Taro T

Well '99 was 24 years ago, so ...

Not saying they are, because they aren't. But, there's a better chance that 1st is top 5 next year than this year. But there's a real possibility that pick is 11 or 12 this year. Could be the long play on that piece of the deal.

Again, maybe it happens. But really don't see Granato doing that. Said what this kid's expectation is for Wednesday.

On the MF'n PP. On the PP, how often do you see Ovie loop around the zone while waiting for the 1 timer feed? Thompson, Eichel, Olofsson? Not very often. Even on the play where you show VO getting the 1 timer off the rush, how many strides did he take in his last 40' of movement? (Hint, it rhymes w/ Miro.) The concern w/ having VO & Tage on the same PP unit is you have 2 guys barely moving around waiting to get fed for a 1 timer. It worked once when the other team likely wasn't expecting that configuration. The next game, the unit didn't even get a single shot off. Stuff like that, & putting a big D-man down low works occasionally when you can get a mismatch & is unexpected, but there's a reason the Bruins didn't set Chara up on front of the other team's goalie every game. When you're ready for a gimmick, you can shut it down pretty easily.

You're going to send UPL down to Ra-cha-cha and run w/ 1 of the other 2 goalies against arguably the 2nd best team in the league to keep from playing your #13 forward & being able to instead play your #14? In what alternative reality does that make any sense?

You might be right, but expect there's a greater likelihood that Mittelstadt centers the Thompson line should he be unable to go but Cozens is available with Asplund taking Mitts spot on the Jost line than there is Cozens moving up. Mittelstadt was centering his line after things shuffled in Minny and he played pretty much at the same level he has since Christmas on the W. Don't see them moving Jost to the Kid Line, but maybe. Expect Granato tries to keep things as unchanged overall as possible & Asplund has played w/ Olofsson a lot since that 70's line started so hot last year. Asplund was also playing w/ Jost after things juggled on Saturday. The Kids have their best chemistry w/ Cozens & Mitts has bounced up to Skinner's place in the past. Am curious if the keep Olofsson on the top PP w/out Thompson or if they slide Quinn into that spot bring Krebs into Quinn's spot on PP2. And not that you were advocating VO to PP1 w/ Thompson, but am going to put this here. With the Wild anticipating Thompson & VO on the PP last game, it was really bad & didn't come close to getting even 1 shot off (on their only attempt) as there was very little movement from either side looking for 1 timers. Players are necessarily fairly stationary looking for 1 timers & stationary PPs don't generate shooting lanes.

And Cincy was called for 2 penalties the entire game the week before. They got away w/ stuff there. The refs are a factor, always are, but aren't the difference. As long as they're letting the same stuff go both ways, not much to complain about. And, though didn't watch last night's game closely, am fairly confident that Cincy got away w/ holds too based on the previous week's game.

The flip side of that is, the Bills only have 1 true receiving threat, so Diggs gets doubled basically every play he's on the field. But, take away Chase, & you have to deal w/ Higgins, take him away & Boyd runs roughshod over single coverage. Yes, Cincy has more weapons to look towards, but that also means Chase can't be completely blanketed. He's still the 1st look from Joe Rodent Home.

You'd have to IR Thompson to bring anybody up; or go through the charade of sending one of the kids down to bring Hinostroza back up. But if Thompson is on IR, he can't play in the ASG. They aren't IR'ing Tage. He only has to go through waivers again if he's in Buffalo 30 days cumulative since being waived or if he plays 10 games cumulative since being waived. But the issue is likely moot as don't see Thompson getting IR'd.

Well, 2 of them will have more than a week off. The other will be a little busy this weekend.

Even better, Foligno for the rights to Johnson. Make it happen, Kevyn. 😉

They had IIRC 2 practices in the prior 3 weeks. Wasn't surprised at all that Asplund, who had almost 0 game style work in weeks didn't get an opportunity on the PK. To put him into that situation would be setting him up to fail.

The '86 Habs wanted to say 'hi.' 😉

Does Casey Fitzgerald ring a bell? 😉

Can people please stop dreaming of Miles Wood becoming a Sabre? His dad was very unhappy w/ the way he was dealt from the Sabres and really expect the kid likes the Sabres as much as Randy does. Which is roughly as much as Josh Georges likes the Loafs.

Unfortunately, if the Sabres do sneak in, wouldn't be at all surprised if it was as the 1st WC. Which would put them against the Canes whom they haven't matched up well against rather than the B's who they have played tough. Hopefully that changes Wednesday. Back in '06, the Otters destroyed the Sabres in early season matchups but the script was flipped that spring. So, it could change, but not really expecting it.

Why would a backup linebacker be that broken up after the game? Now, might the guy who took any chance of getting to OT away from his teammates be inconsolable?

They might need to have him on suicide watch tonight after getting back to Cincy. He's still inconsolable on their bench 10 minutes later.

58 is a moron. He just cost his team a shot at OT.

2 things. 1. As the playoff races heat up, quite often those teams on the bubble pick up their pace a bit so, though pacing for ~94 appears that it'll be good enough, it very well might not be when all is said & done. 2. In the modern era, exactly 1 team has gotten to an NHL 0.600 and missed the playoffs. Shooting for 98 (well 98.4 technically which isn't precisely attainable) should be the goal. Get to 96 through 80 & then get the 2 or 3 more points they might need in those final 2 games. Let the Sabres take care of their own business & then they don't have to worry about what their rivals are doing.

If they beat Carolina, not an easy task but doable, they will be exactly 2 points behind an NHL 0.600 pace. Pretty sure, the way they've been playing, that they can find 2 extra points over the final 32 games. It's not a given, but it is very possible.

Dog it.

Caveat: am perfectly fine w/ ties & hate deciding games in a shootout, so am not an advocate for 3v3. But, since 3v3 for the RS is here to stay, there is one tweak they could make to improve it. Take a modified page out of the NLL. if the puck is brought over the opposing team's blue line, if it goes back onto your side of the redline, the other team takes possession. Don't want to discourage shooting, so if the puck goes off the goalie, the net, or the end boards directly prior to going back over the redline, there is no turnover. Yes, some tired players may try to wrap the puck all the way back to their goalie off the end boards; if they're concerned about that happening, just put in a rule that the goalie can't be the 1st player from the shooting team to touch a puck that comes out of the offensive zone in that manner. This rule change would do away w/ the current skating the puck all the way back into your own defensive zone to get a player change & maintain puck possession. The point of 3v3 is it was supposed to result in end to end action. This tweak would restore it. And again, a better tweak would be doing away w/ 3v3 OT altogether. But that ain't happenin'.

Game's in Buffalo. We only eat Carolina babies. The winter windburn makes the homegrown ones have a weird texture.

He scored the only SO goal in their only other SO this season & scored a goal tonight. IMHO it was a given he'd get a chance.