Randall Flagg

That shift from the Swedes....that was serious stuff. They watched my video ?

Lmao that was not offside

Good period: Sam, Johansson, Miller, Lazar, Rodrigues Bad period: Scandella, Dahlin, Asplund Just fine: The rest

Pretty dumb pass from Dahlin!

Jeeeeeeeeezus Miller has a rocket

Eichel was a beast there Ugh i hope that shot didn't hurt Jack lol

Samson!

Dahlin not great on the boards! Asplund's not gonna make the team. Neds a little more seasoning.

Lmao Gravel doesn't like a forward whacking at a loose puck before the whistle is blown, what a clown

Nice play by Risto. not a zone exit tho trade him Activating the D!!!

This is fun.

Sad that Sheary couldn't beat Spezza to that puck .....

Not a fan of that logo at center ice tbh. It looks orange Idiot

This is very obviously a you problem and not a PA problem

The other thing that's worrisome about it is that kind of depth player is usually the player that looks a lot better in preseason than they are in the regular season. It's the kind of thing that convinces Sabres coaches to keep Josefson or Griffith or Derek Grant on the roster to the team's detriment. We know that Larsson and Zemgus can grind pucks down on the boards in the offensive zone and get sticks in lanes defensively. We don't know that Arttu or Lazar or someone can do it equally effectively (though I think Lazar is the guy I'm switching Kyle out with on their right side in my lineups) and there's a good chance they'd sink when the games actually count and we get stuck with another 39% shot share 4th line, after finally having a reasonable one for the first time since before the tank last season. I just don't trust anyone, really, not just the Sabres, to be able to map the preseason performance of a 4th liner more correctly to the regular season than the sure thing that is Larry/Zemgus, low ceiling, but guaranteed league-average survival abilities for a 4th line. If these guys can muster up the effort that the team did last night, the game should be a lot of fun to watch. That said, first liners in preseason are usually more focused on fine-tuning specific parts of their game, getting their legs and lungs back, trying things out etc. so I wouldn't be surprised or upset if we get a stinker tonight

If people worry about Larsson's scoring in his role...here are the most-defensively-slanted seasons any player has had since they started keeping track of that. NOBODY scores points in that role. Larry and Zemgus were 4th and 5th all time last year. And most of the people on this list a.) Played these roles on good teams b.) didn't score any more than Larry or Zemgus do, and usually scored less So the existence of that role isn't keeping us from being a good team, it's the lack of scoring in the 3 lines ABOVE that one that are SUPPOSED to score that is our problem. I don't care if someone beats Larsson out but I'm incredibly skeptical we have the player ready to do that on this roster.

Feels like 11-12 again

There is zero chance Arttu, or any other depth forward we have this year, would be as good as Larsson in that role. Larry is in the top 5th percentile of all the important shot suppression metrics. He's very good at it.

His skating is already so powerful with his skinny teen legs.

I mean they only played one defenseman from the top 7 or 8 on their depth chart, what would you expect there?

Borgen > Joki McCabe was fine, and is an NHLer. Not all defensemen are going to be sublime at puckhandling and passing The Sabres need to figure out the point thing. Their point men have the most space, which is why they tend to funnel the puck there, it's the safest play. But going back since the tank ended, that often means that when you catch a team in their own zone for an extended period of time, 75% of the passing and puckhandling, and almost 100% of the shots, are done by your McCabes, Nelsons, Bogosians, Scandellas even while your Jacks, Sams, Skinners etc. are out there with them. Other teams do a much better job of getting the forwards opportunities to get open, take shots, make passes. I think McCabe would be the only guy I'd be SHOCKED to see not make the NHL team right away from today's team, which speaks well to how they held up against Matthews and Rielly.

Thought that leafs fan standing at the boards was a player and was yelling at Mitts for skating right at him

Someone said Kyle looks slower. I agree. It's a shame.

Lmao there is nobody more capable of taking a puck in space in a prime area and turning it into nothing whatsoever than Vlad Sobotka Glad to see that hasn't left his game You can see that elite offensive teams like Toronto just have better offensive zone instincts when they get pucks, what to do with them, where to go with them,a nd where to go when they don't have them. The Sabres have such a characteristic hesitation and reservation due to questionable skill levels. They're still playing well though, some good things to take out of this one.

They auto=renewed mine as well...and ignored that I had the student discount last time, so they thought they could get away with sneaking a doubling of my price in there. I caught 'em in time though