Post-Game Talk (GBU): #03 - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly -- I like Eich II

[Sabre Dance]

Good for me was seeing Josh Gorges looking healthy. Seemed really involved this game. Good sign. Had 3 hits, 21 minutes.

 

[slip]

And an even rating last night, so the "Now -4" shouldn't be part of the bad for last game. Franson is clearly our new whipping boy, warranted or not. For 2 games he sucked, I fully agree. But yesterday he was very good offensively and didn't make many big blunders defensively, overall played a good game. Yet I see multiple of these....unless I missed all the bad plays he made yesterday?

McCabe/Pysyk as the 2nd unit allows Franson/Weber to slide to the third unit and to focus on special teams duty, which is a perfect role for that pair.

 

[Sabres Fan UK]

G:
Eichel, duh, aside from his goal he looked dangerous all night
Moulson being productive
O'Reilly hustled and really played great
Risto and Gorges were solid
McCabe and Pysyk were also pretty solid and would like to see McCabe stick
Game was on 8pm local time!!
The PP
I Thought Deslaurier had a queitly underated game as usual
B:
Ennis at times
Johnson had some weak attempts
The PP
U:
Hartnell
I would say Fransons skating but he already seems to be #1 whipping boy and although he's slow i thought he played an alright game

 

[moomoosoup]

Only got to catch the third period, but looking through here saw a few posts with Foligno in the bad. Were his first two periods poor or something, cuz he looked pretty solid in the third to me. Was really hustling out there.

 

[Chainshot]

Only got to catch the third period, but looking through here saw a few posts with Foligno in the bad. Were his first two periods poor or something, cuz he looked pretty solid in the third to me. Was really hustling out there.

The Foligno I was ragging on was Nick. Not sure what other people have issue with regarding Marcus.

 

[Ethan Edwards]

Only got to catch the third period, but looking through here saw a few posts with Foligno in the bad. Were his first two periods poor or something, cuz he looked pretty solid in the third to me. Was really hustling out there.

Just my take, but [Marcus] Foligno was [Marcus] Foligno. I like the guy, he brings what he brings, and that includes hustle, hard work, strength along the boards, etc. But in several instances last night he single-handedly deflated otherwise promising offensive plays. He was a play killer, and often in very subtle ways. I've seen others mention that in general he can't keep up with Eichel/Kane, and that may be true, but he can still play to his strengths on the forecheck and deep in the zone, especially in front of the net, but I didn't see that last night, at least not effectively on his line. I thought he was disappointing overall, though he wasn't that far off from his normal game. But to me, he and his game don't belong on one of the top 2 lines and for me that was in evidence last night.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

G - Our scoring lines finally doing what they are supposed to do. All we need is a Kane goal (if his deflection had just been a foot to the right). Eichel. Not even the goal (which was phenomenal) but how he managed to get back to the line, steal the puck, keep it IN, and score without going under 60mph? Players like that are rare. Our defense held it down pretty well too. McCabe and Pysyk looked fairly solid.

B - Franson. I like what he can do on the PP but just about every other aspect of his game is awful. Never thought highly of this signing and sure don't feel better at this point. Johnson's rebounds. He played solid, but my god he kicks them right out into the scoring areas.

U - Both CBJ goals. They were good goals, but they had to collapse around the net and fight for them and they just weren't very pretty.

P(erplexing) - Social media comments about Jack Eichel's goal. Wow. I am just as sick of the McJesus comparisons as everyone else, but let's not detract from a solid effort and beautiful snipe by an 18 year old.

 

[Zip15]

Evander is the real deal.

 

[Wisent42]

Late to the party, but:

G:
Eichel! That goal made me dream for things to come.
ROR. Heard he was good, now I've seen it too.
Almost everybody. Or at least, the good part was that noone was really bad.

B:
I thought Moulson was pretty bad, but he put up a goal and two assists. If that's bad Moulson, I'll take it!

U:
-

Good 60 minute effort. A sample of what this team could be capable of. If guys are starting to glue together and Bylsma's system is starting to click, if that's what we got a glimpse of, then I think this team will be a very difficult team to play against.

 

[joshjull]

Add to the good

Bylsma left the lines alone

 

[cramdizzl]

Wasn't too impressed with Mouslon outside of his assist to O'Reilly. The play dies on his stick constantly. I'm hoping Gionta replaces him in the top 6 asap.

 

[joshjull]

Wasn't too impressed with Mouslon outside of his assist to O'Reilly. The play dies on his stick constantly. I'm hoping Gionta replaces him in the top 6 asap.

Moulson isn't in the top 6. He's on the 3rd line with Larsson/McGinn.

Top 6 last game was

ROR/Girgs/Ennis
Kane/Eichel/Foligno.

If I'm a betting man, I'd put money on Gionta bouncing Foligno down with Des/Legwand. Then Reinhart will sit.


EDIT: that's assuming of course Bylsma doesn't change the lines up again.

 

[sabregoat]

Bad - picking Tyler Ennis in the first found of both Survivor games so far.

 

[JLewyB]

Bad - picking Tyler Ennis in the first found of both Survivor games so far.

I picked Franson because I felt we were going to get a pp goal.

 

[My Cozen Dylan]

I picked Franson because I felt we were going to get a pp goal.

Right forest, wrong tree.

 

[moomoosoup]

Just my take, but [Marcus] Foligno was [Marcus] Foligno. I like the guy, he brings what he brings, and that includes hustle, hard work, strength along the boards, etc. But in several instances last night he single-handedly deflated otherwise promising offensive plays. He was a play killer, and often in very subtle ways. I've seen others mention that in general he can't keep up with Eichel/Kane, and that may be true, but he can still play to his strengths on the forecheck and deep in the zone, especially in front of the net, but I didn't see that last night, at least not effectively on his line. I thought he was disappointing overall, though he wasn't that far off from his normal game. But to me, he and his game don't belong on one of the top 2 lines and for me that was in evidence last night.

