Taro T

Win tonight and they have a GREAT chance to be on a 3 game winning streak heading into the Loafs coming to town. Baby steps.

Anyone even remotely surprised that with that happening it was 2 teams in KC's division that were the recipients of those beat downs? (A close 2nd guess would've been AFC or NFC South teams taking that.)

Why do you find that odd? Have you been here the past 2 weeks?

Would add they also need the PP to actually become useful. They did try changing up the scheme last game and they're changing up personnel this game, so theres a slight hope. But just have no faith that the coaches actually understand WHY they're making the changes they're making. Or, at a minimum, if THEY understand why don't expect they understand why well enough to explain it to the team. And the last thing they need to do is maintain gaps on the transition back into the zone to theoretically prevent some zone entries into their end and then play structured in their own end in all phases of the game. We're getting told that they're getting taught the new system. Should it actually start clicking with them that would help them play at the level they need to down the stretch to keep this from being a lost season. Not giving up on them, but it is shocking that they have but a single 2 game winning streak through 30 games.

Darn it. The stupid Lightning Bolts fired Staley and the GM the week before they play the Bills. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39119933/chargers-fire-head-coach-brandon-staley-gm-tom-telesco

DON'T forget the coleslaw.

It's possible. Expect it's more of a case of young guys not having enough experienced guys that have actually been there for them to lean on when they start gripping the sticks too tight. Expect as @Marvin points out the way they're supposed to be playing isn't ingrained yet and they end up thinking too much when things aren't going right and then reverting to old habits. It was an interesting experiment, trying to get a losing team to get good at the fun part of the game before getting good at the harder part of the game. @PerreaultForever hated the idea from day 1. And maybe if the proper support pieces were brought in this offseason it could've worked. But so far it isn't there. And we're left with hoping that when the F's get healthy they can work the new system the way it's supposed to work because it isn't very likely that the GM will be bringing in outside help beyond a Robinson type that helps at the fringes. The experiment CAN work, but with some major growing pains. The Eulers of the 80's famously took to heart losing to the Aisles in '83 and figuring out that they needed to compete harder and get grittier to get over the top. Playing loose could get them to the Finals because they were so much better than the other teams in their conference; but they bore down when they got to the Finals and beat a beat up Phlyers or Broons after that rematch with the Aisles. But right now the whole thing is frustrating. Hopefully tonight they get the 1st W of the 1st win streak.

Peterka and Benson on the top unit? Them actually TRYING to move things around in Denver and even work the puck from below the goal line? Has Ellis been reading this board? 😉

Is it Tuch's fault that there are 2 ancient F's that are considered the team's leaders but there aren't any ancient D (that have been here more than 30 games)? This team is kind of in the spot the Bills were with the "bickering Bills" back in '89 leadershipwise. The younger guys really are (or SHOULD be) the leaders, but the old guys are still looked to as the leaders. Personally, don't believe it was a coincidence that the team stepped up to another level after Devlin and Smerlas were allowed to leave via Plan B and the team finally became Kelly's, Smith's, and the rest of that bunch. As far as who else can step up? Mittelstadt, Cozens, and Thompson all are candidates to join Tuch and Dahlin. (Though Cozens needs to get out of his own head.) In the not too distant future Quinn, Peterka, Benson, Johnson, and maybe Power should be right up there as well. And expect Levi will be a leader on this squad by then as well. REALLY don't want to see this team get back to where it was early in the Pegula tenure with outsiders getting the C either in short order or immediately like Ott, Rivet, Gionta. Nothing against any of them, but it was telling that no leaders (other than Vanek of all people, who split the C with Ott) were on the team that had come up through their system by the time Ott was given a partial C. Don't expect it will go back to that anytime soon.

But, GA's contention ISN'T that Dahlin AND Tuch are the leaders. That was THIS KID's contention. His is that it's that ONLY Dahlin is the leader. And when asked to provide support for his view, he comes back with 'well, it just is.'

