SabresBaltimore

Byslma called it a "maintenance day" and expects him to play tonight.

Man both games last night were pretty good, although the game kind of got away from Sweden after the Canadians swapped goalies. It should make for two more great games tonight. That Russian goalie was fantastic, I think he's a Caps prospect. I'm expecting to see him down here before too long, although the Caps are already pretty solid at goaltender. I think he was definitely the better goalie last night though. I can't believe the Russian coach didn't stick with the player who had 2 goals in the game and was 2/2 in the shootout in round 7. It's also impressive the US player went 3/3 including 2 in a row like that. The pressure had to be insane. I'll be rooting for Sweeden (and our 2 prospects) to bounce back take the Bronze, and flipping between the Gold medal game and the Sabres/Hawks game tonight. Should make for another great evening of hockey.

This is going to be a tough one. Chicago is slumping at 1-4-1 in their last 6, but we haven't beaten then in our last 9 games, and haven't won in Chicago since 2007 apparently. I hope O'Reilly is back. It sounds like he's healthy. If he plays it sounds like Reinhart could move down to the third line, keeping him at center. Hopefully that would mean Eichel moves down to the second line. I think I'd rather see him with Kane and Bailey, and O'Reilly and Okposo have good chemistry. I don't like Grant on the 3rd line though. I'd rather have Moulson. Then again, I don't like Grant on any line at this point. I'd rather we have someone up from Rochester. I'm hoping Nilsson gets the start tonight, mostly because I want to see what he's got. I just noticed Gorges is back with Risto. I hope that was simply because McCabe had the day off of practice. McCabe's supposed to play tonight, and I want him with Risto down the stretch.

I'd like to see what we have in Nilsson. He's been playing above his career stats this year, but it's a very small sample size. The goal support stat is telling. Why does he get more goals out of the team when he starts? Easier match-ups? Does the team just play harder in front of him for some reason? Fluke?

I would like to see Nilsson get more starts down the stretch. I do feel like the team plays better in front of him than they do with Lehner.

Hmm. So not the same guy then. From what I could find John Forslund called the Centennial Classic. I guess he's the Canes play-by-play guy, who I was never impressed with either. I wish NBCSN would bring back Joe Beninati from the Capitals. He always seems to know every player on both teams. Just so long as they don't hire the Capitals color guy. He's terrible. Kenny is Marv Albert's son. A lot of his family has done broadcasting too. I had no idea. Apparently Kenny does 4 different sports, so it's no wonder he gets confused. He probably thought he was calling a Curling match. Or a football game with really bad field conditions.

God I hate that NBCSN play-by-play guy. He kept neglecting to mention our game against Chicago. At least twice he said our next game was in Winnipeg on Saturday. We're playing Chicago on their own network on Thursday! Then the Rangers got a power play and he goes "A chance for the Sabres to get back in it". I think we were up 2-0 at that point. Plus all the stuff about Carlton Bailey others mentioned. Terrible. I think he was the guy who called the Centennial classic on Sunday too. And he made several glaring mistakes during that game as well. I hope we don't get stuck with him again on Thursday. And if we do..how could he forget about a game he was calling? He should be fired. -------------------------------- Nice win for the Sabres. But after the last several games any win is a nice win. I think this makes us 2-0 against the Rags this season. But I don't know what to make of it. Does it show their real potential? I know this team can score, but we don't seem to most of the time. We only had 19 shots. Despite 5 power plays. Then again we only allowed like 25, kept them without a shot for like 15 minutes in the 3rd (after a terrible 2nd period giving up 15). And our power play was was like 1-5? It seems like Lunquist just played a bad game. But hey, 4 goals (and at least 1 in every period), and some really nice ones at that including Bailey's first. I'll take it! I'd like to see the same level of effort in our next game on Saturday against Winnipeg Thursday against Chicago, and hope Buffalo Bill's Carlton Bailey's son Justin Bailey plays another good game.

Thanks Peppy!

I think they do, or at least Bylsma does: “It’s significant for us,” Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said Wednesday. “You’re staring at Boston for a home-and-home. They’re within earshot. You have a chance of sweeping these two games and gaining four points on them and putting yourself right near them, right next to them in the standings.” Now if he can get the players to play a full 60 minutes, remains to be seen..

If we can sweep this home and home, we'll be in good shape to get our season back on the right course. I hope these guys step it up, it's not going to be easy.

Agreed. It feels like a waste not to pair them up. I think we should try to have two third lines instead of hoping to have two top lines without ROR. Maybe something like: 1) Reinhart - Eichel - Okposo 3a) Foligno- Larsson - Gionta 3b) Kane - Girgensons - Carrier 4) Deslauriers - Grant - Moulson I'm not sure if I'd swap Moulson and Carrier or not. I'd also try to get Babtiste, Bailey or Sneider back up here and bench Deslauries. I'd like to bench Grant too, but I'm not sure who to slot in at center if we do unless you do something like: 1) Carrier - Eichel - Okposo 3a) Foligno- Larsson - Gionta 3b) Kane - Reinhart - Moulson 4) Deslauriers - Girgensons - Babtiste But that probably makes it too easy to just shut down our top line when we already have trouble scoring. Plus, I'm bad at this. I'll stop now. Needless to say, I'd like to use the injury to get someone from Rochester with some speed/scoring.

