GDT: Edmonton Oilers @ Buffalo Sabres 3/6/2023 at 7:30PM EST on ESPN+

[Thorny]

Best player in the world, maybe all time scores 2 goals to set a new career mark for points in a season with 124, in game like 60, and people really be like “difference was puck luck”

good grief

no, the difference is McDavid didn’t rely on luck. Skinner tossing a puck horizontally through the crease on an open net isn’t bad luck it’s a bad shot 

McDavid scoring five hole along the ice isn’t a fluke it’s hockey genius born from his lightning release. *He repeats the act continually*

Edited March 7, 2023 by Thorny

[GASabresIUFAN]

At least Chicago is pounding Ott.

[Grinder]

The difference is the Sabres are total pussies and next, ever have traffic in front of the net. NHL goalies make saves where they see the puck. 

[K-9]

13 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Best player in the world, maybe all time scores 2 goals to set a new career mark for points in a season with 124, in game like 60, and people really be like “difference was puck luck”

good grief

no, the difference is McDavid didn’t rely on luck. Skinner tossing a puck horizontally through the crease on an open net isn’t bad luck it’s a bad shot 

McDavid scoring five hole along the ice isn’t a fluke it’s hockey genius born from his lightning release. *He repeats the act continually*

Taking nothing away from the greatest player in the game, but him going five hole on that goal was some epically crap goaltending as well. 

[PASabreFan]

Wish I could contribute something. Once I heard Bucci go 12 on a scale of 1-10 for the Oilers first goal, then maybe 6 for the Sabres, I was done. Skipped ahead 10 seconds at a time.

[Thorny]

4 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Taking nothing away from the greatest player in the game, but him going five hole on that goal was some epically crap goaltending as well. 

I respect your opinion on this I’m just never going to get there with these players. Basically reminds me of Crosby’s golden goal vs Miller. Defended miller then and pumped Crosby’s tires, when lots were saying it was a weak goal: the really good goalies are good at stopping the “good” shots partly because they expect that: great shots are what they practice stopping. In practice. 
 

the quick, awkward little shot near the skates is tough. It’s the quickness. The release. It takes an uncommon release. Too quick for the G to even think of doing anything other than playing it like an 80s “stand em up” goaltender. 
 

It takes the Crosby’s and the McDavids but once you see them replicate it enough times you just have to give the damn devil his due 

[Thorny]

7 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Wish I could contribute something. Once I heard Bucci go 12 on a scale of 1-10 for the Oilers first goal, then maybe 6 for the Sabres, I was done. Skipped ahead 10 seconds at a time.

Luckily I got Garry Galley and the Canadian feed 

[TheAud]

27 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

At least Chicago is pounding Ott.

Anders Bjork with 3 assists...it's like Adams knew he'd help Chicago beat Ottawa!

[SabresBillsFan]

Wasn’t able to watch the game but you can’t be missing Samuelson and Jost besides Tuch being out. This team needs all 3 in the lineup. 

7 minutes ago, TheAud said:

Anders Bjork with 3 assists...it's like Adams knew he'd help Chicago beat Ottawa!

Who knew Chicago would get the better of that deal! 

[Rasmus_]

Closer than the score showed.  The Sabres were all over Edmonton in the second period.  It sucks that you lose, however they will be hungry tomorrow.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

Can somebody please explain 1 thing about tonight's game? Wtf did Granato when coming back from a "media timeout" watching the McDavid line come out along with Nurse's pairing decide it was a good time to put the originally constituted Krebs line along with Dahlin and neither Power nor Jokiharju but Bryson?

The Girgensons line had been out before the TV timeout and Lyubushkin and Clague had been the D. He literally had every other forward & D combination available to him and he chose that.  Really like Granato overall, but that was a painfully bad decision and it ended up being the difference in the game when all was said and done.

Seemed to me like Donnie deliberately had Krebs out against McDavid on multiple occasions.

That, in and of itself, was not necessarily a bad thing. I’m thinking of how well Cozens did in that slot a year ago.

 But Krebs with Victor and JJ on his wings 😬

Casey Mittlestadt was very good tonight. I want he and Cozens to become the thing they are becoming.

If we’ve got a dozen good efforts left in the tank, we can’t afford to waste them on games where we come up with no points. We don’t have the goalies to steal those points back.

Huge decision on who gets the call in the crease tomorrow.

Could be season-deciding.

Edited March 7, 2023 by dudacek

[sabresouth]

I'm not going to say it....

Yes I  am. It would have been really nice if we had picked up a couple of defensemen before the trade deadline. 

