Pimlach

Tage busted up the thumb again? Looked bad.

Another shot, another goal. They are doing to us what we did to them last year. Tage had what? 5 goals? Tonight he is -2 and invisible.

Granato finally changes a goalie to turn momentum. The team plays the same lazy way, Columbus scores on the first shot. Translation - they don’t listen to Don anymore. Tage and Tuch aren’t listening, that’s for sure.

Columbus playing a great road game this period. Cut off the neutral zone entries. Forcing Buffalo to play defense, which they can’t do.

The midterm report card is miserable. This is with Adams trying to win.

I like Rayzor for being a real warrior as a player. But in his current job he is an apologist. Trying to promote the smallest things, towing the company line.

The crowd boos again. Seems like almost every home game. You would think they would try harder at home. I just don’t get it. The crowd in Buffalo, they are conditioned to seeing bad play, so they do not cheer unless something good happens. They can’t invest anymore. The energy in that place is zero. Even that little dump in Phoenix had more going on.

Columbus has some young guys that are coming up.

Tage finally gets a shot. He and Tuch are not playing or leading.

Completely outplayed this period.

They score on the first shot and had their goalie scared, a guy who played one game all year. Then they stopped. The have no energy at all.

Matter of time. Quiet game. Fans sleeping. No atmosphere in the morgue tonight.

BJ’s are outplaying us. They keep beating us to the puck. The Sabres should be firing everything at their goalie. Learned nothing from the first shot. Ray, you’re wrong. Some shots were there, they didn’t take them.

Cozens are you nuts. Attack that goalie.

Good start. Dahlin on the first shot.

Good Evening Teammates, Punch checking in. Give me a well played and dominant home game. Time to start winning. Quinn back, Goat Heads, Holiday Cheer. MUSCLE WEIGHT

Regarding Quinn. He has been skating and working it for 4 weeks. They must have a way to look at it and measure progress. It will always be a concern on when to come back.

Cozens cares enough to someday be a Captain. But he is not ready and he does not yet act like one. Proof is losing his cool and picking a fight with a heavyweight (Hathaway), then slamming things on his way to the locker room for repairs. That is caring, but still acting like a young player and not doing anything that was actually effective, the game was over. Next he went a rant after another loss, saying not enough "F" in their game. Two games later the team was playing the same way. The folks on TNT actually laughed at that comment (although they agreed with it). Cozens has potential to be a good Captain. Consistent play, caring, holding others accountable, and setting an example by his own ACTIONS - that is what it takes. He is not there yet, but he might be someday.

Probably right on this. It will interesting to see how many minutes he gets tonight. If he plays strictly with Jost and Olofsson it may be 12 or less.

It depends. Does McDavid's worth involve team success? Is McDavid better than Eichel? Look who has a Cup. Dahlin alone is not going to get you there. My gold standard defenseman is still Bobby Orr. He had a lot of help. So did Robinson, Potvin, Coffey, Lidstrom, etc. Dahlin would be a key piece of the puzzle, but he alone won't give you team success.

If team success played into it all then we would not have had a Captain since Drury/Briere we allowed to leave. Almost half of the NHL would not have Captains either. As for Dahlin, why are you being negative? Or, why are you asking questions you already know the answer too? Do you think they put enough around him so far? Do you think the Sabres have supported the young players that they developed? If you cannot see that he is the best choice then make another recommendation rather than asking cryptic questions.

Jacques Martin is still in the game? I suppose he will be demanding and will try to wake them up, maybe get them to play harder and be more consistent, but interim means interim. This is actually his 3rd time being a mid season interim replacement in the NHL. Granato will survive the year. Unfortunately he just got extended but I really think it is time to move on and bring in a coach with proven NHL success. Looking at Laviolette in NY, he had no trouble installing a system that included offense and defense and special teams in one off-season. We have to get the NHL club out of the developmental mode, that is for Rochester. Granato is a great guy and he did a fine job to the point that he can. He has not been given a full NHL roster either but his system, and his glacial pace of teaching it, is not NHL level. IF you are not improving you are getting worse. We are getting worse again. Teams just know how to stop us and we have no counter.

I believe that @PASabreFan's GIF signifies he is not convinced that adding Quinn does anything substantial at this point. Think contrarian.

All this talk about Columbus being bad. They are, but Buffalo at home scares no one. This is a game they have to come out strong dictate the play. With Levi in net I like our chances. Now, if Tage and Tuch also show up we might be able to do some damage.