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My 1A and 1B teams going at it. Ullmark has had one regulation loss all season. Hutton has one win in his last nine games. Why is Hutton still the starter?

Only one team in NHL history has had a 10 game win streak and not make the playoffs.

I don't like him more or less just because he's an addict. But, having been through the restaurant business, I the struggles of an addict and I'm glad to see he's turned his life around. I'm just glad to see him doing well because I knew he had the potential to be a pretty good goaltender. Fans in BFLO weren't happy with his shootout results, but he did show signs of being a good/great goaltender. One thing I liked about him was his fiery attitude, he reminds me of guys like Hextall and Billy Smith. It's nice to see goaltenders in the league with some kind of personality when most goaltenders have turned into cookie cutters.

Well, Fort Lauderdale does have a temporary ice rink set up downtown for at least a month during the holidays. Not like it's professional quality, but it is possible. Tons of tourists around the holidays, could be a huge turnout if the Panthers played the Leaves.

And Ullmark has one regulation loss, Hutton has one win in his last nine games. I'm just going by what the league considers to be the minimum amount of games played to be on the list of leaders. All I'm saying is I'm glad to see him doing well.

Most here knows I was a big fan of his, despite his shootout failures. I have to admit, he needed a fresh start so he needed to leave Buffalo. But I'm glad to see he turned it around. He is currently leading the NHL in both GAA and save percentage.

Petrovic didn't play like the big dude he was meant to be. If a team was looking for a Panther (current or past) I'd go with Gudbranson in a heartbeat over Petrovic. I know Tallon tried to get Gudbranson back after the "GM by committee" experiment failed miserably.

I agree. He's not a 4th line player. To me, 4th line means shutdown/penalty kill players. Girgensons, Larsson, Elie, etc............ Okposo isn't worth anything at this point. Perhaps his head issues have played a major part in his decline. Perhaps not being with Tavares played a major part in his decline (read Matt Moulson). At this point, he's just a liability. You can't trade him............. his contract is too long to buy him out and make some room............... What do you do? Do you trade him to a team willing to take on a huge contract to get themselves out of the basement? Maybe retain 50% of his contract in a deal with another team? He's just wasting a roster spot. Not sure how he is in the locker room and is deserving of the A he has........ but there is no room for him moving forward.

After being surprised by the early season surge, I think the Sabres are finally getting to the part where they slow down, like we all expected. THIS is where we see what the team has as far as maturity and leadership. It's easy to be all giddy and happy when you're winning every game. But when you start to lose a bit, this is where you see if the team has the internal core to turn it around. It's something we're not used to as Sabres fans, lol.

Housley is rarely negative. Sometimes it's nauseating because at some point certain players need to be called out. Maybe he does in the locker room, but he certainly doesn't do it in pressers.

I agree 100%. I know Botterill wants to build for the future and that's why Mittlestadt and Thompson are up to mature and learn the ropes, but at this point, the team is in a playoff position which probably wasn't anticipated before the start of the year. Now, they need to make decisions that will push them into the playoffs. And it shouldn't include Thompson and Mittlestadt.

I don't add my points often, but here it goes: -A couple of years ago, Larsson thought he was good enough to be a first liner. I'm glad he's finally accepted his role. He fits well doing what he does now. -I knew Bogo was due for a healthy season. I don't think he is injury prone, I just think he had bad luck. If he can keep this up, he'll be a great top 4 D-man going forward. -At what point does the team realize that Mittlestadt just isn't ready yet? -It's upsetting that there is no other option than to keep Okposo around. He has too many years left to consider a buyout, and nobody is stupid enough to take on his contract. Perhaps his head issues last year has affected his game, or maybe Tavares just made him look good....... but he's wasting a roster spot. -That was the worst officiated game I have seen all year, by far. The refs won that game for the Bruins. -Many top players from Boston out......... then they played the Blues, one of the worst teams in the league........ they need to win these games in regulation before I am convinced this is a legit playoff team. Don't get me wrong, they are much improved. But they aren't dominating teams when they win. I'm getting slightly concerned.

BMI index is such a farce. Before I moved, I was going to the gym 4 days a week for over 10 years. Between moving, trips back and forth to FL, not having signed up for the local gym for the first few months while I was here, my poison ivy infection................ I've lost 35 pounds since last November. I'd say 25-30 of that was muscle. I'm getting back into it now. Point is, at my peak, I was 205 pounds @ 5'8". Probably could have stood to lose 10 pounds because my main diet was meat and starches. But, it's what gave me endurance. BMI had me listed at obese which I was far from. It told me my ideal weight was around 140-160. If I were 140, people would think I was terminally ill. I've never paid attention to BMI, it's an antiquated formula that needs to go away. If you're around 140 but muscular, don't worry about what BMI tells you.

