GAME DISCUSSION THREAD

[Figster]

While I wasn't in my usual spot (it's a lot louder there) I felt the fans were into this game, although not the loudest I've heard. It's correct, the jumbotron crap takes some momentum away from the chearing at times. My beef is the people that left after the whistle @ 4:50 to go. It's 3-2 and you just might see the best 5 minutes of hockey for the night and you leave? granted it did seem a lot of kids were there, so there's your grain of salt.

 

 

Connolly = Satan

 

fixed.

 

And FWIW, talking with some Sabres guys last night, they said DR's trying to trade him but there are no takers with his contract. They need a sweetener and DR doesn't was to add the sugar.

 

Lol, that is a good comparison, maybe its the devil in me posting, but I always liked Miro,

 

I also like Tim Connolly and the overall chemistry of our current Sabre team. The offense has been good and we know the defense will come around.

[Calvin]

I don't know any players personally, so I'm curious about this.

 

How is a player affected knowing that the GM wants to trade him away? Does it motivate him to play better and stay, or get a better move? Or does he say ###### it, if you're moving me anyways, why should I care?

 

From how TC played yesterday, he looked pretty motivated. Actually that Pommer-TC-Hecht line had one of their best games of the year yest!

Puck Bunny

fixed, wise guy

[PASabreFan]

 

And FWIW, talking with some Sabres guys last night, they said DR's trying to trade him but there are no takers with his contract. They need a sweetener and DR doesn't was to add the sugar.

What's a "Sabres guy"?

[Figster]

What's a "Sabres guy"?

 

 

 

Good way to start a fire under Tim Connolly's arse, :clapping:

[SabresFan526]

I'm a bit late per usual, but I enjoyed last night's game. Seems like the most complete win by the team this year and that, too, against a very good team in the Western Conference.

 

I know this was the 17th backup goalie the Sabres have played against, but I still believe they legitimately beat a really good team and even if Quick was in goal, I'm not sure he would have stopped some of those goals. It was great to finally see the PP working last night and against the best PK in the NHL. Notice that three out of the four goals were caused by getting shots on net and creating traffic in front. Wow, what a shock! A strategy that is known throughout the NHL finally working.

 

I really like Lindy's move of putting Roy on the point on the PP. It's really working and has been working for the last few games since he's been there. He's really aggressive about getting shots on net, and that's the key on the PP. You have to get shots on the net and let guys like Vanek and the other guys around crash the net and go after the loose garbage. It worked extremely well tonight, and will always work, it just takes getting shots on net instead of passing all the time. This move also puts Connolly in his more natural position on the half wall and puts Pominville up front where I think he's been more effective throughout his career on the PP than on the point.

 

Great to see Pominville get two assists tonight. Vanek has been playing extremely well since moving to the Right Side, and I found he was very successful last season when he made the switch towards the end of the year too. In fact he scored 6 goals in 2 games while playing on the right side. Also good to see Hecht get a nice one-timer goal on a nice pass by Pominville. And Tim Connolly finally decided to show up (maybe he's trying to impress Lombardi so that Regier could get something out of him). Gaustad came in with a really inspired effort tonight, so great to see that. And Miller kept the guys in it until the offense took over. Good team win tonight.

 

By the way, I have refrained from posting in the Rivet thread, but boy he looked awful last night. He was scared of getting hit on Simmonds goal rather than focused on blocking the shot. Granted, if it were me, I would have done the same thing, but again, I'm not paid $3.25 million a year to do that either. The hook on his first shift was an old player who's slowed down and can't catch up to the forward's speed. It's getting ugly for Rivet. It's too bad because I think he genuinely is trying and is putting in the effort, but boy the performance is not there.

[carpandean]

That's just semantics and it also doesn't factor in what it would have cost the Sabres to let him go (and there would have been a cost to let him go). How much would those four first round picks have cost with no guarantee of any of them being as good as Vanek? Would anyone have bought season tickets having lost all three of it's stars in on off season?

The cost and performance of those unknown players are in the value of the first-round picks, not in addition to them. There's also a relative cost of uncertainty (a GM must be somewhat risk-averse since it is not possible to diversify away the risk of an unproven player and little opportunity to correct bad decisions), which is obviously higher with a single first-round pick, but is at least partially compensated for by the fact that they would have received four of them, especially if they believed that Edmonton wasn't likely to be a strong team, even with Vanek. I will give you that the marketing concerns of also losing Vanek that summer was definitely a big opportunity cost of letting him go and perhaps the biggest reason that they did not.

[nfreeman]

Tim Connelly = Phil Housley...

Not even close. Housley had 1232 career points in 1495 games as a defenseman and is in the mix to make the NHL hall of fame. Connolly is a very talented, brittle underachiever with 366 career points. If TC were half as good as Housely the Sabres would be an elite NHL team.

