Randall Flagg

You can never be wrong if you never take any chances!

The only way I could further "let it go" would be to forget it completely, but that would be detrimental to my ability to watch and understand hockey, so I'm good. ie, I've detached emotionally from the collapse already, so it only gets referenced academically at this point. In fact, I wasn't here at the time, but you can ask PA, I was already over being angry about the collapse before most fans were convinced it was going to happen

They're the 4th line, it's just that our 3rd line isn't good right now, and so they get used the 3rd most. Maybe we should just call them the checking line.

0-7-1 stretch incoming

Neal has had a nice start, but he was so washed up last year that he was traded 1 for 1 for one of the worst contracts in the league in Lucic, and it wasn't that bad of a trade. Acquiring Neal would have been an eyebrow-raising move that a lot of people (me included) would have hated As others have said, it's smart to let the league settle down before making final judgments on anything (as I'm sure anyone who remembers anything about last season understands)

Who was the guy that rather angrily yelled at me for saying the words "I'll believe that Risto's minutes will get meaningfully reduced when I see it for the first time in four separate coaching regimes" ?

Won't have to when we make... The Big Trade

Yeah, and Florida and Montreal very capable of putting teams on their heels that AREN'T trying to sit back with a lead. But if this still happens frequently a couple months from now, including against opponents that aren't quite as skilled, it's probably a coaching decision, and possibly a questionable one.

Early things to watch for: Ralph has substantially changed his lines and presumably tactics with third period leads. Twice in a row now we've lost those leads, each of them a two goal lead. I wonder if he'll do anything different, or if he views that a fluke, or just a result of being outmatched by forward talent rather than explicitly giving different instructions. I also wonder if shortening the bench that much hurt the guys out there at the end.

He sat the last 8:23 officially. Saw the ice in OT though.

Linus appears to be regularly good in the shootouts, right? A nice feeling to have confidence in your goalie. And I feel like Jack has been better in those than earlier in his career.

They had the game on where I was, which was cool. I have to say, it's much easier to watch games in a cave by yourself. I see why men build them Larsson and Zemgus and Kyle baby That's all I have to say. Watching Barkov against Eichel is like getting teeth pulled. I hate it so much and it's so painful The last ten minutes were like the Alamo of 2015-17 They were really good in the first two periods aside from a brief chunk early, which can adequately be described as the ebb and flow of a game between two solid teams Florida is probably really annoyed but they'll win plenty of games this year with those forwards and that goalie. It's a loooooooooooooong season But banking points early is wonderful and that's what we're doing

Did Housley get this credit? Mitts got five shootout opportunities last year. Not saying you're wrong. I think it's a good move too. So did Phil

Yuck. But two points, and we don't need to play Florida for another month!

What a beautiful play. All three of those guys are content where they are and confident in what they do.

And what deal was that John

This isn't quite how it went. People were mad we actively protected Ennis, who was horrific that season, over Carrier, who was a part of the best possession line the Sabres had had in years up to that point. Once it became clear that Ennis was protected because Minnesota wanted him as part of the Scandella trade, the anger evaporated, as the move then made a lot more sense.

The Panthers left Jon Marchessault (who had just scored 30 goals for them) exposed to Vegas so they could protect Petrovic. Marchessault has put up 52 goals and 134 points in the 2 seasons since for Vegas. They also traded Reilly Smith to the Knights for a 4th since they couldn't protect him either because they went the 4-4 route solely for Petrovic. Smith has 41 goals and 113 points since.

Probably can't watch this one. Somebody better beat up Yandle. This game already sucks. Screw the panthers

October is such a wild month. James Neal leads the league in goals (or did before tonight) Oilers are 4-0 Laine leads the league in assists and plus minus (I think, or he's close) Marleau with 2 goals in his first game back, the Sharks took this long to get their first win Hockey is great

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

So our yards per game and first downs per game are all near the top ten/twelve teams in the league, and our red zone touchdown percentage is top five. If we can stop turning the ball over and sacking out of field goal range, the points have to start coming more often, no?

My favorites were the Briere game 6 goal against Carolina, the entire game 1 versus Ottawa, Pominville's winner, Max's winner, and the 10 game streak, though that one has a lot of personal stuff attached to it. My least favorites include the opening night of the 13-14 season, when we saw what was coming for the next two calendar years and 164 games. Talk about hopeless. Watching the McDavid lottery hurt a lot. Finding out Eichel sprained his ankle the day before the season. Miller-Lucic. Listening to Koziol one last time for the season after the last game of the year in 08 and 09, years where we really would have liked to make the playoffs but didn't quite have it, knowing six long months of no more hockey or post game interviews were coming. Coming home and seeing the ROR return just one day before I had to leave my loved ones to go back to Oklahoma, and take a bunch of qualifying exams, was a brutal few days all taken together. What a gut punch that was. I was too young when Briere/Drury happened, I still thought we were going to be good. I did cry when Alfredsson scored in 07 though. Game 6/7 against Philly in 2011, along with most of the Boston series the year before, sucked eggs

The further we get from this time period, the more baffling it becomes. We had like three players do this, all at the same time, while we played them a lot And just lost and lost and lost God I hope this year is different

We'd be talking about 3 goals from them in 4 games if Vesey hadn't mishandled that Mitts pass on the mini-2-on-1. That said, I'd like to see a little more from all of them while we wait for the production to come. And I wonder if Krueger will surprise us if Mitts continues to be quiet. He talked the talk, about the two way road to Rochester, after all. He's the first coach that wouldn't shock me with something like a Mitts/Asplund swap, just to see how it goes.