Taro T

The entire post is screwed up for the Sabres. 6-3 in October. 1-5 in November. 7-8 overall (not 6-10, they haven't even played 16 games yet) w/ 4 very winnable games coming up.

It doesn't help when the playcalling is geared towards hero ball. 2nd & 2 from the 7. Maybe Allen audibled out of runs 3 straight times, but doubt that. More likely Dorsey didn't call a single run there. (It looked like pass all 3 times.) Even one run on 2nd or 3rd at least gets the D having to respect that possibility on 4th down. They scored 2 rushing TDs in the 1st.)

So, the Thanksgiving / end of November expectation for Samuelsson's return still looks realistic. Will be really nice having him back in the lineup even if he gets eased back into it. When he's back to being able to play 25 minutes/ game they only have to send the other 3 out 39-45 minutes total a night. That'll make the depth back there look a ton better.

Not only that - he isn't paired w/ Dahlin nor Power!

He is. And he now needs to be waived to be sent back down. Get used to him on the 23 man roster unless the F's have a spate of ST injuries.

Agree completely w/ point 1 and to large extent w/ point 2. And it may make people feel better getting the rants off their chests, but at this point it's very unlikely any moves get made as nobody is selling cheap at this point of the season. Those additional moves so many of us hoped to see needed to happen this summer. Hoping Adams finds a Botterill to give the Sabres a Scandella for a 4th, but doubt that trade is there. The F depth has been fine to date. The D depth, while lacking the extra top 4 D man so many of us hoped to see (they needed to bring in 2 guys, really curious if they misjudged Pilut's ability & thought they'd found that 2nd guy by bringing him back; doubt it, but still am curious), SHOULDN'T be losing 3 guys all Jokiharju's age or younger - those guys just stay healthy in general & bounce back quick. Unfortunately 2 of them got head injuries which you can't really do a whole lot more to prevent & the other had his knee twist awkwardly on a routine play. Lyubushkin could've been expected to have his injury issues - combo of the way he plays & his age, but really don't see how it could/should be expected to have 4 of the top 5 all miss time 15% of the way into the season. The good news is, once the D gets healthy, we shouldn't expect to see 3 key guys all out at the same time. The bad news is, the F's are due for some nick ups keeping guys out here or there and there is absolutely no tangible depth beyond the 2 goalies that are on the big squad.

Have them ready to play against AZ, keep primarily getting the line matchups you need against the B's rather than abandoning that after 3 minutes of the 3rd, and they go minimum 1-3-1 the last 5 and likely 2-3-0. And simply show up for & win against the Yotes & the meltdowns we've been witnessing the last week don't happen. The other 3 games of the past 5, they were playing teams that were better than them but kept them competitive for the majority of each game. (Truth be told, the B's game was there too.) The premise of the OP is flawed IMHO. This team HAS been competitive in nearly every game. They've won roughly 1/2 of their games and they likely will be back at 0.500 by 11 PM Tuesday night. That's progress over past seasons. (Yes, we're at the point of the season things often go kerplewy, but IMHO this season feels different.) The weird thing to this season is 15 games in, they've only been in 1 game that went to OT. They haven't picked up that "dreaded" loser point yet this year. But had 3 of the L's come in OT/SO then tomorrow's W would essentially have them at 0.600 which is almost exactly where they need to be to not just have an improved season but a playoff qualifying game season. Even with all the excuses decried above.

On TV, yes. In person, the uni actually works.

