GDT: Sabres @ Penguins, Nov. 16, 2021, 7pm, MSG, ESPN+, WGR

[dudacek]

Dylan Cozens was so good in the first period before vanishing later.

He was executing and identifying plays against men the way he did against boys.

At some point he’s going to break through, and then it’s going to be fun to watch around here for a long, long time.

[pi2000]

Just now, The Ghost of Yuri said:

Absolutely.  And yet here he is, in the top league in the world, with a team of youngsters and JAGs, and he's got the team competitive most nights. 

That's great, now let's see if he can teach them how to play with a lead.    Really hope to see some progress.  They work their bags off to get a lead then panic, get on their heels and give up glorious chance after glorious chance.   It's not a difficult thing if implemented correctly.

[Doohickie]

Just now, PromoTheRobot said:

How do you adjust to when the Pens decide to start trying hard?

Granato discussed this in the postgame.   Basically he said we gave them too much room to operate.  When this team plays tight they do well.  When the play conservatively (i.e., low risk positionally to keep the other player from getting by you), it gives that player more time to make a play.  It wasn't that they were skating circles around us, they were passing circles around us because we weren't playing tight enough to them.

Just now, pi2000 said:

That's great, now let's see if he can teach them how to play with a lead.    Really hope to see some progress.  They work their bags off to get a lead then panic, get on their heels and give up glorious chance after glorious chance.   It's not a difficult thing if implemented correctly.

Agreed.

He talked about it in the postgame.  He did say that the crowd noise was affecting communication on the bench which didn't help, but they should know what to do by now.  I'm sure he'll address it, hopefully successfully.

[pi2000]

8 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

How do you adjust to when the Pens decide to start trying hard?  We bottled them up for two periods. Sorry it wasn't perfect.

There's a number of effective neutral zone traps you can install to choke teams off.   This makes it very difficult to maintain possession into the zone.   One of my favorites was called the diamond press.  They're really quite simple, but takes all 5 guys to execute correctly, hopefully Granato can install some of these systems. 

That said, to my eyes they didn't appear to learn anything from the last 3 or 4 times they had leads going into the third.   

Edited November 17, 2021 by pi2000

[Doohickie]

Another thought @pi2000:  He mentioned the noise in the arena.  It could be that for a lot of these players they haven't played in a packed house with a noisy crowd in some time, maybe not ever (considering how many young guys we have).  It could be that they just need to get through that experience of the hostile crowd, get used to playing under those conditions, and not let the crowd get them off their gameplan.

[North Buffalo]

Still a good road win and they played great in the second... so let them keep learning... sometimes its takes a young team a few times to figure it out.

[LabattBlue]

I was on my computer during the game, and not paying real close attention, but did Dahlin get beat by a toe drag twice in the first half of the game?

[Gatorman0519]

37 minutes ago, dudacek said:

After tonight I am starting to wonder if Dustin Tokarski could be on the verge of something rare and unexpected.

He doesn’t look like a modern NHL goalie, but he’s making every stop he should and many he shouldn’t.

The two points tonight are entirely on him.

That unbelievable save when he kept his arm tight to the ice was the anti Dell & Hutton 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Gatorman0519

[SwampD]

23 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

That's great, now let's see if he can teach them how to play with a lead.    Really hope to see some progress.  They work their bags off to get a lead then panic, get on their heels and give up glorious chance after glorious chance.   It's not a difficult thing if implemented correctly.

They didn't panic. The other team shortened their bench and put way more talent on the ice than we possibly imagine to put out there right now.

Granato's system beat their talent.

I'm just as surprised as you are.

That was a GD fun game to watch.

[irregularly irregular]

12 hours ago, pi2000 said:

That's great, now let's see if he can teach them how to play with a lead.    Really hope to see some progress.  They work their bags off to get a lead then panic, get on their heels and give up glorious chance after glorious chance.   It's not a difficult thing if implemented correctly.

Of the 100 things DG has had to work on, fix, break, improve or eliminate this may very well be number 95. Quite possible he simply hasn't gotten there yet. 

Edited November 17, 2021 by irregularly irregular
more betterly worded

[Wyldnwoody44]

A 20 page GDT. 

[pi2000]

13 minutes ago, SwampD said:

They didn't panic. The other team shortened their bench and put way more talent on the ice than we possibly imagine to put out there right now.

Granato's system beat their talent.

I'm just as surprised as you are.

That was a GD fun game to watch.

PIT had an astounding 80% CorsiFor advantage in the 3rd period.   

Tokarski beat their talent, not Granato.    

To me it looked like they were running around in their own end, out of position, nervous with the puck, making panic induced decisions.   

The next step here is to teach them how to play with a lead, it might take a few weeks before they're all comfortable, but there's simple things they can implement right away to help lock things down.

[7+6=13]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

He had a left lane to the net with Grandma in the right lane with her blinker on and he turned around.

I remember that play and it specifically had me watching him the rest of the way.   I could not believe he skated in a circle away from that lane.

[Norcal]

 

[HumanSlinky39]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Dylan Cozens was so good in the first period before vanishing later.

He was executing and identifying plays against men the way he did against boys.

At some point he’s going to break through, and then it’s going to be fun to watch around here for a long, long time.

