darksabre

It really is...unnerving...isn't it? Not confidence inspiring.

Oh cool, looking forward to checking that out!

Right, objectively. Guys like Lindback and Nilsson have had the best statistical seasons of their careers playing for the Sabres the last few years. I'm just super wary of looking at Lehner's stats on a bad Sabres team and trying to draw any kind of meaning out of it. I think playing on a bad team can create the illusion of a goalie being good.

This is kinda my thing. It's hard for me to feel like he's going to be the goalie this team needs when it is good and he's seeing less shots. I don't expect Ullmark to be an improvement either. But I don't see myself caring that much. I need the rest of the team to get better.

You know where Karlsson wants to go right? The Rangers. It's always the Rangers.

I agree. I think the big thing for Botterill is: prospect/FA pool, and how much he's willing to tie up in goaltending cap going forward. What kind of contract do we think Lehner is looking at? $6mil/4 years? Do we want to tie a goalie up for that if we think Ullmark is coming up next year? I don't think so. I think Lehner goes elsewhere and gets a good contract and we go with Ullmark at $750k and ______ at ~$2.5mil.

I want to say that I agree with you, but I just don't, and I really can't say why. I think if this team starts scoring more goals he'll end up being worse. I think he looks the best and most useful when he's getting a lot of work. But if you ask him to make that one big save in a higher scoring game where he's not seeing as many shots, that's when he's going to kill you. I'm being presumptuous about where I think this team is headed, and I think as they get better it's less likely that he's "the guy".

I think he's facing low quality shots. Look at how much shooting Chicago was doing. This is like the Ted Nolan years when we were giving up tons of shots and Artus Irbe was making randos look like Hasek. Lehner is basically fine. I get it. Every objective way of looking at the guy says there's nothing wrong with him. But... we know something is, right? Like...I would 100% not fault any coach or GM for buying in to Lehner and giving him some long term deal and thinking "yes, this is the guy".

I don't agree. I think he's playing well. But pretty much every goalie in the league is making those saves every night. He's not doing anything that other goalies aren't doing.

Robin Lehner is that woman you went to high school who is 35 now and who has dated several guys long-term but for some reason has never ended up married. Objectively she looks like a great catch, but there's also something going on there that you can't put your finger on. He's a good goalie in a lot of respects. Most nights he's not the reason they lose, but he's also not the reason they win. Statistically he makes the saves you expect him to make, but he almost never makes that one save you need him to make. He's that co-worker who dependably shows up every day and does what you tell him, but is never going to go out of his way to work some OT or try to make the company better of his own volition. There's nothing inherently wrong with a goalie who just quietly does his thing and makes his saves and gives the team a chance to win every night. But occasionally you need your goalie to come up big. To show they have the capacity to make that one impossible save when the team desperately needs it. Lehner is not that guy. I have no doubt he will have a long NHL career and will play for several more teams. But he's always going to move on, and no one is ever really going to be able to figure out why, but they wont miss him when he's gone.

I mean, this is definitely one of the more likable Bills rosters in a long time. It's kinda the opposite of the Sabres for me. I like a lot of the guys on the Bills, but I question if McBeane really know what they're doing or are just getting lucky. I think they got extremely lucky yesterday that the weather basically turned the game into a crap shoot. I think nice weather sees us get run all over by Frank Gore and Peterman gets more opportunities to throw and turn the ball over. The snow saved them from themselves. I struggle to think I'll watch the rest of the Bills season unless I have a really good reason to. The snow yesterday was a great reason to watch. But I don't think for a moment they aren't still the Bills we know and hate. And McDermott has shown the capacity to be very Billsy in his decision making.

Yup.

The error was not Kane's. All Jack has to do is try to put a body on Tarasenko. He blew it.

No one else is supposed to be the best player on this team for the next 8 years or whatever. Raise your expectations.

All he had to do was finish the play and try to get a body on Tarasenko. But he just decided not to. I don't get it.

Thanks guys. Just saw the video. It looked like Eichel was looking to the bench for a change or something and slowed up letting Tarasenko go into the zone without back-checking him. Two Sabres back didn't even try to defend him. Totally blown play. Wait, no. Not a change. He just decided that he didn't want to take Tarasenko even though Tarasenko was his for the taking. So Kane starts shifting to the center to take the trailer because why wouldn't he? Eichel blew that. He needed to finish his backcheck on Tarasenko. He was right there.

Someone give me a play by play of the game winner. What the heck happened?

I am missing this whole thing because of Windows update

Good Eichel back check.

Who could tell? It was a mess out there.

I didn't have a problem with the hit because the game was so sloppy. Peterman should have known better.

We don't deserve McCoy

McDermott should be fired 100%

I've played some football in the snow before. McCoy looks to be a good play though. But that drive was a perfect example of how hard it is to defend the pass in the snow. The receiver has a clear advantage.

Honestly it looks like things are letting up. Waiting it out might end up being better.