GDT: Dallas visits Buffalo Sabres Oct. 14th, 3pm ET, MSG and WGR550

[...]

Look where KO is shooting from.  If he keeps it up he's going to get 20 goals.

[Randall Flagg]

Scandella made a beautiful pass on the Samson goal (so did Victor). I think we have 16-17 Scandy back, or maybe an even better version. Wonderful.

Throw Pilut into the Jets deal and get moar back!

[SwampD]

19 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

It literally is - it's his first point, and first contribution to a goal, unless you count skating in a straight line towards the goalie while Johansson and Skinner complete a cross-ice roof job goal. 

As compelling as his 13 point pace season is in a top six role... ?

Just yanking your chain. He's been playing fine. Still waiting for an upgrade on the spot, internal or otherwise

I actually misread his post about primaried. I know that it was his first point, but not for lack of opportunities. He made that exact pass in the last game, Skinner just didn’t put it in. And being a distraction in front of the net is not without merit, and he’s been far from useless, even in the offensive zone with only one point.

[...]

Dahlin is #13 in points league-wide.  I know it's early, but, if this continues...

[Taro T]

Fun game to watch.  Wish I didn't have 3 deadlines this week, would've headed in for it.

3 games this year that the opponent had to (or at minimum did) give them some space and they really were able to work that short pass to a supporting teammate followed by a crisp pass up ice to the far boards.  And all 3 games they kept skating all game and eventually wore the other guys down.

3 games where they got pressured much more and had a tougher time getting going, but never got too frustrated and never stopped skating.  And ended up with 5 points in those 3 games as well.

Krueger has them supporting each other in all 3 zones much better than his predecessors since Ruff were able to get them to do.

Very pleased with the D pairings, they seem to have a very good comfort level with each other.

Still not thrilled they slip back to the 1-2-2 and especially the 1-1-3 forecheck in the 3rd, expect that will end up biting them more often than not, and it almost did twice, but I guess until it does bite them, they'll go back to it.  At least it hasn't been passive even though it isn't attacking.  They still aren't conceding the blue line which could be why it hasn't bit them worse.  It'll be interesting to see how that 3rd period lead protect evolves, if in fact it does.

Still liking that Eichel line.  And, should Sobotka keep playing like he did today, might even cut him some slack. ?  But he needs to have at least as many good shifts as he has "nice play, Vlad <_< " shifts (like he did today).  Give the devil his due, he played well today.

And still expect either Thompson in a month or so, or whatever a trade of a D-man to bring back to be more useful there, but no way Krueger messes with anything at this point.

And really am happy with what Bates has done W/ the goaltending so far.  Do NOT let that man leave for other coaching opportunities unless somebody is offering him an NHL head coaching job.

[stinky finger]

1 hour ago, woods-racer said:

Nah, just  another Talking Head.

Dang!

I pulled from the wrong video file .?

 

[Taro T]

19 minutes ago, ... said:

Dahlin is #13 in points league-wide.  I know it's early, but, if this continues...

Imagine what he'll be able to do once he finally manages to get the puck to stop rolling off his stick.  ?

[Brawndo]

53 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

I only saw five minutes of this one (included the Reinhart goal). How was the third period?

They were outshot, but they were mostly perimeter shots, they did a good job keeping the HD Shots to a minimum 

[dudacek]

3 hours ago, millbank said:

Best game by Sabres this young season . Good going young men 

I don’t know about that; the Penguin and Devil games were pretty dominant and showed more offence.

But it was our most dominant defensive performance,

2 hours ago, millbank said:

Risto again 23:43 minutes played . By far the most. Can’t complain with a perfect result. Is this just early season going with best at hand. Past evidence has shown such ice time played not sustainable over a season. Is this just short term or has something changed in his play? They show casing him? Just using what they have until healthy? I root for Risto to do well as a Sabre but see him as second pair used wisely not first pair. Is it possible he has coach who believes in him or coach just going short term with best he has ? 

I might be a minority, but I think Risto at 23-24 minutes with NHL forwards is exactly right. Lots of NHL defencemen play those minutes and he’s physically equipped for it. It’s the 26 minutes, half of them with bad forwards, that we need to keep him away from.

2 hours ago, CallawaySabres said:

Dare i say we have a coach that has his finger on the pulse of the goaltending?!

