DarthEbriate

If you don't make a change at 0-10-3, then you can't make a move at 1-2-4. Definitely not in a "win now" season when everyone is on the final year of their contract.

The GM will use that excuse. The players won't, but they know they don't have a chance unless they're at full strength because of the roster assembled by said GM.

6-3 is the answer.

Empty net. 5-3. 6-3. Or.... 6-4?

Rookies and scrubs aren't going to get calls against a perennial playoff team at home. Thompson and Dahlin could draw something. Doan and Tuch could if they went to the net. Kozak isn't earning a penalty late in the third.

The Sabres baby so many of their passes. Your teammates are incredibly talented hockey players -- rip the pass.

This season they're just as good spelling it as spelling W. TNT!

Tuch caught Kochetkov peeking at Thompson. Gotta make that save. Can they force OT?

I can easily see them getting healthy and playing great (comparatively) down the stretch to get back to 10th overall in the draft, similar to last season. But... this team as constructed and injured, is a bottom 5 roster in the short term. The saving grace? The condensed Olympics schedule means there are 25 games between 2/25 and 4/15. It's basically every other day. If they can somehow... Robinson never did that the for the Sabres. He did for CBJ. And for CAR.

The injuries at forward stink. But take Dahlin off the ice for 24 minutes a game and I'm having definite 2013-2015 full-tank flashbacks tonight. Carolina hasn't even had to step up their game. Neuvirth Lyon is making it respectable.

I know Power has the goal, though I credit that mostly to Östlund's no-hesitation pass. But neither Power or Byram has shown anything in terms of stepping up their game. And as I type it, it's the first time I noticed Byram. Good rush, but no finish. And then... a crossbar.

They do! That's 10. We want eleven.

Can the Sabres get to 10 shots on goal before the end of the 2nd period?

Though, Murray was part of the well-established Murray family and the old boys club of NHL circles.

And we already know Pegula has lost faith in "hockey guys" and the recommendations of the league office from their experiences with Murray, LaFontaine, and Botterill. He wants his sycophants. Or a top-5 QB who makes the team a perennial playoff contender.

He seems a bit too alpha to abide the Darth Pegula "need approval to deal Joker for a 4th" type.

Carolina really likes the drop pass. To their own goalie on the third one. Their PP looks like a mess, too. 4 for 4 Carolina on the drop pass... and they never got established. They needed a rush to get a shot. Enough with the drop pass.

Taylor Hall, Eric Robinson, William Carrier. Kochetkov taken with the pick exchanged for Skinner. Jarvis, who would've been an expected pick in the Quinn spot. Hall misses the open net. Sounds familiar.

Power! Forgot about him, didn't you? Östlund with the quick feed, not the telegraphed pass -- with the full-speed rip to the slot.

Remember, Quinn (RFA) was extended before UFA even began. He was a priority for Adams to bridge two days after the JJP trade.

Ooof. Svechnikov just threw Östlund out of the way to intercept the pass, then rush up ice, then the feed. That's a 1st liner NHLer vs. an AHLer.

Good work by Kesselring. If that's Power, Jarvis likely scores on the rebound that Lyon didn't initially control.

The Concept of Sabrespace.

Nah. It just allows them to start the next phase of their plan. Appert HC. Ruff advisor. Jarmo GM. Sheevyn cackler and resident mouth of Pegula. Same as it ever was.

RB’A will have his team ready. “This is 2 points; don’t embarrass me.” But if the Sabres hunker down, scrap, and get the saves, just as St Louis did to them, they can win one for Rasmus and his fiancée. Then, band together and keep it going one game at a time. As fans we just haven’t seen a team like that in years because they’ve been young and inconsistent and lacked the goaltending needed to steal one when the skaters scuffle. It’s time to go be more than the sum of their parts.