Post-Game Talk (GBU): Sabres @ Avalanche 8:00PM 2/26/20 NBCSN & WGR

[joshjull]

 

[Aladyyn]

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We got absolutely destroyed by their top 6, and they matched up mostly against our "top 6" - The Eichel line and the LOG line.

Regardless of their injuries, we had no answer for their combination of size and speed (again). That team is ridiculously talented.

If you put these 6 guys up against our 6 guys I don't think there's much of a gap. Of course, Ristolainen took a big fat shit on the ice like he so often does.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Well, it was nice to have a meaningful game in Feb. Progress!

 

[Fezzy126]

If you put these 6 guys up against our 6 guys I don't think there's much of a gap. Of course, Ristolainen took a big fat shit on the ice like he so often does.

Ideally I'd like to see Dahlin in that position to see if he can swing the balance. Looking at the other side, half of our forwards are still trying to find their jocks from what Makar did to them. He was unstoppable last night.

Also, I'm not an excuse maker, but there were a couple of things working against us - the altitude factor, Eichel's injury. The Avs have the 2nd best goal differential in the league, everything's gotta be perfect to get a win, and we were far from perfect.

 

[old kummelweck]

If you don't have the puck in a scoring chance, they don't call anything away from the puck

And the Avs have elevated those plays to create a lot space out there.

 

[Jim Bob]

Apologies if I missed it- Just getting home from the game... any info on jack potentially being hurt? Not taking draws, not shooting, whincing quite a bit?

I think he's playing through an UBI and they aren't going to say anything about it as he plays through it.

 

[GOALOFSSON]

I wish it was easy to go back and watch every penalty called on Dahlin this year. I've never seen someone get so many soft calls/phantom calls on them.

Ya there have been an alarming amount of phantom calls on him this season

 

[tsujimoto74]

Wish they'd at least been able to drag this game to OT and pick up a point. They played a very good (albeit pretty injured) team very close, though, despite some pretty atrocious reffing getting in the way of a decent hockey game. Onto the next one.

 

[Gabrielor]

Still feeling the effects of this loss.

I go over and over the UFA lists, trade ideas, draft projections, and I just don’t see how we become good in the Eichel era right now.

It’s depressing.

 

[Jim Carr's Rug]

Still feeling the effects of this loss.

I go over and over the UFA lists, trade ideas, draft projections, and I just don’t see how we become good in the Eichel era right now.

It’s depressing.

it’s totally this.
I do have thoughts that the right way to do it, with the right GM, is selling it all off and starting over .
Sucks.

 

[brian_griffin]

He's been playing hurt for a few games now, it seems. Haven't heard much of anything other than maybe an abdominal injury. Probably in Jack's best interest that they don't publicize the details if he's gonna be playing through it.

That's what I would suspect, too.

Its not going to happen but.... I’d like to see Pilut in the lineup and Risto out letting Montour back to his natural side.

Since you coach / coach D, what did you think about Ristolainen on the 1st COL PP goal-against? He seemed to me to be hesitating / looking / thinking on his positioning (vs. instinctual) as the puck was passed & skated around his outside before driving to the net. Is a better defensive play / positioning possible? Not picking on him, just curious how you coach what is essentially a 2-on-1 isolation play vs. a flat-footed defender. I would expect the possessing team to win that 80+% of the time.

Open question to the board.

 

[Jim Bob]

Still feeling the effects of this loss.

I go over and over the UFA lists, trade ideas, draft projections, and I just don’t see how we become good in the Eichel era right now.

It’s depressing.

They lost by 1 goal on the road against a really good team with Eichel at way less than 100%.

I can easily look at the glass as half full after that game.

Then I look at the GM and wonder if there is any way he can fill that cup up any more....

 

[Jim Carr's Rug]

Still feeling the effects of this loss.

I go over and over the UFA lists, trade ideas, draft projections, and I just don’t see how we become good in the Eichel era right now.

It’s depressing.

Also, there is still another gap between good and contender, like TP first mentioned in his opening presser.
Sure it would be great to be good, but isn’t the goal the Cup? That’s Light years away.
This is where I talk myself into burning it all down.

 

[CrazyPsycho]

Not picking on him, just curious how you coach what is essentially a 2-on-1 isolation play vs. a flat-footed defender.

On the PK when the opposition has possession, why is Risto playing at the faceoff dot? He needs to keep the puck in front of him

 

[Der Jaeger]

Kicking a softball into the middle of the ice is Mickey mouse and the whiff is obvious. Goaltending was far from fine

skater perspective. No goalie is perfect. The point blank shots on the PP that he stopped, the back door he stopped when Jokiharju, and several other saves were elite level.

hutton played a solid game

 

[jBuds]

That's what I would suspect, too.

Since you coach / coach D, what did you think about Ristolainen on the 1st COL PP goal-against? He seemed to me to be hesitating / looking / thinking on his positioning (vs. instinctual) as the puck was passed & skated around his outside before driving to the net. Is a better defensive play / positioning possible? Not picking on him, just curious how you coach what is essentially a 2-on-1 isolation play vs. a flat-footed defender. I would expect the possessing team to win that 80+% of the time.

Open question to the board.

My view.....It depends on the kill you’re running, because in order for you to “play it properly,” you have to know the next guy is in sync and ready to fill where he needs to be. You are definitely at a disadvantage and a good PP can capitalize on space by moving the puck, like they did. It could’ve been played better though IMO

in my perfect world, if you have a righty curling at the half wall, on his forehand, below your high killing forward, you need to close on him, which Risto did not. That shot, with traffic, is one of the ones I try my hardest to avoid. I’d rather several other things happen than that.

the play - to me at least - is for risto to tighten up towards MacKinnon immediately (you see Lazar almost point to risto to say as much)...not attack him fully but go at him more - leaving McCabe to play a low two on one.

