LTS

Like a day old Big Mac on its way back up?

You know what... I like the drive to the net there.. Penalty be damned. Granted if prefer Baptiste to hold up more but at least he was committed to getting to the net.

See the last play. Give and go, Okposo to Eichel. :) Tkachuk, 2 minutes for embellishment?

If you have MSG on cable you can use the MSG GO App now.

Almost wonder if we should have a thread about this concept.... playing guilty. https://www.bardown.com/this-quote-about-players-partying-in-vegas-is-the-last-thing-we-expected-from-torts-1.974859

I'm sure I'll be watching.. for how long is another story. Ultimately it's hockey.. and I love hockey.

I don't see much has changed with the power play except the speed with which the puck is being moved. Lately the power play has started to look more like it did last year. That said, last years PP efficiency was the 7th highest in the last 10 years of the NHL (not including this year). The Caps hold 4 of the top 7 positions and only Pittsburgh and Detroit in 07-08 were better. I think there is a lack of confidence and second guessing themselves that leads to split second indecisions and thus less time on the power play to get set up. Phil's so called system is something that has to be learned over time. It's not instantaneous. Moreover, each guy has to get it. If they don't then other players have to start compensating for what one or more guys are not doing on the ice. This again comes down to talent. I don't know that everyone on the team gets it and perhaps more importantly it might be that every player can't play the system. As such, Housley may be doing the best that he can with this group of players. Think about it, the key players stayed the same, the supporting cast underwent a few changes and not much has changed. I can't explain why the Sabres give up the blue line, they did it a lot last year as well. It could be that teams are attacking with numbers and our forwards are backchecking more rather than being in defensive position. The general rule of thumb is that you only go for contact when you have superior numbers. Anything even you play contain and anything less you play zone. I'll readily admit I expected the team to be better. I'm ready to admit that I was probably a little optimistic in that expectation. The idea was that Bylsma and Murray were the issue and it would be fixed quickly. The reality is that Housley and Botterill may fix everything but it wasn't going to be this season. Rather than pull up the prospects from Rochester he left them down there and put together a team that can be successful in the AHL. He brought in small FA signings to bolster up the roster in Buffalo for this year. He took the time to evaluate who was capable of what and I we're left with waiting to see how he really molds this team in the coming months.

