Kruppstahl

IMO Skinner took a look, saw his target, and deliberately went 5 hole on the d-man in front of the net to score the game winner. The dude is a total finisher. He has that goal scorer's ability to remain utterly calm and logical in pressurized situations and put the puck in the net. Sign him to a K!

The thing that is kind of scary with him is that he already looks so very composed and solid as an 18 year old, yet you can tell he is nowhere close to his ceiling either. He looks to be everything that was advertised and more. Another Nick Lidstrom with perhaps even more offensive upside? That's Bobby Orr territory! Keeping fingers crossed.

At least Detroit played last night too. 2 of the hottest teams in the league, but these are 2 franchises going in opposite directions. We can't have the streak end against De-troy-it. Just can't!

My expectations are changing dramatically right now as a result of this winning streak. I thought we'd be much improved but miss the playoffs this year. Now, a game beyond the quarter pole, we are sitting on 32 points with only 4 other teams in the entire league in the 30s as well. Yes, that's a result of this crazy win streak, which is not sustainable, but there is a reason we are on the win streak! We are playing solid hockey, showing some resolve, and not panicking when we go down a goal or 2. We have shown we can put enough raw talent on the ice to hang with or beat most teams in the league. My expectations are different now. I want us to keep winning at a better than .500 pace and see us in the playoffs!

This is my reaction as well; it's the only thing I can think of that comes close to NHL and a big national holiday in the USA. Hockey is just way too much of a niche sport in this country to every really lay claim to a holiday.

When we went to the PP in OT, I literally shifted around in my chair, sitting on the edge of my seat. This team hasn't made me do that in > 5 years for sure. And the win streak moves to 8! I love it.

True, but if this whole thing works out according to plan, the workhorses that do the heavy lifting for years to come will be named Eichel, Dahlin, and maybe even Reinhart. The only way you get those guys in this league is if you are picking at the top, or if you trade for such players when they are old and long past their sell by date. If our top picks prove to not be the critical pieces to the pie, you might have a point, but that is highly unlikely.

If you love the Aud and miss it, you'll enjoy checking this out. Pretty cool photographs. Brings back many memories. http://www.roadwolf.ca/node/5

The overwhelming majority of all Sabres games I have been to were in the Aud. Love that building and miss it greatly. The new era of Sabres fans don't know how much better a hockey auditorium can be. There was nothing like the Aud rocking when things were going right for the Sabres, and all those "Sandbag" noise absorption things hanging form the ceiling would be whipping back and forth, being moved purely by sound energy. Remember going to a game in the oranges as a teenager, probably...looked over at the press box "hanging platform" thing they hard back then, and saw a relatively young RJ (by today's standards at least) smoking a butt and nursing a large beer out of a plastic cup, like 15 minutes before game time. The good old days.

Funny you write this. Watching at home on NBC Sports Network, and witnessing the Sabres' onslaught in the first period, I paused for a moment and genuinely thought: "This is probably the best I have seen this team play, at home, in a first period, in many years." There was genuine atmosphere and drama going there for a while, the sort of thing that is normally totally absent from NHL regular season games now. I wish we had kept our foot on the gas pedal a bit more, but I think the team realized the game was over at the first intermission. Onto the Habs on Friday! Would love to see us stomp them as well.

First 7 game winning streak for this team in twelve years! Enjoy this run while it lasts.

I have always liked McCabe and he has been playing great of late. Let's see if he can stay on this level all season.

We are winning a lot of 1 goal games now. That is not sustainable and is going to regress at some point. The key here is we can't go on some epic 5 or 6 game losing streak, effectively negating our win streak to a .500 affair. Need to keep going with at least .500 hockey moving forward.

Anyone notice the pass from Risto to Eichel for the game winner in OT? He was diving, stretched out on the ice when he passed it. Very similar to #16's pass to Bray May on the May Day goal.

That was a rare, very well played, thoroughly enjoyable regular season game on a random Monday night. We started out like crap, as we have been doing for a while now, but just slowly got into a groove and strengthened as the came went along. We controlled stretches of play and steadily caught up to a team that still has a lot of talent on it. I had a weird thought during the game. It just came over me and I was like "this is a good hockey team." I am trying to protect myself from disappointment, but I'm genuinely getting excited about the prospect of playoff hockey. There's nothing better than Sabres games in the playoffs.

If things are still going well at the deadline, it's still way too early to compromise the long view for the short term. If we can make a move or 2 that doesn't compromise our long term position but improves the team this year, great!

