Post-Game Talk (GBU): The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Pat's vs. Geno's

[Chainshot]

The Good:

Gus was good again tonight. The effort was there, rewarded O'Reilly with a yawning cage for the only goal. Loved his physical play.
Lehner made some stops that should've gone in.

The Bad:

Score early, take a lead... and lose. Yep.
Missing some glorious chances early. 2-on-1's, some yawing cages... nada.
Thought this was Scandella's worst game since he was recovering from surgery.
ERod ices, then Kane can't clear, ERod misses his man, and Reinhart doesn't cover. Well played forwards, well played. It's hard to get all three forwards to f*** up.
Jack hit a post.
Reinhart missed another goal
Why is Larsson getting the extra time late when Gus is the guy going well tonight? I don't understand you Phil.

The Ugly:

Can someone, anyone, get urgent about scoring some f***ing goals?
Jake McCabe can f*** right off.

Click to read more...

 

[Vito_81]

The Ugly:
Jake McCabe can **** right off.

McCabe has been the biggest disappointment of the season for sure.

 

[Kublakhan]

McCabe has been the biggest disappointment of the season for sure.

I like in the first when he chipped the puck in deep behind the net..Ohh wait, it was his own net he chipped it behind..

 

[sabremike]

I just wanted to strangle Rayzor when he's talking about how we can take something out of this game until the shit comes squirting out of his nostrils.

 

[Moskau]

Type of game you need your 2nd overall picks to cash in on open net chances.

 

[Kyndig]

Thought the forwards all played decently other than Pouliot...but they all failed to cash in on their scoring chances. Eichel with the post, Reinhart failing to score on a wide open net, Kane with about 4 good looks. Have to finish.

The D were all trash aside from Risto. Scandella looked awful and to make matters worse missed a wide open net himself. McCabe looked about as bad as he usually does, so nothing surprising there. Meanwhile Antipin gets to sit in the press box for a bullshit penalty call that just so happened to be a PP goal against. Basic passes back to the point are rarely held in by our D..its embarrassing. They kill any offensive zone time we do get.

Refs also forgot they can call penalties on the Philadelphia Road Cones. No call on Gorges trip or the picks/interference all game.
I'd have to see it again but that hit Reinhart took looked dirty. Blindside and he left his feet (and no not from contact), couldn't tell if he hit him in the head as well..but either way should've been a penalty at least.

 

[Icicle]

That third line was bound to let silly goals in I don’t see the surprise. Erod does not have the defensive play to make up for Kane and Reinhart. Girgs should 3C...

Guhle will replace McCabe in time

 

[Buff15Sabres]

Wasn't a terrible game. Have to agree that McCabe is the only ugly. WTF happened to him? He's a liability out there on almost every single shift and he's still getting 20+ minutes TOI.

 

[darcyRegier]

This team still doesn't have a winger for Eichel. He's a one man show out there, and he has to be because Pouliot and Pommers can't do sh**. That leads to him drawing way too much attention and no room to operate.

Matthews and Nylander have a beautiful amount of space to work with because when they're on the ice the opposing team has to account for 2 dynamic threats. Same with Stammer and Kucherov. Same was with Kaner and Panarin.

I'm fine with one of Pominville Kane or Pouliot on Jack's line, but not 2. Smith, Olfossen, Nylander, Middlestadt, or Baptiste will have to fill those spots.

 

[ZZamboni]

Lehner = close to a flop



Good god



I thought Lehner had a hell of a game. I’m liking mostly what he’s looked like lately. Past 4-5 games. It’s promising.

And it helps when our D is healthier.

I’m liking Scandella more and more.

I don’t like Eichel’s game. He needs to watch a lot of video. He’s better than this.

 

[tsujimoto74]

McCabe has been the biggest disappointment of the season for sure.

He looked so good for the first ~half of last season. Then fell off a cliff. And keeps falling. This time last year, I was optimistic McCabe would round out into a reliable top 4 defenseman. Oops.

 

[Buttons85]

He looked so good for the first ~half of last season. Then fell off a cliff. And keeps falling. This time last year, I was optimistic McCabe would round out into a reliable top 4 defenseman. Oops.

Same... It seems like it was right after the Laine hit that things started going south.

 

[wunderpanda]

G- wasn't a shut out
- the birthday donut to Therrien

 

[Rasmus CacOlainen]

G - Tank back on track for top5 guatantee.
B - Too many missed chances early, not enough chances generated late. Reinhart has regressed compared to last season and I did not think that would be possible in the summer. Same statements are valid for McCabe and Larsson amd generally Girgs even though he had some good shifts today for a change. Okposo is still not looking too good out there and that contract will hurt us someday. I still have hope for all 4 but it's disappearing by the day.
U - Zamboni reminding of a phrase used about Lehner when he manages to string 4 good games in a row for once. Why did you not do that when Lehner was terribad again at the start of the season? Also he literally flopped on his belly for the first today, great fundamentals there. I hope he can keep up what he is doing now and prove me wrong, but I am not confident it will happen cause its Lehner..

