GDT: Buffalo Sabres @ Arizona Coyotes 12/17/22--9 pm eastern MSG

[Doohickie]

17 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

The Wings have 1 game in hand. 

one game in hand over us, but 3 games in hand over the last WC spot.  I just pointed that out because I read the wrong line when I said the Sabres had 3 games in hand. 

Don't try to hard to understand my addled brain.  😛

[Refuting]

Just now, Doohickie said:

one game in hand over us, but 3 games in hand over the last WC spot.  I just pointed that out because I read the wrong line when I said the Sabres had 3 games in hand. 

Don't try to hard to understand my addled brain.  😛

How many points back are they 

[PerreaultForever]

Not sure why so many people are talking about Detroit for us making the playoffs. The team we have to climb over is Florida. 

[Doohickie]

7 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Not sure why so many people are talking about Detroit for us making the playoffs. The team we have to climb over is Florida. 

I wasn't really comparing the Sabres to Detroit.  I just misread the line in my post when I said we had three games in hand over the last WC spot; I accidentally read the Detroit line.  That's all.  And then everyone corrected me and that's where all the Detroit chatter came from.  Yes we know Detroit isn't the ultimate target.

[sabresparaavida]

30 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Not sure why so many people are talking about Detroit for us making the playoffs. The team we have to climb over is Florida. 

Florida is not currently in a playoff spot. Lot of teams competing for those wild card spots. 

[PerreaultForever]

7 minutes ago, sabresparaavida said:

Florida is not currently in a playoff spot. Lot of teams competing for those wild card spots. 

Yes, but my point is they are the team most likely to be better in the second half of the season and thus harder to pass in the standings. 

[Taro T]

6 hours ago, Taro T said:

Better Q: can the Bandits, Bills, & Sabres pull off the rare triple?

Magic 8-Ball: Yes, definitely.

Magic 8-Ball nailed it.  

1st time EVER all 3 won on the same night. 

Never a doubt in any of them.  😉

[matter2003]

36 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Yes, but my point is they are the team most likely to be better in the second half of the season and thus harder to pass in the standings. 

Maybe not with Choke Reinhart playing key minutes 

[bob_sauve28]

4 hours ago, Taro T said:

Magic 8-Ball nailed it.  

1st time EVER all 3 won on the same night. 

Never a doubt in any of them.  😉

 

[bob_sauve28]

Look at Cozens on this goal, he ends up tackled on the ice. Great play all around, nice passing and a great finish 

 

 

 

[FrenchConnection44]

30 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Look at Cozens on this goal, he ends up tackled on the ice. Great play all around, nice passing and a great finish 

 

 

 

Great fighting for the puck and not giving up on it. And then the pass and shot. That’s a spirit that we need for the final half of the season. 

[Scottysabres]

The team is really playing some great hockey right now. Above .500 and definitely a joy to watch. Even in most of their losses, as a fan, I'm beginning to believe again. Thank you Sabres for finally starting to put humpty back together again.

[thewookie1]

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Look at Cozens on this goal, he ends up tackled on the ice. Great play all around, nice passing and a great finish 

 

 

 

Their goalie made an incredible save on Cozens then a Coyote literally tackles Cozens like he was going after the president. 
 

Good to see the gritty plays in tight

[Doohickie]

2 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Look at Cozens on this goal, he ends up tackled on the ice. Great play all around, nice passing and a great finish 

 

 

 

Best scrum goal since

 

[JohnC]

10 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Honestly the Cozens line seemed to be our worst line.  Although they didn't score, the Girgs-Krebs-Okie line looked really good; Krebs is bringing an offensive dimension to that line and I think it's only a matter of time until we see some scoring from them.  Mitts looked better with Jost and Ollie than previously, but I still think there's a mismatch between Ollie and Mitts.  Maybe swap Girgs with Ollie to give the Krebs line better finish and give some Gus-jam to Mitts-Jost.

 

You make two interesting observations. The Cozens's line has two rookies on its wing. So it shouldn't be a surprise that there are going to be instances where this line flashes exciting talent, and then there are going to be instances where it struggles. That's part of the learning process. In this game JJ's playing tine was curtailed. (It was noted on the broadcast.) I'm not bothered by it because we have a good coach who knows when to let them loose and when to pull them back. 

You also make a keen observation that Krebs is becoming more confident as a player while staying within the structure of the line. This youngster is playing less of a free-floating game where he constantly tries to force plays. Until he got with the oldsters, Okposo and Girgs, he didn't seem to value the puck. That's not the case now. When the coach first put Krebs with these vets I thought it didn't make sense because it was more of a grinding line. After seeing how Krebs game has changed for the better, it now makes sense. And it demonstrates how good of a coach he is. 

