SabresBaltimore

I'd love to make it three, we certainly need the points/wins. A four game losing streak scares me a bit though. Detroit is not accustomed to losing, and while their lines don't scare me, Buffalo's lack of effort in many games still does. Will they keep playing hard for a full 60 minutes, or has winning a few and finally breaking out more than 1 goal getting them complacent? I'm going to hope for the best again. It's worked out for the last two games.

I'm sure RoR wants to come back now, but if he's hurt and needs surgery, he should get it. I'd rather lose another season, or for the month of December then rush him back and lose him again later when it would matter more.

Man I hope we can put up back to back wins. I was pleasantly surprised when we held on to beat the Pens. I must say I wasn't surprised we only scored one goal and let them tie it up though. I did expect us to give up another goal and lose 2-1 or 3-1 with an empty netter. That's an awful state to be in again. Expecting to lose. I didn't feel confident we'd make the post season this year, but I was cautiously optimistic about it. It's certainly still possible, but we need to get a win streak going here. I agree that Calgary is pretty beatable, but we've shown that so are we. Let's hope we can get some goal scoring going..

This is about how I feel at this point..

I hope we can bounce back from that awful game in Boston. It would only be our second home win..

Hopefully that'll be a fun night, and if not, at least you'll be at a bar... ------------------ Oh and about the coverage, any know if Dunleavy is doing the call again? I like him fine, but he's no RJ. Also, it sounded like Ray was out "for a game" so I presume he's back tonight. I hope Biron stays on anyways..

Thanks for the tip, but I'm on at&t. Luckily I have a 32inch HD tv in my bedroom that's really easy to move. I just need to put an extra splitter in there. I do have Verizon FIOS though, and I was happy to see their Center Ice has the Buffalo/MSG-B coverage (they have both from the looks of it). If I had to listen to that blowhard Jack Edwards, I'd go crazy.

My buddy's take: "He's a big young kid, but seems to learn fast". It also sounds like he thinks Chara might be the weaker of the two as "he's not a shutdown defensemen anymore" And here's the Globe's take: https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/bruins/2016/11/04/brandon-carlo-makes-early-strides-bruins-defense/ZiItx3XVJNNhyeKQIQyPyJ/story.html Sounds like he's pretty smart with the puck already, despite his age.

Well it's on the road, which seems to be the only place we win (when I'm not in attendance) so there is that. I need to set up a second TV in my living room so I can more easily flip between this and the Bills game. Then again I should be able to get through almost 2 periods before that starts, and with all the commercials and half time, I could probably finish this game and catch up on the Bills game by the 3rd quarter. I'd like to see them come out with a stronger start than they did in Ottawa. We can't rely on goal tending to keep us in every game like that. A buddy of mine is a Bruins fan (I try not to hold that against him) and he laments some of the players they have lost the last two seasons, and feels that their defense is especially weak. Chara is getting old and slow (his words) and they don't have enough talent to make up for that at the moment. So I hope he's right about that and we can capitalize.

So I know he's done so before, but is Marty Biron on the MSG broadcast going to be a more regular thing now, or was that just a special occasion? He works at the Harbor Center doesn't he? Can he be on all the home game broadcasts at least? I know he does commentating for TSN (and maybe a few others?) too..but I loved having him on last night. I initially missed that he was on the broadcast though, so at first I kept going "who the hell is that talking to RJ and Rayzor?"

Yeah. I think Ovechkin is more of an exception than the rule. Lucic puts up the hits, but no where close to the points. I think the point about hitting does tend to reflect a team with lower puck possession. Back in the Drury/Briere days we didn't hit a lot, but we controlled the play a lot. The last few years we've been hitting more often, but that hasn't exactly turned into wins.. (http://www.nhl.com/stats/team?aggregate=0&gameType=2&report=realtime&teamId=7&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20062007&seasonTo=20162017&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,&sort=seasonId) Then again, just looking at stats from the last decade or so, it's a bit of a mixed bag. You've got good teams like LA or the Pens in there but you also have the Leafs and Blue Jackets: http://www.nhl.com/stats/team?aggregate=0&gameType=2&report=realtime&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20062007&seasonTo=20162017&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,&sort=hits

Unless you're Alex Ovechkin.

