Taro T

Hoping (but not particulary hopeful) that they roll different pairings tomorrow. They have mixed stuff up from what they were practicing a couple of times this year. They REALLY need to do that again on the back line.

Your 1st statement might be accurate. But, don't believe it's that he was sitting on his hands that kept him inactive. It's that his valuation of the guys he has made the price to bring in the outside guys he tried to obtain too expensive. (That, and guys like Pesce saying heck no to waiving a NMC to enjoy the wonderment of a WNY winter.) And had he forced Granato to make some changes behind the bench, his valuations of his players making those other pickups too expensive might've still be workable. Heck, just having a guy that actually knows how to run a PP rather than Matt Ellis would be worth what, maybe 5 more wins right now. How much different does this exact same team look with that many more points in the standings? Make a couple other coaching improvements and maybe Adams is right about this team being able to set goals higher than just making the playoffs. Am not giving up on this season. But something has to change quickly. And don't know that finally having a fully healthy team (yes, Girgensons is still out, but they brought in a roughly equivalent from outside in Robinson; so for all intents and purposes the team is full) will be enough as Thompson definitely isn't at 100% nor likely are at least a few other key pieces (believe Tuch is still working through a groin/hamstring that limits him many games; Samuelsson is dealing with something; and it's not likely Quinn is 100% either). As fun as last season was, this is as miserable, maybe even moreso.

He MIGHT need benching. (Heck, he probably does.) But would rather give him 3rd pairing usage for a bit to see if he can work through his issues. If he's on his game, he's better than either of the 2 FAs brought in. Problem is, Power should be getting 3rd pairing usage right now too (or a benching). Can't bench 4 of them and ice a roster.

OK, they're going with lines that HAVE worked across the board. Which is good. But why are they insisting on going with pairings that haven't worked in a while? Which is bad. Hate to say it, because really don't like him on the top pairing but it's better than any of the other options except possibly putting a rookie there, but put Jokiharju with Dahlin, put the rookie with Power, and put Samuelsson with either Clifton or the other Johnson. They have to optimize all 18 skaters. Not just some of them.

They've bounced back from troubling losses in the past. Personally would expect that given their working relationship that Adams gives Granato tomorrow night to show he hasn't lost the room. (And with that being said, watch them call a PC at 4PM introducing Seth Appert as the interim HC.) Issue is, with 2 kids who both had rough games last night, which goalie has the fortitude to get back on the bronco and not get bucked off against one of the best offenses in the league. Don't expect UPL will shrug last night's game off quickly enough given how his last start against TO went. Will Levi hop right back on like he did in Bean Town? Do they go completely off the board and throw a Hail Mary w/ Comrie getting potentially his last ever start as a Sabre. Expecting it'll be UPL tomorrow night. Not convinced that'll be the right call.

Personally believe Bob Woods should be hired yesterday, Ellis should be moved back to whatever developmental role he had before becoming an assistant coach, and Bales and Wilford should both be given their walking papers. Maybe the other assistants too.

No shifts with Power?

Sorry about misdescribing that. It was actually Fi-re Don-ny Clap ... clap ... clap, clap, clap. (So it was actually to the Let's Go Sabres chant with the Let's go Buffalo clapping. Not the Let's Go Buffalo chant. Oops.) Hamsammich said that Tuch was unable to speak because his mouth was all messed up from the puck to the face he took in the 2nd.