But strangely, it does seem (and this is going off their record and what others who've been watching have been saying) that in Ra-cha-cha they're still teaching last year's offense 1st defense only as a last resort system that the Sabres ran most of last season. Which, considering it meets the philosophy that offense is harder to teach, we'll get them playing good O and then worry about good D and these are for the most part the team's prospects makes sense on a certain level. But if the big club is actually trying to work a pro level of O/D balance and they need the prospects to be ready to step into what the parent club is doing should they get called up; then it would seem they need to be teaching THAT system in the A IF the goal is making the playoffs and doing some damage there. They don't seem to be doing that. (Say seem because have only casually watched a single Amerks game so far so have no personal observations to base that on.) And, if the goal is making the playoffs, at some point don't they HAVE to start teaching the Sabres system in Ra-cha-cha? None of this is saying that the kids coming up have been the problem on the big club. The Amerks haven't helped this year at all, but they have in no way been the biggest parts of the problem. But IF they were learning what they're supposed to be doing, maybe they actually can be PART of the solution rather than the 6-8 minute per game players.

Gee, that's helpful.

Perhaps. You will forgive us for not taking just your word on that.

The leader of the D or the leader?

Personally, believe the C would mean more to Tuch. And expect most of his issues this year are stemming from the injury he suffered as TC opened. Likely groin or hamstring. Also, Tuch does all the little things you expect in a captain. Between periods, he's the guy over talking up the refs. He's the guy that saw RJ at the end of the bench and brought him out onto the ice. There is a noticable lull in the F's drive in the 1st game that Tuch isn't in the lineup. (No, they didn't do anything with him in last night, but nobody was on their game and expect Tuch isn't close to 100% either.) Either he or Dahlin would make a fine captain. But expect this is more Tuch's team and as stated above, expect it means more to him than it would Ras.

To the bolded, sadly, yes it is.

How absolutely bizarre. 15 shots for the Avs. 19 shots for the Sabres. Now 1 more shot for the Avs; does this mean the Sabres don't get another shot again for 10+ minutes?

It's POSSIBLE the 4th guy out is Benson. But that's pretty much permanent for the rest of this season as he can only come back up before WA is eliminated via an emergency recall and he has to go back to juniors when the Sabres have 12 healthy Fs. So, it isn't all that likely that he goes back.

Yes.

And it's funny how perspectives change. Suggesting that Cozens might be a better choice as a 1RW than a 2C (or even God forbid a 3C) was met with an extreme reaction 2 seasons ago. Now, many accept it as a possibility.

Expecting it's UPL. He was healthy enough to be the backup last game and Levi started 3 straight. The more interesting Q is who starts on Friday presuming UPL doesn't pitch another SO? IF they still consider UPL the 1/1A he'll get the start vs Vegas with Levi going the next night in AZ. If they're both 1's (which actually means they're both 2's) or Levi is the 1A then Levi gets Vegas and UPL goes the next night. And that presumes that UPL plays well win or lose. Should he get shelled or gets a SO, the decision over the weekend is easy and we don't learn anything more about what the coaching staff thinks about their goalies.

Not just odd man rushes, but in the AZ game (and really most others) they made it REALLY easy for the other team to break out of their own zone. They did a very good job early in the game to limit shots from those rushes, but it was too easy to get out of their own zone. Need to improve that, among other defensive shortcomings.

Pretty sure that's correct. They let defensive offsides play out unless they're concerned for the QB's safety. Makes sense that offensive offsides plays out the same way.

That's the hope. Really thought getting the OT winner a few weeks back was going to flip that switch for him. Doesn't appear to be the case. The next guess/hope is that getting his security blanket Quinn back on his wing does the trick.

Interesting. TIL. Even more interestingly, if the O does have more than 7 players on the LOS, then they effectively remove an eligible receiver from the formation because only the 2 players on the outside of line of players at the LOS can be eligiible to receive a pass. Knew that an eligible receiver had to be on each end. Thought you could only have 5 players in between them. That's ONLY true if you want your other 3 players eligible to receive a pass. 🍺