GDT: LA @ Buffalo, 7:00 pm est, 12/12/2015

[PASabreFan]

should be captain now

Amazing how we get out of the politics threads and we're sympatico! I loved on the broadcast last night how Rob was praising O"Reilly up and down for his consistency, while they had a tight shot of him skating off the ice after a whistle. O'Reilly had lost the faceoff on the previous shift, then failed to win the puck at center, leading to two Kings scoring chances. Right on cue, ROR got to the bench and slammed his stick on the top of the boards. Here's a guy, unlike a Thomas Vanek, who channels his disappointment in himself in a positive direction. There is no O'Reilly Face.

[DarthEbriate]

I wonder if you're not onto something here. I've heard it said that the NFL likes all the challenges and video reviews because it's a "sticky" feature of the broadcasts that casual viewers enjoy. Sit at home and play ref, then take to social media and talk about it. Is that what the NHL's after here? Yuck.

Yikes. I hope not. At least, my intent for drama is a close score, Hasek (or Ullmark) making a series of saves in a tense flurry, and then the rush that leads to a Sabres goal. Tension is what I want. And also tension vs the clock. The McCabe goal had an extra bit of oomph because out of the corner of my eye I was also thinking hurry, we have a rush and not much time.

 

But I guess on NHL's side -- we did have about 3 pages here devoted to that one call. And probably a page of comments during the call delay itself. But that's not the speed of hockey.

It's why the 15 timeouts and that the final 2 minutes of a close basketball that takes 20 minutes of real life to play is infuriating. It's dramatic but it's also disruptive.

 

If the NHL keeps the challenge for offsides and instead adds additional timeouts... Then we know they want the extra air time. And that we are doomed.

[Randall Flagg]

McCabe has now had two pretty good games in a row since spending one in the press box. Love how he's responded. I definitely wasn't expecting Him to be a big part to our defense this season but he's doing as well as I could have hoped.

[WildCard]

Amazing how we get out of the politics threads and we're sympatico! I loved on the broadcast last night how Rob was praising O"Reilly up and down for his consistency, while they had a tight shot of him skating off the ice after a whistle. O'Reilly had lost the faceoff on the previous shift, then failed to win the puck at center, leading to two Kings scoring chances. Right on cue, ROR got to the bench and slammed his stick on the top of the boards. Here's a guy, unlike a Thomas Vanek, who channels his disappointment in himself in a positive direction. There is no O'Reilly Face.

I remember this play, it was awesome

 

The dude just loves hockey and winning, this celebration he has is awesome

@BuffaloSabres  13h13 hours ago

O'Reilly's 100th goal propels #Sabres to win. "Hopefully I've got a lot more coming." RECAP: http://bufsabres.co/JRw3dN 

[MODO Hockey]

At this point point Gionta's night is just comical

 

ROR with the toe drag!!!!

 

Linus was amazing during that OT, I hope Modo watched tonight

I wish i was, been reading all posts in this thread now.

 

We had christmastable/party with work last night.

 

I am so freggin happy to read about the swede we need. I really hope he can keep providing!

Wonderful win, going to watch the replay of the game now.

[wjag]

I was thinking some more about the replay and offer this subtle, but significant change

 

If you challenge the call, regardless of the outcome, you lose your timeout

 

My reasoning:  The stoppage has the same effect as a timeout.  A lengthy time out to rest your guys and deny any momentum by the scoring team. 

[Ottosmagic13]

I was thinking some more about the replay and offer this subtle, but significant change

 

If you challenge the call, regardless of the outcome, you lose your timeout

 

My reasoning:  The stoppage has the same effect as a timeout.  A lengthy time out to rest your guys and deny any momentum by the scoring team. 

I hate that offsides is able to be challenged; that said, why on earth would you EVER punish a team for asking for the right call. Why should a team lose tactical equality (starting with one timeout each) because of an error made by the refs? If a team challenges a goal and wins why should they not be able to use that timeout later?

 

It would make about as much sense as assessing a delay of game minor to the home team when a pane of the boards breaks. If you want to discourage teams from challenging the call that badly then you need to rethink giving them the ability to challenge it in the first place. 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Ottosmagic13

[bob_sauve28]

 

I know we like pictures that let us see a bunch of fans here, this one is fun.

And another

Great pics! The guy in the top pic, lower left rubbing his hands reminds me of the old man in Monty pythons Grail who asked the questions at the bridge. The bald fat guy looks ling Ming the merciless

[PASabreFan]

Great pics! The guy in the top pic, lower left rubbing his hands reminds me of the old man in Monty pythons Grail who asked the questions at the bridge. The bald fat guy looks ling Ming the merciless

You're too good at this. You should start a blog or Twitter account. It could become a thing.

 

In the bottom pic, is that ROR's long lost step brother? I smell a movie.

[Ottosmagic13]

You're too good at this. You should start a blog or Twitter account. It could become a thing.

 

In the bottom pic, is that ROR's long lost step brother? I smell a movie.

Top pic we have: Do No Evil with the Monty Python Hands Guy the See No Evil Woman and then the guy partially obscured by ROR stick, " Ah frick this i'm shotgunning this beer and going home."  

[PASabreFan]

Top pic we have: Do No Evil with the Monty Python Hands Guy the See No Evil Woman and then the guy partially obscured by ROR stick, " Ah frick this i'm shotgunning this beer and going home."  