Yes, imagine that. I actually watch the games. Bodies in front of the net. This actually has been happening when possible. The biggest problem the power play had initially was that it could not get established in the zone. Until it is established no one is going to the front of the net. They work the boards trying to get the top 3 set up so the other 2 float into the high slot and in front of the net. Even if they managed to get established they were sloppy and slow with puck movement which left little to no chance of a shot occurring. Lately they've actually been better. If you have evidence that Phil Housley is coaching the power play to not put a body in front then please present it. Otherwise what I see is a bunch of the same players not playing clean hockey. Backup goaltenders - the Sabres have been seeing backup goaltenders for years, through 4 coaches now. Hardly a point to bring up against Housley. When you suck you see the backup, they've sucked for a long time. This team has sucked at scoring for years. Through 42 games this years team was outscoring last years team at even strength. The power play was the glaring difference. We discussed that. This is actually pretty easy to address. Eichel is finally playing a full ice game. His scoring has stayed the same and he's been much more responsible defensively. You point out 5 names and there are 18 skaters a night. You want to know why this team is not winning? A horrible power play, bad defense, and absolutely no secondary scoring. Here is the points per game readout of the offense each year back to 14-15. Eichel - .96 .93 .69 Kane - .78 .61 .54 .59 (w/ Jets) ROR - .67 .76 .84 .67 (w/ Avs) KO - .59 .69 .81 .85 (last two w/ Islanders) Risto - .49 .57 .50 .26 Reino - .35 .59 .53 I'm not even going to bother looking at how the rest of the lineup scores because I know the answer. They don't. The top PPG players on the Sabres of the regular lineup are listed above. Only Pominville is above Reinhart at .43. Looking at the bottom 10 in goals for this season in the NHL and using the Sam Reinhart cut-off line of .35 PPG and players of minimum 20 games played. Here is a comparison. Sabres - 103GF, 7 players .35 or better Coyotes - 113GF, 9 players .35 or better Detroit - 117GF, 9 players .35 or better Canadiens - 118GF, 11 players, .35 or better Columbus - 120GF, 13 players, .35 or better Ottawa - 120GF, 11 players, .35 or better Vancouver - 121GF, 10 players .35 or better Sharks - 125GF, 10 players .35 or better Hurricanes - 126GF, 11 players .35 or better Anaheim - 127GF, 12 players .35 or better For reference, past Sabre teams who had players who played 40 games or more and scored .35 or better. 2016-17 - 8 players, (Eichel, O'Reilly, Okposo, Kane, Reinhart, Ristolainen, Gionta, Moulson) - Bylsma coached 2015-16 - 8 players, (O'Reilly, Eichel, Kane, Reinhart, Ristolainen, McGinn, Gionta, Bogosian) - Bylsma coached 2014-15 - 7 players (Ennis, Moulson, Gionta, Girgensons, Stafford, Stewart, Foligno) - Nolan coached 2013-14 - 6 players (Moulson, Hodgson, Ennis, Stafford, Ehrhoff, Myers) - Nolan coached 2012-13 - 6 players (Hodgson, Ennis, Ott, Ehrhoff, Stafford, Foligno) - Nolan coached 2011-12 - 11 players (Pominville, Vanek, Ennis, Stafford, Roy, Ehrhoff, Myers, Gerbe, Adam, Leino, Boyes) - did not make the playoffs (Ruff/Rolston coached) 2010-11 - 12 players (Vanek, Stafford, Pominville, Connolly, Ennis, Leopold, Gerbe, Myers, Hecht, Sekera, Gaustad, Montador) - made the playoffs (Ruff coached) It's pretty clear the Sabres lack scoring depth. The results are over 5 coaches, not just one. The teams around them have more players. Some do not have players that are as high as some of the Sabres in PPG, but the scoring is spread out. As long as teams only have to shutdown 6-7 players on a team it will be much easier for them to beat the Sabres. The team has no depth. There were new faces added this year, none of them replaced the scoring from last year.

Indeed. Right now is the waiting game. Fans want guys moved. I bet Botterill could move Kane tomorrow for a 4th round pick in 2020. Would that be a prudent move? No. But hey, if you are in the "just do something" camp then you'd have no right to complain. Right now it's about moving the pieces out that can be moved out to bring back the returns that will help the team. Whenever you are in that situation the season is already a loss. We're in it.. again. It's frustrating but it is what it is. The worst thing Botterill could do now would be to move a player for a lower value just because he felt pressured to do something.

You don't believe Eichel is playing the best hockey he's ever played as a Sabre? You see the same 5 players that were on the ice last year for the PP. You see them setting up in the zone the same as they have in the past. You still think that Housley is to blame? How does that work? "Hey Phil, how come the same 5 guys on the power play can't score as much this year as last year? What did you change? Oh, nothing? It's all your fault. It's all your fault." We've heard time and time again how Botterill is not going to bring players from the AHL up here. So Housley has no one to demote/promote. They've slowly been bringing some players up for limited stints but the roster, for this year is set. Housley has scratched players who need to be better. He's rewarded some of them who have played better. There are not unlimited resources in the system and all moves can't be made. Every indication right now screams that there is a locker room issue and it's not getting resolved. Perhaps last year it was easy for the players to somehow blame Murray and Bylsma. This year those focus points are gone and they realize it's all on them and it ups the ante. The best coach in the world isn't going to fix every problem. Players have to go and we'll have to wait for them to go. It's not awesome. It is what it is.

Of course my son's game starts at 1pm today. I'll catch what I can after we get home from the game. Probably won't be much... probably won't be much to see.

Absolutely. I had the Spruce TIPA and it was excellent. Although I think it triggered an allergic reaction for me... (it was still worth it). But I am not a fan of all 3HB beers. The Kind is one of the last beers I will order. I like Too Kind, and Gorilla Dub, but not the Kind. There are others as well, but no need to get into it.

