nfreeman

My game notes: - I didn't think Ullmark was at all at fault on Minny's 1st goal -- Parise, a legit NHL sniper, was allowed to stroll well into the circle and pick his spot in the top corner, which he then hit perfectly -- but I thought Ullmark should've stopped the 2nd one. However, he recovered and had an excellent game. - Like Hutton did vs Winnipeg, Ullmark literally kept his team in the game until they removed heads from rectums well into the 2nd period. Also like the Winnipeg game, the Sabres had the better of the play in the 2nd half of the game. - Although the last 2 games have been great wins, and very exciting, it's not sustainable for the Sabres to get completely dominated for the 1st 27 min or so of a game and hope their goalie keeps them in it. - Bogo followed up his shocking turnover at the end of regulation in the Winnipeg game with an almost equally atrocious one at the beginning of the Minny game, resulting in Minny's 1st goal. - Even so, Bogo had a pretty solid game and led all Sabres in ice time with 22.5 min. - Bogo's new D partner is pretty GD good. - Howie distributed the ice time pretty evenly, in part, I expect, due to it being the 2nd half of a back-to-back. The forwards all had between 12.5 min and 19 min (only Eichel and Reino had 18 min or more); the D all had between 18.4 min and 22.5 min. - I was glad to see the top line and the checking line reunited, and I thought both were effective. However, the other 2 lines really need to start contributing. I'd like to see more in particular from KO and Reino. - Matt Dumba is really good. (He's half Filipino, btw -- not sure I can remember another Filipino NHL player.) - McCabe didn't even smile after his goal -- maybe he was too worried/PO'd that the Sabres were getting dominated? - Here's a coaching adjustment that I've noticed: in the last 2-3 games, Howie has put the checking line out almost every time for the shift immediately after the Sabres score. This has been very effective and has eliminated their previous distressing tendency to get dominated in those shifts and give up a goal, commit a penalty, etc. Instead, the checking line has been able to do what it usually does -- implement a strong forecheck and keep the puck in the opponents' defensive zone -- which keeps the momentum going for the Sabres. - 4 games over DeLuca .500 at the quarter pole. If that's the case at the three-quarter pole, and if their key guys stay healthy, they are going to have a real shot at the playoffs. Go Sabres.

He really took over that game last night when his team needed a boost, innit?

I think he deserves much better than that.

I too am OK with sitting ERod and playing TT (which I assume is whom Taro was referring to), but if Sobotka-Bergy-Pommer doesn't start scoring soon, I'd be happy sitting Pommer and playing ERod.

Good sample size vs a former division rival. Interesting.

Hutton and Tavares are way out ahead of the rest of the UFA pack.

I was thinking the same thing about Larsson. I was even thinking about a 2-year extension for him. I really need to take a step back here. Separately: Marcus Foligno has 1-3-4 in 19 games this year and gets about 12 min per night.

I don't think I'd go this far, assuming they make a good offer to him before the deadline (which I expect them to do). Skinner leaving would certainly be a major disappointment, but if they offer him a fat contract and he chooses to leave because he'd rather live/work elsewhere, that wouldn't be JBott's fault.

Alrighty then. After a lengthy nuclear winter, the Sabres are making us all irrationally happy and reminding us why we love this team. Even those of us who grew cold and dead inside due to years of neglect are allowing ourselves to daydream about playoff hockey. They gave us another thrilling comeback win vs a top-echelon team last night, then got on a plane, flew to Minny, probably arrived at their hotel after midnight and are playing another high-quality opponent in the Wild, this time on less than 24 hours' rest. If they can pull another one out, I and many others here are going to make some outlandish proclamations. Some snippets: - The Wild are 4-1-0 in their past five games and 11-3-0 in their past 14. They have allowed two goals or fewer in four of their past five games. - Wild forward Mikael Granlund has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past five games and is one assist away from 200 for his NHL career. - Zucker has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past four games. … Koivu has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past two games. … The Wild are 6-1-2 at home and one of three teams with one regulation home loss. - NHL.com projects Ullmark to start in net and TT and Beaulieu to remain in the lineup, with ERod and Nelson scratched again. Minny's line combos look like this: LW C RW Forwards Jason Zucker Rating: 79.1#11 LW Eric Staal Rating: 80.8#14 C Mikael Granlund Rating: 79.7#19 RW FL1 Rating Rating: 79.85#7 FL1 Zach Parise Rating: 76.1#26 LW Mikko Koivu Rating: 75.1#49 C Nino Niederreiter Rating: 73.1#61 RW FL2 Rating Rating: 74.78#8 FL2 Marcus Foligno Rating: 70.1#115 LW Charlie Coyle Rating: 71.1#134 C Jordan Greenway Rating: 71.7#83 RW FL3 Rating Rating: 70.99#26 FL3 Matt Hendricks Rating: 68.5#133 LW Eric Fehr Rating: 69.4#107 C J.T. Brown Rating: 68.7#115 RW FL4 Rating Rating: 68.88#29 FL4 Defensive Pairings Defense Ryan Suter Rating: 79.1#6 LD Mathew Dumba Rating: 77.8#16 RD DL1 Rating Rating: 78.45#2 DL1 Jonas Brodin Rating: 74.7#31 LD Jared Spurgeon Rating: 78.2#15 RD DL2 Rating Rating: 76.43#3 DL2 Nick Seeler Rating: 72.1#66 LD Greg Pateryn Rating: 71.3#73 RD DL3 Rating Rating: 71.74#15 DL3

