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It really is, which is why I wonder if it’s even fair to evaluate Ellis based on last night’s loss. An elite goalie would’ve been able to stop some of those goals, but still.

I mean, I don’t know what to say honestly Sidc, losing 10+ in a row, 18 in a row one season, is not merely a gauge, it’s an air raid siren with giant rotating red strobe lights to boot.

While this is true, it doesn’t change the blown opportunities last night. They were in those lanes, with wide open nets. And it’s not the first game this has happened.

Sabres

What is the jolt this franchise needs?

Wow, you’re being generous. I’m going with no regulation wins. 0-5-1

Stats are great but it’s obviously not translating to goals so they’re just numbers on a website.

Your top guys, Dahiln and Thompson, need to be at the top of this list... not the bottom. ============================================================== BUF even strength goal differential through 27 games = -17 BUF even strength minutes played through 27 games = 1364.21 exp+/- is a function of %min played at ES and team ES goal diff TRpm(team relative +/-) is the diff btwn actual+/- and exp+/- %min is % of ES minutes played ============================================================== Team Player TRpm GP +/- exp+/- %min BUF Mattias Samuelsson 11.89 25 6 -5.89 34.6 BUF Alex Tuch 7.74 27 3 -4.74 27.9 BUF Noah Östlund 4.76 19 2 -2.76 16.2 BUF Zach Benson 4.45 14 2 -2.45 14.4 BUF Ryan McLeod 2.65 27 -2 -4.65 27.3 BUF Jacob Bryson 1.37 17 -1 -2.37 14.0 BUF Owen Power 0.61 26 -5 -5.61 33.0 BUF Josh Doan 0.36 27 -4 -4.36 25.6 BUF Bowen Byram 0.17 27 -6 -6.17 36.3 BUF Tyson Kozak -0.30 19 -3 -2.70 15.9 BUF Isak Rosen -0.46 10 -2 -1.54 9.1 BUF Mason Geertsen -0.74 5 -1 -0.26 1.5 BUF Jack Quinn -1.36 27 -6 -4.64 27.3 BUF Michael Kesselring -1.39 9 -3 -1.61 9.5 BUF Jiri Kulich -1.80 12 -4 -2.20 12.9 BUF Beck Malenstyn -1.93 26 -5 -3.07 18.1 BUF Rasmus Dahlin -2.02 24 -8 -5.98 35.2 BUF Conor Timmins -2.53 27 -8 -5.47 32.2 BUF Tage Thompson -2.94 27 -8 -5.06 29.8 BUF Jason Zucker -4.12 19 -7 -2.88 16.9 BUF Peyton Krebs -4.60 27 -9 -4.40 25.9 BUF Jordan Greenway -4.98 13 -7 -2.02 11.9 ==============================================================

A losing streak would just cement their last or near last place finish. Not wining more than 2 in a row and not wining on the road is better gauge in my opinion

Our shooting % is middle of the league only slightly above average. Our High Danger Chances in the slot or close range are middle of the league as well, but have improved from 6.83 to 8.16 per game through November. So, to your point, we are moving in the right direction.

It's one thing I miss about Peterka. He is an on stick off stick shooter. Too many of our guys try to pick the spots.

A 3 game win streak would almost be parade worthy.

Here’s what I would do to level the playing field. After a 2 game win streak, the first goalie who plays enough to win the 3rd stays.

I just think saying the Sabres need to shoot more accurately is lazy. The problem isn’t the shooters skill set. The Sabres have some of the best shooters on the league. What they need to do is develop better scoring chances so they don’t have to always pick the corners (aka Tuch always “missing the net”). It’s happening because the open looks aren’t there. So he’s left banking pucks off goalie’s backs or missing the net trying to squeeze the puck into a 4 square inch hole.

