Doohickie

I agree, but before condemning him I'd like to see him between wingers not named Olofsson.

They had full control of the puck through the first shift. The puck came out over the blue line. Instead of re-attacking they could have retreated to their own zone and completed a change. They should have. They typically do just that in OT; why they pressed on in this case with a tired line I have no idea.

I wouldn't be so sure. There are a few all-time greats that repeat with multiple teams but really they are quite rare. My point (which Punch swung on and missed) was that there is a process to getting to a championship with a rising team. It's not always up-up-up, and for valid reasons like putting young players in a pressure situations when you could more likely win a game by putting the experienced player in. You have to build the experience and skills of the younger players which sometimes means losing games you could have won.

They could have gotten a change. When the puck came out of the Canes zone that line chose to press on with the offense and go right back in, instead of dropping back and completing a line change.

Yep. When they regrouped out the blue line after the initial flurry, they should have changed lines. They should know better.

The Olofsson-Krebs-Rousek line was horrendous against Carolina. Olofsson was the best among them and he sucked.

But there was a point when Bochy was a 0 times WS winner.

Once again,

Our Perpetual Lady of PP don't fail us now!

Again I say: Welp.

Welp.

Another PP.

Can't believe Krebs couldn't bury it.

Give credit to Clifton jumping up into the rush and drawing the penalty.

Maybe you need to stop by Walgreens for some new readers. Maybe ask your wife to drive you over.

@Spoonman apparently does.

Posting this in the thread was both necessary and inevitable.

Eh, I kind of like to know when it's an "off-nominal" situation so I can jump right to TNT or NHLN or whatever when tuning in the game. Not necessary but convenient (if done right). Because they wanted Savoie in his roster spot but wanted to pay him NHL wage between now and the next Amerks game for being such a good soldier. So banana peels in the weight room it is.

It's TRADITION.

I really think you need to throw out the first four games, both from a team perspective and from a goaltending perspective. As I said upthread, the team was terrible out of the gate.... the whole team. So it's kind of harsh to pin all of that on Levi. Let's see what happens going forward. If Granato has "fixed" the team and they are playing better as a unit, you very well may see an improvement in Levi's play as well. If you take those first few games out of the mix the Sabres are playing decent hockey. Forget the past, just play better going forward, and they will be fine.

Also: I generally don't trust the thread starter to get it right; some people just copy-paste a previous title and rework it and occasionally the broadcast info is bad. I try to look at the NHL site and see what it says, understanding that some people are viewing everything from the home market or from overseas or whatever and just don't "get" the Buffalo diaspora experience.

We all hated Krueger's "motivational speak" gobbledygook but every coach does that to an extent. Part of Granato's lexicon (which I tend to agree with) is that he doesn't dwell in past recriminations and pinning the blame on individuals (including himself); rather, he talks in terms of the "we" that is the entire team and frames mistakes as growth or learning opportunities. I think that helps especially for a team that's been down, to try to get them to look forward and not wallow in the past. All that said, I think we're getting to an inflection point of accountability, where the team feeling good about themselves and "playing the right way" is no longer enough. They need to turn all the positive vibes into results and start winning.

I think they did, yeah, but they didn't stop operating. I asked one of the Texas Rangers Bally Sports broadcasters on Twitter (who's usually pretty good about answering questions) about the situation and he didn't answer; maybe it's still unsettled... maybe he isn't even getting paid.