FrenchConnection44
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Posts posted by FrenchConnection44
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2 hours ago, Huckleberry said:
- We did score 3 goals on them, not many teams will do that
- Our PP being better could have won us the game
- Refs weren't so good, lets some of the canes trips pass.
PP struggled with their aggressive D.
Yes on the officiating. I think a big game changer was the no call on the slash on Cousins’. Terrible miss! That would’ve given us a big advantage, and a great chance to score a goal.
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A comment about the Canes game. They are a really good team. Three things:
1) We had no answer for Aho. The guy is super talented. Has been from the start. Hard to believe he was a 2nd rounder. We should be so lucky.
2) Their forechecking and defensive press coverage on our defenders made a difference. Our defense struggled to get the puck out of the zone at times. Really missing Samuelsson and Jokiharju. Can’t wait til they get back. Depth is not there.
3) Carolina was great at disrupting passes in their zone. Seemed like we had no open passing lanes. They are a sound team. We had no answers.
They are just ahead of us defensively and physically. And have Aho.
Another big test tonight. Love our team but these are barometer games as to where we are right now. Will be interesting to see if we can.
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We have to be the worst rated face off team in the NHL. Or at least near the bottom. Maybe we need a “face-off coach.”
But another deeper issue there is the lack of physical power in our center men. Those guys and several others need to get bigger and stronger. Become more physical players. Cousins is an example. Love Cousins game but if he were 6’3 195-200 with good weight and in great shape, instead of 6’3 183, he’d be a more physical player and should improve several areas including face offs.
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Man! What a game!
I am a broken record but … What’s not to love about this team?Electrifying to watch! (Yes I know there are areas they need to shore up). Still …
So many players contribute to the team. So much raw talent.
Dahlin & Power. What’s not to love? Power is so smooth and huge. So much poise and ease for a 19 year old. Imagine how good this kid will be when he’s 23? That fake slapper. unreal!
Dahlin. Just the best. Been a long time (if ever) since I’ve seen two players with that much potential and talent on the blue line for the Sabres.
And the fight in these guys to come back from 3-1 in the 3rd after a lightning goal against them?
Gotta admit, while at first I was pissed at that goal by the Pens, after watching the replay, that was a thing of beauty. Letang’s pass was incredible. Perfection.
That Girgensons skate down the ice. Glorious watching the replay from the end ice angle. Insane hustle! That’s leadership right there.
And when they get Samuelsson and Jokiharju back?
The one negative is the fan attendance. Buffalo can pack 80k into a stadium. We gotta get more fans to the games. (I know it’s easy to say not living there. But I’d be saving my pennies and going to as many games as possible if I did.
So impressive. I can’t wait to watch every game. I know they will lose some as they hit some stronger teams on the schedule.
This team reminds me of the Sabres in the early-mid 70s in terms of so many young, talented players. Uber offensive talent in the French Connection of course. But lots of other great young players.
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SMH on that goal.
CM has to do better on breakaways. He has the skates to get those.
We don’t have the accuracy in shooting we need. One guy does. The rest don’t.
The Montreal goal is a classic example of what we need in our shooters. We have the skating and handling to create chances. But need That sniper ability. Best shooter we have is Dahlin. Tuch is good at times. But just not the deadly, most every shot, sniper.
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31 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:
One of the top things I want in Buffalo sports is for the Arena to be a lot more filled up for home Sabres games. I, however, rarely go to a game myself so I can't complain that loudly about it.
Same. But I don’t live in Buffalo any more. Live in the south. When I was growing up there in the 60s and 70s, after the Sabres began, I had to know someone to go to a game. Every single game was sold out and standing room only. Going to a game was an enormous win for a fan. I know the culture has changed significantly but still would be nice to see them consistently get 90%. (We had season Tix to the Bills who also sold out or were close to it).
They might actually do better to lower the prices and get closer to a sellout (you know, function like a market) and they would also get more concessions. It would help the team with a loud crowd. Heck, give tix away or sell them at a discount if someone doesn’t show up. Don’t need to sell out but find a way to do better.
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13 minutes ago, Marvin said:
I wish the league would increase the regular season to 84 games. I don't like that we play 2 divisional opponents only 3 times.
They could schedule it better. If they did just home and home for the Western conference (32 games), then same for the other division in one’s own conference - for Sabres, would be Met division (16 games), that leaves 34 games. They could play every team in their division 4 times (28 games) and then either rotate the other 6 games with the 8 teams in the Metro each year, or do an additional home and home with 3 teams in the Met and rotate through the 8 teams over 3 yrs.
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Where are all the fans? Ton of empty seats.
And a ton of red jerseys.
One wonders what the attendance would be if there were no Canadian fans there?
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Team looked tired and lethargic and out of position. Disappointing after getting a day off. Even still we had a shot in the third. The negation of the Quinn goal really hurt. 4-2 and we have an adrenaline rush and momentum. Different period then.
It was a great goal. Great pass from Skinner and great read on the goalie. Middlestedt should be crushed for that. Maybe the coach will use him as an example in a film session. He should apologize to the team.
