GBU: Ole Yo Asses Home

Mattilaus

Registered User
Sep 12, 2014
7,174
5,443
Beyond the Wall
Absolutely awesome. Such a fun watch.

Good:

- Pominville steps up big... pucks to the net from wherever he can, good traffic in front when not in possession

- the Skinner and Sheary additions have changed things big time. Wing talent was nonexistent last year, now we get to spread out and put guys in better positions to succeed up and down the LU - and as a result, Okposo fantastic... ERod fantastic...Mittelstadt looks a lot more comfortable.

- still waiting for some credit to be thrown Risto’s way

- McCabe has been so much better this year. Big with the shot blocking, uses his body better. Better decision making

- Bogosian

- the PK looked normal again, much less of the T nonsense

- two solid games in a row from Larsson


Bad:

- Hutton...weakest game as a Sabre

- about a ten minute stretch of the first period, after the solid start and before the calmer finish of that period

Ugly:

- I would have taken Strazzobosco and Jillson over Scandella tonight. One of the more egregious performances I can remember seeing during this last while, especially in terms of directly leading to GA. Brutal game from him.

That second goal where he backed off at our blueline was baffling.

I will give it to Risto. He looked good tonight, solid.
 

jBuds

pretty damn valuable
Apr 9, 2005
30,876
1,449
Richmond, VA
Different take on Scandella....

Anyone hear the constant talking when Bogosian got the puck? It was Scandella. He was yelling directions to Bogosian. He even pointed a couple times.

That's what Hainsey and Enstrom did for Bogosian during his most successful runs. Bogosian struggles at defensive zone decisions and breakout decisions. Scandella is helping.

Scandella is thinking for his pairing. His derpy play started when he paired with Bogosian. I think as he settles into his role, he'll be back to normal.
His mistakes are unrelated to Bogosian, though. I love the chatter, believe me. We hear Risto scream REWURSS thirty times a period. But it doesn’t appear that the pairing is behind a lot of what we’ve seen.

Gap control is off (confidence)... decision making is horrid.

I’m not worried long term at this time. But it’s a fair observation to say he has been bad this year, with this Habs performance being the worst of the bunch.
 

sufferer

Registered User
Dec 6, 2017
3,710
4,458
Was anyone else concerned after Skinner got blasted by Petry at the blueline? He played out the rest of his shift like he was groggy and pissed off.
 

Mattilaus

Registered User
Sep 12, 2014
7,174
5,443
Beyond the Wall
Was anyone else concerned after Skinner got blasted by Petry at the blueline? He played out the rest of his shift like he was groggy and pissed off.

I was when the hit happened but he seems to be fine. Remember at one point everyone thought Bergeron's career was going to end due to multiple concussions.
 

CrazyPsycho

Elite Drafter
Sep 25, 2003
17,670
5,251
Wow what a game
Please dont turn back into a pumpkin
I forgot how exciting hockey can be

Also someone wake Scandella up
 

Paxon

202* Stanley Cup Champions
Jul 13, 2003
29,000
5,162
Rochester, NY
G:
- Perseverance
- Dominating overall level of play
- Jack was very dangerous
- Reinhart was making things happen, finally scored
- Mitts had some great shifts
- Dahlin is just continually showing more of his impact
- Poms cashing in, putting in work, and, most importantly, not being a step behind or weak on the play
- The Larsson line continues to beast out on the forecheck/cycle. They may not wind up converting much of that into production, but they contribute to wearing teams down while tilting the ice. If I'm on the bench, I'd love being the next line over the boards after these guys.
- McCabe is much better this season. Strong night.

B:
- Lazy lapses
- Scandella on many occasions - an unfortunate trend
- Hutton could have lost us this one

U:
- How long it took us to get this many regulation wins last season
 

sabrebuild

Registered User
Apr 21, 2014
10,517
2,770
Pittsburgh
I'm not naming any names for fear of jinxing it but there's a very injury prone player on the team who has been excellent since coming back.

It’s Bogo!! I won’t be held back by fortune. He is playing very decently. And for the first time they have a good player on each pair, with not total garbage partners, depending on blowyou or Nelson.

If Pilut can earn a callup around the holidays and transitions well, they could possibly have 6 actual decent to very good nhl defenders.....

Everyone was pretty good tonight. Scandella is in a funk.