When I moved here in 2004 and started going to Sabres/Caps games, it was all Sabres fans. Hockey isn't big down here. Of course back then the Caps only had Ovechkin and pretty much no one else. I think Kolzig was still on the team, but he was more of a mascot by that point I think. Backstrom didn't show up until 2007. There was very little energy from the few Caps fans in attendance, and often a bunch of empty seats in the more expensive areas. Now when I go, there are a lot more fans, and not just the bandwagoners with their Ovechkin jerseys. They are loud and excited. Of course the Caps regular season play probably has a lot to do with it. The Florida game had a similar feel to those early Caps games. I've been going to anywhere from 1-3 games for the last several years and this was one of the worst I remember. I had hoped with Eichel and the strides we made last season things would finally be turning around. There were a ton of empty seats that should have been filled with young fans because it was an afternoon game. There should have been a ton of energy after we scored an early goal. None of that really happened. Of course I spent that whole game nervous we were going to blow it just like we did in Philly, especially the second half the second period where we suddenly stopped fore checking and had like 1 shot. Hopefully things will be better when I'm back up for the Carolina game December 22nd.

Oh for sure. Sabres fans are way louder than normal during Leaf games. But I can still hear the Leaf fans way too much on TV, and it's kind of sad it takes an invasion of rival fans to get our own fanbase going. To be fair to fans, there hasn't exactly been a lot to cheer the last few years, but that's never stopped other team's fans. The Caps games are way louder, although there is a lot more manufactured noise too.

I always dread these home games against the Leaves because their fans invade the building and show just how quiet Sabres fans have become the last few years. I was at that Florida game last Saturday and it was so quiet except for one section near where we sat that kept trying to get cheers going, and mostly failed. To their credit they didn't give up and were successful a few times, but it always died pretty quick. Meanwhile I'm sure I'll be able to hear the Leaves fans for a full 60 minutes on TV tonight. We'd better play well and shut them up early..

I agree about Nelson. Unfortunately with injuries now it looks like that won't be happening anytime soon. Hopefully the NHL experience does him well, but I feel like there is always a rush to put guys in the NHL. Part of that is likely due to the with Canadian Juniors preventing us from sending young prospects to the AHL when they are too good for Juniors but have eligibility left. Part of it is probably just our lack of depth. I'm not sure why we didn't have Nelson in the AHL as first callup rather than as 7th d-man though. He's played all of 12 minutes so far. I guess that's about to change. Ah, OK. Considering I don't remember those two, I'm hoping GMTM can do a better job at getting us some more depth than Regier did there. But then I think even given the much smaller sample size and "time will tell" on the team he's been building, Murray's already a better GM.

I'm not sure what you mean by including those two. I'm not familiar with them, but neither were prospects in the time frame I'm talking about were they? My point here was that not too long ago, we were really deep on Defense. Throwing away Ruhwedel (who I think has a 2way with Pittsburgh and probably still in the AHL) that's still 6 NHL starters. I'd probably take those 6 over what we have right now. But I'm not saying we didn't need to trade the 4 we traded away for other higher needs at the time. However it's left the cupboard a bit bare at this point, and our defensive depth is our weakest position now. Could we still use another forward or two? Maybe. It will largely depend on guys like Molson, Ennis, and some of the young kids who played pretty well last night as a 4th line. Our goal scoring was looking pretty awful at the start (minus that Edmonton game) but seems to be coming around now. If Ennis can convert his effort into goals, and Molson keeps up his pace, and our 4th line plays well and contributes some goals, maybe that's enough. Add back in Kane and Eichel and we're probably in good shape. I still have questions at goalie, in particular if Lehener can stay healthy for a full season (and improve his rebound control), but so far I've been happy with our goaltending for the most part. Nilson looked pretty good in the games he played too.

