcc..... but after the loss saturday night its like we just lost our 15th straight game according to some of the other threads.

[Kristian]

of course id love to see "complete games" every night, but its an 82 game schedule....they aint gonna be perfect every night. And "kristian" i started this thread beacuse of seeing a lot of other threads complaingin about this team and they are 20-4-2. They know how to WIN....no matter how you slice it, the game is about winning and losing, period. Looking back last year i dont remmeber nor does anyone here who outshot who, or who had more big hits, etc... in just about every game. Its about getting the W. yeah, there is room for improvement, and they have time to do so....56 more reg season games, before the playoffs start. They will be fine, I hope. I just dont see a need to complain that much after one 7-4 loss. And, I can accept criticism/worries/concerns, etcc..... but after the loss saturday night its like we just lost our 15th straight game according to some of the other threads.

 

Well, I never said I had anything at all against winning, I'm just pointing out that there are certain things with current team that either worries me, or things I'm flat out not happy about. In this case Biron, but that's an old issue and I've been on his case for years and years :D

 

Yup, getting all those W's are nice, I can only agree. But like everyone else here, I REALLY want this to be the year they go all the way, and maybe I'm getting ahead of myself from time to time. It's just that I don't think I could bear if we ended up being The Sens of 2006/2007.

[Sabretooth73]

i know....i REALLY want this to be the year they win it all

i am trying not to think about how all buffalo or wny teams eventually fail.... are we setting ourselves up for the ultimate letdown?

i dont wanna look back in may or june and think "we srarted out so well" or "we had the best team all season long" only not to win it all

seriously, anything less than winning it all, to me, is a huge disappointment this season

every team has flaws, especially at this point of the season, but there is plenty of time to fix them.....and theyre already so far ahead of where they were at this point last year it doesnt bother me as much I guess

im so sick of not having any buffalo team win it all

just once thats all i want (at least for starters)

[Bmwolf21]

Doesn't Carolina have a strict no fighting policy? I remember reading that somewhere.

Yep, that's true...here is the Hockey News Story...

 

Well, I do remember them being a little more physcial in the series, but I'm not a the point where I think it cost us in any way.

 

What really hurt us, besides all the injuries, was Carolina bouncing pucks in off our own guys like there was no tomorrow all through the series. I think they must've gotten at least 4 or 5 off our defense.

 

The bounce-in off Mair, basically from the goal line in game 7 being the one that stands out.

I don't know that they were tougher or more gritty, but I do see a big similarity between their playoff run and our regular season thus far - no quit. No matter how piss-poor they played or how big a hole they dug themselves into, they kept coming, and kept coming and kept coming. As much as it pains me to say, they got all those lucky bounces and breaks because they didn't back off. That's what I see out of us this year - no matter how bad we play for a period or two, I never feel like we are out of it, and that never-say-die attitide can only help come playoff time.

 

Also - wjag hit the nail on the head with his dive. I'll spare you all by not quoting the whole post, but this is the best part:

 

20-4-2 is awesome. 20-4-2 with some D would be much better... Not complaining, just wishing...

[inkman]

Well, I do remember them being a little more physcial in the series, but I'm not a the point where I think it cost us in any way.

 

I thought the physical play of Commodore, Recchi, Brindamour, and their 4th line was a decided advantage. Their forecheck really wore down our D.