Eichel was pretty close to how I would love to see him play regularly. Decisive and physical and playing hard. He tilted the ice quite often tonight.

Dahlin. I mean at this point I expect to see him pick off 3 passes a night in odd man situations and start dangerous rushes in an instant. He is efficiently physical and challenging anybody that is in his space. Super impressed. He does little things right all the time and you can see him looking around all the time. Adjusting, moving.

And I hate to be repetitive, but it seems to me his teammates are not focusing on feeding him the puck at the level he needs to blow up, once they realize he is their best option often, he is going to get rewarded hard as the trailer on rushes he starts.
 
  • Like
Reactions: joshjull and Paxon

Paxon

202* Stanley Cup Champions
Jul 13, 2003
29,000
5,162
Rochester, NY
Was anyone else concerned after Skinner got blasted by Petry at the blueline? He played out the rest of his shift like he was groggy and pissed off.
He may just have been gassed at the end of that shift. His linemates had already gone off. He went hard to turn over the puck, trying to make something happen. He seemed fine the next time out.
 

darcyRegier

Registered User
Mar 27, 2017
2,401
1,244
Jack was awesome. What game are you watching?

I missed the first but he wasn't the best player on the ice tonight, which is something that I've grown accustomed to over the past couple years. I saw him make 2 zone entries which very few guys in the league can do though.

I still think that his overall hustle and intensity level is holding him back from being a top 10 forward in the NHL at the moment. His talent is off the charts but he won't consistently use it for some reason.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eichittelharthlin

Paxon

202* Stanley Cup Champions
Jul 13, 2003
29,000
5,162
Rochester, NY
[...]

Dahlin. I mean at this point I expect to see him pick off 3 passes a night in odd man situations and start dangerous rushes in an instant. He is efficiently physical and challenging anybody that is in his space. Super impressed. He does little things right all the time and you can see him looking around all the time. Adjusting, moving.

And I hate to be repetitive, but it seems to me his teammates are not focusing on feeding him the puck at the level he needs to blow up, once they realize he is their best option often, he is going to get rewarded hard as the trailer on rushes he starts.
The team is definitely doing a poor job of getting the puck to Dahlin in situations where he is the best or at least a very viable option for advancing their cause. There are too many give-and-goes that gave and went. All things in time, I'm sure.
 

Montag DP

Sabres fan in...
Apr 4, 2007
11,854
4,069
...Maryland
What a difference since the Vegas game. These last three have been some of the best I've seen in years, and certainly the best three in a row since before Terry Pegula bought the team. Credit to Housley and the coaching staff for the way the team is working and buying in. If they manage to play this way consistently, playoffs are well within grasp. That's still a big if, though.
 

Revelate

Registered User
Apr 10, 2011
2,500
877
The team is definitely doing a poor job of getting the puck to Dahlin in situations where he is the best or at least a very viable option for advancing their cause. There are too many give-and-goes that gave and went. All things in time, I'm sure.

Agree. Mitts did a good job on Dahlin's missed shot attempt in the slot though. You knew he decided where he was going with that back before he passed it but he did a good job of disguising.
 

Ralonzo

Я хочу!
Nov 6, 2006
15,897
6,970
Virginia
Bogo basically played 2 positions tonight -- his and Scandella's.
If you add their CF%'s it's almost as much as Dahlin. They got caved in (well, one of them more than the other).

Possessions still die on Okposo's stick an awful lot but you can forgive it when that last one died into the net.

Sobotka has been a driver on whatever line he plays on. That's some found money.

Dahlin's game is more impressive when you consider he deferred so much to Nelson. I don't know why he'd do that but it worked.

Not to count chickens but Bob Rovsky has been the reincarnation of Lalime this season and Calgary just got drop-kicked out of their own barn.
 

sabrebuild

Registered User
Apr 21, 2014
10,517
2,770
Pittsburgh
The team is definitely doing a poor job of getting the puck to Dahlin in situations where he is the best or at least a very viable option for advancing their cause. There are too many give-and-goes that gave and went. All things in time, I'm sure.

He will build an aura soon enough. He already jumps off the screen from above as dangerous, but this first few months is getting a feel for what works and what doesn’t.

Really liked how he moved the puck on pp, despite the changeups Mitts was firing.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->