Ha! I've had several AirBNB's over the years. I won't get one unless it's a full house or full apartment. If somebody wants to come in and stay, that's cool. Just not a fan of the owner of an AirBNB staying with me and seeing what I do. I've got a friend who lives about an hour east of Raleigh who might come in for the night. Just wanted to bring this up to see who wanted to get seats. Worst case scenario, we can meet during intermission and/or after/before the game. I'm not looking to leave the next day or arrive that day, so we can all hang out and BS.

I'm sure it won't be tough to get tickets. Just looking to see who is interested. It's close to a 5 hour drive for me. No big deal. I'll get an AirBNB downtown for a few days and take an Uber to the arena. I'll bring this up in a couple of months.

Anybody else?

That is a coach's job. Stop putting the blame on the roster and take the blame for yourself. If it's the player's fault for no secondary scoring, why even bother having a head coach?

Hutton is barely 500, Ulmark only has one regulation loss. Am I missing something?

Hated to see O'Reilly go, but I'm glad to see he's doing well. Every team he goes to turns out to be losers, but I think it's coincidence. I'd like to see him get his Cup before he retires. He has plenty of time.

Let me know exactly where your seats are, I'll see what I can do on Stubhub over the next couple of weeks. That's if you want me near you, some people aren't open to meeting others from online, which is understandable. I'm cool with that. I just didn't have a plan to do all this until the last day or two. I figured, now I live in the place where I used to vacation. Now I need to take a few days off away from here. What better place to go than Raleigh to see a Sabres game and get an AirBNB downtown for a few nights. Of course Nashville would be better (I don't think there are any away games in Nashville the rest of the season anyways), but making that trip would cost me half a mortgage, lol.

Well, if you already got tickets, we probably can't get seats together. But we should definitely meet up before/after the game. I don't have definite plans yet, but if/when I do, it'll be an AirBNB downtown somewhere and either dinner before the game at the arena, or downtown.

Anybody interested? I might be considering getting an AirBNB for a few days in Raleigh and catching the Sabres game on the 16th. It's preliminary for now, but I'm seriously considering it I used to hit a few games a year in SoFL, but now that I'm not there any longer, Raleigh and Nashville are my only options. And Nashville would cost half a year's salary for a few days of AirBNB and a couple of tickets.

Hell yeah I remember those. That was back in the day when I had no remote and the TV had channels 2,4,7,17 and 29, lol.

At this point, I don't think calling games is a risk to his health. If anything, it may have prolonged his life because for most of his life, it's all he's had to live for. I'm a drag racer and have seen many, many people come through the ranks where racing is their entire life. Even though they have great lives outside of racing, without racing they feel dead on the inside. I'm not going to assume. but to me it seems that RJ, if he can't call a game, is lost. The saying "he died doing what he loved" can't be more in play than a situation like this. Some cities need a play-by-play guy to explain stuff because they aren't hockey savvy. Buffalo isn't that way. We all know more about hockey than 90% of the fans. We just need some background noise. If, by chance, we can't watch a game in its entirety we can still let it play in the background. RJ's tone and inflection is second to none. I can listen to him and know if the game sucks or is super exciting. (Doc Emrick can't do that). RJ, I know you aren't the healthiest person, I also know you recently got over throat cancer. I just hope the Sabres can put together a decent enough run to make you proud before you have to leave. If it means anything, no offense Dan, but Duff killed it. He was forced to step in and did an admirable job. Not so much a perspective of a play by play guy..... but overall he made the last period comical meshing with Rob. I think Duff did a better job coming off the bench than Dunleavy does actually preparing for the job, knowing he is going to call a game. (Sorry Dan, I know you do well. You're just outmatched by Duffer)

It's an unfortunate situation that we all have to accept, just like his family. He's never been a physical specimen and to deal with his health past and the workload.......... we all, and so does he, have to accept the progression of life. At his point, it could be a very minor issue and within a month we'll never even talk about it again. But we have to accept the inevitable. RJ is a damn legend. There is nobody that can compare. I have to admit, Duffer jumping in without notice, he was pretty candid and knowledgeable. Dunleavy prepares for his games...... Dufffer stepped in without notice and did a hell of a lot better than Dunleavy. He didn't do too much play by play, which is understandable. But, he was candid and pretty comical with Rob. Very entertaining, in my opinion. Probably not the best combo for a full time staff, but still. Sabres fans don't need a play by play guy to explain the game, they just need a guy to break the monotony.