GDT: Sabres @ Bruins - Thurs. 7pm, Dec 7, 2023, MSG/ESPN+ 📺 WGR 📻

[Taro T]

21 minutes ago, Big Guava said:

Power and Mule were awesome last night together. Why would you break that up?

Mainly because both have been having some major issues with their play.  Overall both have been good, but both also have way more head scratching moments than they should.  Expect that giving Power time with Erik Johnson will help him settle his play down more than consistently playing with Samuelsson would at this point in time.

Not convinced their play last night wasn't better than it normally would be because they both knew they had to play at a higher level all game due to Dahlin being out.  It might have been what they'll be when playing together, but again, not convinced of that.

Also, expect playing 3rd pairing would help Samuelsson settle down for similar reasons.

Once they're both going solid, sure, put them back together.  And hope you get to a point that either Adams has brought in a true top 4 to partner with Dahlin or that Johnson gets to a point he can regularly play on a top line sooner than later.

[K-9]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

At best, Stillman is 8 on the depth chart, so he very well might not.

Have only seen 1 Amerks game this year and wasn't watching closely.  @inkman or @K-9 and a couple others could answer your Q far better.

Given their overall problems on defense all season and knowing full well the forwards are a big part of the problem, I really don’t have many positive things to say about Stillman or the other Amerks’ D men. I’d say he’s just a mediocre AHL defenseman on a team full of poor to mediocre defensemen. He has his moments but they are few and far between.

[inkman]

3 hours ago, Mango said:

After rattling off all the defenders, it occurred to me, does Stillman ever make it back to the big club? 

Admittedly I watch very very few Amerks games. How does he look down there? 
 

edit: Stillman* stupid autocorrect. I’m an idiot but not that much of an idiot. 

 

2 hours ago, Taro T said:

At best, Stillman is 8 on the depth chart, so he very well might not.

Have only seen 1 Amerks game this year and wasn't watching closely.  @inkman or @K-9 and a couple others could answer your Q far better.

 

1 hour ago, K-9 said:

Given their overall problems on defense all season and knowing full well the forwards are a big part of the problem, I really don’t have many positive things to say about Stillman or the other Amerks’ D men. I’d say he’s just a mediocre AHL defenseman on a team full of poor to mediocre defensemen. He has his moments but they are few and far between.

Not looking good for Stillman.  Just about every other Amerks Dman has better stats.  I imagine Clague, Metsa or Novikov get the call first.  From all reports, Novikov has been very steady and reliable.  

 

[Pimlach]

5 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Looked at the replay of the goal scored against last night again....

It was a deflection so it was unlucky a bit...but on that play you can still see the Sabres have problems in their own end, either communicating with each other or just knowing how to cover for each other.

If you look at Mitts, Thompson, and Johnson....they all do things that MIGHT make sense to them in a vacuum, but not as a team. Coyle was WIDE OPEN for an easy tap in if the puck wasn't deflected and made it to him.

Johnson and Clifton BOTH chase the puck behind the net and BOTH D-men end of in the same place.  Mitts skates through the center and joins them, with now all 3 of them collapsing on the same guy. With Thompson trailing on the near wing trying to not abandon the point...the fact that 3 sabres players are occupying ONE Bruin is a problem.  

Good game overall and only 1 goal allowed. But watch the Sabres score a lot of their goals over the last month and they often have less room to work...but when the Sabres allow goals or chances, it is because stuff like this happens often...they just don't work as a 5 man unit in their own zone and WAY too often they chase the puck, or 2 or 3 guys go to the same spot and leave HUGE areas of the ice wide open for the opposition to slide right into.

 

Good post.  
 

It’s baffling that they are still teaching, ir just started teaching, defensive structure.  Imagine Clifton and EJ joining a team with not structure after coming from Boston and Colorado.   

[bob_sauve28]

Not to take away from a great win, but the Bruins didn't like look like the Bruins. Not feisty, no edge to their game, weak forecheck etc. I hope this is a long term trend with them. They reminded me of this years Penguins team, which is fine with me. 

 

Maybe that Lucic incident in some way hurt the team.