<--Software Engineer. I got your git joke right away. I also had similar thoughts when "git some" was posted.. I'll be missing tonight game in favor of Rogue One. I'll likely record it and watch it tomorrow. Unless I hear the score, in which case I may just skim it tomorrow. I'll be attending Thursday's game in person though..

I have friends over tonight, so I won't be able to watch the game while it's on, but I'll likely record it and watch it after they leave and/or tomorrow morning. It's easy to avoid hockey scores down here. We really need to put together a big win streak the next two weeks: Islanders, Canes, Panthers, Canes, Islanders. I'd love it if we went on a 6 game winning streak here, but I'll settle for 5-1 (or maybe 4-0-2). We can't really afford to lose these games after such a bad start if we want to be serious about playoffs. We're 5-3-2 in our last 10 (4-2-1 since Jack's return). That's 12/20 points (9/14 with Jack). But we need to push that above a .500 win rate for any hope of catching those ahead of us. We've shown we can beat some good teams, so now we need to take advantage of some of our fellow bottom feeders to show we don't belong among them. Carolina is only 2 points ahead of us, with 1 more game played. Florida is 3 points ahead of us with 3 more games played. These are teams we should be able to beat. We need to carry the momentum from Tuesday through the weekend. Here's to hoping for a 4 point weekend!

In my teens and early twenties I'd eat 20+ wings no problem, now I eat like 15 tops, and usually 10 or less. Although I normally have a small (sheet sized) piece of pizza or two with them. My metabolism has always been pretty bad though. I just started caring a lot more in my 30s is all. I found that as I was watching my diet more, I could eat less without feeling hungry. Over time my portions started shrinking, and I got used to it. I tend to overindulge in my eating whenever I'm back in Buffalo though, especially wings. I used to love getting Chicken Finger subs from Johns on Grand Island back in High School too, but I haven't had one of those in maybe a decade.

Haha. I like that.

I saw that too. I think Eichel is our energy/drive but ROR is our heart. He was pissed at his play on one of the King's goals and willed himself a goal, and got the crowd and the rest of the team going as a result. He reminds me of Drury a bit.

Haha. Nice job. December 13th is entirely too early to be this down on Buffalo sports, but here we are. I haven't been following the league at large but the Buffalo News had a story up today about how the Eastern Conference is dominating the west, making it even harder for us to come back. (http://buffalonews.com/2016/12/12/playoff-race-slipping-away-sabres-east-foes-stay-hot/) " the East is 92-54-19 against the West, while the West was just 73-74-18 against the East" Hopefully we can pile on by dominating a west team tonight.

I'll admit that when they let Edmonton tie it up and then went down 3-2 I gave up on the game. If I wasn't caught up to the live game by that point, I probably would have skimmed ahead to the end. If I pay to go to the game I always stay to the end no matter what though.

Ugh. I didn't even know who Fedun was, but he seemed to be a decent bottom 6/PP specialist call-up. We really need some more depth at defense tough..

So personally I think RoR should be our next captain. If we give him a letter I'd rather it be an A along with Risto. Jack should just focus on scoring. I still don't like the choice of making Ovechkin the captain of the Capitals. He's their biggest cheerleader, but hasn't been their best leader. That's maybe finally started to change in the last season or two, but he's been their captain for how long? I guess with that long term contract though it was a safe pick for someone who wasn't going anywhere. And McDavid being captain in Edmonton is ridiculous. Then again this is the same franchise whose had like 5 number one overall picks in the last few years and only now are starting to win some games. Probably due to McDavid. But captain? No he should just go out there and score. I don't really think the leading goal scorer should be captain in general. I prefer captains to be your heart and soul guy. That said, I'd be OK with it. The team certainly seems to have responded to his return. And as others have said, I think the players should vote. It's their team. If they vote Eichel so be it.

Eichel turning it on in the 3rd to get us the win was fantastic. Us putting up more goals than the top scoring team in the league was fantastic. Us killing time in the last 2 minutes by forechecking? Holy ! When was the last time that happened? I really hope we keep seeing this. So 1 goal in his first game, 2 goals in his second game. That means Eichel is due for a Hat Trick against Boston on Saturday, right?

Rags must be scared of Eichel

Thanks Peppy!

Man. I almost bought a Girgenson jersey a few years back. I guess I'm glad I waited. I can't tell if he was just a fluke under Nolan, or if he is that incapable of playing Bylsma's system.

Man. I hope Jack is fully healthy. I'm sure he wants to play tonight, and since he's declaring himself ready, I'll be surprised if he doesn't. I just don't want to see him re-injure himself coming back too quickly (not that it's felt that quick to me). Here's to hoping this is the start of turning our season around!