jsb

I think our Mojo just got all messed up these past 2 games when WE scored the first goal of each one. They were so excited they didn't realize the game was still going on until it was 3-1. Larrson actually was one of our highlights yesterday if that tells you anything about how bad we were. I still have hopes for this kid though. The season is basically 1/3 of the way thru and Eichel and Reinhart are on pace to score 20-30 goals each depending if they trend up or down and a total of approximately 50. I would have taken that at the beginning of the season. I'm sure this is a fast paced roller-coaster ride for both of them. Add in Risto's age, McCabe and Pysyk first year and what did you really expect this year to look like?? Somedays they look like all-stars, somedays they look like 19-20 year old rookies. Breathe Deep you Gathering Gloomers.

Pretty much agree with what you said except the bolded. To me this has re-started when Blysma was hired. 4 Part project, 1) finalize the tank 2) start the rebuild and re-evaluate talent 3) Make changes needed (draft-trade-free agency) 4) Final tinkering to win big. I've been following this team since my senior year in high school in 1970 so I'm ok with being patient but I want a Cup before I go for good. Reinhart, Eichel, Risto are the keys, major players ROR-Kane-Bogosian are needed to win big. Hopefully Pysyk and McCabe can become a good 4-5-6 defender, So that leaves 2 Dmen needed, a 1 and a 2 to pair with Risto and Bogosian. Hopefully Ennis will straighten out and Girgenson can also start to show up. That leaves a type A winger to team with Eichel and an overhaul of the 4th line and hopefully McGinn can team with Girgs and Ennis to give them a competent 3rd line moving forward. That adds up to at least 1 major winger and 2 Dmen plus a GTender to get to compete for cupville. Get-er-done GMTM.

Dude you've had a 1000 posts since the start of the season, how do you remember that 1??? :P

In our last 11 games, 10 of them have been played against teams that would be in the playoffs if played today. We are 4-4-3 in those games. 6 at home, 5 on the road. I would say we have come a long way since the tank years. Reinhart as good as he was today should have had a hat trick. Who would have thought that Eichel would most likely be a 2nd liner especially with the play of Kane-ROR-Reinhart line. I'm wondering when Ennis comes back, does McGinn stay on Jack's line and Gionta move down to the Moulson-Girgs line??? 1st period blues continues but we dominated the 2nd and 3rd.

Not sure if it's a phrase but makes a great porn video!!! :w00t:

+1

As further proof of his improvement, he started the year at 9-10 minutes of TOI, by the end of October he averaged about 13 minutes, it kicked up to around 15 minutes in November but the last 3 games he's coming in at just under 19 minutes. I don't think it's a coincidence that Bylsma is much more confident with Samson also. A little extra PP time and he'll be in the 20's sooner than later. His scoring isn't outstanding but he's on track for 20 goals this season and I think the more he plays on that #1 line his assists will pick up also. Not a bad rookie campaign if he can keep it going.

Personally I think he's the most improved player on the team. I was in favor of sending him down when he was getting less than 10 minutes of ice time. Not anymore, he not only belongs in the NHL, he belongs in the top 6 and teamed with ROR and Kane, I hope he stays on the #1 line. He had another good game yesterday and oh what a back-breaker it would have been if he had been able to finish on that 2v1 rush with ROR in the 3rd yesterday. That play had me jumping off the couch, unfortunately he was just wide with the tip. I think playing the 3rd wheel with ROR and Kane will only further up his confidence level. I think he now KNOWS he belongs on the big club as opposed to hoping.

LOL, I was thinking the same thing. I haven't seen anything like that since my stint in the 60's with Dr. Leary.

A very nice list of D men but I think the way the modern game is leaning Risto is the perfect mix of big, smart, very good skater, dangerous and accurate shot plus he is getting better and better at getting the puck out of his own zone quickly. He is also very young for a good Dman with plenty of time to grow mentally and physically. Can play both the PP and PK teams well. Not a #1 guy now but I think he'll grow into it. Housley's a HOF'r, hard not to give him his props no matter what tools got him there. As for the personal vanity digs, let's see what he looks like at 50 in one of those Euro speedos before I knock him for it now.

The one thing I do enjoy about this site is the one liners!!! And to further elaborate, yes Nicky D's totally losing his man on the first goal, Legwand's turnover in his own zone and Gionta's (aren't all 3 of these guys veterans) penalty leading up to the 3rd goal can all be blamed on Risto, I don't dislike Hamilton but there are times he adds nothing to the conversation. I still say if Risto stays on course, he's at least a top 3 D man in Sabres history.

I don't necessarily blame Gionta for that game although that was a terrible time to take a penalty but blaming Kane and Zemgus for that SO loss, I don't even know what to say, I'm flabbergasted. Kane, Risto and ROR just had amazing games last night, and I like the Zemgus-Jack line too. The Kane-ROR-Reinhart line looked amazing. Do not break up this line PLEAAAASE. Flabbergasted #2, blaming Bylsma for anything bad. He has an extremely young team that he's still tinkering with but the teams transformation from last year to this is nothing short of amazing. Franson and Colaiacovo were not at their best yesterday. Detroit's speed of play overwhelmed them at times. I said in a previous post that Risto is our best player, he didn't do anything against Detroit to change my opinion of him. Just does everything well. Bogosian is starting to put his imprint on this years team also. Ullmark was either great or below par. Depending on what minute of the game you were watching. Deslauriers is such a hustle player but he has zero skills. Makes plays others can't with his bust a gut attitude but is a complete zero with the puck. Fun game to watch, it went by too fast except for the last 5-6 minutes of the game which seem to last forever. I also noticed Reinhart played close to 20 minutes yesterday, I wonder if that played into him not getting any OT minutes.