So, over 13,000 people is "no one." Riiiiiggght. <_< (Sorry, the emojis pull down stopped working on this tablet a week or 2 ago.) Attendance is significantly better than last season. There were no games anywhere close to the attendance they've had the last 2 games in the 1st 1/2 of the year last year. (Edit: the Loafs game might've been up there, but that's the only one even remotely close.) Attendance stunk coming out of THE lockout. By the end of the year the barn was sold out nightly & there was a waiting list for tix by the time that year was over. Attendance will pick up as the season wears on & next year's attendance will be better than this year's attendance. They're playing entertaining games and will be back to winning as early as Tuesday. And there was no way attendance was going to be significantly better than it is at this point in this year even if they'd brought in Trotz and paid for FAs up to the cap. They're on the upswing. Demand for seats is up significantly. This no one will continue going to games. Last year, literally couldn't even give away tix to 2 games and overall ended up subsidizing people going to the games we couldn't attend. This year know that every game the seats will be used & there will have to be a severe downturn in the economy to end up subsidizing other people's hockey fixes. Is it perfect? No. But it's way better than "no one" attending. And it is getting better.

No, they were "all over" the Sabres until they got the goal. They were not all over them the last 70 seconds of the period, nor the opening shifts of the 3rd.

Nobody is going? The last 2 games had very close to a full barn. Attendance is still worse than a normal year but not nearly as significantly as last year except for 2 games so far. But between '79 & '06, attendance was always worse in the fall than after the calendar flip. Attendance will pick up late January/ February and will be better next year.

Right. But now w/ Clague down, Jokiharju is the only extra D-man & per last night Okposo is the only extra F. Both were presumably not 100%. They likely aren't going to have no healthy backups on the big team, so am assuming Jokiharju is as a point where he could play if needed and that Okposo isn't. This team is very close to the cap floor; there isn't really any reason for them to only have 22 healthy bodies at this point of the season. So, am assuming a F will be brought in to have a healthy F available to play Tuesday should a forward's pregame meal not sit well.

Thought Davies going down was due to Jokiharju returning. Expecting this is due Okposo not being fully available & them having no healthy 13th F. Wonder who gets the call up? Sheahan is the veteran down there. Biro has been on fire and earned it. Somebody else maybe?

But Boston DIDN'T score on that next shift. The Rat Faced Git punched Lyubushkin in the face battling for position in front of the Sabres net on that next shift & Buusch got called for roughing reacting to it. The B's then scored on the 3rd shift of the PP. But the B's didn't dominate the end of the period beyond that goal & they didn't dominate the beginning of the 3rd. And, again, IMHO, the game changed on the 5th shift of the 3rd when the B's started to consistently get the matchups they wanted. THAT is where the game changed. And that is on the coach stubbornly refusing to coach.

EVERY team lets a game or 2 slip away. But, like you say, the Sabres margin for error is much slimmer than most and that Yotes game needs to be the exception. And, yes, the game was frustrating as all get out.

When they win at least 3 of the next 4, if not all 4, people will be talking playoffs again. Both takes seem to be overreactions.

Finally saw the DeBrusk shot that seemed in during the game. It absolutely hit the post. But it hit the post so hard, the post moved which is why it seemed the netting moved. Because it had when the net itself moved. Don't recall ever having seen that one before.

Lyubushkin was playing well and then w/in 3 games he got injured though he's played through it for the most part and the team's better defensive D-man also went out injured. So, not only is he still learning the Sabres system, he's also finding himself playing tougher minutes while being at, what, 80%. Not surprising at all his play has tailed off since the Western road trip. When he was signed, though it was a good move but expected he'd be better next year than this one as he'd be fully acclimated. The injury seems to make that a reasonably safe assumption.

Just posted it in the game thread, but the unis look WAY better in person than on TV. They were sharp seeing them in person. But the white pants & white socks w/ b&g looked REALLY weird w/ the HFC sweaters in warmups.

