Pimlach

They treat the puck like a hot potato. No puck pressure and no puck possession. Lots of icing and lost faceoffs.

And they can get the ELC asap in Buffalo, then move on to bigger money.

less bad? He had a goal, was +1, got the 3rd star. I do not see the need. "Award" the goal and move on.

How we match up when teams play a shorter bench is a factor but a three goal lead at home should be 99% defendable. With a 3 goal lead the Sabres played in a 20 minute defensive shell (more like a stupor) that most teams wont do until the last 5 minutes. They had no puck possession, no SOGs, very few shot attempts. It is a terrible strategy for a team that plays bad defense to begin with. Lindy - Other than calling a much needed timeout and telling them not to panic they played the exact same way after the timeout than before. This time they got the break when needed. The TNT crew had a hard time getting excited that they "held on". More was said about the Canes being off last night.

Yes, it all assumes everyone else plays at their current pace accept for the Sabres. When too many teams creep ahead in the standings it gets harder than just getting on a winning streak. Since we have not won 4 in arow yet this season the dream of 10, or even 6, is unrealistic.

Dahlin's minutes were lagging a bit until the 3rd. 21 minutes for him is a light day. Thompson is playing hurt again. His speed and ability to accelerate is hampered. Cozens reduction in minutes is a good thing. He is playing better lately with less minutes. Glad to see Mcleod get more minutes and and playing with better wingers.

You have to win 10 and a row AND then maintain at least .550 after that. The second part is far from a given.

That was a very bad 3rd period. Flips out of the zone? I hope you don't think that was good? They were giving the puck away and on their heels the entire time. More like swatting at the puck desperately. I have never seen a worse team at protecting a lead. EVER. Which is reflected in their record. The strategy looks like no offensive zone pressure, just fall back and wait. They stop possessing the puck, they stop sending even one forward deep into the O zone, which makes it very easy for the opponent to set up and pull their goalie. They lose puck battles in their zone all the time. They fall back and form a tight box around the goalie, often screening him, and never pressure the puck to force a turnover. Basically they let the opponent set up a shooting gallery and they hope to block a shot and score on a long EN shot attempt. When they do give up a goal they mentally fall apart. On rare occasions when they do get the puck out they fail to carry it into the neutral zone, or make a good break out pass to even threaten a decent attempt at the EN. Puck possession is sacrificed when they play this way. They play hot potato with the puck and flip it out without thought (Samuelsson did it again last night), which leads to icing calls, tired players, more lost D-zone faceoffs, more passive play and more goals against. If not for UPL they would have lost. Zero shots in the third period is not a strategy. That game was very close to going to OT.

I think this may be the way they are taught? Same with the most of the other Alamo breakdown losses. They ask UPL to work under intense pressure for 20, 30, and up to 40 minutes - as if the team plan is to box around him and swat the puck in vain to clear their blue line. It is a terrible way to play with no puck possession. They rarely send one forechecker in deep with another one at the oponent blue line - nothing. Then the passed when they have shot opportunities on Tokarski. All the icing hurts them too as they are poor at defensive zone face-offs, and even when the win them they refuse to possess the puck. This style of play must be planned?

I thought TNT was clear before the final faceoff that McLeod would have had a penalty shot, with no goalie since he was pulled, so he was awarded the goal. The used the term awarded. Looked at the stats and saw they had credited the Sabres with 1 shot. I figured that was a default shot to cover the goal, since Thompson hit the post. I check now and they have zero shots and a goal. Never seen that in 60 years of watching. That was a bizarre ending. Happy we finally come out on top.

So we scored a goal without a real shot on goal.

Same script as Avs so far this period. Someone has to get possession and they make a play for the EN.

10:31 mark. We still have no shots this period. We need to possess the puck. Carry it out and control it through the neutral zone. Instead they just push it out over the blue line and back up. Is this how they are told to play? Passive?

We need possession and instead we are throwing the puck away. They are mesmerized again.

Icing at 18:20. We are in Alamo I fear.

I think we win 4-1

TNT didn’t give the Sabres any respect. They weren’t wrong, for the most part they were spot on discussing our problems. Biz showing no mercy with his “pucker up” comments. It would be nice to prove them wrong.

No sign of turtle yet. They had a lull but they pulled through it. So far.

Dunno. He is up to 13:39 after 2.

Nice break on that. Tokarski missed the knuckle puck.

Dahlin is playing a less than normal minutes so far. 26 minutes left, he has played under 11.

Quinn good effort on that.

Good game so far.

Interesting and refreshing analysis in between period. Better 2nd and 3rd periods have to come from the players. Coaches can talk and point and yell, the players have to execute.

Aren’t they an excellent puck possession team? You don’t hit when you have the puck. I don’t think the Canes lack a physical game but I don’t watch them much. Their coach sure liked to hit.