@LTS— you are certainly welcome to your opinion on this, but it’s not quite as simple as “I don’t care who scores the goals as long as the goals are scored.” That statement assumes away the whole issue. About 1.7 assists on average are awarded for each goal. Accordingly, if player X has 20-70-90 while player Y has 35-55-90, player Y’s team almost certainly has scored more total goals than player X's when those 2 were on the ice.

Here’s a question: what do TT’s teammates call him? “Tagey?” “Thomps?” “Tager?” inquiring minds wanna know!

IMHO, the reason people are concerned about Eichel is that we all know that goals are more precious than assists. If Eichel ends up with 31-56-87, everyone will be happy. If it’s 19–68-87? Not so much, and that lesser degree of happiness is the correct reaction.

My game notes: - The Sabres almost got blown out of the building in the 1st 26 min or so of the game, recovered and made it pretty even in the rest of the 2nd, and had the better of it in the 3rd. - Hutton was fantastic from start to finish. - TT's giveaway was a dumb play, but one of the Sabres' defensemen (I think Scandy but not sure) got caught in the offensive zone, which was also a major factor in Winnipeg getting that 2-on-1. And I thought TT, and that checking line, had a pretty decent game overall. I do not expect him to be scratched tomorrow. - I strongly disagree with RF that Howie is underachieving, as I think he is a huge reason for the Sabres' newfound ability to overcome deficits and beat good teams, but, like RF, I would like to see some line tinkering. I do not think Reino is working on the top line. That line has dropped off at ES, and Sobotka-Berglund-Pommer has been pretty ineffective too. - The Jets have a very strong mullet game, especially Perreault. - That turnover by Bogo at the end of regulation was something to behold. - Dahlin also had a few shaky moments, but played the 2nd-most out of the D group -- almost 23 minutes. - I know people claim not to like the shootout, but can anyone really say they wish that game had ended in a tie after OT? That shootout was thrilling. - As has been noted upthread, Mitts almost won it in the SO -- off the crossbar. Reino's move, OTOH, was pretty weak. - Berglund is a huge guy. - Ullmark should start vs. Minny. Now I'm going to say a few things. 1. This team has heart. 2. Hutton is a no-BS top-tier starting goalie. He's the new Tim Thomas -- a guy who by dint of hard work, perseverance and maturity has become an elite goalie relatively late in his career. 3. If Hutton, Eichel, Skinner, Dahlin and Risto stay healthy, the Sabres are going to be in the playoff hunt all year. Go Sabres.

I think I heard that Pettersson had 10 goals in his 1st 10 games. Pretty awesome.

Well, he does have 13 pts in 18 games. I think goals are more important than assists, and ES scoring is more important than PP scoring, so in that sense he's not delivering enough of what the Sabres really need, but he is contributing offense. (I'd also point out that before he erupted at the end of the Canucks game, it would've been fair to characterize his start to this season as poor.)

Reino does not "drive possession." He has the 2nd-worst Corsi for % among all Sabre forwards who are playing regularly (ahead of only Sobotka). He's also got the 3rd-worst Fenwick for % (ahead of Sobotka and Mitts). https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/BUF/2019.html#all_stats_adv_rs

Like so? Skinner-Eichel-Pommer Sheary-Mitts-KO Berglund-Erod-Reino Zemgus-Larsson-Sobotka I'd be happy to see how this works. But I think Pommer may be out of gas already.

FWIW, I've seen Howie repeatedly refer to advanced metrics in his interviews. He definitely takes them into consideration in making his decisions -- he just doesn't base his decisions on them exclusively -- which is probably wise.

As to the bolded: no. As to his stats being overweighted to the PP -- this is fine for the regular season but bodes poorly for his effectiveness in the playoffs. I would finish off the bolded sentence with "...sufficient to justify a fat long-term contract." Since the Sabres have Reino on a relatively cheap short-term contract, and since JBott and Howie have spoken repeatedly about how his is part of the long-term solution, indicating that he was not part of the locker room dysfunction of prior years, I see no reason to move him out. UNLESS, of course, trading him yields Nylander or Nick Leddy or other clearly superior player whose current team needs to move him for whatever reason. That is a pretty low probability but not impossible.

OK -- what's your suggestion?

I can live with Berglund coming in for ERod, but would rather see the checking line reunited and the bottom 2 lines look like: TT-Sobotka-Pommer Zemgus-Larsson-Berglund

Berglund gets healthy-scratched and then is on PP1?

Looks like you're right -- IMDB says: (I was probably just mis-remembering what John Turturro said.)

Awesome. Does anyone know who's in the band?

And it was a shortie! Connolly was sooooooo good that year.