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Yeah, I know the point pace is about the same - and logically last night's game should make no difference as to whether Bylsma stays or goes - but decisions aren't always made logically, or how we'd expect them to be made, in the Pegulas' odd management system. I just figure it bought him another month. Not thinking that's a great thing - but its reality.

I wondered if it was intentional too - but it all happened in a split second - watched it in slo-mo and it appears to be just the goalie moving to the left side of the net - Kane's foot was in or on the edge, of the crease. I think it was an accident. I think the goalie's only thought was trying to block the shot.

Last time Buffalo lost to the Sharks - January 23, 2010 - more than seven years now! A couple comments in the article below - San Jose fans clearly think they're cursed against Buffalo - and I would have to think that the thinking in the Sharks locker room is the same. What does it take to beat Buffalo? 3 goal lead halfway thru the 3rd - not enough! LOL http://www.csnbayarea.com/sharks/sharks-fall-apart-third-period-lose-sabres-overtime. The last 11 games against the Sharks - Buffalo is 10-0-1 Longer term, 17-1-1, the OT loss in 2010, and the one and only regulation loss - Dec 2005, more than 11 years ago - which is forever in hockey terms! WOW!!!

Yup. I had flashbacks to his injury earlier this year smashing into the boards.

LOL!!!

Last night's game gave Bylsma at least another month in Buffalo I bet.

Holy cow - that was almost as big a comeback as the Patriots in the Superbowl. Down 3 goals late in the 3rd, come back to win in OT. The Sharks must really DREAD coming to Buffalo. Aren't they something like 1-12 in Buffalo? Even the tank team beat up on 'em.

What's even worse - the awful Devils SWEPT the 3 game season series against the Sabres. Devils are a bottom shelf team - if Murray really had a 'fast rebuild' wouldn't one expect at least a win in 3 games against a bottom 5 team? Plus, Sabres have lost 6 in a row against Boston under Bylsma. I can't recall - was it Rob Ray or Duff last night blathering about how Bylsma had the team really 'fired up' in the pre game, and expect them to come out hot? 23 total shots on goal is hardly 'on fire'. Vintage Dreary Dan.

Brady's raw passing stats now eclipse Jim Kelly's. He has passed for ~25,000 more yards than Kelly, and has 219 more TD passes than Kelly; almost 2x the TD passes as Jim K. At 5244/8224, his completion ratio is 64% vs 60% for Kelly. It's astonishing - he's passed for 35 MILES during his career. And he's still playing and still healthy. He could easily be there another 2 or 3 seasons, even though he turns 40 this year.

The blistering 82 point pace continues. And the Sabres are a full 10 games below .500. AND were swept by an 8 games below .500 NJ in the season series! Disgusting how many teams are coming away with season series wins against the Sabres!

I thought of Kane during lunch - I was having leftover ribs. Just sayin'.

Yeah, and Lehner wasn't playing in Buffalo lineups either in most of those seasons - all 3 of his previous shutouts came when he wasn't playing for the Sabres - this was his first as a Sabre. The lack of shutouts to me shows a lack of focus and concentration - just like with Miller - Miller seemed unable to stay totally focused for a full 60 minutes - I will always remember Miller in the crease for Team USA against the Slovenia Olympic team- that team only managed like 17 shots against Miller - the game was a blowout for Team USA and seemed like a mismatch but Miller let one of the Slovenians' few and far between shots in with 18 seconds left because of that lack of razor sharp focus and concentration. We laughed when we saw the goal. I dunno if Miller was thinking he needed to call his wife after the game and ended up lost in thought, but it became yet another 1 goal "Miller Shut Out".

Well, most coaches are gonna play the hot hand. Even Bylsma couldn't be that stupid to rest Lehner after a 37 save shutout, could he? The only pro coach dumb enough to do something like that that would be Yankees' Joe Girardi - but he's baseball - no worries. lol

Wow, impressive win - I didn't watch live but have recorded - will have to watch the highlights. A real shutout, not a Miller shutout, for Lehner? Amazing!

Dan Quinn = new Marv Levy

Remember when the Bills used to beat the Patriots on a regular basis? Sort of how the Sabres used to beat the Leafs all the time? Now the Patriots are arguably the gold-bar for football dynasties - the Bills OTOH double down on Ryans, and have quintessential meddling, incompetent owners. Obviously, Belichick outcoached the blazes out of the Falcons' Dan Quinn. Halftime adjustments on defense, halftime adjustments on offense. Blowing a 25 point lead in the 2nd half - astonishing level of fail! The Falcons just replaced the Bills as the new Superbowl joke team - Bills for the 20th century, the Falcons for the 21st Century.

That would be the Russ Brandon contribution - don't forget - the "marketing genius" lurks behind the scenes, pulling strings. That's basically why the Bills hired Ryan, and took a nose dive - old Russ worried about those ticket sales - and knew Ryan's hire would help in that regard - no consideration of whether the Bills were gonna get better or worse, playwise.

Not of Gorges, but I expect Dreary Dan Bylsma to give him an inordinate and unearned amount of ice time, far outweighing his actual on ice contributions. But he's 'experienced' though. lol

Nothing - basically the defense hasn't improved under Murray. Likewise, goaltending is about the same. Offense certainly has improved (but they were intentional tank teams so it could only get better) but Bylsma's suspect coaching keeps them from achieving their full potential. But since GMTM keeps saying how wonderful Bylsma is, and seems content and happy to be on an 82 point pace, I am starting to blame the whole thing on GMTM. There needs to be hunger - there needs to be fire - there needs to be passion for excellence - excellence performace needs to be standard, and standard performance needs to be considered substandard. That's the way that a team reaches the championship - and it needs to come from the top down.

Well, at least we didn't have to see Lehner in a shootout - he left the right side of the net wide open, and made it easy for the Rangers to win in OT. Both teams looked lousy. and now we're fully 10 wins behind .500 BTW, only 4 pages for a game day thread and it's only early February. We'll be lucky to see 3 pages by April. LOL

Yup - you are right. We had 15 points in 13 games. January brought us up to a 1 pt per game average - 49 points in 49 games, or an 82 point season. 82 points in 2017 vs 81 points in 2016 would equal major fail, IMHO, with all the money spent. Hopefully we can at least make a run at a WC spot (we're about 7 points behind right now) so the season isn't a holding pattern season.

LOL - it's hard to imagine he could repeat such an awful performance. He can ONLY improve - I hope. Does he surrender 2 goals or 3? Or more? He's only had one 1-goal game since November, I believe. And shutouts? Fuggedaboutit.

I'm glad to know the fate of the Bills wrap on his pickup truck. I would wake up at night wondering - "Did Rex leave it on?" "Did Rex take the wrap off?" The not knowing for sure, was hell! Glad to know the wrap's fate, one way or another.

They did play above .500 in January - barely - 7 wins, 5 reg losses, 1 OT loss for 7-6. If we can box the ears of the Rangers tonight (we did well against them only a month ago) we'd be 8-6 for 2017. However, a loss, and we'll be getting back toward the levels of ineptitude demonstrated in the fall, and back to a full 10 games below .500 for the season.

BTW, Evander Kane is 113th in the league in points per game, and now the PIM leader on the Sabres - a dubious distinction. I think he plays poorly more often than he plays well. If his production remains relatively low like this, he needs to be gone next season.