Taro T

What an awful tragedy. Probably my biggest fear when coaching youth hockey was to have a freak accident like that happen. Absolutely hate to see a guy's skate getting up in the air. Was there when Zednik nearly expired.

John, glad you got to spend more time with your brother than you expected. Hoping you get that chance to see him again when his time does come. Will say a prayer for you.

Disagree here. It was a huge mistake at the time, not simply in hindsight. And fully realize and agree that Ullmark would not have the same stats he had last year had he still been a Sabre. BUT the Sabres would've been in the playoffs too.

Provided, it isn't simply Allen being in the game that causes them to be unable to win. If he has to be going against them to cause them to lose, would be all over it. 😆

OK, totally get the 1st sentence and am at the same place. No idea what that 2nd one is saying.

His skate definitely hit the post but it didn't appear to cause his leg to jar which would've messed up his groin. Maybe it did even though it didn't look like it would. About a minute earlier, he'd had a Devil fall on his back without any real warning about it. Could see that having done some minimal damage and then the leg hitting the post finishing off whichever ligament went "pop." Either way, we need UPL to keep that horseshoe lodged up his butt for at least a couple more weeks because he'll be getting into some games over that stretch. Would be great if he could keep it there all season. Would have no issue with Adams getting to take victory laps over his belief in the 3 goalies he has. (Not expecting that at all, but would pretty much guarantee playoffs this year.)

No way Skinner gets moved from the PP1 as long as Granato is coach. (Says the guy that's been advocating for taking Skinner off the PP1 for almost as long as Granato has been the coach.)

Have been saying that for a long time. And it is frustrating as all get out. Because you really do need quality goaltending to win. Totally get his seeming point that every year quality goaltending can and does come from unexpected places, because it really does as Johansson is demonstrating this year (though honestly there's always a few guys that have their out of nowhere seasons (nearly all of which disappear back into nothingness rather than becoming Tim Thomas)). But, you can't EXPECT to be the team that plays that winning lottery ticket in a given year. Even if you buy 3 low probability lottery tickets each year, it's nuts to EXPECT one of those tickets to hit - 3x an extremely low probability is still a very low probability. Yes, somebody's ticket hits each year; and occassionally the crazy parlay will get the mortgage payment for you, but more often than not, you're going to find yourself homeless relying on the the parlay to pay the mortgage. And Kevyn Adams has been trying to pay the mortgage with parlays every year he's been the GM. (And with that said, STILL expect Levi will be the real deal). But have been wondering about the same Q @thewookie1 has been asking since Comrie left last night's game. Is it simply dumb luck that the Sabres goalies seem to annually get injured at an inordinately high rate, an indictment of their defensive play that the goalie finds himself needing to move in ways to make plays the body simply can't do on consistent basis without something giving out, or an indictment of the Bales coaching, i.e. do the goalies get coached to move in ways that increase the chances for injuries? Was really happy when the Sabres landed Bales. But am really close to the point of wanting him to get out of town on the same bus the guy drawing up the PP's leaves on.

So, Dahlin back up to 28 minutes and Power up to 26 minutes. If they don't get into penalty trouble, Johnson gets ~14 minutes and Bryson 8. Leaving Samuelsson and Jokiharju with about 24 & 22 apiece respectively. That's too much time on the ice for the regulars against a team as good as the Avs; but Bryson is going to be noticable if he gets to 10 minutes. (Hopefully that's just overly pessimistic; but doubt it is.)

Yeah, a 2 game suspension is pretty much the correct call. But, just like the delay of game early in the 3rd on the Sabres last night was the correct call; having it happen so quickly after the rules were ignored and the Sabres opponent DIDN'T receive the non-discretionary punishment just makes it seem like the league and the refs do have it in for the Sabres. (They don't, but #### when Tkachuk doesn't suffer his automatic 1 game suspension for instigating a fight in the last 5 minutes one game before and the Devils' D-man avoids the sin bin for launching the puck skyward while hitting nothing but net one minute before, it sure feels like they do.)

As will we. An early lunch at Union and then hopefully the goatheads work their weird magic. Would trust them to be able to do so a lot more if we hear tomorrow that Levi is back on the ice looking good and that the league office decided to treat Clifton like he was Brady Tkachuk.

The Devils are a VERY fast team. Benson has NHL speed but isn't a burner by any stretch and has great hockey IQ but could see where going into Joisey where Ruff would have the last change could be a very tough game for Benson. Don't hate the idea of not putting Benson in a situation that he quite possibly wouldn't have thrived. And, especially with the D and G being shorted, having a F that was only going to get about 10 minutes of game time would have created issues of it's own. The Okposo decision is on Adams. Granato isn't going to bench his captain this early in the season. Much as those watching might wish it to be so.

They'll get Levi back healthy soon. That'll help. The "big" guys that they depend on are starting to get on rolls. The PK is actually good (at least when UPL isn't between the pipes). Don't have faith that the PP will click better than middle of the pack but winning 5v5 and playing well on the PK should be enough to get them wins. The playoffs are still very much in play. (Even if they lose as they very well might should UPL get into his 3rd game in a row.) If they get Levi and Comrie back soon, could see them going on a 3 game winning streak after Sunday's game is in the rearview mirror.