Yes and no. Dropping a rebound in front of you invites players to the place on the ice you don't want them. The need to clear bodies from the net is when there is a crease battle and if you put the puck there without freezing it you will certainly get one. Lehner's rebounds end up all over the place including the crease. It's a fair shot that you don't know where to move a player at times because of his rebound control but my premise was that when the puck is in the crease the players seemed to move the opposition bodies with more aggression for Ullmark than they did Lehner.

Indeed. And they are eye catching. Three Heads in Rochester has really good labels as well. Their artist is a cool guy.

Yea.. it's a fair point. I have in my head a few situations where the puck was in the crease around Ullmark and the players went nuts on bodies. I feel like that didn't happen around Lehner.. but as I said.. it could be me. It could also be that the players felt that they HAD to protect Ullmark because he was on call up. I don't know that I believe that.. but it's possible.

Local doesn't make it great unfortunately. We have a few local breweries here and they are hit and miss. Even the most popular have their fans but it doesn't make their beer fantastic. I'm with you on wow factor. There are very few beers that get me truly excited. I used to be a bigger Victory fan but some of the beers just fell of the table relative to others that came to market. For example, as Bell's Two-Hearted made its way into Rochester I noticed less Hop Devil and I preferred that. The same is true with some other Victory beers. It used to be that Prima Pils was on everywhere and now I rarely see it. There are a lot of reasons and perhaps none of them have to do with a decline in the quality of the beer but it happens.

I am, and have always been, a fan of Bell's. I used to have friends who would pick up cases of Bell's beer for me when they were driving through Michigan. Ed Bell had once stated that he would never do business in NYS because of its backwards laws. He finally caved and thankfully NYS has actually made some good changes to its alcohol laws as well. There are quite a few breweries that are top notch in my opinion. Firestone-Walker Allagash Bell's Oskar Blues Great Divide Lost Abbey Sierra Nevada Singlecut Hell, I know I am missing quite a few. There are a few others that are just below that and then a massive ton that are 50/50 for me. There are only a few that I simply avoid 100% as opposed to not drinking because I chose someone above them on the list.

It's 100% unnecessary. Your absurdity could have been better stated using a different reference.

The goal where Nash beats Eichel to the puck is an unfortunate situation. Eichel is on front of the net, where he should be. This immediately necessitates that any puck coming off the end board would be closer to Nash than Eichel. I can't really blame him there. Lehner was out cutting down the angle and it deflected away from the shot lane to the end boards. It's a bounce thing and I am not sure you can do much about it. I think the players would take the body more if it weren't Lehner. I believe they took more bodies out when Ullmark was in net. Perhaps it was observer bias... perhaps not?

Certainly. If there is one thing that the market has seen is that far too many people are getting financing to open breweries who have no idea how to brew quality beer. It's a situation where there are plenty of financial backers who want a part of the market and if you can make a good sales pitch you'll be brought on as the brewer (or worse, you thought you were good from your homebrewing days). The scaling of recipes from homebrew to professional is not 1:1. It's not like doubling a batch of chocolate chip cookies or even making 10x the amount. Tack on the market being so over saturated with beer that it's devolved into who can turn out a "new" style to grab the attention of beer drinkers this month. Most brewers now operate on 3-5 of year round beers and then just keep creating new beers to stay relevant. Of course, if the government upped the labeling fee of beers this would stop pretty quickly. They lowered it to allow more competition, but it's gotten out of hand.

Seriously? 100% unnecessary.

I'm not a huge fan of Victory. They were good when others weren't making better beer but while others have turned up their game I think Victory has rested on its name. It's certainly don't think of them when it comes to that style. Of course, if you don't like sour then you're not going to like that style anyway. :) Wait.. I can play this game. IPAs are awesome. I said it, therefore it must be so.

Or maybe Babcock really isn't that great? It's possible. While the media can blast him and everyone else the fact remains that the Leafs are struggling right now. Andersen called out his team last night. There are issues up North.

