DarthEbriate

Take Hellebuyck off Winnipeg and they are not near the playoffs. Put him on the Sabres and they are ... 20 points better in the standings. Near playoff contention.

Rebellions Stanley Cups Fan bases are built on hope.

Nice win against the top team in the east. We can take Utica. Just gotta get to the playoffs first.

Keep on stacking up the points. Playing like this game-in and game-out bodes well for the future.

Dang. Wasted the PP. Now to an un-game-like decision on the SO. Hope we get the extra point, but at this point it's gravy to score against Hellebuyck

Best outcome: Sabres win in OT. WPG gets the point on Vegas, too

Too much looking for the pretty pass instead of just shooting for a rebound this period.

Was Asplund just tackled with no call or did I miss something?

That's got to be 2 min for goalie interference, right?

These blast points... too accurate for Tusken Raiders... only shorthanded Zhitniks are so precise.

Krebs will learn patience. The pass doesn't have to be immediate.

Nifty Skinner. ....that's an OK penalty to take to prevent the deflection. Now kill it.

Mitts with the name change there. 😇

Hop on the train. The slowest shot you'll see there.

They look like they found out they're missing their top scorer and d-man this morning and just tried to play it cautious. Of course, don't sell the Sabres short. They've recently beaten or taken it to OT against such playoff squads as: VGK, TOR, CGY, PIT, WSH, and NYR.

If you're going to take a Muel out of the lineup, I'm glad you're putting a Pysser in. That sounds dirtier than it is.

Much better first period. We don't have to spot teams 2 or 4 goals. We can take it to them (missing their top scorer and D, but whatever) early.

I was about to say I didn't want to jinx us so I wasn't going to say anything.... which of our lines isn't going to score tonight? Thankfully, the Latvian Locomotive got the scoring on track.

Wooooohoooo! Zemgus with the repeat shot!

Nice end-to-end play by Okposo. Pins and spins in their own zone, lugs it up ice for the line change, and then nearly scores the perfect good/bad bounce goal as follow-up to Thompson's goal last game.

That's fair. Let's hope the uncompromising big brother to the shotgun makes its return soon as well.

Next season is good, but I do want to see this early April stretch and if Buffalo can keep playing well. These are motivated teams, Buffalo or not: 1 vs NSH -- looking to stay in the #3 seed and out of any potential opening round matchup w/ COL. 2 vs FLA -- the last time they played, FLA spanked the Sabres 6-1. Backup goalies or not, how do the rematches look against the best in the division? 2 vs CAR -- the best in the Metro division, looking to essentially lock up the #1 seed during the home-and-home with the Sabres. 1 vs TB -- in a 3-way fight with TOR/BOS to avoid the #4 seed and going to FLA in the 1st round. 1 vs TOR -- ditto, TB. With the added incentive of being bashed by the Sabres 10-3 in the last two meetings. How do the Leafs respond?

Things I'm looking forward to seeing: How does the D play without Muel? He's had his ups and downs, but overall he's been a menace to opposing rushes and has blocked shots well. With Hagg gone and Miller out, the Sabres will have a lighter d-corps tonight. The continued resurgence of healthy VO. The shot is back. And the playmaking (that pass to Tuch for the GTG? *chef's kiss*), too. Looking forward to a strong game from Asplund-Mitts-VO or whichever line combo HCMeatballs goes with. Get the PK re-settled. They were great vs. VGK, TOR, and EDM (9/10 kills) and have been poor since (5/10 kills). The good thing is power play opportunities allowed are few and far between, so it's not costing them too badly -- they've won both games where the opposition went 2/2 on the PP. However, there's an ugly stretch of beastly PPs coming up and I'd like to see the kill get going (even without Muel on the ice).

Win a bunch of games. (and hope that the escrow is paid and the TV revenue balloons the cap right after Dahlin is locked up long-term on a good deal so that when Power gets his 8x10 it's also seen as a bargain in terms of cap%)

Other: health. All the others are contributing factors and not to be diminished, but health is the key. We saw a competitive team early in the season -- and that was with losing Mitts and Joker on opening night. But then Anderson got hurt, and Olofsson, and then Toker went out with COVID. And then a seemingly endless string of others went out for awhile, too. Hinostroka and Girgs. Tuch was acquired pre-injured to fit right in. Tuch was a jolt in the arm. Once Anderson and Toker were both back in the fold, we started to see some poise return, but not the wins. VO's shot started to return, then Mitts and Hino and now Girgs and we're very nearly a full roster again. And lo and behold, competitive like early on in the season.