pastajoe

The Sabres are worse when Risto is on the ice in large part because he’s always playing against the other team’s top line. Who would replace his over 20 minutes a game and playing against top lines if he left?

Pens lost their top D pairing of both Letang and Dumoulin to injury tonight. They could be in the market for some D help. Wouldn’t surprise me if Botts helped out his old team with one of our D for a draft pick.

I’d like to see Nelson get back into the rotation. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the bottom D get traded for a pick.

Floyd Smith took the Sabres to the Cup finals. But that was 1975. Rick Dudley had a winning record in his 3 seasons but couldn’t get them past the first round. Lindy Ruff also got them to the finals.

I look at it as a couple of the Amerks could make the Sabres next season, and a couple of Cincy players could make the Amerks next season. So they’re backfilling with players who have been on successful minor league teams to keep up the level of competition and the experience of winning. That’s what JBotts said he wanted to duplicate from his Penguins experience.

If it’s any consolation for the Sabres woes, the Amerks got 4 of 6 points this weekend and still lead the division, though Syracuse and Utica are right on their tail. And in the ECHL, Cincinnati has the most points in the league, and have scored the most goals while giving up the least goals against. I’d expect one or both goalies, Johansson and Houser, to be in Rochester next season. Wedgewood and Wilcox are not NHL prospects and are just placeholders.

With Nelson back up, I’d be OK with Pilot going back to the Amerks. Let him get top D minutes, he still needs to work on his D zone coverage.

They offered Carrier so Vegas wouldn’t take Ullmark. The only one of those I wanted to keep was DLo. But their issue isn’t forechecking, it’s playing soft in the D zone, especially in front of the net, and that’s on the D men.

If Housley sits McCabe but plays Scandella, he should be fired before Doug Allen points to the veteran.

He’s seen that Housley likes how Scandella plays, so Nelson figures it will get him called up.

Depressing

On the plus side, ECHL Cincinnati won a SO tonight and has the most points in the Western Conference, one off the league lead. They also have the least goals against in the league with Johansson and Houser in goal. I would expect one of them to be in Rochester next season.

If when I finally got a chance to play I had to partner with Scandella, I’d request a trade too.

Like the colors, hate the design. Just go back to the early 80s version.

Finns scored with 1:26 left to win 3-2. Ukko wins gold.

The ROR trade was more about moving salary and a defeatist attitude, and to allow Eichel to take the lead of the team. The Blues has less wins and goals than the Sabres, so it hasn’t worked out for them. Tage will get better, and remember the 1st round pick we got which could be moved for an immediate asset by next year. Who knew Bergland would bail.

The Sabres have a 1st line and 3 4th lines.

It would be poetic justice if Lehner plays and the game goes to a shootout.

Housley will sit him unless someone gets injured in warmup.

When the season started most of us would have been happy with an average team that was in the playoff hunt. We got a bit spoiled by the streak. Clearly Botts still has work to do through trades or call ups to get some scoring depth.

Was in town to visit family, so my son and I went to the game for the first time in a few years. Sat in the very last row at the top. The sight lines were fine, but at 6’3” the legroom is terrible. Fortunately being in the last row I could stand for times during play. I don’t know how, but they need to address it with the next renovation. I couldn’t justify paying $8 for a slice of pizza. And the tv timeouts every 5 minutes of game time really kills the momentum, even in this game that didn't have alot of flow. But seeing a win was fun.

Offer St Louis Bergland, Nylander, and their own 1st back for Tarasenko, who’s reportedly available.

Tennyson is brutal. BRUTAL! Dress Housley or Steve Smith over him. And Redmond is not a viable option, he was too slow last year when he was up. Bring up Guhle if need be, at least he has speed. Why is Thompson getting so much OT ice while Skinner sits? And then Pommenville who’s doing nothing for the shootout over Reinhart?

Penalty I’ve never heard of. St Louis in OT, D loses stick. F hands D his stick. After a bit the F grabs the stick on the ice. It’s not broken. They get a penalty for illegal equipment. WTF? So Ryan O’Reilly out on PK, gets breakaway and scores shorthanded winner anyways.

I don’t get the desire by some to call up Nylander. He is still not playing to expectations in the AHL. If anyone, they should call up Olofsson who is playing above expectations, and has a wicked shot that they could use on the power play.