GDT: Sabres at Arizona 10/13/18, 9pm, MSG, WGR

[3putt]

They won.  The team is likeable.  Watching isn’t painful or suicide inspiring.  Perfect? No.  Never will be.  Entertaining? Much more so than in recent memory and that is the business they are in.  Go Sabres!

[The Dominator]

I think it's safe to lock in the line combos of Sheary/Eichel and Skinner/Mitts. Both lines are looking much more cohesive now

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Just an idea, but maybe Flagg should start a 'Fancy Stats Club' in the Club section of the forum?

It would be hard to keep all the analysis in there though.

+++++

Nice win.  Good effort.  They didn't stink completely.  Nice to have two NHL goalies again for the first time in a very long time.

And I think Housley coached a good road game.  I think he is learning along with the players.

[Taro T]

9 hours ago, inkman said:

Because it contains 75% more water than an actual beer thus lowering it's freezing point to 0.5 degrees above water. 

Close.  The increased water content relative to actual beers is the key, but not for lowering the freezing point.  The extra H2O actually raises the freezing point.

The extra H2O raises the heat capacity of the brew.  So, Coors Light will drain more heat from your body as it warms while you drink it than a real beer would.  And, thus it SEEMS colder.  (Similar to how at a given temperature, very humid air will feel more uncomfortable than dry air will.)

[SDS]

15 minutes ago, N S said:

Just an idea, but maybe Flagg should start a 'Fancy Stats Club' in the Club section of the forum?

It would be hard to keep all the analysis in there though.

+++++

Nice win.  Good effort.  They didn't stink completely.  Nice to have two NHL goalies again for the first time in a very long time.

And I think Housley coached a good road game.  I think he is learning along with the players.

There’s a difference between calmly analyzing the quality of play and ranting about the quality of play. I think when he was told to STFU - it was completely uncalled for. 

And there is  absolutely no reason for great hockey talk to be taken off the main board. 

[WildCard]

10 minutes ago, SDS said:

There’s a difference between calmly analyzing the quality of play and ranting about the quality of play. I think when he was told to STFU - it was completely uncalled for. 

And there is  absolutely no reason for great hockey talk to be taken off the main board. 

Looks like I missed an interesting GDT

[dudacek]

Five game take: Team play and structure still has a long way to go, but the skill level of this team is the highest it has been in a long time.

We have been winning games on filthy individual plays and performances: Hutton and Ullmark dialed in; sick Sam Reinhart feeds, pinpoint Sheary shooting, ridiculous Skinner dangles (the combination of hands and feet on his goal last night...my god!)

Hopefully, repetition and the comfort and confidence winning brings can breed better structure. It’s been fun to watch.

[WildCard]

Scandlla and Risto got worked last night

http://hockeyviz.com/game/2018020069/byPlayer

[WildCard]

Eichel apparently never once started in the d zone last night. Also, if we're going to be having Thompson on a shutdown role taking d zone starts and time, put him in the AHL

http://hockeyviz.com/game/2018020069/awayZone

[SwampD]

2 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Scandlla and Risto got worked last night

http://hockeyviz.com/game/2018020069/byPlayer

Dull-Fun, Good-Bad.

Was that chart made by The Onion?

[PASabreFan]

I'd still like to know where the data comes from to create such charts, and whether that data is reliable.

[Beer]

5 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Eichel apparently never once started in the d zone last night. Also, if we're going to be having Thompson on a shutdown role taking d zone starts and time, put him in the AHL

http://hockeyviz.com/game/2018020069/awayZone

I like this chart, thanks for posting.  You can easily see player usage.

[WildCard]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

I'd still like to know where the data comes from to create such charts, and whether that data is reliable.

It's obtainable by anyone. There are scripts designed to data mine the information from the official NHL game logs

[PASabreFan]

4 minutes ago, WildCard said:

It's obtainable by anyone. There are scripts designed to data mine the information from the official NHL game logs

I'll have to look into it. It seems like the NHL info. is very basic, and these charts tend to have very specific data points and situations. I've always kind of assumed that folks are sitting at home and doing it themselves and then sharing the data with others. I know there was a call a few years ago for people to count scoring chances for specific teams.

[WildCard]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

I'll have to look into it. It seems like the NHL info. is very basic, and these charts tend to have very specific data points and situations. I've always kind of assumed that folks are sitting at home and doing it themselves and then sharing the data with others. I know there was a call a few years ago for people to count scoring chances for specific teams.

The game logs are surprisingly extremely detailed

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20162017/PL020005.HTM

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I'll have to look into it. It seems like the NHL info. is very basic, and these charts tend to have very specific data points and situations. I've always kind of assumed that folks are sitting at home and doing it themselves and then sharing the data with others. I know there was a call a few years ago for people to count scoring chances for specific teams.

When RIT put on a 1 day analytics conference a few years ago, that was the case - volunteers were pulling this data on their own.  

Even though the data the NHL puts out IS detailed, it isn't detailed enough to build the heat maps & other such tools.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

50 minutes ago, SDS said:

There’s a difference between calmly analyzing the quality of play and ranting about the quality of play. I think when he was told to STFU - it was completely uncalled for. 

