TheAud

We could only hope.

Grant recalled to help the PK, since it was doing so well when he was here earlier in the season. (sarcasm)

Kane, Nylander, and a #1 for Tyson Barrie and Gabriel Landeskog. Sabres probably need to throw in a college or Juniors D prospect as well.

So the model should be Bruce Boudreau, right? He won the division with the Caps 4 times in a row and then was fired during a slow 1st half in 2011-2012. Anaheim smartly fired Randy Carlyle and then hired Boudreau within the same season he had been fired by Washington. The Ducks finished 5th the following year, then proceeded to win their division the next 4 seasons. Somehow they decided not to keep him and now he's coaching the Wild who, surprise! surpise!, are in first place in the Central. There may be little to no difference between the 10th and 20th best coaches in the league, but the impact of having one of the top 5 vs. one of the bottom 5 is enormous.

Especially need regulation wins vs. NJ and Toronto. Beat Vancouver and get 1 out of 4 points vs. Anaheim and SJ combined and it's a decent week.

Start of 5 games in 7 days...the season can turn up or slide into oblivion this week. So goalie rotation of Lehner (@NJ 6th), Nilsson (SJ 7th), Lehner (Anaheim 9th), Lehner (@Tor 11th), Nilsson (Van 12th)? I hope DD rides the hot goalie but doesn't force Lehner into back-to-back's when Nilsson has proven so capable. Especially with 4 games in 7 days the following week as well.

Potential theory: teams can either protect 3 D and 7 F's or 8 skaters in total in the expansion draft. We know Risto and McCabe are 2 protected D. Who's the 3rd? Maybe it's Falk. GMTM isn't going to protect Bogo or Gorges. Kuli is an UFA. Having a 3rd to protect enables protecting 7 F's instead of only 6 under the 8 skaters in total option. I think Falk has been more than serviceable and takes over Franson's 3rd pair minutes next year, with hopefully Guhle and a FA (Kuli or another) slotting in above him as well.

Getting on the airplane now...I love being able to see the goals on NHL.com. A slightly better trip when it starts with a Sabres W!

Thanks for the commentary...following via my phone in the airport

Thanks... I thought he wasn't due for the next major injury for a few weeks now. Ahead of schedule!

I'm at work and can't listen in or watch. Did he get hurt? Or is it just a ploy to improve his +/- by 5 game over game?

I have a feeling Bogosian plays better tonight...+/- should be at least +2 or +3 better than in Montreal.

That was probably another goal they aren't going to give the Sabres

I'm just glad to see a new commercial in the rotation

I just want to hear the song

I don't care for the anthem singer

I hear you. I am out the door at 4:30AM to catch a flight to Asia and I haven't even packed yet. Still going to watch. Amen, brother.

Thank you. Yeah,. I need to visualize it to keep perspective on the progress or lack thereof as my game-to-game emotions cloud my thinking but point accumulation by game is a clear indicator. It's not the only indicator of course (Goal differential, various Corsi stats, etc) but continued progress toward a playoff spot is the easiest guide I found for the journey to the ultimate goal, at least at this point.

Not going to weigh in on what is .500 and what does it mean. I am more interested in: 1) How is this team progressing vs. the past two seasons (i.e. since the Tank) 2) How far away is the team from contending for a playoff spot. The attached chart (which I have posted before) helps me visualize this. Better than last year, but still 6 points behind 96 point pace.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/prospect-need-to-know-rasmus-asplund-eagerly-awaiting-opportunity-with-sabres Nice article about Asplund

I've been arguing this for a long time. If it was an above market price, it was only barely so and you can't always get what you want at exactly the desired price. And Murray needed a starting goalie. I thought his rebound control was much better last night. Two of the goals were difficult shots to stop and he made several comparable saves on shots like those in the game. But you give a Forsberg an open shot in the slot, with speed, he's going to bury a large percentage of them and I don't care who is the goalie. The other two were weak and semi-weak. The McCloud poke-in was a terrible job at holding the post by Lehner. I noticed Nashville had been going hard to the post all game and Lehner stopped them to that point. But persistence paid off for Nashville and he let in a softie. That's lack of consistency. The other PP goal was not really excusable either, but admittedly when a guy gets an initial shot at point blank and then a follow-up at point blank with no harassment from the defenseman who is literally lying next to him (as was Risto), sometimes those will go in. I don't know how his career is going to go from here on out nor does anyone else but he's a reasonable option in net at this point in time assuming the team can score a few goals. If they keep scoring 1 or 2 per game then we need the reincarnation of Hasek and he's not that.

Use the stick Marcus

If the refs aren't going to call muggings on Sabres players it's time to take matters into their own hands

Ennis is drunk