Sabre Dance
Make Hockey Fun Again
- Jul 27, 2006
- 12,456
- 2,243
Good for me was seeing Josh Gorges looking healthy. Seemed really involved this game. Good sign. Had 3 hits, 21 minutes.
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?
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.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.
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.
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.
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 lolJust 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.
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.Good
Winning
Bad
Ennis
Ugly
Franson
and...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.
I just wish he could/would use his size defensively. That ship has sailed, but he'd be worth so much more.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 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.Good for me was seeing Josh Gorges looking healthy. Seemed really involved this game. Good sign. Had 3 hits, 21 minutes.
Smart play to space/open ice/ knowing where his teammate was. French Connection used to get a few PP goals that wayMoulson's assist on ROR's goal was choice.
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).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.
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.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.
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.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.