Trettioåtta

Pretty good period overall. Devils stepped up in last 5 or so after the goal. Just need to keep at it. Allen always has our number. His stats against us must be Vezina worthy

UPLs issue is that he basically never makes the big save. So many times we control possession and pressure for an extended period of time, only to allow a partial breakaway or an odd man rush and the opponent scores, and all the good hockey the Sabres have played is worth nothing. His issue is not that he is a mediocre goalie, it's that he kills the momentum of the team.

Only caught the condensed game highlights, but our speed and tenacity on the puck really stood out to me. Winning battles and hounding the puck and then break through their defense to generate odd man rushes. Looked good in the recap.

This will be a bloodbath. 5-1 Chi and much sulking after a poor effort from the Sabres.

Right choice. (Understandably) he is clearly not able to fully focus. What you hope to see is the team stepping up, showing him he can focus on his home life without guilt, because they'll pick up the slack

I have a theory that Quinn was a hockey nerd growing up and really focused on the game. He then discovered the millionaire lifestyle after a year in the NHL and now puts less effort into his training and practice, and al performs worse. There is a clip of the Sabres all in LA I think from a few years ago and they talk about wanting to show Quinn the worlD or that there is more to life than hockey or something. He's that maths nerd that discovers girls and Longer does well in his exams. But his maths is hockey and exams are the NHL

Sabres entered this game in a playoff position UPL played The Sabres are no longer in a playoff position

It feels like we will lose this one 4-3 with a weak goal allowed in the last 2 minutes

UPL has to sit. He is third, maybe fourth on the depth chart now.

Can you decline a penalty in hockey?

Lazy shift by Tage

Right call

UPL rocking a .667 save percentage this season

This is a good comment! It is slightly confusing how the Sabres can be struggling for cap space considering the roster we have - obviously effectively losing a whole top line slot to Jeff's contract is not helpful. I would quite like to lock Benson and Doan up whilst they're a bit cheaper. UPL and Power earning $13 million certainly doesn't help.

Right now, I would be more excited to sign Benson to an 8 year extension than Tuch. And I like Tuch.

Oskar Olausson has been traded twice in like 3 months. Strange for a 22 year old

What is happening this period? Pure chaos

Benson has been a game changer

This just isn't true. Last season, Zucker (and McLeod) would be 4th on Florida and Vegas and 3rd in Colorado for forwards points. He/They is basically borderline 1st line player (by raw numbers). I say this because there is often a perception that a first line palyer is 100 points, a second line player is 70 points and a third liner is 50+ and that just isn't true. Tuch, Tage, Zucker, Norris, McLeod is genuinely 5 top 6 forwards. Our issue is depth - Quinn, Benson, Kulich, Doan, Krebs need to step up and the whole forward group needs to player better defensively. The Sabres have actually played pretty well for big chunks of the last 3 games. The issue is that they didn't break through, and then would often give up a goal or major chance on the counter attack and it would sap their will and momentum

Averaging one goal every 85 minutes

Well that's game

The Sabres as a unit have such a low hockey IQ. Thats the issue. Players are seemingly always in the wrong place on the ice. Ruff should be telling everyone to do the exact opposite of whatever play they think is best...

If you want a winning team, signing a mega-contract makes that unlikely. I think sign for $15 million, and enable the team to sign a secondary scoring threat for $5 million, rather than sign for $20 million and hope you can carry the team every night. The Panthers are back-to-back champs for a reason, and I find it funny McDavid would look at that team and decide he needs to make bank. I have no issue with players going for top dollar, but I think they need to be hoenst and say they are feathering their nest rather than that they want to win.

This is really expensive for an AHL back up goalie... I find it weird how often we throw out lots of contracts for around $1 million. I assume we're hoping one works out and it's a steal, but strange when we're allergic to spend to the cap to have so much dead weight over the last five years

Right now beggars can't be choosers. If a player wants to sign with us, you take it and let the team worry about a bad contract in 5 years. The max contract length is now 7 years right? If the cap goes up then a max term contract wouldn't be too bad by the time we get there.