GDT: Game 45: Lightning @ Sabres - 1/12 7pm ET (MSG-B, WGR 550)

[K8fool]

What a weird post.

They will make the playoffs .. barely.. (I'll . not say jinxy things i'll not say.... etc.. yet still on and will honor those with memory beyond edit..)... just a young team learning what they are good at, and what they arent good at..

Sorry, should have quoted post that he responded to...

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Ref's aside (and yes, they sucked...)

Tampa knows how to put an opponent away.

And Scandella deflected that puck right to Callahan's stick.

 

[dortt]

Botterill has done a good enough job up until now. Housley needs to go but I have no faith in Pegula making the right pick for a head coach though.

Pegula needs smarten up and stop picking former players to run the team. Botteril stopped playing due to concussions (likely brain damage). LaFontaine was the same. Why hire someone to run the team who may not be capable of running it due to injuries suffered during their playing career.

We should stop doing things the dinosaur way and think out of the box. Go with some math wizard who knows the game well, but has never played, and make him the GM. Yes, we'd be laughed at like the Oakland As were when they went full math to buld their team, but they were simply ahead of the curve

 

[CowbellConray]

Not a game to be angry at the team. Second of a back to back with travel and against the best team in the league. We played hard but poor officiating did us in. The 4 on 4 should have never happened

 

[kirby11]

The Sabres will be out of a playoff position by this time next week.

Scandella will still be in the lineup.

CJ Smith will still be in Rochester.

Housley will still be the coach.

It was a fun ride until it wasn’t. Now turn to people who will ****ing matter in the future because they vets that are playing are ****ing atrocious as it is and wasting the year not playing youth while losing anyway is a special kind of ****ing stupid.

Preach

 

[CrazyPsycho]

I think the refs made that last call because they were mad at Eichel/crowd’s reaction. It was petty bs. Tampa was interfering like crazy all game with no calls, and they call that dive at the end of the game?

They always try to even up the powerplays..it was 3 0 sabres and was about to be 4 0 on the larsson call

 

[Fezzy126]

The Sabres have played 40 minutes of actual good hockey, and 17 minutes of absolute garbage hockey. But, despite that, they've been so ****ing bad in this third period that they deserve to lose this game.

Sorry, I may be pissed right now but this is a shitty take. The Lightning 'played absolute garbage hockey' for 40 minutes and only played 20 minutes of 'actual good hockey', and by your logic they deserved to win?

Get out with this nonsense, the Lightning are 18-1-1 in their last 20 games and are one of the best teams I have seen in my lifetime. The Sabres played a strong game and deserved better until the refs felt the need to even things up in the 3rd.

 

[TheStorm]

Besides getting Skinner, what has Botterill really accomplished. Unless you count getting lucky in the lottery?

Pilut acquisition.

 

[toomuchsauce]

Folks...19% CF in the third period. That's 5v5 only. It felt like there were a lot of PPs in the third, but there was still 15:00 of ES play. Obviously TBL is the superior team, but 5 shot attempts isn't good.

 

[Ace]

Time to look at draft guides.

It’s over.

 

[CrazyPsycho]

Besides getting Skinner, what has Botterill really accomplished. Unless you count getting lucky in the lottery?

He has done well with Rochester and cleaning up our cap. But to just sit on a playoff spot and not do anything to fix their deficiencies is not good

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

My hot take is the Sabres played very well but got outclassed ,,, A bounce or two.. They arent good enough to let up like they did after it was 3 2...

NO argument but it's easier to just say that Tampa's a way better team than the Sabres.

And we have a ways to go to match them and the rest of the NHL elite.

That's reality guys....

 

[vcv]

How about the other 14 of the last 18? Whose fault were those?

That’s on the team. But you know that.

Got a point? Sabres aren’t good enough to overcome a dominant team and getting f***ed by the refs.

For real, got a point or just looking to act like a dick?

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

The knee jerk rage seems really misplaced tonight.

 

[CrankyJay]

Way to elaborate

Not sure how to reply to most of that BS to be quite honest.

 

[CrazyPsycho]

Pegula needs smarten up and stop picking former players to run the team. Botteril stopped playing due to concussions (likely brain damage). LaFontaine was the same. Why hire someone to run the team who may not be capable of running it due to injuries suffered during their playing career.

We should stop doing things the dinosaur way and think out of the box. Go with some math wizard who knows the game well, but has never played, and make him the GM. Yes, we'd be laughed at like the Oakland As were when they went full math to buld their team, but they were simply ahead of the curve

Botts is the math wizard

 

[AustonsNostrils]

Pegula needs smarten up and stop picking former players to run the team. Botteril stopped playing due to concussions (likely brain damage). LaFontaine was the same. Why hire someone to run the team who may not be capable of running it due to injuries suffered during their playing career.

We should stop doing things the dinosaur way and think out of the box. Go with some math wizard who knows the game well, but has never played, and make him the GM. Yes, we'd be laughed at like the Oakland As were when they went full math to buld their team, but they were simply ahead of the curve

absolute idiot.

 

[toomuchsauce]

Sorry, I may be pissed right now but this is a ****ty take. The Lightning 'played absolute garbage hockey' for 40 minutes and only played 20 minutes of 'actual good hockey', and by your logic they deserved to win?

Get out with this nonsense, the Lightning are 18-1-1 in their last 20 games and are one of the best teams I have seen in my lifetime. The Sabres played a strong game and deserved better until the refs felt the need to even things up in the 3rd.

FIRST BOLDED: Yes.

SECOND BOLDED: That's why.

Don't blame the refs.

 

[Not Sure]

Anyone want to chip in for a fire housley billboard? Somewhere classy, like on the way to the stadium, right next to the one thanking Kyle Williams.

 

[toomuchsauce]

Pegula needs smarten up and stop picking former players to run the team. Botteril stopped playing due to concussions (likely brain damage). LaFontaine was the same. Why hire someone to run the team who may not be capable of running it due to injuries suffered during their playing career.

We should stop doing things the dinosaur way and think out of the box. Go with some math wizard who knows the game well, but has never played, and make him the GM. Yes, we'd be laughed at like the Oakland As were when they went full math to buld their team, but they were simply ahead of the curve

Yo dude, stop saying this.

 

[jd1970]

Besides getting Skinner, what has Botterill really accomplished. Unless you count getting lucky in the lottery?

He's repairing the damage the worst GM in Sabres' history left. From the farm up.

 

[sabremike]

Pilut acquisition.

But his player acquisition success rate is still below the Mendoza Line.

 

[Woodhouse]

Just wait until Tampa returns to playing their starters against Buffalo: Bishop was 9-0-0, .946, 1.36; while Vasilevskiy is only 7-1-1, .941, 1.66.

 

[Panthaz89]

NO argument but it's easier to just say that Tampa's a way better team than the Sabres.

And we have a ways to go to match them and the rest of the NHL elite.

That's reality guys....

We were better tonight that's reality and taking our best player off when we had a PP was changing the game.

 

[vcv]

FIRST BOLDED: Yes.

SECOND BOLDED: That's why.

Don't blame the refs.

We are fans and can blame refs all we want.

They are an average team. They played well enough to gain the lead. If the refs called the game properly then their chance of winning would have gone up signifanctly.

As a fan, who wants to see my team win, I am mad that the refs had such s huge influence in the game.

The lightning being the best team in the league is largely irreverent to how I feel about what transpired tonight.

 

[Howie Hodge]

Canes about to be on our tail as well

5 points back with a game in hand I believe....

If the slide continues, it won't matter, we'll fall well back of the playoff picture.

Not trying to be negative, but we look like we're done this year, too many flaws.