You can't praise KA for sticking to "the plan" and then gripe when we lose games because we have crappy players as backups. 

[Pimlach]

11 hours ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

The Bryson and Olofsson hate is strong and sadly, I can't argue it... They were terrible. VO tried lazily taking the puck out of the zone at the end of the 2nd and then wasn't able to back check and that goal was a dagger. In the 3rd, he threw himself into the wall like a 8 month old learning to walk. 

Bryson is just not physical enough to play D, sure he can skate sorta well, but his decision making and actual Defensive ability are beyond subpar. Tonight coulda been an even closer game if we had, Muel, Tuch and Stillman, alas. It was the McDavid show and now we have an actual Must win tomorrow night. Hope the boys are up for the challenge, Sorokin is a stud GT

The team is playing consistently better so it’s getting easier to find the outliers.   Bryson is the major one.  VO is a guy that can score but he is hot and cold player that is ice cold right now and his 200 foot game lacks about 150 feet.  JJP is thinking and therefore is usually behind the play, that could change.  Clague has no physical game and is a 7/8. 

10 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Wish I could contribute something. Once I heard Bucci go 12 on a scale of 1-10 for the Oilers first goal, then maybe 6 for the Sabres, I was done. Skipped ahead 10 seconds at a time.

Bucci was not there tonight. 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Pimlach

[Two or less]

42 minutes ago, TheAud said:

Anders Bjork with 3 assists...it's like Adams knew he'd help Chicago beat Ottawa!

Was that the future considerations part of the deal?

[Two or less]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Difference was McDavid 

I would say the difference was Stuart Skinner. He stole the points tonight. I think Sabres played well enough to still win this game despite McDavid's two goals.

[Two or less]

2 hours ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Meatballs needs to scratch him. Let him watch from above for a couple of games and hope that kickstarts him. Worked for Quinn.

When he gets cold, he really shuts off. And doesn't help he's a lazy type player. The second goal he just needs to put more effort on the play. ESPN+ just to justify it by saying he was tired, but he seemed full of energy when he thought he might get the puck loose. It was also probably his last shift of the period. Just needed more effort there.

Looked up some basic stats.

Last 14 games, 0 goals, 3 assists, -14.

Last time he scored was against Winnipeg, he had 6 SOG that game. He hasn't even reached 5 in any game during this goal-drought. Nine times he's had 2 or less SOG (0 twice, 1 five times, 2 twice).

[FrenchConnection44]

1 hour ago, SabresBillsFan said:

Wasn’t able to watch the game but you can’t be missing Samuelson and Jost besides Tuch being out. This team needs all 3 in the lineup. 

Who knew Chicago would get the better of that deal! 

Don’t forget Stillman was also out. And that could have been a difference maker had he been able to play in place of Bryson.  

Bryson played awful defense at times. -2 for the night and just seemed to flounder. 

Nothing against him personally. Sure he is trying. But he can’t be a regular and Buffalo go anywhere. Terrible season.

In 49 games he’s -20 on a team that is +11 in goal differential this year.

Last year, when the team was -58 in goal differential, Bryson was -9 in 73 games. 
 

Def hurts not having those players. Still it was a tight game and the Sabres had as many good chances if not more than the Oilers. Just couldn’t score on a lot of close opportunities. Several times felt like we went right into the body of Skinner who had a really good game tonight. Great goaltending can win a ton of games. 

 

[PASabreFan]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

The team is playing consistently better so it’s getting easier to find the outliers.   Bryson is the major one.  VO is a guy that can score but he is hot and cold player that is ice coke right now and his 200 foot game lacks about 150 feet.  JJP is thinking and therefore is usually behind the play, that could change.  Clague has no physical game and is a 7/8. 

Bucci was not there tonight. 

All righty then. Still. I've been paranoid about national announcers going back to Gary Thorne. I bet @SwampD could analyze the audio of these calls and help me prove there was more oomph for the Oilers. I can't figure out why. McJesus?

[Two or less]

8 minutes ago, FrenchConnection44 said:

Don’t forget Stillman was also out. And that could have been a difference maker had he been able to play in place of Bryson.  

Bryson played awful defense at times. -2 for the night and just seemed to flounder. 

Nothing against him personally. Sure he is trying. But he can’t be a regular and Buffalo go anywhere. Terrible season.

In 49 games he’s -20 on a team that is +11 in goal differential this year.

Last year, when the team was -58 in goal differential, Bryson was -9 in 73 games. 
 

