RochesterExpat

Couple other points: - As others said, they did a shootout after the game. Rousek won it in the 7th round. Rousek did a good job feeding Kulich the puck a few times and played well overall. - Tyson Kozak outshined and outplayed Quinn and Peterka. If you disagree we can settle it with fisticuffs. Both Quinn and Peterka played fine. Kozak was just far more impactful while he was on the ice. Part of that may have been that Quinn and Peterka were with Cozens whereas Kozak was with Murray and Sheahan. Quinn and Peterka are not on the level of Cozens whereas I'm confident in saying Kozak is a better player than Murray and Sheahan. Hence his impact may have been outsized. On the flip side, he got a lot less ice time than Quinn and Peterka did, but made better use of it. He's definitely a two-way player so he was noticeable in both ends. Regardless, Kozak will be in Rochester in the fall. There's no chance he's going back to Juniors. - UPL looked good. Not great, but certainly not as bad as I think his SV% will suggest. - Our best defenseman on the ice was Pilut. I thought he'd be fighting for a 7th or 8th slot, but now I don't know. Curious how the rest of camp goes for him. - As far as Sabres players go, Cozens looked dramatically better than everyone else. Asplund played well with Hinostroza. Those three were clear NHL players in this scrimmage. I don't see Peterka or Quinn bumping Vinnie from the roster. - Kulich and Kozak have a decent argument to get 10 games in Buffalo this year. They weren't at the NHL level of the three above, but they were noticeable and outplayed their opponents when they were on the ice. If you had this on your 2022 Bingo Card I'm calling *****. Not that either are about to bump out Quinn or Peterka for roster spots. Just pleasantly surprised with how they played and it's worth putting here. - Savoie does not look NHL ready, but I also think pairing him with Asplund and Hinostroza may have had something to do with that. He had some serious flashes of talent and good Lord that kid has some hands, but he played the periphery too much. I'd like to see him with Cozens in a game. - I said if we were above 40% I'd be shocked. Box score says 24 - 36... which is hilariously exactly 40%. Not above though. I still have some dignity. On that note, Krebs is awful at the dot. - These guys have some serious speed. They're going to draw a lot of penalties this season. - Asplund on the powerplay is... preseason hockey. There exists no reason to bring Eakin. Glad he is gone. Just an area that needs some real improvement. I'd also argue if Cozens and Krebs can't win faceoffs against other prospects in a glorified scrimmage, the team should be taking note of that and working on it. That's what these games are for.

Score. Hinostroza gets it. 4-3 Buffalo

Quinn scores. 3-3. He read that perfectly.

Peterka with a bad play in the offensive zone and gives up the puck. We have no quarterback for this powerplay. Pilut is not a QB--although I doubt that's news to anyone.

We suck at faceoffs. If we're above 40% I'm going to be shocked. Hinostroza proving he's still absurdly fast and draws a penalty. Good opportunity to tie it up with 2:30 remaining.

Sova has broken up his third Caps rush that I've seen by pinching the offensive player to the boards. Not bad. Fitzgerald made a bad decision to play the body after the Caps player gave up the puck. Let them get a decent chance. He got lucky.

Caps score. Went off the Caps player in front off a long shot.

Few more points: Cozens was no slouch last season as far as physical play goes, but he's playing more physical this game than he was at the end of the last season. Good to see. He's also dominating when has the puck. I don't know if that's his confidence or just his talent being above the pre-season level (for lack of a better term). Kulich looks like an NHLer in this game. That blows my mind. Our PK is awful. Thankfully this is pre-season. Still. UPL looks fine. He's doing better with rebound control so far than he was doing in Rochester last season. Buffalo is the faster team by a mile.

Damn Bills.

Cozens draws a penalty.

UPL couldn't have done anything on that. Two on one. Not sure how Sova got beat. Looks like he may have been out of position.

Kozak with a nice goal.

Cozens goal.

Kulich "getting medical attention on the Sabres' bench." God the Washington commentators are awful.

Quinn - Cozens - Peterka on the PP1

I love paying for every subscription on the planet and I'm still stuck finding an illegal stream to watch this game. I missed Mantha's goal though. Anyone see it?

On defense I'm more excited to see how Sova stacks up than anyone because the kid really intrigues me after the prospect challenge. I don't think he's some hidden future NHL all-star or anything, but he puts in the work and positions well. He's got some seasoning left, sure; but I think that worst case scenario for him is he ends up playing in the AHL one day. Frankly, that's a pretty good place to be.

Pilut is a decent enough defenseman unless his game regressed playing in Europe. I’m not surprised he’s doing well so far. His departure was due to a disagreement on a one-way vs two-way contract with the old regime and then a lack of communication that led to him leaving for the KHL. His agent told the Sabres he would leave for Europe if they didn’t send him a contract and the Sabres didn’t believe him. Just poor management.

I think Kulich’s style is similar enough to Tuch’s on the ice (chasing pucks to the corner, physically getting into plays, etc.) that putting him with TT and Skinner for the scrimmages makes a lot of sense. I hate the use of “Power Forward” since the definition is pretty varied depending on who you ask, but I guess both fill that role is what I’m saying (Kulich may have more finesse than Tuch honestly). It’s a good way to measure his skill and where he’s at currently against a solid barometer we already know about with Tuch. Gives us a decent idea if/when Kulich might be ready to play that role.

I'm pretty sure we extended him and then fired him. Just saying.

As much as I’d like to see Cozens at center, it’s worth mentioning he played left wing this year at the World Championship on a line with DuBois at center and Batherson on right. The line absolutely dominated the tournament and competition.

I am deeply offended that you called Zemgus 'NHL All Star' Girgensons a JAG. How dare you disparage the Latvian Locomotive like that? You seem to forget in the 2019-2020 season he finished 5th(!) on the team in scoring. He's the only player that didn't have a down season in 2020-2021. Come on, what JAGs have songs in their honor??? On a serious note, he's a role player and he plays that role well. Is he a flashy, high-powered offensive weapon? Not in the least. But, for forwards, he was second only to John Hayden in hits. He was third in blocked shots by a forward. His FO% was second best among centers or first if we want to pretend Cody Eakin wasn't here. There is also something to be said about leadership.

I'm the same. I really like him. He's a good role player and complimentary piece to whatever line he is on. I think/hope he's going to be a core piece of Buffalo for years to come and will be one of those guys that, when we look back on the "team of the 20s," he's going to be remembered as this team's Jochen Hecht.