Taro T

And the Bandits return the favor in the 4th going 7-0. Final Bandits 13 - Firewolves 8. Have never seen a game where 1 net never had the twine touched. Fun game. Lots of scrums & a good fight at the end. Bandits in Ra-cha-cha next Saturday. Can't wait.

And the Firewolves score the only goals in the 3rd. Firewolves 8 Bandits 6 through 3.

Firewolves in Banditland tonight. Albany up 1-0 at the end of 1. Bandits up 6-1 at the 1/2. Took almost 20 minutes to break the ice but they dominated the last 10 minutes.

FYI, almost positive that they said starting w/ the next home Amerks game that there will be no more special protocols to be allowed to enter the building. Verify this before coming down, but it looks like they're letting everyone in for the Amerks w/out any masking, testing, or vax requirements. Per an interview w/ an Amerks VP.

To the bolded, honestly not sure if it's better if you're right or wrong. But, based on Granato's comments, player usage, & generally what we see on the ice, expecting it's more you're wrong than right. (And don't believe it's exclusively development over winning, but do believe it's prioritized enough as to have cost at minimum 6 points in the standings & likely 10-12.)

They should have 2 good lines (though no put fear into other teams lines) next year & a line that can be good given the right matchups. The kids grow as we hope & it should be 3 good lines & a quality 4th line that following year.

Yes & no. If it really is from some teaching moment that Granato never adjusts his in game planning (well, ridiculously seldom) and when development is no longer the only goal but winning not only becomes a co-primary goal but THE primary goal that he will actually make situational adjusted decisions, it could be w/in the next 2-3 seasons. (Playoffs w/in the next 2, competitive to the top of the division in the next 3.) But, if adjustments aren't getting made simply due to some stubborness which won't subside w/ a focus on winning, then yes, a truly competitive team can't arrive until Granato is gone. Right now am giving him the benefit of the doubt that he knows the team would be better in the ST if they actually were coached to be situational aware but he believes learning the O system and letting players exceed their limitations to both find what they are and expand them as well is more important in the LT. (That benefit of the doubt goes away in TC this off-season.)

Absolutely. Bjork is IMHO their MOST frustrating F. (Expecting most votes would go to Eakin, but for this kid ...)

True, but neither he nor Quinn is available NOW, so...

Eichel did have a lot of time at ES w/ Reinhart (after O'Reilly was punted), Kane (NOT a good fit), Skinner (a very good fit for Jeff under Housley, not so much for Jack, & not so much for either in limited time under Krueger), & Okposo (when Reinhart was w/ ROR). Was his ice time actually mostly w/ any of those other guys? Staal & Rodrigues rarely, if ever, were out w/ Jack. Don't recall the others getting much time w/ him post-rookie year either. And that rookie year it was Kane & RW du jour often. Post ROR's departure, Eichel's normal linemates were Skinner & Pominville/ Reinhart & Olofsson & Reinhart. So, how does that jibe with Eichel "mostly" spending his time w/ those listed originally? And after O'Reilly left, the team had a 4th line & Eichel's line. Lines 2 & 3 were almost always hot garbage.

Could be. Just stating this kid's preference. Though should Mittelstadt & Olofsson EVER return to close to 100%, those 2 plus Okposo could be the core of a strong 2nd unit. (Especially if Dahlin works both units.)

Guessing he'd start on the 2nd unit. Hoping it's not too long before he's on the 1st unit. Him, Tuch, Thompson, Krebs, & Dahlin could bring back memories of the PP that had both Eichel & O'Reilly on it. THAT was fun to watch.

Interestingly, & rather disappointingly, last night's Tuch led team looked a lot like the Eichel led teams post-ROR in that with Tuch's line having an off night, none of the others could step up and pick up the slack. When Jack was in town, if his line was shutdown, an ugly loss was the usual result. The more things change ... Realize it's very much a work in progress, & next year's squad should be more likely to have characters that can fill in, but nobody else being able to step up last night is probably the most disappointing part of last night's effort. Right up there w/ wasting a good effort from Anderson & keeping a team at essentially the same spot in the standings behind them. (They got passed for winning %age, not positive if they swapped spots for total points or not.)

