Taro T

Power has none of the awkwardness that Thompson often had on display when he 1st arrived in Buffalo. Power will continue to improve as he gets used to this level & doesn't make rookie mistakes, but he seems very comfortable in his own body and has been doing that Quinn acclimating into a new higher level but on a much more rapid level for at least the last 2 years. (Whereas Quinn has (until this year) taken a year to get things working at a new level & then take off; Power seemed to start on the 3rd pairing at every new stop & then end up top pairing about a week later.) But, yeah, he's going to be truly scary to play against. Much like Dahlin finally is (he has finally blossemed into the full package & is STILL getting better). Though doubt we see him throwing the sort of hits Dahlin likes to dish out. Expecting way more of a Dahlin growth curve than a Thompson spike. Hopefully a little steeper as he presumably is in a much less toxic environment than Ras was thrown into.

KO or VO? Would agree that Mitts & VO need to be separated at this point. Considering Mitts was benched at the end of the 3rd, expect that will be happening.

Needed Cincy to win today. KC very well might not lose again until they play either the Bills or Cincy again. But, if they're nice enough to blow another one, then provided the Bills take care of business against the Fish they can screw up one also.

Which is why Portillo has as direct a path to the NHL in Buffalo as he would have anywhere else. Comrie will be a UFA after next year. Anderson will be retired. UPL will likely be heading to the SEL or Finnish league, which leaves Levi as his competition. (Plus whomever they sign to platoon w/ Comrie next year.)

Especially considering how light basic skates are, not sure why all defensemen & defensive F's don't wear the Jay McKee shells on their skates.

Haven't seen the full roster & they only showed the backup once after Vinc was run, so not sure if it's still the same guy as last year. No idea if they'll rely on the backup in Vinc falter or go the trade route. They did trade in season for Adler (at the X) last year, so they are willing to make moves. It also didn't help last night that the captain was out sick & Albany did a great job shutting down the Great Dhane.

Dell vs UPL. Taking the over. 😉

Sabres TYPICALLY play very well against the Snarks. Should be the 1st W in a stretch of 4 out of 5. (Hopefully they don't end up getting 2-3 upLs.)

That's what it should be. Will believe Bama isn't making the playoff when it is actually announced. Good luck to your Dawgs. This is definitely theirs to lose.

Bandits opened at home against the Albany Firewolves tonight. Bad guys won 11-10. The story of the game was goaltending. Jamieson made at least 42 saves for the Wolves. Not sure how many saves Vinc made, but Albany's 4th goal came on just their 7th shot. Nanticoke started the scoring, but then Albany found the area under the post & above Vinc's left shoulder. Can't recall if it was 4-1 or 5-1 before the Bandits started solving Jamieson. Bandits were down 9-5 before getting it tied back up at 9 on a play that got Nanticoke his 4th goal & ejected for a goalie interference major & a subsequent fight. During that comeback, McKay had one called back for a legit crease violation. The Bandits had another called back on what should've been a clean goal that got followed by a rookie celebrating & following into the crease before the ball fully crossed the line. That ended up being the difference as Albany scored 1 on the major & an insurance goal after that and the Bandits could only get 1 back before the clock expired. If Vinc can find his game, the Bandits will be tough to beat again. But Matt is 40 (what is it w/ Buffalo & 40+ year old goalies?) and didn't play well in the playoffs, especially in the finals vs the Mamouth. If he can't find his game, the Bandits will waste a very good roster.

Because of some combination of dust particles & light refraction.

Fair enough. But really don't see a need to move everyone into Team Stormcloud & Team Sunshine & Kittens.

Would say there is a 3rd group of fans. Those that are resigned to the fact the newest plan is being effected and are hopeful it will be successful, but aren't fully bought in that it will be (for whatever reason - goaltending, coaching, lack of vets, etc.). (EVENTUALLY it will be, but making the playoffs for the 1st time since '11 in '26 would not be considered by any reasonable person that it was truly successful.) Not necessarily optimistic but looking towards signs that this 3rd reboot can finally be successful. Meaning making the playoffs next year. (Or, #### it, THIS year even. Yeah, now THAT would be optimistic. 😉 ) Just because somebody doesn't reflexively assume the plan won't work doesn't necessarily mean they believe everything is sunshine. & roses. It could simply mean it's too d*mn depressing to always be looking at only the shortcomings.

