DarthEbriate

Ellis is crafty. Also, with the current lineup I wouldn't think much on it.

Subban, Subban, Subban...

Good save on Tuch there.

Thompson sliding in at the end... but he's trying to pull up and gets knocked over. You're 6'7" 220#. Go clear the front of the net. Take out the Isle and Butcher if you need to.

Dahlin-Joker always seem to play well as a tandem for a few games and then fade for more than a few games. We look like we're into the fade.

And the answer is no.

Do we have a fight off the face off?

Krebs is going to be good when he gets his NHL-level strength in place.

Joker is fighting the puck this period.

My favorite RJ call. Though I'm not sure RJ would have even gotten the chance to say it -- it never even got near the line.

Joker weakly cleared it... right into Okposo's stick 3 feet away. And deflected right to the Isles for the shot and goal. Yuck. Now for a response. Need to see something.

Nope. That was all Bjork. Terrible penalty to take.

Yup -- gotta see a replay. It certainly looked like he got clipped and taken down. Rather than losing an edge or just running the goalie on his own.

Yup. On the one hand, very pretty. On the other, oof, ugly.

Prow with an AHL-level shift there. But Pysyk calms, clears, and then Tuch/Thompson reestablish.

I'm guessing he gets bought out in the summer of 2023. Then, there's only one gnarly cap hit ($6M) in the final year of the deal 2026-27. But otherwise it's entirely manageable.

Dahlin's got to not give that puck away so easily. Still 11 seconds in the period, that's plenty of time for a counter and Barzal on the ice. Hold it, force it to center ice and then dump it, if you're just going to kill the clock.

Okposo on the rebound. Floating away with the goal with the rest of the garbage.

That Sauvage commercial on ESPN+ has everything. A pile of amps! Cracked desert flats! Wolves! I was thinking... is that what Dave Navarro looks like these days? And then he started playing super basic Wild Thing. Had to look it up. Ha. Johnny Depp. Playing Wild Thing. Selling elixir. This looks like the Isles team I remember from the last few seasons.

It feels like the Sabres are being outshot 15-2 already. But the stats say otherwise.

The Isles look like a rested veteran team. Missing 4 starters for COVID, but they are ready to try and salvage their season. Gotta weather the early storm.

Now that would be a trivia tidbit -- when/who was the last Sabre get a fighting major in back-to-back games? Bonus... on consecutive nights?

Check this side of the state. This door game is locked, move on to the next one.

For subbing in a bunch of AHL players and a new Tuch... it was a fair effort. Really bad first period. The Murray fight woke them up. But just not sharp overall. Better nights there will be.

Prow!