matter2003

And a very desperate team after getting whacked by the Pens 7-2 the other night.

Sensed that one coming...Sabres seemingly are out of gas

The thing i like most about them is they don't try and hide their mistakes and leave the player on the roster to try and justify his draft pick status. They simply admit their mistake and move on getting what they can for the player. Its hard to do but very necessary when they preach that everything a player gets on their team is earned.

Wow!! That was impressive...

A beautiful PP goal on the rush. Sheary to Johannson...

That was pretty...so pretty.

Let's see what happens in period 2.

Looking like a good prediction so far...

2 games of domination start to finish...

More impressive than their scoring has been their smothering of shot attempts in both games

Im not sure i saw this many breakaway passes in half a season last year...its unbelievable how many clear cut chances they are generating by being aggressive at all ends of the ice...

Im not sure i saw this many breakaway passes in half a season last year...its unbelievable how many clear cut chances they are generating by being aggressive at all ends of the ice...

Leadership and direction from the coach means a lot more than most people give credit for. Like anything, good coaches help players reach their potential...poor coaches help players stay far away from their potential... I'm telling you this team is going to be far better than people think...and it starts with leadership from the coach.

They are all over the ice again...fun to watch

Hard isn't the word i would use....they were up 4-0 at home...totally and completely unacceptable are what i would call it.

Ive never understood why teams have morning skates? Let the players rest...there is time for that in pregame warmups... Overuse and muscle fatigue will likely tempee any gains from it and it will likely end up causing more injuries late in the year.

Sobotka looked pretty good in game 1...just saying.

This team can be good and be right in the playoff mix. I believe in Kreuger so strongly and i believe his leadership will unlock things no coach has unlocked within this group of players...namely understanding that no matter what your role is, no role is more or less important, just different and that you need to embrace it for the good of the team and take it to heart. This is what "buy-in" means when coaches talk about it. I believe Kreuger will be looked at as one of the greatest hires in Sabres history.

I have been extremely bullish on the Kreuger hire and nothing I've seen through last nights domination of the Penguins has has given me any doubts, instead its made me even more excited... I think this coach has his players attention big-time and we are going to see them play in a way we haven't seen for a long time. Leadership from a coach is getting players to buy in and acept whatever role they have, have them feel like their role is of the same importance as every other role and never want to let their teammates down in not playing their role to the best of their ability. And Kreuger is nothing if not a world-class leader of men. From what I see this mostly young team really looks up to him almost like a father figure where you would do almost anything not to disappoint your father and all you want to do at the end of the day is make him proud of you. Never underestimate how much success a team can have when this happens. It becomes a situation where nobody can exactly figure out why thr team is winning but it ends up being the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts...

I'm not sure either...if Murray didn't stand on his head the final could have been 7 or 8-1 easily. A defenseman who actually understands where to be in his own zone, doesn't pass the puck directly to the other team in front of our net when under no pressure and actually has some awareness so his man isnt standing 5 feet away all alone for easy tap ins...amazing how much we have missed one of them...

If Kreuger can get individual players to buy into specific roles and stress how integral they are to the success of the team all season, the Sabres will be a very tough out this year...this team has talent and can skate...if players buy in they will be very mptovated to be the best they can at their roles and this will in turn build a culture of nobody wanting to be the person who let the team down in a game. And that is what was sorely lacking the past few years...letting the team down wasnt much of a concern for half the players on the team. And for anyone who played team sports at all, you know how important that can be to the overall success of the team...thats when the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. When enough players truly don't care it can really screw up team chemistry/culture and the ability to play up to your potential...most players are followers not leaders so if they see enough players slacking and it keeps happening they will tend to as well...if they are in an environment where eveeybody holds everyone else accountable then the last thing you want to do is be the person standing out for a bad reason.

If the only thing Kreuger does is stop them from running around in their own end, turning the puck over as if they meant to right in front of their net and helps them to not be clueless as to opposing players standing wide open near the net with nobody around them, they can win an extra 5 games easily this year.

Fair enough but at the end of the day good coaches get good results and this team is tlented enough to get good results with.

I dont know how good Pittsburgh will be this season but i think this Sabre team has a chance to be a lot better than most people think. They are just all over the place and have had countless breakaways, mini-breakaways, odd man chances and slot chances this game...it could literally be 6-1 right now easily and nobody would think that was against the run of play. If Kreuger is as good as advertised this should almost be expected. Replacing a subpar coach with a very good one SHOULD produce significantly better results just from that alone.

Vesey a reclamation project? He isnt a superstar but we could use his consistent 17 goals a year on this team.