The Sabres are one of the best teams in the league, and Jack Eichel still doesn’t get any love
- Thread starter MMC
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Remake Home Alone with him and Trotz as the burglars. Possibly dye Gaudreau's hair for Macauley Culkin character.
John Eichel da GOAT
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They are an amazing offensive team, yes. Best "top 9" in the history of the world as a matter of fact, but that defense is comparable to Buzz's girlfriend on Home Alone. Come playoff time, I expect the Leafs to fold hard against a big boy D squad like the Lightning or whichever of the Preds/Jets comes out of the West.
I dont hate the Leafs at all, nor the Sabres. Sabres are headed in the right direction. The Leafs remind me of the Blackhawks at this point without having the Cup wins to show for it.
Without Ullmark making 4 or 5 huge saves last night that game was blowout. I'd garner the leads jave a higher % of dangerous shots compared to most.
sabremike
Friend To All Giraffes And Lindy Ruff
My team played in a different time zone the night before. You saw I was giving you guys a compliment, would it kill you to show some class and give us credit for giving you guys a tough battle?
The Sabers played well, doesnt mean the Leafs didnt jave a bad game. Its a fact, why sugar coat it? Back to backs happen to all teams, and you were in a 1 hour time change. The Sabers are ahead of where they should be, but still not Leafs level and that's ok for now.
So much cringe I don’t know where to begin man but it’s clear you’ve painted a picture with your earlier post not necessarily the one I’m quoting saying “they finally played a real team last night against the preds”, I’m pretty sure that Winnipeg and Minnesota have two arenas where last season and this season, did I don’t know, a combined ten teams win in those arenas in regulation? Buffalo did it two weeks ago on back to back nights. Are they not playoff teams?,.... and buffalo won on back to back nights, they even won in regulation coming back from down 2-0 to beat the wild 3-2. I guess that doesent count? How can you even suggest the sabres are getting “lucky” and all the bounces when 13 of there last 14 games were decided by one goal. They have four, yes just four regulation losses in their last 21 games! Oh and those two wins I just eluded to above over the jets and wild, they even beat Tampa bay right before that As well. Are they not a real team? Then when the streak got snapped and buffalo lost for the first time in 11 games to Tampa (barely) it was by one goal 5-4 on the road where buffalo even had a 4-3 lead in the third. Not a bad way to lose considering tampa is indeed that good, and had beaten them the week prior. Then against these two other great teams in Nashville and Toronto losing on back to back nights against Yet AGAIN both by one goal. Infact after winning ten in a row the sabres have lost the last four 0-2-2 ALL by one goal in every single game.
So this whole getting lucky narrative is so far from the truth, we even were the tired team and Toronto didn’t even outshoot buffalo in one of the four periods yesterday. Not one. So who’s the lucky one here? I’m not doubting Toronto is a lot better then buffalo because they are but this delusion you and seemingly only you have created that buffalo is just a fluke team that got lucky for a week or two is so far off. Are they top of the league good, top five team good? Of course not.
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You can believe this all you want, and make no mistake here, the team is not contenders yet by a long shot but to just dismiss success and say they have gotten lucky and caught every team they beat on off nights, all bad teams and finally played a good team the last two games is so far from the truth. It sounds more what you want the truth to be rather then what it is.
That’s the difference here, no one is saying the sabres are better then the leafs or even in their tier, but they are improving whether you like it or not.
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People don't get how dominant he is. Always the most impactful player on the ice. Controls the pace. Are we going to suddenly act like Jeff Skinner is a superstar? Eichel has always been on par with every young player besides 97, some people were just too stupid and stubborn to see it. If he can do this with Skinner, imagine what he could do with Nylander, Marner, Tavares and Kadri.
Matthews has only played with one of those guys for a significant period of time. He put up high-end production even when playing with Hyman and Brown as a 19-year-old rookie. Babcock has never stacked Matthews 5v5 line, and has only put him on the clear top PP this year.
I really, really enjoy watching dahlin play hockey. Can’t wait to see what he’s doing to the league in 3 or 4 seasons...
Eichel was unreal and has been unreal this entire season, but that defenceman you guys have is the true gem
Eichel was unreal and has been unreal this entire season, but that defenceman you guys have is the true gem
Matthews still obviously benefits from their presence. With Buffalo, if you stop Eichel you win. Teams can devote all their resources to it.
sabremike
Friend To All Giraffes And Lindy Ruff
I am well aware we aren't at the level of the Leafs or Tampa. I have no expectations whatsoever of a top 2 finish because they are literally 2 of the top 3 teams in the entire league. My concern is Boston and the Habs and finishing top 4. Even a top 5 finish would probably send us to the playoffs with the Metro being so terrible.
And Eichel gets more ice-time and opportunity with his teams best players due to this. It is not as simple as you laid out. Matthews most common line-mates are Marleau and Kapanen.
LeftBackLegend
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And before they were Nylander and hyman/brown.
Matthews played over 23 minutes last night, but you’re correct. I even went into the leafs forum and said Matthews is better then Eichel for sure. He’s got such a clutch mentality which is why it’s so surprising Boston almost completely shut him
Down over seven games. But with Eichel improving his defensive game drastically since taking over as captain (plus 9 after being -20) killing the odd penalty, Takeaways in front of his net, backchecking due to his strides crossing over into his end, with swift plays in the neutral zone, he is becoming a more complete player and the gap is closer. I’d say Mitch Marner and Eichel are very comparable this year, they’ve almost had identical seasons.
Who’s fishing for this? Is the OP even a sabres fan? I don’t think he is.
You can look at it as four straight losses, which it is .....but all were cloze, all by one goal, went 0-2-2 against the best three teams in the NHL in those four games, and buffalo had just won ten in a row before it with 7 of them by one goal, And in the past 22 games have lost just four times in regulation. (6 overall) It’s pretty impressive, don’t see why some try and downplay things so much.
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The Hanging Jowl
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So talk about him more then. I have no problem agreeing Buffalo looks VERY good right now and Jacl Eichel is a premier talent in the NHL. But if you're expecting me to start threads about him or your team, well, sorry.
Mattilaus
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LeftBackLegend
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sabremike
Friend To All Giraffes And Lindy Ruff
