nfreeman

Matthews has 15 goals in 14 games.

So last night after the Sabres game I was flipping around and came across "True Romance" just as the incredible scene with James Gandolfini and Patricia Arquette was starting. It's a great movie if you've never seen it (written by Tarantino, btw) and this scene was amazing. The pre-Sopranos Gandolfini weighed at least 100 lbs less and was still a frightening and highly compelling presence. (BTW, I had lunch about 10 years ago with some work colleagues and Gandolfini was at the next table. He was scary in person too. We were thinking about surreptitiously taking a photo and decided not to do so -- and then like 2 days later, he was in the news for assaulting someone for taking his picture on a sidewalk without his permission.)

Well, AO is the obvious challenger for the crown, but Matthews is the one IMHO.

Holy mackerel. That was a fantastic hockey game. I yelled at the TV and jumped around my man-cave more than I can remember doing for a Sabres game in forever. Eichel probably isn't as good as Matthews (who IMHO is the best non-Gretzky goalscorer since Mike Bossy), but when the fire burns and he digs deep like he did last night, he might be. Matthews definitely closed his hand around the puck on his first goal and secured an advantage in the way he moved it and placed it. (Although I seem to think the rule on that has changed in the last few years -- not sure about that.) Pilut may or may not get sent back down, depending on the health of Scandy, McCabe and Nelson, but he is an NHL defenseman and maybe a good NHL defenseman. Sheary makes a big difference in the effectiveness of the 2nd line. As others have said, though, they need Mitts to produce more if the Sabres are going to be a consistently good team. Ullmark was really good. Big picture: the Sabres are a good, exciting, fun team again with good goaltending and the right guys at GM and HC. Halle-freakin-lujah.

I'm glad Sheary is back -- they need to change up the lines and try to get some 2ndary scoring, and they should probably change the PP lineup too. I'd like to see: Skinner-Eichel-Reino Sheary-Mitts-TT ERod-Sobotka-KO Bergy-Larsson-Zemgus -- with this line getting a bunch of shifts vs Matthews' line PP1: Skinner, Eichel, Reino, Mitts, Dahlin PP2: Sheary, ERod, KO, Risto, Pilut

I thought Pilut looked really good last night. Quite comfortable and poised, quick, and very good hands. If he plays that well tonight it's not going to be easy to send him down.

I thought the first one of those pitching wedge goals was a lucky accident, but I kinda think he was trying to wedge the 2nd one in and it was a very nifty hand-eye move.

My sense is that the comment in the Athletic related to the perception of Buffalo around the league -- it wasn't that long ago (2015) that Buffalo was ranked 3rd-worst in a players' poll in terms of market desirability. (It was an ESPN poll, and a number of the ESPN hockey writers are now at the Athletic.) Have things improved since then? Yes, but as of 2 months ago the Sabres were still the team that finished DFL 3 times in 5 years, and the city hasn't gotten any bigger, nor has its weather improved (and state and local taxes have effectively increased since they are no longer fully deductible). The best thing the Sabres can do to improve this factor is keep winning.

Don't forget his new trick: the "pitching wedge" goal from the slot!

I don't love ERod or Bergy on the PP, either. Would rather see Sheary and Pilut.

Pilut with Risto is pretty ambitious. Maybe Howie doesn't think Beaulieu or Nelson can handle that spot.

I thought Allen looked pretty good yesterday. He made quite a few great plays -- both passing and running. If he hadn't overthrown one of the WRs on the deep post with about 7 min left, or if Clay had been able to make the catch on the last play (admittedly a tough catch but one that a highly-paid TE probably should make), it would've been a great win for him and the team.

I thought he did not look ready for prime time vs Florida.

Great thread and OP, @Randall Flagg. My areas of disagreement: - Pommer -- I'd give him a B-minus, as he appears to have hit the wall. So while his start may have exceeded expectations, he seems to have settled back to expectation-level. - KO -- I'd give him a B -- as I've posted elsewhere, his legs look good, he's playing a strong-on-the-puck game and is on pace for 40-ish points, all of which is good, but he's got 1 goal in his last 13 games and his hands in the O-zone look lousy to me. I'll be happily surprised if he gets to 20 goals this season. IMHO, that adds up to exceeding expectations, but not wildly so. - Sheary -- I'd give him a B -- I think his speed and tenacity, especially on the forecheck, have made him pretty effective. His absence is a factor in the Sabres backsliding into a 1-line team. - TT -- I'd give him a B -- he's showing signs of being a multitalented scorer and is pretty dangerous whenever he gets the puck in the O-zone. I think at this point he's solidly exceeding expectations.

Thomas has 1 goal and 7 points in 19 games. TT has 4 goals and 6 points in 19 games, and has demonstrated the ability to score goals in multiple different ways. I agree that it isn't apples-to-apples due to difference in ages, but TT is clearly exceeding the expectations that many here voiced.

FWIW (which isn't that much given how early these guys are in their careers), Tommer is outperforming the other Blues' forward prospects that many here decried JB for not getting in the ROR trade (Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas and Klim Kostin) -- although to be fair, Tommer is a year older than Thomas and Kostin; he's the same age as Kyrou.