We also didn’t and are not playing with enough physicality. We can’t sustain a season with losing the hits battle every single game. But that is largely because the players are just not as physical - in terms of their strength and power - in the way they need to be. Talent is there. The discipline (on and off Ice - getting stronger and more physical) - is not there yet.
I harp on this but nearly every one of our young skaters 25 and under needs to get physically stronger and tougher in the off season. We don’t need to be the broad street bullies. We just need to play a more physical game - including using our speed and getting some more hits in as well as endurance and being able to grind.
This next game could be a sign of where they are mentally. Do they grind for 60 minutes, play aggressive and disciplined, and use their speed? Or do they play more akin to last night’s effort?
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Great start, again. I’ve said this already. Really like the young players and their potential. I am bullish on them the next 2-4 years.
That said, we have seen fast starts before fizzle out.
2019-20: 9-2-12020-21: 4-3-1
2021-22: 5-1-1
They really need to demonstrate mental and physical toughness. First, to not fall prey to youthful complacency. But especially when they start to lose a few games. Can they quickly right the ship?
I do like a lot of what they do. They skate fast. They back check pretty well (it’s really about effort; fighting for the whole ice). They have talent who have potential to score. And goaltending so far has been great. Have to remain healthy there and overall.
I don’t like that we take a lot more hits than our opponents. Out hit every game:
18-9; 12-11; 28-16; 29-11; 40-17
We are not a big physical team and even some of our bigger players are not the dominant physical types so we aren’t going to outhit teams. But still need to maintain physical play and try to avoid hits when we can. It’s one reason I really want to see several of these players do more in the weight room in the off season. Add 5-10 LBs of muscle without losing speed and we can be an even tougher out. Plus that will give us more endurance. That really needs to be an emphasis team wide this off-season, imo. Maybe add another physical enforcer in the off season. Depending on how the season goes overall
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Hope it’s not too serious and he can be back. Good player for us.
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Anderson can only do so much. We are letting them have way too much unharrassed possession in our end.
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The best to hope for, imo, is a Sprained knee and not a full tear. In that case it could still be several weeks / a few months. It’s impossible to surmise based on his limping off. I’ve seen plenty of players limp off with a torn ACL.
Hoping for the best. But the actual replay and his reaction are not good signs.
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Dang it!
that looks like a bad injury. We just can’t have good things. 😩😡
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Somehow we need to learn to win more face offs.
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8 hours ago, LGR4GM said:
For a playoff spot yes.
What's crazy is that Rosen, Kulich, Kisakov, Weisbach, Rousek, Savoie, Novikov, etc... aren't even available yet. And we have a couple of months before Jack Quinn flips his switch (he tends to be slow in a league and then BAM!)
Yes. What I meant to say but left out was a contender for the Cup over the next few years.
Though not a similar make up it reminds me of the early-mid 70s team in that they are young with a lot of good skaters and potential to put up a lot of goals.
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That wrister is deadly. 4 in a row, baby! Let’s go Buffalo!!
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Still can’t love the youth on this team enough. 13 players 25 and under right now. And 19 under 30. And the 30+ players aren’t slowing down. If we stay healthy and the goaltending holds up (always a key) this team could be a contender.
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How many posts were hit? I think the announcers missed a couple. Uncanny.
Tage could have had 2 goals tonight. I think we score 2-3-4 or more goals with slightly more accurate shots. Tuch was amazing. Hope he out scores Eichel this year. We keep working on shooting and we could have 5-6 30+ goal scorers in a season over the next 2-3 yrs as young as we are.
The skating and passing was electric tonight. Gotta stay healthy. Getting a little banged up the past couple of nights. Especially on D.
obviously a lot to work on. Which is a positive. We are winning games where we still have a lot of room to improve. Keep this team together! Love
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Just a really great offensive night. Still a bit careless and need to be a bit stronger but man, the youth and talent is there. High ceiling for this team.
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Tuch!! What a goal.
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That goal at the end of the 2nd and not getting the goal on the Tage shot really hurt.
This will be a tough game to win at 4-3 and they have the Adrenalin pumping.
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How many posts are we going to hit? Could / should be 6-7 to 2 by now. And two other really close calls by a second chance from Tage on the blocker save and Casey had a really close call (looked like it was a
Stupid Ref! Gets an assist!
GDT: Sabres at lightning 11-5-2022, 7pm WGR MSG
in The Aud Club
Posted
Well, tough loss. I thought Conroe did poorly on the first goal. Was a bit to relaxed and not ready for it. Otherwise he was excellent. None of the others were on him.
Our back checking was not so great. And our passing resulted in too many bad turnovers. Especially the one in the 3rd period. Just set them up.
And we missed several good chances. Especially Peterka and Skinner. Chances were relatively even.
That said, we were without 3 starting, quality defensemen and our best player. So there is that. Some fans like to say “no excuses” but that matters. What if Aho doesn’t play two nights ago? Different outcome. What if Kucherov and/or Stamkos were out? Different outcome.
Still not a top tier playoff team by any means. But you can see a lot of the talent. We played two of the best teams. Not at their level but if all D are healthy … Add some physicality to the players. Another year of experience. Add one bigger forechecking forward who can shoot. We are going to be competitive.
Key this year is not losing the mental toughness that comes when we lose a couple of games