Pimlach

Where is he? Did he quit?

I remember when you called it.

Good point, and he did his homework and made a smart pick, and he seemed to know he had at the time. The luck part comes in by considering how few 18 year old's come right into the NHL, in addition to the fact that Benson slid to him and was graded much higher by several draft pundits.

Translates to: he met him a few times and liked him. I do think Michael can be a good coach in the NHL someday. Working for Peter Laviolette was a very good move for him.

Are they really worried? He has 1 year of experience as an assistant coach in the NHL. Two years as an assistant coach in the AHL. One year as a developmental coach for Washington. Prior to that, two years as a the Junior Sabres HC in the OJHL, followed by some GM/FO work. Seems more like they would be happy for him. If this is true then maybe Buffalo will be looking at him? It would be just like them to take Peca over Berube or Gallant. It fits the pattern.

Probably so, but not from me. I said Adams was not serious about winning in the off season and I am sticking to that. His inability to bring in goaltending and to improve the bottom 6 forwards has hurt this team. Adams is dam lucky. No one had any idea that Benson would beat out Savioe, Kulich, and Rosen, and be this good at 18.

Merry Christmas Sabre Spacers

But I wished you a Merry Christmas. And rest assured, I won’t ruin my top shelf Scotch or Bourbon with eggnog.

To me it was late, and it was high. You have watched enough hockey to know this was a big guy taking run at a rookie to intimidate him. That is exactly what this was. The purpose of a hockey check is to separate a player from the puck in effort to gain possession of it for your team- Johnson had already sent the puck up the boards. The hit did not in any way meet the stated purpose of a check by NHL rule because it came after the puck was sent up the boards. So it was a late, since Johnson clearly does not have the puck when the hit occurred, leading to another judgement call - how late is late? I was also high, another judgement call - how high is high? Looking at it at full speed, which the ref has to do - it was possibly late, possibly high, and was also very close to boarding and charging and roughing - all of it let go. All five possible outcomes that would give Buffalo a PP were let go. So the ref chose to not call it. I was OK with that, but not with any of the rest that followed. A referee CANNOT call Buffalo for the extra 2 and an extra 10 and a game, and then explain it as they were bothering him by mouthing off in the period prior. That is worse than a make up call, it was an "I'll show you" call? That is a problem that I am not fine with. He basically stated he had a bias. If you cannot understand this then maybe you just want to rail on the Sabres? Of course this has nothing to do with losing culture, the guy who "instigated" the fight is not a long time Sabre. He is a long time NHL vet, with no track record of instigating fights, that plays the game the way most other teams play it. I am watching a lot of hockey games and the officiating is wildly inconsistent. It was a problem in NY that night for sure. We didn't get a PP until the final 3 minutes and then it was negated quickly by a call on Buffalo. We outplayed them for long stretches and the Rangers never once held, hooked, tripped, or cross checked - that is amazing for them. I will close by saying that EJ's response is exactly what this team needs to keep doing. EJ knows how its done because he comes from a winning culture. I never want to see a Lucic-Miller incident get let go again. Oh, Merry Christmas too.

You’re talking about fighting. I’m talking about the missed call on the boarding, the abusive call on the Sabres for the extra 2 minutes, the ridiculous extra misconduct calls resulting in 37 minutes plus a game on the Sabres - all because the ref missed a dangerous and late hit on a vulnerable player. They now say they were upset because we were running our mouths in the first period. All this after the NHL said they were cracking down on boarding (missed Kane hit) when they gave Eric Robinson a game misconduct. Only to see the officiating miss yet another call a week later when a player got hurt on a boarding. After all that, you sarcastically asked me if they should beat up the refs. I gave you several options to address bad officiating. I will explain this once more. The missed call on the Ryan Johnson hit led to the fight. Fighting is all but eliminated in the NHL, but you still see it, mostly when a team feels the officials did not do their job. Then the team will respond. I support that. The alternative is Lucic-Miller. I won’t support or respect a team that does not support themselves.

