"First game back"

[PASabreFan]

I really hope to be wrong, but I think sometime in the next 48-51 hours, we hear Lindy talk about how tough it is to play that first home game after a long road trip.

 

Rob Ray has already talked about it on WGR. So has Paul Hamilton, who last night after the game said he would excuse the Sabres even if they lost to New Jersey 7-1.

 

Doesn't really matter unless Lindy says it, and he usually does. All he has to do is look back through his tenure here to see his teams have won a lot of games in these situations. Lost their share, too. But it's not like this is an automatic L. Lindy shouldn't try to talk his team into it.

 

In 05-06, the Sabres played three games out West, then three back East before beating Philly at home two days after the trip ended.

 

in 06-07, they beat Florida after five straight in the East, on two days rest.

 

in 07-08, they played seven straight in the East and beat NJ one day after the trip ended.

 

Last season, most tellingly, they played six straight away, the last four on the West Coast, and came home to spank Toronto 5-0 two days after playing in Anaheim.

 

All he has to do is keep his mouth shut, treat the game like the eighth road game of the trip -- and ban all pregame sex.

[LabattBlue]

So has Paul Hamilton, who last night after the game said he would excuse the Sabres even if they lost to New Jersey 7-1.

What an idiot! :doh:

[darksabre]

Don't we already have an I Hate Lindy Ruff thread?

[Assquatch]

I really hope to be wrong, but I think sometime in the next 48-51 hours, we hear Lindy talk about how tough it is to play that first home game after a long road trip.

 

Rob Ray has already talked about it on WGR. So has Paul Hamilton, who last night after the game said he would excuse the Sabres even if they lost to New Jersey 7-1.

 

Doesn't really matter unless Lindy says it, and he usually does. All he has to do is look back through his tenure here to see his teams have won a lot of games in these situations. Lost their share, too. But it's not like this is an automatic L. Lindy shouldn't try to talk his team into it.

 

In 05-06, the Sabres played three games out West, then three back East before beating Philly at home two days after the trip ended.

 

in 06-07, they beat Florida after five straight in the East, on two days rest.

 

in 07-08, they played seven straight in the East and beat NJ one day after the trip ended.

 

Last season, most tellingly, they played six straight away, the last four on the West Coast, and came home to spank Toronto 5-0 two days after playing in Anaheim.

 

All he has to do is keep his mouth shut, treat the game like the eighth road game of the trip -- and ban all pregame sex.

 

I get the point you are trying to make but maybe there is a better way to do it than to have your supporting arguments be how good the team's record is in games after road trips under Ruff in which he tried to talk them into an L.

[PASabreFan]

Don't we already have an I Hate Lindy Ruff thread?

 

Where?! Where?! Did I miss it when I did time/underwent surgery/was abducted by aliens recently?

[spndnchz]

Where?! Where?! Did I miss it when I did time/underwent surgery/was abducted by aliens recently?

 

You did all that in 2 weeks?:o

[LabattBlue]

You did all that in 2 weeks?:o

:lol:

[Assquatch]

Don't we already have an I Hate Lindy Ruff thread?

 

 

Where?! Where?! Did I miss it when I did time/underwent surgery/was abducted by aliens recently?

 

They're all right here:

Forum.search.thread(ThreadAuthor(PA SabreFan))

[PASabreFan]

You did all that in 2 weeks?:o

 

Yes, but can you tell in what order?

[R_Dudley]

Yes, but can you tell in what order?

 

In the order you stated "when I did time/underwent surgery/was abducted by aliens" because we know you are the alien and not the real PA.

 

The real PA is more outspoken, vitriolic and able to generate controversy from a choir boy meeting. :nana:

[shrader]

Yes, but can you tell in what order?

 

You actually did all three at the same time. The surgery and abduction go so well together, what with the aliens and all their probing. So I'm guessing you were abducted from your prison cell.

[ntjacks79]

Rob Ray has already talked about it on WGR. So has Paul Hamilton, who last night after the game said he would excuse the Sabres even if they lost to New Jersey 7-1.

