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Eh, maybe it's just rust, but he had 2 knee on knee hits his 1st game back and had the shoulder to the Caps head (which led to Wilson going after him taking Wilson off the ice for 17 minutes and Greenway off for 7). All 3 hits were dirty. Were they intentional or mistimed? Well, Greenway's never been a dirty player, so they very well could be mistimed, but regardless of the intent, the outcome was dirty.

Last night was a player trying to score his 900th goal. That was certainly a draw. A few games back was the Maple Leaves. A lot of the fans were not home fans. But still, yeah, it is good to see a full house. That last nine games, they collected 72.2% of available standings points.

If you think of this season so far as two seasons, the Sabres got 0.000 standings points in the first 3 games. In the last nine games they got 13 / 18 possible points, or 72.2%. If the last nine games are what the Sabres really are, the get 72.2% of 158 possible points (164 total, minus 6 for the 3 game losing streak to start the season). That is a 114 point season. Are they the team that lost three at the start? Hopefully not anymore. Are they the team that got 13 points in their last 9 games? I find it hard to believe they will sustain that pace to be honest, but if they're more like the team of the last 9 games and less like the team of the 3 game start, the Buffalo Sabres will be in the playoffs. I said it earlier: The 0-3 start lit a fire under them. They started out behind, but they rose to the challenge (so far) and have played good hockey since then. Hopefully they fully overcome the slow start, and the Sabres that accomplish that are the Sabres we see for the rest of the season. Of course another 3 game pointless streak would wash all that down the drain. But I'm optimistic. The team is playing better as a team than they have in recent seasons. Upie gonna Upie.

Yeah I noticed that. I wonder how much Tuch really tunes into the contract talks or if he simply handed it over to his agent. He doesn't look like a guy who wants out.

Power seems to get the drop back plan better than Dahlin. Normally he is only getting one rush anyway but if he beats his man he keeps going. Dahlin did do beat the guy then drop back last night which is dangerous move. For the most part Dahlin has been doing it better this year than last but still needs work.

With respect to Ovi this was a back to back for him, so it was probably pre-determined that he wouldn’t get much playing time. I’m in the Maryland/DC metro area. If he wasn’t so close to his historic landmark goal, he probably would have retired after last season. I’m confident that this will be his last year because he is a shadow from his normal. As you indicate, no one is good enough to defeat Father Time. It’s never lost a game going against humans.

Greenway is not playing dirty. He is playing hard and attracting attention though. He took on Wilson and got him off the ice for a long time. That was a big plus for the Sabres. I like Greenway, when he is healthy he brings something we need. Will Ellis see another game?

The manager is an idiot. Yes, and notably last night.

And that was the best thing about THE lockout. By introducing a salary cap salaries wouldn't go crazy with an increase in offensive stats (unless it makes the sport more profitable, in which case the owners will also get more money and not just the goal scorers getting it all). The owners getting their lunches handed to them in the 90's CBA negotiations had a HUGE role in the onset of the dead puck era. And, in general, the owners wanted nothing to do with more offense because more offense resulted in more in salaries than it did in revenue increases.

My wife and daughter went to the Cold Play concert this summer at the bizarre new facility that Toronto just built out in the he middle of nowhere, the one with one road in and out. Many major logistics problems that night. Most people were stuck in traffic for hours going in and out. I can remember when Toronto was once the standard for large city cleanliness, efficiency, and friendliness.