Very nice. You stole my new avatar by the way.

[Doohickie]

I just watched the highlights again.  Someone mentioned it yesterday and I concur:  O'Reilly == Drury.  And I think when it's all said and done, Eichel and Reinhart will be in the same league on the leadership scale (including clutch).

[qwksndmonster]

And it's inexcusable to have our 4th line and 3rd D pairing, all containing our slowest skaters, out against the other team's top line, at home.

This was brutal.  Our 4th line had about a 15 second shift and then a faceoff in the O-zone.  Instead of getting O'Reilly or Zemgus out there against Kopitar, HD left our 4th line out and put Weber-Franson on.  I was swearing at the TV when it was happening.  What the ######, Disco?  That play by Kopitar to open up Weber was pretty.

 

NYG Root Beer sucks. It's got the thickness and syrup of jager without the good taste.

Truth.  I bought a sixer a while back, and there's still 4 of them sitting in my mud room.

 

I simply don't understand the desire to apply so much scrutiny to a part of the game that has pretty much always been about things being "close enough". Was he onsides? Eh, close enough.

 

This isn't the damn Kentucky Derby.

 

That goal should have been a goal because microanalysis of offsides is stupid.

Yarp.

 

we all love RJ as a homer announcer, but his go-to phrases "can't get away" or "almost got away" is so maddeningly absent of any real context or description. It's even worse while listening to a game on the radio; there is absolutely no descriptive value with these lazy phrases.

I've been trying my hand at calling hockey games lately, and these kinds of phrases are an absolute necessity.  Hockey is such a cluster ###### and Rick calls the sport with such flow and grace.

 

The Sabres played like a western conference team last night.  This is what GMTM was envisioning.  All these players are products of western conference teams, ROR, Kane, Bogo, Deslaurier, Legwand, McGinn,   We are seeing flashes of what is coming.....

 

Oh, and ROR is on the verge of becoming an NHL star.

All he needed to do was get traded to an eastern conference team (and drunkenly smash his car into a Tim's).

 

-Legwand was in the doghouse hard in the third.  Foligno and Des were getting rotated onto other lines.

 

-Girgensons's('s?) game is devoid of offense.  Whenever he skates the puck into the zone he angles himself into the boards and it becomes a battle with the D-man.  He's been doing it all year and tonight I saw him kill a 3-2.

 

-Eichel skating better than last game.  Nice touch on the phantom assist.  Starting to play with a bit more physical confidence.

 

-Gionta was brutal in 3-on-3.

 

-Kane with another quiet game.  I have no idea how he didn't score on point blank Eichel feed.  When it happened I screamed "MY SISTER WOULD'VE SCORED THAT!" (but I actually respect my sister's finishing ability)

 

-Ryan O'Reilly is a ###### beast.

Edited December 14, 2015 by qwksndmonster

[qwksndmonster]

Oh! And #8 on the Kings is always a pleasure to watch.  Looks like a forward on the rush, tough as nails on the back.  Nice to see Risto lay the boom on him.

[Thwomp!]

Had a chance to watch the 3rd period/OT on Saturday.  Glad we pulled out the win because the Kings had a vast majority of the quality chances in the 3rd and OT.  Ullmark saved the day.

 

I was less than impressed with our two Winnipeg imports.  What was wrong with Bogo?  He looked like a monkey trying to have intercourse with a football every time he touched the puck.  And I still have nightmare visions of Kane's no look, behind-the-back, slow pass that led to a breakaway for Kopitar in OT.

 

Overall, the Sabres weathered the storm and pulled out a much needed win thanks to that great play by O'Reilly.  Great pass by McCabe.  And Risto looked really good during the time I watched as well.

 

Also glad that Lucic didn't win the game in the last second of regulation.  That was too damn close.

[nfreeman]

Oh! And #8 on the Kings is always a pleasure to watch.  Looks like a forward on the rush, tough as nails on the back.  Nice to see Risto lay the boom on him.

 

To harken back to an earlier discussion (I think in the Risto thread), Doughty's performance on Sat is now the leader in the clubhouse, IMHO, for best game this season by an opposing D-man.

 

And Risto's Carrubba Collision hit on Lucic was freaking awesome.

[Derrico]

 

• These Sabres seem built more for grinding games like this than the free skates we saw out west.
• Looked to me like Lucic had a rougher night than Risto and Reinhart did out there Razor.
• Jamie McGinn isn't a surprise, this is the player he was in Colorado.
• Matty Moulson and Gionta both looked like they belonged in their roles tonight.
• McCabe deserves praise for the goal that was called back, but how about that pass on the game-winner?
• Good to see he and Bogo bounce back with good games.
• The linesman didn't miss the call on the McCabe goal. He called it exactly the way it has always been called under those circumstances.
• Tonight was proof low-scoring games can be entertaining. Nice edge to this game.
• ROR is better than Drury. No question in my mind.

 

But I thought McCabe was Weber 2.0?

[Hoss]

EDIT: Migrating post

Edited December 15, 2015 by Hoss

[russ]

His post game interview had me filling out divorce papers and loosening my gag relex

I don't think we've been properly introduced...

[inkman]

I don't think we've been properly introduced...