 

Thanks for the post. I was thinking about this too. I guess I can see where Hamilton is coming from, but if Lindy or ANY Sabre feels this way, then the team hasn't made the progress that I thought it had. The Sabres are coming off a 2-3-3 eight-game stretch (10% of the season) or, as Rogers Sportsnet put it, the Sabres are losers in 6 out of 8. I realize the trip was long, the opposition was really good, and the Sabres honestly didn't play all that badly. But if they come out against New Jersey doing anything but looking to "put Devils through the wall", then it's time to start looking for the button in the basement with the word "PANIC" written on it. Good teams fight through the fatigue and don't allow losing skids to continue. A 7-1 loss to New Jersey could get followed by a surprising effort from the Bruins and then you're in trouble - and practicing your "if only" lines for April.

 

I'm not saying this WILL happen, but I'm saying that this is where we're headed if the Sabres have Hamilton's mindset.

[nobody]

So has Paul Hamilton, who last night after the game said he would excuse the Sabres even if they lost to New Jersey 7-1.

 

 

So Paul is expecting Lalime in net against NJ?

[Foligno's Nose]

Cheese Whiz!

 

How would you like to have tix to this game?

So much hype over the 'first-home-game-back-from-west-coast-trip/ virtually-guaranteed-loss' scenerio.

WTF.

 

How do you think the walk-up will be?

 

I would have to say Miller starts.

Ruff cannot sit him and end up plugging him in after the team no-shows in front of La La.

 

I have a feeling they pull this game out though.

Jersey will be OK.

They play Toronto in three out of their next four games.

Nice scheduling Gary!!!

 

Jersey gets six easy points and Toronto gets to pre-stage their attempted fire sale to regain a first round pick.

What a way to go into the Olympic break.

[That Aud Smell]

"There's desperate teams to make the playoffs and get into that picture and desperate teams to stay where they are in the lineup," Ruff said. "Right now, we're in the desperate category. We're trying to get out of a losing funk. ... We don't have the luxury now of saying, "Well, it's too bad it was our first game back.'"

 

http://blogs.buffalonews.com/sabres/2010/01/morning-skate-report-rj-still-out-miller-in.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fbuffalonews%2Fsabres+%28Sabres+Edge%29

 

i'm thinking that some from the FO monitors this very website and told lindy not only to avoid making the remark that PA forecast, but to affirmatively reject it. :rolleyes:

 

EDIT: Sh!t ... reading that again, i see that lindy arguably DID make the comment in a sort of "i'm not allowed to make this comment but it's still true" way. well done, PA, well done.

[PASabreFan]

"There's desperate teams to make the playoffs and get into that picture and desperate teams to stay where they are in the lineup," Ruff said. "Right now, we're in the desperate category. We're trying to get out of a losing funk. ... We don't have the luxury now of saying, "Well, it's too bad it was our first game back.'"

 

http://blogs.buffalo...8Sabres+Edge%29

 

i'm thinking that some from the FO monitors this very website and told lindy not only to avoid making the remark that PA forecast, but to affirmatively reject it. :rolleyes:

 

EDIT: Sh!t ... reading that again, i see that lindy arguably DID make the comment in a sort of "i'm not allowed to make this comment but it's still true" way. well done, PA, well done.

 

Right. He has planted the seed. I do like the fact they stayed over in Vancouver. Makes sense.

 

Lindy also detailed on the radio this morning how specific teams did in their first game back from the West this season: all the teams he mentioned lost. Certainly there are some teams that won in that first game back, no?

 

Lindy just loves to bring people down, for some reason.

[R_Dudley]

Right. He has planted the seed. I do like the fact they stayed over in Vancouver. Makes sense.

 

Lindy also detailed on the radio this morning how specific teams did in their first game back from the West this season: all the teams he mentioned lost. Certainly there are some teams that won in that first game back, no?

 

????? just loves to bring people down, for some reason.

 

Hmmmm interesting has made me ponder; are you really Lindy Ruff ?

[tom webster]

Does anybody really believe that what is put out for public consumption is what is said in the locker room? The leaders on this team no better. They know that they played alright on the trip but not good enough. They know what players need to step up. If they lose tonite it won't be because of some talk show fodder. It still amazes me how fairly intelligent people who should no better continue to treat ebbs and flows of a season as if they occurred in a vacuum. Every team in the league can pick out a specific segment of the season and say if only we did this or did that ....... It doesn't matter. Every game is influenced in some way by what happened earlier in the season. All that matters are the standings at the end of the year. They don't give rewards for winning 7 in a row in January or for having the best record from January through January.

