That Aud Smell

Oh, man. The gotdamn Flyers. GIT ‘EM! Let’s go, Buffalo!!

@TrueBlueGED : Not sure if you addressed it from your perspective, but any sense whether the *recent* metrics have squared with the eye test sense many have (including me) that Risto’s been playing pretty well of late (overall)? Also: I agree wholeheartedly that Risto deployed as a 1D is generally out of his depth. His efforts, I think, are admirable, if also at times maddening.

I dunno. I’m with @PASabreFan - I always pictured Death (Grim Reaper) as more or less what the author of The Book Thief came up with.

For surely.

What's the problem(s) with the Oilers? I'm asking.

All very true. Fingers crossed, indeed. (Also, didn't Baptiste get traded?)

There'd be stronger resemblance if, as others have noted, the team had a larger cadre of guys who'd been together in Roch. When Pilut and hopefully Olofsson get here, there'd be more superficial similarity. But the teams are just built sorta differently. The 2005-2007 squad had a bunch of prospects who spent time in Roch and then all panned out, plus Drury, Briere, and Grier. I am probably missing a few players, and maybe misspelled Grier's name.

It's an imperfect world. But lumping together the proverbial slings and arrows of outrageous fortune with bigoted acts of malice is a mistake, IMO.

I mean this with respect and genuine uncertainty: Did the team play better (faster) without him (Scandella)?

I love how Dahlin had a rough game, but there are still eye opening highlights from him.

He took a hard shot off the ankle. (And took a high sticking penalty while falling in pain.) Pilut time?

Hahaha. Well, I know enough to know that the #fancystats community sorta rolls its eyes at reliance on Corsi or Fenwick, without more.

^ I’ll never understand the hostility. Basic advanced metrics give a fan a sense of whether a successful team is good, fortunate, and maybe in what combination of the two. If it’s not your cup of tea, fine. But chirping those who are interested is pointless. Also, I know Dahlin was largely a mess last night. But, hey, what about this?! https://www.instagram.com/p/BqYpeuWF7Rb/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=bh0cievul9q2

Within that boiled down reduction, I also perceive a large bureaucracy having shown some surprising flexibility in the face of one of its participants being subjected to brutal bigotry.

I knew the team would need some unexpected performances to compete for a playoff spot. I didn’t expect one of those performances to come from McCabe. I wonder how his usage and partnering are affecting his overall play. OTOH: Woooooooooooooo! MCCABE, BABY! But, sample size. Also, the Sabres’ overall metrics in this game were good. C Well, it’s because of more than one good game. But, yes. A weird urge. Any way to isolate what his play’s been like the last few games? Because the eye test says he’s been pretty effing good. Sir! Sir! You do realize that @PASabreFan was essentially vindicated by that thread? Sir! Welcome!! Here we go, Sabres, here we go!! I had the sound low, and was watching in rapt amazement at how gotdamn FAST the team was playing once they got going. Poor Rob. He tries. But it seems he can’t help but show his slip when the game’s moving in a direction with which he’s not personally familiar.

He had more conventional options.

And that play was audacious.

That play wasn’t lazy; it was ambitious.

Echoing what was said upthread: Can’t recall the Sabres looking this good in a long (long) time.

And now 40 bails them out, a bit.

Holy sh1tballs

"Sh1t happens, life's tough, get used to it" has its place when someone is dealing with the arbitrary nature of the universe. A rough diagnosis. A job is lost through a merger. A hot water tank goes right before family's coming to visit. It has no place when the issue at hand arises from active bigotry or affirmative acts borne of hate.

I don't think the fall-out from being made the object of your parents' bigoted rejection is the place to learn lessons about how life is filled with tough choices. I would also dispute the idea that a college athlete's desire to maintain NCAA eligibility, and have a place to live and food to eat, is "having it all." Fortunately, the NCAA saw its way clear to figuring out a way to make this work.

I am well familiar with it - yes. That often holds true in small(er) sample sizes.

I know. I KNOW.