Porous Five Hole

Relentless is harder to play against than heavy. I want a relentless team first. Pressure their D with the forecheck (top line & kid line). Attack the net (Skinner, TNT, Okposo). Generate offense with speed (the whole dang team). Transition from defense to offense (Dahlin & Power). Push the pace and make the opponent chase the puck (coaching). Sandpaper can be acquired as this team develops (Tampa acquired Maroon, Nick Paul, Goodrow, etc). And sandpaper can also develop (Krebs as the example tonight). Stand up for yourself and your teammate. That’s a learned behavior with culture. The Sabres have culture. The Sabres are not a finesse team. If anything, they’re just young. While I would love for the team to finish checks more often, they’re loaded with offensive talent. And they’re being coached to out-skate and not outhit. It is working.

In his first conditioning start, Comrie was named first star today in Toronto. Nice!

Hahaha well sure, there’s that. But there’s also Ovie, Crosby, and McDavid within the same timeline. I’m just saying that 1OA in this era is more can’t miss than previously. And Laf is closer to Yakupov than he is to a stud. The Rangers have a problem on their hands.

I agree with you…the scuttlebutt is from the frustrated Rangers fanbase and not the organization. However, the comp to Krebs is not a good one. The pedigree of 1OA isn’t close to Krebs. I understand the line of thinking…young forward to young forward…but Imagine the Sabres scratching Power halfway through next season. That’s the pedigree of comp to consider (albeit different position). Not to mention Laf is getting protected minutes comparable to third liner Barklay Goodrow. It is going very poorly for him.

Scoreboard watching was probably best case scenario tonight. The Devils beat the Pens in regulation (Pens fourth straight loss) and the Canes shut out the Panthers (Canes tenth straight win). So the team we are chasing (Pitt) lost and we now have four games at hand with a team we are tied with (Florida). Nice!

I just re-watched it and I have no idea why that wasn’t icing. Not sorry tho!

That ‘five wins in a row’ face 😀

The worst part of this is we won’t ever be able to see @Doohickie’s Pilut goal meme in game day threads any longer. 😢

I was at the game after the plane crash too, and it was something! But I thought it was SJ? Pommer scored with only a few seconds left to win it and the building was almost shaking. So awesome.

Honestly, with the NHL schedule as condensed as it is…it makes sense to try to squeeze this game in if safe/possible.

Population density and street parking complicate snow removal. Plus you can’t just push the snow to the sidewalk like you can on county roads where sidewalks don’t exist. And if they do exist, they aren’t curbside like the city. The city is always going to be the last to open because it has the most to deal with. Let’s pull together here.

Yoooo they have a forklift to move cars out of the way

I think the Bills got flack for it too. I am not sure if it was politically motivated (anti poloncarz), frustration with bans/weather in general, or a loud complaining reporter (Tim Graham), but the sentiment of, “The Bills didn’t have to take this seriously, why do we” was certainly out there.

I wonder if the thruway will open and they’ll bus to ROC (and hold practice at BCA) and fly out there?

You’re laughing, but aren’t you the person who bet they’ll be bottom five in the league at the end of the year? I think the Sabres are more likely to be in the playoffs than bottom five.

Krebs will blossom and will have fans excited for what’s to come next year.

There are more viewers on tv than there are listeners on the radio. This isn’t Dan, this is a business decision by the organization. The Sabres are the only NHL team that simulcasts. I defend the Pegulas a lot, but this is indefensible.

I’m not stating my opinion. I am stating my observation that the Sabres lead the league in goals & shooting percentage and are least in the league in hits. Is this related because it may very well be??

I want you to know that this made be laugh out loud.

Power skated on his own today with Girardi & their rehab guy. He might not be too far off.

I’m not saying GMKA would ever trade Levi. But if Levi said, ‘I want to play in Montreal,‘ what would your ask be for a return of this prospect? What’s his market value today?

[Maxime Truman - BPM Sports - Montreal Radio] Habs have been in discussions since the draft to acquire goalie prospect Devon Levi from Buffalo This is all in French and I do not understand a lick of it. But there’s a Reddit thread going on f/hockey in English stating the Habs are trying to make this deal happen. Obviously, everyone knows that anyone born in Montreal will only play in Montreal 🙄 I’m not putting much trust in this. Levi said all the right things in development camp. But we all know there felt like there was an elephant in the room. He was NCAA goalie of the year and a Hobey Baker finalist. There might have been some personal reasons to stay in college another year, but it didn’t make a ton of sense from a developmental standpoint (pros play double the games than college players do, and the focus on his craft would have been his full-time job instead of classes—not like he will be graduating in the spring anyway). Is there something to this? Or is this just Montreal media drivel? I vote drivel and Montreal can wish this were true. But my Portillo/Levi thread PTSD made me feel triggered

Eight days (between games) for Power to get healthy!

Oof.