Post-Game Talk (GBU): The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly -- Welcome Back Thomas Vanek!

[THE GURU]

Good:

Vanek- hodgson - pomminville line. The line just was on fire, pominville is such a glue to this team, seems like he's always in the right place at the right time and rarely makes mistakes.

Toughness- foligno, ott, stafford I didn't feel like the sabres were taking the hits all game but rather matching and amping up the physical effort.

Bad- Myers when he tried to move the puck. He seemed a bit lost with the puck on his stick.

Ugly- the refs (if you're a flyers fan)

 

[oldgoalie]

Couple notes on Philly, of all the talk of the Sabres being Miller and nobody else, I feel as Giroux goes, Philly goes. Outside a few players that were not with him, I really wasn't scared of Philly's attack. Also, do they miss Pronger or what?

Missing Briere, too.

 

[Paxon]

G
- having an entire room burst out laughing when I said "man I wish Leino was out there tonight."

My friends agreed when I said that but one also was all JOCHEN FRIGGIN HECHT WHAT DO WE EVEN HAVE THIS GUY FOR

 

[OkimLom]

Missing Briere, too.

Forgot about that. Still, It just seemed when Claude wasn't on the ice, not much was getting done fo Philly.

 

[McCauleyChirps]

On the Vanek breakaway goal, anyone see Miller yelling at Pominville to get the puck up to Stafford?

Brilliant. Miller was even looking at the Flyers line change.






or...he was just yelling that the pp was over

 

[heartsabres*]

On the Vanek breakaway goal, anyone see Miller yelling at Pominville to get the puck up to Stafford?

Brilliant. Miller was even looking at the Flyers line change.






or...he was just yelling that the pp was over

it is normal for the goalie to let the team know the powerplay is over and generally done by slamming his stick on the ice

 

[Myllz]

Yeah, Miller was just signaling the powerplay was ending. Vanek was pointing at Stafford, though.

 

[imyourhuckleberry]

On the Vanek breakaway goal, anyone see Miller yelling at Pominville to get the puck up to Stafford?

Brilliant. Miller was even looking at the Flyers line change.






or...he was just yelling that the pp was over

I think it was a combination of both along with noticing the flyers in the middle of a terrible and slow line change. Either way, excellent awareness by both Miller and Pomminville.

 

[Fire Lindy]

Buffalo had a 22.3 TV rating yesterday on NBC, most Buffalo has ever had for a NBC regular season game (Excluding Winter Classic)

 

[Ralonzo]

Was it just me or did Vanek look really really fast today, both times on his breakaway he burned the defender pretty bad. The second one, he actually outskated Coburn hard, who is a pretty damn good skater. I never saw that all year last year.

It's like there's a black hole at the opposing net that is constantly influencing Vanek's skating, whichever direction he happens to be going

 

[joshjull]

OK, was able to watch the reply on Game center.

Good
- VHP line.
- Ott on the PP.
- Catching Philly on second game of back to back
- Dude skiing in Miller home jersey at Cranmore.

Bad
- Regier - seemed slow to me lost every race to the puck in the corner
- Defense coverage in front. The left guys all alone in front all night.
- The second period.

Ugly
- After VHP, not much to speak of right now as far as offensive lines with Gerbe and Leino out.

Are saying they were the only line performing last night and after that there was nothing?

Or are you saying after them there are no scoring lines period? Because that would be a pretty odd statement with Foligno/Ennis/Stafford as our 2nd line.

 

[joshjull]

G
- Vanek
- Hodgson
- Myers physicality when the game was still tight
-RR on the PK was excellent

B
- Myers puck handling
- Kaleta does not move or think at Grigorenko speeds
- I like Kaleta a lot less now that a better version is on the team, I think he might be rapping up his time with Buffalo with Tropp coming up the pipeline

U
- having an entire room burst out laughing when I said "man I wish Leino was out there tonight."

Couple of things

1) Well no kidding that a 3rd/4th line winger doesn't have the offensive instincts of a potential franchise center. Thats hardly an indictment of Kaleta.

2) Not that it matters but Grigs is not as fast as Kaleta.

3) Tropp had a devastating knee injury that knocked him out for the season. He has a ways to go before he is back to the player we saw at the end of last year let alone bouncing anyone from the lineup.

4) Why would you like Kaleta less because Ott is here and is a better player? That seems like a pretty odd sentiment to me.

We should be happy that we have tough players with talent like Ott that can push Kaleta back to the 4th line. Why should want as many player that can contribute like OTT and Kaleta in the lineup as possible. Not get rid of one because they other is here. Also Kaleta is obviously physical but he is also a very good PKer and a strong ES defensive player. Something that is a valuable skill set in a bottom 6 player and is not part of Tropp's skill set or a lot of other players currently on the roster.

