SabresBaltimore

Yeah. The way they have stuff up migrating certain settings proved to be an adventure. I basically lost half a day just getting back to a functional state.

I've been spending my morning dealing with migrating my work computer from Windows 7 to 10..so I didn't get over here until now. Of course with our loss on Sunday we can no longer hit my arbitrary 10 point goal for the homestand. But I'm not giving up on the team. So Hopefully we get the next 4 points and end with 9. At this point of the season all EC games are critical, but especially against anyone in the playoff hunt. So tonight is probably the tougher of the two. Definitely a MUST Win.

I was out yesterday morning to do my homestand point watch, but we actually played a pretty good defensive game and secured 2 much needed points. Having lost to the Canes though 10 points may no longer be enough. Our maximum points is now down to 11. Total Games played: 4 Total Games Remaining: 3 Homestand Record: 2-1-1 Total Points obtained: 5 Total Points remaining: 6 Points required to hit 10: 5 Record options: 5-1-1(11), 4-1-2 (10), So we need to pull out at least 2 more wins, and at least 1 point in every game remaining. Hopefully we look a lot more like yesterday than we did on Thursday. It's another afternoon game, and we seem to play pretty well in those this season. Once again we MUST WIN!

I wish the whole team played with the same level of effort ERod shows. He's never going to be a top 6 player, but he's definitely an important piece on a Stanley Cup team IMHO. I'm still a bit shocked no one drafted him, even with a late round pick.

Well I'm going to continue my push to 10/14 points for this homestand..cuz why not? Total Games played: 2 Total Games Remaining: 5 Homestand Record: 1-1-0 Total Points obtained: 2 Total Points remaining: 10 Points required to hit 10: 8 Record options: 5-0-0 (10), 4-0-1 (9), 4-1-0(8), 3-0-2 (8) So at a minimum we need 3 more wins in the next 5 games. Tonight is extra critical because we're tied with Carolina in points. Making this the most MUST Win of all the Must Wins. This would in fact be the worst game of the this 7 game homestand to lose. Let's go Buf-fa-lo!

So last game I said I feel like we need to earn 10/14 points to have a shot at remaining in the Wild Card hunt. That means we're now down to 10/12 points for this homestand. So we have to go either 5-2-0 or 4-0-2. That makes this another MUST Win! But considering Phil's approach to lines appears to be by rolling dice (or maybe flipping a coin?), I'm not sure how well we're going to play against a team ahead of us in the standings. Here's to hoping for a return to some of that November magic!

Awesome. Thanks!

This 7-game home stand will probably make or break the season. We've been playing way better at home this season (for once). We're 14-6-3 instead versus: 11-13-3. I feel like we need to come out with at least 10 points. It starts tonight. Must win!

My expectations for this year was just out of the playoffs, which may be in fact where we end up. However my expectations changed after that 10 game streak. I agree with Doohickie, though I'll be watching every game regardless. I don't want them to do anything stupid at the trade deadline. So far JBots seems to be better in Free agency anyways. I'd love to see them announce a new contract with Skinner by the deadline, but most likely we're not going to get any long term help without giving up too much to a team desperate to win it all this year.

Yeah. Since I get up at 4am, I typically get to bed by 9/930. So a 7pm start is no problem. 7:30 is a bit less sleep than I'd like..but doable. 8 tends to be about my limit. With a 9pm start, I'm basically in "record the game, avoid the results and watch the next day" territory. 8:30 isn't much better, but I can probably do the first 2 periods.

And here I was thinking 830PM was too late for me. ? I might watch the first 2 periods or so. We'll see. I hate having to avoid the results for half a day so I can watch the rest after work tomorrow.

Well we got good secondary scoring finally last night. And we needed it because our defense and goaltending could have been better. I wasn't expecting much from the ERod-Mitts-Sheary line, but you can't argue with 2 goals. Back to back games with a 3 hour flight and a timezone shift. Hopefully they come out with the same energy we did in the first last night though. A good team will find a way to win. MUST Win! If not, it's will apparently be Doohickie's fault for bring bad mojo to the rink..

I personally like ERod a lot. He's a bottom 6 guy with good wheels who is responsible defensively and capable of filling in on a top 6 line due to injuries, etc. I think he's been a great addition to the team, but is often asked to do too much because we're lacking enough solid talent in our top 6 to field 2 quality lines.

The team needs to step it up if they hope to salvage the great start we had last year and at least make the wild card. That starts tonight. MUST Win! I hope we can get some secondary scoring going. Interesting to see eRod with Sheary and Mitts. Maybe he can get them going by shaming them with his effort..