Didn't read the rest of this thread, so don't know if somebody already made this observation. Thought it would be a mistake playing the Mittelstadt line against the Bergeron line, but that was a brilliant decision. They gave them almost no scoring opportunities & still got some chances of their own. Though, obviously they couldn't finish any of them. But it had Boston so frustrated they moved Pasternack back onto the top line late in the 1st IIRC. Actually all 4 line matchups were inspired. Thompson's line vs Hall & Kreji with Cozens line against Coyle and the Asplund line against their big banging line. You knew Boston wanted to have Bergeron going against Thompson as when they got caught out there on a Dahlin stretch pass that didn't work and went for icing that B's line couldn't hop the boards quickly enough. Can't recall if they got any shots on net that one, but they had a couple of shot attempts. And Power's crosscheck in the 1st which led to the SH goal came when Boston got Bergeron vs Tage. And, until Dahlin blocked a shot off his boot, the B's had all of 10 shots through ~35 minutes. Yeah, the B's tied it after Lyubushkin went for roughing and the top 2 PKing D weren't available. But through 40 the Sabres had for the most part outplayed them. At that point, Granato got outcoached. The B's started the 3rd with the Hall line, so Buffalo started Tage's line & they were followed with Bergeron vs Mitts. So far so good. But then with the 4th line change, the Bergeron line took the ice next but rather than flip to Mitts, Granato put the Thompson line out. They couldn't slow that top line & the B's started to control play. They also managed to get Cozens line rather than the 4th line out against their heavy line. Another mismatch. Totally get that Granato doesn't want to play scared, but not sure how getting favorable matchups at home is showing fear. Getting an advantage is smart, not fearful IMHO. Really believe the Sabres could've won if he'd've kept forcing the better matchups. If they play like this on Tuesday, it'll be a loooong night for the Nucks. A couple other observations. Only 40% of the fans were B fans. Expected we might've been outnumbered before the game started. Not the case - cool. The reverse retro unis seem strange on TV but are REALLY sharp in person. No passengers at all today. Mitts & Krebs had maybe their best games of the year. Tuch was doing good things. No idea why the linesman called him off-side on the PK at the end. He played it perfect & everybody was onside by the time he touched it. The Sabres were fast tonight. Players seemed comfortable in knowing where their linemates & D partner were going to be. Though never felt comfortable watching Bryson & Fitzgerald on the ice together. Very glad watching them head to the bench after their shift was done. They played pretty well overall, but had their moments. Right before the Cozens line got the myriad of chances early in the 3rd (no idea how Kincaid kept them all out) it really looked like the B's had scored. Was expecting a call from TO stopping play at any moment. So obviously it wasn't in, but would really like to see it again. The B's fans near us were absolutely certain it had gone in. Had no idea why Granato challenged the puck getting played with a high stick & then they showed the replay and have no idea why the goal wasn't overturned. Bad end result, but fun game overall. Just wish they'd've continued getting the matchups in the 3rd.

Fack it. Expecting a Sabres win tonight. The crowd being 60% B's fans will light a fire for the home team, just like they usually beat the Loafs at home. Yes, the Bergeron line will score 3, but the Sabres will eliminate the damage from the other lines. Thompson's line gets 2, Mittelstadt's and Cozens 1 each, and Dahlin goes off the board and gets the empty netter rather than just an assist on one. 5-3 good guys.

YOU stated "Jack was right in his steadfast stance." You now stating that it doesn't matter whether it was the right decision does not change the fact that you don't know whether he did or didn't make the right decision. Nowhere near enough information yet & it really won't be known whether the decision was correct until we know whether the disk holds up.

With all due respect, they've lacked 2 of the top 5 every game since the middle of the Vancouver game and at least 3 of the top 5 in 1/2 of the other games since then. All of those games except the 2-3 the Lyubushkin missed have had him playing as a shell of himself. That's a crazy bad run of injuries not even 10% of the way into the season. Which has left them with a true 1 most games, a rookie, an injured 4/5, and 3-4 6-9's. That's a crazy amount of injuries at a single position. And, for all the hand wringing around here, this team is still at the mythical DeLuca 0.500 even w/ the D injuries. IF they do fall below 0.500 tomorrow, really doubt that'll be the case for long.

We went to the open practice a few times. You're right, it was a blast. They did some really screwy stuff in the penalty shot competition.

Rodgers & Lawrence are two REALLY ugly chick's. Hilarious that they have Murray barely in the frame. Why did they call Jones Dimes? That one went right overhead.