As the teams were lining up for the opening faceoff, noticed that Ovi wasn't just not on the ice, but was sitting at the end of the bench right next to Rob Ray. He didn't take his 1st shift until the Kids Line finally was due to come on the ice and he took a shift, went up the ice and came back to the bench, right there next to Rob Ray again. He had 5 shifts that 1st period, 4 of which were against the Kids and 1 against Thompson's line. He rolled through with the other forwards on the bench only once that entire period (meaning he didn't sit next to Ray only that once). And he was out there for Rosen's goal. Oops, maybe only playing him against the kids wasn't the best of ideas. In the 2nd, he sat next to Thompson (Logan, not Tage) to start the period and then took a shift against the 4th line. He was out there against Thompson's line the next time and then on the PP (might have those 2 shifts inverted) then he seemed to go back to going against the kids. Only took 5 shifts that period, too. But he did stay out for all 2 minutes of the PP. Once again, he only sat in the middle of the bench 1 time all period. In the 3rd, wasn't paying that close of attention to his shifts, though when they got the back to back PP's he did end up taking a 3 minute shift. His last 2 of the period were VERY short and in OT he didn't take the ice until well after Dahlin and Thompson had been out there a full 2 minutes. As everyone saw he was technically their 4th SO shooter, but the puck just rolled off his stick. And in the 3rd, he repeated the only sitting with his teammates once and sittling at the end of the bench the rest of the time. Am not expecting him to play again next year. As for the game itself, thought Dahlin played better than he had the past 2 or 3 games. Thought Rosen was sharper prior to getting his goal than later, but he also wasn't getting to go against Ovie nearly every shift after he scored. Thought McLeod was better than he'd been the past few, missing the net on the shorty breakaway attempt not withstanding. Thought all 6 D had another strong game. The talent is the best they've had in a long time, but will give Wilford props, they've been playing well and the PK is out of their minds. They just aren't giving up many strong chances while short and didn't expect they'd get to that point with him directing the unit. UPL was awful through 60 minutes. So was the Caps goalie. BUT in OT UPL was that UPL we'd seen back in January '23. Not sure if it was getting banged up on that 1st rush when Tuch wouldn't let the Cap get to the front and the Cap ran into the net and the net hit UPL, or what the reason, but that was the best he's played in a long time. As he tends to get into and out of his head, would give him the start on Tuesday (and tell him and Lyon that Lyon will get Thursday's start regardless to keep them both fresh and to not see UPL reinjure whatever he's been injuring lately) and see if he can't get into his own head in a good way. Quinn continues to be playing the right way in the offensive zone and isn't being bad in his own end. Will take that for now and will hope he continues to improve in his own end. Surprisingly, Power did NOT drop the puck back on the PP in the 2nd when there was a Cap on the ice right behind him. Baby steps. Of course, in the 1st he'd been part of the rare Triple Drop Pass combo and was the star of that making 2 of the 3 drop passes. Truly dislike Seth Appert. Greenway is playing a bit dirty since coming back. Mildly surprised at that; if he can stop taking penalties doing so or if the PK unit can continue to be stellar, it isn't the worst development of the season. Still liking the 4th line's effort level. Too bad Krebs hit the pipe in the 2nd shortly after the Caps had done so at the other end. Fun game to be at. Don't recall ever seeing an OT where all 3 guys got caught on the ice for 2 full minutes and 2 of them got caught on the ice for another minute. And shockingly, they didn't end up getting scored on through all that. They hadn't played their shift poorly, they just went back and forth the 1st minute and then at what presumably was the end of their shift they simply couldn't get to the puck ahead of the Caps with fresh legs. And whoever had Byram scoring the winner in OT with Ovie and Leonard shooting wide (giving Ovie the benefit of calling the puck rolling off his stick a "shot"), go blank yourself, absolutely nobody, not even Bo's mother, had that on their parlay. Bring on Peterka and the Woolies / UTI's and get a 2 game winning streak underway.

Humans are disgusting anymore.

Nice idea, but there was no power hitter on the bench.

He gets a lot of flack here at time. He is big and sometimes looks unorthodox out there. Sometimes he tries to make a play and fails. There are 31 other GMs that would take him in a heartbeat. What he is not is a guy that can do it on his own. Neither was Eichel. Neither was LaFonatine, or Mogilny, or Andreychek, or Perreault.

It is different game now. Less nuances and less gut feel. Past strategy that relied on good defense, base running, hit and run, etc., is less and less part of the game. Just about every decision is traced to analytics and what the laptop says.

I am sure it would have been a thrilling game to see, unless you took the train in.

You haven’t even noticed his nose? That thing is just waiting to get Folignoed.

Any one got any thoughts on Jagger Joshua’s PIMs being way down this season. I know it’s early and maybe it just a small sample size but it seems odd for a guy who drops the gloves pretty regularly.

I can't get a feeling for Kesserling at all yet. Like nothing good or bad. Maybe thats a bad thing in that I don't notice him making good plays. Maybe thats a good thing that I don't notice him making bad plays.

Note, if you only got a loser point in every game you'd be 0-0-82. In the offseason, the GM would say "We were really competitive. We were a .500 hockey team last year." And the fans would tell the GM, "Go to hell. We never won a single game. We finished 10 points back of the final wild card and are drafting #9 overall." You have to win more game than you lose except in extremely rare cases as @bg17 notes below. When you do lose, get the loser points if you can. It's like in the NFL. In 2010, the Seahawks went 2-6 vs. the AFC West and NFC South... but the rest of their division also sucked against those like opponents. They won their division with a 7-9 record (and won their home playoff game). They then got trounced in the divisional round (they scored 21 points in the 4th quarter and lost by two scores) -- because they weren't a good team (yet). If they'd have been competing for the wild card they'd have finished as the 8th seed and 3 games back.

Do they ever score on anything other than home runs anymore? I don’t recognize that game anytime I turn it on.

Explains why his passes were off in the BJ game. Hope it's nothing too serious.

No to Power trade. Open to Bryam but I like how he is currently playing.

I estimate that Thompson needs to get 40 for this team to succeed, unless they get secondary scoring from lots of places. Then mid to upper 30s could be enough. Benson could get 20 given all that he creates. His shot is still not strong, but he gets in the greasy areas enough. He’s just not catching breaks.

Wouldn't say the crowds are bigger in general than they were last year at this time, maybe a bit. Last night was a sellout because it was "Hockey Fights Cancer Night" which is always a big draw as Roswell makes sure there are a lot of bodies in the building. Plus it was a Saturday night game which also draws well and it was one of the last chances people will have to watch Ovechkin play in person. Add all those up and you get a sellout. But WOULD say, the crowd has been louder this season, even in games where we've only had ~14k in the barn, we've been able to get loud at times. And, them winning more often than not at home helps feed the crowd participation which also helps feed the team playing well. Once in a while, those feedback loops work in our favor. 😉