You talking about Johansson this year or Mika Noronnen in '03-'04? Looked like he was going to be a legit NHLer. He really came into his own that year. One lockout and 2 more seasons of barely getting into games and then his career was over. Like you said, goalies are strange (paraphrasing). Will not worry about the Sabres missing out on something wonderful in UPL when he actually looks like an NHL into a 2nd season. We're still waiting on that 1st one. He is not a good fit for this team at present, and based on the style that Granato likes to play really don't see him being a good fit for the team as long as Granato is setting the tone and the specifics of the style they're going to play. UPL needs to play for a team that can be disciplined and take the backdoor and cross ice passes away consistently and only rarely gives up breakaways. And even if he gets that, other teams will know the book on him and the good ones will force the issue and he'll still likely have problems. He might have a magical season like that Dallas goalie did back around the pandemic season; but can't see him having much more staying power than that guy had either. Don't see the Sabres being a fit for what he needs to be successful. As long as he's a Sabre, hope that evaluation is off; but just don't believe it is.

2 of 3 games now that the Sabres were buzzing all over the other team's net in the 2nd having come into the period tied and they weren't able to pull away. The puck luck will start breaking their way soon, but they need to make that happen. Because it's too deflating to give up that go ahead goal early in the 3rd after having dominated stretches of the 2nd. And they just flat out have to play better in the 3rd. At least 3 in a row that they got dominated (on the scoreboard definitely and realistically on the ice as well). Coaches have to figure that issue out and soon.

Wondering if that Devil falling on top of Comrie is what actually injured him. Expecting it was. That injury was a huge factor in this one. Wonder how close Levi is. Because, yes, UPL got a win against the Avs last year and yes, the Sabres will be wearing their red and black Sunday afternoon but Bryson and UPL both playing on Sunday against a team that good is NOT inspiring confidence. Not saying they'll lose that one, but man will it take a serious effort to win that one under those circumstances.

Guess that OT winner did get him rolling. Sweet.

Even if he does get claimed, it just saves Pegula some cash as there's little chance he stays up the full 30 days it would take for the Sabres to lose dibs on him getting sent down.

Sadly, quite likely. Which stinks, the Avs have speed and size. Bryson might be able to handle 1 but not both.

Umm, Lehner?

If Clifton is suspended, the Sabres can recall a D from Ra-cha-cha as they only have 22 active players.

Can still see the ref going up to him after the play sternly telling him before the next faceoff that presumably if he does that again he'll be forced to seriously, no REALLY seriously, consider giving him another sterner lecture about how he shouldn't do that and if he does it ANOTHER time after that, well, there MIGHT be consequences that go beyond public shaming. One of the most embarrassing moments for NHL officiating in a long history of embarrassing moments.

It's also still the only time that happened. (Should've happened against the Pens in Hasek's last season as a Sabre; but the video game controllered puck off the faceoff late in regulation to Lemieux in game 6 and then Kasparaitis' non-called delay of game/closing his hand on the puck in game 7 crushed that dream.)

Expect they'll be breaking him in more patiently regardless of whether Comrie &/or UPL demonstrate an ability to be a capable backup. The schedule compresses (not significantly, but enough) that the Sabres won't be consistently getting a single game here and then a day or 2 off, followed by another and again and so on after the calendar flips. They'll necessarily have to be factoring in how fresh a goalie is having him consistently playing 4 games is 6 or 7 nights; 4 games in 8 nights ISN'T excessive. But them being at a point where it comes across as more than simply lip service that they trust 2 or even all 3 of the goalies to win them a game would be an excellent development. And, unless it's the stretch run and they're on the cusp of a berth (like last year), don't see them giving any of them 4 in a row again (provided all 3 are available).

Have said it before, really expect a lot of the issues at home in the "classic" unis is that they know the record isn't good in those unis and they really do care about being good at home and making it a tough place to play and all the other cliches and as such actually try a little too hard and then start gripping the sticks too tight and then things get away from them a little bit and they end up creating an amplifying feedback loop. It isn't that they aren't working. Granato does have his patterns of how he deploys his players and they seem to be slightly different at home and on the road, but haven't really had a chance to look closely enough at the handful of games so far as to figure out the differences between them (especially as they're likely also opponent specific). On the road, unless there's an icing or a PP, it's tough to get the matchups you want unless you're good with swapping a line/pairing off the very 1st time it/they pass the bench. But, if your opponent is heavily line matching, you can put out the line they're matching their 2nd or 3rd line against, helping to either limit their usage of their top line or going to the matchups you want. The line matching is fun to watch for (but it is way easier to do when you're in the building as you can see all the players rather than just the few that are on your TV screen) but Granato is one that is more concerned with getting his guys the ice time he wants them to have rather than the specific splits that might optimize that ice time.