DarthEbriate

Krebs from Cozens. And that’s twice with immediate response goals. The Sabres need an “after scoring” line that just goes out and shuts everything down for 50 seconds.

Muel with 4:00 of shorthanded time; he's third after Dahlin and Byram with even strength time.

Sign Houser to another last week of the season deal for a real paycheck. Then, get him into a game to continue his dominance against NHL shooters. Balancing out some of the other non-penalties.

JBD trips and the D collapses.

Tic-tac-tic-TNToe

Several weak clears and passes lead to more Sens shots and possession, and then finally the chance to do an easy lob clear for a line change... and just rifle it down for an icing instead.

Remember when the Sens home statisticians were crediting Cozens with anything in his first two home games with them (17 hits in two games). Not so much anymore.

I’ll say it. They had some possession, but the Sens power play is pretty weak without Tkachuk. Wants to be Hasek.

Lots of Sabres passes going to “space” that a Sen is standing waiting for it, rather than skating into the zone with possession or dumping it and going to get it.

Hey! I got an idea. 30+ shooting percentage as a team every game! Screw defense.

Quinn fights for the puck. Outmuscles! And earns an assist. Nice job, Solo.

So JBD and Stützle don’t like each other?

If he still wants to be here, that is.

Tuch on the frozen-in-carbonite waiting forever rebound tap in.

Maybe if they tell him he wouldn't be leaving college, because he'd be taking over as head coach at Sabres University. Players are mostly the same age....

No triumphant homecoming Norris hat trick in the cards tonight. If the Sens win in regulation they'll get to 86 points and the maximum the Sabres could get to by winning out would be 84 points, mathematically eliminating the Sabres from the #7 seed. For the 8th seed, the Sabres will survive (mathematically) until at least this weekend.

Luck (which in my experience... nevermind) and how you play. If you play like Dahlin (fights in practice, after-whistle scrums, getting run by the opposition to get you off your game because you're essentially the only threat and you're known for retaliating) you are likely to miss some time. Brady Tkachuk has been remarkably durable, but the other Tkachuks get injuries -- they just burn bright when they're on the ice. Meanwhile, if you play like Power (nothing after the whistle, not even a hug; no body checks or reckless out-of-position sliding/diving blocks; and generally avoiding contact; and no one needs to run you because -- why?) you're going to stay healthy. Pominville was an ironman until a freak skate blade caught his Achilles.

Poor Rathbone. Brannstrom and Metsa are too good in the minors and Dahlin was feeling good enough to go after watching the team fall to 0-10 without him. In other news... G Ratzlaff led the #8 seed T-Birds (worst team in the playoffs by points this season) to a 3-2 win over Evil Everett (1st overall in WHL points this year) in game one of the series. 45 saves for the win. Game Two: Ratzlaff makes 44 saves in an OT loss. Same post, different league... G Leenders has the Brantford Bulldogs (#1 seed) up 2-0 after a 33-save effort and a 21-save shutout in the OHL.

Flag that looks like two triangles... Quinn was in Nepal!

Östlund named the AHL Player of the Week. 3 GP 3-3-6. And it wasn't a five-point game, another game, and a dud in between. He's getting points consistently and he's riding a five-game goal-scoring streak overall.

This is a better way to look at it, but the results still aren't all that rosy. A few good closes in bold. 2015-16 P% Before: 92% P% Last 20: 120% This is the Eichel rookie season and it's a dramatic improvement and we'd probably all agree it wasn't in vain at all (at the time). Eichel/Reinhart and the Byslmas system all coming together. Bright future. (120% is still only a 98-point pace -- so typically 3rd in your division and a road playoff series. It's good and relatively great for the Sabres, but not on fire.) 2016-17 P% Before: 100% P% Last 20: 80% 2017-18 P% Before: 76% P% Last 20: 75% 2018-19 P% Before: 106% P% Last 20: 50% 2019-20 P% Before: 104% P% Last 20: 85% 2020-21 P% Before: 56% P% Last 20: 85% This is also great relatively, but note that the entire 18-game losing streak that got HCRK fired is in the first portion. 85% is a 70-point pace and they'd already locked up #1 lottery odds for Power. You could also argue that it's not in vain because Granato is the new coach and he's actually a hockey coach. 2021-22 P% Before: 81% P% Last 20: 125% This was a run. 125% is only 102-point pace, so not hottest-team-in-the-league, but it was a legitimate strong finish. (Nothing like STL this season, which is 16-3-3 since the start of February.) 22-23 P% Before: 101% P% Last 20: 102% 23-24 P% Before: 100% P% Last 20: 101% 24-25 P% Before: 87% P% Last 20: 7-4 off to a great start, but plenty of time remaining This year's 62nd game is the final game of the 6-game losing streak, so games 63-82 should be better when omitting 19 consecutive losses.

This seems to come up in every GDT when they win lately, so I got curious and I'll put it here. I know they did make a couple really heroic charges to 8th-9th place back with Ruff/Regier, but if you make the playoffs those are meaningful wins because they generate playoff revenue. We keep saying "they always finish strong" and win a bunch at the end. This narrative needs to stop. Here are the Sabres' records in their final 20 games of each season for the last 10 years. There hasn't been a single "run" since they tanked. I simplified it to combine all losses, but it's not like there was ever a 10-1-9 record in there. 2023-24 10-10 2022-23 10-10 2021-22 11-9 2020-21 8-12 2019-20 8-12 2018-19 4-16 2017-18 7-13 2016-17 7-13 2015-16 10-10 This '24-25 season could be their first heroic charge -- from last in the East to... 3rd-to-last? They're currently 7-4 with 9 games remaining.

Possibly off the team or out of the league if he's injured. But, if he's still a Sabre, my guess is that when Benson turns 25, he'll have already surpassed Reinhart on Buffalo's all-time scoring list and will be closing in on Eichel.

Quinn RFA? Why go to arbitration or a bridge? 7x$7M after he gets to 18-24-42 for the season (and -18).

Smart lob pass, Krebs onside, then the effort ENG dive. Nice.