ska-T Palmtown

I will tack this one on at the end: ESPN's mid-season grades:(ESPN+, so I snipped it for ya) "Every bright spot is swiftly darkened by another poor showing" ... yup. I am curious for @mjd1001, our President of the "Not a Fan of Cozens" Club ... I don't recall the 18 powerplay goals in your in-depth looks. That is alarming that over 50% of his breakout season goals were powerplay ... and now they can't buy a goal.

I am fascinated by this. Like, if you are there, how do you even react to this?

Sorry everyone - this one is on me. They were up 2-0 and I had to leave for a family birthday party thingy. My dedication to the team is lacking and I accept full responsibility. But seriously ... giving up SIX STRAIGHT GOALS to a fellow bottom feeder? Ouch.

Quinn!!!!!!!

quinn going to the net?

MJ was my childhood (along with 4 SB losses, but I digress) - that man looked pisssssed after each. and. every. loss. I see hints of that in Josh at times.

Probably important to note that while 86 points seems like a low target, after the Sabres last game, it was 85 and just a little over a week ago, it was 84 - point is, the bar for WC2 seems to be slowwwwwly trying to eclipse the 90 point mark. The last several full seasons for the eastern conf have been 91, 92, 100 (!), Skip 2021 and 2019-2020, 98, and 97 ... jeez.

the enthusiasm with which Quinn ripped this one home makes me smile 🙂 (and I also hope ALL of his teammates take at least one shot like that in practice to rib him a little lol)

The "progress" at the end of the year two years ago sure appeared to be sustainable. They were playing MUCH tighter team defense along with smart breakouts and intelligent play in all three areas of the ice. Then ... poof ... up in smoke. I love this team, but until I see good play from the start of a season, I shall remain skeptical of any and all "progress". I culled your post down to one point I wished to explore further - I don't think it takes anything out of context. A shooter that is 10-15 feet out, no screen ... I would expect the league average on shots like that to be at least 20% scoring, probably higher. That the Sabres regularly give up these types of chances is pretty much a great reason to absolve UPL of some of the blame for team performance. Unfortunately, I don't know of any fancy stat that adjusts for how much a team leaves their goalie out to dry. High danger chances doesn't quite get it done for me; a weak swipe at a loose puck on a back-hand is a high danger chance, but so is the guy the Sabres consistently leave wide freaking open at the far post. One, I would hope the goalie saves 98% of the time, the other I would be astonished if they could save 50% of the time. The Sabres give up too many high quality high danger chances for this kid's liking.

Right - at the current pace of all the teams - 85 points gets you that last wild card. I forget what year, but a few years back, 84 got you in. 6g + 5a in 12g since the start of Dec. Please stop with the injury fallacy - TWICE he came back from two different injuries last year and both times, he was playing fine and scoring at a rate that outpaced his rookie year. Something was off to start the year, but it was most assuredly not the previous injuries.

He went after #38, but every good legend deserves some embellishment 😉 Edit: you may have been talking about a different play than the scrum where ZB pulled out a step ladder and grabbed 38 around the neck ... oops.

holy *****.

I'd be happy to see either of them go if it was a Panthers-Flames, Huberdeau for Tkachuk type trade. Sadly, since neither is a Huberdeau, we are not likely to get a Tkachuk back. Double sadly, any player who desperately wants out of their current situation would probably sign a life-long extension before coming to the Sabers 😞

Most people before the game "OMG, we're gonna get killllled!" Sabres get a point on the road in Colorado - "we suck!!! wahhhh" lol, get real

Rob at the end "ugh"

you had to know the next few calls were going the Avs way

haha - right? all that and we are still just right back at Sabres +1

lol, I know we all have severe PTSD about numerous Sabres collapses over many many years ... but geez guys - it was one bad, long shift against the Avs top line ... get it together! This board is soft! 🙂

two apples for Señor Dangles so far

gotta love benson whackin the dude with his stick, lol Rob: well, with Benson it's never nothing

They have no leverage (not that it has mattered to KA before) and I would love to see them on "prove it" deals.

I think that is why Quinn in on the powerplay?

That got both a genuine chuckle and the haha reaction thingy outta me.

touche. I actually thought you did a decent job defending yourself yesterday, so it struck me as an odd choice that you would choose to go on the offensive today. Nothing less, nothing more. I actually feel a little Swiss around here lately. I tend to agree with a lot of the points made by the "burn it down" and "is that a ray of sunshine?" crowds and I think there are a lot of great discussions around both sides that allow folks to type out some frustrations. But yea, the mob can rise up and turn on one pretty quickly, especially in the heat of another disappointing loss. Once the petty bickering sets in, I Homer Simpson into the bushes and come back later.

you did an awful lot of complaining about people piling on you in a different thread, then come in hot to this thread with some pretty thick sarcasm. Well done. To be clear, I don't support anyone (other than the mods for really mean or out there things) gate keeping another poster's posts. You want to post about the bright spots in a loss? You should! You want to post about how effing awful this team has been / is / will continue to be? You should! You want to complain super hard when someone attacks your posts, but then find a different thread and start attacking posts? You should! It might just not be the route I would choose.