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GDT: 1/31/21 1pm ET, NJ Devils at Buffalo, MSG, NHL Network, WGR


jsb

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The Buffalo Sabres will play their 10th game of the season today starting in 5th place in the Eastern Division standings, 1 point out of 4th and 2 points out of 3rd. They also have the 4th best goal differential in the Division at "0" followed by Pittsburg with a -5. They will also attempt to gain 7 points out of this 4 game home stand this afternoon. Also with a victory today the Sabres with hit the magical Deluca 500. I hope I haven't jinxed them. With the game on NHL Network, I don't believe they'll be on MSG today although I'll edit this if I find out otherwise. Some Sabres player stats....

  • Linus Ullmark is 23rd in the league with a .914 Save %, 22nd with a 2.56 GAA with at least 3 games played, tied for 9th in Wins with 3, 5th in Shoot Out Save % with .900
  • 2 Players tied for 24th in points Jack Eichel and Taylor Hall with 9 and Victor Olofsson tied for 35th with 8
  • Jack Eichel is tied for #1 in the league in Shout Out Goals with 2
  • Victor Olofsson leads the Sabres with 4 goals followed by Stall, Reinhart and Rieder with 3 apiece
  • Taylor Hall leads the team in assists with 8 followed by Jack Eichel with 7 and V. Olofsson with 4
  • Rasmus Ristolainen leads the team in +/- with +3 followed by Cozens and McCabe with +2
  • Jake McCabe leads the team in penalty minutes with 9 followed by Ristolainen, Skinner and Montour with 6

No real reason to think so but I would think the lineup changes a bit in a back to back and scenario and we should also see the return of Hutton in goal. So with that in mind Sabres fans will have to find a reason to believe they can win this afternoon.

GOOD DAY FOR A MATINEE

Today’s game is the third of 11 afternoon games for the Sabres this season. They are 2-0-0 in the first two.

Buffalo went 7-2-2 in afternoon games during the 2019-20 season, including a 6-2-0 record at home and a 1-0-2 mark on the road.

BACK-TO-BACK
Today’s game wraps up Buffalo’s third of eight sets of back-to-back games this season, which began with a 4-3 shootout win yesterday vs. New Jersey. The Sabres are 2-1-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 0-2-0 in the second game so far this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to-back sets is: four points (0), three points (0), two points (1), one point (0) and zero points (1).

EVEN-STRENGTH IMPROVEMENT
The Sabres have seen a positive trend at even strength through the team’s first nine games of the season. So far, Buffalo’s 5-on-5 numbers have improved on the team’s per-60 rates from last season in several meaningful categories, including shot differential, shot attempt differential, scoring chance differential, high-danger scoring chance differential and expected goal differential.

POWER UP

Buffalo finished yesterday’s game with the ninth-ranked power play in the league. The team has scored on 10 of its 35 power play opportunities this season for a 28.6 percent conversion rate.

Following yesterday’s game, the Sabres tied for the league lead with seven different players with at least one goal on the power play.

Victor Olofsson leads the team and is tied for fourth in the league with three power-play goals this season. At the conclusion of yesterday’s game, his 16 career power-play tallies trailed only Leon Draisaitl and David Pastrnak (20 each) for the most in the league since he made his NHL debut on March 28, 2019.

The Sabres have 10 players with at least one power-play point this season, tying for third-most in the league after yesterday’s game.

OUT OF THE BOX

At the conclusion of yesterday’s game, the Sabres were the least-penalized team in the NHL at 5:26 of penalty time per game.

At plus-15 (38 drawn/23 taken), the Sabres had the best penalty differential in the league following yesterday’s game.

NHL News: Defenseman Mete with Montreal and Bennett with Calgary have requested trades, for those non Samson fans aren't you glad we didn't make that pick, Kris Letang was injured yesterday to really put the Penguins D situation as dire, every team in the Eastern Division gained at least 1 point yesterday further emphasizing regulation wins to get ahead, Connor McDavid with a nothing short of spectacular PP goal yesterday in a win against the loafs, the NY Rangers blew another 3rd period lead and lost to the Penguins and the return of the un-Covid players with Washington who although blowing a 3rd period lead beat Boston in overtime with an Ovie goal.

LETS GO BUFFALO

Some information was gathered from the website https://sabresdigitalpressbox.com for those who may want to read more from this site.

Edited by jsb
Added MSG to TV lineup
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  • jsb changed the title to GDT: 1/31/21 1pm ET, NJ Devils at Buffalo, NHL Network, WGR

I know that folks have been throwing around all these analytics saying that this team might actually be good. Maybe that is true but I just don't see it with my own eyes. I think if the top line actually looked even remotely close to what they should, I may think differently. I certainly don't find that this team is exciting to watch (skill level, special skill-sets, being physical), so what is it that is holding them back. Out of all our players, the only one that I see (this season) where I feel a highlight reel is coming from is Olofson (sniper).

I guess the question is how this top line with all the talent can come off as so ordinary. I thought Eichel had reached the point (and I saw it consistently) where you just felt something extraordinary was going to happen each time he touched the puck (even without scoring). Now, I see him try and make plays and he loses the puck most every time trying to make something happen.

Anyway, not looking for style points with wins but I just don't see this team doing much the way it is constructed. Another year away? I mean, 3 years ago, I was feeling as though the Bills would NEVER sniff the playoffs again.....

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@jsb

Another great GDT. Love the NHL news as well.

Loving the 1pm starts... can't lie about that.  Gives me a reason to do nothing during the day and then at night its too dark out to do anything. So I have excuses to be lazier than I already am!

As for this team?  Still not feeling confident. They find a way.  Overall the games have looked terrible. The team definitely does not appear to be on the same page and there's some real sloppy hockey being played.  Although, I think that can be said for the league overall.

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11 minutes ago, Cal Naughton Jr said:

It’s great that Hall leads the team in assists, but he’s supposed to be a goal scorer. So far he’s looked mostly lost out there. Time to put it together and score some goals

While, I don’t think that Hall has been great this season, your phrasing here is misleading.  Over his career, Hall is as good a puck carrier and playmaker as he is a goal scorer.

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  • jsb changed the title to GDT: 1/31/21 1pm ET, NJ Devils at Buffalo, MSG, NHL Network, WGR
2 hours ago, Taro T said:

@jsb, the game is also on MSG (both the Sabres feed (DTV 635-1) & the Joisey feed (DTV 635).)

Thanks again for stepping up & putting this together.  🍺

Being in Houston they are blacked out on NHL-TV because they are on NHL Network, so I wasn't sure if that held true everywhere, thanks for the info.

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19 minutes ago, Curt said:

While, I don’t think that Hall has been great this season, your phrasing here is misleading.  Over his career, Hall is as good a puck carrier and playmaker as he is a goal scorer.

Better actually.

career average over 82 games: 28 goals 46 assists. He’s only topped 27 goals once in his career.

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