Lazar cuts off a d to d pass or a pass to the high center point

mccabe would be responsible to make sure COmpher doesn’t get a pass cross crease or across the slot

Hutton would be responsible to take Compher if he attacks the net

frolik - again, to me - is out of position and then completely lost as his weak side responsibility goes low and behind him. This may be a point of disagreement. Some coaches like that weak guy to be stronger towards the play which frolik was.


My thought process on the PK always leans aggression; you already have more space to defend against, I think you do a disservice by allowing opponents to have time on top of all that space. Give them one or the other, or neither. Too passive on all accounts. If they can tic tic bink around me with great passing, I’ll die on that hill versus standing in syrup as someone stick handles stationary and hits a back door seam pass thru a lane that has been open for 12 straight seconds

edit: also thought all game on the kill, a notable lack of active sticks.


On the PK: there is a beautiful happy medium between applying pressure and attacking the puck out of position.

You can go at someone, leading with your stick, closing their space and forcing them, without actually attacking them and hitting them or taking yourself oop. We did a bad job of that all game

 

[brian_griffin]

My view.....It depends on the kill you’re running, because in order for you to “play it properly,” you have to know the next guy is in sync and ready to fill where he needs to be. You are definitely at a disadvantage and a good PP can capitalize on space by moving the puck, like they did. It could’ve been played better though IMO

in my perfect world, if you have a righty curling at the half wall, on his forehand, below your high killing forward, you need to close on him, which Risto did not. That shot, with traffic, is one of the ones I try my hardest to avoid. I’d rather several other things happen than that.

the play - to me at least - is for risto to tighten up towards MacKinnon immediately (you see Lazar almost point to risto to say as much)...not attack him fully but go at him more - leaving McCabe to play a low two on one.

I truly appreciate the thoroughness of the reply. It's largely what I thought, although I don't have the coaching background to break it down by strategy / reason to tactics / action. My instinct would have been to close space on MacKinnon but not engage him directly, and if the puck is moved past me, to then collapse to support down low. Risto's hesitation suggested that he knew as much but the neurons weren't firing completely.

It's a game of seconds and inches, but 2 PP GA means you need a near-perfect 5v5 game and hold them scoreless to have a chance at 1 or more points.

 

[Krispy]

Girg 12 vs 9milSkinner 12

 

[Chainshot]

I think he's playing through an UBI and they aren't going to say anything about it as he plays through it.

Sports hernia or groin after getting popped by Risto?

 

[oldgoalie]

Sports hernia or groin after getting popped by Risto?

either one...ouch. damn.

 

[BowieSabresFan]

skater perspective. No goalie is perfect. The point blank shots on the PP that he stopped, the back door he stopped when Jokiharju, and several other saves were elite level.

hutton played a solid game

I'm with this. In addition, I am not overly bothered by this game. The effort was there, and it could have gone either way. To me, that last minute shot that hit the post short side, bounced off the goaltender's back, and then trickled just past the opposite post, perfectly sums up the season for the Sabres.

And as good as Makar was, he seemed to always be out there with Mackinnon. That will open up space for anyone.

 

[Buffaloed]

Sports hernia or groin after getting popped by Risto?

I think it's a rib injury.

 

[GrierIsGod123]

If by bottom pairing you mean 5-8 D guy, there’s probably 30 NHL teams that will take him in a heartbeat because they probably don’t view him as that bad.
For me, I view him as serviceable as a 4-6 guy but the Sabres Dman closest to my heart is McCabe (don’t @ me) only because I still have fond memories of him being captain of the US World Junior hockey team that won gold. The fact I think McCabe is a crap Dman worse than Risto) is neither here nor there to my fondness for him.

Hey man, we all have irrational feelings about certain players.

I truly believe Risto is very much a fringe top 4 guy on a lot of teams. I think he'll settle into a third pairing/PP specialist role on a good team, and do just fine. He's proven time after time to not be good enough to get this team going in the right direction as a top minutes eater. It's a clear case of overstaying his welcome. Not for nothing, but I'm likely going to end up feeling the same about Montour. I just don't think he's good enough to get a long-term deal that he'll likely desire.

 

[GrierIsGod123]

Its easy to refute.. A Landeskog w Skinner..etc.. No way tell..

The Colorado avalanche are a very good team.. We outplayed them tonight. We didn't finish.. Choked.. Whatever but we had multiple chances to bury them and didn't..

We didn't outplay them though. Yes, we played hard, but Colorado still out-played us after the first period IMO.

 

[tsujimoto74]

That's what I would suspect, too.

Since you coach / coach D, what did you think about Ristolainen on the 1st COL PP goal-against? He seemed to me to be hesitating / looking / thinking on his positioning (vs. instinctual) as the puck was passed & skated around his outside before driving to the net. Is a better defensive play / positioning possible? Not picking on him, just curious how you coach what is essentially a 2-on-1 isolation play vs. a flat-footed defender. I would expect the possessing team to win that 80+% of the time.

Open question to the board.

Not a hockey coach, but that's kind of my take on that, too. Both Fs were caught up high. There were 3 Avs in the slot and 2 D left to cover them. McCabe marked the guy at the back post, so Risto was left to deal with a 2-on-1 between the guy at the side of the net and the guy in the circle. Perfectly good defenders routinely get beat when they're outnumbered like that. It was just another broken play from our broken PK. Risto just happened to be the PKer who drew the short straw.