Really eerie set of circumstances. I admire Smith's reaction to the whole thing. He took it like a trooper. I've seen guys that are not even injured flail around a lot worse.

Sabres at Pittsburgh. One team has won 5 games in a row and lies in a playoff position. The other team resides in last place in the Eastern Conference. Guess which team is which. HINT: It's not as obvious as it seems!

No offense, but "learning to win" is just a meaningless cliche spoken by sports fans. It's not a real thing. What is different this year is the team is putting in more of a consistent effort, and they have better talent on the ice, particularly in terms of moving the puck out of the D end and generating offense. We have actually now played 2 crappy games in a row, and won both of them! So that is something new. The team reminds me of how we looked around 2005, 2006 and that era. We are now good enough to mail in a garbage game while still keeping it close...and then do what it takes to steal a win in the 3rd period. That's another form of progress. This team was nowhere close to being able to do that in the last few years. We have yet to put in anything close to a solid, 3 period game on this trip. But you can't complain about the results, so far!

Nah. Watch it again. Eichel took the shot! He just did it a bit too late and missed the net. I think he thought, based on the way the D-man wasn't even trying to move the puck, that the horn was about to go. When he realized it hadn't sounded yet, he thought "Oh there's a bit more time, take the shot" and so he did...just as the horn was sounding. Kind of a weird play, I agree, but wasn't about being a "Classy move" or not trying to score...or keeping guys off him next game. That NHL is dead now for the most part anyway. It's a very low key affair these days played without emotion and intensity, most of the time. At least in the regular season. Playoffs are different.

He should be brought along at whatever pace he can naturally handle, and not more. He probably could not have a better HC than Phil Housley, considering he was a phenom Wunderkind puck moving, goal scoring, offense generating defenseman himself. If anyone should be able to keep an eye on Dahlin and manage his ice time/assignments correctly, you would think it would be Housley. Those 2 guys speak a language that very few NHL D-men have ever spoken.

Too early to be talking trade deadline IMO. That's a long way away. We could go through several ups and downs before then and the season could look very different come early February. If we are in a playoff position or on the cusp near the deadline, sure, it would be nice to bring in some help, but not if it compromises the future or growth of the team. If we can make this year's team better while still maintaining an eye to the future, sure, do some buying. We've gone through WAY too much pain around here to sell short now! The building process is not over and we are probably still several key pieces away from the team we all want to see on the ice. Look at Skinner! He's as valuable a guy as we have right now IMO and he has come very late to the party.

I've been trying to figure this out for the last several weeks now. We had that horrible start to the season and it looked like the same old team. Since then, we have shown that this is NOT the same old team. "Culture" IMO doesn't exist. It's just stuff sports fans talk about. So what's different? Better talent on the ice and if you had to point out 1 thing, a consistent first pass coming out of our own Defensive Zone to generate offense going the other way. That, and all the key players are a year older and stronger. Even "superstars" like Eichel or Dahlin are really just babies not ready to play in the NHL when they start out. The sooner the whole lot of them hit 24 years old (?) the better they will all be. Even Risto is now a much more developed player in terms of physicality and confidence. He's not a young kid anymore in the way he plays. Before the season started, I thought we would see a big jump this year but NO PLAYOFFS....now it seems like the playoffs could be a possibility! I am hoping we will get to experience that "game day buzz" for our first playoff game in many years come April. I've forgotten how great that is!

I thought he looked as good last night against the Habs as I have ever seen him. He was very physical and played with intensity for the entire game, on top of all the elite skill stuff he was doing. He needs to be on that level every night, b/c for him, it's possible. That's the aspect of Crosby's game that has been the most impressive; he doesn't take nights off and he brings his best all the freaking time, for years. PS: off-topic, but Skinner is the best acquisition this team has made in a long time.

Had to come here and make a comment! Last night's game was unusually entertaining. Our 5th goal and that face-off play kind of froze me for a second. I couldn't believe what I was watching. It was so well executed on both ends it just sort of made my jaw drop. The team entertained with a raw display of skill/talent that I'm not sure we have seen in 6 or 7 or 8 years around here. Jack also played up to his level with tremendous confidence. At one point he carried the puck over the blue line, a Hab stepped up to drill him, and Jack just knocked the guy over but then the play was called on an off-side I believe. If we can get Jack to play to his limit of ability ALL THE TIME he is going to be a force to be reckoned with. I also think we have a shot at making the playoffs this year, and I did not think that during the pre-season. I don't want to disappoint myself, but I would be so excited for a playoff series, you have no idea. It's been so freaking long!