Offensively, he can be frustrating, but I think it’ll come along eventually. Defensively, no complaints from me. He’s becoming a guy that is neutralizing the opposition’s best players almost every night.

Edited November 17, 2021 by HumanSlinky39

[jsb]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Can you imagine at the start of the season that the likes of Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner would be tasked with bringing a tight game home in the last two minutes?

Its not about coaching to win tonight, it’s about putting players in challenging positions asking them to go for it, so they can learn and grow.

We’re seeing exactly what Adams and Granato promised we would. I guess you’re surprised because you aren’t used to hockey execs telling the truth?

I laughed at this not because it was funny but what you said is so true in that this board is like my windshield wipers in a rainstorm, first they're here and then they're over there. There's almost no transition to it, they flip flop more than my goldfish out of water. 

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

I really hope Granato figures it out... how to protect a lead in the third.    By the looks of it, they don't appear to have spent much time practicing it.   

Perhaps that's just growing pains of a young team, but as someone who's played it's not exactly rocket science either.  There are subtle adjustments you can make to choke teams off in the neutral zone and give yourself the best chance to hold a lead.   The Sabres aren't even close, they got absolutely caved in in the third.   Not even a timeout by Donny to calm the boys down and talk some sense into them.   

If you've been paying attention you'd have noticed it's a pretty common thing going around the league especially this year with 2 and 3 goal leads disappearing in the flash of an eye. The league has changed and the Murray's are now gone and it's not quite as easy to hold a lead without a GK playing out of his mind. The team is not only playing its younger core but even the vets on the team haven't played together long enough to know how to weather the storm as a team. Too many JAGS to say if they'll get it together or not but are you not entertained during the games especially in comparison to most of last year??

The have to jump on someone's gang is now after Dahlin. Somehow you see the 1 or 2 plays he should have made an miss the 10-15 plays that the majority of players can't make.

Edited November 17, 2021 by jsb

[SwampD]

The Sabres played some really good hockey at times today. The Penguins played some even better hockey at times today.

The Sabres won.

 

***** the Penguins.

I love hockey.

[thewookie1]

Have to say I liked Granato’s postgame interview. He wasn’t happy with the 3rd and that’s a far cry from only being dissatisfied with losses.

Edited November 17, 2021 by thewookie1

[Wyldnwoody44]

This isn't a jump on Dahlin post by any means, but he did some bone headed things today. That cross ice pass on the PP right to the Pens, then the inexplicable slowing down and turning when he had a lane to the net. 

He simply doesn't have that North/South gear when it comes down to it, he has flashy moves, but is a big East/West player. His D has gotten better overall, but he has yet to put it all together. Based on his age and all the changes, I give him a benefit of the doubt until the end of next season. 

I really do wonder if this team is at a playoff pace when more healthy. 

[nucci]

3 hours ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

This isn't a jump on Dahlin post by any means, but he did some bone headed things today. That cross ice pass on the PP right to the Pens, then the inexplicable slowing down and turning when he had a lane to the net. 

He simply doesn't have that North/South gear when it comes down to it, he has flashy moves, but is a big East/West player. His D has gotten better overall, but he has yet to put it all together. Based on his age and all the changes, I give him a benefit of the doubt until the end of next season. 

I really do wonder if this team is at a playoff pace when more healthy. 

PP should be better when these guys return. That will be a big help

[bob_sauve28]

15 hours ago, Taro T said:

@nfreeman, after 10 games do you have 12 points, if yes, you're on a playoff pace.  If, no, get cracking.  Same logic, after 20 games, do you have 24 points?

And you can break the season down into 5 or 10 game segments to see how you're doing.  In the last 5 games, do you have 6 points or more? Yep.  You're currently playing on a playoff pace.  If you only got 5 points, you need 7 in the next 5 games.  Easy, peazy.  😉

And, if you look at the NHL's website, that mysterious column to the right of total points actually tells you the point percentage.  So, you can actually tell how the team you're interested is doing without worrying about whether they've played the same # of games as their division & conference rivals and without even needing to be able to add.  (Which is necessary to determine the DeLuca one. 😉 )

 

 

So we need 8 points in next five games to be on pace. Not likely 

[Thorny]

9 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

For those of you too young to remember the Hasek years, this is exactly what it was like on a nightly basis

except Instead of 1 fight there was 5 

On the weaker Hasek teams def. But on the teams that went on deeper runs, the roster was underrated 

9 hours ago, 7+6=13 said:

To my eye Dahlin played poorly.   It's frustrating to still see him so timid.  

I thought he looked pretty good, myself 

[Thorny]

9 hours ago, dudacek said:

After tonight I am starting to wonder if Dustin Tokarski could be on the verge of something rare and unexpected.

He doesn’t look like a modern NHL goalie, but he’s making every stop he should and many he shouldn’t.

The two points tonight are entirely on him.

He looks confident to me. Really fun to watch. Obviously I’ve been skeptical it holds up but, to your point - it could. 

Here for it. 

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

So we need 8 points in next five games to be on pace. Not likely 

[That Aud Smell]

Purloined victory. Onward.

Also, Dahlin’s play and trajectory are tending to vindicate the FO’s decision to select Power as a potential 1D stud. I think Dahlin is/can be a good NHL’er … but I’m just about done expecting (consistent) *greatness* from him.