 

Not correct. Connolly wasn't on the ice for either Kings goal. The rules comment was referring to the fact that Connolly's goal was on the power play and therefore did not count towards his +/-. The assist was on the power play as well so also doesn't count. The +1 came from the Hecht goal, in which his clean face-off win contributed despite the lack of an assist credit. Connolly had a really nice game tonight and was the first star. It's time to give him some credit. He has been much better the last few weeks.

He did have a nice game last night, but that's as far as I'll go (and I've been a TC defender on this board for a few years now). I need to see a lot more before I jump back on the TC bandwagon. I will say that even before last night, he's not shied away from blocking shots on the PK, esp. the point-blank blasts on the 5-on-3, and he deserves credit for that. But a lot's been missing from his offensive game.

 

And FWIW, talking with some Sabres guys last night, they said DR's trying to trade him but there are no takers with his contract. They need a sweetener and DR doesn't was to add the sugar.

Without asking you to name names, are we talking employees of the organization? Media guys? other?

 

Also, as the season goes on, his contract will become much easier for a potential acquiror to swallow, since this is the last year of his deal.

 

Well why the hell did he give him that kind of contract in the first place. This guy may be a decent GM for recognizing up and coming young players/talent but has no clue of true market value for established players. I believe no one would have signed Connolly away from Bflo for more than 2 million a year. If they keep DR quinn should hire/assign someone else to set player value/negotiate contracts,

 

QFT, I have always liked Vanek just not his effort however it seems maybe the responsibilty of being a Dad may be translating to more responsibilty on the ice.

 

Oh and I do like him for Captain because I think he is ready to take that on more responsibly as well. Speaking from my experience having Kids can do that to you.

I think someone would've given TC a contract in the ballpark of where he is now. A 2-year deal just isn't that much of a gamble.

 

I completely agree on the effects of having kids.

 

I'm a bit late per usual, but I enjoyed last night's game. Seems like the most complete win by the team this year and that, too, against a very good team in the Western Conference.

 

I know this was the 17th backup goalie the Sabres have played against, but I still believe they legitimately beat a really good team and even if Quick was in goal, I'm not sure he would have stopped some of those goals. It was great to finally see the PP working last night and against the best PK in the NHL. Notice that three out of the four goals were caused by getting shots on net and creating traffic in front. Wow, what a shock! A strategy that is known throughout the NHL finally working.

 

I really like Lindy's move of putting Roy on the point on the PP. It's really working and has been working for the last few games since he's been there. He's really aggressive about getting shots on net, and that's the key on the PP. You have to get shots on the net and let guys like Vanek and the other guys around crash the net and go after the loose garbage. It worked extremely well tonight, and will always work, it just takes getting shots on net instead of passing all the time. This move also puts Connolly in his more natural position on the half wall and puts Pominville up front where I think he's been more effective throughout his career on the PP than on the point.

 

Great to see Pominville get two assists tonight. Vanek has been playing extremely well since moving to the Right Side, and I found he was very successful last season when he made the switch towards the end of the year too. In fact he scored 6 goals in 2 games while playing on the right side. Also good to see Hecht get a nice one-timer goal on a nice pass by Pominville. And Tim Connolly finally decided to show up (maybe he's trying to impress Lombardi so that Regier could get something out of him). Gaustad came in with a really inspired effort tonight, so great to see that. And Miller kept the guys in it until the offense took over. Good team win tonight.

 

By the way, I have refrained from posting in the Rivet thread, but boy he looked awful last night. He was scared of getting hit on Simmonds goal rather than focused on blocking the shot. Granted, if it were me, I would have done the same thing, but again, I'm not paid $3.25 million a year to do that either. The hook on his first shift was an old player who's slowed down and can't catch up to the forward's speed. It's getting ugly for Rivet. It's too bad because I think he genuinely is trying and is putting in the effort, but boy the performance is not there.

Good post. Great call on having Roy at the point on the PP.

[North Buffalo]

No, he wasn't. The official scoring summary is as follows:

1 1 4:57 EV L.A 23 D.BROWN(9) 11 A.KOPITAR(13) 3 J.JOHNSON(13) 2, 3, 11, 23, 45, 74 |9, 26, 27, 30, 52, 63

2 2 0:37 EV BUF 44 A.SEKERA(2) 42 N.GERBE(3) 57 T.MYERS(4) 5, 13, 19, 22, 44, 45 | 28, 30, 36, 42, 44, 57

3 2 8:25 EV L.A 17 W.SIMMONDS(4) 5 P.HARROLD(2) 5, 15, 17, 26, 44, 45 | 20, 25, 27, 30, 52, 63

4 2 15:22 PP BUF 26 T.VANEK(7) 9 D.ROY(14) 19 T.CONNOLLY(8) 7, 8, 11, 26, 45 | 9, 19, 26, 29, 30, 57

5 3 2:10 PP BUF 19 T.CONNOLLY(5) 26 T.VANEK(9) 29 J.POMINVILLE(2) 2, 7, 22, 26, 45 | 9, 19, 26, 29, 30, 57

6 3 15:21 EV BUF 55 J.HECHT(2) 29 J.POMINVILLE(3) 4 S.MONTADOR(8) 3, 8, 13, 15, 17, 45 | 3, 4, 19, 29, 30, 55

 

On the ice for 3 of 4 Buffalo goals, neither of the Los Angeles goals. His power play points came against the best PK unit in the league.

