GDT: Sabres at Wild, Sat 11/17/18, 6:00 pm

[klos1963]

30 minutes ago, ... said:

I don't care about Risto's stupid plays, he's a core member of the team - I think he's part of the "character" and "soul".  They can't get rid of him.

He's an extremely valuable part of this team. I don't understand the criticism of him.

[PerreaultForever]

I believe this is the best start in 9 years. 

Now I just want Phil to leave Skinner-Eichel-Pommer  and Berglund-Larsson-Girgensens together. Play with the other two lines if you must Phil, but stop messing with what's clearly working.

Two goals from the D, this now looks like what Housley was brought in to build. D jumping into the play and creating goals. Last year if I remember correctly for a big chunk of the season we were the only team with zero goals from the D. It's all coming together now. 

Unity, character, effort along with quick transition, improved puck possession and an attacking D.  This is the future, this is now.

If we can develop a lethal power play we will move to the top. 

 

Just now, klos1963 said:

He's an extremely valuable part of this team. I don't understand the criticism of him.

I think it's a Buffalo thing. Risto is great and doesn't deserve it at all. 

[stinky finger]

6 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I believe this is the best start in 9 years. 

Now I just want Phil to leave Skinner-Eichel-Pommer  and Berglund-Larsson-Girgensens together. Play with the other two lines if you must Phil, but stop messing with what's clearly working.

Two goals from the D, this now looks like what Housley was brought in to build. D jumping into the play and creating goals. Last year if I remember correctly for a big chunk of the season we were the only team with zero goals from the D. It's all coming together now. 

Unity, character, effort along with quick transition, improved puck possession and an attacking D.  This is the future, this is now.

If we can develop a lethal power play we will move to the top. 

 

I think it's a Buffalo thing. Risto is great and doesn't deserve it at all. 

Let's not forget our goaltending. Huge.

 

[Formerly Allan in MD]

1 hour ago, Cheektorado said:

I'm not sure about that but I do know the Sabres need to go into Pittsburg and get a win and throw off that monkey.

The last time Sabres won in Pittsburg was March 2013!

Hopefully that will change shortly.

[darksabre]

This got me laughing 

 

[calti]

2 hours ago, Doohickie said:

I'll put it this way:  I think Reino is better on another line most of the time, but if we want Pommer to not wear out by the middle of the season, he needs spells on a lower line.

Your other option to spell Pommer is Okie and I don't think you want to take him off Mittelstadt's line.

does thornton ever wear out??

i think these older guys get old man strength and old man endurance

[Eleven]

1 hour ago, klos1963 said:

He's an extremely valuable part of this team. I don't understand the criticism of him.

Nor do I.  He's a great defenseman.  I think people want him to be Potvin or something.  (There's another guy who will be better than Potvin on the team right now!)

[IKnowPhysics]

Must win.

[Ross Rhea]

3 hours ago, Beer said:

Make it happen

No way.

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, calti said:

does thornton ever wear out??

i think these older guys get old man strength and old man endurance 

Pommer isn't Thornton. 

He seemed to be pretty clearly falling behind when Housley moved him off the top line.  Tonight he had the lowest ice time of all Sabres at 11:37.  I think if he's on the top line all night, he's not fresh enough to make the play that went in.

[Thorny]

3 hours ago, Doohickie said:

I'll put it this way:  I think Reino is better on another line most of the time, but if we want Pommer to not wear out by the middle of the season, he needs spells on a lower line.

Your other option to spell Pommer is Okie and I don't think you want to take him off Mittelstadt's line.

I agree with this. And every once in a while, while Sam is filling in on the top line, him and Jack will connect. 

3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

I'm loving the "been there" look of some of the big goal celebrations.

Just don't go full Smolinski. Never go full Smolinski. 

3 hours ago, bunomatic said:

Dahlin said I love to play on this team about 5 times

A massive, perhaps sometimes overlooked benefit of the Sabres experiencing early success: Dahlin enters the league in a great atmosphere. 

3 hours ago, Beer said:

How much to pry Malkin from an underachieving Pit?

Roy. 

[Randall Flagg]

6 hours ago, Hoss said:

Team is on a four-game winning streak and is in a good playoff standing but we’re all complaining because the coach isn’t playing a guy who has zero goals in his last 20 games.

Here are things that are true:

Rodrigues is a top five forward on this team in points per minute, despite getting the third worst defense/offense splits on the team (21% ozone starts, 89% dzone starts). 

Rodrigues has no goals despite that. 

Tage Thompson also has no goals, but only one assist in 13 games. Rodrigues has six times the production. Tage is also, by literally any metric (and my eye test well before I decided to check) a bottom 10 forward in the entire NHL, a sample size of nearly 500 with non-negligible minutes.

Rodrigues' assists were all pivotal plays on the goals scored by our depth players. Think back to the fourth goal in the Vegas game at home, the two in Montreal. 