Well at this point of the season, I'd say J.McCabe. He's been on the 2nd D line for quite awhile, has the 3rd most minutes played of the Dmen 5v5, has the 2nd best +/- of the DMen and no-one expected this kid to be on the team. Of the 3 prominently mentioned rookies, he has played the most consistent. Just because his he'll never score like Jack or Samson doesn't mean he's not playing well. Who'll be the best by the end of the year, I'm guessing Jack E will be, Samson a close 2nd because he's more consistent especially now but who's played the most consistent and arguably best so far..... it's Jake the Mc

I think it's still listed as an UBI

Bridge of Spies was surprisingly very good. Seen it yesterday. I'd give it a solid 9 out of 10.

Well on the bright side we're done with 3 of the top 4 teams in the West already and it's still November. Very weird scheduling.

A 6-5-2 November, not bad for such a tough schedule and this early in the year. Only 5 points out of a playoff spot. A pretty big game Tuesday against the Red Wings for an early December game.

It's 73 here in Houston

Agree totally with your takes here, In fact I was thinking about the bolded portion and couldn't agree more. Kane-ROR-Samson line does seem pretty sweet and Samson is just improving exponentially lately. I am really impressed with this kid. This is still a young developing team, the early adversity is either going to make them stronger or blow them up. I think JackE is just trying to figure out when to just take over and when to be a good teammate. His skills though are too obvious to dismiss although his line with Kane and Samson did well yesterday, I wonder if there is just too many expectations on him to make everybody happy.

I agree with you, it gets awfully tiring reading the Eichel can do no wrong and if only Eichel had the puck threads. Drove to Dallas for the game, it was pretty awesome meeting and spending some time with the Big Johnson. Surprised by how many Sabres jerseys in the crowd. Our entire row in fact was Sabre fans. Pretty sweet, we tried to make some noise but we would have been heard pretty loudly on tv if we had been able to score. A few chances but just couldn't finish. Hopefully this doesn't become a year round trend. Eichel, Reinhart and McCabe all had their moments but all made the expected rookie mistakes that the Stars pounced on. The Stars have a very nice squad and Lindy has done a nice job this year coaching them up. A very sound team and productive. Mistakes get punished. Johnson's non-save in the first period was SOFT. Played ok afterward, last 2 goals weren't his fault but it would be nice if he could break that soft goal habit. Pluses, Reinhart is rounding into a very nice player, not explosive like Jack but plays a very sound game and many things he does on the ice gets overlooked I believe by most but not the coaching staff. I hope he stays on the Jack-Kane line. Risto may actually be the best player on the ice for the Sabres. There isn't anything he can't do well and I'll be shocked if he isn't looked at as a top 3 defender EVER for the Sabres. Very impressed with this kid and he's only 21. Missed his best chance Saturday but just to have been in position for it was great. O'Reilly is under appreciated for his skills but his hustle and determination is thru the roof. He didn't have a great game but a relentless worker no doubt. Kane is dangerous on the ice. Not sure why anyone knocks this guy. Eichel made some mistakes but dang is he explosive. Missed 2 chances from Kane but the blow by in the 3rd period past 2 Star defenders was a WOW moment, Star fans turned around and looked at us Sabre fans with a Holy S### did you see that play look. Sweet. This kid will be awesome to watch thru the years. I believe Ennis will be ok but he just looks confused right now. He doesn't appear to know where his linemates will be at times. I really think he's just going thru one of those nightmarish stretches where everything he appears to do is wrong. Moulson is bigger than I thought he was but he doesn't play big. Larsson is becoming quite the forechecker. I like his determination. Girgenson should be a big help to him when he gets back. Desalottabruises got his butt handed to him. He needs to fight smaller players. First live NHL game I've seen in awhile, so although the outcome wasn't the best, just being at the game was awesome. I may make this a yearly trip.

Should be 2 periods completed before the Bills game starts. That should be enough time to decide which game to continue watching. After the Dallas game, I'm hoping for a better outcome. It will be nice to be done with the Stars and Blues for the season after today though. GO Sabres.

I was looking forward to seeing him at the game but if I have to worry about him getting lovey-dovey, well that's just not going to work with me :blink: On a more serious note, I haven't heard a discouraging word about the Sabres from any outside source. Everyone's in love with Jack's upside and raving about O'Reilly's play. In fact what in the world was Colorado thinking when they ditched this guy??? What a work horse he's turned out to be.

You didn't get the FREE ticket package that was offered??? I'm with you on this one, that 3v3 last night was great. If you told me in October that we'd be playing .500 hockey and would go into St.Louie and outplay the Blues but end up with an SO loss, I'd probably wonder what bipolar medicine your weren't taking that day. After the last 2 years, this has been great watching NHL hockey again from this team.

Sir Right

Thursday or Saturday will be fine by me. That would leave us with a full squad minus Lehner for the first time all season. Those Saturday tickets are looking better and better.