GDT: Tampa Bay @ Buffalo - 10/25/2021 - 7pm EDT

[bob_sauve28]

41 minutes ago, K-9 said:

I’ve never seen an empty netter scored from farther away. From the end line where it meets the corner boards? Ridiculous. Does Donny give them carte blanche to just let it fly from your own zone when the opposing goalie is pulled? Between Alsplund’s EN goal earlier in the season and Hagg’s last night, it appears so.

Not sure if it was because they were ahead by more than one or not. Maybe with a one goal lead he just air mails high to center ice?

On 10/25/2021 at 9:19 AM, bob_sauve28 said:

How long must we wait??? 

Our forwards do not have enough talent and we have these kids in Rochester that are really good. How long do we wait to bring them up? Hinostroza and Cagilula are not cutting it. 

Wrong!!! 😇

[PromoTheRobot]

4 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

 

Wrong!!! 😇

 

[pi2000]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

They scored first.
Never relinquished a lead.
Withstood a 2nd period barrage by rarely giving the Lightning a dangerous scoring chance.
Took the lead late.
Scored 3 more in the third.
Yeah, a pretty 'meh' performance.

 

Their EV CF% was only 37% and surrendered 14 high danger chances against (while generating only 9 of their own).... with only 3 shots on net in the 2nd period.  

Not a recipe for success.

[Doohickie]

3 hours ago, pi2000 said:

Don't get me wrong I'm glad they won, but I don't think they played all that well.

They didn't look anything like the team we saw the first 5 games IMO.... not a good sign.

Through the first two periods:  They didn't play that well.  The caught the puck luck they were missing in the Boston game though and managed to hang around.  In the third period they were still hopping and Tamp Bay was shot.

They outshot the Lightning in the third when you would expect they'd be throwing everything at Buffalo to try to tie it.

[K-9]

10 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

 

Their EV CF% was only 37% and surrendered 14 high danger chances against (while generating only 9 of their own).... with only 3 shots on net in the 2nd period.  

Not a recipe for success.

I’d be interested in how much, if any, the Sabres flipped the script in the 3rd. Are those period by period breakdowns available?

[nfreeman]

20 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

 

Their EV CF% was only 37% and surrendered 14 high danger chances against (while generating only 9 of their own).... with only 3 shots on net in the 2nd period.  

Not a recipe for success.

TB also whiffed on at least wide open nets from the doorstep.

Not sustainable in the slightest.  But they did gather themselves and take it to TB in the 3rd.  

[Taro T]

Fun game to be at.  Was there with 1,800 - 2,200 close friends.  No idea what the official attendance was, there were fewer in the building than opening night, which had previously set the bar.  There were at least 14 sections in the 300's w/ 35 or fewer people in them.  Behind both nets there were very few patrons.

Sabres played them fairly evenly in the 1st but the quality of their chances were way better than the Sabres.  Anderson stood on his head & Killorn helped by hitting him in the leg with an otherwise wide open net and then missing the net on another tap in.  Unfortunately, hadn't finished laughing at that 2nd one when Butcher bumped him into Anderson (yeah, right).  Killorn knew exactly what he was doing, but it was too likely that the refs would uphold the goal for Granato to risk the challenge.  The league really needs to alter the system for challenging goalie interference because it's too risky at times to challenge even though there's a real chance the call should be overturned.  The call is subjective.  The league should have an off-ice official challenge that when it's close.  Let the coach continue to decide if he wants to challenge off-sides - that isn't subjective.

Though Barre-Boulet didn't make the game program he did play.  And he's a guy that it still is puzzling about why Adams didn't make a claim on.  He was OK, but would've been better than Bjork & he can play C.

Was fun to watch both Cirelli & Stamkos get roughed up in the 1st a bit.  They didn't give the Bolts much space but they will be susceptible to cross ice passes to the back side.  There were guys getting space, but it would take a really good passing team to get the puck there.  Fortunately the passes were just off or Anderson was ready to play superman, or the puck went to Killorn.  😉

Nice job getting the puck to Olofsson in his office to get the lead early.  He's deadly from there but still surprised to see so many Sabres goals coming short side this season.  Not sure that will be sustainable.

With the long change in the 2nd, the Sabres definitely had a hard time getting guys off the ice and found themselves pinned in fairly well but they ready didn't give up nearly as many grade A chances as would've been expected had you been told the Sabres didn't get a single shot in the 1st 15 minutes or so.

Did ANYBODY not related to him expect Cagiula to score on that breakaway?  He did a great job fending off Sergachev & then making Elliott look silly again.  Still think the Sabres got a 4th shot that period, but 3 was enough.

Great job by Granato getting them to build off their strong final 5 minutes of the 2nd period as they marginally outplayed a better & presumably more desperate squad in the 3rd.  Did anybody not related to him expect Hinostroza to score?  The guy finally for once converted an opportunity.  Yea!

The refs were bad all game but it was beyond ridiculous in the 3rd.  How did Stamkos not get at least 2 & deservedly 4 for the 2nd cross check on Cozens after the delayed call on Cernak's cross check of Dylan?  How, just after TB pulled Elliott was there not GT interference for running over Anderson?  How in the pseudo-scrum after the whistle (while the puck was loose in the corner) & 5 of the Bolts in the scrum did the faceoff stay in the Sabres zone?  (Did that rule change recently?)  How did icing get waived off?

And the big Q of the night, how did Cooper think planning on going goalie-less for almost 6 minutes would be better than keeping Ellioott in net?  (Well, maybe he watched him.  But even still Elliott wasn't THAT bad.)  That move worked out as bad as not playing Vasilievsky on b-t-b nights.

Anderson won that.  But the Sabres played hard enough that his heroics mattered.

