Taro T

Not sure of the exact origin of that nickname, but remember reading an SI article about Dom from that timeperiod. The SI writer was bound and determined to make "the Blank Czech" a thing. Fortunately it didn't stick. The Dominator was too perfect a handle. But reading that article was like reading a @matter2003 post about Zach Benson. Just give it up, dude. It's not happening.

Probably because he's trying to gut through whatever it is and he's telling the coaches he can do it. And they're listening to him rather than trusting their eyes. (The downside to being a "player's coach," yes, these guys will go through a wall for the coach, but sometimes the coach has to be willing to tell him no, the next guy is going to get that opportunity and at least right now, the coaches aren't doing that even though from the outside looking in, it sure seems like it needs to be said.)

The schedule gets more compressed after we get out of October. (Not as significantly as in past years, it's good to have no Olympic break in the middle of the season and to be back to a full length season now that post-pandemic schedule compression seems to be a thing of the past; but still it does get more compressed.) Levi won't be getting 4 straight games once we start seeing btb's coming on the schedule and multigame road trips. But this is a stretch of 5 games in 10 days with only a 1 hour-ish flight each way disrupting the routine. Without catching the injury, he should've been able to handle that load. (Any NHL starter should.) Fully expect that they wouldn't have played Levi all the 1st 4 games of the season had they been 2-1, but 4 games in 8 nights is what he'd be expected to play if they were in the playoffs. It isn't horribly excessive. But hopefully, it is putting in crystal clear focus just how bad a decision it was to run with the 3 headed monster without either making an offer to a FA that went back to his old team simply couldn't ignore or trading away some of the precious prospect pool. They clearly don't trust Comrie nor UPL to win a must win game. With that being the case, don't know what the answer is at this point. Nobody is going to just give the Sabres an easy mulligan to fix that error. But a bright side to this situation is that this team has been through these stretches before without getting their spirit broken. Adams really did assemble a group that has the character to keep perservering regardless of how ugly things may seem nor how quickly those outside the room are ready to throw in the towel. Who knows, maybe this is that game that UPL has the horseshoe firmly lodged in his butt. Win an ugly game tonight and then sneak out a win against a bad Moe-ray-all team that plays the Sabres well and they're back to 0.500 heading into Otterland.

What do you mean "going to end up?" Take that phrase out, and you nailed it.

Dinosaur (only been to the Ra-cha-cha location) has very good ribs and brisket. Lived in TX for a while, thought it compares very favorably. A lot of people in Ra-cha-cha prefer Sticky Lips to Dino. Not one of them, but that is good too.

Housley was brought in as an assistant coach on a team that already had a great corps of D-men and he didn't f' it up. He didn't make that D great. That D made HIM look better than he was. Adam Gase didn't make Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning made people believe they saw things in Gase that simply aren't there.

And last year the Sabres started IIRC 7-3-1 then followed that up with a 2-9 stretch after the D started dropping like flies. The team looked very good for long stretches after that though they still had 3 more losing streaks. The Sabres WILL play better than they have but they have to stop making the easily correctible mistakes like taking stupidly long shifts. Surprisingly, the PK has looked good so far. Hoping that stays the case when ComPL or UPrie get the start on Saturday. (The goalie is the best PKer.) The PP, though only clicking once was actually generating chances. Keep generating chances there and that will get better. But figure out 5v5. Frustrating start to the season. But at least there's a lot of hockey left to be played.

Which is another indication (not that we need it) that it was a colossal mistake to not bring in a goalie to tandem with Levi that they would trust to start in a winnable must win game.

Well, yeah, but they're REEEEAAAAALLY big. 😉

The tough part about Levi being off the full 1st period is now they'll run one of the backups on Saturday. Would much rather have seen one of them against Moe-ray-all.

Probably only about 6-3. There were 4 or 5 saves that Levi made that UPL absolutely can't make. But 3 of the 4 he gave up, UPL MIGHT have stopped.

Sabres need to shorten the shifts. Given up a couple goals late on a shift and some glorious chances that way too.

Caught a break boys. Don't waste it.

If they can't see the puck fully over the line, you have to stick with the call on the ice.

Counting NCAA, NHL, and a World Tourney, he played 42 games last year.

Most of his salary AAV would still count against the cap. But it's not an issue as they are over $9MM under the cap currently.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Bummer.

Over in Ra-cha-cha, Monte Alban's is pretty good. Prefer the Penfield location as the one in Ra-cha-cha/Irondequoit can be a bit more hit or miss. There was an upscale Tex Mex place on/near Alexander called Mex, but haven't been there in ages and no idea if it is still open post-pandemic or not. Canandaigua keeps getting authentic restaurants to open up but they seem to close pretty quickly disappointingly. At least 2 have gone under in the past 10 or so years.

Very good Q. Hope it goes 1 every 4 or so, but expecting it's they each play once every 6-8. Which one sat on the bench on the Island? Comrie was the designated ball cap wearer in the 2 home games. If Comrie got the Aisles game too, expecting they've got their pecking order laid out.

Fully expecting him to get 6 of the 1st 7 starts. Haven't looked at how the schedule lays out beyond the Otter game, but see no reason to sit him in any game except either the Hab (presumably easy-ish) or the Otter (presumably team that will be closest to them in the standings and the other team that has the best chance of being the one from last year that was on the outside but on the inside this year) and expect it'll be the Hab game he sits out because it isn't a 4 point game against a likely contender.

And not that it factors into what the Sabres do tonight lineup wise, but Calgary got to Buffalo on Tuesday. So they will have fresh legs tonight and the Sabres will need to be ready to come out like they did against Tampa.

They KNOW what they have in Comrie and UPL. They also know what they have in Levi. And they know that they need to get beyond whatever mental block they had at home last year. They've played 2 home games and haven't won in regulation yet. Best to get that monkey off their back against Calgary's backup goalie than to worry about optimizing Comrie's performance. He can work on that against the Habs. And Levi can get his 6th start the next night against the Otters.

D-men play in pairs. A team typically dresses 6 D-men and they get deployed as a pair for the most part. HOW they get deployed can vary, but typically teams will play their best 2 D-men on the top pairing, their next best on the 2nd pairing, and the guys they are looking to shelter on the 3rd pairing. And yes, chemistry can be and usually is more important than getting the 2 guys that are the best 2 players in a vacuum on the ice together. Coaches will generally try to have the pairs set up with a lefty and a righty and each predominantly playing that side of the pairing. But, that isn't always the case, and the Sabres best D-man, Rasmus Dahlin who is a lefty shot seems to prefer to play on the right side. They do not switch out 3 at a time. The forwards get deployed in 3 man lines.

IF Peca is available when the Sabres and Granato (or a successor of his) part ways and the Sabres want to offer him that job, there is a very good chance that he would accept it. There are (currently) only 32 of those jobs available anywhere and only a fraction of them are open at any one time. Expect he'd accept an offer from Filly, Dallas, or the Otters too even though all have been rivals of teams he was on as well. Heck, he'd take the Vancouver job if offered. And they were the 1st to send him packing. The only way he doesn't accept it is if he gets a better offer at that same time. Really can't see him pulling a Ted Nolan and turning down an offer from an NHL team that wants to hire him for that role.