No, unfortunately in this instance, because the rules for what constitutes a catch are different than for what constitutes a fumble. And, yes, what constitutes a catch is to a degree contradictory to the rules for a fumble. One, you are trying to gain possession. On the other, you are losing possession. The only thing those thinking it was a catch can use to justify it is to say that since his hand never left contact with the ball & the ball never touched the ground, he never lost control of the ball. Which would make it a catch. And a wide out likely would've gotten the benefit of the doubt. Not that it matters, but Mac & Cheese thought it was an interception. He went straight to the bench & took off his helmet. In his eyes, the drive was done.

To the 1st, yes, Thursday night vs the Avs. To the 2nd, no. Asplund was always the 2nd wing on that line.

Personally would've preferred Beniers, but they didn't go wrong at all w/ Power. They're shaping up to be able to consistently have a #1 D-man on the ice for 50 minutes/ game in a couple of years. Except for a 1/2 season of Tallinder elevating his game, they never HAD a #1 D-man. They've been able to get #1 C's, they'd never had a #1 D prior to Dahlin. Now there's a great chance they'll have 2. That's not a "blown" draft at all.

He is effectively retired. He will be a coach for Dallas next year. He planned to beat coach for them this year, but the league stepped in and said you can't be one of the 50 for 1 team & then take a job w/ another team. Apparently they have different rules for players they want working for the league as there have been a few guys on BF-LTIR who have been hired by the NHL Office through the years.

FTFY & yes. They were dropped from being the 2nd line against Joisey.

Guessing it is: A. Gains control of the ball B. Both feet (or 1 knee) in bounds C. A 3rd step or a football move. Close?

Where are you getting 43 from? Puckpedia has it at 47.

They're talking about the guy who introduced Phat Pannies to the board.

And Krebs is a better all around player than either Hinostroza or Asplund, so while with the way Krebs had been playing it's mildly surprising, but not shocking. Thing is, while people have been very displeased w/ playing the Mittelstadt line as the 2nd line (which again ended 4 games ago), there was IMHO a method to the madness. This team, earlier in the year didn't have ANY line except the Thompson line that could handle 2nd line usage & they were kind of busy being a 1st line. They experimented around w/ a few things, but really didn't come up w/ a good 2nd line by usage. So, Mitts, Olofsson, & whomever became the 2nd line by default to let the others do their thing. They eventually got to reuniting Quinn & Peterka and giving them Cozens as a C. The way things went last year in Ra-cha-cha, they caught something w / Jack & JJ and believe they were hoping/expecting to get those 2 together at some point once they were acclimatized to the NHL. Wouldn't be at all surprised if Cozens is they guy they envisioned with them all along, but that's speculation. They were getting sheltered 3rd line minutes and in fairly short order started thriving. Either because they were thriving or because the Mitts line wasn't, they've decided to give them the harder minutes. Cozens was thrown into that last year against McDavid and did exceptionally well, so they're seeing what he & his linemates can do. In that 1st game as the 3rd line, Mitts & company were outplayed by the 4th line & now are the 4th line. This last game, they did well in that role & were treated as a true 4th line. 2 of the players got a lot of specialty time (PP) & the kid (Krebs) got easy minutes and an opportunity to focus on very few things & get some success. They've tried to use the Jost line as the 4th line, IMHO to see if Mitts, VO, & Asplund or other could be the 2nd or 3rd line with a strong 2 way showing going forward. It would make decisions easier for next season as am expecting they're planning on having 3 of Savoie, Kulich, Rosen, Rousek, &/or other joining the parent club. If Mitts & company can do the job, then if Okposo, Hinostroza, &/or Girgensons are brought back it is in more of a Vinny role (13th F rather than a leadership role or as the vet leading a kid line w/ sonebody rotating in and out) as the other 3 lines are solidified & the kids get sheltered usage. If they can't get it done, they likely get traded for what they can bring & Adams is looking to the outside for 2 more useful forwards in addition to a G & a D (or 2) and there's a strong likelihood Okposo & Gurgensons are depended upon again next year as the team's checkers. (Don't agree w/ going all in on youth - but it seems the direction. And if Mitts & crew right the ship, could see a really young team next year. In which case they probably start legitimately entering the trade market the following year. If they don't, it's this season.) Dropping Mitts & crew to the 4th line is giving them a chance to get their games rolling again & hopefully to bounce them back to the 3rd line by usage. Maybe even into a hybrid 2/3 if they solidify enough as had been happening very early on w/ Mitts' & Cozens' lines being sort of interchangeable there. The other thing interesting about last night is it was the 1st time (or 1st time in a while) Mitts was used at W rather than C. In the offseason, both he & Granato spoke a lot about moving him to W this year. Wondering if he'd kind of prepared himself for that heading into the year & actually is, at this point, more comfortable there than at C. At C, he tends this year to drive things to the boards. Last night, he was driving things to the middle again. 1st time it was noticeable in a while. EVERYTHING was going outside. Have more speculation about this stuff but that's more than enough for now.