Really? So, it's every coaches fault? I mean Housley hasn't even had a chance for a player to leave Buffalo and you are blaming him. Bylsma had a few players leave from under him, which ones are lighting up the league right now? Is it a prospect who needed time to develop and might have developed in Buffalo anyway? Is it a veteran who was paired with someone who made them better? How many players over the past 5 years has anyone on this forum wished to have back? I'd probably only put Vanek in that conversation and the dude was good when he was here. C'mon, people think it's one or the other in politics, why can't it be true in hockey? Having the best odds is about all you can ask for... every other team has lesser odds of getting the #1 pick (except Arizona). Just the way it goes. Okay, onto other things.. It's interesting watching the dynamics of this forum and the frustration of the group of people on here at what is happening with the Sabres. There was a lot of hope and desire that some trades might have been made over the last break and when it didn't happen it feels like everyone grew even more frustrated. Why? Because they know the current team, can't win. No one can pinpoint why, everyone has an opinion, and if anyone disagrees then it starts a virtual holy war. I would imagine its the same way in the locker room right now. This team is frustrated because they aren't winning. They all have a really good idea of what needs to change, but they are powerless to change it. They all probably hoped that a trade or two would occur to remove some of the problems from the team and bring in some new blood. Kane had his opportunities last night but he's not going to go barreling into a corner and break something like he did last year. His best interest is to stay healthy and get traded (he knows he will be traded) and make a splash on the new team for the rest of the season and into the playoffs. This would maximize his UFA deal. Lehner knows he's going to be traded or that at the very least it is unlikely he will be on this team next year. He has less control over his contract situation but he's not going to be interested in killing himself for a group of guys who do not feel the same way. There are others on the team who probably feel similarly. Overall, it is clear that the team is anything but a team. I don't think the defense likes Lehner very much because they feel like he's overplaying the puck and causing situations that shouldn't exist. I am sure Lehner feels similarly about the D because they are allowing shooters in on net and when there are crease battles no one is interested in clearing bodies. If a goaltender and D do not have each others backs then you will lose. Both will look bad and both are to blame. Lehner's best games are when he controls his body and his movments. We've talked about that before. He had his moments this year when he was playing a "quiet" game. He probably feels he has to bail out his team so he's being overaggressive and that's costing him. At the same time, he's solely responsible for the hole over his glove. That's the first place every player is looking to shoot on him and many goals are going in. Lehner has to fix this problem. I've no faith in the Sabres goalie coach at the moment though. He should be helping him fix this and it's clear that both goaltenders have had issues. Johnson has played better elsewhere and even in Buffalo. The goalie coach has a lot to do with the small things that need to be worked out. The D is bad. We should all just accept this. Nelson has a long way to go. He can't handle the speed of the NHL. McCabe is still learning and he has his good days and bad. Risto and Scandella are good but I see them giving up a lot of space on the ice at times and certainly allowing shots on net. I'm not sure Risto really likes Lehner very much. The D is a problem.. but we have known the D is a problem. Is it better than last year? Absolutely... but it's nowhere near fixed. Until it is, you will have issues on the back end. On a team that's losing and going nowhere and where they expect as many as 8-9 players to be potentially be traded (Lehner, Falk, Gorges, Pouliot, Kane, ROR, Reinhart, Girgensons, Larsson) you can't expect too much enthusiasm in the locker room. I don't want to hear professional this and that crap. If you've ever worked in a company where you know people are going to be let go you know what morale is like. You know what kind of effort many people put in during that time period. Uncertainty drives a lack of effort because everyone wants to see where things are going. Be honest, if Botterill flubs the trades in the eyes of the remaining players how motivated do you think Eichel will be? Is it his fault? Well, you can blame him for signing a long term contract sure, but he put his faith in the ownership and management to help turn the team around. If they demonstrate they can't then every player will want to get off the team. Just like every employee wants to leave a company that is failing. This is the nature of the situation of the Sabres. I don't suspect they will get better after the trades are made since no trades will be made with the sole purpose of being to improve the team this year.

That's a beauty.