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Last day of vacation. Stayed in 2 different hotels just down the street from each other. A Ceasars is across the road from both. Pretty friggin' huge casino. Never bothered to go. Too bad wasn't aware of how desperate you were to place a bet. Might've been able to find a guy. ;)

I can't see betting on hockey, but I don't mind if you put stuff in the GDTs.

If we're listing up to five streaming options, which is a good idea, can we also list gambling options? I never know where I can blow money betting on a hockey game. I know it's legal now, but it seems so secretive--whoever is taking the bets isn't doing a good job of publicizing it. I wish they'd run ads before/during/after games, or have entire segments dedicated to gambling on sports radio, but they just refuse! So can we have something like "GDT: Leaves at Sabres, 10/24/25, 7pm, MSG, Wankr, Hulu, ESPN+, FukStik, DraftDuel, FanKings, MGM, ESPNBets, guy on corner of Grant & Ferry? Just an idea.

Well that's plain odd

I get the broader point but within that, Zucker did leave the bench and tonight he returns to the bench. Does that count?

Matthews has played in 181 more games than Thompson has --- and more importantly, Toronto has won 137 more games in Auston's career than the Blues/Sabres have in TNT's career. His team wins more, he's a prolific goal scorer, Matthews should have a bunch more GWG.

Yeah, all 3 sports are very complementary, but hockey and lax just scream proficiency at both sports.

While I agree that their defense looks bad on paper, a few reasons I'm worried this weekend for us (if you hate basic stats, don't read): -Our forward group seems to struggle in these "must have" games where we have a chance to put some pressure on another team that is down bad. We really need more from Tage, Dahlin and Tuch tonight, no ifs, ands or buts about it. In years past, literally every time they got within breathing distance of a playoff spot they'd fall flat on their face. Tage is public enemy number one for me in this regard (Tage only has 13 points in 19 career games against TO and is -4). He really seems to lack the clutch gene and kinda stinks against good teams. Would you believe that he has only 1 Power Play point, an assist in the last 10 games against them. It's something that has always worried me about having him at the top of our lineup, just doesn't match up well against a lot of teams with good centerman. One more stat, Tage has 20 career game-winning goals, while Matthews has 65 for reference. I know that doesn't paint the whole picture but for how many goals he's scored it's a bit surprising/disappointing to see more. -Toronto's forward lines still look pretty good. They cannot take them lightly by any means. Matthew/Nylander and Knies/Tavares are good combos. Don't forget Domi loves to score against Buffalo. Per a Google AI search, Max Domi has 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points and a +8 in 27 regular-season games against the Buffalo Sabres. That's frankly insane considering his career numbers of 0.61 Pts/Game but not surprising as he's an absolute Sabre killer. While it's never felt like Matthews killed us to me, he has 21G/33P in 29 Games against us, but is likely in line with what he does to other teams. The goal scoring numbers are pretty eye-popping still. Meanwhile Tavares (28G/56P in 48GP) and Nylander (10G/18P in 33GP) have had good success, with Tavares in borderline Sabre killer territory there. Why I think we can and should walk away with 3 out of 4 points: -This is the weakest Leafs team we've faced in 5+ years. Losing Marner is huge as he was often the straw that stirred the drank (8G/35P in 28GP against us). They don't have a competent replacement for him so don't let someone be that guy tonight. With their defense banged up (Tanev and Reilly out), we need to play a hard game and utilize the "dawgs". I think our newly formed PP1 can do some damage here, especially with Tanev out. -Speaking of the Dawgs, I like Benson and Doan to have good games again tonight. Toronto is the type of team where they can shine. I like Benson to get his first goal both of the season and against Toronto tonight (he's got 0G/6A in 4GP). Josh Doan has never played the Leafs, so he can start his reign of terror tonight. -Defense - I think our defense can be up to the challenge tonight. Dahlin seems to get up for the Leafs (14P/-6 in 19GP) and Power is from Ontario (6P/+11 in 10GP). Hoping Timmins has a bit of a revenge game in him haha. -Goaltending - Lyon is 1-1-1 against them but has really strong numbers of 2.06GAA/.927 SV %, which are in line with his overall play this year. I expect he's the starter tonight. We need to get back to taking care of business against the Leafs. We're very back and forth with them, which I suppose is good considering how much better they've been in the standings. Now it's time to take it to them and jump them in the standings. Sorry for the long post, was enjoying checking out the stats and very interested to see if our top players can step it up. They've got to be feeling the need to produce and need to find a way to break through the stick gripping and lack of confidence (freakin Tage, get it together brah).

