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They should have left Leinonen in Finland for 1 more year.

For me it's the same thing as what has been happening a lot so far this year. They are just not finishing good chances. Quinn had 2 or 3 where it was him vs goalie. Thompson has 2 post hits. The Tuch/ McLoud play. Tuch in overtime. Kesselring had a free look. The defense and goaltending are keeping them in games, They have got to find a way out of the scoring slump.

And if Ratzlaff comes up, how does Leinonen get his necessary starts to keep developing -- swapping to Jacksonville? Or Ellis for that matter (who has now played in 1 game since 10/4 when he got 20 minutes of the final preseason game for STL and who never went to IR for his back tightness, so presumably he's fully healthy)? Tonight: an early battle for first place in the North as the Amerks host Syracuse.

I don't think they kept up. I think Alex Lyon goalied them.

What exactly has Utah done to be anointed “the better team”? All this fawning over a team that is a lot like Buffalo, a unproven group that hasn’t made the playoffs in forever. Utah is young, and they looked fast, skilled, and better coached. Buffalo got great goaltending again, or else this is 5-1 loss. Buffalo had 5 shots in the 2nd, and 3 shots in the 3rd - I’m giving the Sabres the benefit of the doubt, there is not enough firepower due to injuries. In OT the Sabres had the first couple of scoring chances and they missed. Utah didn’t miss their chance. It’s another loss. Get ready for St Louis. That is a poor team and that game is must win, as in 2 points.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6737460/2025/11/05/nhl-draft-2026-prospects-ranking-wheeler-preliminary/ This draft is very defense heavy. We need to hope, teams feel inclined to go after defenders. They said, Klepov is still my target.

Four of the last five games IMO

Well, yes, it would be good to not have Georgiev around. But why would you rather have Ratzlaff sitting on the bench in Ra-cha-cha rather than playing in Springfield or elsewhere? He's in Jacksonville so he can get the bulk of the starts. That is NOT going to happen if he's paired with Levi.

Getting a loser point when the opposition outplayed you is not a bad outcome. It tells you that your depleted team hung in there to the end. And it tells you that this team has more fight and intestinal fortitude than prior teams. Injuries are part of the game. But recognizing that two important contributors to the lineup (Zucker and Benson) were missing is the backdrop in this hard-fought game. There were ebbs and flows to this game where overall Utah had the advantage in play. (My opinion.) However, I never felt that the Sabres ever stopped competing. The reality is that the Sabres are a fringe playoff caliber team. Last night, they played a better team that went full throttle and they kept up. I'm not trying to be defeatist here. I'm trying to objectively evaluate the team that currently exists.

We started watching Chief of War on Apple TV starring Jason Momoa. It’s a drama based on the history of Hawaii set in the early 1800’s when the islands were separate kingdoms and the “paleskins” came to Hawaii. Most of the dialogue is in Hawaiian with English subtitles. Highly recommend.

If that was the case I would rather they loaned or traded Georgiev to another team and bring Ratzleff to Rochester.

Dunleavy definitely is a Yew-Tah. Is it a Canadian thing?

Yeah the Eagles have $9 mill in cap space after the deals. Not sure how people can compare the situations.

He’s killing this team. He’s been directly responsible for several losses. He needs to go to save the season and the franchise. I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life. He may be the next Erik Karlsson. The Sabres can’t wait for that nor do they need that. Get him off the team.

I would like to agree, but even though the cap in the NFL seems imaginary, it still exists. Not sure you get a $15M player with only $3M in cap space. Oh, unless you believe the AI social media posts where Ed Oliver is "giving back" $13M in salary ... lol

I think Archie might be on to something - seems like a system thing. First, Tuch going OVER the soft pick was dumb. The pick player purposely stayed high to freeze Quinn, it worked. Quinn was probably stuck, no matter what. Keller came around that high pick with a lot of speed, Quinn was going to get caught flat-footed unless he read Tuch getting beat at least a full second earlier. Even if he had, Quinn can't "step up" - Keller has too much speed and skill and Quinn would have been just starting to get going. It was a really good play by da Utes and probably something where the Sabres need to recognize a switch sooner.

How many times are we making the same joke?

What is a "yout" IYKYK LOL

I thought it was an amazing performance by the Sabres, who were clearly outclassed by Utah. Yet they frustrated the Mammoth all night and even answered with their own goal when they feel behind. You knew they were going to lose OT against those Utah forwards but it was still a quality "loser point" earned with hard work.

True. But I think part of the reason some of us are feeling frustrated is in the middle to end of October, They won three out of four games over the Panthers, Red wings, and Leafs, by multiple goals. Since then, while they have accumulated the loser point, they've actually left the ice as the losing team 4 out of five games.. with the only win being a shootout win... No actual regulation victories. Yes, of course we want them to make the playoffs in. Getting points are the way you do that... But ultimately I watch hockey to see my team win on any given night. That hasn't happened much lately.

That explains a lot. Do you have a trade partner in mind?

It’s actually kind of nice having to actually look up the last time they put a game in the loss column.

Absolutely not. First the public service announcement... This is a message board. This is where we discuss different points of view. This is not a place to gather a consensus and then wash our hands and say job done. Just because you don't like it, it doesn't mean that any critical discussion or negative opinions are 'biotching' Next, I believe I'm overall one of the more positive people on the team... At least on the margins. There is some to like, but there also is some to dislike with this team and again.... go back to my first point: That's what a discussion board is for. If you want to bottom line it.. They aren't eliminated from the playoffs yet... but as of right now, they have underperformed the rest of the league. Yes they can still turn it around but as of this moment.. they are a below average team. They are out of a playoff position. They have a negative goal differential. I'm not in the camp of fire and trade everyone... But certainly there are negatives to be discussed.

The Sabres were fortunate to squeak out a point with the loser point. A number of our players were out due to injuries, most notably Benson and Zucker. I was really impressed with Utah. They are fast but also play an unrelenting hard game. Both goalies shined in this game. Lyon is solidifying a claim to be our #1 goalie. Anyone who is a nonpartisan fan and watched this game would have concluded that last night Utah was the better team. On the other hand, recognizing that Buffalo was shorthanded in this I’m more upbeat than downbeat with the home team.

I’m not certain. Tuch was picked…gently, legally, but he was picked. I’m sure there are scenarios in 3 on 3 where defenders switch coverage. This looks to me like a spot for a switch. Who was Quinn covering? Also, why is Quinn trying to hold the centre of the ice when the only player to his right is Dahlin? And, most importantly here, Quinn didn’t hold the centre of the ice, rather he completely relinquished the centre of the ice to Keller. In short, Quinn looked lost. Anyway, it’s overtime 3 on 3 and the whole point is for somebody to make a play. I don’t want to beat up on Quinn anymore than on Dahlin and Thompson for the Boston loss or UPL for the Toronto loss. The real frustrating part of the OT struggles is that it seemed 3 seasons ago that we had a bench full of guys who thrived in that situation and could make plays like Keller did. It seemed we used to play OT fearlessly and now it seems we are thinking a bit too much. It’s kind of the Sabres’ story: we can’t put it all together. Score a lot and we can’t keep it out of our net; get good goaltending, but then we can’t score. We couldn’t drag enough games to OT, and now that we are we can’t win them.