Eh. As you kinda said, he's not really expected to bring in a whole lot of points (though it's been nice to see him effective on the power play so far). Hard to fault a guy for not doing something we don't particularly expect of him. I'm admittedly a fan of him though, so that may be clouding judgment a tad lol
That's why I like him playing with Des though. Two quick guys who will go and throw the body around and be a pain in the ass on the forecheck. If they get a goal every now and then, it's a nice bonus. Plus they both have time to grow their games a bit more too.
Don't see much point in him on a Kane Eichel line though. They can both handle themselves physically, so I figure you can throw on a smaller offensive player (I saw Gionta mentioned) if the chemistry is there. I guess we'll see how the lines shake out going forward.

 

[hizzoner]

I went to Monday's game with a view to watching certain players. Franson, whom I have knocked for his skating, seemed to play within his limitations and overall had a good game. Johnson played fairly well and was only beaten on close in scrambles on a very good Columbus power play. Yes I wish he could have grabbed the pucks in close and kept possession but I could not say he gave up bad rebounds or had poor position. Pysyk played better than any of the games I saw him play when he was with Rochester--maybe too small a sample size by myself. McCabe was better than expected although slow a few time in hitting the open man on defensive zone breakouts. Those 4 were players I had doubts about and I had a bit more hope with what they showed vs. the Blue Jackets. I agree with posters re Eichel, Kane, Girgensons, Risto and Gorges. Larsson was not noticeable in particular and I did not like Ennis playing the point on the power play. Foligno really hustled both ways.

 

[brian_griffin]

Good
Winning

Bad
Ennis

Ugly
Franson

I did not like the play Ennis made late in the 1st when he stole the puck in the CBJ zone by the far boards and went to the top of the umbrella and put a shot right in Bob's numbers with Girgensons in the faceoff circle. The D-man committed in the slot, and, depending on what Ennis saw on the play, (my view was camera, not on-ice, obviously) I think the better choice was a lower shot to Bob's right to hopefully get a rebound to Girgensons, or float a pass over the d-man's stick to girgensons. Kane could have had a back-door rebound on a girgenson's shot.

I agree with you, for the rate that the Sabres have him locked in, I will take the flaws that come with his [Franson] game for an AAV of 3.35M. He's 28, and he adds a plus in his passing and while he's not "fast" he does enough good to outweigh the bad. I mean really, last year Buffalo had Meszaros, Strachan and Benoit for 70 games. He's an upgrade on every one of them and it's not close. You can only hope that Pysyk continues to improve.

and...

Yes but he [Franson] wasn't brought in for his stellar defensive play; what he was brought in for was exactly what he did today and that was fire a whopping 6 shots on net.

I just wish he could/would use his size defensively. That ship has sailed, but he'd be worth so much more.

Good for me was seeing Josh Gorges looking healthy. Seemed really involved this game. Good sign. Had 3 hits, 21 minutes.

I think any concerns I had over his microtear injury disappeared completely with this game. I know he was fine in camp/preseason, and several attested to that, but I was still worried.

Moulson's assist on ROR's goal was choice.

Smart play to space/open ice/ knowing where his teammate was. French Connection used to get a few PP goals that way

Good
- Eichel already looks like a star at 18. Two perfect career shots and two career goals
- O'Reilly with a good game from start to finish
- Moulson with a great pass to O'Reilly and a shot just inside the post
- McCabe looking like he belongs
- Ristolainen with two points
- Deslauries with a couple of energy plays I noticed
- Kane actually passed the puck a couple of times but the forecheck didn't suffer

Bad
- Franson...I finally saw what the haters were seeing...He got caught reaching. Now -4

Ugly
- Afinogennis...The nickname is brilliant. The stick handling and flopping wasn't.
- Deslauries getting his head smashed into the glass repeatedly during that fight.

I thought he was flat-footed a couple times early in the game not boxing out the crease effectively, but was largely unnoticed after that (which is a good thing).

Just my take, but [Marcus] Foligno was [Marcus] Foligno. I like the guy, he brings what he brings, and that includes hustle, hard work, strength along the boards, etc. But in several instances last night he single-handedly deflated otherwise promising offensive plays. He was a play killer, and often in very subtle ways. I've seen others mention that in general he can't keep up with Eichel/Kane, and that may be true, but he can still play to his strengths on the forecheck and deep in the zone, especially in front of the net, but I didn't see that last night, at least not effectively on his line. I thought he was disappointing overall, though he wasn't that far off from his normal game. But to me, he and his game don't belong on one of the top 2 lines and for me that was in evidence last night.

And, on the first goal, his lack of speed relative to linemates was not a factor as he waited at the blue line for the play to reach him.

 

[ozpensfan]

Good to see a healthy Foligno playign well to start the season, also McGinn - the quietest 2 point game i have ever seen.

 

[jBuds]

I'm admittedly hard on Foligno, and rightfully so, if I do say so myself. But the CBJ game was far and away his best of the season, and one of his better in recent memory.

 

[Ethan Edwards]

I'm admittedly hard on Foligno, and rightfully so, if I do say so myself. But the CBJ game was far and away his best of the season, and one of his better in recent memory.

Then your bar is set pretty low. I'm not typically hard on Foligno. He plays a particular game and plays it fairly well, and that game was there against the Jackets, but he didn't mesh well at all on his line. He received the puck in the O-zone on several occasions and either lost it, gave it away, or made a subtly poor decision. His physical play was fine and no, he's not expected to score at a healthy clip, but he also doesn't need to be a black hole while playing with two creative players. He's more in his element further down the line, which is why I more criticize his usage than his play.