Yes. Metrics are metrics, won’t argue them. My anecdotal observation watching nearly every game is that in the slot below the keys our players only occasionally snipe a corner or five hole and too often hit the crest or give the goalie a glove or blocker save. It’s about that half second poise before shooting, picking their target, and hitting it with a quick shot. As @Pimlach said, it’s about scoring goals.

Bumping

And with fuzzy rule it's absolutely asinine that a failed goalie interference challenge results in a penalty. You want to protect the goalies? Make the crease bigger and go back to the "foot in the crease" rule of the 90s.

UPL is serviceable.... IMO he's good enough to be a starter on a playoff team, but not good enough to get this Sabres team to the playoffs. Considering their recent play I was shocked when Ellis got the start last night. UPL hasn't give up more than 3 goals since his first game of the season in late October. Both Ellis and Lyon have given up more than 3 in 4 of their last 6 starts... since Nov 1st, they both rank near the bottom of the league in goaltending metrics, while UPL is in the top 3rd. It seems obvious that UPL should be the #1 moving forward.

The Dodo is going to become de-extincted within the next 5-7 years!

This assessment is quite fair. The killer is, if you swap having 1 really good (like able to be in end of season awards conversations if the team had better coaching and could get into the mix of playoff teams) D-man and lots of Q's at G with having 1 really good G and lots of Q's at D; you'd be describing fairly accurately what the team was back when the current owner bought it excepting for the fact that the FO at that time had gotten the team to at least the semis on 4 occassions in about 16 years which was light years ahead of what their successors have done. So, 13 years have been thrown away to be exactly where they were when they decided to tank for a generational player who'd be available in the draft after the 2nd year of the tank. Kids that weren't alive when the decision to tank was made are now teenagers and there is not one single thing to show for having done so all so many years ago.

Yeah I dont buy into this .500 not including games you lost in OT... I get it in the old days... when each team kissed their sister and walked away with a point... it is not a tie or a .500 game when the other team gets two points and you get 1

Philly - L Wpg - L embarrassing loss Calg - OT/L Edm - L Van - OT/L Seattle - W 1-3-2

Oh, yes, the game reinforces the immaturity of the team and how, once again on this night, the coach made some inexplicable decisions which ended up playing into that immaturity. Which, yes, it can be read into, unfortunately, quite clearly. Meant to be more specific as to how, and how much, adding Norris will affect the trajectory of this squad. Just like we shouldn't be (and nobody around here is/was, not even remotely implying anyone was) assuming that the Sabres will be one of the best teams because of how good they looked against the Jets with Norris in the lineup; not sure that it's fair to expect them to be just as awful on the road as they have been without him. The way how the whole thing snowballed, would say we still don't know how much Norris will improve this roster. (Providing, obviously, if he stays healthy for a significant portion of the season at a minimum.)

The league has no idea what goalie interference is. The coaches don't know. The refs don't know. Toronto doesn't know. The fans don't know. The players don't know. Short of punching a goalie in the face, no one knows what the rule is. It is worse than what is a catch in the NFL.

Thompson reminds me a lot of a kid that was on my one son's teams very often (was a very good kid with a really nice family, so always grabbed him when he was available when picking our team); he was big and a little lanky like Thompson and had good speed and good hands. He was almost always our best F and he always wanted to play C, but oftentimes played him at W because ALL he thought about and cared about was scoring. He wanted nothing at all to do with coming back deep into our zone and that was one of the C's 1st assignments - take care of our end and you'll get plenty of chances at the other end. Thompson says he doesn't care if he's a C or a W but he definitely typically seems more engaged when he's a C than when he's a W; but he's better in the Sabres zone at W. If he's playing with a guy like Tuch who oftentimes takes the C's responsibilities in his own end, no issue with playing him at C. Maybe if they keep Norris with Tage, they can list Tage as the C but try to get to spots where when they're lining up for FOs it makes sense to have the lefty at the dot rather than the righty. Not fully ready to break up the experiment of Norris with Tage and Benson, but wouldn't give them too long a leash either.