GDT: 10/24/23 Buffalo Sabres @ Ottawa Senators -- MSG and Radio 6:45? PM

[matter2003]

UPL turned into UPL with 10 minutes left in the 3rd...luckily Tage got the ENG

[Huckleberry]

12 hours ago, inkman said:

Marty’s eyes look super bloodshot 

should see mine, I thought I had a free day today 🤣

[Gatorman0519]

12 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

UPL turned into UPL with 10 minutes left in the 3rd...luckily Tage got the ENG

Those were all good goals.  More on the team than him.  I was going to lose my mind if we blew that lead....lol 

[Pimlach]

The Sabres got tired about halfway through the 2nd period, just like the Islanders did when we played them on a back to back.   We had a 3-0 lead but the momentum swing was all Sens.  

The Sens scored at the 13:14 mark of the second and they had huge pressure on us, dominating several long shifts in our zone.  UPL made a few big stops in this flurry, right when we really needed it.  Then the Sabres (Tuch) finally got one on the PP, then Tage got the late tip in, 5-1 game over.  

About halfway through the third things got ugly with Tuch and Tkachuck.  The refs missed (more like let go) a blatant charging/roughing by Tkachuk on Tuch, leading to a retaliation by Tuch - which they called and they got them both for fighting.  The officials were the reason the game got stupid. 

The next group of penalties was very troubling.  Tarasenko roughed KO after the whistle leading to a response by Cozens.  Cozens ended up with 4 mins of roughing and 10 mins for misconduct and they even got Benson for 2 minutes.  We never got the straight penalty story from blabbering Ray and Dan - they were terrible once again, but we ended up on the PK which seemed to defy logic from what actually happened.  

It seemed like the Sens had the PP for most of the last 3 or 4 minutes of the game and they got a few cheap goals on scrambles in front of the net.  We have to keep our composure.   With Tuch and Cozens out for the game we just need to protect the 5-2 lead.   

Fatigue, the crowd, the fights, whatever - we have to do better in these times - that was playoff intensity in the last half of the 3rd. 

Thankfully Tage made a few nice moves to get control of the puck on the PK and he flipped the clincher in.  That was a very big EN goal and I am glad Tage got it because he has been working hard to get his game going.  

Overall an excellent road win on a B2B for us.   We corrected some things from the Montreal game.  We gave UPL a lot of support, we are playing like a team again, team defense is getting better the last few games, and a few more guns are starting to fire. 

The addition of Johnson and Clifton, plus the reclamation of Greenway and all of a sudden we have some physical presence to go with Cozens and Tuch.  

Bring on the Lindy and the Devils.  

[Huckleberry]

11 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

Those were all good goals.  More on the team than him.  I was going to lose my mind if we blew that lead....lol 

Ottawa got some serious help from the refs though.

As for the UPL saves, most of those stops were shot at him right in the chest, I never had to see him do a glove save.

[Mango]

I am at my in-laws and was only able to watch about 10-15 minutes. This is a tough win for me, because apparently this means I have to spend the next 75 games at my in-laws not watching if I want them to keep winning. 

[Pimlach]

Just now, Mango said:

I am at my in-laws and was only able to watch about 10-15 minutes. This is a tough win for me, because apparently this means I have to spend the next 75 games at my in-laws not watching if I want them to keep winning. 

[SabresBaltimore]

5 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

they even got Benson for 2 minutes

I think Benson was just serving the extra 2 for Cozens there.

[Pimlach]

15 minutes ago, SabresBaltimore said:

I think Benson was just serving the extra 2 for Cozens there.

Thanks, Ray and Dan were blabbering on as usual.  I am getting tired of them already.   No more RJ at the end of his career to salvage this broadcast team. 

Minutes of play by play get ignored every game while they pontificate.  Keys plays and nuances never get talked about.  Ray tries to analyze what is happening but lacks the depth to do it correctly.  Dan would be better if he stuck to play by play only, and made it a priority.  Dan needs to get more excited for the Sabres than for the opponent too.  

