Sabel79

There was also that time he tried to kill Paul Ranger https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1ol9rGGxV4U

Awfully fond of the cheap shot. In particular, he steamrolled Sekera from behind while with the Devils, maybe 4-5 years ago? Promptly turtled on McCormick as well in the aftermath IIRC. Garbage player. Didn't like it when he wore the Sabres sweater either. Could skate in a straight line like the wind, though. I'll say one positive thing.

Eric Boulton signs for another year on the Island. Garth Snow had me worried there for a second, thought he'd lost his mind and become throughly competent... http://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/hockey/news/islanders-eric-boulton-agrees-to-one-year-deal-with-isles/ Side note, and this probably deserves to be a thread for July when everyone's dying of boredom, but he is probably one of my least-favorite former Sabres players ever. Nobody will ever top Gilmour on that scale for me, but Boulton's up there. How has he possibly lasted this long in this league?

Welp. Games 3 and 4 will be quite interesting. Also, exactly what mind-altering substance is Cal Ripken on, and where do I get some?

How this game is not being played under protest I will never understand. You have to touch the base to be safe. Christ.

Against Ottawa it was quite evident that everyone was squeezing the stick a bit too tight for the first two periods. Then they clawed themselves back in. Again today, while the overall effort was much improved, I get the feeling that everyone, with the notable exception of Kane, was far more concerned with making sure they were finding themselves where they were supposed to be and thinking defense first (not always successfully), as opposed to actually attempting to make something happen. Baby steps are necessary, I'm afraid. The overall product looked much more solid today, I certianly hope it clicks going forward. I'm prepared to see a few more games like this though, in the meantime.

Overall I think that was a much better 60 minutes than Ottawa. Tampa Bay is a much, much tougher opponent than Ottawa. It was always going to be hard going to start off, new coach, 2/3 of a new roster, the number one goalie lasted three minutes before hurting himself. Give it time...

Mike Commodore sticking the boot into Babcock. This is sad and/or funny. I can't decide. https://twitter.com/commie22

Once the goals start coming in larger bunches, LMCMT will reach Chelsea Dagger levels of obnoxious for fans of 29 other teams. I think it's perfect.

That is NHL '94 caliber bananas. I like it.

Alternately, I'd be worried if I were a Habs fan. They won't play Toronto every night, better teams are going to make much more hay with Therien's "let's just let Price worry about it" strategy.

Now he looks like the love child of Eddie Haskell and Oogie Oglethorpe...

Wasn't there some sort of thing with Rob Ray, Ken Sutton, and a drug dealer in the early 90's? Can't quite remember specifics, other than neither of them were ever implicated in anything indictable... Still shady.

Even if he winds up as the "13th forward" I have to think he'll see a good deal of ice time through injuries to others, maintenance days for Eichel / Reinhart, other unforeseen circumstances. In a way his versatility works against him on paper, but he's likely to find himself dressed a significant portion of the time because of it as well. Nice asset to have.

D'oh. I was in the store last night and almost picked some up, but went with something else instead. Shall have to remedy that on my next trip...

In the sense that the rule change itself was unreasoned and capricious, I'd argue that it is. Wrong choice of word by me though, fair enough.

Thanks for the lack of a warning on that one, 11. Now I have to clean up the coffee i just spit everywhere. You're right though, that is awesome.

I'm pinning my hopes on this WSJ article dispelling, somewhat, the connection between end of season form and success in the playoffs. A few days off, the knoweldge that the Dodgers take playoff choking to the level of performance art, and a good start by DeGrom in game one and we'll all feel better about it. http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-important-is-playoff-momentum-to-a-teams-worldseries-hopes-1443222139 Also, there's a connnected article pointing out that teams with home field advantage actually have losing records in the Division Series and League Championship Series for both leagues over the past 20 years. As home field for the World Series is settled in the dumbest and most arbitrary way possible, no point in worrying about it. http://www.wsj.com/articles/dispelling-the-myth-of-home-field-advantage-in-baseball-1443825563

We have all lived through that nightmare. Never again...

Hmmmm.... I can hear RJ now... "Evander Kane DEPELTED Phaneuf with a hard check in the corner!!!!!' Thank you, Neo, for the moment of levity.

Somehow missed that one, but fixed the other nine. Maybe I should slow down a bit.

There are millions of them. Read this article in re: The Roanoke shooting if you'd like your faith in humanity further depelted. In summary, there are many who believe these are all staged by liberal zionists (thier terms) in order to justify disarming the populace because of reasons. Reading about Chris Hurst having to grieve his fiancee's tragic and senseless murder, at the same time as having untold numbers of tinfoil hat wearing nimrods crushing him on social media about how either he's in on it or, (as the interviewee in the article lamely contends) he was duped by an actress sent by Obama to perpetrate this fraud on the country as a whole. It's unimaginable... http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/13/what-do-you-say-to-a-roanoke-truther.html

I find the split in opinion in what I'm reading out there to be fascinating. Reporters / columnists are all very staunchly pro-Harper. "He's the MVP! He's too good for this!" Players, albeit "Unnamed Players" are disappointed it happened in front of the cameras, for the most part. Kid's got a rep for this kind of thing. The old guys go bananas over stuff like that.

Dude does not run out ground balls / pop ups. Ever. Hence the heat from the dugout. I bet JP isn't the only one who wanted to choke him. Just the only one with poor enough impulse control to do it in front of the cameras.

I'm gonna pull you up there. Both had their issues. Both off the field. Strawberry fought Kieth Hernandez and was shipped to L.A. In short order. Gooden lasted until 1994 with the Mets. Both left everything they had (which varied depending on how high they were) on the field. Harper can't be bothered to run out a ground ball to second, and he doesn't have a crippling cocaine addiction to blame. He's a sublime player with the brain of a petulant twelve year old. Very very different.