matter2003

Better?

The differences are pretty staggering, especially from an offensive point of view: Pre-Eichel(21 games): #Times Sabres were shutout: 3 #Times the Sabres scored 1 goal: 9 #Times the Sabres scored 2 goals: 4 Combined games the Sabres scored 2 goals or less: 16/21(76%) Goals per Game: 1.62 Record: 7-9-5(19 points) 74 point pace Post-Eichel(34 games) #Times Shutout: 0 #Times Scored 1 goal: 8 #Times scored 2 goals: 6 Combined games 2 goals or less: 14/34(41%) Goals per Game: 3.00 Record: 16-13-5(37 points) 89 point pace The change in offense is ridiculous....the team averages almost a goal and a half MORE with one player in the lineup??

I dunno....those look like pretty damn good starting goalie numbers to me....6th in the NHL in save percentage... Must be nice to play on a team like Holtby does for a goalie....has played 6 more games and face 63 fewer shots than Lehner has... Let's look at Shots per 60 minutes of the goalies in this snippet: Dubnyk: 29.58 Anderson 32.27 Darling: 30.78 Bobrovsky: 29.31 Holtby: 27.35 Lehner: 33.56 Murray: 30.58 Greiss: 30.95 Nillson: 34.03 So basically the Sabres give up shots like they are going out of style with Nillson facing even more per 60 minutes than Lehner...and before someone says they are a lot of long distance shots, well yes that is true, but I'd be willing to bet the Sabre goalies also face far more shots from wide open players in the slot the defenders and forwards simply forget about and shots from the 3rd man trailing which the Sabres still haven't figured out to cover more than halfway through the season. These are prime scoring chances the Sabres give up as if they will earn a prize from the NHL by leading the league in those categories... .925 save percentage, 6th in the NHL and only .02 back from being 2nd in the NHL? Looks pretty damn good to me, but maybe I'm just imagining things....his win total would be up significantly if the Sabres didn't score 0,1, or 2 goals in half their games this year...especially in the beginning with Eichel out.

How bout we just sign Nillson?? Why the hell do we have to keep playing musical goalies every year with the backups? Find a guy that can be a viable fill in and sign him for a few years. Is GMTM determined to get a backup that eventually sucks so Lehner is forced to play 65 games a year?? Move Kulikov and Franson. No idea why Ghule is stuck in juniors when he would be the 3rd best DMan on the team right now and we could desperately use his puck-moving and skating ability back there...

Is there really anyone left who wants to trade Kane considering he will likely be pushing for 30 goals this year?

Back when the NHL valued goals instead of defensive battles...

Holy crap...I didn't see that coming...Sabres just took over with about 12 minutes left and San Jose was holding on for dear life...

The Sabres give up so many wide open shots from the slot and to the 3rd main trailing I often wonder if the coaches even work on it. I know they must but it's ridiculous...the same play over and over and over again. Guys wide open in the slot for one timers or guys cruising down the slot as the 3rd man in for great scoring chances...

Lehner is only 25...typically goalies don't hit their prime til they are around 28...he has time to improve and he likely will... Way too early to write him off yet.

Wow...they are getting embarrassed tonight...look like they are stuck in the mud while Montreal skates circles around and through them at will...I know they aren't the fastest team in the league, but surely they aren't this slow

Apparently someone forgot to inform the team they are back from the All-Satr break vacation?

And as of Mother Nature wants to help us celebrate, we have a Lake Snow Warning on the anniversary, hahaha

First time the Predators have lost this season when they scored the first goal too

I've seen a lot of that in OT form a lot of teams, almost a soccer like play...sometimes even passing it back to the goalie

OMG!!! EICHEL WHAT A GOAL!!!!!!!

Nashville have really, really active sticks while they are checking...can't remember seeing this many times where a defender knocks the puck off a guy carrying it up ice....

Wow...this team is like the Cardiac Kids! Okposo! Just had a feeling they were gonna tie it...been buzzing around for the last 6-7 minutes and all over Nashville

Gio! Damn...1th of the season...he is playing much, much better than last year...

over and over and over again this year... how many damn times are we going to allow the late trailer to walk in alone down the slot for a goal??

