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GDT: Sabres at Flames, THURSDAY 12/05/19, 9:00 pm ET


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1 hour ago, dudacek said:

I’m not correcting you at all, just offering my opinions in an interesting post.

1A) The Sabres have an underrated number of skilled forwards who can make slick plays and pick corners - score goal scorer’s goals. They have a paucity of the types of players with the mindset or skill set to score dirty goals: rebounds, net drives or deflections.

1B) The Sabres’ defensive woes are overrated. They are middle of the pack in goals against and last I looked they were about the same analytically. Their ability to exit the zone is much improved over last year and they give opponents fewer open looks. I agree with Ralph in that they have  tendency to fall back into bad habits at times. They are still mediocre, but they are better.

2) Our goalies are adequate, rarely the reason we win or lose. Which is a cause for concern going forward.

3) It is really bad. Goaltending is a small factor. A larger one is lack of puck pressure.

4) I think their ability to continue plugging in the face of adversary has been quite good this year. That’s not the same of overcoming that adversary, but it is a huge improvement and a compliment to the coaches.

5) If only Botterill could have swung the O’Reilly deal for Montreal’s pick and Brady Tkachuk.

 

This. We’re one Tkachuk-esque player from being a competitive team. It goes much deeper than just the skill they provide though.

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2 hours ago, triumph_communes said:

Special Teams is a PROBLEM for two months now.  Who is coaching it?

 

yes they backed off in the second period but so does every team. They played strong in the first and last half of the third. Plenty of chances

Pretty sure Steve Smith does. I think we should call up Bobby April and see what he’s doing. A ST genius like him can adapt to hockey. 

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8 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

He has five goals in the last 19 games. He has no power play goals this season. You can defend his production, but you're relying on his hot 10-game start.

Yup. He’ll need to increase his rate from his recent stretch if he’s to reach the 30 goal plateau. I just don’t have much worry that he will considering this is what I’d term “usual goal-scorer streakiness”. 

Him getting his goals at ES is a positive to me. 

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6 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

Phil said the same thing, which is why he used Vlad 4th most of any skater during the worst offensive season I've seen from a Sabre in a non-tank year. Does that appear to have convinced me that Vlad was actually good, contrary to my own eyes? No? Then why would Ralph saying that this year? And I've already said that Vlad is obviously not as bad this year as he was last year, though that improvement almost solely comes in the neutral and defensive zones. 

And he's open to criticism, but there is no player for which that won't happen at some point, unless he's an all-time legend like Ovechkin. You can be concerned or get mad about it, but you can also set your watch to it, so I don't find it useful to spend emotion when stretches like this happen, even if I'll acknowledge that it'd be nice if Skinner was scoring more. The 19 games you refer to are still at a >20 goal pace, which, if this is a down streak, we should be thankful for that haha. 

Like stretches like this will never NOT happen for goal scorers, so I just don't get a lot out of tapping my foot and waiting for it to end, I'm more concerned about the fact that we haven't built a roster to cover for the obvious fact that goal scoring is streaky 
 

This.

Also, I absolutely *cringe* when I hear Krueger talk about how valuable Sobotka is. It’s such a gut-punch. 

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5 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

Just checked, we haven't won 2 games in a row since October 22nd, or 19 games ago. ? 

All this while Eichel is on a *ridiculous* 20 points in 11 games heater. We are wasting it! It’s sad. For the love of god Botterill make a move and help your team and captain. 

It’s beyond time yet he seems content to do nothing, again. 

Edited by Thorny
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12 hours ago, Pimlach said:

The Avs traded ROR and got better.  We traded him and got worse.  

Actually, the opposite is true, sort of.  Avs traded him then had a worse season, Sabres traded him then had a better season.

Of course there are too many other factors that go into a season.

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5 hours ago, #freejame said:

Pretty sure Steve Smith does. I think we should call up Bobby April and see what he’s doing. A ST genius like him can adapt to hockey. 

Smith runs the PK.  Does he run the PP?  I thought Granato did?  Maybe Taylor was when he was here?

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