And there is  absolutely no reason for great hockey talk to be taken off the main board. 

I agree on both counts on your first point.

I also agree on your second point.

That said, I noticed that Flagg seemed to have ratcheted it up a notch last night.  Still, he should not have been told to STFU.

39 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Looks like I missed an interesting GDT

Many posts have been deleted, but there are bits and pieces in quotes.  I missed it live, but it seems to have been very unpretty.

[North Buffalo]

3 hours ago, CallawaySabres said:

I think i can put my finger on why i don't feel great after these wins.

Even though they got the 2 points, it still feels like they are getting outplayed and outshot....by a lot. 

I look at this team on paper and what Housley SAYS he wants to do, and it just doesn't translate. They look boring to me and in all honestly, the Yotes looked like the better, faster team (other than goaltending.)

Boring, lucky to win style of play should be over but it's not. It is very disturbing how few scoring chances this team gets. They go stretches of 10 minutes at a time and then poof, the 1 shot is a goal.

I just want to see 2018 style of hockey and and Buffalo has the players to make that happen.....hopefully they get there.

 I dont think the Yotes look faster.  I do think at times during the game the Sabres went into a bit of a defensive shell... appears to be afraid to make mistakes against a speedy team.  At one point during the second the commentators from Yotes remarked how fast the game was... kinda dozed during the third but that is where I noticed the defensive shell the most. Phil obviously wants wins at this point and makes sense with this young team to go more D with the lead.  Just imo.

[North Buffalo]

Wins breed confidence and I like Tage playing with his teamates.  He needs to learn to be more physical especially in the corners. He and Nylander kinda have same issue, though from what I saw yesterday of Nyls... he is making a big jump with that skill set... and still keeping his soft hands.  A swap of TT for Nyls throught the season might be a good thing.

[bob_sauve28]

52 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Scandlla and Risto got worked last night

http://hockeyviz.com/game/2018020069/byPlayer

That means they gave up most shots?? Is that per minutes total in game? If they are playing against top line, this makes sense 

12 minutes ago, North Buffalo said:

Wins breed confidence and I like Tage playing with his teamates.  He needs to learn to be more physical especially in the corners. He and Nylander kinda have same issue, though from what I saw yesterday of Nyls... he is making a big jump with that skill set... and still keeping his soft hands.  A swap of TT for Nyls throught the season might be a good thing.

The tv stats on TT said he was only 185 pounds! At 6'5 that's skinny!! 

[Hoss]

Anybody remember when the NHL first introduced their own advanced logs and stats a few years ago then it was exposed that the company they hired were just making up their own numbers?

[WildCard]

1 hour ago, Hoss said:

Anybody remember when the NHL first introduced their own advanced logs and stats a few years ago then it was exposed that the company they hired were just making up their own numbers?

Yup

[nfreeman]

My game notes:

1.  That was a fun game!  Not nearly as one-sided as Flagg was painting it, IMHO.  (Does not excuse the related temper tantrum someone else threw though).

2.  Ullmark looked fantastic.

3.  Does Ullmark start against Vegas baby Vegas?  I think he should.

4.  AZ has a lot of speed but zero finish.  I think Howie recognized that and went into prevent defense mode towards the end of the 2nd, which skewed the stats Flagg was hung up on.  I agree that better teams would've finished more of the chances that AZ generated, but I think the Sabres would've kept their feet on the gas longer too.

5.  Skinner and Mitts look pretty good together, but they each got only about 13 minutes.  The difference between Skinner and KO's ice time (which was about 15 min) was that KO got 2 min more of PP ice time.  I'd like to see Skinner getting KO's spot and minutes on the top PP.

6.  Another couple of ice time items I found interesting:  Dahlin and Beaulieau got 6 seconds each of SH ice time; the other 4 got about 3 min each.  And the top D pair each had 24 min and change, Nelson had 15 and change, and the other 3 each had 17 and change.

7.  Here's a stat of Flagg's I agree with:  the one that says Berglund generates zero offense.  He's pretty responsible on the backcheck but I don't like his offensive game much so far.  I like Sobotka's better.  And I wouldn't mind seeing ERod centering Sobotka and TT on the 3rd line and Berglund on the 4th with 2 of Zemgus, Pommer and CJ Smith or one of the other Rochester kids.

8. I hope Pommer can find some life in his legs.  He looks to me like he's coming to the end.

9.  That Eichel-Reino-Sheary PP goal was very sweet.

10.  It is great to look forward to the next game!  Tues vs. Vegas, who are struggling but will be looking for payback, while Ullmark will try to raise his bid for the starting G job and Skinner will do the same for the top PP.

[Eleven]

3 hours ago, Hoss said:

Anybody remember when the NHL first introduced their own advanced logs and stats a few years ago then it was exposed that the company they hired were just making up their own numbers?

I need to know more about this.

[Hoss]

45 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I need to know more about this.

I promise this was a thing. I’m too drunk to do any sort of search on it but it was 1000% a thing.