Well, that was unsatisfying. Fairly small crowd, probably about 8k. So, at least an entire barn full of Sabres fans weren't subjected to that one. But, unfortunately it seemed a lot of the bodies in the arena were kids. Not exactly the way to build up that next generation of fans. Was nice to get the fast start, but even on that goal it was a kind of nearly broken play where Cozens spun back towards the blue line before finding Dahlin speeding into the zone. They love that stupid spin back away from the defender to see if there is an open passing lane. There was on THAT play, but they killed at least 10 other rushes last night trying the same play and having the puck hit a skate or an opponent's stick giving the BJ's an easy clear. And while their skating seemed slow, the clock seemed slow too. The 1st and 2nd periods both felt like they were about 35 minutes long. Fortunately, the 3rd seemed to pretty much breeze by. (Thankful for small miracles.) So many of the same issues from other games that all leapt up at once. Poor positional awareness in their own zone. Poor (nearly non-existant) gap control through the neutral zone back into their own end. Little to no driving the puck to the net; little to no net front presence. Goalies being off by JUST that much. (Cutting UPL more slack on this one than Levi; if Granato wanted to send a message to the team, should've started the 2nd with UPL between the pipes so he'd've had the chance to go through his normal intermission routine to be ready to go.) Pretty sure they didn't give anybody his 1st goal of the year, but they did give a guy a natural hat trick with his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of the year. That makes up for that one, right? It was like being at a Rolston game early in the season after he'd gotten the "interim" removed from his title. Their collective hockey IQ on the night rivaled that of a good Squirt team. On the few occassions they could make a pass, they couldn't receive it. They were booed off the ice all 3 periods. They were chanting to have Granato fired most of the last 10 minutes of the game. At least those that stuck around that long were doing so. And it was to the cadence of the "Let's Go Buf-fa-lo" chant. There were occassional calls to bring back Krueger. It was truly ugly. They gave out nice prints of a winter scene with a few Sabres drawn in on the way into the building. One of them ended up a paper airplane that got caught in the huge net behind UPL. That kind of a night. Games have looked ugly before. Not sure that they've looked this ugly since the 18 game losing streak. (Even the 8 game losing streak last year had some effort to them.) When A game has looked especially ugly, they've bounced back the next game with a really good one. The team, though lost at times, had never quit on Granato. (Eh, they quit at the end of the Dallas game last year; but that was a weird one.) Should Don still be the coach Thursday, expecting it'll be a referendum on his job. Adams avoided major changes from last season; don't see how he can't avoid giving GA what he's been calling for after seemingly every loss should they lay another egg like last night. There was no entertainment value at all last night. The guy who sits next to us brought his grandson to that debacle. Kid mentioned that the bad part about making it 7-4 is the team would get people believing they had a chance to come back. Told him not to worry, they'll give up a goal on the next shot. And sure enough, horrible coverage again left them running around but with 2 guys "covering" the F on the back door though neither actually tying up his stick so he had an easy tap in. Won't give up on them (just can't do it, until they're out there's a flicker of hope); but holy cow was it a long drive back home last night.

Not necessarily everything, but he fixes a WHOLE LOT. (The goalie ain't standing in front of the other crease on the PP. Though that WOULD be something to see. Would probably want to do that in a UPL game rather than a Levi game. Better screen of the other goalie and not much fear of UPL getting in the way of it. 😉)

Need that 'yawn' reaction button. 😉 🍺

When evaluating Kelly, don't forget that he tore up his throwing shoulder pretty bad at the Pro Bowl after the '91 season. IMHO, he was never the same after that.

The team HAS played two good games, even three, in a row on a few occassions. But when they have in at least 1 of those games (excepting the single 2 game W streak) either they didn't go to the net hard enough, the goalie let in a bad goal, the PP completely imploded or a combination of these occurred. Would love to see Ellis' duties adjusted to going back to being a development coach (or whatever the #### job he had before becoming a bench coach), but does anybody honestly expect to see it happen? Fully expect him, and perhaps Wilford and Bales, gone at the end of the year. But not expecting it in season. Hoping a move gets made, but really not expecting one until the AS break at the absolute earliest and even that isn't likely IMHO.

Presuming Buffalo has made up one or both games the Fishies currently have on them through week 17, then the week 18 game WILL be for the division. The ONLY way it isn't is if the Fishies still have at least a 2 game (well, a game and a half technically, but nobody expects a tie) lead over the Bills. Wasn't questioning that the game would be for the division. Was merely questioning why you'd expected the Fishies could finally beat a winning opponent.

Expecting he'll be pretty much strictly with those 2 and will get PP2 time. If they really need a push at the end, could see them doubleshifting Mittelstadt or Cozens in place of Jost.

Had predicted they had the Columbus home game pencilled in for his return. But expected it was the one right after Christmas.

We'll hear this afternoon.