I was watching the game in snippets. So it was difficult to make fair judgments on players. But from what I witnessed I thought Mitts played a sharper game than usual. I hope the coach can work his magic with Mitts as he has done with Krebs. Internal improvement is what is going to drive this team upwards. 

[JohnC]

3 hours ago, FrenchConnection44 said:

Great fighting for the puck and not giving up on it. And then the pass and shot. That’s a spirit that we need for the final half of the season. 

That was a great sequence. It demonstrates how this team has gotten tougher and grittier. That particular sequence says a lot how this team has grown together.

Edited December 18, 2022 by JohnC

[GASabresIUFAN]

Just got a chance to watch the game.  Nice workman like win.  Saw that DG thought Krebs was good tonight and the comment matched the eye test.

Cozens line was clearly not engaged tonight.

With all the D injuries, it looked like DG got the forwards to work harder on defense.

Edited December 18, 2022 by GASabresIUFAN

[Ross Rhea]

When was the last time 30+ games into a season the Sabres had more wins than loses?

[Dreams Burn Down]

2 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Best scrum goal since

 

This makes me yearn for Marcus even more.

[carpandean]

10 minutes ago, Ross Rhea said:

When was the last time 30+ games into a season the Sabres had more wins than loses?

Technically, they don't, right now.  They're 15-14-2, so they've lost 16 and won 15.  They're listed as W and L, but while W is all wins (Reg, OT, SO), L is only regulation wins.

[Pimlach]

I finally got to watch the replays.   Yotes were playing hard but Sabres have better talent and they prevailed. 

 

In the off season we talked about what Thompson's ceiling is.  Can he routinely get 30 or 40? 

It looks like Thompson has a ceiling that we can see - leading goal scorer in the league.  It can happen.  

Great to see Skinner come back strong.  Dahlin had another strong game.  

[DarthEbriate]

24 minutes ago, Ross Rhea said:

When was the last time 30+ games into a season the Sabres had more wins than loses?

They were 29-25-8 (prior to a 6-game losing streak with Eichel dinged up and Ullmark out [Hutton, Johansson] that would keep them out of the play-in round on the COVID-canceled season) on February 23, 2020.

[PASabreFan]

Watched the HLs on the AZ broadcast. Color bro said OK would want his ENG back, implying he shouldn't have taken the shot. The clip cut off. WTF? Should he have tried to set Skinner up for the HT? I think not. Put the game away. OK did smile sheepishly but not IMHO out of regret but to recognize that Skinner himself was unselfish.

[Pimlach]

10 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Watched the HLs on the AZ broadcast. Color bro said OK would want his ENG back, implying he shouldn't have taken the shot. The clip cut off. WTF? Should he have tried to set Skinner up for the HT? I think not. Put the game away. OK did smile sheepishly but not IMHO out of regret but to recognize that Skinner himself was unselfish.

Skinner is showing he is a team player.  Just like answering Guentzel on the slash of Anderson - even though Skinner took it too far.  

Players playing for each other is a good thing.  

[Broken Ankles]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

You make two interesting observations. The Cozens's line has two rookies on its wing. So it shouldn't be a surprise that there are going to be instances where this line flashes exciting talent, and then there are going to be instances where it struggles. That's part of the learning process. In this game JJ's playing tine was curtailed. (It was noted on the broadcast.) I'm not bothered by it because we have a good coach who knows when to let them loose and when to pull them back. 

You also make a keen observation that Krebs is becoming more confident as a player while staying within the structure of the line. This youngster is playing less of a free-floating game where he constantly tries to force plays. Until he got with the oldsters, Okposo and Girgs, he didn't seem to value the puck. That's not the case now. When the coach first put Krebs with these vets I thought it didn't make sense because it was more of a grinding line. After seeing how Krebs game has changed for the better, it now makes sense. And it demonstrates how good of a coach he is. 

I was watching the game in snippets. So it was difficult to make fair judgments on players. But from what I witnessed I thought Mitts played a sharper game than usual. I hope the coach can work his magic with Mitts as he has done with Krebs. Internal improvement is what is going to drive this team upwards. 

To the bold, agree.  To the underlined - did he though? I guess we have to determine the baseline.  What I saw was a few blown opportunities for break aways with poor passing, getting outshot and out chanced.  Especially in the high danger areas.  The snippet is from Natural Stat Trick for 5v5 stats.  All Centers for last nights game.  The only positive numbers were from Tage's line.  Shocking right?  While the Cozens line struggled, and to your point had their minutes reduced, they still had a better xGF% than the Mitts line.  I mean he wasn't awful on FL#1 the last three, but Skinners return was noticeable.