DarthEbriate

If Ruff keeps the top 6 the same for a few weeks, it'll be curious to see how this looks at the 4 Nations break. Whichever line Zucker has been on has been the best line all season, and Tuch and JJP have the chemistry that McLeod can chaos for by driving to the net (as he has these past two games).

So, how long into the third until Tkachuk takes another cheap shot to get his team going?

I saw a fortuitous carom in McLeods!

Two odd-man rushes, two goals. But otherwise I was not impressed. Ottawa carried play. Bad penalties taken, and then worse penalties taken to negate their own power play time. No attempt at a shot 4-on-4 with a minute of possession. No stand-up response to a cheap shot. That was not a Ruff-led team.

Just gonna have to jump him then.

Benson keeps playing like this another year and the refs won’t call him for (as many) garbage because he’s just one of those guys.

Honey Benson doesn’t give a *****.

Zucker on the ice. But don’t let him be the guy to go after Tkachuk.

Quinn snipe. He took that hooking penalty on purpose!

Quinn does have a shot, when the goalie is distracted by McLeod

You know what would change Tkachuk’s behavior? An old-fashioned Bure elbow. You have to be willing to take a 1-game suspension though.

Score a PP goal. Then jump him as he exits the box. L Of course, I don't remember the last time the Sabres scored a PP goal when Zucker wasn’t on the ice.

So, who’s got Tkachuk?

Anthem, win. Ottawa.

FWIW, Sprong cleared waivers and will report to Coachella Valley.

So... lethargic opening 10 minutes with no hitting from the bottom 6. Then, a solid 2nd period. Down 3-2 in the third, but playing fine, and then give up a back-breaking goal off a turnover to fall behind 4-2 with 9 minutes remaining. Then, waiting an additional 5 minutes before showing any sense of urgency outside of Zucker. Zucker gets a rebound to make it 4-3. Pull the goalie with 3 minutes to go and immediately give up the 5-3 empty-netter. Is that how much it means to win a game like tonight?

Monahan put on IR by the Jackets. He's been very good this season -- 1 point per game and a +17 on their top line.

Here we go again...

For the PK time, I'd argue that likely has much to do with roster construction and injuries than the trustworthiness of young defensemen, with the exceptions of Faber, who was a stud top-pair D from his first shift with the Wild and oddly, Sanderson, who leads Ottawa D in PK ATOI -- a surprise to me, but they love his speed for it. I'd think part of that usage is Zub missed 2/3 of the season so far so Sanderson took on many of those minutes, and now Hamonic is out, but it's still impressive for him. On the other end, Clarke doesn't get PK time, but really the only other guy who gets any PK time is Spence (0:54). LAK rolls out Gavrikov (3:27), Anderson (3:09), and Edmundson (2:17). If you aren't those three, HC Hiller doesn't skate you on the PK. Contrast that with the Sabres. Joker is often a healthy scratch, Muel has been on IR and healthy scratched, and Dahlin doesn't do much PK because he plays more than half of all PP time and over 20 minutes 5-on-5 every game. Muel and Clifton are the PK 1st pair, and after that it's Power and Byram because there really isn't anyone else.

Good night. Good work. Sleep well. They'll most likely trade you in the morning.

Never tell me the ... oh, it's the Sabres, what's the point?

Can't give you the world, but there are only 28 defensemen who have played an NHL game this season at age 22 or under. Daemon Hunt, Logan Mailloux, Tristan Luneau, David Jiříček, Helge Grans, Denton Mateychuk, Seamus Casey, Lian Bichsel, Simon Nemec, Kevin Korchinski, Jack Thompson, Victor Mancini, Maveric Lamoureux, Owen Pickering, Emil Andrae, Isaiah George, Jamie Drysdale, Wyatt Kaiser, Pavel Mintyukov, Nolan Allan, Olen Zellweger, Luke Hughes, Simon Edvinsson, Brandt Clarke, Jake Sanderson, Lane Hutson, Owen Power, Brock Faber ---- I've bolded the short list that I would trust to get positioning and attempt to maintain it to give their goalie a chance, tie up a stick, battle or race for a loose puck, and get it out of the zone ahead of Power. Admittedly, many of them I simply haven't seen in action. The big question to ask is this: When they're all 23, age 24, and age 25, how many surpass Power defensively (plus any future incoming d-men)? Or does Power improve sufficiently to stay near the top of the list?

The last two seasons, he scored 21 and 18 goals and did it in 12:00 ATOI with some powerplay time. He'd be motivated to put the puck on net at least. He is a winger though, which doesn't replace Kulich. He is only a transition piece: he's already played for 6 different teams and worn 7 different numbers! But maybe he gets hot and you can trade him for a 4-5th closer to the deadline as that coveted "depth scoring".

It should no longer be the case, but given this season, I'd be reluctant to see the Sabres acquire Donato or any other pending UFA. If Buffalo was in 9th right now and 1 point out --- Donato, Alec Martinez... Chicago has some good options for a team capable of making the playoffs.

That's probably their best line configuration, with Malenstyn over NAK once he's back from (illness? day-to-dayness?). I like Bryson's hustle, but Joker is the better all-around D if he's being feisty.