LTS

Bounces. This game is all about bounces. Even the Leafs goal.

That pass was labeled for Scandella’s stick and probably would have been a goal either way. I’ll take the deflection off the skate though.

Johnson didn’t have that early in the season. Probably good to give Lehner less games right now so he can work on his game. It worked for Johnson.

Not to mention that face off should have been in the Leafs zone as it had been played with a high stick. High stick on a PP means all the way down. These are not the top officials in the league, clearly.

Last summer.

Well,,, to make matters worse it's an NBCSN game. I'll tune in... and then I will see if I go off and do something else. Hopefully they show up tonight.

Hah! I will do that.

Okay everyone.. We're a go with the balcony at Coles after the game. It's a bit further than the Gate but since we need to drive from the arena anyway it should be good. 1104 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, NY 14222 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cole's/@42.9272999,-78.8796017,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89d312dbf8e8d615:0x17cfb691edf5f757!8m2!3d42.927296!4d-78.877413 http://colesonelmwood.com/

I'm checking on the balcony at Coles right now. I realized it might be tough to get a spot on a Saturday afternoon at 4pm. I'm acquainted with the owner of Coles, Thin Man Brewing, etc. He suggested Thin Man but my guess was that not everyone in the group wanted to be locked into their beer selections. :) Coles will have the full range.

Yea... I've no idea how big Pizza Plant is.. I've not been in that location.

For Pre-Game? Pizza Plant if its open. We can all burn our mouths on a pod. What about Post game? I will reach out to someone I know about a venue for a group of 20 or so. We might be that many.. we might not.

How big is the group going to be? There were a few people who had said they might not make the game but would make something afterward. I would be concerned that if the group is too big we're gonna be even more squeezed into that area.

I stopped watching but that's because I had other issues to deal with last night. I wasn't surprised by the outcome. Florida has been on fire lately and Buffalo was bound to have a stinker. Right now I focus on the players that will continue to make up this team and I think they are playing well. I look at players I hope continue to be on this team and they are playing well and then there's the rest and I can't care about them because they should be playing elsewhere next year.

That's the spirit! Keep the faith!

Beautiful. Nice puck movement.

Yeah. When they finally get there the team will be in Quebec City.

There were more Boston fans in Buffalo than there are Florida fans in Florida.

I think it's just favorable conditions more than anything. I don't think other teams are playing down to Buffalo and that's why Buffalo is winning. I can look at GDTs on here and see a lot of people posting "who is this team?". That's the eye test in action. We're seeing an improved game style out of this team. They still have their moments. Boston had Buffalo players on the ice for as long as 4 minutes in one stretch and no goals OR penalties were taken. That's unusual but it happened. My opposition was to your theory that there is this "garbage time" and that teams just lose to the Sabres because they aren't trying as hard. I don't buy into garbage time. The Lightning and Bruins and others are all battling for playoff spots and home ice, etc. It's not insignificant by any means. Losing points to Buffalo can't sit well with them. Especially Boston who lost 2 points to the Sabres. The Lightning only lost 1 in the last game.

A few other things to keep in mind. First, unless you are moving into a neighborhood where no one ever has kids, make sure your property is kid friendly. It may not matter for you, but it may matter to the people you want to buy your house when it comes time to sell. This is really true across the board. Unless you know you are never leaving the house you want to consider that the house will sell again. Also consider your payment, not only today, but next year when they reassess your property value. Find out when assessments were last done and the trend they've shown. You won't enjoy it when you're 1.5 years into your house and your taxes take a big jump because they've jumped the value of your house. Also consider the rising costs of the neighborhood. If it's well established you will be pretty insulated, especially in Rochester/Buffalo. However, if your area is going to undergo a radical change and become popular you're going to see a rise in home values and along with that a rise in assessments and taxes and because in NYS our taxes are awesome that will be the biggest part of your house payment. Of course the good news with a house that rises in value is that you can sell it. So, as long as you are willing to depart your abode when opportunity knocks it might make sense to find that location and hope for the best. When I bought my first home we bought into a 1960's built subdivision. However, the areas around us were all being developed with homes that were $50-$80k more in starting price than our home value. In 5 years my home value jumped $30k just for proximity. We rode that wave for a bit too long and I ended up only selling the house for $20k more than we paid for it.... but it was a payday that we rolled into our current house. I think the safest thing to say is that this house is not going to be your house forever. So plan for it that way.

