Post-Game Talk (GBU): The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Welcome to our new Krueger overlord!

[Vito_81]

49 more of those and Ralph’s got a Jack Adams award.

 

[N.Y. Orangeman]

G: Risto and Sobotka have a good night around here. Earned and deserved. It is time to root for their success

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Bad: Might have to eat crow on Mitts and Sheary. Hell, even Scandella and Sobotka looked good enough for me to consider future crow consumption.

Everyone seemed to play to their strengths tonight. Sheary didn't look overmatched in the surrounding game and then he finishes his chances- neither of those things happened last year. Risto's outlets weren't amazing tonight as far as I saw, but they weren't complete fails either. Eichel didn't produce flash, but he didn't produce any mistakes either- that was more important tonight. Dahlin same thing outside of one well-timed beaut. Krueger killed it on game one game plan.

 

[dasaybz]

They put the game away sending 2 forwards deep and putting constant pressure on Pitt's D the entire 3rd period. When the hell is the last time a Sabres team did that?

 

[joshjull]

The scary


According to Duffer during the post game... Pittsburgh worked the last few days on preventing odd man rushes after giving up some in the last preseason game. Yikes.

 

[Panthaz89]

The team defense was the biggest takeaway of the game really.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

So that just happened...

Kind of had mini celebration and realized how ridiculous it was after one win, then sort of came to realize. This game was more then just a win. This was a must win. We needed a good first impression with a new coach. We needed a good performance against a good team.

We needed a good road game. We needed the first goal, we needed a save, we needed depth scoring, we needed a system of some sort.

And we got all of it. It’s one game, yeah....but could you imagine starting this season again like last seasons opener? It would just be so miserable.

So impression wise its huge. We just need to build on it.

 

[DatGuy]

Honestly, the main thing I got from this game is how terrible the pens are going to be this year.

 

[dasaybz]

This was a must win.

First game of the year

 

[WeDislikeEich]

I have to give props to Krueger. That was an impressive first game.

That’s the most prepared and organized I have seen a Sabres team in (what feels like) a long time!
And the most bought in, too! I can’t remembee the last time I saw an effort like that from every single player for the entire 60 minutes. If this is the brand of hockey Krueger was talking about that would be evident, I am really excited.

I was ready to make excuses for them tonight. You know, the usual “oh, it’s early. Give Krueger time to implement his system and get everyone on the same page” etc. I’m so glad I don’t have to! lol

I was really impressed with how they played as a 5 man unit all night. They smothered Pittsburgh. Pressured the puck all night, got in passing lanes, created turnovers and just made life difficult for the Penguins.

Pittsburgh made a couple pushes, but buffalo regrouped pretty quickly. In years past they would have let Pittsburgh take that game over. Once again, props to Krueger for not letting that happen.


I know it was only 1 game and obviously it has to continue, but as of now I’m hopeful that we might have ourselves a keeper in Krueger!

 

[WeDislikeEich]

I have a feeling that home opener on Saturday wont have any trouble selling out anymore...

 

[Wisent42]

Ok, after the viewing party...

The biggest takeaway was how much the Sabres system and/or adjustments just shut Pittsburgh down. It was the sort of brutal-to-watch game Sabres fans are mostly on the other side of as they get steadily strangled by the opponent, like going to a UFC to see teeth fly and getting Gracie school.

Freddie clearly saw something in Sully's system that allowed him to spring guys for breakaways without extraordinary cherry picking. I mean, guys with no wheels at all were busting free and getting the puck.

Ofolsson looks like a hand-in-glove fit on that top line. Has the niftiness and vision to fit.

Sobotka was crap the first period, meh the second, actually did some work in 3rd.

Dahlin has been seriously reined in, and it's probably to his and the team's benefit. But that doesn't mean he's not dangerous.

Eichel looked like a guy playing a role rather than a one-man-band.

Reinhart was the Sabres best forward.

Does Risto want to get himself traded? Because that's what being a big dummy will get you. But before that, in his new down-pairing role, he was highly effective. I'm torn.

McCabe giveth and taketh away but he and Miller were the best 2 on the back line.

I can accept Okposo if he's physical and getting into the danger zones to take shots that end up in the mezzanine.

Mittelstadt looks like he belongs less than Magic Giraffe did, but man that was a nifty pass on the first goal.

Waiting on the fancy numbers but eye-test says Mojo was a possession monster.

Conor Sheary: "Why can't every opponent be the Penguins?"

I came here to basically say this. Well, I may not see eye to eye with everything quoted here, but the general idea. This was an impressive win. Not because we won, but because how we won. With half a period left to play, we had basically made the Pens lose their will to play. They gave up. Not even the refs doing their best helped. It was beautiful.

