GDT: BUF @ PITT, 7:30 p.m. TV: MSG, ESPN +

[Irie]

I saw a replay of the second goal he gave up. That was weak as shit, and IMO, a back breaker when the team was only down by 1.

I actually watched that replay in super slow motion, and the behind the net cam shows that it actually deflected off of Jokers stick.

Tough break, but a pretty tough puck to track in that situation, so I am not blaming UPL too much on that play, I think it looked way worse than it really was, especially without super slow-mo

 

[beerme1]

A pure shit show. What happened to the team from second half of last year?

 

[Montag DP]

I haven't watched much this year, but have we even looked good in any of our wins? From what I've seen, it's looked bad.

 

[HaNotsri]

Watched the extended highlights and UPL made a lot of really hard saves, not just "getting hit by the puck" that has been his usual m.o.
Impressed by his performance.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

I actually watched that replay in super slow motion, and the behind the net cam shows that it actually deflected off of Jokers stick.

Tough break, but a pretty tough puck to track in that situation, so I am not blaming UPL too much on that play, I think it looked way worse than it really was, especially without super slow-mo

I agree with old goalie. I don't think UPL was fully prepared and focused in on that play. Yeah, it was a deflection that ended up under/between his glove and 1/2 butterflied pad. But the deflection angle change wasn't drastic and I don't think he was properly centered.

And it was a back breaker.

Old goalie knows his stuff.

The 1st one off the head gear/old noggin was just a freak occurrence. UPL was exactly where he needed to be in net.

A pure shit show. What happened to the team from second half of last year?

They came to believe their press clippings and thought the new season would be easy.?

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

I honestly can't even imagine what it could be...any ideas ?

You know..... we don't really know these guys... their personalities, their character, their values, etc.. All we get is their groomed public images...

 

[metalan2]

It's been a huge reason for me avoiding home broadcasts. Today was one of the few I watched because I can't stand the Pens crew. Up there with Bruins, Avs, Devils, Panthers--bad.

They have an entirely new crew.

 

[Irie]

I agree with old goalie. I don't think UPL was fully prepared and focused in on that play. Yeah, it was a deflection that ended up under/between his glove and 1/2 butterflied pad. But the deflection angle change wasn't drastic and I don't think he was properly centered.

And it was a back breaker.

Old goalie knows his stuff.

The 1st one off the head gear/old noggin was just a freak occurrence. UPL was exactly where he needed to be in net.

With a shot from that close in the reaction is based on the shooters stick and UPL is expecting it to rise up and he probably was expecting it to catch him high in the crest. It changes directions and goes wide and lower, just above his blocker and leaks through under his armpit, likely because he tried to react at the last second to get his blocker on it, and he chicken-winged his elbow out in the process and the puck was able to leak through.

Here is a pic, notice the shooter, O'Connor's location. The puck is redirecting to (our) right, but UPL is honestly pretty squared up with the shooter. I respect old goalie's contributions here, but I do not believe he realized it was a deflected puck.

 

[toddkaz]

Another Granato decision that was baffling is him going with UPL last night when Levi had a great game.

Sure it was back to back but Levi did it before. Not saying its UPL's fault last night just questioning the decision

There is no continuity to the roster. Granato is constantly benching guys and changing lines.

Its been awful to watch,

 

[BritSabre]

I haven't watched much this year, but have we even looked good in any of our wins? From what I've seen, it's looked bad.

Colorado game we were excellent.

 

[lecherous]

Another Granato decision that was baffling is him going with UPL last night when Levi had a great game.

Sure it was back to back but Levi did it before. Not saying its UPL's fault last night just questioning the decision

There is no continuity to the roster. Granato is constantly benching guys and changing lines.

Its been awful to watch,

Rolling back to back nights with a 21 year old we're sorta resting a bit of our future on is ill advised. The baseball analogy would be running your rookie starter out there for 300 innings because the rest of your rotation is inconsistent.

Hindsight is 20/20 but even if Levi got us a shutout it wouldn't have been enough for the win so especially moot.

 

[old kummelweck]

A pure shit show. What happened to the team from second half of last year?

Here's my hot takes:

# 1 is the PP. Going from 16th in 2022 to 27th matters. Thompson is a big reason. Just look at where he is shooting from as compared to where he was shooting from on his PP goals last year. Opposing PK's know this is a one-trick pony and if they take him out, they neutralize the PP. They can't get zone entry. They are being easily pressured and caged out - there is no puck support if they get it in.

Copy-cat league. More film on this team and opposing teams have more effective game-plans to exploit their deficiencies.

Forward depth. They are trying to limp along with injuries and youth.

Faceoffs. They are chasing possession in every zone. That takes their legs away as the game grinds on.

Refocus on team defense has helped in their own end and the GAA, but not in the other end.

 

[Sabresbyswords104]

This team cant go on a w streak ?

 

[joshjull]

I honestly can't even imagine what it could be...any ideas ?

No idea

 

[toddkaz]

Rolling back to back nights with a 21 year old we're sorta resting a bit of our future on is ill advised. The baseball analogy would be running your rookie starter out there for 300 innings because the rest of your rotation is inconsistent.

Hindsight is 20/20 but even if Levi got us a shutout it wouldn't have been enough for the win so especially moot.

Did it last year. And he was 20 then with the playoffs on the line. Not buying it.

 

[BFLO]

Did it last year. And he was 20 then with the playoffs on the line. Not buying it.