How about the proper use of replays for starters? How about NOT penalizing a team for a challenge? How about calling penalties in a consistent manner (I already mentioned the boarding examples). Grade the referees and disciplinary action, including fines. They are a joke. Worst in all the major sports.

It also obvious that teams that are known to be physical get away with bad hits more than teams that are not. When a team retaliates they usually get the more severe penalty. The irony is retaliatory action often come from the ref not making a call. The officiating in the NHL closely resembles that of professional (fake) wrestling.

Don’t accept it then. Not sure what that does but if it makes you feel good then don’t watch it. I don’t accept inconsistent officiating which is quite often the cause for fighting. I also don’t accept biased officiating, which sounds like what happened in the Rangers game.

After just 1 game you are saying what many are thinking. Lets see what unfolds in the next few games. They played a decent game versus the NYR.

Yup. The ref didn’t call anything. And we know the refs were flawless last night.

The league does not allow clean hits to be avenged, but they just don’t call boarding consistently and they give out game misconducts inconsistently. See the Evander Kane hit and the Eric Robinson hit. There are other examples too. RJ was boarded, the puck was gone, the hit was unnecessary - so clean or not clean does not matter, the hit did not help the Rangers get puck possession, which is the stated purpose of a body check. He could have called 2 for boarding and then EJ would have taken the power play, there would have been no fight. He called nothing which usually leads to the fight, which caused the Sabres being over penalized. This fight is on the ref. The game was poorly officiated. The league should crack down on that instead. They let things go, then they get upset when the team that feels wronged responds Hockey is a violent game. Fighting is still a part of it, although now a small part of it. At least it is for the successful teams that win cups. Lots of people don’t want to accept it, they should probably watch golf instead.

The response was correct. The Sabres have been known as a team of pussies since the Lucic-Miller hit. You don’t let the ref police for your team. They won’t do it. Every team in the league would object to that hit. Johnson was in a vulnerable position. The hit was late and unnecessary since the puck was gone, Johnson was far enough from the boards for this to be boarding, the one leg in the air had dangerous look in real time. The ref was there and did nothing. EJ responded and took on a big guy. Thats the way I want this team playing. The way winning teams do. This hit was worse than the one Eric Robinson made when he tried to stop and boarded a player with the puck. For that he got a five, a ten, and a game. There is no consistency in the NHL.

Yes, a Vezina quality goalie was the difference. UPL was pretty good until the big mistake. I think the hole that the Sabres have dug is a large one. Until the first line decides to be our best line the W/L roller coaster will continue.

The W was much harder than expected. Chargers played with pride despite all their internal upheaval. The Bills won on the road despite losing the turnovers 3-0. A rarity to win under those circumstances. I hate the way this team plans travel. The got to LA yesterday. Played sleepy today. Sure it was a short week but this was shades of London. They need a full day just to acclimated.

I had the game on my iPad at the sports bar but it was challenging watching it and the Bills in that environment, beer, wings, people, etc. Bills got the DUB, Sabres fell short. Rangers had more power plays and better goaltending, that is what I got from a limited perspective I was expecting more, didn’t see any advantage in playing them on a B2B. The team needs more from the first line. They have to start carrying a bigger load. The EJ fight and all the misconducts was bizarre to watch with no sound. I liked that he jumped in That has to be the culture. don’t let he refs police, because they won’t.

The problem is defining a clean hit. Your rookie gets pummeled and you respond. That is how it’s been done forever PA.

That is how it should be. Like on every other team, you replace 30+ wingers eventually.

I’m watching with one eye at a Bills Backer bar. Why did EJ and Skinner get tossed?

Good Evening Teammates, Punch checking in. Im at a sports bar watching the Bills with the Boys. The girls are finishing up cookies and cackling away. Had to get away. I have the Sabres on my iPad. Let’s see if they can get 2 in a row. They need to work and tire this team out. Muscle Weight