Taro T

Pretty sure PP needs a new coach. But that ship has salied for this season. (And yes, these units weren't anything at all like what they'll be next week. But these fill ins can't execute a zone entry to save their lives on the PP which is the exact same issue the real units had last year.)

Pretty sure 3 goalies, 15 F's (not including injured Quinn and Savoie), and 9 D (the starting 6 plus Stillman, Clague, and Johnson). Don't believe anybody else is still up with the 3 Amerk F's getting sent down this afternoon.

Expecting at least a fair amount of Clifton and Tuch looking not good, to be polite, is them not having played at all in the preseason yet. (Wasn't Tuch a day of scratch in the 1 game he was scheduled to play?)

Is the answer Benson? Because it feels like Benson. (Either him or Jokiharju burying a 2nd opportunity.)

Steve Ott wants a word. 😉

Sabres realistically could have the runner up and the 3rd place finisher in the Calder voting this year. (No way Bedard doesn't get it; especially with Benson and Levi stealing votes from each other.)

The PP is getting better. They had a 4 minute PP and didn't give up a single shot against. Baby steps.

UPL is bad. He is NOT Merzlerkins level bad. Apparently playing behind a tire fire eventually burns the backstop out too.

Right before he got the goal, he set Rousek up with a glorious opportunity that he couldn't get on net. Every game he plays, this kid just looks like a keeper.

Peterka with a nice play to get the puck to Power to get it back to 3-2.

We agree that he coasted when he got back to the zone. But he didn't coast from when the play was turning up ice. And he needed to be more aware that the 3 guys deeper than him were not in position.

The Sabres high danger chance probably wasn't even the goal, but rather Benson's shot off the crossbar. Really hoping they aren't figuring they only have to play the 3rd period against these guys. UPL isn't going to stone the BJs when the Sabres start pinching and getting caught in odd man rushes.

Hoping his issue is just the rust of not having played since the Florida series. Benson is just about the only Sabre that looks good so far. (Am about 2 minutes behind on the feed.)

When he got to the Sabres blue line, yes. But, there were 3 Sabres deeper than him and 3 BJ's on the rush. Tuch was the 1st man back. That all 3 Sabres that were 1st into the zone were all on the left 1/2 of the ice made Mittelstadt hanging up where the W should be setting up look very bad.

He was. But Tuch was the one that was the 1st forward back into the zone. He was coasting too. Mitts had been forechecking at the BJs BL and couldn't break up the play. And once again UPL doesn't come close to bailing his teammates out. Really don't see how he can win the competition unless Comrie pukes all over himself in matchup 2 vs the Pens.

Several of them. Greenway bumped down to Krebs line.

Really not happy about the possibility of additional expansion. Something truly perfect about there being 2^5 teams in the league and each round (RS, 1st Round, QF, SF, F) cutting that quantity in half. Plus, as it is now, at an absolute minimum there are 2 teams in the league that will be waiting more than 3 decades to win their next (and possibly 1st) championship. Add 2 more teams and there will still definitely be at least 4 in that boat. That's a crazy long time to go and realistically you could be looking at 15 or so teams with no parade at the end of the year over that span.

His belief, and his teammates beliefs, that this team will be in the playoffs this year and thinking about how much it would mean to be on this team when they both get their 1st taste of the playoffs in the past decade or so is what brought him back. Really expect he could be a very unsung hero in the playoffs, as he's one of the ones that style comes naturally to.

Only had one once and it was a while back, but if memory serves, yes they are good.

Isn't that what Pizza Planet calls their calzones? (Restaurant near the rink for out ot towners such as yourself.)

At least it's been washed. 😛

Think we're likely quibbling over the definition of "carry it into traffic." When he was in college and at the WJC's, he would skate the puck into 2-3 defenders and still be able to make a play. He tried doing that at the NHL level with not good results. That is what was beaten out of him. He shied from even bringing the puck towards the center of the ice early this season much less trying to beat several defenders doing so. He's got a fair amount of his confidence back, but he still isn't getting to the point often of having 2 - 3 defenders draped on him. He's getting rid of the puck before they get to that point. Beating a defender that has engaged and getting one drawing towards him is one thing. Actually going THROUGH 3 guys at once is something he seems to leave to the McDavids and He Daddy Giraffes of the league. And IMHO, that's a good thing that he's at that point.

Well, if he does, then they either give him the Comrie v Dallas treatment (Ukka, rub some dirt on it, and get your butt back out there) or Comrie gets to play against somebody besides Pittsburgh down the stretch to show what he can do. Personally, expect him to give up a couple of questionable goals but not be a total disaster. (Basically, expecting him to be himself.)

Love that they're putting Benson out there with 2 3rd liners. He's been the wing on the top line every preseason game he played (even that very 1st one where he was on a line with Greenway - in Washington there were very few actual NHLers playing), this'll be an opportunity to see how he does in a 3rd line role and with players that outsiders won't be able to say are elevating him. Also, interested to see how Johnson does with Samuelsson. Expecting that pairing to work well. And if the Dahlin-Clifton experiment works, expecting we'll see Power- Jokiharju most of the entire season. (Arrg.)

True. But having 2 D locked up for big bucks a 3rd locked up for moderate bucks, 3 C's for kind of big bucks (all 3 combined will be under $22MM probably about $20MM), and an all world goalie eventually locked up for big bucks at least has your money getting spent in the right areas. They'll still be able to afford a pretty good supporting cast around that.