The man of the hour.. https://www.facebook.com/BuffaloSabres/videos/790895781268165/ https://twitter.com/BuffaloSabres/status/1083803248069394433

This. I've been voting 10 times every day, but I never expected him to win. Hopefully this helps (even a little) with the contract negotiations. He's got to know the fans want him here at least. Either way it's well deserved. Part of me likes that every team gets to send someone, but it leaves guys who truly deserve it out.

Man. I'm starting to remember why I stopped posting here a few years ago..

Yeah, that's not how it should work though. Hence my hope that's not still the case.

Yeah, but he doesn't (I hope) get final say on if he's healthy enough to play. I know Housley said he looked good after yesterday's practice. I hope he plays tonight, but not unless he's good. I'd don't want him to come back tonight and then end up missing tomorrow..

Do we know for sure Eichel is going tonight? Reports sounded good, but it was sounding like a Game Time decision? I'd still prefer we play CJ Smith over one of the guys.. I'm hoping the emotion of Skinner's first game back carries us to a glorious win. We have Tampa Bay tomorrow and I want to come out of this weekend with 4 points (though I'd settle for 3 if I'm being honest). MUST WIN!

I like Tage on the top line. At least see how it works out. I'll be curious to see what Reinhardt does with Sobotka instead of ERod too. I'd almost rather have left ERod there. I have no faith in Sobotka at this point. I wish there was a way to keep Smith up. Maybe it can't happen for tomorrow night, but could we: 1) Send Smith down today 2) Waive Ellie today 3) Call Smith back up for Saturday's game?

I certainly don't think ERod is a hack. I think he's essential part of the team. I don't think he's good enough to be a permanent fixture on the top 6 though. You need guys like him in your bottom 6 though.

Mitts should be our #2 guy eventually, but this season he's not that. Personally, I think he's been asked to do too much too soon. If we were a deeper team I'd have liked to see him start the year in Rochester with big minutes and earn a callup rather than starting in Buffalo. Maybe playing with Reinhardt as a catalyst, he can show more of what we saw last night though. I think he should be playing as our #3 guy though. I think the plan had been for Berglund to be our #2 and Mitts #3, but that didn't work out either. Really Reinhardt should be playing as our #2 center, but I don't see that working out either. He's shown he's more of a support guy than someone who can carry a line to me. That keeps him on the wing along side someone who can make plays. If not Eichel and Skinner, who on this team would that be?

Man after that early NJ goal I was annoyed, but otherwise it was a great effort all around. We had much more rounded scoring too. When Eichel comes back, we have to put him and Skinner back together though right? Not just for the goal scoring they bring, but to keep Skinner happy/wanting to re-sign with the team too. This seems like a good start. I worry about that second line though. I'm not sure Samson can anchor his own line. He seemed noticeable last night, but without Eichel or Skinner he still got no points. Of course it's just 1 game. However if you look at his point production before being added to the top line it was garbage. I worry it will garbage again. Maybe Erod can fix that. I don't recall if they played together earlier this season. I don't really think Erod is a top 6 guy though. He's a bottom 6 guy who can play top 6 minutes in a pinch/during injuries. He has great energy/speed, but very little finish most nights. Of course I say that after that pretty fake shot/pass to Mccabe for the shorty last night. But more often than not it's a burst of speed leading to a scoring chance that falls short. I think others have said we'd have to send Smith back down though, so we can't keep him on the roster with Eichel back too? That's a bummer because right now I'd play him over your 3 leftovers for sure. Assuming that's right my lines would be: Tage - Eichel - Skins Samson - ERod - Sheary OK - Mitts - Sobotka Pommers - Zemgus - Larson Looking ahead to next season, I still wouldn't mind keeping Pommers if we can sign him for cheap, but it not I won't be upset if we don't/he retires. I want to get rid of Sheary, OK, Sobotka. I doubt we're going to get anyone to take Okposo's contract though, so we're probably stuck hoping he finds his game again., so Sheary has another year on his contract. 3m cap hit isn't awful, but for his production so far it is. I'd rather have another young guy on an ELC or something. Sobotka is even worse at 3.5m. Move Smith up for next year in his place.

I'm confused about this thread. It's a discussion about timezones? I didn't get to watch the Boston game until Sunday and it was not great. It sounds like Jack is close to returning, but maybe not tonight? I don't want him to rush back, but we're close to being out of a playoff spot for the first time in since like October/November and I'm now spoiled and find that unacceptable, even for a young team missing their captain that I didn't expect to make the playoffs this year before the season started. I know Sam was out this weekend because he was "sick" but do we know for sure he's playing tonight? Either way, No excuses. This team must make the playoffs. Therefore they MUST WIN.