Def hurts not having those players. Still it was a tight game and the Sabres had as many good chances if not more than the Oilers. Just couldn’t score on a lot of close opportunities. Several times felt like we went right into the body of Skinner who had a really good game tonight. Great goaltending can win a ton of games. 

 

Bryson was on the ice for all 3 Edmonton goals. Rough night for him for sure.

[FrenchConnection44]

2 hours ago, CallawaySabres said:

The injury excuse is absolutely pathetic around here. It’s not llike we were missing two All-Stars. Every team has injuries and the Sabres should’ve won tonight without them, Plain and simple.

The difference is, the Sabres don’t have the depth of other playoff caliber teams.  So injuries do matter for them because the depth of talent level is not there. When Bryson is your option on D (and he was bad on two goals) it’s gonna be a problem. It’s a liability. 

That said, we did have a lot of chances and didn’t capitalize on them. 

[thewookie1]

13 minutes ago, FrenchConnection44 said:

Don’t forget Stillman was also out. And that could have been a difference maker had he been able to play in place of Bryson.  

Bryson played awful defense at times. -2 for the night and just seemed to flounder. 

Nothing against him personally. Sure he is trying. But he can’t be a regular and Buffalo go anywhere. Terrible season.

In 49 games he’s -20 on a team that is +11 in goal differential this year.

Last year, when the team was -58 in goal differential, Bryson was -9 in 73 games. 
 

Def hurts not having those players. Still it was a tight game and the Sabres had as many good chances if not more than the Oilers. Just couldn’t score on a lot of close opportunities. Several times felt like we went right into the body of Skinner who had a really good game tonight. Great goaltending can win a ton of games. 

 

The saddest part with Bryson is he’s ok in most attributes in terms of IQ and offensive instincts and has superb speed. However he is lighter than a feather and gets bullied by practically anyone who faces him. His net front style can’t work because he neither has the size nor strength to physically remove most opponents. What he should have done the last couple years is watch highlights of Spurgeon from MIN and asked Skinner for his lower body workout routine. Skinner has enough lower body strength to use his lower center of gravity to work over larger players and that is what Bryson would need in order to succeed. 

[spndnchz]

So what did they need to change last night?

[jsb]

My observations of the game, as much as I like rereading the GDTs, I can't look at it during the games. I get so caught up in the games that reading everyone's immediate reaction to everything that goes drives me up the wall.

The negatives are this wasn't one of Peterka's, VO or Bryson's best games. Having said that, they collectively didn't blow the game but were beaten by a very hot GK. As bad as they played, when you give up only 3 goals, 2 of them by McDavid, you should normally win that game at home. We have to start a home winning streak and that is the #1 reason we're not in a playoff spot at the moment.

Quinn has really flourished playing with Thompson and Skinner. He's getting more space playing with those guys and he's really starting to play well. The Cozens and Mitts line has really done well and has build so solid chemistry since put together and if you add Tuch to that line, do you have another #1 line on the team?? As good as Dahlin has become, I think we're starting to take him for granted. He makes plays that are nothing short of outstanding on a game by game basis. There are very few Dmen that play as well as Power at such a young age. He makes an occasional rookie mistake but he's so cool under pressure that he was definitely worth the #1 pick in the draft. 

Does a Skinner-Thompson-Quinn......... Mitts-Cozens-Tuch......... Peterka-Krebs-Greenway top 3 lines look as deadly moving forward as it does to me??

We need a #1A GK to become a contender more than anything else KA can add moving forward. Even with the loss we're back in the driver's seat if we can win later today against the NY Islanders

Edited March 7, 2023 by jsb

[LGR4GM]

18 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Non-factor? He’s on pace for thirty goals 

 

That line was creating chances all over the place last game. Give that line a chance

You're right, olofsson was a factor in this game. His lazy, weak, one dimensional play allowed the opposition to score twice in his whopping 12:07 of ice time. I mean there's awful and then there's olofsson last night. 

My favorite play was the one where for no reason he starts to flee the zone only to have to backtrack and not pickup the goal scorer in the slot. Here it is...

 

4 hours ago, spndnchz said:

So what did they need to change last night?

Bryson for a better defenseman.

Olofsson for a Tuch.

[bob_sauve28]

8 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

You're right, olofsson was a factor in this game. His lazy, weak, one dimensional play allowed the opposition to score twice in his whopping 12:07 of ice time. I mean there's awful and then there's olofsson last night. 

My favorite play was the one where for no reason he starts to flee the zone only to have to backtrack and not pickup the goal scorer in the slot. Here it is...

 

Bryson for a better defenseman.

Olofsson for a Tuch.

You are not obsessed, no