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GDT Lightning at Sabres 12/31/19 7pm


SwampD

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10 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I no longer believe in this team. They are a facade of a real team with no heart and only fake theatrics. They are children playing with adults. It's cute until the adults decide to win. 

Sad but true. But in all honesty. Not many free agents want to come to Buffalo. I’m surprised Skinner stayed. 

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42 minutes ago, SabresBillsFan said:

It’s sad because the fans of Buffalo and I’m talking both teams deserve better. I moved away to Vegas back in 89 and have followed the Sabres constantly until we got the Golden Knights. Now most people here in Vegas are Knights fans even though they came from other hockey markets. The building has an energy that I can say most nhl teams don’t have. I watched that game last night with Buffalo and Tampa and there is no way you blow a 4-1 lead at home. Buffalo has a lot of youthful legs and they were outworked the second half of the game. Eichel is on another level this year and it’s sad to see because he’s basically carrying this team by himself. We all know they need to make some trades but what do you really expect to get for Bogo, Scandella, and Miller? Miller who was here in Vegas wasn’t that bad when he was here. I know he fell out of favor in year 2 but was pretty decent in our expansion year. Guy can skate and has a rocket shot when it actually hits the net. He makes some pretty poor decisions with the puck sometimes and doesn’t want to take a hit to make a play. I don’t know what Buffalo has to do to fix this mess it’s like a complete overhaul of the hockey department. I have been saying for like 20 years a team like Buffalo and I’m talking both the Sabres and Bills needs to find their talent through the draft because premier players aren’t signing contracts in free agency to go to Buffalo. It ain’t happening!

I share your frustration with the Sabres. They are a mess from top to bottom.  
 

I pretty much disagree with your postings on the Bills.  They are progressing and on a faster timetable than most experts expected.  Beane and McDermott have been fantastic.  The culture shift on that team is impressive to witness.  Whether you like JA or not, the front office has a clear plan and they are finding players that thrive in Buffalo.  

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40 minutes ago, Sabre1974 said:

You not feel at this moment that asplund and Lazar are better bottom 6 options?  Not expecting them to be top 6. 

Sure, they are both better than ERod and maybe better than Vessey too.  That  essentially buys us nothing but ok, they are better.  

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14 hours ago, Neo said:

You could very well be right, truly.   Twenty five Lightning players and coaches disagree.  I know that the rest of the game (absent the spectacular shorty) was Tampa’s.   And, to be clear.  I want a tough team to play against, grit and grind and stick up for one another.  I don’t think McCabe’s fight was any of that.   I think it was more “they roasted me a few weeks ago, I’d better do something here”.

In fairness to McCabe, he was healthy scratched for the game in Tampa when Dahlin got concussed.

And don't get why he got the instigator penalty.  If talking earned him an instigator then 95% of all fights should be awarded one.

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51 minutes ago, Taro T said:

In fairness to McCabe, he was healthy scratched for the game in Tampa when Dahlin got concussed.

And don't get why he got the instigator penalty.  If talking earned him an instigator then 95% of all fights should be awarded one.

It was BS but I'd expect nothing less from the NHL

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It looks extremely bad blowing a 3 goal lead but the warning signs were there earlier in the game. Of TB’s first 9 shots, 4 or 5 were code red variety. The game looked out of reach but TB simply said let’s get the next one and they’ll crumble. And we did. 
 

another year with no playoffs. Well there’s always next year. I wonder how long it takes before Captain says I want out too?

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3 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Nah.  That’s great Lightning PR fodder for Sergchev, but not exactly what happened.  We scored a shorty during McCabe's instigator penalty.  We continued to control the play and had  a PP that should have blown the game open.  Segachev’s silly taunt notwithstanding,  we had our foot on their necks and I don’t think anybody was intimidated.    The Sabres had all the momentum after that fight.    

I think the momentum change occurred on Mojo’s hooking penalty while we were on the PP.  They scored on their PP.  That is when we stopped playing good hockey.   Then Tyler Johnson got behind our  defense and bang  4-3, new game.  Remember, we were used  to rolling 7 defenseman, now we have 5.  We failed to adapt and adjust.  

I did not agree with the instigator call on McCabe, especially when Sergachev dropped them first.  The loss of McCabe for 17 minutes really hurt.  We could have used McCabe on the next two PK’s where were gave up goals with him sitting out.   The Refs knew  damm well were upset about the past few games against Tampa and they really  hurt us with a 17 minute call.  There were no calls on the hits on Sobotka and Dahlin so the Sabres take matters in their own hands and get 17 minutes in penalties for it.   Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t.   I guess bad teams don’t get any slack from the officials either?  

The hook called on Mojo I would like to see again, in fast motion it looked tick tack.  I summarize this game and this team like this  -  the Sabres are a mentally weak team that has lacked true leadership for a long time.  With McCabe out they needed to dig deeper and continue taking the play to Tampa.  In the start of the GDT I said we needed to win on special teams and it turns out that is where we lost.  Again.  

