Taro T

Timmons took a hard spill behind the Detroit net. Lost a bit of an edge as he was getting hit. He popped right up, but he's going to be sore tonight. Could've been a lot worse.

It's 2/3's guaranteed. Should the Sabres decide to buy him out, he gets 2/3's the remaining money over twice the remaining years left on the deal when they buy him out.

Wow, not sure how Detroit didn't score there. Huge scrum in the Sabres crease and Lyon was down facing east-west as the puck went across the crease but somehow Detroit couldn't get a stick on the puck.

Wonder if Mrtka gets the 9 game tryout. If Samuelsson isn't able to go vs the Rags, could definitely see them giving him that look. And have to believe Helenius and Mrtka are pencilled into next year's line up (though obviously a lot can change between now and then).

Draws don't matter. (Except when they do.) Yeah, even if Thompson and Norris don't have "chemistry" can't see taking Norris off that line simply for his ability to win draws cleanly when they matter.

Thompson off the draw.3-1

McLeod robbed by Cossa. (Well sort of, you hit him in the winged wheel and even with 14 extra lbs of muscle you probably aren't putting it through him.) Great pass from along the boards by Tuch to him sending him in clean behind the D.

Shoot. 2-1. Kane. Sabres still have issues with puck carrier below the goal line leaving the slot clear for a sniper to sneak in. Lyon with no chance. Should be a Sabre.

Byram out for the very end of the kill.

McLeod and Tuch on the PK. Dahlin and Timmons the D. Followed up with Norris and Benson and Mrkta and Bryson.

He definitely is more self confident than Power at a same juncture.

Johnson loses his stick in the corner, stays with the play and seems to legally get the puck away from the Wing, but the ref did not agree. 2 minutes for holding. Wings to the PP. Very possible.

Byram saved a goal. Not sure how he didn't get called for covering it in the crease (didn't look that closely at it, maybe the puck was outside the crease when it was under him) but still 2-0 Sabres.

Well, hopefully should it come to that, and not wishing it on Bobrovsky but should it come to that, am hoping that preseason vs a mix of NHLers and AHLers isn't the same as playing vs NHLers. If it takes FLA falling off due to injuries to sneak the Sabres into the playoffs, so be it. Had Fasching not kicked a goal into the net that counted, FLA might very well have missed the dance the year they lost to Vegas. Would be poetic somehow that their run ends with the Sabres sneaking past them.

Cossa who? 😉

Mrtka from Helenius. Rosen takes the hit to move it up ice. 2-0 Sabres.

6 of 9 so far on the draw with the 1 win directly leading to the goal.

Not endorsing the song in the lead. None of them are particularly good goal songs. But Chelsea Dagger is a great goal song and can't see ANY teams coming out on the ice to it. Just sayin'.

Gives an indication that, as many here have suggested, that they're planning on having Mrtka spend this year in Junior. Not surprisingly the Norris line has been tilting the ice in the Sabres favor. Dahlin off the draw. 1-0

Which seems to be exactly how they're coached to do so. (Not saying they necessarily would be more aggressive / better in their own end with actual coaching; but when the coaching is good with just trying to passively take away passing lanes, guys that are predisposed to that style won't be incentivized to adjust.)

Figures that Jeremy White wouldn't be able to work an effective bot farm. Thankfully. Too early to say, but maybe we dodged at least THAT bullet.

Should Bobrovsky have an extended absence, do they have a Lyon to save their bacon again? Missing your top player all season, your best power forward for nearly half of it, and a world class goalie would be a tough row to hoe. Especially when you factor in there will be other players missing a game or 2 here or there.

Who has their 1st this coming draft? Should the Swamp Cats have 1 or 2 more injuries, that team might've lucked into a top 16 pick when they were expecting to get something between 26 and 32. Kind of an inverse of when the Sabres traded O'Reilly away.

Might be a great prop bet (or not) for Vegas should the Bills open on the road vs the J-E-S-T jest Jest JEST or the Jints: in what week will the J-E-S-T jest Jest JEST and Jints combined have more wins in Met Life than the Buffalo Bills have. Would put it somewhere around weeks 8-10 this year. Though that could be giving the denizens of Met Life too much credit.

Am interested to see who ends up with Helenius and Rosen (presuming those 2 will be together) and which D ends up paired with Timmons in Samuelsson's spot. First look at Tuch this year too and the revamped McLeod line. Almost intriguing enough to drive in to watch, but not quite. Streaming it is.