It's not because the the 3rd and 4th liners are worse. It's because the overall talent levels have gone up. Given the larger pool of talent to choose from there are bound to be more who fit in the same general area. I believe the top tier has grown, but every tier below that has grown even more. As far as what is on the Sabres. There are two points to address. I didn't say the talent had permeated the league as a whole. I said it is growing and it will. Also, the Sabres are purposefully keeping younger players in Rochester and have iced UFAs so they can develop. How good are they? Don't know. We'll find out. Just because the overall talent levels have improved doesn't mean there aren't lesser talents and it doesn't mean they aren't on the Sabres.

So the hypothesis is that every team is taking the Sabres too lightly and that's why they are winning? How do we account for that from every team they are playing? Do we also account for other teams who have performed significantly worse since Jan 1. (a purely arbitrary date certainly).? If you are the Bruins or Lightning and recently were beaten by the Sabres and then had to play them again... are you still taking them as a joke? I think it's possible to look past a game certainly, but if you were just recently beaten by a team you'd be foolish to continue looking past them. Curious, when does garbage time begin? I mean, out of the gate they were bad and teams would have not taken them seriously right? So why did they suddenly improve? Is there a time when the other teams finally believed they were awful and started playing worse against the Sabres? Fair points on the points earned in 20 game blocks. That's why I also added the scoring... they've been steadily climbing in both charts. Not great, but it's improvement.. and that's with a team we know is incomplete. If they're able to be as competitive as they've been with players out of the lineup, how much better will they be with those players back in the lineup and some other talent added? There's the eye test as well. They just look better.

More hockey. I can't wait. It's entirely possible that they lay an egg tonight. Florida has been an improved team over the past 2 months.

That was my point. I don't believe the game will be improved that dramatically especially in the coming years. The growth of hockey has occurred over the past 10-12 years not only in the US but in other countries. What we are seeing is the talent pool expanding because more kids are playing it. The more opportunities given to develop the greater the game at the highest level becomes. I think you can make an argument to contract something into a small group of "all-star" teams but that's also not realistic for business. I don't believe today's 3rd liner is the equivalent of the 3rd liner ability from even 10 years ago. I think it's improved. Statistically it might not look much different but skill wise I think it's there. I think it's going to only get better as this up and coming talent pushes out players from even the worst teams.

Since Jan 1.... The Sabres are 23rd in points in the league with 23 points. The 16th best team in the league in points is Florida with 27. Would you feel better if overall this team was only 4 points out of a playoff spot right now? The Sabres are 18th in GF. The Sabres are 24th in GA. From beginning of the season to Dec. 31 The Sabres were 30th in points and the 16th best team in the league was Minnesota with 43 points. The Sabres were 31st in GF. The Sabres were 29th in GA. There has been improvement on this team whether you want to admit to it or not. The team still needs more goal scoring, needs better defense and goaltending. We're allowed be happy that Antipin and Nelson look solid. Guhle looked good. Ullmark looked good. If they can get a bit more scoring out of the forward base then there's no reason to believe they will be miserable next season. Hell Chad Johnson has improved his game significantly since the start of the season as well. So, keep him in the mix.

Sitting down causes your pants to have to stretch and compresses the fibers against your skin causing you to lose air insulation which results in being colder. You are supposed to stand and feel warmer. So tell everyone to stand... or I guess give them a reason to do so? In seriousness though. I was there for the last game against the Bruins. We were sitting 1 row from the wall and it was chilly, but not cold. I am fine if they up the temperature a bit but as d4rk said.. you show up wrapped up for winter and there's no place to put your coat so you might as well wear it. Whatever they do they need to make sure the ice is in the best shape possible before they worry about the people watching the game. Crappy ice will make no one want to watch the game.