[rickshaw]

I just can’t understand how something so easy to avoid turns into a gong show all because the refs don’t do their jobs. 
 

The charging/roughing/elbow to Tuch’s head should’ve been that. But instead they go into game manage mode and we get screwed. 
 

They let a cheap sucker punch go at the end of the scrap (the reason I hate Tkachuk’s is their crossing the line/no code) and we get royally screwed after that and suddenly we are in a crazy finish. Tuch could’ve been seriously hurt just because the officials didn’t do their jobs. It’s so hard to watch and it goes on all over the league. 

There is no way there should be betting on hockey simply because of the game manage style of officiating. 

[SabresBaltimore]

7 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Thanks, Ray and Dan were blabbering on as usual.  I am getting tired of them already.   No more RJ at the end of his career to salvage this broadcast team. 

Minutes of play by play get ignored every game while they pontificate.  Keys plays and nuances never get talked about.  Ray tries to analyze what is happening but lacks the depth to do it correctly.  Dan would be better if he stuck to play by play only, and made it a priority.  Dan needs to get more excited for the Sabres than for the opponent too.  

So I get a lot of people don't like Dan and Ray, but I know Benson was serving the extra 2 because they said so on the broadcast.

After the Tuch fight, Ray snapped at Dan because he was talking over the PA announcement of the penalties. Ray learned the right way to do things from RJ, but can get off on tangents and needs to be reigned in. RJ would do that. Dan does not. Ray was never a good replacement for Jim Lorentz (or Harry Neale, who I never liked personally but seemed to make RJ happy), but I don't find him as bad as a lot of people on these boards seem to.

I think Ray and Dan are "fine" when compared to many other broadcast teams around the league. There was always going to be a big fall-off from RJ no matter who they got to replace him.

Similarly, I've never liked John Murphy for the Bills after Van Miller retired either, but he was "fine". I haven't tried Chris Brown since I'm no longer in the area to hear the radio broadcasts, but I'm not a big fan of him on Bills Live, so I doubt I'd like his play by play either.

 

National NHL broadcasts have had the the same issue of them talking during play for years, and often times they are doing a bench interview while play his happening. It's maddening. Those are made for TV only, but as someone who grew up listening to RJ, I share your frustration that they aren't shutting up and focusing on play by play while the game is going.

Unfortunately I think the ship has sailed on that style of commentating. I think the perception is that few people listen to games these days compared to watching, and many don't even watch a full game, just clips or game recaps. So a lot of the quality of commentating has changed as a result.

 

[KC Scouts]

33 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

About halfway through the third things got ugly with Tuch and Tkachuck.  The refs missed (more like let go) a blatant charging/roughing by Tkachuk on Tuch, leading to a retaliation by Tuch - which they called and they got them both for fighting.  The officials were the reason the game got stupid. 

The next group of penalties was very troubling.  Tarasenko roughed KO after the whistle leading to a response by Cozens.  Cozens ended up with 4 mins of roughing and 10 mins for misconduct and they even got Benson for 2 minutes.  We never got the straight penalty story from blabbering Ray and Dan - they were terrible once again, but we ended up on the PK which seemed to defy logic from what actually happened.  

 

Yes, Yes and Yes......Refs have definitely been a bit heavy handed with the Sabres since the start of the season. I'm sure it will even out BUT it is easier to take when we get out of the game with the 2 points and "No soup" for the Sens 😜 

[bunomatic]

14 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Thanks, Ray and Dan were blabbering on as usual.  I am getting tired of them already.   No more RJ at the end of his career to salvage this broadcast team. 

Minutes of play by play get ignored every game while they pontificate.  Keys plays and nuances never get talked about.  Ray tries to analyze what is happening but lacks the depth to do it correctly.  Dan would be better if he stuck to play by play only, and made it a priority.  Dan needs to get more excited for the Sabres than for the opponent too.  

It could be worse. I listened to the Ottawa take. Brady Brady Brady. The entire game. 

