LTS

Glad you posted this. It's been my observation (from being on the rope line and in other situations) that this is exactly why D-Lo is popular. I don't like him on the ice as I think he just doesn't add enough at the NHL level but you always hope that if you remove someone like this from the locker room that the attitude and morale doesn't change too much because it's not always easy to find a guy who can fill that role. Go Sabres... can't wait to watch tonight and hopefully NOT have too much stress.

I have to agree... I think it was Eleven who preached about the wide open hockey for the Leafs and I questioned if I could survive it. I suppose tonight I know how I'd feel when they win.. but if they were to lose I'm still not certain I'd take it well. Hell, I was just about to change away when they began clawing back. I keep watching the Eichel goal and watching the Predator players suddenly realize "OH CRAP.. he accelerated"

Only 11:19... East Coast! If you had a few more videos of the scenic view off your porch there I'd just watch those until I achieved a state of Zen. No valium, but I can say the the bottle of gin took a beating tonight. Unfortunately I'm more JACKed up than I was last night when I made a mocha with a quadruple shot of espresso.

Sleep? It'll be awhile before I'm calmed down. Enjoy your day sir!

If there was ever a game where the Eichel tower needed to grow. Man.. you have something special here and your little dude just experienced something awesome. It just fills me full of the smiles to think about how this has to be playing out for him right now.

So there I am.. sitting upstairs where everyone is asleep and then THAT happened. I mean... THAT happened. That's Jack Eichel... slow.. methodical and then boom.. he's gone and bang its in the net. HOLY... Ummmm HOLY... Yea... I'm done. I could not yell and shout lest I be destroyed by my wife.. but I certainly was gesticulating like a I had stepped on the center rail. WOW.. There's no reason the Sabres should win that game... none. But I'll take it.

Oh, just f me. They are going to give me a coronary with this crap.

Deslauriers was put in the lineup to add toughness because of McLeod. That worked. Deslauriers greatest fight is understanding the game Of hockey. Also, Foligno apparently did not get the memo. At least some of the Sabres have not given up. Too bad Gio will bee traded.

I'll say this. Nashville has the 80's NHL schtick down. I'll even give them early 90's. Also, the Sabres don't win with 44 in the lineup and that Carubba Collision sucked. I've seen harder hits from a 75lb junky.

He didn't even try to play the puck. Bio way you get that call.

That was so weak. Typical Lehner weak sauce. He needs to fix that part of his game.

He scored and I immediately thought of this thread and how awesome it would be for one fan in attendance.

Sounds about right. A few weeks ago we played a game in Buffalo and afterward we ate lunch with a parent from the other team. His niece is Jack's girlfriend. Anyway, he said that for Thanksgiving Jack comes over and he spends more time in the basement playing with the kids than he does hanging around with the adults upstairs. He's done this at every family get together he's been at apparently. He loves kids. This is just absolutely awesome that you had this all come together. So cool.

Against the Avs? Not as impressive... But seriously.. well done. That is impressive.

So is the game in Virginesee or Tenneginia? It's all I really care about.

It's getting real around here. A lot of junior development programs popping up. The scary thought for me... that showcase discusses 2001-2003. My kid if 2004... it happens so fast. And no, I don't suspect he will be in that showcase. He's got a lot to improve upon.. but still... time.

He should have fermented the honey first... just saying. :)

Yep. I had it as a kid. I was turning 4 a few days after it hit. I remember playing in the snowfall in the apartment complex we lived in. I remember being pulled on a sled by my dad through the woods behind our apartment complex across the the grocery store when it was finally able to open. I remember large tunnels people had carved out (precisely because the snow was so hard). Don't remember much more than that.