Fans have been moaning about our bottom six choices, and the counter has been "but they're winning so obviously something is there." That is no reason to just close our eyes and assume we can't parse things a little better than that. 

Rodrigues, in the most recent assists described, is the last time we had any goals out of our bottom six. They were plays created by him. In the four games since then, two of which he was scratched in, and the other two in which he was a part of the tank-metric lines we've gotten since Phil blew up 22-28-10, our bottom six has zero goals, zero assists, and plenty of minuses, including TWO direct assists for the other team by said Tage Thompson. It's possible that we are both winning AND need to do something about this, considering that statistically our wins have been 100% driven by Carter Hutton, Linus Ullmark, and guys in the top six like Eichel and Kyle (the consensus I'm going on here is that Jack and Casey's lines are our "top sixers" - it's the other lines that need adjustment. And don't forget about Dahlin today, of course, but he isn't a bottom six skater either). 

Thus, we are winning DESPITE the bottom six, and people can clearly see that, which is why they're commenting on it despite the now expected accusations of complaining and being negative. 

We know how important good play from the bottom six is - getting your offensive guys out after they're done wearing down opposing defenses, even if they dont' score, is huge. You don't need to get the puck and momentum back, you already have it and can finish the job. The lack of this over the years is as big a reason we were so bad as any. We had it for about ten games with 10-22-28. They didn't allow goals, they didn't allow shots, and they held the puck for 60% of the time they were on the ice. Even in the "bad game" Phil broke them up in (of course they're going to struggle against the fastest team in the league, they're slower. But not every team is the fastest in the league) they were PIVOTAL in the third, with two huge shifts late that almost had Jack and Jeff winning it on the same possession two different times. Fans want this back. Since we blew those up, our bottom two lines are hovering between 19% and 35% shot shares and we're winning despite having to "survive" their shifts when it so clearly doesn't have to be that way. Yes, they're winning, but they're winning because of everything else, despite this thorn in their side, and they're like two player decisions away from getting all of the good stuff AND having actual NHL play from their bottom six, which there is no eye test or statistical test in the world that can claim they've gotten in the last four games without looking like an utterly preposterous take. They have zero goals since the decisions we all hate, and they have tank metrics. They got absolutely peppered by Winnipeg, Tampa, Minnesota. Some of the worst defensive moments of this season come from those lines in those games, and they generated nothing remotely resembling offense. There is no defense of their play that can be taken seriously. It's been everyone else dragging them around and it literally doesn't have to be that way, because we just saw a ten game sample size of it NOT being that way. 

Believe it or not, a five game win streak doesn't mean everyone is perfect and a genius, that improvements can't be made, and that posters can't comment on these topics without being derided for it.

Anyway, 

Jesus Christ this is amazing and I'm struggling to even comprehend our record, and I'm so happy for these guys and the board and I hope this can continue for as long as possible. I can't wait to cheer them on Wednesday.

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

Nor do I.  He's a great defenseman.  I think people want him to be Potvin or something.  (There's another guy who will be better than Potvin on the team right now!)

I think we wanted Risto to be Dahlin (before we even knew who Dahlin was), but he's just not quite a top pairing defenseman (including the minutes he's had to play as our 1D during his NHL career).  You simply can't expect him to play 27-30 minutes a game at that high of a level.  Tonight he played a very sustainable 21:30.  The D core was very balanced tonight; Bogo played the most at 22:29 and Scandella played the least at 18:24.  If Housley continues a more balanced approach to defensemen, I think they all will play better.  None of our defensemen were a minus in +/- tonight.  That's awesome.

[Doohickie]

4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I agree with this. And every once in a while, while Sam is filling in on the top line, him and Jack will connect. 

Reino set up Skinner for the second goal and scored the third to force OT against Vancouver.  He has his moments for sure, but I just don't see him having the same chemistry with the Eich-Skinner tandem that Pommers does.  But I just don't think Pominville can skate top line minutes for a whole season.  The other guy I wouldn't mind seeing on the top line is Okposo, but I don't want to disrupt the Okie-Mitts tandem.

[Randall Flagg]

And it was great to see Phil move back to the fourth line I obnoxiously pine for, and even better to see them pick up where they left off.

Stick with this, and there's not even any reason to think we won't stay really good. That's what this team looks like right now. 

Like, aside from b*tching about our least important lines, there's nothing that screams "this will soon end" especially if the coach just moved back to the good depth combination. 

[Thorny]

3 hours ago, FuhrUrsinne said:

 

Sam's future here is as the second line RW, along with Nylander at LW and Mitts at C. The obvious problem right now is that Mitts is still developing and Nylander is still in the minors. So I would continue to be a bit more patient with him.

Skinner - Eichel - Olofsson

Nylander - Mittelstadt - Reinhart

...that has serious potential. 

3 hours ago, FuhrUrsinne said:

 

It sucks that we are still only third best in our division. The presence of Tampa Bay and Toronto in our division is highly problematic for our long-term Stanley Cup plans.