 

[CrazyPsycho]

Missed the game thankfully, seems bad to still be trying the erod at C experiment that didnt work last year.

Love the kid, but hes not a center

 

[Rasmus CacOlainen]

Missed the game thankfully, seems bad to still be trying the erod at C experiment that didnt work last year.

Love the kid, but hes not a center

He should look great with Jack and no one is looking great with Jack right now so why not go for that and try Sam centering Kane for once. I mean its not rocket science Housley. Kid is gritty, can find scoring positions and seems to have semi decent release, cant think of a more appropriate player on our roster to put on Jacks wing.

 

[jBuds]

Okposo’s best effort skating wise and forechecking-wise in a long time. Possibly all season.

Lehner looked like he tipped over or didn’t catch the ice right on the first goal, and I thought he played well again. He’s locked in at the moment.

But really...ugh. This was a game we should have seized opportunity wise. This PHI team was very underwhelming. We did everything possible to feed right into their slop. Tons of shit passes even with short attempts. Easiest way to lose is to shoot yourself in the foot twice a shift.

Laziest line changing team since ‘Nam.

I have a tough time justifying ice time for 23 at the end of the game. Thought we had better options in a few spots down the stretch.

 

[dang111]

Did Erod play center in Rochester or wing?

I thought we looked really good in the first. Had some good chances that we failed to bury.
McCabe making usual bad passes. Where is Antipin? He makes mistakes, which I can chalk up to still learning, but the guy can skate and has a decent shot.

 

[JLewyB]

I’ll admit I fast forward a little bit at the end but I thought we played really well. Kane had 6 chances to score. Reinhart with a couple. I don’t mind this game at all. It was fun to watch until it became obvious we weren’t going to tie it up (commence said fast forward)

Honestly thought this was one of those deserve to win but didn’t get the bounces. Plus the refs seemed to let Philly do what it wanted.

With that said, McCabe was bad. Good at getting the puck but bad playing it. Rodrigues is good 95% of the time but he makes major blunders the other 5%. It’s why he was a negative player last year. He’s got get a stick on filpula.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

Free Antipin.

 

[ek93]

I wish I had the same leash at my job that McCabe has at his. Good lord. Free Antipin.

 

[joshjull]

Did Jack have a letter last night? I believe he didn't last game and was wondering if that continued last night.


EDIT: nevermind just looked at some game pics and saw he had one and ROR was the one without a letter.

 

[Jim Carr's Rug]

McCabe continues to get worse and worse. Ugh, Buffalo really botched the development of both McCabe and Girgensons specifically. If they had been drafted by better organizations, I bet they are both significantly better players by now.

Scandella- I agree with Chain, that was worst game as a Sabre (that I've seen). Generally, I like his game as a second pairing guy, but that was bad.

Eichel - has got to start playing with pace.


Re trade proposals:
forwards for forwards or goalies for goalies is just simply swapping deck chairs. Stop it. This team is not going anywhere until a modern day, NHL quality blueline is developed or brought in. They literally do everything poorly- d-zone coverage, exit zone passes, gap control. They play with no pace, make poor decisions, and their passing is brutal. It wouldn't matter if the top 9 forwards were Team Canada caliber, this blue line weighs down this team like an anchor in every zone and every facet of the game.

Ugh. I'm so sick of it, and I'm so sick of Sabres management being behind the eight ball in team building, league trends, and asset management.
End rant.

 

[Zip15]

I usually get excited to be at games. Last night, that was not the case. Watching them in-person was deflating. You just don't see the work being done on anything resembling a consistent basis. It's like they generally know what to do, but it's a half step above simply going through the motions. They'll skate towards the front of the net, but they won't consistently jockey for position. When they have the puck in the offensive zone, guys aren't doing much away from the puck to get into scoring positions - ERod is a notable exception, as his work rate was high and you could tell he was constantly trying to get space where he could get off a quick shot or pass that could be dangerous. Many of the players play at the same speed in every area of the ice - no quick bursts, change of directions, etc.

It's like watching a generic, zombie hockey team. Somebody mentioned it in the GDT, but it really does seem like a bunch of guys who are just waiting for someone else to make a play - and on a team loaded with a combination of high 1st round picks and high-salaried players, that shouldn't be happening. They're so easy to defend, too. After the 1st, Philly just sagged its forwards down low, knowing the forwards would play it back to the point where our defensemen would do little of danger with the puck.

I'm at a point where I certainly don't worry about missing games, and I won't even DVR. My apathy is only going to get worse as the season progresses.

 

[old kummelweck]

This game was a bit of a measuring stick. They are just not that good.