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No Tuch gets criticism but my original post looks at the last man who could stop the play and that was Quinn. You want to dig deeper I laid it out including Tuch. Now I'm not going to say the goal is Tuch's fault because he missed a scoring chance, it doesn't work that way, but he did miss his man in the D zone. BUT, I'm going to add this. If you look closely Tuch is the victim of a near pic by Utah. I'm wondering if this is a designed play for them in OT. They cross on purpose and the other Utah player coming across leads to Tuch taking a step back. Is that just a congestion thing or is it on purpose? I'd have to watch Utah more to see if they try that a lot or not but it's a good play if it's intentional. So yes, Tuch misses his guy but Quinn is still in position to stop the charge to the net. You want to blame both of them I'm fine with that, but it most definitely could have been stopped by Quinn if he plays the man and not the puck (which is what I assume the stick waive was for).

I found this game to be really boring.

UPL has said he'll be starting tomorrow.

These pictures add a lot of color to the discussion. After seeing these, I would agree that Tuch was effectively picked when Keller circled back and that Quinn was in a position to see this develop and should have had the sense to step up and take Keller. Kudos to the UT coaching staff for putting together a nice play - looks like a pick and roll in basketball (except that there was no pass - the "rolling" player kept the puck) - and the opposite to the Sabres coaching staff who did not have their guys ready for such a scenario. Yet another thing for the Sabres to work on in film study and practice.

Kozak practiced and Ruff is hopeful he'll play tomorrow. Norris has begun skating on his own.

Arizona. The Utah games are blacked out here but I thought I could end around the blackout with a VPN connection. Plus, typically for blacked out games, the game is listed, but it is marked as blacked out. That said, the game wasn't even listed. I looked for it on ESPN+ on my phone, TV, and tablet and it appeared in none of them. I looked at "Live," "Power Play," and "On Demand. I even did a search for "Sabres" and got all previous games, all upcoming games, and highlights from last night's game, but not last night's game itself. This seems to happen to me once or twice every season - a game that undoubtedly is available on ESPN+ just doesn't show up for me. Very strange. I had never tried the VPN before for this, so I didn't know if it would work (sometimes they do, sometimes they don't), but never even got the opportunity to try. Given the blackout to begin with, I wasn't too disappointed, as there was only a chance the VPN would even work, so even if the game had shown up, I still might not have gotten to watch it. I tried it with the VPN on and with it off, and in neither case did the game appear. Of course, it shows up today (see image below), but it was nowhere to be seen last night, and I gave up and saw the result. The only good thing to come out of it was that I slept much better, because I would have stayed up a couple of hours later to watch and would have been pissed off to have invested a couple of hours only to see them lose in OT (again). I'd be interested to know if other Sabrespace members have had this happen - where a game that is supposed to be available on ESPN+ simply doesn't appear (but then shows up the next day).

Always need to throw daggers at Dahlin.... As for the pictures I agree, there was a pick play which effectively took Tuch off Keller Once the rub had worked and Keller was going in on Quinn, Quinn needs to step up on him with Tuch in pursuit. Not back away towards Dahlin who is positioned to cover the backdoor. Had Keller passed it to a guy who scored then Dahlin would be more at fault but Keller just drives the net. Dahlin realizes Quinn backed off and does make a last ditch effort to get to Keller but he's too late at this point. As with defensive play in general, when playing a 1v1 with trailing support you want to either slow or angle the opposing player away from the net allowing the back checker either time to catch up or cover the possible trailer. In that particular case it would be Quinn's responsibility as he was the "LHD" at that time to take on Keller; Dahlin would then need to adjust accordingly based on the potential trailers coming in. Ideally in 3v3 Quinn steps up onto Keller and sandwiches him with Tuch causing a turnover or at least no shot as it slides harmlessly to Lyon. Dahlin is trapped guarding against the trailer incoming; he can't commit to Keller unless he effectively abandons his position to puck hunt.

I'll be at the bar and the game.

I'll try to get to Union Pub but I don't know--I have a lot of stuff the next day.

I'll swing by union for a grab some beer and wings or something

In the first photo, you can see Utah ran a pick play or rub off to shed Tuch. Quinn is in no man’s land but he’s in decent position because he’s between the puck and the net. Why he nor Dahlin recognize what is unfolding until Keller is point blank with the goalie is troubling. Not sure if the players usually yell switch or something to indicate an uncovered player is coming free heading to the net but those guys need to react better there. Frankly, Dahlin and Quinn, for all their offensive talents might be the two dimmest players on the team. Constantly not recognizing things on the ice and causing defensive lapses because of it.

He’s not going to suddenly get more accurate. Maybe Lindy could tell him not to pick the corners so much but I fear the discussion would then turn into why is Alex always shooting the puck into the goalie so much.

Sunday, November 23rd, 1pm We are meeting at Union Pub beforehand. i would like a head count of anyone intending to join us at the bar.

No it's not even a Sabre record yet...it tied the franchise record

What game is it again? Can the thread title be updated with it?

Meh.. the Sabres need to try something different in OT. Ray made a comment last night about 5 straight let's you learn. He's not wrong. The problem is they are not learning. Quinn is a 3 v 3 nightmare. Players on the ice for the last 4 OTL games when the game was decided, Quinn has been on for 2 of those Utah: Tuch, Quinn, Dahlin Boston: Thompson, Quinn, Dahlin Columbus: Power, Tuch, Kulich Toronto: Thompson, Quinn, Power It might be time to NOT put Quinn out there. It's not working. Overall as I was reviewing this, if you've not reviewed the NHL goal visualizer yet, you should. Here's last nights game center - https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/buf-vs-uta/2025/11/04/2025020203 I find it funny when they show all the players jumping over the boards and the puck being shot down the ice. It's also a good way to see where players were at when things happened from a top down view. Good enough to get to OT, but they are not skilled at 3 v3 which requires even better man to man coverage on defense. And of course, you don't allow a goalie to play the puck to his own team.. kids are taught go to the net to get the whistle... why Tuch did not is beyond me.

What this team needs to solve “most” of its problem is for Tage, Alex and Rasmus to step up. There are other issues but them three playing up to their ceiling and they’d be in first place right now.

Loser points. Was the islanders bread and butter for getting into the playoffs for a while there.

EVEN though you're on this site?

It's just too bad they don't realize that "the end" means 65 minutes, not 60.

Yup. The Eastern Conference hasn't begun to stratify yet, but when it does these OTL points are going to be hugely important.

They just need to score. It's Science !

At this point you waive Geersten to activate Kozak from IR, not call someone up from Rochester. Then when the next guy (Zucker presumably) gets back you send one of Dunne, Rosen and Östlund back down.

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