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Challenge to get to the quarter pole.


GASabresIUFAN

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17 games into the season and the Sabres are finding ways to win. Since the early season blowouts (mostly loses) the Sabres have been scoring and finding ways to win, especially in close games.  In fact since the 5-1 win in LA Oct 20th the Sabres are 5-2-2 with all the games 1 goal games including 4 games decided in OT/So but one. 3 of the games, including both regulation loses, have two goal margins but only because of empty net goals.  The bottomline is the 8 of our last 9 have been close games with the Sabres mostly coming out on top.

However to get to the quarter pole above 500 the Sabres are going to need to play their best hockey of the season.  Starting with conference leader and Cup favorite TB at home tonight followed by road games against Wpg, hot Minn (on back to back nights this weekend) and then the Crosby/Malkin lead Penguins on Monday.

So how will we do?  Are we good enough to win 3 of these 4?  What is the best we can hope for? 

I think coming home 2-1-1 would be a great result.  0-4 could be catastrophic.

Thoughts?

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I think 2-1-1 would be a fantastic result.  I'm just not sure how fresh they are going into the 4 games in 7 nights test coming up.

If we can't roll 4 lines and balance the minutes across both forwards and D with solid goal tending and/or even stealing one with a spectacular effort this will be a difficult challenge. 

But I am very interested to see this play out from coaching to how well they play.  

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Find a way to get 4 points in the next 3 and they are exactly on pace to make the playoffs & would be about 6 points ahead of where I'd expected they'd be through 20 games.  Steal the win tonight against Tampa's backup & then get a split out in the middle of the continent & then we might be able to believe they're 1 year ahead of pace.

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Right now the team is on pace for 100 points which I think is inarguably a great start considering everything this franchise has been for nearly a decade.

Come out of each of the next three games with a point and you fall just below that mark at a 97 point pace but to get points in such a tough stretch will help you bump the pace when you get some easier stretches.

This is ***** fun.

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On 11/14/2018 at 12:22 AM, GASabresIUFAN said:

2 pts tonight a key victory.  Now they need to keep the momentum going in WPG and Min.  I love at least 1 win in those back to back games.

These next three will be a VERY tough stretch, so I'm glad we got the win against T-Bay. Winnipeg is a difficult place to play and the Sabres haven't had much success there since the Jets returned, although they've gotten wins there in 2 of the last 3 seasons.

Minnesota on a back to back will be hard for obvious reasons, and then Pittsburgh represents the 3rd game in 4 nights. 0-3 in the next three remains a possibility, making it 1-3 for the OP's referenced 4 game stretch. The best I'll hope for is for them to steal 1 win in the next three, I'd be more than happy with 11-8-2 after this grueling stretch. Anything more is a bonus. Even 1-1-1 in the next three seems to be asking a lot. 

Edited by Thorny
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Yeesh, the Sabres are right back at it with another 3 games in 4 nights stretch starting 2 days after Pittsburgh. Especially considering the recent abundance of off-days, the schedule maker certainly did them no favours here.

6 games in 9 days. Wow. Thankfully the teams on the back end are less formidable, but our guys are going to be tired. Name of the game may be keeping their heads above water here. It's a good thing they've piled up the wins they already have thus far. 

I'll hope for 1-1-1 over the second 3 game group. Is a 2-3-1 hope over the next 6 not expecting enough? I honestly think it'll be tough to do even that given the run of games, and I've loved how they've looked this season, by and large. If they go 2-3-1 and come out at (a Deluca .500) 12-9-3, I'm more than happy. 

Edited by Thorny
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Just now, GASabresIUFAN said:

So 2-0 both wins in the SO against TB and WPG.  Team should be feeling pretty good considering they didn’t play 60 minutes either game.

Starting to feel like 2005-6.

Came here to say basically this. 

We can drop tomorrow and get a point against Pittsburgh and feel pretty damn good. 

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2 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

They play like they did in the 3rd.  They can beat Min also.  Pit is now last in the East. Crazy.

Winning 6 in a row is possible.

It's insane that I can even seriously write that. 

I felt feelings tonight that I haven't felt in a long time. 

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9 minutes ago, darksabre said:

Winning 6 in a row is possible.

It's insane that I can even seriously write that. 

I felt feelings tonight that I haven't felt in a long time. 

I was watching the game with my daughter and I told her we'd score on the PP to start the 3rd and win she laughed at me. 

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13 minutes ago, darksabre said:

Winning 6 in a row is possible.