Yup, plows were actually breaking it because the winds had packed it so tight it was almost like concrete

No real comparison, IMHO. Yeah that was a lot of snow, but '77 was catastrophic

I'm willing to bet there was a whole lot of banging going on those nights there, hahaha

The Buffalo News posted a big spread about the Blizzard of '77 as its anniversary is coming up next Saturday, 1/28.... Although it isn't usually talked about in "Epic" Blizzards of the US, it puts those storms to shame both in intensity and duration. While there was not that much new snowfall, only a foot in total, the combination of events that all came together over a period of almost a month and a half makes it an event that will likely not be experienced again in our lifetime, our children's lifetime and more than likely our grandchild's lifetime. A small recap for those who aren't familiar with it: BACKGROUND: The elements of a perfect store: Massive snowfall amounts already on the ground---Before December 1976, Buffalo's all-time record for monthly snowfall was 54.2 inches. That record was crushed two months in a row with 60.7 inches in December 1976, followed by 68.7 inches in January. Snow Depth prior to the storm beginning: 33 inches The lengthy cold period---starting December 26th, Buffalo went 45 straight days with continual below frezing temperatures, with the average temperature in December clocking in at 22.0 degrees and January at 13.8, both far below average. An entirely frozen lake---the Eastern end of Lake Erie froze very early that year on December 14th, about a month before normal The absence of the normal thaw-freeze allowed all that snow to remain in loose snow packs instead of turning into the hardened "snow-crete" City of Buffalo snowplows were already feeling the effects prior to the storm with 33 out of the 79 plows in for repairs from battling the near constant snowfall and numerous abandoned cars on the streets they had been dealing with for the previous month+ PRE-STORM EVENTS: Without all the technological advancements we have today like Cell phones, pagers, etc many people went to work expecting just a rough winter day. However by mid-morning Friday January 28th, the meteorological models showed a turn for the worse and they ended up issuing a blizzard warning somewhere between 9 and 11AM, not nearly enough of an advance notice as the brunt of storm hit around 11:30AM with hundreds of thousands of people at work still. THE STORM: Beginning at 11:30AM Friday morning, Buffalo's visibility remained at 0 for an almost incomprehensible 13 straight hours. By mid-afternoon Friday winds reached 46 mph with gusts to 69 mph Temperatures dropped from a high of 26 at around Noon to 0 in four hours Windchills overnight reached -36.2 at the airport and stayed below 0 for more than 48 straight hours(windchills across the area reached -60 degrees in places) snow drifts of 15 feet in teh City of Buffalo by Friday night 29 people died in the storm, and likely many more from activities related to clearing the snow The storm passes early Saturday morning but then reverses course and hits the area again with Blizzard conditions by Mid-Afternoon Saturday wind gusts of over 50 mph occurred each day until February 1st when the storm officially ended POST STORM: Some places remained closed for up to 2 weeks, not reopening until February 14th Over 900 National Guard troops were dispatched to the area to help with snow removal amounting to 39,000 man hours or 20 "man-years" 353 US Army Corp of Engineer personnel deployed to the area 216 contractors hired by the US Army Corp of Engineers to clear 3,186 miles worth of road in 9 counties 3,500 estimated vehicales abandoned during the storm Over 1,000 pieces of snow equipment were mobilized for use to help with cleanup 3 Reindeer excaped from the Buffalo Zoo 25 foot snow drifts were common with numerous places reaching 35-40 feet, completely burying two story houses and allowing little kids to walk in the middle of intersections and touch the traffic lights For anyone in the Western New York area who was involved in this, and even some like myself who were too young to remember it but have seen and read a lot about it, this is the storm against which every other storm in this area is measured. The number of factors that all came together over a 45 day period to create this monster of a storm likely will not be experienced again for a long, long time. Some say its a once in 200 year storm, others a once in 500 year storm and a few saying a once in 1,000 year storm. Whatever the case, it truly was a massive storm that nobody who lived through it will ever forget. Here are some links to info on it: Wikipedia: This has some very detailed information that isn't found in other places with a lot of backstory, day-to-day information during the storm and its aftermath Wikipedia--Blizzard of '77 Buffalo News Section from today's paper: Buffalo News---Blizzard of '77 Anniversary Section Pics from the Blizzard of 77: Pics So for those who lived through it---Where were you when the Blizard of '77 hit and what happened during those 5 days?

Wow...what a game....one of the best games I've watched this team play in a long time...lots of action, both teams with chances...great goaltending on both ends....I could get used to this....

God help us if we go to a shootout with Lehner in net