Of course, if we didn't have posters picking apart every word or every play, it wouldn't be much of a message board.

 

Go back to your thing, I just had to rant a little.

[spndnchz]

Does anybody really believe that what is put out for public consumption is what is said in the locker room? The leaders on this team no better. They know that they played alright on the trip but not good enough. They know what players need to step up. If they lose tonite it won't be because of some talk show fodder. It still amazes me how fairly intelligent people who should no better continue to treat ebbs and flows of a season as if they occurred in a vacuum. Every team in the league can pick out a specific segment of the season and say if only we did this or did that ....... It doesn't matter. Every game is influenced in some way by what happened earlier in the season. All that matters are the standings at the end of the year. They don't give rewards for winning 7 in a row in January or for having the best record from January through January.

Of course, if we didn't have posters picking apart every word or every play, it wouldn't be much of a message board.

 

Go back to your thing, I just had to rant a little.

 

Good to have u back posting more TW.

[SwampD]

Does anybody really believe that what is put out for public consumption is what is said in the locker room? The leaders on this team no better. They know that they played alright on the trip but not good enough. They know what players need to step up. If they lose tonite it won't be because of some talk show fodder. It still amazes me how fairly intelligent people who should no better continue to treat ebbs and flows of a season as if they occurred in a vacuum. Every team in the league can pick out a specific segment of the season and say if only we did this or did that ....... It doesn't matter. Every game is influenced in some way by what happened earlier in the season. All that matters are the standings at the end of the year. They don't give rewards for winning 7 in a row in January or for having the best record from January through January.

Of course, if we didn't have posters picking apart every word or every play, it wouldn't be much of a message board.

 

Go back to your thing, I just had to rant a little.

We're DOOOOOMED. The ebb and flow thing is definately true, although you could also say that during their win streak, they often played bad enough to lose but didn't.

[Calvin]

Right. He has planted the seed. I do like the fact they stayed over in Vancouver. Makes sense.

 

Lindy also detailed on the radio this morning how specific teams did in their first game back from the West this season: all the teams he mentioned lost. Certainly there are some teams that won in that first game back, no?

Lindy just loves to bring people down, for some reason.

Yeah! Did you hear the post-game presser.. seems like he was calling out Mac pointedly

[ntjacks79]

Yeah! Did you hear the post-game presser.. seems like he was calling out Mac pointedly

I did hear that. I was shocked. I hadn't noticed MacArthur being "all that bad" on the road trip. Lindy's implication certainly was that "I'm not happy, that's why he didn't play".

[spndnchz]

I did hear that. I was shocked. I hadn't noticed MacArthur being "all that bad" on the road trip. Lindy's implication certainly was that "I'm not happy, that's why he didn't play".

 

I think I may have been right for once...

http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/16512-game-discussion-thread/page__view__findpost__p__185811

 

just one of the nails in Mac's coffin.

[LabattBlue]

There are guys that Lindy will bench and then ones that stay in the lineup no matter how they play. They are...

 

Roy

Vanek

Pominville

Connolly

Gaustad

Hecht

Grier

 

Rivet

Myers

 

I'm not sure on Butler and I would have put Lydman in the above category before last night.

[Rox11]

Does anybody really believe that what is put out for public consumption is what is said in the locker room? The leaders on this team no better. They know that they played alright on the trip but not good enough. They know what players need to step up. If they lose tonite it won't be because of some talk show fodder. It still amazes me how fairly intelligent people who should no better continue to treat ebbs and flows of a season as if they occurred in a vacuum. Every team in the league can pick out a specific segment of the season and say if only we did this or did that ....... It doesn't matter. Every game is influenced in some way by what happened earlier in the season. All that matters are the standings at the end of the year. They don't give rewards for winning 7 in a row in January or for having the best record from January through January.

Of course, if we didn't have posters picking apart every word or every play, it wouldn't be much of a message board.

 

Go back to your thing, I just had to rant a little.

Wow ... I'm trying not to comment too much since I've been too much of a Pollyandy, but I love this RANT! I'll have a cheers to you with my Labatt's Blue Light tonight!