Mango

This was supposed to be a Saturday afternoon, keep me busy kinda game. I expected a loss here. But man, a W?! This was one of the most excited I’ve been watching a Sabres game at home in maybe a decade.

Also disadvantage of not being able to practice since 12/22.

This one is a bummer. Empathy for the city and its residents. Annoyed with Byron Brown. I get it, and don't disagree with it. But wish it were different.

Meh...We are still finding dead people. Some streets haven't seen plows. A huge portion of the players live in the city. It would be nice but it is totally reasonable to postpone. I think what the Bills did was irresponsible and disrespectful. I have some friends in the Southtowns who don't know how the Bills got to their homes. When they were reported to be driving in from the airport, their streets had not been touched. I suspect (but cannot confirm), the only way to ensure that the 70+ players and staff that traveled with the team home on Christmas day was for the Bills to pull some strings so that they could be taken care of first, which I strongly dislike when you have a state of emergency where the National Guard has been mobilized and first responders and multi-ton plows are in ditches all over the region.

Now that the practice facility is the Harbor Center and not the Pepsi/Northtown Center that is basically all of them. The last two made total sense. This one I am torn between empathy for people struggling in the storm and annoyance with Byron Brown.

Their IG posted the team at the Rosa Parks Museum in Alabama "4 days ago". They would have had to have left before the storm in order to be in AL on Christmas or Christmas Eve.

Honest question, I had family who still hadn't seen a plow in the suburbs when the Bills bussed in and drove home. Did OP/WS/EA clear the way for them on their streets specifically?

Good points. As some one who has grown up and spent a good portion of my adult life in the west side and Elmwood Village area, sidewalks at my families house in the suburbs are a convenience. Sidewalks in the city are much more a mode of transportation. I don't think you can have a conversation about emergency response for city residents without talking about both parking and sidewalks. But most of that is neighborhood dependent. North Buffalo is in a much better spot than the WS and EV in terms of road width, parking, etc.

He also though the city was getting soft for moving the last weather game to Detroit. He is still going on about it. I just told him to call it a day and become a Rams fan already. I feel irrationally angry about this. ha! I will likely spend the rest of his life trolling him about how the Rams offseason is going and whether they have a shot at the SB.

CBA aside it was the right thing to do by the league. The city is/was in the middle of a national weather emergency where there was a driving ban and the national guard was called in. Seems stupid to ask a hockey team to fly out.

My uncle who has lived in California for the last 20 years thinks it’s stupid that the Sabres canceled their game today. The Bills found a way…or whatever. I moved out of Buffalo in 2019 and am still in NYS. I wanted to jump through the text message and smack him in the face. I have friends who had to climbed out their windows to shovel out their doors to let their dogs out. Another friend who was living in a tent in their kitchen with no power and just constantly boiling water to stay warm. My family was ok, but my friends grandma lost power for 4 straight days. My grandfather was in the hospital and the nurses on his floor worked 2 shifts staying in a hotel nearby. My friends wife (doctor) was at another hospital for 5 straight days. I was super annoyed. Thanks for letting me rant.

I am irrationally annoyed that this is such a click bate title on a message board where clicks don't actually matter.

Even though I commented on a KA over committing to Levi post, this is largely what I meant. We are scoring too many goals to put all of our eggs into the “wait for (insert goalie) to develop” basket. I would love for the Sabres to grab somebody if it makes sense this year. But it has to make sense. Otherwise, as production stands today, I don’t see a ton of reason to comit to anybody on the roster/rights into the 23/24 season without trying to make another move.

Which I don’t even understand. He is not likely to enter the league next year and be “the guy in net for a team that’s leading the league in scoring. There is certainly some room for a better stop gap than what we’ve had so far. At the absolute very best we are in a situation where we have a 1a 1b goalie and Levi being one of them. And that’s the 100% best case scenario.

Since 2000 the highest point differential to not make the playoffs was the 06-07 Av's at +21. Recently the Rangers and Knights missed it at +20 and +18. Missing the playoffs with a positive diff happens, normally a team or two per year and under +10. Rarely does a team in the high teens miss. If the Sabres (+18 as of today) just maintain their current rate through the season and finish middle of the pack (.500), they'll likely be around +30 or more. That would be insane to miss the playoffs at +30 or better.

It’s not just a light switch. All goalies get hot and you have to know how to ride the hot hand and when to rest your guys. We saw Marty get hot and play lights out a ton.

I don't know how anybody isn't a current fan of this current Sabres team and talking about the 23-24 season. We have had other Buffalo guys on the team before but there is something so much more Buffalo about Tuch, and talking about Mogilny or what it is like to wear the goat head jersey he grew up with. Then add in a guy like Tage who might be the Sabres Josh Allen. All the measurables and one day woke up an NHL superstar. At the rate this team is scoring goals and our goal differential, this is the most fun hockey has been in this city in a decade. Enjoy the ride. Go Swords!

If Eichel were still on this team he would be 2nd line center. Filthy

That was insane. Also this looks like the first game the Mighty Ducks played the Hawks. Vegas just looks bigger on the ice.

I had to rewind. That was insane. They are in Vegas…

That’s the one thing you took out of that, that I said elite? Almost that entire era was great hockey in Buffalo. That’s a huge part of the reason the goat heads are a cool jersey.

This is where my head is with the current development and roster. I want the playoffs this year. Even if we don’t make it, I’m still high on the roster. Just making the playoffs and being done in 5 next year would be a fail more me honestly. I think other posters are right on staying the course but I think we’ll be forced to spend on a goaltender at some point.

I actually think that with our current rate of scoring our goal next year needs to be to win a playoff series. You can’t lead the league in scoring and be top ten in diff and head into the offseason with “making the playoffs” as your goal for the following season. But that bar is too low for the current team. Making the playoffs needs to be a step not a finish line for the 23-24 season.

Part of the lore of those being great jerseys are that we were wildly successful for the 10 years we wore them. Down right elite. A Stanley Cup Final, 3x Conference Finals, and a Presidents Trophy. At its core the blue and yellow with the swords rock. But that decade in Sabres history was close to as good as it gets. Because of that I’ll always be a fan. I also love that the current team plays like their hair is on fire in them.

This is where I am at. November really sucked. We have lost a bit of the safety net to fall into any ruts going forward. But our scoring and goal differential are way too high to talk about missing the playoffs before the new year. I am with you on this, I think the Sabres chip away at the hole they dug for themselves in November and find themselves in it come April. If we can split Detroit, Vegas, Boston, and Tampa, that would be a big way to end the calendar year.