[Night Train]

Dan D. And Rob Ray blather on about other things while the action is happening far too often.It doesn't really ruin my watching of the game but it's bad for folks listening on radio.

Skinner is receiving a pass in the slot which he fires to try and complete a possible hat trick and they are talking about something else which has zero to do with the action happening live. " Yes Dan, I need to pick up my scripts for dementia when I get home ! " 

Stuff that should be discussed during dead time. 

[PASabreFan]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

Everyone fell apart there at the end - including UPL. It would have been nice if he could have come up big on one of those 3 goals that came in rapid succession. The limitations of his game are accurately noted upthread.

In my hamster-brain, I can't help but feel comforted by the fact that he's a big fella in there. "The puck's bound to hit him," my idiot inner voice tells me.

Then I watch him try to move laterally and my sphincter puckers.

My puck sphincters. Same diff I guess.

[JustOneParade]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

Thanks, Ray and Dan were blabbering on as usual.  I am getting tired of them already.   No more RJ at the end of his career to salvage this broadcast team. 

Minutes of play by play get ignored every game while they pontificate.  Keys plays and nuances never get talked about.  Ray tries to analyze what is happening but lacks the depth to do it correctly.  Dan would be better if he stuck to play by play only, and made it a priority.  Dan needs to get more excited for the Sabres than for the opponent too.  

That's very surprising to hear. Wasn't Ray one of the more cerebral players to ever play in the NHL?

[Radar]

59 minutes ago, Night Train said:

Dan D. And Rob Ray blather on about other things while the action is happening far too often.It doesn't really ruin my watching of the game but it's bad for folks listening on radio.

Skinner is receiving a pass in the slot which he fires to try and complete a possible hat trick and they are talking about something else which has zero to do with the action happening live. " Yes Dan, I need to pick up my scripts for dementia when I get home ! " 

Stuff that should be discussed during dead time. 

Exactly. Save your freaking chatter for after the game at your watering hole. We went from the best to probably one of the worst broadcasters.

[SabresBaltimore]

I've watched a lot of Capitals games over the years. I really like Joe Bennati as a play-by-play guy. I think he's one of the few really good ones left at this point. However his color guy Craig Laughlin annoys the hell out of me. I feel like me makes Rob Ray look like a genius by comparison.

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, SabresBaltimore said:

So I get a lot of people don't like Dan and Ray, but I know Benson was serving the extra 2 because they said so on the broadcast.

After the Tuch fight, Ray snapped at Dan because he was talking over the PA announcement of the penalties. Ray learned the right way to do things from RJ, but can get off on tangents and needs to be reigned in. RJ would do that. Dan does not. Ray was never a good replacement for Jim Lorentz (or Harry Neale, who I never liked personally but seemed to make RJ happy), but I don't find him as bad as a lot of people on these boards seem to.

I think Ray and Dan are "fine" when compared to many other broadcast teams around the league. There was always going to be a big fall-off from RJ no matter who they got to replace him.

Similarly, I've never liked John Murphy for the Bills after Van Miller retired either, but he was "fine". I haven't tried Chris Brown since I'm no longer in the area to hear the radio broadcasts, but I'm not a big fan of him on Bills Live, so I doubt I'd like his play by play either.

 

National NHL broadcasts have had the the same issue of them talking during play for years, and often times they are doing a bench interview while play his happening. It's maddening. Those are made for TV only, but as someone who grew up listening to RJ, I share your frustration that they aren't shutting up and focusing on play by play while the game is going.

Unfortunately I think the ship has sailed on that style of commentating. I think the perception is that few people listen to games these days compared to watching, and many don't even watch a full game, just clips or game recaps. So a lot of the quality of commentating has changed as a result.

 

I missed the part about anybody saying anything about Benson serving for Cozens.  I do recall Ray telling Dan to be quiet during the penalty announcements.   I just think we deserve better from Ray and Dan.  I hope there is some kind of quality control evaluation of feedback on them.  