Everyone carried their own weight out there, all the lines created chances and pitched in on D. The way we held the puck and the way we found calmness in our own zone and a way to play our way out of it and into the O zone. More of that, please!

My biggest take away from the game though, apart from killing Pens will to live, is this: Signing MoJo looks like a genius move. For two reasons.
1. He himself looked like a possession beast, which gives us some options.
2. One of those options was to move Mitts to the third line. Which looks great.

 

[Sabre the Win]

First game of the year

Yes, to get the players to fully buy what Krueger is selling.. it was a must win.

 

[dasaybz]

He was good tonight.

I hope good McCabe is here for at least 40 games instead of the usual 20.

I literally laughed out loud at this.

 

[dasaybz]

Yes, to get the players to fully buy what Krueger is selling.. it was a must win.

1/82

 

[JThorne]

If they keep up the pace of play from tonight, the season won't be miserable. But the question remains, is this adrenaline or is it sustainable? The player TOI spread on D needs to improve for this to be sustainable.

 

[Sabre the Win]

1/82

you fail to see the bigger picture and it has to start somewhere.

 

[dasaybz]

you fail to see the bigger picture and it has to start somewhere.

The bigger picture is this wasn't a must win game.

 

[GOALOFSSON]

you fail to see the bigger picture and it has to start somewhere.

The bigger picture is this wasn't a must win game.

The bigger picture doesn't include this season

but good win

 

[RecycledEichel]

I have to give props to Krueger. That was an impressive first game.

That’s the most prepared and organized I have seen a Sabres team in (what feels like) a long time!
And the most bought in, too! I can’t remembee the last time I saw an effort like that from every single player for the entire 60 minutes. If this is the brand of hockey Krueger was talking about that would be evident, I am really excited.

I was ready to make excuses for them tonight. You know, the usual “oh, it’s early. Give Krueger time to implement his system and get everyone on the same page” etc. I’m so glad I don’t have to! lol

I was really impressed with how they played as a 5 man unit all night. They smothered Pittsburgh. Pressured the puck all night, got in passing lanes, created turnovers and just made life difficult for the Penguins.

Pittsburgh made a couple pushes, but buffalo regrouped pretty quickly. In years past they would have let Pittsburgh take that game over. Once again, props to Krueger for not letting that happen.


I know it was only 1 game and obviously it has to continue, but as of now I’m hopeful that we might have ourselves a keeper in Krueger!

Although I wouldn't call it a must-win game, it was a really huge game and huge win. Players will really start to believe in Ralph after seeing results like this. And players who didn't like being a Sabre (willing to bet it wasn't just Risto) will start changing their mind about this team. It all starts with this game.

Hopefully they have another strong performance on Saturday.

 

[jcbeze]

TOI for the defense tonight was troubling

 

[dortt]

Risto at just under 24 minutes. McCabe with over 25. Yay for Risto, yikes on McCabe. Not sure you want him playing that much

the ugly. Dahlin with less than 16 minutes of ice time

Krueger is either in the clouds, or Dahlin is not the player we think he is. That's Rochester call up level of ice time

 

[Tage2Tuch]

First game of the year

For morale, and it means as much as game 82.

If there’s one thing that’s more bothering then the people who get carried away after the first game it’s the people who try to shut the people up as if first games and the impressions they leave don’t matter on your mind. In psychology I learned it takes roughly seventeen different meetings with a person you meet to erase in their mind (if need be) their first impression of you. This is a clean slate. This is a new start. A new coach. It means little to the standings but it means so much to players confidence levels. To trusting a system and believing thing just might be, just maybe this time around, finally different..... You lose tonight and it’s the mindset of here we go again. Do I really have to explain the magnitude of this further? I’m not saying It was a must win for standings implications.

There’s several reasons why it was a needed win which I pointed out above. Was it needed like the world is over if we lost no, but you can’t deny anything I’m saying either. In that room, in their minds....This matters.

 

[Revelate]

I wouldn't hit the panic button on the TOI yet. I expect it to slowly correct itself. I think Krueger saw some things with Dahlin off the puck and defensively that he wanted to clean up, so he's limited his minutes early on here. Expect it to grow and grow as the season goes on.

 

[Zman5778]

TOI for the defense tonight was troubling

The overall TOI for defense was fine, given how many penalties we had to kill versus how many PPs we had.

The ES TOI is what interests me. I don't like that Scandella/Joker got more ES time than Miller/Dahlin. Take 2 min ES time off Risto/McCabe and give it to Miller/Dahlin and I think that's the sweet spot.