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GDT: Sabres @ Hurricanes -- Jan. 11, 2019


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Not worth its own thread, but here's how the conference has done since the Sabres' winning streak ended (since Nov. 28). A few games are pending tonight.

Tampa 35
Pittsburgh 29
Washington 27
Islanders 26
Montreal 24
Boston 24
Columbus 23
Toronto 22
Carolina 20
Florida 20
New Jersey 17
Buffalo 16
Philly 16
Ottawa 16
Detroit 14
NYR 13

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Just now, PASabreFan said:

Not worth its own thread, but here's how the conference has done since the Sabres' winning streak ended (since Nov. 28). A few games are pending tonight.

Tampa 35
Pittsburgh 29
Washington 27
Islanders 26
Montreal 24
Boston 24
Columbus 23
Toronto 22
Carolina 20
Florida 20
New Jersey 17
Buffalo 16
Philly 16
Ottawa 16
Detroit 14
NYR 13

at that rate we will be in Hughes contention by mid march 

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Not happy about that loss. Carolina, like Boston, is a team you have to attack. You have to attack them to neutralize the forecheck. But that strategy just doesn't seem to be in the "gameplan". 

Sometimes you can point to talent as the issue. But I thought this game was well within reach in that respect. 

So I'm going to officially gripe about coaching for the first time this season. I think our useless PP is a big problem and I think the fact that we keep losing to teams that forecheck us to death is a big problem. 

Bad bounces killed us, but they killed us because of the bigger issues. Which are, in part, coaching related. 

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5 minutes ago, Tondas said:

Seasons ebb and flow.  I think it's good for the Sabres to be on the playoff line.  Builds mental toughness.  I hate it as a fan, but I think it will help in the long run.  Got to keep perspective.

Look at the roster.  On a good night we are better than Montreal and Carolina  

Can we beat any of them in a 7 game series?   I’m not sure we can.  Heck, not sure we can beat Florida and Detroit in a series   Mental and physical toughness.  

 

We are a work in progress.  Still hanging on to the 8th spot for now. 

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1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

If I'm Terry, I'm wondering about the lack of response from his GM and coach as a very promising season has started to circle the toilet.

Most people thought we may challenge for a playoff spot at the beginning of the season. So far, we are.  JBOT said he's not going to mortgage the future for a one year run.  We're gonna have to make due with what we got.

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5 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

If I'm Terry, I'm wondering about the lack of response from his GM and coach as a very promising season has started to circle the toilet.

JBot said Terry is aware of the teams needs and the strategy.  They communicate.  He said this when he implied he will not overpay and reach to get players.  He prefers to devolop our own, which takes time.  

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1 minute ago, Tondas said:

Most people thought we may challenge for a playoff spot at the beginning of the season. So far, we are.  JBOT said he's not going to mortgage the future for a one year run.  We're gonna have to make due with what we got.

Yeah, need a better understanding of 'mortgaging the future.'  Trading the 28th pick in the draft and a defenseman prospect for a legit 2nd line center to salvage an Eichel-led playoff run doesn't sound like a bad idea right now.

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1 minute ago, jad1 said:

Yeah, need a better understanding of 'mortgaging the future.'  Trading the 28th pick in the draft and a defenseman prospect for a legit 2nd line center to salvage an Eichel-led playoff run doesn't sound like a bad idea right now.

I want to agree because I've been faithfully watching for 49 years.  I trust JBOT and try to enjoy the games now and let him do the worrying.

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11 minutes ago, jad1 said:

Eichel/Skinner/Thompson were getting dominated because Thompson is a offensive zone possession time killer. Puck goes to him, possession ends.

Mittlestadt with Reinhart would have been a better move, but that turns Eichel into a playmaker.

Mittlestadt with Skinner and Eichel with Reinhart would create two playmaker/scorer lines.  Would fill out the two top lines with ERod and Larry.

While I’ll agree that Thompson killed offensive possession at times the line as a whole got hemmed in their defensive zone way too much. Pommers should have never been moved back off the top line once he got there tonight. 

I would like to see Sheary-Mittelstadt-Reinhart tomorrow 

 

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The problem is we had a 10 game win streak and we were at the top of the standings.  It was before the holidays and felt ***** awesome.  Family was in town,  flying high over the success.  Lots of high fives.  Christmas come early.  Now reality sets in and it ***** sucks.  

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2 minutes ago, Tondas said:

I want to agree because I've been faithfully watching for 49 years.  I trust JBOT and try to enjoy the games now and let him do the worrying.

I get that, but the some of the best playoff runs started with the Sabres in the 8th seed.  

Being a Bills/Sabres fan over the last two decades, I've learned you can't pick when you're going to be good.  To waste this opportunity to protect a late first round pick doesn't seem like the right move here.

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3 minutes ago, Indabuff said:

The problem is we had a 10 game win streak and we were at the top of the standings.  It was before the holidays and felt ***** awesome.  Family was in town,  flying high over the success.  Lots of high fives.  Christmas come early.  Now reality sets in and it ***** sucks.  

Finally took the tree down on Wednesday.  Took boxes of ornaments and lights to the basement and dragged the dying carcass out to the curb.  This kinda feels like that. 

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Here's the problem. I never expected the Sabres to make the playoffs this year.  Then again, I never expected them to win 10 straight. Now, they may become only the 2nd team in NHL history to have a 10 game win streak and not make the playoffs................ Now that's embarrassing. 

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I was wondering if everyone else was as frustrated as I was after that game...no doubt about it.  Apart from the 10 game mirage, this  team looks so much slower and less determined than it was in November.  It’s like they’ve lost their confidence, and can’t get it back.  Watching the playoffs slowly slip away is more difficult to deal with as a Buffalo fan, but this is such a close league, and we were probably overachieving when we were streaking. Now, the tough times are showing that this team isn’t quite ready for prime time yet.  We are where we would have liked to be in the beginning, but dialing back the expectations and possibly wasting this opportunity after tasting the feeling of being at the top is a very difficult ask for Buffalo fans.

Edited by repster
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We're back to this sublime notion of building toward some glorious moment of future domination of the league. Great. How often does that work? How many teams are actively on this path? Just make the ***** playoffs. Please — to do so doesn't mean you have to sacrifice the future.

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This topic is OLD. A NEW topic should be started unless there is a VERY SPECIFIC REASON to revive this one.

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