Randall Flagg

Right, I'm happy where we are. I didn't mean that to be a stomping my feet and crying type of statement (not saying you or anyone claimed it is), just, we're in a process and here's what I think the next steps of the process are.

It's worth noting that the ice appeared to be dreadful last night. I have never seen Sam fall the way he did at the end there, and if Dahlin is whiffing on that many pucks, something is weird. Nobody could handle passes they've handled all season. I guess Tampa's players are used to it?

What's the reason? Of all players on the Sabres roster to have more than 2 career shootout attempts, Sam Reinhart has the second best career success rate in the shootout, behind Pominville. I agree that he should be 1 or 2 in the shootout, because he's shown to be the first or second best at it on the entire team.

Thompson becoming good this quickly is really making it easier to play around with forward lines

Jack has never been on the ice for a Sabres goal against Barkov at ES and has a 40 CF%. Barkov's line has scored 6 times in those same minutes. And to reiterate what Hoss says, Tennyson was the single worst defenseman to play on last year's last place team. If he plays over the kid we convinced to sign here after being SHL D of the year, and who is pacing for the highest scoring season from a defenseman in AHL history as of like a week ago, well... Reward the kid, Phil. You won't die if you have to play a Rochester prospect. That's how this is supposed to work! I'm confident he'll play Pilut.

Luongo is out for a few games, we get Reimer.

We are 2-7-1 in our last ten games against Florida - identical record in our last ten games @Florida in particular. Florida is, for some dumb reason, a divisional opponent, so it's time to turn that trend around.

Where does Hunwick fall in all of this? Is he still not ready?

I'm definitely not sure lol

It feels like we play our worst hockey, any given year, in this building, for some reason. Florida is no team to sleep on, despite the standings. Barkov, Huberdeau, and Hoffman are more than enough to blow us out. In particular, Barkov has a way of making sure the Sabres never touch the puck while he's on the ice. I'd seek to avoid matching Jack with him. Even though their record is bad, they can fly, and they can beat any team that doesn't show up completely ready to play. I'm confident our guys will be completely ready to play. Worried about injuries. Particularly McCabe. It could be argued that he's been our best defenseman this year, and he is certainly who Risto has the most chemistry with. Maybe Sheary is back? I love Elie's speed and pep, but last night he was just missing hockey plays that Berglund would have made, and it hurt us. I hope to see his role as injury fill-in replaced by a Rochester forward. Zemgus and Larry would like their Bergy back. There's no coincidence that Tampa games were ERod and Pominville's worst games this year (IMO) - I think both will look a lot better playing a team that's actually from this earth. We absolutely need to show up and put in the work, and if we do that, it should work out in our favor. Then rest up for a huge challenge next week before a bit longer of a rest. I'd really like 4 of the next 6 points.

I thought Phil/Jason said Scandella wasn't injury related? Can you go on IR for that? Or do they mean he's super sick?

What does a slapshot have to do with getting the lumber in guy's faces with a protective ref nearby after the whistle? I'm not telling Risto to stop checking guys during play. That's when he's at his best. But I've seen other players literally laughing at his antics, effectively telling him "look at the scoreboard you goofball" It's irritating and all it does is remind me of when we were the most pathetically bad team the league had seen in ages

Elias Pettersson is here to burn down your village

What do you infer is the reason that without Reinhart, Sobotka cannot separate from tank Sabres depth forwards by any metric, possession, plain old scoring, or otherwise? To be thorough, he has a role on this current Sabres roster. He is an effective PKer and is far from a disaster in his own zone, if not actively good. But he's not a shot suppressor at all, no Sabre is on the ice for more shots against except for Tage, despite four forwards regularly getting tougher/more defensive minutes. Berglund and Zemgus are two effective shot suppressors. Both have strength and closing speed that Vlad doesn't, and that's why they can keep shot against numbers down despite tougher competition and less o-zone time - neither has been on any sort of line expected to be in the offensive zone, whereas Vlad has lots of ice time with Sam, Tage, Sheary. Without the magic of Reinhart, which is much of Vlad's ice time, he's almost doubled up on time spent chasing in the dzone versus creating in the o-zone. And he comprehensively drags every, single, one of his teammates. No other Sabre does either of these things, whether they're in better or worse, more offensive or more defensive, situations. I know, "but stats." But stats merely support what my eyes are already telling me, they aren't driving my opinion at all. I refused to even check things like NST and corsica until we played 10-12 games, and I came to this conclusion about Sobotka before we even traded for him, when I went to check out the Blues forum to see if we could add him and being alarmed by how much they said he fell off the table. Then, that month-long project in the summer sealed the deal. If you insist, I'll grab a quick video to give evidence of the "inability to generate meaningful offensive plays with any consistency" I've been on about since August. This one clip just from the first period today, super easy to find, sort of encapsulates everything I talk about. It's not meant to be proof in and of itself that Vlad is an ineffective driver of play. No one play is proof of anything, nor is one game, or one week. But I was posting videos like this in August from Blues games, and try to point it out in GDTs while balancing against a "negativity vibe," and the stats are clear in their indication that this happens. He comes in on a rush with room initially, and doesn't have the speed to back off/worry the defender at all, so the defender closes without issue and forces his initial shot to skitter into the corner. Countless are the number of rush-shot attempts that have fizzled off his stick. A second later, a board battle is lost before it even starts. He is decidedly below NHL average in his ability to win board battles, and is further hurt by the fact that when he does, he has a very hard time getting the puck to prime areas (this is why Sam helps his metrics as I've often described). This is why his offensive events are so painstakingly low. Finally, he DOES get the puck, three feet away from the net, and doesn't come close to putting it on goal. Sure, he popped a two goal night playing with Sam and Evan, the dutiful trailer on rushes led by those guys. And he got a squeaker in LV with a goalie pulled and Okposo doing what 71/23 did in MTL. But he doesn't make anything happen on that side of the ice over long stretches of hockey. Those two goals in Montreal completely and fully describe his noteworthy offensive chances and plays at ES on the entire season, over 20 games. If you find me one single video clip of a legitimate 5v5 offensive chance directly created or taken by him that isn't those two goals, I'll ask for about twenty more, because that's how many any other forward on this team have been a part of, even the worst ones. But I don't even think you'd be able to show me one. Since the only thing I've said in this thread is that his roster spot needs to be upgraded next year, not "he sucks balls and has no place in this league," I certainly don't think I'm off my rocker to feel this way. All I've said is that, watching Vlad, on a line with two players who have separately shown an ability to play sustainable and scoring hockey with players who aren't Vlad, something he can't say for himself, watching that line take 15% of all shot attempts while Tampa had 85% tonight, it is clear that if we want to be playing and winning games against good teams in our division, we need to be able to do better than that when they send out wave after wave of fast-skating skill guys. I have not said that Vlad doesn't have a role and doesn't do things well within that role. I haven't said he's not an upgrade on Nolan/Pouliot/Griffith. He is, and we are better for making it. But I want to get even better than we are now, and this is a move that will happen on the way, and it is completely reasonable to be ready for this move sometime in the next eight months. And as far as Risto goes, I guess YMMV on the goofy stuff he does after the whistle, but it didn't win us the game tonight, it never has won us anything, and usually gets us made fun of by the teams that have spent his whole career scoring on him at will. But yeah, I'd love to go out to lunch with you ?