Today, when I looked at the box score using the App called "the Score" it shows Benson 2 mins for slashing at 17:23, it does not say he is serving for Cozens.   It shows Cozens and Tarasenko with 4 minute minors each at 17:23, so they are a wash and out the rest of the game.  In addition they hit Cozen for 10 misconduct.  The Benson serving 2 for slashing  is why the Sens had the PP.  This is apparently wrong. 

The ESPN box score shows that Cozens got 2 for slashing (served by Benson), Cozens got 4 for roughing, Tarasenko got 4 for roughing, Cozens got an extra 10.   This lines up with your explanation. 

To me this is really a poor officiating job to see the outcome of a Tarasenko cheap shot on Kyle after the whistle go uncalled, it was the start of all the problems and they give Cozens 16 minutes in penalties for it, it provided a Sen PP and a 6 on 4.  As long as we were getting the extra 2, it would have been nice to see Cozens beat the hell out of Tarasenko, who was very brave hiding behind a linesman.  

So the refs blew the Tkachuk headhunting, the Tkachuk hit after the fight, and the Tarasenko cheap shot.  

The rematch is in Ottawa on New Years, should be interesting.  

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

My puck sphincters. Same diff I guess.

Did you see the play by Dahlin last night leveling a Senator with about 10 minutes left.   I thought that hit was clean and had great timing.  He is starting to hit his stride.  

[bob_sauve28]

1 hour ago, SabresBaltimore said:

So I get a lot of people don't like Dan and Ray, but I know Benson was serving the extra 2 because they said so on the broadcast.

After the Tuch fight, Ray snapped at Dan because he was talking over the PA announcement of the penalties. Ray learned the right way to do things from RJ, but can get off on tangents and needs to be reigned in. RJ would do that. Dan does not. Ray was never a good replacement for Jim Lorentz (or Harry Neale, who I never liked personally but seemed to make RJ happy), but I don't find him as bad as a lot of people on these boards seem to.

I think Ray and Dan are "fine" when compared to many other broadcast teams around the league. There was always going to be a big fall-off from RJ no matter who they got to replace him.

Similarly, I've never liked John Murphy for the Bills after Van Miller retired either, but he was "fine". I haven't tried Chris Brown since I'm no longer in the area to hear the radio broadcasts, but I'm not a big fan of him on Bills Live, so I doubt I'd like his play by play either.

 

National NHL broadcasts have had the the same issue of them talking during play for years, and often times they are doing a bench interview while play his happening. It's maddening. Those are made for TV only, but as someone who grew up listening to RJ, I share your frustration that they aren't shutting up and focusing on play by play while the game is going.

Unfortunately I think the ship has sailed on that style of commentating. I think the perception is that few people listen to games these days compared to watching, and many don't even watch a full game, just clips or game recaps. So a lot of the quality of commentating has changed as a result.

 

I just turn the sound down for the most part 

[Believer]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

Minutes of play by play get ignored every game while they pontificate.

Watched the game on the Center Ice Senators broadcast channel…

Refreshing to hear a professional team call the play-by-play and offer color commentary…

The Dunleavy Ray act is an embarrassment and insult to Sabres fans… Needs to be fixed…

Who employs them… WGR or the Sabres?

[Pimlach]

3 minutes ago, Believer said:

Watched the game on the Center Ice Senators broadcast channel…

Refreshing to hear a professional team call the play-by-play and offer color commentary…

The Dunleavy Ray act is an embarrassment and insult to Sabres fans… Needs to be fixed…

Who employs them… WGR or the Sabres?

Don't know.  I would guess Sabres but that is just a guess.  

[bunomatic]

36 minutes ago, Believer said:

Watched the game on the Center Ice Senators broadcast channel…

Refreshing to hear a professional team call the play-by-play and offer color commentary…

The Dunleavy Ray act is an embarrassment and insult to Sabres fans… Needs to be fixed…

Who employs them… WGR or the Sabres?

Those guys were terrible. Spent a great deal of time talking about Brady rather than following the game. You would think he was crosby.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

A win is a win, but they certainly made it a lot harder on them (and us) in the last 5 minutes.