Taro T

Except that since the Joisey game, Granato has been treating that line as the #2 which in his version of lineup matching faces the other team's top line at home or on the road. Maybe they're facing the other team's top D more often (but if they wre Thompson's line should be even hotter l but don't notice which pairs they're out against as teadily/easily.

5 games over a DeLuca 0.500 for this team this year is 89-91 points. Will guar-an-dam-tee that 91 ponts WON'T be enough for the playoffs.

Not quite. At the very end of the season w/ the writing on the wall for Housley he bumped Skinner back onto Eichel's line & he found the last goals to get to 40 and that outrageous contract.

Hoping they do. But there's a lot of hockey left to be played.

You weren't apprehensive about somebody's sarcastic comment? Well, that's ... awesome, right? (Where's the unsure emotion when one really needs it?) 😉

Would give him more credit than Botterill gets for selecting Dahlin. Beniers was legitimately a good selection at 1 as well. Nice that it was pretty much a can't miss choice, but Adams made the selection for what the Sabres had less of & a greater need for IMHO. Dahlin was ALWAYS going to go 1 overall. PLUS, he signed Hall which pretty much guaranteed winning the lottery. That was the part of the Bjork trade people forget Buffalo got. They didn't just get Bjork & a 2nd, they also got Hall to agree to leave his "my team ALWAYS wins the lottery juju" in Buffalo for being allowed to go where he wanted to be. 😉 But @grinreaper nailed the answer.

Personally expect it's a combination of that, the possibilities of just how good the Cozens line could very if they were able to go back to being viewed by opponents & treated as the Sabres 3rd scoring line, a bit of an attaboy for taking on the 2nd line C role allowing the Cozens line to blossom in that 3rd line role when he & his linemates were overmatched, and Granato's own history of being the "ineffective player whisperer."

Haven't read the thread, but as said on a different thread about the possibility of bringing in another goalie from outside, keep Comrie & other goalie (in this case UPL) as a tandem & have 41 year old Anderson get a mysterious non-specific ache in practice that moves him to IR. If 1 of the other 2 break w/in the 1st week, call somebody else up until Anderson is available. After 1 week, if he's needed, bring him off IR. Lather, rinse, repeat as necessary. No cap ramifications, so no circumvention. And no way to prove the oldest player in the league DOESN'T have a non-specific injury. And if UPL turns back into UPL, back to Ra-cha-cha he goes.

The Sabres are relevant again. Time for you to give us all an awesome Christmas present and resurrect those charts! PS - Welcome back.

If the kids are going to continue to slump on that line, yes. But considering how well the line had been playing would be mildly surprised if it gets broken up vs TB. Could definitely see it getting broken up IN Beantown. Having a slumping line getting caught regularly against the Bergeron line is something Granato will likely look to avoid if they don't play better Friday. The plus side of breaking it up is it might get them individually going again & it gives options for keeping Mittelstadt & Olofsson apart.

Wonder if he grasps this last chance to keep his career going on this side of the pond?

Hmm, 3 D just outside the top 10 w/ the Sabres trending towards the 14th - 16th pick. Considering somebody always slips, grabbing 3 highly rated C's in the 1st last year looks even more prescient.

Yes, similar circumstances to the previous time they were down 3-4 D w/ much better results. But, don't see it so much the support D being better as the F's both individually playing better AND being slotted better. The Kid Line (whatever you all it) was barely a thing during the losing streak and when they were together they were typically the 3rd line. Thompson hadn't started getting 2 points nearly every night. Jost wasn't helping settle that other non-Okposo line & Krebs was making a strong case for getting a trip to Ra-cha-cha. ALL of those things have made the D's life easier IMHO.

Right now he's making a case to be Noronnen. Which is significantly better than he was playing. You still want better, but it's good enough as the 2nd half of a platoon. Can he take it higher than that? We shall see.

Would put money on it that the goal hasn't become playoffs or bust THIS season. (Much to all our chagrin.)

"3 weeks ago we were ready to say he can't do it." - D Granato. 😯

He's shortened the bench quite a bit the last month when the game has been tight. But this is the 1st time in a while that he dropped to just 3 lines.

They're going to have another losing streak at some point. Just means they'll need a 2nd winning streak. Pretty sure they have that in them too.

Their top pair pretty much each played 1/2 of the last 3 games. This game they finally had ONE of the other 4 D-men that were in the lineup on opening night. BTW, they won all 3. Am OK w/ it given the circumstances.

Wouldn't go that far. He still had issues in his own end and setting up rushes against. But it was nice to see him get the VERY 2ndary assist on the 1st goal & the game winner. If Power is ready Friday it could be a while before he gets another opportunity.

Hoping they don't have the typical return from a road trip hangover. Having 3 days w/ no games should help. Normally it seems they have a single day off before starting the home stand. Could see Power back too, maybe?

Pilut w/ the game winner. No friggin' Schlitz.

Sweet!

Just wide. That clock stopped before the whistle.

They ticked it up to 56. Now 46.