Hutton must have felt like he was back with the Blues in that one. I’m struggling to recall multiple Dallas rebound chances, or open looks.

1 hour ago, Cheektorado said:

 

It should tell a lot where they are really at.

I wonder how many more games before these cautious posts turn into “we’re good.”

I also wonder how many “I knew it, we suck” posts come after the first two-game losing streak.

After the winning streak last year, it’s going to take a while to trust what we’re seeing.

[dudacek]

14 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Fun game to watch.  Wish I didn't have 3 deadlines this week, would've headed in for it.

3 games this year that the opponent had to (or at minimum did) give them some space and they really were able to work that short pass to a supporting teammate followed by a crisp pass up ice to the far boards.  And all 3 games they kept skating all game and eventually wore the other guys down.

3 games where they got pressured much more and had a tougher time getting going, but never got too frustrated and never stopped skating.  And ended up with 5 points in those 3 games as well.

Krueger has them supporting each other in all 3 zones much better than his predecessors since Ruff were able to get them to do.

Very pleased with the D pairings, they seem to have a very good comfort level with each other.

Still not thrilled they slip back to the 1-2-2 and especially the 1-1-3 forecheck in the 3rd, expect that will end up biting them more often than not, and it almost did twice, but I guess until it does bite them, they'll go back to it.  At least it hasn't been passive even though it isn't attacking.  They still aren't conceding the blue line which could be why it hasn't bit them worse.  It'll be interesting to see how that 3rd period lead protect evolves, if in fact it does.

Still liking that Eichel line.  And, should Sobotka keep playing like he did today, might even cut him some slack. ?  But he needs to have at least as many good shifts as he has "nice play, Vlad <_< " shifts (like he did today).  Give the devil his due, he played well today.

And still expect either Thompson in a month or so, or whatever a trade of a D-man to bring back to be more useful there, but no way Krueger messes with anything at this point.

And really am happy with what Bates has done W/ the goaltending so far.  Do NOT let that man leave for other coaching opportunities unless somebody is offering him an NHL head coaching job.

The best new element is the support off rush: attacking and defending we have multiple options, all of them nearby.

[Curt]

2 hours ago, #freejame said:

Just because someone is bad doesn’t mean they cannot contribute in any way at any given time. Everyone here has seen him make them before. His contributions are inconsistent and unremarkable, but he makes them.

Agreed.  He isn’t very good, but he does something helpful from time to time.

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I don’t know about that; the Penguin and Devil games were pretty dominant and showed more offence.

But it was our most dominant defensive performance,

I might be a minority, but I think Risto at 23-24 minutes with NHL forwards is exactly right. Lots of NHL defencemen play those minutes and he’s physically equipped for it. It’s the 26 minutes, half of them with bad forwards, that we need to keep him away from.

Hutton must have felt like he was back with the Blues in that one. I’m struggling to recall multiple Dallas rebound chances, or open looks.

I wonder how many more games before these cautious posts turn into “we’re good.”

I also wonder how many “I knew it, we suck” posts come after the first two-game losing streak.

After the winning streak last year, it’s going to take a while to trust what we’re seeing.

Don't know on the bolder, but to be on a playoff pace they need to pick up 12 points every 10 games.  (That gives them 96 through 80 games with the ability to get up to 100 if necessary by the end of the season.). Right now they have 11 throughout 6.  Anything more than merely an OT loss over these next 4 and their banking points for a rainy day.

[Huckleberry]

50 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Scandella made a beautiful pass on the Samson goal (so did Victor). I think we have 16-17 Scandy back, or maybe an even better version. Wonderful.

Throw Pilut into the Jets deal and get moar back!

I would rather keep him, Scandella might be gone after the season.

[Huckleberry]

You know what is the most fun, going on HF and read the opposing teams GDT.    So far 3 team fanbases are crying out for a rebuild because they lost to Buffalo ?

[Curt]

56 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Scandella made a beautiful pass on the Samson goal (so did Victor). I think we have 16-17 Scandy back, or maybe an even better version. Wonderful.

Throw Pilut into the Jets deal and get moar back!

17-18 Scandella even was decent.  Seems like only 18-19 was a terrible year for him.

