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So better to let young players develop bad habits such as “don’t worry about play in your own end”? Let’s see them break these bad habits as their careers progress.

She will probably hate it. Will miss her friends and mommy.

I would say maybe but its been tried the other way without success and flat out incompetence so at this point Im still show me stage and I see enough "potential" even possible goalies coming... ps can see defensively these guys learning how to play 200 foot game because they dont have a good goalie behind them... if and when the Sabres get a good goalie this team will be really tough to beat... til then at least the games are entertaining.

Considering they were playing the defending Stanley Cup champs and doing so w/ 1 hand tied behind their backs (UPL), thought they played a very good game. Too bad the schedule makers didn't bother to check what else might be going on last night as there were a lot of STHers disguised ad empty seats. Guessing there were 5-6k in the building, but would believe any estimate from 4,500-7,500. They had chances, Olofsson hit a post in the 1st on the PP & Tuch had a glorious chance alone in the slot in the 2nd. There were other close calls, but those were their 2 best besides the ones they actually buried. All 4 lines, even the 4th line in limited usage (call the Okposo line the 4th if you want, but they're getting 2nd/3rd line ice time & taking 1/2 the shifts against the McKinnon line - so that checking line is the 3rd line at present), were playing well. Granato was definitely line matching more than earlier in the year. There were many TV timeouts that Mitts line hopped over the boards but then went back to the bench when the Avs put their 5 out for the faceoff. But figured we were in for a bumpy ride in net when UPL gave up the entire top of the net expecting Compher to move across the crease on their PP early. He probably would've but saw what he was given & took it. UPLs NHL days will be severely limited if he doesn't get the high shots back under control. A disturbing # of goals went in high. Don't know what they can do about the penalties. At least 2, if not 3, seemed imaginary, but the officials are looking for them & the Sabres PK (Tuesday night noted) is not anywhere close to good enough to give up more than at most 3-4 chances/game. They really need to clean the penalties up. Curious who drew up the play to start the 3rd. They had to have seen something on film to decide to try that. Unconventional, but it worked. Too bad they couldn't build on that momentum. Could go on about things they need to be better at, but they are cleaning stuff up. Frustrating as it might be, they are a work in progress. They're young and they were playing a superior team. They were in this. Clean up the penalties or put an NHLer between the pipes & they might have won. Do both & they likely would've. They knew they were playing the defending champs & played hard.

Vet coaches are far more likely to not use young players because of their defensive faults and instead play guys like Okposo and GIrgensons as the 2nd line every game.

So maybe hiring another HC with no NHL HC experience was not a good idea?

@JohnC, good one!

Goalie is still the same problem.

So, as I think @Brawndo pointed out in the GDT, Mitts’ line did much, much better in the fancystats last night with the insertion of Krebs at C. They had the vast majority of expected goals while they were on the ice. I think that may be overstating their performance, as Mitts in particular coughed it up a bunch of times and I don’t think the line had a ton of chances, but they also didn’t get brutally caved in like they have been recently. Cozens’ line, OTOH, didn’t do nearly as well despite scoring 2 goals. They were well in the minority in expected goals while on the ice and Cozens had a minus-2 while JJP and Quinn had minus-1. I think they were getting tougher matchups, and Colorado is really loaded, but they certainly had their hands full. I’m still deeply concerned about Mitts and VO, and very high on the Cozens line, but last night provided a glimmer of hope for Mitts, VO and Krebs and a cautionary note about the Cozens line.

They didn't disguise the cost cutting. They came right out with it. It is all in Terrys "efficient and economic" speech. They fired their GM for not buying into it, that was just weeks after endorsing him. We are a cap floor team and have been for a while, there is no hiding that. Costs are cut already. The pain is in seeing we have a good young core (Dahlin, Thompson, Cozens, Power, etc) and waiting for the FO to bring in some help. The marketing they do to hold the fans hope is necessary.

All bolding is selective. Go Bills!

Isn’t that what the NHL wants, a crap ton of goals? I think Adams is content with mediocre to average goaltending for the foreseeable future until a prospect like Levi is ready for the NHL. Whenever (I should also add IF) that happens. They will certainly win some games by scoring a lot.