Really liked the D tonight.  Though now that it's been mentioned by others, Miller does have a LOT of passes/shots blocked.  He also had one puck sent from behind his own net into the slot in the 1st which could've turned the tide, but the C was alert & picked up the loose puck and got it out of harm's way.  Still, as the 6th D-man, his gaffes are acceptable as he and Bryson had several strong plays to counteract them.

Again, fun game to be at. 

Off to Anaheim.  96-1-1.  😉

 

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

 

Their EV CF% was only 37% and surrendered 14 high danger chances against (while generating only 9 of their own).... with only 3 shots on net in the 2nd period.  

Not a recipe for success.

And I'm sure there will be all kinds of unkind metrics for every game we win.

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

Did anybody not related to him expect Hinostroza to score?  The guy finally for once converted an opportunity.  Yea!

He basically said Granato told him to shoot more.

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

And the big Q of the night, how did Cooper think planning on going goalie-less for almost 6 minutes would be better than keeping Ellioott in net?

It worked against Detroit in the second game of the season.  They scored two goals with their goalie pulled to tie it up (after being down 3 halfway through the period).  It just goes to show Detroit, and Buffalo, don't get any respect by the better teams.  I guess they do so at their own peril.

[eman]

12 hours ago, inkman said:

Your tone suggests Risto is good. He’s not. Almost any NHL defenseman at replacement level or above is better than Rasmus.  He has no hockey IQ. 

My tone? Give me a break. People were disappointed in the return which was Hagg. So far, Hagg has played well. My tone.LOL!!!

[Zamboni]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

And I'm sure there will be all kinds of unkind metrics for every game we win.

Hence the nature of analytics. People can cherry pick the metrics that suit their needs to back a position or bias they have. 

[inkman]

25 minutes ago, eman said:

My tone? Give me a break. People were disappointed in the return which was Hagg. So far, Hagg has played well. My tone.LOL!!!

Not one person was disappointed in the return 

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

Not one person was disappointed in the return 

I know I wasn't.  A roster player, a 2021 first and a 2023 second?  For Risto?  Really?  I was in shock.

[Believer]

14 hours ago, Thorny said:

I feel this too. The Sabres chipped away at the emotion required to invest, for a decade, a third of my life. Being a fan of another team of course isn't an option, never has never will, so it sorta causes a detachment, to a degree, from the game as a whole. Like I said - I'm not going anywhere: for me the Sabres are hockey, to a large extent (as much as I love the game overall). But it'll take a good long while for the emotion and passion to come back for me, I think. Just waiting, right now. 

Whoever said all that tanking would do damage to the soul of a fan - your are correct, and wise, and I regret ever rooting for losses. I think I'd take that back, if I could.

The appreciation and love for the fanbase doesn't waver - frequenting this site remains, even when the team isn't drumming up the passion. 

You know the old market saying… “Get a hunch, buy a bunch”… My bet is… this group brings you and others back…faster than you think

[North Buffalo]

20 hours ago, K-9 said:

Is there room for Cathal Kelly on @Hoss’s teeter totter?

Great another slap at the Sabres... been there done that... little late on the switch... ps dont think they handled that Bastan whiner wrongly... talented sure... not worth the talent yep

[eman]

14 hours ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

I know I wasn't.  A roster player, a 2021 first and a 2023 second?  For Risto?  Really?  I was in shock.

I won't do your home work for you (I didn't for LGR4GM either when he denied that Dahlin wasn't a punching bag near the end of last season- it took one poster in under 5 minutes to find several posts attesting to it) Yes, some on this forum were disppointed with the return, as they went on the Philly sites that were happy Hagg was gone and assumed he was hot garbage for a young strong d-man. And for the record, I do believe Ristolainen will work out nicely in Philly under decent coaching (which he never got in Buffalo, not by a long shot) He was terrific for the Finnish Juniors that won the gold medal. He has the skills and I believe the change in scenery will be very good for him. I am enjoying the game Hagg is bringing and by my previous post, I do not miss Ristolainen one bit. The culture had to be changed and removing most of those that had been around for the majority of it was the right thing to do.

[eman]

15 hours ago, inkman said:

Not one person was disappointed in the return 

Just look back on page 3 in this forum "What Do You Expect from Robert Hagg #8". People thought he sucked and would get bitched about on this forum. He was coming off injuries and literally a throw away for Philly.

[inkman]

10 minutes ago, eman said:

Just look back on page 3 in this forum "What Do You Expect from Robert Hagg #8". People thought he sucked and would get bitched about on this forum. He was coming off injuries and literally a throw away for Philly.

Yes.  The draft picks were more than enough compensation for a net negative player like Ristolainen.  The fact Hagg has turned into a serviceable player is gravy. 

[eman]

3 hours ago, inkman said:

Yes.  The draft picks were more than enough compensation for a net negative player like Ristolainen.  The fact Hagg has turned into a serviceable player is gravy. 

That is truth also! I do feel bad for Risto as he has the skills, size and strength. Too bad he didn't come into the fold now under coach Donny, as he may have done much better. You can see the change in Dahlin which is great. I hope Ristolainen works out in Philly but I see the need to rid the core that was here during this awful stretch. 

[Doohickie]

3 hours ago, eman said:

I do not miss Ristolainen one bit. The culture had to be changed and removing most of those that had been around for the majority of it was the right thing to do.

It was pretty easy to identify the "players that don't want to be here".  Basically anyone who mentioned the possibility of playing somewhere else... gone.

[bunomatic]

3 hours ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

It was pretty easy to identify the "players that don't want to be here".  Basically anyone who mentioned the possibility of playing somewhere else... gone.

Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out. Skedaddle. Git. See ya. Good riddance. Adios muchachos. Bye bye.