I find it kinda interesting that after the big blowup in Ottawa last summer over his GF's bizarre behavior, Mike Hoffman, with 12-11-23 and just under 18 min per game in 23 games, appears to be having a better season so far than Karlsson is having.

FLA's line combos: LW C RW Forwards Evgeny Dadonov Rating: 78.7#16 LW Aleksander Barkov Rating: 81.0#14 C Mike Hoffman Rating: 76.4#28 RW FL1 Rating Rating: 78.70#14 FL1 Jonathan Huberdeau Rating: 77.1#24 LW Jared McCann Rating: 71.7#125 C Dryden Hunt Rating: 72.5#67 RW FL2 Rating Rating: 73.79#21 FL2 Frank Vatrano Rating: 72.6#96 LW Nick Bjugstad Rating: 72.8#90 C Troy Brouwer Rating: 69.8#104 RW FL3 Rating Rating: 71.74#14 FL3 Micheal Haley Rating: 68.8#133 LW Juho Lammikko Rating: 73.1#75 C Colton Sceviour Rating: 71.0#143 RW FL4 Rating Rating: 70.97#10 FL4 Defensive Pairings Defense Michael Matheson Rating: 73.3#44 LD Aaron Ekblad Rating: 74.3#29 RD DL1 Rating Rating: 73.84#18 DL1 Keith Yandle Rating: 77.2#12 LD Mark Pysyk Rating: 71.1#77 RD DL2 Rating Rating: 74.16#11 DL2 Bogdan Kiselevich Rating: 72.1#65 LD MacKenzie Weegar Rating: 70.8#83 RD DL3 Rati

@Randall Flagg -- I agree that Sobotka doesn't create much offense, and that ideally a guy who plays 13-16 min per game would create more. But you've repeatedly made pretty extreme assertions about how bad he is (perhaps not in this thread, but that is really neither here nor there) -- those are what I'm pushing back on. He's a smart player who plays with a bit of an edge and is pretty much always in the right position. As for his fancystats -- as you point out, he's played quite a bit with Reino, and when he does his offensive stats are solid -- but I'd expect that playing with Reino probably impairs his d-zone stats. And I'd expect that playing with a running-on-fumes Pommer the last few games has hurt both his O-zone and D-zone stats (with the periodically shaky ERod also hurting his d-zone stats). There's a reason Howie trusts him in crunch time. I'll explain more over lunch.

My game notes: - That was a great hockey game. - The Sabres were without one of their top defensemen and still went toe-to-toe with maybe the best team in the league for most of the game, took it to them for long stretches and could easily have won that game. - Kucherov is awesome. - Neither team got good goaltending. Hutton was better than TB’s guy, but still not at his best. He needs to stop that long shot from Paquette with 6 min to go. - Dahlin had a pretty shaky game in the D zone. Nelson and Beaulieu were surprisingly decent. - They sure could’ve used Bergy on the checking line instead of Elie. - If Sheary is ready tomorrow night, I’d drop KO to Sobotka’s line and drop Pommer to either the checking line or the press box. - I am not seeing what others are seeing from KO. His legs are back and the will is there, but his hands are where scoring chances go to die. - So was the Hunwick starting thing just a hoax? And is there any word on McCabe? He’s an important piece. - Tomorrow is a test of their mental toughness. Are they going to feel sorry for themselves in the 2nd half of the back-to-back on the road after a tough loss? Or are they going to bounce back strong? - Flagg is a terrific poster but holy mackerel is he out to lunch on Risto and Sobotka. - It was a great streak. Probably not sustainable given all the OT/SO/1-goal wins, but great nonetheless. - They’ve showed a lot of heart. Keep it up boys. Go Sabres.

Here we come.

TB's line combos: LW C RW Forwards Yanni Gourde Rating: 77.0#26 LW Steven Stamkos Rating: 80.0#22 C J.T. Miller Rating: 74.0#60 RW FL1 Rating Rating: 76.99#20 FL1 Tyler Johnson Rating: 74.9#50 LW Brayden Point Rating: 83.9#7 C Nikita Kucherov Rating: 86.2#1 RW FL2 Rating Rating: 81.69#1 FL2 Alex Killorn Rating: 72.8#91 LW Anthony Cirelli Rating: 73.1#78 C Mathieu Joseph Rating: 73.5#50 RW FL3 Rating Rating: 73.11#6 FL3 Adam Erne Rating: 71.5#95 LW Cedric Paquette Rating: 70.2#159 C Ryan Callahan Rating: 71.5#81 RW FL4 Rating Rating: 71.06#8 FL4 Defensive Pairings Defense Victor Hedman Rating: 80.4#3 LD Dan Girardi Rating: 71.7#64 RD DL1 Rating Rating: 76.04#11 DL1 Ryan McDonagh Rating: 77.7#11 LD Erik Cernak Rating: 73.2#40 RD DL2 Rating Rating: 75.42#5 DL2 Braydon Coburn Rating: 71.4#88 LD Mikhail Sergachev Rating: 73.2#48 RD DL3 Rating Rating: 72.29 We can beat them.

Good stuff here boys.