I think you are confusing "won't" with "immediate" because Adams has started that process. We can argue he needs to speed it up or add other stuff but I don't think it is about not doing it. Adams brought in Comrie because his GSAE was great last year and for the first few games this year he was still good. Then Muel got hurt and things went to hell. We can say Adams didnt support the defense enough. Idk a fan who wouldn't argue we needed another NHL defender. What I am saying is Adams is making changes, you don't trade Reinhart for Levi if it isn't part of getting a goaltender. You don't sign Comrie if you aren't trying to make sure you don't have to rely on UPL, they clearly aren't sold on him as an NHL tender and guess what? The Comrie injury is really allowing that evaluation to move forward. Adams is moving slow in some regards for sure. I think he does view this as another build/evaluation/development year which sucks. That said, we have seen that Adams will move and make changes once he decides on something. He decided Eichel needed to be shipped out and once he got the price he roughly wanted, done. He knew he wanted Jack Quinn over Marco Rossi, done. He knew he wanted JJP and bam traded up. He tried to trade up for Kulich and got lucky he slid. He wanted more physicality on the backend and Boosh. He knew Samuelsson was a key piece and bam 7yr deal. He knew Tage was going to good again, 7 yr deal. When Adams decides, he moves. He tried to add Murray before Comrie, we don't know who else in the goalie market he tried for. Right now he can't move and that is on him, it is his fault for not giving us more depth. Now he probably has to wait until the trade deadline or over pay to add something. He knew that Sheahan and Bjork weren't what we needed so added Jost (who looks okay so far). Adams is cautious but the suggestion from you and others is that Adams is refusing to make moves, he isn't. Agree with his moves or not, but he seems calculated as opposed to panicky. I wish his plan was faster but he at least has a plan. He is adding specific types of players and when he can't add that player he waits. Adams didn't do enough to fix the defense. Idk if he could have done more but he should have. I think Goaltending will be fine once Comrie is back. I guess we shall see.

My patience has worn thin. I honestly think this was a way to conduct extreme cost cutting measures and disguise it by marketing it as youth development. That then buys Adams some time by holding fans hope at bay for a little while.

Hello Teammates, Sounds like another “same as it ever was “ game. Just throwing a better goalie in helps a bit for sure but they must improve the defensive system - the way they play. Better 200 foot play from forwards. More defensive zone face off wins that lead to breakouts. They can add a Top 4 veteran defensive defender, push 10 and 46 to the 3rd pairing. This would improve them but they still need the forwards buying in to defensive responsibilities. Need the coach to put this into the team DNA.

Oh for sure...this team is super fun to watch and oozing with skill from an offensive standpoint. Just need to be a LOT better in goal and a little better situationally on D. They have really cut down on the constant 2 on 1 and breakaways given up lately so that is a step in the right direction. Need to be a little better recognizing high slot players tho. That being said, they need better from the goaltending...too often they are straight up getting beat with clear views of the puck. It's really unacceptable for the NHL for it to be that frequent.

Which is an improvement in the entertainment value over our teams of the past that could not score. But ya, hope they win, though

The plan was if Comrie went down or Anderson went down, UPL would split the time to see if he is NHL ready. He isn't and the plan has stunk for 2 years. Ka is to "patient" (read stubborn) to fix the problem. It's abundantly clear that changes on defense and goaltending are necessary but they won't be made.

Remind me of the Oilers a few years ago when they would score 4 or 5 every game but allow 5-7 to the opponent and lose a lot of them.

Well, maybe we can win a few 7-6 games 🙂

Allen was interviewed last night after the game and 1) Was wearing a signed Ryan Fitzpatrick jersey and 2) when he was asked about being in Gillette ads said something like "I mean, I know the name of this stadium, so that played into me taking that job" (referencing Gillette stadium where the Pats play) lol EDIT: Also this happened:

Problem is outside Anderson, our goaltending hasn't even been replacement level. They are capable of letting in 5 to pretty much anyone no matter how bad the team is.

NHL has changed considerably in the last 40 years. Not an environment suitable for the overwhelming majority of 18-19 year olds, skaters included, to succeed.

Sucks that they lost but they hung in there with the defending cup champs the whole game. My only real notes are: - Mittelstadt needs to be fired into the sun - UPL not good - Penalties are killing them

Agreed, but given we're not getting a number 1 or number 2 goalie, it'd be nice to at least improve our number 3.