Patrik Laine is the fourth-youngest player ever to score 100 goals.

When our streak started, we were above NHL-.500. We won ten games in a row, and at the conclusion of the streak, are in third freaking place in our division from hell.

Now that somebody has said this, I don't feel bad for saying that y'all looking to give Pominville a new contract are cray, and his/Vlad/some of the other bottom sixers' spots need to be upgraded internally or externally next season, and hopefully even this one!

Sam's second goal was by far the most intelligent thing any Sabre did tonight. It was awesome.

This past April, in the remaining dregs of a horrifying season, the Sabres went to Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay was eight tiers above that Sabres team, and overwhelmed them not one minute into the game for their first goal. But the Sabres didn't seem to care. They were rejuvenated with the fresh legs of Guhle, Nylander, Mittelstadt. Two minutes later, ERod and Scandella help send Casey's first NHL goal into the history books. Sabrespace rejoices. The word "fun" even makes an appearance. The previous six months had been anything but. Kucherov gets Tampa's lead right back again, not two minutes later. The Lightning barrage Johnson with 5 shots in the next shift and a half before Brendan Guhle puts a shot on net that Nylander tips past Vasilevsky for HIS first NHL goal. Again, within two minutes. What even is this? Can Sabres hockey be this way? This time, it takes Tampa THREE minutes to get their lead back, and they bring a 3-2 lead into the first intermission. A 4-2 lead for Tampa is then methodically erased by some peeper time. The Sabres even take a lead on the Kyle PP shot, the last time we saw it work, save a beautiful moment against Montreal this season. The problem is, Tampa is a liquid that knows exactly where the empty spaces on the ice are, and they fill them more fluidly than any hockey team I've ever seen. The Sabres fought valiantly but could not stem the flood waters, and they lost in regulation. We all sat together, breathless. It was the most exciting game of the year. If losses next year pile up, we at least hope they can look like this one. Maybe the future can be bright. This year, the Sabres come into Tampa on a stretch of hockey that has new members flocking in droves, and the city buzzing. It's the most fun we've had with this sport probably since the team was thisclose to a cup. They again run into a team that is mind-numbing in its skill and speed. A team that no other can match line for line, skill on skill. Again, quick goals are erased, heading to the intermission down 3-2. Again, more goals scored, a lead taken by a Sabre team that is very obviously behind in the skill department, but doesn't care. Again, the Lightning brought their A game and put the Sabres away, but again, we saw flashes from youth and a much clearer picture of the future. This time, it wasn't our first glimpse. We've seen a lot of it in their trek up the standings, and eagerly await our next trip to Tampa to try and hang with the best. The Sabres are going to be even better the next time they visit. And then sometime, not next time, but not too far into the future, they will make the trip, step on the ice, and we'll realize they're at the summit. They will keep up with Tampa Bay, and they will beat them convincingly. In the meantime, I'm sure we'll have lots of fun in other ways.

Unless we rip off five more of these streaks, we're not any more special than any other NHL team with hopes, dreams, and flaws. If we're in a position and something makes sense, you have to do it. Especially as it seems like rental prices are lower than ever. We got a first for gosh darn Paul Gaustad back in the day.

Tage-Mitts-Kyle can stay together as long as they like, but I'm not too sure where to put Sheary then. Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally don't want a Sheary-Sobotka-Pominville line.

If there's a suspension for THAT, I'm getting on a plane and flying to whatever city Bettman's office is in to throw a shoe at him.

The Leafs are gonna try, but I don't think Jeff and Auston will buy it ?

Didn't catch the second part. Goodnight Eleven. Our thoughts are with you ❤️

No, it's the same 55 we've all been watching for 5 years. And it's time to grow up and beat teams with hockey, not try to rough em up as the clock winds down on a loss.