 

The NHL stat line from the online viewing of the game, during the game had him -1 and 0 after the goal he scored. If you have some other official NHL Stat line send me a link....

 

That being said his goal was a nice goal in that he at least got to the puck. I saw him get knocked down at one point and didn't bother getting up enabling the Kings to get control of the puck. He made a lot of lazy plays especially early on and it is that sort of disease in his game that bothers me... one of effort not talent. Connolly has great talent if he would only play with some fire in his belly.

[North Buffalo]

No, he wasn't. The official scoring summary is as follows:

1 1 4:57 EV L.A 23 D.BROWN(9) 11 A.KOPITAR(13) 3 J.JOHNSON(13) 2, 3, 11, 23, 45, 74 |9, 26, 27, 30, 52, 63

2 2 0:37 EV BUF 44 A.SEKERA(2) 42 N.GERBE(3) 57 T.MYERS(4) 5, 13, 19, 22, 44, 45 | 28, 30, 36, 42, 44, 57

3 2 8:25 EV L.A 17 W.SIMMONDS(4) 5 P.HARROLD(2) 5, 15, 17, 26, 44, 45 | 20, 25, 27, 30, 52, 63

4 2 15:22 PP BUF 26 T.VANEK(7) 9 D.ROY(14) 19 T.CONNOLLY(8) 7, 8, 11, 26, 45 | 9, 19, 26, 29, 30, 57

5 3 2:10 PP BUF 19 T.CONNOLLY(5) 26 T.VANEK(9) 29 J.POMINVILLE(2) 2, 7, 22, 26, 45 | 9, 19, 26, 29, 30, 57

6 3 15:21 EV BUF 55 J.HECHT(2) 29 J.POMINVILLE(3) 4 S.MONTADOR(8) 3, 8, 13, 15, 17, 45 | 3, 4, 19, 29, 30, 55

 

On the ice for 3 of 4 Buffalo goals, neither of the Los Angeles goals. His power play points came against the best PK unit in the league.

 

I don't know what stat line you are reading from but even the Sabres official page has him at -8. He was -9 going into the game. So you are at best off by two points. My guess is that Connolly was given credit for being on the ice for the first goal against and not on the ice for one of the others.... Logic would dictate some scenario like that since he was definitely on for two goals including the one he scored. Link http://sabres.nhl.com/club/stats.htm

[NowDoYouBelieve]

I don't know what stat line you are reading from but even the Sabres official page has him at -8. He was -9 going into the game. So you are at best off by two points. My guess is that Connolly was given credit for being on the ice for the first goal against and not on the ice for one of the others.... Logic would dictate some scenario like that since he was definitely on for two goals including the one he scored. Link http://sabres.nhl.com/club/stats.htm

 

You realize -8 is one higher than -9, right? So he was +1 for the game. Sorry if I'm misunderstanding what you're saying, somehow.

[carpandean]

I don't know what stat line you are reading from but even the Sabres official page has him at -8. He was -9 going into the game. So you are at best off by two points. My guess is that Connolly was given credit for being on the ice for the first goal against and not on the ice for one of the others.... Logic would dictate some scenario like that since he was definitely on for two goals including the one he scored. Link http://sabres.nhl.com/club/stats.htm

Two of the Sabres' goals that he was on for were on the PP, so they don't count toward the +/- (PP goals for don't count as +1, while PK goals against don't count as -1.)

[spndnchz]

What's a "Sabres guy"?

 

A guy close enough to DR's office to believe him. And a guy close enough to DR's office that I don't want to stop the info flowing by calling him anything other than "a guy close enough to DR's office". His name is Gcedo.

[Sterling Archer]

PB

[spndnchz]

JA

[PASabreFan]

Jennifer Lopez is the Queen of Djibouti.

[biodork]

Jennifer Lopez is the Queen of Djibouti.

 

lol nice

[Patty16]

If what chz says is true, i cannot say im surprised at darcy's lack of getting a trade done and that at the same time teams are balking at one of his contracts.

 

While TCs $$ is justified from a numbers standpoint, he has baggage in terms of injuries and sporadic play.

 

But really, has Regier made one good trade since the lockout?

[SwampD]

PB

 

IDK what this means.

 

JA

 

I hopes this means what I think it does.

[nobody]

PB

 

 

IDK what this means.

 

 

I think he is still mourning the loss of Pat Burns.