Let face it, they have a better team, more talent on every line, better coaching, better front office,  better player development.  That is 7 straight losses to a division team.   At least this Sabres team has a few players with the awareness to hate losing.  The one thing RK seems to bring is a consistent message that they own this and they have to change it.  So I prefer fighting and losing to losing and not fighting.  
 

Turning to the root cause of this teams decade long problems, it’s the Front Office.  Strategy, Culture, and Leadership starts on top and it is missing.  Somehow, since 2011 this once proud Sabres franchise has become the California-Oakland Seals of my youth - a helpless and hopeless franchise.   This is not what Pegula intended and he needs to find the right people to fix this. 

Maybe Botterill’s inability to make a helpful trade is a blessing.  At this point I don’t trust him with the limited assets we have.  

I am probably sounding repetitive.   I am worn out by 10 years of bad hockey. 

 

This is an outstanding post.

Separately:  RK sounded more discouraged in his postgame presser than I've heard him sound all year.

Even after that debacle, I still really like RK and think he's doing a good job with a poorly constructed roster.  They haven't been far off in most of their recent losses.  And they haven't shown up dead on their feet out of the gate at all, which happened frequently under Howie, other than the game a couple of weeksw ago in which Eichel was a late scratch.

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18 hours ago, Torpedo Forecheck said:

Nothing personal dude, you just think you know more than you do.

 

18 hours ago, Thorny said:

Block me. Seriously. Actually f*ck it. Don't. 

See ya around, kid. 

 

JFC.  The 2 of you polluted about 4 pages of a GDT with this BS. 

Both of you have been here long enough to know better.

Don't do it again.

 

18 hours ago, Zamboni said:

I got it for using a poop emoji. No lie. ?

Actually, it is.

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48 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

 

This is an outstanding post.

Separately:  RK sounded more discouraged in his postgame presser than I've heard him sound all year.

Even after that debacle, I still really like RK and think he's doing a good job with a poorly constructed roster.  They haven't been far off in most of their recent losses.  And they haven't shown up dead on their feet out of the gate at all, which happened frequently under Howie, other than the game a couple of weeksw ago in which Eichel was a late scratch.

Contrast last night to this from today

 

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1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

Uh, who started the fight? After a clean hit? There aren't enough instigator penalties. I wouldn't be surprised if the NHL is trying to get rid of the overreactions to good, clean, hockey hits.

I think what they are trying to stop is the "call up the tough guy to get even" stuff.  Yesterday was right there with when we obtained Scott and the league made it known that they weren't going to tolerate Kaleta and Scott antics to make up for Miller-Lucic.  And they threw the book at those two (rather unfairly IMO) with great frequency.  The reaction to McCabe seemed eerily similar.  That response was very manufactured.

It appears to me that the league is OK with organic toughness in play but is going to take a firm stance against manufactured, staged toughness.  And last night was the former.

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4 minutes ago, Weave said:

I think what they are trying to stop is the "call up the tough guy to get even" stuff.  Yesterday was right there with when we obtained Scott and the league made it known that they weren't going to tolerate Kaleta and Scott antics to make up for Miller-Lucic.  And they threw the book at those two (rather unfairly IMO) with great frequency.  The reaction to McCabe seemed eerily similar.  That response was very manufactured.

It appears to me that the league is OK with organic toughness in play but is going to take a firm stance against manufactured, staged toughness.  And last night was the former.

And unfortunately the Sabres don't have players that play with toughness. They have to manufacture it. So they are *****. 

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1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

Contrast last night to this from today

 

Wow. I appreciate his eloquence and his candor.  Clearly a very smart man that practices what he preaches.  Impressive guy.  

His comments on “processing pain” are life lessons, not just hockey lessons.  What he is saying is what you would teach your kids or students, or mentees at work.  

I liked that he talked about the mistakes and the learning that is happening. I think he shows the players that he believes in them if they play a certain way.  He also thinks they are mentally tougher than we on the outside do by their and learning and willingness to move on.  I know I see that change in this team, even if it does not translate to W’s.  He never once talked about a lack of talent, or made any other excuse.  But clearly he needs better players to win.   He is accountable for himself, and he is looking for accountability from the players   

I also appreciate that he understands the fans frustration, he brought that up several times.  The fan base is totally fed up, I know I am.   This interview will help me evaluate what I’m seeing, or think I’m seeing.  

His comments on ERod were perfect.  In summary -  we will have a team of players that want to be here and those are the ones that will play.  I don’t think we will see much more of ERod, unless he talks to the coach and convinces him that he is bought in.   

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2 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Wow. I appreciate his eloquence and his candor.  Clearly a very smart man that practices what he preaches.  Impressive guy.  

His comments on “processing pain” are life lessons, not just hockey lessons.  What he is saying is what you would teach your kids or students, or mentees at work.  

I liked that he talked about the mistakes and the learning that is happening. I think he shows the players that he believes in them if they play a certain way.  He also thinks they are mentally tougher than we on the outside do by their and learning and willingness to move on.  I know I see that change in this team, even if it does not translate to W’s.  He never once talked about a lack of talent, or made any other excuse.  But clearly he needs better players to win.   He is accountable for himself, and he is looking for accountability from the players   

I also appreciate that he understands the fans frustration, he brought that up several times.  The fan base is totally fed up, I know I am.   This interview will help me evaluate what I’m seeing, or think I’m seeing.  