You know what happens when you assume, right? No. If the Jags, Colts, and Bengals all win out with Cleveland winning their other 2 and Miami winning their other 2 then even if the Bills win out they miss out on the playoffs. So, if 14 of 14 games go the wrong way, then even if Buffalo wins out they don't win out. But, the possibility of all 14 games breaking the wrong way would seem to be rather slim.

IF the Bills win out, they are nearly a lock for the playoffs at this point. It looks like the teams ahead of Buffalo have 18 games total remaining between them (including KC's and Baltimore's games) and not counting the Fishies Bills game. There are 5 games between 2 of those teams (Cincy at KC, Cleveland at Cincy, Cleveland at Houston, Houston at Indy, and Miami at Baltimore). Saw a scenario laid out by Kevin Massare stating this was the only way for the Bills to win out and miss the playoffs. His scenario went: Cincy beats Pittsburgh, KC, and Cleveland; Cleveland beats Houston and Jest; Indy beats Atlanta, Vegas, and Houston; Miami beats Dallas and Baltimore; and Baltimore beats the 9ers or Pittsburgh. Leaving Cincy, Cleveland, Indy, and Buffalo all at 11-6 with Baltimore and Miami ahead of that. And presumably Buffalo loses all the tiebreakers. But even with all those teams even with or ahead of Buffalo and KC doing whatever taking their division, the Bills still could still be in 7th. BUT, Jax can also end up at 11-6 without playing any of those other teams and they beat Buffalo earlier. IF that happens and all the rest of that occurred as well then that would make Buffalo the 8th seeded team missing the playoffs. Provided KC loses to Cincy, it doesn't matter what they'd do because they'd win their division or lose it to another team that would have fewer wins than the Bills that would then win the division. But, if Buffalo wins out, there need to be 14 other games that all work against the Bills to keep them out of the playoffs. And depending on who would have the tie breaker between Baltimore and the Bills, there might need to be 1 of 2 other games also working against the Bills. (And, no, didn't bother to factor in the potential of ties. Don't care THAT much about this stuff.) So, it's close enough for government work to say, if the Bills win out they're in.

Because at this time they were at 24 healthy bodies on the Sabres roster, not 25. Though it stands to reason that when the next guy is ready to come off IR it'll be Murray getting sent back to the Amerks and not Comrie making the trip down the I-90. It's pretty obvious that Adams doesn't want to try to send one of his goalies that would have to clear waivers to get to the Amerks down. And there is no way Levi gets sent down the way he's been playing of late. So, as @Weave astutely pointed out the 3 headed monster isn't going anywhere soon. (Unless Adams can trade one for what he considers to be fair value. A proposition that likely isn't happening with either of the young ones and don't see suitors bashing down the door for Comrie.)

Don't see how playing 14+ minutes every night (and he hasn't been below 14 minutes the last 12 games), getting some PP1 usage and some PK usage in the best league in the world isn't significantly better for his development than playing 22+/ night against kids. Were he getting made to look silly against the competition or if he were getting pounded would agree that the W is a better place for him. But neither of those are happening. And what he's getting an opportunity to do - play in the NHL at the age of 18 is something that only a few elite 18 year olds get an opportunity to do. He seems to be grasping the opportunity by both hands and is starting to run with it. Understatement. 😉

Ineptitude perhaps and a strong case can be made, particularly in certain aspects. Won't give you laziness. Have some thoughts on why they've been so Jeckyll and Hyde from game to game, but haven't had a chance to compare the thoughts to the data. Might spend some time next week seeing if the data supports them or if they're just wild hairs. But, flat out don't believe it's laziness. They'd have more losing streaks if it was.

Wow. Thought they'd send Murray down before him, but if they aren't 100% certain Quinn's playing tomorrow they need to keep Murray around to avoid the stupid 11-7 crud. Tomorrow's game just got more interesting.

To the bolded, absolutely.

Wonder which D-man sits. We already know where slot 12 is open on the F roster. (And with this being his 1st game back would prefer they not have him pencilled into either of the top 2 lines tomorrow night. Thursday? Well, lets see how he does tomorrow.)