DarthEbriate

I guess we could offer Eichel for the Isles entire 4th line. I think they'd refuse the trade.

Do you think either could get the standard veteran playoff rental trade value of a 2nd? Three 2nds would be nice whenever this next draft occurs to get free of Montour and Miller, and see what Borgen and Bryson can do.

Remember his rookie year, where Dahlin would attempt some silly pass nonsense that isn't going to work on smaller ice against NHL-caliber players and it'd turn into an opposition chance... Except... Dahlin would fly back and break it up out of desperate grit and determination? That Dahlin is gone. He's a step slow and pinched on that goal rather than going after the true threat: Beauvillier.

Meanwhile... Eichel, Hall and Reino on ice. We get the opportunity for a break... Eichel can't find the puck. Then he stops moving forward in order to make the pass, by which time all NYI defenders are rushing back. We get nothing. Then a 3 on 2 possible, and our shot ends up at low percentage and caught in the glove outside the net, not even on goal.

Wow. That was pretty. Risto got pinned at the blue line, and while the Sabres were twiddling their thumbs, 3 Islanders attacked. Such beautiful transition. All too easy. And here I was about to say... just one random carom and we would be tied... and how ridiculous would that be?

If we trade Hall at the deadline... can we still get his #1 overall draft lottery luck? https://www.nhl.com/news/hall-tabs-himself-lottery-ball-specialist-after-devils-win-top-pick/c-289179752

TPeg says 8x10, please. Gotta land the biggest UFA!

Back when we had... like Drury and Stu Barnes, heck even Drew Stafford, it felt like this was hockey 101.

Hey! Look at that. Shoot it off the pad, go to the net... you see one of these goals every few games for a regular (non-us) team.

The really disconcerting thing is that the Isles can turn it on for a 9-minute burst and outplay us in either end, get a couple goals, and then go into an Alamo that won't feel like an Alamo against us. And yet we have Eichel, Hall, Skinner, Olofsson and none of them even pose a threat.

They're so beautifully patient and practiced in their counter rushes. Even if the spacing isn't perfect, the trailer is where he needs to be before the backchecker. It's a counter machine. If HCRK wants to play low-event, then our transition/counter game needs to look like this. And yet we're always offsides, or stepping on each other, or slowing way down for the backcheck to catch up, or unwilling to shoot....

So... you don't score goals on contingency?

Now is our chance! We can have Guhle, Montour, and maybe trade for Brayden Tracey (whom ANH selected at #27). Win-win-win.

I think we're all fearing a prequel era series. But that's why we watch. The anticipation. The escape to another galaxy arena. The awesome single spectacle in the game we otherwise roll our eyes at. The victory so filled with flaws that you cannot explain it except via luck (if you have experience in luck).

An Islanders trilogy! Ahh, but will it begin with a War (aka Hope), or a Menace, or an Awakening?

The fight was a short-term release and reprieve. Fighting is being legislated out of the game; kids are growing up without fighting in the first place, AHLers are not having to fight to make it. These are good things because the talent level of hockey is off the charts at this level and watching a goalie make an amazing save and wondering how in the world... or seeing the tape to tape from 80 feet away while player X is moving 10 mph at this angle and player Y is accelerating to 22 mph... and they snare the wobbling puck out of the air and turn their head up ice... It's a thing of beauty. But all team sports or 1:1 sports (heck, even golf but it's internal) are about human confrontation. What will you do when are pushed? Will you defend yourself or will you capitulate? Will you lose the battle for the puck? Will you stand up for your teammates or are you going to skate back to the bench? Will you continue to knife through the defense and force them to take a penalty on you lest they give up a goal, or will you let the puck roll away to the corner and go for a change? We saw it 2 nights ago at the end of a drubbing -- a Flyers guy docked Dahlin in the head and they confronted each other and Dahlin backed down, gave up, folded, and turned away. And the Rangers had won. Dahlin didn't have to fight, he had to stand up for himself. As long as a team or a player tries to intimidate you and you fold, you've lost. The greatest finesse teams might be able to win a game, but I have yet to see a finesse team win that didn't also intimidate the hell out of the opposition. And often those finesse teams are surprisingly gritty (at least the ones that win). This team has been being pushed around since Miller got ran by Lucic, and financially they were operating out of fear before that. A spark of toughness in standing up for yourself is cathartic, and Cozens provided that tonight. It may not amount to anything, but I'm reminded of that @ Arizona game back in Eichel's rookie year with the brawl to close the game. Eichel, Reino, Bogosian walking back to the dressing room and laughing/smiling. They didn't back down. And that team had hope --- they came back from 3rd period deficits a bunch. It didn't carry over to the next season, regrettably, but it was a team that started to come together down the stretch. This team needs that. This franchise needs that. They need to stand up for themselves. It doesn't have to be a fight, but it has to be the willingness to fight if it comes to it.

Vs. the Isles... I'll take the under if Cozens is scratched for any of the games. Oddly, I'll take the over if Eichel misses any of those games, as I think the team will play harder without him.

Their stretch to make up ground on the teams they were immediately trailing and the teams also in the basement is half-over. Once that first Penguins game hits, the season is mathematically over because the teams to leapfrog have crushed us. Unless we sweep the Pens and Bruins, I suppose. But we needed to gain points on the Flyers, we didn't. We needed to beat the Devils and Rangers, we didn't. Unless we sweep the Islanders, the math won't add up unless we do some Hamburgler 20-2 garbage that this goaltending (sans Ullmark) is incapable of. So... sell it off and plan for next season. It's a shorter season so the pain won't last as long.

^ But next time, do it in the 1st period so it can take effect.

Do. Or do not. But yes -- at least they were engaged all game. Rocky start... but they looked better than their home games, regardless of opponent. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose. At least they didn't look listless and like garbage. Edit: And don't get me wrong. They didn't look *good*. They just weren't the trainwreck they were this last week.

Good job, Okposo!

Now if this team responds to Cozens... that's a turning point. It shouldn't save Krueger (Pegulas, pay attention!) but it could save the players.

Wow... NYR replay... Cozens destroyed him.

Cozens battling, scrapping, turns into a fisticuffs, and he wins it. Ladies and gents, your future captain of the Buffalo Sabres. It's too bad we have to kick an elite goal-scorer to the curb to make it happen. And it's a shame the only player on this team willing to stick up for himself (not yet proven with teammates) is a rookie.

Nothing. There is absolutely no historical precedent for a top line Sabre being lost before July 1st, or in handing out $7M+ signing bonuses on July 1st that must be circumvented.