You want to know what the difference was in why those lines respectively looked better & a little worse overall in this game than in previous games? It's USAGE. The Mittelstadt line only got caught against the McKinnon line for part of 1 shift. They looked good against the Avs 4th line. And that was pretty much who they were out against exclusively. They also got to start the 1st PP before they'd even taken a shift. Mittelstadt & Olofsson were in their comfort zone and played w/ less (no?) hesitation when their line finally got a shift 7 or so minutes into the game. They also never had an icing go against them but even drew 1 or 2. That's huge. Didn't notice them against Compher's line at all & only caught very brief stints against that top line. Had they been on for an icing, they would definitely faced one of those lines fresh off a rest while they wee at the end of a shift. Cozens line, w/ the possible exception of the shift Peterka got that glorious goal (great look by Quinn to see how open he was), was fed nearly exclusively the Compher line & on occassion the McKinnon line too. And often it was w/ Pilut & Fitzgerald behind them. Considering who they were up against, they played really well. And the Avs #2 line is waaay better than Detroit's. (Heck, IMHO, it is better than Detroit's top line.) Until 4 games ago, Mitts was getting the usage Cozens line is now getting & Cozens line was getting mainly 3rd & 2nd line opponents. (Okposo's line seemed to split between 4th line & top line.) It's part of why this guy isn't as down on Mitts as everybody else. His getting tougher usage helped build up the confidence of that Cozterkinn line. Now that his confidence is shot, HE'S getting lighter usage. They play a relatively weak set of opponents soon. Expect all 4 lines to start/continue to click. Again, darn shame that Comrie is broken because he & Anderson could get results like they had in October through this stretch. Not convinced UPL & Andy can, but am hoping. (UPL needs something to get his head on straight. Maybe this will be that something.) And really hoping that Granato starts having them play a little more responsibly over this next stretch. They SHOULD be able to do so w/out tanking the offense.

Considering they were playing the defending Stanley Cup champs and doing so w/ 1 hand tied behind their backs (UPL), thought they played a very good game. Too bad the schedule makers didn't bother to check what else might be going on last night as there were a lot of STHers disguised ad empty seats. Guessing there were 5-6k in the building, but would believe any estimate from 4,500-7,500. They had chances, Olofsson hit a post in the 1st on the PP & Tuch had a glorious chance alone in the slot in the 2nd. There were other close calls, but those were their 2 best besides the ones they actually buried. All 4 lines, even the 4th line in limited usage (call the Okposo line the 4th if you want, but they're getting 2nd/3rd line ice time & taking 1/2 the shifts against the McKinnon line - so that checking line is the 3rd line at present), were playing well. Granato was definitely line matching more than earlier in the year. There were many TV timeouts that Mitts line hopped over the boards but then went back to the bench when the Avs put their 5 out for the faceoff. But figured we were in for a bumpy ride in net when UPL gave up the entire top of the net expecting Compher to move across the crease on their PP early. He probably would've but saw what he was given & took it. UPLs NHL days will be severely limited if he doesn't get the high shots back under control. A disturbing # of goals went in high. Don't know what they can do about the penalties. At least 2, if not 3, seemed imaginary, but the officials are looking for them & the Sabres PK (Tuesday night noted) is not anywhere close to good enough to give up more than at most 3-4 chances/game. They really need to clean the penalties up. Curious who drew up the play to start the 3rd. They had to have seen something on film to decide to try that. Unconventional, but it worked. Too bad they couldn't build on that momentum. Could go on about things they need to be better at, but they are cleaning stuff up. Frustrating as it might be, they are a work in progress. They're young and they were playing a superior team. They were in this. Clean up the penalties or put an NHLer between the pipes & they might have won. Do both & they likely would've. They knew they were playing the defending champs & played hard.

Isn't the idea to get as many lines working as possible? Why would you pull Quinn off a line that's on fire to presumably help Thompson who is on fire himself? Expect that move would yield decreased production overall.