Yea.. kind of like the Sabres and yet a lot of people think they should be better after missing ROR, Kane, and Eichel for many games. :) See, I'm not even sure why you were put off by my message so much to respond like this. I didn't say you can't be negative. I said it sounded like you were being negative just to be that way and that you were dismissing the counter-argument to your claim that Lehner was out of position rather than discuss it. You kept on about how he was out of position when others were providing explanations on why he was that far over. Instead of responding with a rebuttal you reverted to "He overcommitted". I am begin negative on Kane. I am up for discussing it should there need to be discussion but no one has questioned his positioning as being incorrect. Why is it unreal that someone may attempt to refute your initial statement? If you want to stimulate conversation stop being offended that people are questioning you and engage with a rebuttal that furthers the conversation.

That's how I saw it. The puck coming down at Fedun's feet means that the two players are allowed to jostle for position and Larkin did so just before or as the puck landed. When the puck landed it moved away from Fedun and Fedun shoved Larkin and boom.. you get 2 minutes for interference. I think anyone wanting Larkin to get 2 for shoving Fedun back is just upset at the penalty call. It was nothing.

It's almost as if losing a star player is enough to make a team not be as good as it could have been and fall to the basement.... despite all the talent the Lightning have. I've no problem with you wanting to find the negatives but I wholeheartedly disagree with your assessment that Lehner was out of position. He was forced to commit to the original shooter and had he not then the more likely outcome of that play is that there is no pass and instead it's a goal. The glaring issue is that Evander Kane is standing IN the crease which clearly indicates he is not where he should be and creates the attack scenario in the first place. So Lehner made a great save. Someone compared it to Hasek who made saves like that routinely and rather than agree you tell people not to compare him to Hasek. Well, that save was Hasek like. It doesn't mean he's as good as him just that he made a great save. At least that's my take of the situation.... you do seem to want to be negative to be negative. It's your choice but at least understand that that's how people are seeing it.

It's fun to read the GDTs after the game just to see all the negativity people have early on when things don't go a certain way and then the Sabres still win. For back to back games I thought they did rather well and they had their opportunities. It wasn't a pretty game but they come away with 2 points and find a way to win using a few different players (Franson, Bogosian). I'll take it. All-star break is coming up.. Ristolainen will get his rest.

And as I pointed out.. show me another team that is missing 30% of its offense for a good amount of games and I suspect they are struggling just as much. You show me a team that lost 3 bottom 6 forwards and I think they'll be doing just fine. You can give whatever weight you want to anything. But if you want convince anyone of your point its probably not best to ignore that for nearly 25% of the season the team was playing without 30% of its offense. If the Sabres were lucky enough to have two RORs or Eichels in their system we wouldn't even be concerned. What teams have that?

I think you are arguing in a vacuum if you dismiss where this team is with or without Jack Eichel and do not also account for the other players missing time. The goal differential of a team with or without one player is only a good example if all the other players were playing at both times. This was clearly not the case. As such, the argument is avoiding key data points that matter. Ryan O'Reilly - 9G 18A - 10 games missed Evander Kane - 12G 5A - 11 games missed Jack Eichel - 10G 9A - 21 games missed The Sabres have 106GF in 45 games this season. Those players represent about 29% of the total goals scored by the team and set up another 30% or so of the teams goals. Now I'm not taking into account where they get A's on each other's goals.. so you can factor it back a bit. That said.. it's hard to argue for any one of those players without accounting for who is also missing. The Sabres are 7 points from the 11/12 overall spot in the NHL. If they were able to score 30% more goals in the games those players missed I'd like to think they'd be in a much better position.

The attitude that ROR displayed on his game tying goal is enough for me. Regardless of the coach these players are going to do what it takes to win and ROR is leading the way. That was as pure a "Hold my beer, I got this." moment as you can get in hockey. I loved it. Turrible officiating not calling Zetterberg for holding ROR's hands there in OT, but the Sabres made it out alive. The only thing I am concerned about with this team right now is their defensive zone coverage and breakout ability. They are too slow in both. Risto is developing a nasty streak that I love. He was all over Zetterberg last night.