Post-Game Talk (GBU): Keeping the streak alive!

[Royal Thunder]

Eichel, Dahlin, Mittlestadt, and Nylander got points at least, if I'm looking for a positive.

Montour was pretty good again, he's much, much more assertive than all of our other D (besides Dahlin). So often the other guys (Bogosian and Risto especially) get timid and delay the breakout and all the forwards have to circle back and reset, which allows the other team to totally get set in defense. Now I fully understand that sometimes this is because we are changing lines, but it happens in the middle of shifts a lot too when we have clean possession in our own end. I watch the body language of the forwards and you do see frustration at times when they want the puck with speed and then have to circle back and do it again with less speed and less open space to attack

 

[Kyndig]

Dahlin fewest minutes 5v5.
Nylander fewest minutes pretty much every game hes played so far (10:50 tonight and has yet to see PP time). Every callup regardless of how they play barely get to play or is used to send a message..meanwhile Thompson and the vets get promoted even when they're f***ing garbage.

I HATE Housley! Seriously, it's grown into hate. If hes the coach at the start of next season Botterill and Housley should both be thrown over the falls. I refuse to watch another season with him as the HC.
There are so many losses this season because of his lineup decisions...hey lets throw Scandella with Risto...goal like 20 seconds later. Lets promote Thompson to Nylanders spot..turnover and goal against on his very first shift.

 

[wunderpanda]

i blame jack

 

[old kummelweck]

I think Housley saw Sabremike in his Tage jersey and had an awakening.

Was that a Thompson promotion, or an Eichel demotion?

 

[sabremike]

I think Housley saw Sabremike in his Tage jersey and had an awakening.

 

[old kummelweck]

I've been watching the opposing teams broadcast lately, just to try and get an objective view of the Sabres. One thing that was said during intermission between the second and third period was that the sabres couldn't handle the leafs speed. I didn't see the game that way, I see a well-coached, well-structured team that battles for every 50/50 puck, takes time and space away, and easily disrupts a predictable structure. Are the sabres still too slow?

 

[BananaSquad]

Was that a Thompson promotion, or an Eichel demotion?

Promotion. Sheary - Eichel - Thompson was on every other shift and honestly both looked good beside Jack. Skinner and Reinhart didn’t show up tonight.

 

[BananaSquad]

Jack can easily carry his own line. Whoever is coaching next year now needs to take Skinner(if he’s here), Reinhart, Nylander Mitts and whoever you add this offseason and make great 2nd 3rd line combinations.

 

[Deevo]

Maybe we’ll win the lottery?

 

[GrierIsGod123]

I've been watching the opposing teams broadcast lately, just to try and get an objective view of the Sabres. One thing that was said during intermission between the second and third period was that the sabres couldn't handle the leafs speed. I didn't see the game that way, I see a well-coached, well-structured team that battles for every 50/50 puck, takes time and space away, and easily disrupts a predictable structure. Are the sabres still too slow?

I think they have a lot of slow players in terms of Hockey IQ, plus a coach that doesn't know how to put a structure in place. I think the usual suspects of Bogo, Risto, Okposo, Scandella just do not process the game quick enough and/or think they have more time and space. We end up looking slow and get caught in our own end, as these types of players don't make the quick plays up the ice. Okposo literally did this four or five times last night in the early part of the game, before finally starting to play a little quicker.

It's a fairly major concern that needs to be addressed this off-season. We need to minimize these types of players, and add a few on the opposite side of the spectrum. I think we can ride out Bogo's contract, with him on the third pair, where his mistakes can be minimized. Risto needs to go, no matter what IMO. We need to get some value out of him before the entire league realizes he's one of the worst defensive players in hockey. I'm at the point where buying out Okposo is the only option. He's holding the roster back, and for every decent play he makes, he will then make three or four bad ones. His roster spot can be better utilized by hungry, entry level players going forward (i.e. keep Larsson as 4C and put two young wingers with him). I want him nowhere near our Top 9 ever again. Can we trade Scandella? Is there a GM out there that will take the chance that this year was a fluke? Pilut needs to be in this lineup, and we need to find a way to replace Risto with a more defensively sound player (Trouba). Those two moves alone could pay HUGE dividends.