It's insane that I can even seriously write that. 

I felt feelings tonight that I haven't felt in a long time. 

Fisrt time this team has CONSISTENTLY been fun to watch during the Pegula era.  Now that they have talent they plan on keeping, they can build onit & they need to & will find a way to keep Skinner.

 

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14 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Fisrt time this team has CONSISTENTLY been fun to watch during the Pegula era.  Now that they have talent they plan on keeping, they can build onit & they need to & will find a way to keep Skinner.

I have to think that after this game, they crossed some sort of imaginary boundary and will start negotiating with him in earnest.  Not that we'd know...the extra year after the trade deadline might be the key.

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9 minutes ago, ... said:

I have to think that after this game, they crossed some sort of imaginary boundary and will start negotiating with him in earnest.  Not that we'd know...the extra year after the trade deadline might be the key.

And I really believe if the 8th year is key to him that he'll negotiate in good faith and have a deal in place by then.

Where else can he find a team w/ the cash to pay him plus a center he could click w/ like Eichel, & a supporting class to perennially make the playoffs?

 

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So we have just beaten TB (1st in East), Wpg (2nd in West) and Min (3rd in West).  Wow. Simply wow.  We have won 5 in a row, 3 in a row against the elite in NHL. We are 3-0 in likely our hardest stretch of the season. 12-6-2 after 20 games.  I wouldn’t have ever imagined that this season would start this way.

 

Edited by GASabresIUFAN
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On 11/13/2018 at 4:29 PM, R_Dudley said:

I think 2-1-1 would be a fantastic result.  I'm just not sure how fresh they are going into the 4 games in 7 nights test coming up.

If we can't roll 4 lines and balance the minutes across both forwards and D with solid goal tending and/or even stealing one with a spectacular effort this will be a difficult challenge. 

But I am very interested to see this play out from coaching to how well they play.  

How about 3-0-0?

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1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

So we have just beaten TB (1st in East), Wpg (2nd in West) and Min (3rd in West).  Wow. Simply wow.  We have won 5 in a row, 3 in a row against the elite in NHL. We are 3-0 in likely our hardest stretch of the season. 12-6-2 after 20 games.  I wouldn’t have ever imagined that this season would start this way.

 

Not me, but it's like the team finally just looked at each other before this season and said F this sh!t, we have the talent to play well and just have gone out there and done it.  They are listening to what their coach says and sticking to the gameplan and repeatedly being rewarded for it, even when down multiple goals at times with things not looking good and instead of trying to turn into individuals like last year, they just keep doing what they are doing and seemingly just wear the other team down eventually.  That breeds confidence...they become confident in themselves, their teammates, their coaches, and that confidence in turn breeds more success. 

You never hear in the postgame interviews anymore about how the coaches gave them the gameplan to follow and then for whatever reason they just decided not to do it anymore. All you hear now is how they believe in each otehr, they believe they can win and are never out of games anymore and how they believe in what their coaches are saying and how they stick with the gameplan no matter what all the way to the end...and they are being rewarded over and over again.

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On 11/13/2018 at 10:43 AM, GASabresIUFAN said:

17 games into the season and the Sabres are finding ways to win. Since the early season blowouts (mostly loses) the Sabres have been scoring and finding ways to win, especially in close games.  In fact since the 5-1 win in LA Oct 20th the Sabres are 5-2-2 with all the games 1 goal games including 4 games decided in OT/So but one. 3 of the games, including both regulation loses, have two goal margins but only because of empty net goals.  The bottomline is the 8 of our last 9 have been close games with the Sabres mostly coming out on top.

However to get to the quarter pole above 500 the Sabres are going to need to play their best hockey of the season.  Starting with conference leader and Cup favorite TB at home tonight followed by road games against Wpg, hot Minn (on back to back nights this weekend) and then the Crosby/Malkin lead Penguins on Monday.

So how will we do?  Are we good enough to win 3 of these 4?  What is the best we can hope for? 

I think coming home 2-1-1 would be a great result.  0-4 could be catastrophic.

Thoughts?

Wow 4-0.  I thought winning 3 of 4 would be a great result.  Granted we could have lost all 4 games, but we didn't and that is the key.  This team thinks it can win every night and it is.  

I'll say this.  But trading ROR to Stl and signing their goalie (Hutton) changed the dressing room for both team.  We gave up the better player (ROR) and he has been great for STL, but Hutton and the former Blues have clearly helped change the Sabres.

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