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At this point you waive Geersten to activate Kozak from IR, not call someone up from Rochester.

Are you in the Utah market by any chance? I had the game on ESPN+ last night.

I don't know. But fighting hard in every game right down to the end is good for them, They just need to start coming out on top of these games

I was not able to see last night's game. I'm out of market and for some reason, it was not one of the available games on ESPN+. I don't have NHL Network, but I checked online and it wasn't one of their games either, so not sure what the deal was....I was able to see the replay of the OT winning goal and, of course, I'm frustrated to see a Utah player weaving around, through, and by all 3 Sabres to win the game. I don't have any context to what happened before that. What I do know is that the Sabres often get chances to win the game in OT - breakaways, 2 on 1s, 3 on 1s, etc. and can't bury the chance, whereas other teams get one opportunity and the game is over (with the exception of the Washington game in which UPL - of all players - stood tall in OT). Clearly, Tuch lost his man on the spin move and Quinn was not ready to pick him up. I'm assuming that, after all the bad OT losses recently, the Sabres players were instructed to "stay with their man" which may be why Quinn didn't step up and Dahlin wasn't able to pick up Keller either. They were presumably "shadowing" their guys while Keller was Tuch's responsibility. While it doesn't look like it would have broken this way, had Quinn and/or Dahlin stepped up to take Keller, maybe one of the other two Utah players is uncovered, jumps into the play, takes a pass from Keller and they score the winning goal? Speculation and conjecture at this point. It sounds like Lyon played a hell of a game and stole a point. Given the injuries and the fact that Utah has been good so far, maybe that's not a terrible result. On to St. Louis.

they did. The good news is that they are finding ways to not lose in regulation, but for some reason don't seem to handle the pressure of OT very well.

The first thing Granato did was to have his best faceoff man at the time (Mitts) take the faceoff to win possession. Mitts would skate off the ice and be replaced by a faster skater. It was all about possession and holding for a breakdown. They would wear the other team down and trap them until they got a really good chance. It was a novel concept at the time and other teams started to copy it. Not having Norris hurts 3 on 3 a lot. He is the best faceoff man we have, he is very fast and can finish his shots. This also huts the power play because of the faceoff issue. Last I looked we were the worst faceoff team in the NHL. Bottom line though the shooting has to get better all around. Just not finishing enough chances.

I thought they said on the broadcast last night that it tied the team record.

I wouldn’t do this. If any team knows his weaknesses, it’s the Blues. Put UPL in there; it sends a subtle message to him.

You are on a anti-Ruff Crusade. He is one the the better players on team. Not a perfect player, but he brings a lot and he is far from being a problem on this team. Tuch Shooting Percentage - Career: 12.4% 2024-2025 season: 18.3% (82 games, 36 goals) 2023-2024 season: 11.5% (75 games, 22 goals) 2022-2023 season: 16.5% (74 games, 36 goals) 2021-2022 season: 8.6% (50games, 12 goals) Now factor in hits, blocked shots, PK, leadership/toughness.

I'm TIED up at the moment..

I'm a big fan of Kozak and have been since he flat-out stonewalled Rempe in the WHL. I still think at the moment he's a 13 -- perfect to fill in up-and-down the lineup in the bottom 9. By the trade deadline this season, though, he could be a legitimate 4C who can still float up the lineup. He could make Krebs expendable. He's got to get the FO% up while he's on this 2-year contract. Kozak's biggest issue thus far has been staying healthy (even in the AHL).

Stenlund and Vanecek got theirs with Panthers also

If Tuch only had a bit more accuracy on his shot. I dare to say, no one misses the net on high danger chances more than him

I thought maybe Marino was older and had been with Pitt as a 7 or something (like Ruhwedel) and maybe Vanecek was older and had been Washington's backup... but they are not. But at least four in Sergachev, Maata, Schmidt, and Cole. Their entire backend.

I want to see Ellis again. Maybe his former team knows how to expose him? Maybe he steps up and beats them? It adds a bit of intrigue. Or Ruff could just play UPL and hope that he does ok.

I think people blame Power too much. I pointed out a few games ago.. power was on the ice and a goal was scored against the sabr.. when if you break down the replay he was the actual only player on that entire side of the ice that played it correctly. So yeah, I agree. There are people who have it out for power that will just blame him for things that aren't even his fault if he was anywhere near something bad that happens. Quinn, on the other hand, I have been very tough on and I believe he fully deserves it. He has played somewhat better this year... But still not a complete game. Last year, however, I truly think he may have been the worst forward in the NHL of guys who played a regular shift in their top 9 around the league. Tuch is good, he is solid all around, he plays a complete game. He's not perfect though, he does make mistakes And he does have bad games.

They were better last season even. Maybe the Granato hadn't worn off yet.

Ok so why did your original post only blame Quinn? if Tuch converted on any of his two glorious chances (including a wide open net). This conversation doesn't even happen my point is, for many on this board the fingers are always pointed at Quinn and Power. On a night like last night a guy like Tuch shouldn't be above criticism. Ok but your replacement can not be Bryson

Agree. While it is fun seeing Rosen, Östlund, and Dunne all contribute, their presence says we are running very thin, especially with Geertsen out there as well. Kulich adds scoring punch and I think Kozak was becoming a very solid contributor in his own right. Kozak might be the shut down forward we have been looking for.

Utah might seem like a young team but how many Stanley cup winners do they have on their roster?

Agree with you, screams third line center, very typically Finnish. WJC will show if he has some offense in him.

Let's hope we get Kulich and Kozak back.

The Google AI on my phone says the old record was 4 in a row by Edmonton. Can anyone confirm this?

The Blues beat Edmonton at home on Monday and then went on the road. They play the Caps tonight and the Sabres in a back to back tomorrow. This should be advantage Buffalo.

Utah is 5th in xGF% at 5v5 and 11th in xG, they’re 10th in xGF% in all situations and again 11th in xG. For those that don’t value analytics, they’re 9-4, in 3rd place in the West and have a +9 goal differential, which is 5th in the entire league. They’re a better version of the ‘22-‘23 Sabres. It’s a fast and extremely talented forward group that can score all over the ice, except they’re more rounded and more analytically (defensively) sound. I understand a lot of the reasons to not trust the Sabres in this thread, but bashing Utah as if they’re some bottom feeder is certainly not one of them EDIT: Just to add, if your counter-argument to this is that they’re unproven and it may just be a hot start — it’s still just that, a hot start. The Sabres took an ugly game that they didn’t belong in against a hot team, top 5 hottest in the league to be exact, and without 5 of their top 12 forwards they overcame a poor performance with mismatched talent all over the ice and forced OT to steal a point. Again, let me repeat they did it with a decimated roster and against a (currently) top 5 team in the league. The OT struggles are getting a bit concerning and frustrating, but it’s like the drought is making a lot of people miss this start for what it is. They’re playing hockey right now that passes the eye test AND the analytic test, they’re on an 88 point pace on the season despite starting 0-3, and they’re 5-1-4 with a 114 point pace in the L10. They’re playing good system hockey, and albeit losing multiple OT games, they’re picking up loser points along the way. This is all while missing over 50% of their roster over various points of the season. Let them keep scrapping and staying afloat in the race, even if that means racking up loser points, and see if they can put it all together and get hot when they finally have what resembles an NHL roster with guys getting healthy. They’ve earned some patience with the start so far this year. EDIT 2: One last edit, they’re also doing all this with Tage and Dahlin (and imo Tuch) playing well below what we’ve come to expect from them and what they’re capable of.