Sorry for the rambling post, but I'm still so frustrated after watching last night. The Leafs looks like such a more strongly built team, with better structure and everything a notch above us (thank god for Dahlin). We need a coach that can put in a structure, and truly need some very shrewd moves and some addition by subtraction this off-season.

 

[OkimLom]

I've been watching the opposing teams broadcast lately, just to try and get an objective view of the Sabres. One thing that was said during intermission between the second and third period was that the sabres couldn't handle the leafs speed. I didn't see the game that way, I see a well-coached, well-structured team that battles for every 50/50 puck, takes time and space away, and easily disrupts a predictable structure. Are the sabres still too slow?

There's more to a team's speed than just skating. A well coached, well structured team, which then in turn takes time and space away, will move and make decisions quicker. This leads to the puck moving quicker, and creating a fast team. When you're a team that is skating into pucks and moving the puck into spaces that you know where guys are going to go into, you can beat team that just has quick skaters.

 

[sabremike]

This fact summed up the night perfectly: Sabretooth wasn't in the concource before the game because the team clearly recognized it would be a disaster with nothing but Leafs fans.

 

[BananaSquad]

This fact summed up the night perfectly: Sabretooth wasn't in the concource before the game because the team clearly recognized it would be a disaster with nothing but Leafs fans.

Yup it was all blue and white last night

 

[brian_griffin]

Only watched the 3rd. I had a beer too many before tuning in, so it didn't look too bad to me. The Nylander snipe was pretty sweet.

 

[joshjull]

 

[oldgoalie]

Not since Buffalo's first and second year in the league.
Amazing.

 

[Jim Bob]

Sabres Rewind: More Fun in the Defensive Zone

 

[Gabrielor]

This fact summed up the night perfectly: Sabretooth wasn't in the concource before the game because the team clearly recognized it would be a disaster with nothing but Leafs fans.

Crazy.

If they have the kind of awareness for someone like that, but no awareness as to why there was so many Leaf fans when this season ends (we’re a complete joke of an organization), then that’s some legendary cognative dissonance.

Pegula better give us more than a letter at the end of the year. I want a presser.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Sabres Rewind: More Fun in the Defensive Zone

I agree with some of the player criticisms here.

But why not have your players switch at the blue line? If Eichel takes Nylander, the whole pick play blows up.

This isn’t basketball. Man to man in the defensive zone is dumb. Go collapsing zone, protect again HDSCA, and make the opposition work really hard to score.

 

[Kyndig]

So Risto did everything right but +- am I right? Scandella also seems to screen our goalie a lot.

 

[hypaspazz]

G: At least we scored a couple

B: They scored more.....

OMG Tage!!, getting the puck caught in your skates every game makes this look like a peewee league.
Dahlin getting mauled, a whistle, and no penalty? If there was no penalty to be called, no whistle should have blown.
Silky smooth puck handling by the Leafs, S**tastic puck control by the Sabres.

U: With all the Leafs jerseys in the crowd I guess Buffalo is now the unofficial expansion team Toronto always wanted, hence the "Go Leafs Go" chant.
It looks like Jack is practicing his golf swing out there. To me it looks like he is on track to hit the sand trap a few times.
Bettman pouring salt in our open wound by matching the Sabres against Tampa in Sweden, FOR TWO GAMES! Is this idiot trying to get Swedes to hate the NHL or what?

If next season is a dud like this one, the players should rip the Sabres off their jersey and commit Harakiri!

 

[Icicle]

I've been watching the opposing teams broadcast lately, just to try and get an objective view of the Sabres. One thing that was said during intermission between the second and third period was that the sabres couldn't handle the leafs speed. I didn't see the game that way, I see a well-coached, well-structured team that battles for every 50/50 puck, takes time and space away, and easily disrupts a predictable structure. Are the sabres still too slow?

Slow thinkers, not necessarily skaters. They hold on to pucks for too long and it gets them in trouble or it makes them easy to defend against. Only a handful of guys are capable of quick passes that aren’t a predictable cycle.