pi2000

As a fan I'm curious how the team plays hockeys against other teams. Which team can hockey better? Watch and find out!

upper body injury "extreme weirdness" Can't imagine why Cal asked to be moved. Something smells.

Connor Hellebuyck (UMass-Lowell): 2012-13: 1.37, 0.952, 20-3-0 2013-14: 1.79, 0.941, 18-9-2 2016-17 (WPG): 2.83, .908, 22-17-3 Petersen: 2015-16: 2.20, 0.927, 19-11-7 2016-17: 2.21, 0.927, 19-10-5

I'm just not very high on Petersen. Let's compare him to Ryan Miller's final 2 years in college. Miller: 2000-01: 1.32 GAA, 0.950 sv, 31-5-4 2001-02: 1.77 GAA, 0.936 sv, 26-9-5 Petersen: 2015-16: 2.20 GAA, 0.927 sv, 19-11-7 2016-17: 2.21 GAA, 0.927 sv, 19-10-5 Petersen is a good college goalie, Miller was one of the best ever. I don't see Petersen ever becoming a regular starter in the NHL.

Imagine the numbers he'll put up with a legit winger or two and a defenseman with some offensive awareness.

My expert analysis on all 6 Flyer goals: 1st goal: Foligno out of position, not in the shot lane, Risto not engaged with this man. 2nd goal: Foligno turns it over at the blueline, Girgenson vacates the zone, McCabe and Risto both take the guy driving the center lane and Gudas has all day to rip it home from the ladies tees. 3rd goal: D-Lo whiffs on his check, Risto fails to get his stick on the pass. McCabe ties up his man, but poor recognition he fails to block the pass as it careens in off a Flyer skate. 4th goal: Gio out of position standing in no-mans land 6 feet in front of Lehner, O'Reilly recognizes and tries to cover Gio's point but it's too late as the shot gets through. Gio stands and watches the puck, motionless, then makes a lame attempt to cover Giroux when he realizes he's all alone because O'Reilly is trying to cover for him on the point. 5th goal: Ennis leaves his position to make a weak play at the puck at the top of the circle on his weak side, leaving his point man (Del Zotto) on his strong side wide open to waltz in and rip a shot over a screened Lehner. Risto fails to clear the net front. 6th goal: Poor decision by McCabe to pinch, Moulson/Reinhart too slow to get back leaving Konecny 1-on-1 with Risto who whiffs on a weak stick check, backing off instead of stepping up and playing the body allowing Konecy to get off a clean shot top shelf on Lehner. Some bad positional play, lack of communication, poor effort. Ennis, Gio, Foligno just as much to blame as Risto and McCabe.

How is he ever going to make through a playoff series?

Del Zotto a pending UFA IIRC.

Yeah he's not a #1 dman I guess, those guys can eat minutes the entire season. Unfortunate.

That's nice, so he's due to give up some goals.

Risto with the -5. Very disappointed in his play the second half of the season. He looks extremely fatigued every shift, conditioning issues?

...he's a -16 on the road this season. This should be good.

40% of the cap is tied up in 6 players, Ennis, Moulson, Gorges, Gionta, Bogo and Kulikov, with only Gio/Kuli coming off the books this offseason, leaving $20mil on the books for Ennis, Moulson, Gorges and Bogo. If I'm GMTM I incentivize Vegas to take one of them in the expansion draft, preferably Moulson. That leaves Ennis, Gorges and Bogo.... I buyout Bogo, which will save about $4mil against the cap each of the next 3 seasons. I can live with Gorges as a bottom pairing guy with only 1 year left on his deal, and swing a deal with Vegas/tank team for Ennis. Those moves and the UFAs coming off the books would give BUF about $43mil in cap space.

Sabres are what... 27-27-12? So this is a game they win, they might even win the next game, and then lose 2 in row. I'm looking for a big game tonight from O'Reilly.

I don't believe that's the case. IMO the youngsters are those who need to learn how to play with a lead. Eichel seems to think they need to have their foot on the gas the entire game. That's not the answer. You have half the team backing off, and the other half with their foot on the gas, and it shows.... you need the entire team buying in to the style of play for it to be successful. It's not "keep pushing and pushing and pushing"... it's situational hockey, and frankly I'm a bit surprised they're still figuring this out... that's where guys like Gionta and Gorges should be tutoring these guys... they're not doing a very good job IMO.

Enough of the excuses. Every team has scheduling issues, this is pro hockey, time to grow up.

Wasn't too long ago that this team had terrible 1st periods, finally showing up in the 3rd and winning some games in dramatic fashion. For most of the season they sleepwalked the first 20 minutes. Now they have the opposite problem. They don't know how to play with a lead.... probably because they haven't been in that position very often. IMO it's something that will come with experience, and it shows with their reactions after the game... Jack says they keeping sitting back too much, others blame a bad bounce sends them into a tailspin, etc... they're searching for answers which is part of the learning process for a young team. They've learned how to get leads early the game, now they need to learn how to close out games... which might take some time, but what some see as dysfunction I see as a natural progression.

just figured out why they call ROR "factor".. The O'Reilly Factor .. Bill O'Reilly. everybody prolly already knows this but i just got it and wanted to share, thanks for listening carry on.

It's the inconsistency that's the issue. Some nights they look great, they play hard and smart for a few games, then look completely uninspired for 2-3 games, don't show up for periods, just the body language at times look they're just going through the motions. That's on Bylsma to get them playing at a consistent level game in and game out, which he hasn't been able to do for 2 seasons in a row now. They haven't had a 4 game winning streak in 5 years or something ridiculous like that.

Right, and you hear alot about players talking on the bench during the games, trying to stay positive, talking to eachother, etc... normally that's something the head coach does, but I think the players have figured out they're not going to get that type of leadership from Bylsma, they need to generate it on their own. That's asking a lot from a young team IMO.

In today's NHL you need more guys like ERod in your lineup. IMO the Larsson's and Girgenson's, guys who can check but don't put up points, don't belong in the modern NHL.