Not necessarily. If they end up in say the first wildcard occasionally, they may get a relatively easier road through the Metro on route to the conference finals..

[Randall Flagg]

Imagine if Jack and Sam could get back to their regular goal scoring rates?

[Huckleberry]

6 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

Imagine if Jack and Sam could get back to their regular goal scoring rates?

I said it before, they are saving those for the playoffs.

[Sabre1974]

Never felt excitement like this since april-june 2006. Long may it continue. This team put a smile on my face during the hardest period of my life then as my mum lost her battle with cancer the day after we lost in game 7 to Carolina. Enjoying every minute of this. 

[Cityo'Rasmii]

Hallelujah!!  The long chapter on pain and suffering is behind us

[PASabreFan]

8 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

Here are things that are true:

Rodrigues is a top five forward on this team in points per minute, despite getting the third worst defense/offense splits on the team (21% ozone starts, 89% dzone starts). 

Rodrigues has no goals despite that. 

Tage Thompson also has no goals, but only one assist in 13 games. Rodrigues has six times the production. Tage is also, by literally any metric (and my eye test well before I decided to check) a bottom 10 forward in the entire NHL, a sample size of nearly 500 with non-negligible minutes.

Rodrigues' assists were all pivotal plays on the goals scored by our depth players. Think back to the fourth goal in the Vegas game at home, the two in Montreal. 

Fans have been moaning about our bottom six choices, and the counter has been "but they're winning so obviously something is there." That is no reason to just close our eyes and assume we can't parse things a little better than that. 

Rodrigues, in the most recent assists described, is the last time we had any goals out of our bottom six. They were plays created by him. In the four games since then, two of which he was scratched in, and the other two in which he was a part of the tank-metric lines we've gotten since Phil blew up 22-28-10, our bottom six has zero goals, zero assists, and plenty of minuses, including TWO direct assists for the other team by said Tage Thompson. It's possible that we are both winning AND need to do something about this, considering that statistically our wins have been 100% driven by Carter Hutton, Linus Ullmark, and guys in the top six like Eichel and Kyle (the consensus I'm going on here is that Jack and Casey's lines are our "top sixers" - it's the other lines that need adjustment. And don't forget about Dahlin today, of course, but he isn't a bottom six skater either). 

Thus, we are winning DESPITE the bottom six, and people can clearly see that, which is why they're commenting on it despite the now expected accusations of complaining and being negative. 

We know how important good play from the bottom six is - getting your offensive guys out after they're done wearing down opposing defenses, even if they dont' score, is huge. You don't need to get the puck and momentum back, you already have it and can finish the job. The lack of this over the years is as big a reason we were so bad as any. We had it for about ten games with 10-22-28. They didn't allow goals, they didn't allow shots, and they held the puck for 60% of the time they were on the ice. Even in the "bad game" Phil broke them up in (of course they're going to struggle against the fastest team in the league, they're slower. But not every team is the fastest in the league) they were PIVOTAL in the third, with two huge shifts late that almost had Jack and Jeff winning it on the same possession two different times. Fans want this back. Since we blew those up, our bottom two lines are hovering between 19% and 35% shot shares and we're winning despite having to "survive" their shifts when it so clearly doesn't have to be that way. Yes, they're winning, but they're winning because of everything else, despite this thorn in their side, and they're like two player decisions away from getting all of the good stuff AND having actual NHL play from their bottom six, which there is no eye test or statistical test in the world that can claim they've gotten in the last four games without looking like an utterly preposterous take. They have zero goals since the decisions we all hate, and they have tank metrics. They got absolutely peppered by Winnipeg, Tampa, Minnesota. Some of the worst defensive moments of this season come from those lines in those games, and they generated nothing remotely resembling offense. There is no defense of their play that can be taken seriously. It's been everyone else dragging them around and it literally doesn't have to be that way, because we just saw a ten game sample size of it NOT being that way. 

Believe it or not, a five game win streak doesn't mean everyone is perfect and a genius, that improvements can't be made, and that posters can't comment on these topics without being derided for it.

Anyway, 

Jesus Christ this is amazing and I'm struggling to even comprehend our record, and I'm so happy for these guys and the board and I hope this can continue for as long as possible. I can't wait to cheer them on Wednesday.

Yes, but are you happy and/or do you have very fond memories of the Doobie Brothers?

[WildCard]

Why didn't Eichel bury that empty netter at the end? 

[Winston]

4 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Why didn't Eichel bury that empty netter at the end? 

To improve the Sabres’ record in one goal games 

[nfreeman]

12 hours ago, TrueBlueGED said:

Dahlin can have my children. 

I think he deserves much better than that.  

[PASabreFan]

13 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Why didn't Eichel bury that empty netter at the end? 

The Wild had conceded the election. Quite literally. It would not have been good form.