EDIT: And I forgot to mention Kaleta is signed for another 2 years after this one at a great cap hit for what he brings (1.25mil)

 

[Dubi Doo]

Couple of things

1) Well no kidding that a 3rd/4th line winger doesn't have the offensive instincts of a potential franchise center. Thats hardly an indictment of Kaleta.

2) Not that it matters but Grigs is not as fast as Kaleta.

3) Tropp had a devastating knee injury that knocked him out for the season. He has a ways to go before he is back to the player we saw at the end of last year let alone bouncing anyone from the lineup.

4) Why would you like Kaleta less because Ott is here and is a better player? That seems like a pretty odd sentiment to me.


I get the feeling you already didn't like him. Why else would you make the effort in the 1st GBU of the year to argue his time as a Sabre is coming to a close? We should be happy that we have tougher players with talent that can push Kaleta back to the 4th line. Why would anyone want to reduce the amount of tougher players that can play and contribute? Kaleta is obviously physical but he is also a very good PKer and a strong ES defensive player. Something that is a valuable skill set in a bottom 6 player and is not part of Tropp's skill set btw.

I'm extremely excited to see how much Ott and Kaleta feed off of eachother.

 

[THE GURU]

I'm extremely excited to see how much Ott and Kaleta feed off of eachother.

A kaleta -ott -gerbe line would be flying all over the ice would be fun to see for a couple shifts down the line.

 

[thefifagod]

I thought the ice was pretty bad again last night. I knew the game would be a bit sloppy but I think the ice was a big factor there.

 

[Myllz]

I thought the ice was pretty bad again last night. I knew the game would be a bit sloppy but I think the ice was a big factor there.

I didn't see the puck rolling or flipping all that much, just a number of rusty players not used to playing with each other yet.

 

[thefifagod]

I didn't see the puck rolling or flipping all that much, just a number of rusty players not used to playing with each other yet.

I could be wrong, just my observation being there. Rust was certainly a factor as well.

 

[Woodhouse]

I'd like to see them get ahead by 2 earlier in a game so they aren't paranoid about putting Grigorenko on the ice in a tight game. If he's sitting, it's not helping him.

I'd like to see him get more of the puck, so he has the chance to make some plays. I'm not worried about his ice time.

 

[joshjull]

I'd like to see him get more of the puck, so he has the chance to make some plays. I'm not worried about his ice time.

In many situations he was unable to get to the puck yesterday when he was near it. Thats not on his linemates or how much ice time he gets. Thats on him to win more 1 on 1 battles.

 

[Woodhouse]

In many situations he was unable to get to the puck yesterday when he was near it. Thats not on his linemates or how much ice time he gets. Thats on him to win more 1 on 1 battles.

It wasn't meant to be a criticism of Grigorenko, Ruff and/or linemates, but more of a hypothetical that if he finds the puck on his stick more, we'll see more plays out of him. He didn't have that much puck possession in game one and all I was trying to say is that I'd like to see him with more in the time he gets as opposed to rushing him into an increased role/TOI.

 

[Ralonzo]

In many situations he was unable to get to the puck yesterday when he was near it. Thats not on his linemates or how much ice time he gets. Thats on him to win more 1 on 1 battles.

I'm watching the replay and early in the 3rd he had a shift where he identified his defensive assignment in the low slot and got to him, a shot came through and went to an uncovered flyer on the other side of the net who fumbled it. He got across, took the puck, skated it to the wall out of trouble and took the hit in order to clear the puck out of the zone.

That's the stuff I saw out of Grigo that made me smile.

 

[joshjull]

I'm watching the replay and early in the 3rd he had a shift where he identified his defensive assignment in the low slot and got to him, a shot came through and went to an uncovered flyer on the other side of the net who fumbled it. He got across, took the puck, skated it to the wall out of trouble and took the hit in order to clear the puck out of the zone.

That's the stuff I saw out of Grigo that made me smile.

For a kid his age he was pretty aware of his defensive responsibilities and that was great to see.

 

[joshjull]

It wasn't meant to be a criticism of Grigorenko, Ruff and/or linemates, but more of a hypothetical that if he finds the puck on his stick more, we'll see more plays out of him. He didn't have that much puck possession in game one and all I was trying to say is that I'd like to see him with more in the time he gets as opposed to rushing him into an increased role/TOI.

I know. My response was more to the general idea that he needs to be force-fed PP ice time or more ice time in general. As he gets more confident he will be more aggressive trying to take the puck away and then he will obviously have it on his stick more.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

For a kid his age he was pretty aware of his defensive responsibilities and that was great to see.

I think it speaks to his work ethic. He wants to be great at all ends of the ice. And he works hard to get there, just as he has for pretty much everything else.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

G
-VHP
-Miller
-immediate response to people touching Miller inappropriately

B
- last 2 mins