DarthEbriate

One period remains. Next goal wins, most likely.

Refs are allowing every bit of grabbing, stick holding, slashing, and interference that the Pens can muster. Good. The Sabres need to be able to work through the garbage and score anyway. They've been skating and competing the last few minutes now that they know they're not getting any calls.

Only two commercial breaks. 4 shots allowed on the road and that includes one horrible penalty call. It should be 0-0, but the Sabres can easily overcome this.

Timmins, just get it deep, buddy. You know your forwards were gassed.

Multiple interferences just fine.

The Amerks ruined his dreams, not the Sabres. I wonder if a team can petition league office to show that one ref simply has it out for team X, with the film and statistics to back it up.

The refs owe the Sabres two calls for that garbage.

Matte helmets are not cool.

No. It was on deadline day. 😇 The closest Adams has gotten was sending the conditional 2025 NSH 7th he got in the Asplund trade to Columbus for F Eric Robinson. That was on 12/6/2023. The conditions were not met (45 GP in Buffalo, he only played 40), Buffalo kept the pick and it became: F Melvin Novotny Robinson was... ineffective with the Sabres. But in two seasons with Carolina, Robinson has 98 GP 19-19-39 and a +12 in 12:03 minutes/game. 143 hits. We like Malenstyn for his PK work, and he throws some solid hits. His Robinson replacement numbers in the Sabres lineup: 97 GP 6-8-14 and -20 in 10:44. 261 hits

How many King Richard jokes do you know? III. The answer is III.

I like Garland, but he's Benson-lite. His career high is 52 points (he's on pace for 46 this season). Agreed: I don't like $6M over the next 4 years -- I want that money to go to Benson instead. The other issue with Garland is that when I say Benson-lite I mean lighter-than-Benson. Benson can still fill out and get man-strong. Garland is 29 years old, 5-10, and only 165#.

...maybe that was just age 18-37 Crosby. But now he's 38. Thirty-eight! He's probably got grandkids coming over for Thanksgiving tomorrow and is worried about getting the turkey out of the brine and pre-baking the pies. Tell Kozak that Sid is McDavid and sic him on that line.

Quinn Hughes? Sure, sign me up. But it's impractical unless it's with an extension that won't happen. The only other interesting one is what Baker-Fairburn postulated -- toss them a 2nd round pick (and something? a 5th?) for Sherwood as a rental because he wants way too much money for his age/speed when he gets to UFA this season. But he's hot, healthy, and hitting now. It allows you to add strength/aggression/hard to play against, waive Dunne back to where he really belongs, and Östlund goes down when the centers return.

On IR for the Penguins: Jarry, Rakell, Acciari, Brazeau, and a couple guys named St. Ivany and Hallander. Day-to-day: Rust and Koivunen. 3-4-3 in their last 10 and losers of 5 of their last 6. Knock them down, then kick them all the way down to the McKenna Sweepstakes. Go win this game.

Don't trade for Quinn Hughes unless you're a contender. He's walking to the Devils at the end of next season and the acquisition cost would be pretty ridiculous. But it's nice to dream that Byram+ a couple things would get you Hughes for all of 2026-27 -- as you're 100% likely to lose either of them in July 2027.

Yes. He's their highest-paid forward (and will likely be for at least 2 more seasons if Tuch doesn't get re-signed) and is tied for the longest term with Thompson. And curretntly, he's also near-untradeable unless you have retention. No GM wants to acquire a 2C who only plays in 10% of his games (which his current rate since joining the Sabres). He's a core player, even if by default.

And he missed 18 of 21 last season. He's played in 4 of 43 possible Sabres games and he's finished 2 of 43. If TNT can play center defensively to Ruff's satisfaction, then you keep rolling him there because Norris cannot trusted to play. And if he does play to his potential and remains healthy -- awesome.

Naturally, the one guy with a career FO% over 50 on the roster and he gets back and he's on the wing and probably prohibited from taking draws. 😇 Really good to see him back practicing with the team, though.

Right now, Ottawa holds the final playoff spot at exactly .600 pt% (98-point pace). Some veteran teams are starting to warm up: Boston and Tampa are both 7-3 in their last 10. Outside the playoffs but closing in on the wildcard spots: Florida is 6-3-1, Caps 5-3-2 and stacking wins.

Yup. It's got to get to 3 in a row and then get at least 8 points on the big Western Canada road trip. Next is Carolina. Oddly, they have won 3 in a row vs. Carolina at home. There's a chance they could get a streak going. (Don't let it go to our heads though: they don't have Carolina's number as they've lost 12 in a row in Carolina.)

Ziemer and the Golden Gophers take game 1 hosting McKenna and Pegula State U. Ziemer with a TNT-dot rocket on the PP and would've added an ENG except for the defender just getting a slight deflection on it to send the puck off the crossbar and out of play. Ziemer finished the night with a tackle and misconduct after PSU crashed the net as time expired.

NHL .500! Pour the Champagne of Beers. Sheevyn would've hung the Mission Accomplished banner.

I never knew I had it in me.

The Sabres pull ahead of the Canucks in the leaguewide standings.

Zucker was great until he hurt his shoulder, even before his illness. Great bump to the lineup and good play all around (even the penalty was fine). Hopefully, Benson gives them a similar bump when he gets back. They can play at a higher level. They just need to lose horribly once a week to re-stoke the fire. But winning 2 of 3 for the rest of the season will get them to the playoffs.