nfreeman

5 goals in 6 games, and a PP one-timer for which there is no defense. Sometimes you get lucky with a 7th-rounder, innit?

It was nice to see the joy on Vlad’s face after the Skinner goal today. And while it wouldn’t hurt to upgrade that spot in the lineup, ERod certainly hasn’t done anything this year to show that it should be his.

Of course they would, and they probably will. But if you really, really care about a team, and you stick with them, every now and then you get to experience something amazing. I was thinking this myself today. OTOH, there are a lot of teams in the unwashed middle and the lower tier, and plenty of points available there to secure a playoff spot.

Did it look on one of the replays like Skinner tipped MoJo’s goal?

Five and one.

Dallas is probably going to come out desperate like CBJ did. The Sabres will need good goaltending and to generally keep their cool and weather the storm. A lively home crowd would be nice too.

Interesting. Probably not after 2 straight wins but far from impossible.

Yes indeed — I spaced on Montour.

I agree with most of this but I’m not sure that either or both of Bogo and Pilut would be in the top 6. It’s possible though. Interesting question. Joker has similar skills to Pilut but is bigger and a better skater. And Scandy is much improved over last season and IMHO playing much better than Bogo was in the 2nd half of last season.

I think they probably decided that they weren't inclined to make any changes to the lineup at this point, and thus that it would be a waste of TT's development time to call him up and not play him. They are probably less concerned about this factor with Lazar.

Well, my back and forth with @Taro T was tongue-in-cheek. Although they’re definitely the third line.

1. Bert 2. Dom 3. Rico 4. Schoeny

But that’s MSG doing that — not the team! Game, set and match.

It should be very clear to Mitts, Vesey and ERod that they are going to need to bust their a**es if they want to take 3rd line minutes away from Larson’s line. Right now they seem miles away from getting there. The difference between the 2 lines in zone exits and in setting up the forecheck is like night and day. Who on the Sabres does this? RK has explicitly and repeatedly disavowed this. Frankly this sounds like an unsavory whispering campaign by someone who knows he’s painted himself into a message board corner.

I agree with all this although I don’t think Miller is a defensive liability. He seems quite smooth and skilled with zone exits.

I think we all need to be honest with ourselves at this point: we're now at about a hundred Sabres coaches, including RK, whom everyone loves, that have decided to play Risto this much. I think many, and likely most, generally agree with you that he has real value, and would only trade him for a really good forward who would instantly take Sobotka's spot and make the top 6 a very dangerous group. Now that is an amazing offer. What do I have to do exactly?

I thought that was Hoffman, an elite NHL goal-scorer, making a great shot into a small open spot -- whereas I thought Ullmark misplayed Florida's first goal. I'll be curious to hear the results on tracking this. I don't think shortening the bench in the last 8 min or so to 3 forward lines and 5 D is materially taxing, unless maybe it's the 2nd game of a back-to-back. Separately, that was another good and entertaining win in which they were knocked back on their heels at times but still gave well as good as they got. My game notes: - The 3 best passes of the game were the 2 KO assists and...Sobotka to Skinner in traffic for the great scoring chance! - Excellent game from Ullmark other than Florida's 1st goal, which was a huge momentum play. - RK: "world class goaltending on both ends." - Scandella is reborn under RK. - Risto: 25 min, 24 seconds. - Olofsson and Jack both passed once when they should've shot. - Reino had a couple of nice passes in the 3rd but otherwise not much of a game. I didn't like Mitts' or Erod's game either, although Mitts contributed the winner in the SO, which must've felt good.. - Larsson's line is the third line I say. - It's emerged that Vesey consistently gets VO's 5-on-5 shifts with Jack and Reino in the last 5-8 min or so in the 3rd period, and that Mitts (and Erod too I think) stays on the bench with Olofsson. I think tonight was the first time that the same has happened with Dahlin. That is fine with me -- he was pretty shaky tonight. - It's been a looooooooooonnnngg time since the Bills and Sabres were both 4-1.

No. When Lucic was at his peak he was a major force on a very good team. He scored, intimidated and produced in the playoffs. Reino hasn't approached that level yet.

By the by, it looks like Pysyk has been healthy-scratched for all but one of the Panthers' games this year, including tonight.

You just made the death list buddy.

This is obnoxious.

If I felt confident that Mitts' line would continue to score, or would ever score again, I'd be less concerned. But Sheary, the lone goal-scorer, is out week-to-week, and Mitts and Vesey have been completely ineffective since Game 1.

Well, this is a great post. I will disagree with a couple of points though: 1. As I stated in the OP, I think it's more accurate to call them the 3rd line. They are playing 3rd-line minutes and they are (ably) filling the traditional role of a 3rd line. I recognize that this is kinda just nomenclature and non-substantive, except that in a sense it affects the analysis, because... 2. Again, they are playing 3rd-line minutes -- up to about 15 min per game at this point. (I spot-checked about a half-dozen of the guys on the list you posted and most were at about 11 min per game -- which is closer to 4th-line minutes). My question was whether, given this ice time, the Sabres need more offensive production out of them. I don't think they are going to outscore, or score an equivalent amount to, most NHL 3rd lines. I agree that the real answer is that additional production is needed from Mitts' line. I'm just growing pessimistic that this is going to occur. And if another month goes by and we find ourselves getting scoring only from the top 2 lines, I think we'll need to at least consider some reordering of the 3rd and 4th lines.

I think he got beat and it was pretty close to one of those "WTF are you doing" moments. McCabe yelled at him afterwards -- which I kinda liked as a leadership move.