[Curt]

I wasn’t really able to watch.  Seems like they turtled in the 3rd again with a 2-0 lead, getting massively outshot in the period.  How was it to the eyes?

[Taro T]

Just now, Curt said:

I wasn’t really able to watch.  Seems like they turtled in the 3rd again with a 2-0 lead, getting massively outshot in the period.  How was it to the eyes?

Truthfully, was surprised they were out shot as bad as they were in the 3rd.  They were getting hemmed in early that period, but it was quite back and forth after that and there were really only about 2 really tough scoring chances against in the 3rd.

[New Guy]

The checking detail was impressive today

[Doohickie]

Being stuck in the Dallas market I watched the Stars coverage.  They were just in awe of the Sabres power play and enamored with Victor Olofsson.  They also were very complimentary about the Sabres passing and puck movement, and the ability to roll four lines (which was what caused the 2nd period penalty).  By the way, the Stars said the penalty was called because "Klingberg thought he tweaked his ankle and wanted to get it looked at" but the refs thought he was faking.  The Stars coach (Montgomery) told that very matter-of-factly and didn't blame the refs for the call. 

In post game interviews, Radulov and Benn both had that deer in the headlight look that ROR had before he "lost of love for the game."  Dallas is in a bad spot right now; they last time they had a start this poor was when they were still in Minnesota.

Edited October 15, 2019 by Doohickie

[Doohickie]

7 minutes ago, Curt said:

How was it to the eyes?

The Stars looked like last year's Sabres:  Lots of shots from the outside, none of them good looks.  They for the most part stopped the 2-man forecheck and dropped back into coverage more quickly than earlier in the game, playing defensively responsible hockey.  All except the LOG line.  They wanted to play in the Dallas end all game.  And they did.

[Curt]

2 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Being stuck in the Dallas market I watched the Stars coverage.  They were just in awe of the Sabres power play and enamored with Victor Olofsson.  They also were very complimentary about the Sabres passing and puck movement, and the ability to roll four lines (which was what caused the 2nd period penalty).  By the way, the Stars said the penalty was called because "Klingberg thought he tweaked his ankle and wanted to get it looked at" but the refs thought he was faking.  The Stars coach (Montgomery) told that very matter-of-factly and didn't blame the refs for the bad call. 

In post game interviews, Radulov and Benn both had that deer in the headlight look that ROR had before he "lost of love for the game."  Dallas is in a bad spot right now; they last time they had a start this poor was when they were still in Minnesota.

Yeah, that’s a veteran team who are finding themselves not quite good enough to be a contender.  With this bad start they are probably all thinking that the team may be blown up and sold off by the trade deadline.

[Doohickie]

25 minutes ago, Curt said:

Agreed.  He isn’t very good, but he does something helpful from time to time.

He means well, bless his heart.

1 minute ago, Curt said:

Yeah, that’s a veteran team who are finding themselves not quite good enough to be a contender.  With this bad start they are probably all thinking that the team may be blown up and sold off by the trade deadline.

Yes.  They're the Red Wings from a couple seasons ago.  Or us from the last decade.

[Curt]

5 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

The Stars looked like last year's Sabres:  Lots of shots from the outside, none of them good looks.  They for the most part stopped the 2-man forecheck and dropped back into coverage more quickly than earlier in the game, playing defensively responsible hockey.  All except the LOG line.  They wanted to play in the Dallas end all game.  And they did.

I don’t like that they have been consistently packing it in with 3rd period leads.  I don’t think that’s going to be a successful strategy agains good teams very often.

One of my few complaints thus far.

Edited October 15, 2019 by Curt

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, ... said:

Look where KO is shooting from.  If he keeps it up he's going to get 20 goals.

The LOG line has zero, ZERO pressure to score, but they spend all their time in the offensive zone.  They're bound to get their share of goals.  20 from Kyle this year would put him up for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.

[Doohickie]

4 minutes ago, Curt said:

I don’t like that they have been consistently packing it in with 3rd period leads.  I don’t think that’s going to be a successful strategy agains good teams very often.

They "packed it in" after already scoring two goals in that third period.  They still played hard, but they played for no odd-man rushes against, and kept almost all the Dallas shots to the perimeter.  They didn't take the third period off.  They checked hard and disrupted Dallas's offense effectively.