Even if they pick up their play losing streaks are likely. Pretty sure they don't get an opponent out of the playoff picture until St. Patty's day and that's on a Western Canada road trip which usually is not conducive to good things happening.

Don't know about being less painful. The play was actually rather numbing it was so ineffective.

Interesting. Mittelstadt ends up centering the defensively responsible "scoring line." Kind of expected that to be Cozens' role. And now we have a dilemna for Saturday. Wear the Mitts reverse retro or the blue RJ? Tough call.

No, it wouldn't. Teams are allowed to negotiate with players they hold the negotiating rights to. They can't extend players on 1 year deals until after January 1st & can't extend players on multi-year deals until the last league year that the contract carries through has begun. There is nothing to say they can't reach a gentleman's agreement. If that player gets traded, that gentleman's agreement can't be for more than 7 years. Also, there is nothing keeping the acquiring team from making a more enticing offer than the original offer & if the player signs the deal there is nothing the original team can do about it. Now, if the original team gave the player something tangible to get him to honor the handshake deal, THAT would be tampering. But just talking is not illegal under the CBA nor the MOU.

Adidas is doing a good job w/ details in general. Far better than Reebok did w/ their diaper cut tops. But, that said, this feels like a miss overall. As @IKnowPhysics points out, the cream color predates the Sabres original unis. Also, IMHO the blue & gold stripes touching each other are a miss too. The stripes touching each other was never really a thing in B&G until the "pit stains" showed up. Kind of disappointed that they didn't put a USA in gold at the bottom of the logo to recall the IMHO idiocy of putting NY at the bottom of the last WC primary logo. Will still likely get one as Sabrebucks now expire after a single year & can't see buying THAT much beer in the last 2 months. But it is a disappointing effort, though based on recent WC and stadium series unis, probably should've been expected. Maybe that's why they waited so long to roll them out? PS - does anybody know which game they'll wear them in the MMArena? Duff said they would but don't believe he mentioned the date.

Thing is, that prime was cut so short due to injury that it doesn't overcome his truly uninspired play prior to THE lockout nor his good to fair play post-Schaeffer incident. Provided he stays healthy, Krebs has an excellent chance of being better than Connolly when the entire body of work for both end up being reviewed. Considering how for most teams 9 & 19 go to the really truly offensively gifted players, it is amazing how little true skill the Sabres have gotten from players wearing those 2 unis. We're it not for Eichel's brief foray w/ that # Roy was far and away the most offensively gifted wearer of 9 and Connolly holds that title for 19. Fortunately, truly uninspiring play like last night's effort has been the exception, not the rule. Expecting they'll give a much better effort Saturday, but the end result will likely look worse on paper as the Avs are one of the league's top teams & alas, the Sabres aren't.

Not an overly high bar to top.

The shirts don't say "Arenas;" they say "Aretnas." Once again, wtf is an Aretna. PS They also were the St. Pats for a while.

Every game he's played that either Okposo or Girgensons was out he's worn the A.

Wtf are "Aretnas?"

Have never understood why more teams didn't follow the old St. Louis trick of agreeing to contract terms for the following year & then trading away Tkachuk in a year they weren't going to make the playoffs. He gets to play in the playoffs after a few year absense & then St. Louis gets him back the next year plus they had the assets he brought back. Win-win-win.

No. The logo on the front of the sweaters is IDENTICAL to the logo they are CURRENTLY wearing on their regular unis. The hump on the back of the buffalo is almost exactly (if not exactly) the same as the one on the original trademarked logo. It is nothing at all similar to what seamstresses in the late '70's & early '80's bastardized the Buffalo into.