Taro T

He definitely has helped. But he's been there before this game. Even with that PP scoring reasonably it hasn't "looked" right and when they've scored it has seemed to be due to individual effort, not a unit working cohesively. Both units looked different last night. They passed the puck up ice to bring it into the zone, rather than using the drop pass. The net front skater was switching up with either guy set up on the boards. The puck movement wasn't strictly from Dahlin/Power to the boards & back. At least 3 guys & often 4 were moving which forced the box to move & lanes opened. And Cozens (in all 3 phases) & his whole line had a great game last night.

Especially w/ 1 hand tied behind their backs. (UPL) Here's to those R&B Goatheads being EXTREMELY motivating.

Not for nothing, but when Samuelsson went down, so ended Dahlin's goal scoring streak. Notice where Ras was when he received that puck on his goal. Without Muel on the ice, Dahlin isn't the 4th skater below the top of the faceoff circle. Speculation, sure, but did anybody recall seeing him do that when paired w/ Bryson or Power? This kid doesn't recall it.

Tyson Jost did not cause the 1st PP to move the puck in the 2nd minute of the game. He played well when he was out there on both sides. Liked that when he failed to clear the puck on one PK that he kept aggressive and got the puck back low & made the tougher clear. That said ... There was a philosophical difference in how they operated tonight. And, with everybody being so fast leaguewide, you NEED to be aggressive to be effective. Hope they continue to play that way.

What a great job on the PK tonight. Amazing how much of a difference playing aggressively makes. PP was aggressive too. And actually scored AND looked legit. Would really like to hear what they did differently heading into tonight in preparation. (And the followup - wtf did you wait until game 19 to do that?)

Darn shame Comrie is broken. Would be nice to have him available tomorrow to get a 2 game streak going heading into the Joisey game. Expecting UPL to cost them some points. Hopefully he doesn't but haven't seen any reason to expect he won't.

Whatevs. Watch the games on delay typically to avoid commercials. Hadn't seen a response by the end of the page.

He's been jockeying back and forth between 2nd & 3rd all year. The 4 game point streak probably has him back at 2. Will be tough to overtake 1st.

Nope. Pretty sure that one's out west somewhere. This is his brother.

Very encouraging that Lyubushkin is both hitting and skating the puck. Dare we suggest his foot/ankle might finally be healed? 6 healthy D would be huge for getting back on track.

He just passed now? Would've guessed he died a long time ago. Orchestrated the Braves leaving town.

Lost money on the Yotes. Only one so far this year. And contrary to the board's expectation, people have still been buying seats even with the losing streak.

17

Haven't watched much Amerks action after ~Bjork's 2nd game there. They SHOULD be good players there. Good to see they are. How many years did Matt Moulson extend his career after he was dog doo in the NHL? That huge difference in average talent levels between the 2 leagues is there whether guys are going up or down.

Even if everyone steps up, would like 1 more vet around as at least 1 of, if not both, Okposo & Girgensons will be limited by injuries if they're even re-signed. Time catches up to all. If it turns out a top 9 vet can't earn a spot out of camp, that really is a great problem to have. It's more likely Rousek or Kulich or even Savoie don't get to the big club as quickly as they'd hoped. But injuries happen & if there are legit YOUNG NHLers in Ra-cha-cha, well, again, 1st world problems. It's been so long since they lost Thorburn & risked losing Pominville. This team wouldn't even have to go there as a Hinostroza or a kid that doesn't need waivers can be sent down. Want the training wheels off this year, doesn't appear that'll be reality frustratingly. Don't see any way they can stay on next year.

Agree. 1 more Lyubushkin quality and ideally signing Johnson too. Bryson becomes the 7, Fitzgerald or Pilut or new guy the 8 with Johnson getting acclimated to playing against men & giving Henri or one of the Buusches a run for their money as the 6 down the stretch.

It was one of 2. Am almost getting brought around to the idea of letting Krebs play down there. Just afraid that if he does go down there, he'll never figure out what passes can work at this level & what can't.

It only feels like we're cursed because we are. 😉 BTW, welcome. 🍻

Agree on the D & G, but also want 1 more middle 6 vet brought in as well. As was the case this past offseason. If they had 1 more F in the ranks from day 1, yes, it's likely one of Krebs, Quinn, or Peterka would've likely started the year in Ra-cha-cha. Though that was a very unpopular thought this summer, how's that looking in hindsight? Adding competition is rarely a bad thing & if that keeps Savoie or Kulich or whomever off the Sabres out of the gate, so be it. In a best case they out perform that vet and either the vet gets risked on waivers or a different young guy spends some time in the A waiting for an injury callup. In a worst case, the kid's ELC slides a year. Not really a bad thing when you have a glut of guys at pretty much the same point contract-wise.

Can see that, as Moe-ray-all tends to play small & fast which fits into his wheelhouse, but he hasn't been playing well lately either. In this single particular instance mainly because Bryson hasn't been playing well either by the eye test am not as vehemently opposed to Granato expressing his man-crush on Jokiharju as normally would be. Plus, if Jokiharju can look reasonable on the 2nd pairing, the Sabres can get away with shutting Lyubushkin down for the homestead to get him healthy. Bryson up there won't give any info at all as to whether they can risk shutting Buusch down because he won't solidify that pairing enough that they can limp through w / a subpar 3rd pairing. And, if Buusch gets healthy, they have 3 pairings that each should be good for their usage. Henri can anchor a 3td pairing at home. He's an anchor on a top 4 pairing but Power has been getting elite top pairing usage, that experience should make it easier for him to cover for Henri's shortcomings getting easier matchups.

Were Lyubushkin healthy, would be right there with you. But he isn't and he's as bad as the other bottom 3 guys still on the 23 man roster. Which of Bryson, Pilut, or Fitzgerald would you prefer to see there?

And you're presuming it will once again be a devastation of the top 2 pairings that bring one of those guys into the mix. If one goes in for Bryson, big whoop. Even if they're going in for Lyubushkin or Jokiharju they'll still only be getting 10 minutes of soft usage and are perfectly adequate to handle that for a few games. And if Dahlin's the guy they're trying to work around not being available, Reilly doesn't really help much. And, this is part of what makes this board difficult, especially when the Sabres are failing on the ice. People jump on the latest post in a thread (& we all do it) w/out paying attention to anything else said earlier in the conversation. So then others end defending points that were merely tangential to what the original discussion is. Really not intentionally calling you out on this @jad1, don't notice you doing that often if ever. Just needed to vent at the sky. 🍻

No, fans that like to propose trades & the like will still do so whether the Sabres have the pieces to make their deal or not. Realize full well that there are ridiculously few actual offer sheets signed & pretty much none not involving the Eulers or the weird Cane-Hab spat. But, not having that 3rd has been a crutch allowing Sabres GMs to avoid even looking. If he doesn't want to enter that market, he should say so without having the 'well, we wanted to, but just desperately needed that 3rd rounder we traded up for last year even more.'

So, those supposing Jost was brought in to be able to send Krebs down might've been onto something. Is Krebs on his way to Ra-cha-cha as we speak? Somebody has to have been on his way by noon as 2 healthy goalies give them 24 players. It could be Sheahan heading back down too, but he isn't going to improve w/ playing time. Krebs might.

Well, 6th best D at present in Granato's eyes is Bryson. Would Reilly knock him out of the lineup considering that Adams and Granato seem to like his potential? They don't need Reilly to keep Pilut & Fitzgerald in the press box. That should be Bryson's purview. Though IMHO Pilut outplayed Bryson in the preseason & at times in the RS. Would Reilly keep Bryson in the pressbox? If not, he's a really expensive observer.