His comments on ERod were perfect.  In summary -  we will have a team of players that want to be here and those are the ones that will play.  I don’t think we will see much more of ERod, unless he talks to the coach and convinces him that he is bought in.  

It'll take more IMHO than simply saying he's bought in.  He'll need to actually demonstrate it in practices.

It's interesting, again IMHO, that both he and Sheary were not playing well for an extended stretch and then started getting scratched.  They both seemed to play better that 1st game back in the lineup, but only Conor continued to look like he was working after that.  Rodrigues seemed IMHO to drop back to that lowered level again.  Apparently Krueger saw that as well and we now have them truth (or reality or whatever word RK used there).

Could definitely see both he and Bogosian going several more games in the press box before getting cracks at getting back into the lineup.  Both have played poorly recently (well longer than that actually) and have expresses a desire not to be here.

Miller can't be happy either, but at least he hasn't opened his trap yet.  Wonder whether we see him "buy in" or ask to be let out?

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3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Uh, who started the fight? After a clean hit? There aren't enough instigator penalties. I wouldn't be surprised if the NHL is trying to get rid of the overreactions to good, clean, hockey hits.

I’ll applaud if they do this.  The fight after a clean hit annoys me, my team or not.

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2 hours ago, Weave said:

I think what they are trying to stop is the "call up the tough guy to get even" stuff.  Yesterday was right there with when we obtained Scott and the league made it known that they weren't going to tolerate Kaleta and Scott antics to make up for Miller-Lucic.  And they threw the book at those two (rather unfairly IMO) with great frequency.  The reaction to McCabe seemed eerily similar.  That response was very manufactured.

It appears to me that the league is OK with organic toughness in play but is going to take a firm stance against manufactured, staged toughness.  And last night was the former.

And the fact that if the league and officials did their job and handed out severe punishment to players who injured guys on filthy plays there would be no need for frontier justice shows that they all have IQ's identical to their shoe sizes.

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3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Uh, who started the fight? After a clean hit? There aren't enough instigator penalties. I wouldn't be surprised if the NHL is trying to get rid of the overreactions to good, clean, hockey hits.

This is such a load of schit.

There is such ingrained biases in the NHL that even the people involved in them can’t see them.

If that was a Tampa player or a Bruin that responded to a hit similar to the one on Jack, the announcers and media would be falating McCabe’s response.

”You just can’t let other teams take liberties... Good on them for taking matters in there own hands and not leaving it up to the refs”

We have heard this a million effing times, but when it not a MFT, it’s their fault.

Fuhking ridiculous,

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6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I no longer believe in this team. They are a facade of a real team with no heart and only fake theatrics. They are children playing with adults. It's cute until the adults decide to win. 

I keep hoping for the best.   I'm often up at 03.00 am watching the games live and often see good things with this team.   I also like this board a lot even with all the pessimism that naturally flowed into it.   But in the end i can't help myself and keep hoping for the best and try to see the positive side in all of this.

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4 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Uh, who started the fight? After a clean hit? There aren't enough instigator penalties. I wouldn't be surprised if the NHL is trying to get rid of the overreactions to good, clean, hockey hits.

 

46 minutes ago, Neo said:

I’ll applaud if they do this.  The fight after a clean hit annoys me, my team or not.


You guys might be giving the NHL too much credit.  Officiating in this league is garbage.  Last nights 17 minutes on McCabe was random like any other game on any other night 

How does a player on the ice playing the game determine it’s a “good, clean, hockey hit”.  And if your teammate is blown up and injured is it both clean AND in fact necessary?  

Sometimes guys on the ice will not have a perfect view, none will have replay.  What should they do?  Wait to get acknowledgment?  Hockey  is an emotional game, that is where the fighting comes from.   

If I’m coach I want a team that responds first using their best instincts and judgements, worry about the replay later.  When your opponents know they are accountable and the response is swift this will minimize the times it happens.    The officials will not do this consistently, correctly, or fairly.  They never have in any era of hockey.   Yesterday could have simply been 5 minutes each for fighting   McCabe engaged him quickly and there was some jawing, but Sergachev dropped them and through punches first.  5 each - Fair and Done.  

The hits on Sobotka and Dahlin were not “good or clean” and no calls were made on the ice.  McCabe, or any Sabre,  could not let that happen again.  This whole concept of “take care of it organically” is exactly what McCabe did.   It was a natural reaction from the play and by the players involved at the time.  

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5 hours ago, nfreeman said:

 

 

JFC.  The 2 of you polluted about 4 pages of a GDT with this BS. 

Both of you have been here long enough to know better.

Don't do it again.

 

Actually, it is.

No need for you to respond to this, unless you’re provoking posters. but Actually it’s not. If you really want to discuss it in a PM be my guest. But you and I both know it’ll be a waste of time. Moving on ... 

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