I think it might be tough for parents to juggle multi-sport athletes with how demanding the single sports are on their own. Most of the youth hockey players I've encountered (from working at Pure Hockey for a while) were playing Lacrosse in the offseason. The best multi-sport athletes I knew in college where the hockey players who also played soccer. They were monsters.

Man, it's funny. We watched the same game, but I thought Ellis looked great. He was tracking the puck off of the first stop really well, which is something I think UPL is terrible at. For a team like the Sabres, most of the time a goalie making the first stop is a big deal because of how stupid skaters are in their own zone. That he was tracking the puck so well after the first stop is just a bonus. There were a number of times where the defense was standing around staring at the puck and he had to make a save, reset, make a save, reset again at side of the net, and I thought he was being very aggressive against the opposing players who were trying to bang rebounds past him. His foot speed looked real good. My only concern is whether or not he could sustain that kind of aggressive play over a long stretch of games.

There is more to be seen on Ellis. Hope he gets a game this weekend. But, have little to no faith in UPL as a backup. He might be able to get his head around being a starter, but have no faith at all that he can be productive getting a game every 3 or so. Georgiev is NOT good. They are committed to Levi playing in Ra-cha-cha this full year. Which, with Lyon the current starter leaves Ellis as a realistic option at being the backup. Most 2 game in 2 night stints aren't going to have teams with TO's firepower on both ends. They need someone to claim the starter's role. That appears to be Lyon, but the jury is still out. But they also need a backup; and for now, would like to see what Ellis can do there.

Yep. And they need to get this right. They don't NEED to have 2 spare D nor 2 spare F's right now (though that's what NHL teams run); run with the 3 headed monster for a month or 2 until it sorts itself out. Not convinced UPL can mentally take a backups role, so unless he outplays Lyon would be the expected odd-man out. Lyon-Ellis is the expected pairing; but not convinced Lyon can do it more than a month or 2. Adams has been ridiculously patient in the past. No need to rush this call. And getting this right could literally be the difference between him getting an extension or not. (Though personally hope he's not getting an extension in any case.)

Good. They can't get Metsa out of the lineup fast enough. MHO.

Moulson? Wow. Maybe wear that one every Halloween or April Fool's day.

Agree. But USA Hockey, at least through the end of the 20-teens (haven't checked their stuff more recently) was pushing for youth and early teens to NOT specialize in just hockey year round. Know a lot of families that ignored that advice and went hockey year round (and some others that did baseball, soccer, and lax that way too), but the guidance was to stay more rounded until well into post-puberty.

Looking to dump Spectrum and see I can get the Gotham Stream for $25 month (doesn’t include YES). Initially I heard it was very poor streaming. Any updated reports? Cancel anytime it claims so ~ $200 for a season.

They weren't aware I have Tuch in my pool and not Doan, so they rectified it.

We just lost!

When was given the opportunity for a free sweater, chose the only name that will never leave the Sabres family (have they TM'd Sabres Mafia yet?) - Jeanneret. Have since enhanced it with an RJ to the rafters patch. That one now only comes out on special occassions.

Speed up the harvest or teleport us off this rock out of the basement. Play doubleheaders.

I have an Eichel, Hodgson, Miller, Dahlin jersey, also a blank throwback. I think I had a Moulson too at one point. The sabres store did a complimentary name change for a couple after players left that had the same number. But yeah, feels weird now donning an Eichel after everything that happened.

I looked this up and per the app that I use sparingly... After the game there is a verification process that doesn't take too long along with 3rd party blah blah blah, once that occurs and the bet moves to "completed" that is essentially it irregardless of league reviews and changes later. They have right to make changes if there was a "technical error or bug which they state is rare. But otherwise it's locked in.

I mean... It's where you put your hands if you are secretly hoping for a fall, followed by a hip fracture and then months of rehab... So the family can celebrate holidays without pepaw.. Hypothetically. Not that I've ever seen anything remotely happen like that....

So four wins? You people are killing me.