Unless Levi could have scored goals for us and driven offensive possession it really doesn’t matter. We lost because we got shutout, not because UPL let in a couple softies

 

[oldgoalie]

With a shot from that close in the reaction is based on the shooters stick and UPL is expecting it to rise up and he probably was expecting it to catch him high in the crest. It changes directions and goes wide and lower, just above his blocker and leaks through under his armpit, likely because he tried to react at the last second to get his blocker on it, and he chicken-winged his elbow out in the process and the puck was able to leak through.

Here is a pic, notice the shooter, O'Connor's location. The puck is redirecting to (our) right, but UPL is honestly pretty squared up with the shooter. I respect old goalie's contributions here, but I do not believe he realized it was a deflected puck.

View attachment 767139

huh. yeah, he's perfectly positioned for it. I only saw a view from behind the shooter of the goal, so I didn't realize it was deflected. although, O'Conner is well above the dot (a ways out).
I'm not placing all the blame on UPL. I'm glad to hear he played well. but this team is so fragile that something like this type of goal is certain to be crushing to the team. and, like everyone said, unless he's stopping pucks and also scoring goals, it wouldn't matter if these guys can't even get one past their guy.
nothing but a bunch of passengers on this team.

 

[Tijuana Donkey Show]

I actually watched that replay in super slow motion, and the behind the net cam shows that it actually deflected off of Jokers stick.

Tough break, but a pretty tough puck to track in that situation, so I am not blaming UPL too much on that play, I think it looked way worse than it really was, especially without super slow-mo

That’s two goals off of Sabres in this game. It’s not just tonight, I’ve noticed we’re deflecting pucks in a lot. I swear we’re on 50+ pace.

 

[sabremike]

When you are playing like complete dogshit you generally get bad puck luck because you are usually in positions (ie: your own end) where bad puck luck happens.

 

[toddkaz]

Unless Levi could have scored goals for us and driven offensive possession it really doesn’t matter. We lost because we got shutout, not because UPL let in a couple softies

My gripe isn't with Levi or UPL my gripe is this team has no starting goalies(Because thats the message Granato sends), rotating 3 goalies for 2nd year. Benching top 9 players but giving Okposo 2nd line minutes. The messages being sent to this team are a mess.

Man Hathaway sure would have looked food on the 4th line for 2.5m

 

[Svedu]

I agree with old goalie. I don't think UPL was fully prepared and focused in on that play. Yeah, it was a deflection that ended up under/between his glove and 1/2 butterflied pad. But the deflection angle change wasn't drastic and I don't think he was properly centered.

And it was a back breaker.

Old goalie knows his stuff.

The 1st one off the head gear/old noggin was just a freak occurrence. UPL was exactly where he needed to be in net.


They came to believe their press clippings and thought the new season would be easy.?

Did you watch the game?

What about Power being shit in almost every game? Dahlin wasn't close being decent either. Not Levis and especially not UPL's fault. Oldgoalie is full of sh*t regarding this issue. Not a single D, nor this system would be acceptable in a national team. I promise you, if Finland looked this shit on defense people would demand the coach to be fired immediately.
You just have to see how clueless your D's are in almost every game. They can't even follow their attacker. The TO are getting ridiculous at this point. Call it what you want, sloppy, nonchalant or clueless. Don't forget that Power was nowhere to be found when that second goal occurred. The kid just improvises every single situation, no backbone whatsoever. Coach needs to fix that, otherwise it's the coach that has to be fired.

Not a single goalie would be super behind your system or your D's right now and that's nothing but the truth.

 

[MOGlLNY]

We get shutout and people are finger pointing UPL. Hilarious. Just hilarious.

I keep waiting to see signs this year that this team is going to start to figure out their new system on the offensive side, learn to push a bit and show signs of the team we saw last year.

But they are regressing by the week. Hard.

 

[oldgoalie]

Did you watch the game?

What about Power being shit in almost every game? Dahlin wasn't close being decent either. Not Levis and especially not UPL's fault. Oldgoalie is full of sh*t regarding this issue. Not a single D, nor this system would be acceptable in a national team. I promise you, if Finland looked this shit on defense people would demand the coach to be fired immediately.
You just have to see how clueless your D's are in almost every game. They can't even follow their attacker. The TO are getting ridiculous at this point. Call it what you want, sloppy, nonchalant or clueless. Don't forget that Power was nowhere to be found when that second goal occurred. The kid just improvises every single situation, no backbone whatsoever. Coach needs to fix that, otherwise it's the coach that has to be fired.

Not a single goalie would be super behind your system or your D's right now and that's nothing but the truth.

lol. You do you, Svedu. I don't care if you're related to UPL. The first goal was absolutely a fluke play; no blame there. The second goal was a deflection from well above the faceoff circle and he looked handcuffed on the shot.

The whole team looks like crap at this point in the season. Defense and forwards.

And the truth is we've been saying for a long time on these boards that no goalie would be very good behind this team.

 

[Chainshot]

No goalie wins when there is no goal support.

 

[kirby11]

Also, it's incredibly annoying what a shill Rob Ray is for the team. They get completely dominated the 1st period and he says what a great period they had. MSG is unlistenable at this point because they refuse to criticize the team.

I wish they’d let Marty do color commentary more often, I remember him being on a few broadcasts a year a while ago. He offers much more intelligent analysis as to why certain plays unfold how they do, how chances are created, etc, and it’s always interesting to hear his perspective on goaltender play. He also seems more willing than Ray to criticize the team when they’re playing very poorly, but will note relevant positives. Ray, on the other hand, could be replaced by a looped recording of “they gotta get pucks down low, they gotta get bodies to the net, they have to play smarter and more physical.”