A few years back (~2013 maybe?) I recall everyone talking about how deep we would be at defense. We had only Myers (Minnesota) full time from our "recent" draft picks. In the pipeline were: Ristolinen McNabb (LA) Zadorov (Col) Pysk (Flor) McCabe Ruhwedel (though this one is a stretch. he did play some games for us though)

Personally, I was happy to see the back of him when we traded him, despite all his potential upside. Plus, I'll take RoR over him every time. Hopefully we can make a good trade to bolster our defense. It'd be nice if that was sooner rather than at the trade deadline too. I'm just not sure what I'd be willing to give up at this point. A goalie prospect like Ullmark? One of our young forwards? A package deal? We don't have the crazy number of picks we used to have. Thankfully it's not my job. So far I've been pretty happy with GMTM's moves and hope he'll figure something out soon.

Yeah we seem awfully thin at defense right now. Remember when we had all those defensive prospects? I don't really think Nelson is ready for the NHL yet and would be better served in Rochester for a season.

Yeah, that applies to all National games (NBCN, NBC, NHL Network) regardless of provider. Also local market games. So when the Sabres play the Capitals, I'm blacked out of the package and I have to watch CSN regardless of what's available on the package. I'd love to have all the Sabres coverage in HD, but I'm not willing to switch to DirectTV for the privilege. I've considered switching to the streaming package instead, because even if they don't have the MSG coverage, you can switch the audio to the Sabres radio feed instead. I had it years ago and it was only SD, and only in a browser. Now it has a bunch of platforms supported and built in DVR like capabilities. I still find the FIOS one the most convenient for me personally despite not getting exactly the coverage I'd like.

I have Center Ice through Verizon FIOS. They offer 9 HD channels, and 14 SD channels. I've gotten the Sabres MSG coverage for several games now, one of which was only in SD. In my experience despite Center Ice being available on multiple (all?) providers what's available seems to vary quite a bit. DirectTV has the best service, since they have MSG-B on their package and anyone with Center Ice is able to watch that channel during Sabres games. What's been available on FIOS has changed a lot over the years. For a long time it was typically the other team's coverage only. They also went from 1 HD channel to 3 to 5, and now 9. I'm still waiting for them to get to 14, but at this point I'm not holding my breath. I've found that I almost always gets the MSG feed for Sabres homes games, but it's a crap shoot what's available during away games. Last night I only got the Minnesota coverage. There wasn't even a SD option for the MSG coverage this time. Sunday I got both Winnepeg and Buffalo coverage. Both in HD. I think some of it comes down to how many other games are playing and what channel it's on. If it's on 1-9, it's also in HD. If it's on 10-14 it'll be SD only. Saturday nights tend to be the worst since the most concurrent games seem to occur then.

That's not a bad theory. I wonder if it would make for fewer important games the last few weeks of the season or more. I hate watching a game between two playoff teams slow way down in the 3rd period because both teams are playing for 1 point and a chance at bonus point rather than a win. ROW was supposed to help reduce this, but I'm not convinced it has. It's hard for me to remember since the Sabres haven't been in the hunt for awhile, so I haven't been watching a lot of random hockey games with playoff implications at the end of the season like I did a few years back.

I'd like them to go to a 3 point game system (like they use in international tournaments) instead of the stupid 2+1 system they currently have. Maybe that would make playing for Overtime less attractive since now you're giving up that 3rd point. Of course that now means that Overtime wins are less than regulation wins, and the same as a shootout win, unless you keep the ROW tie breaker too. I have no idea why they didn't just go to 3 points when they changed the Overtime rules. Was it to avoid changes to the records? IE now you'd have a potential 246 points in a season instead of 164 which would mean getting over 100 points in a season would become commonplace.

Not to mention if they went based on offensive output, they should be calling up COLE SCHNEIDER whose 4-6-10 while Bailey is only 3-1-4. If he really believes he belongs in the NHL he should be leading the team. Of course they are only 7 games in, but still.