Sabres Dead Last in 1st Period Stats

[Night Train]

First period goal differential is minus 22

42 total goals in the 1st

 

 

 

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, Night Train said:

First period goal differential is minus 22

42 total goals in the 1st

 

 

 

That's okay Granato doesn't care about the numbers. He doesn't care about defensive numbers so why give a crap about 1st period numbers?

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

The Sabres are -18 in the differential for the season.  That means we are +4 after the 1st period.

What this lets me is that the Sabres are coming out flat most nights and are almost always playing from behind.   This is a leadership issue from the coaches and top players.  

[Ctaeth]

25 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

The Sabres are -18 in the differential for the season.  That means we are +4 after the 1st period.

What this lets me is that the Sabres are coming out flat most nights and are almost always playing from behind.   This is a leadership issue from the coaches and top players.  

Or we just aren't good enough in general.  Opponents jump out to an early lead and then coast the rest of the game

[PerreaultForever]

It's funny how the analytics matter when you like what they say, but when they are bad they become meaningless or there are "other" factors. 

I heard him talk about how he really liked the first 4 minutes against Boston before the Bruins scored. He thought they possessed the puck well in the offensive zone. Which they did. Good analytics. But not one mention of how all that possession was around the outside perimeter and they didn't actually generate a single dangerous scoring opportunity. Those would be the other bad numbers. 

Granato has no real answers. 

[TageMVP]

14 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Granato has no real answers. 

Starting to look like that. I mean, just by way of association, couldn't one argue that he was a bad hire to begin with because he was an assistant on Ralph's staff? That whole staff was terrible. 

Maybe this team was doomed with Granato no matter what. 

[inkman]

Shocked I tell ya! 
 

[lowsabre]

43 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

It's funny how the analytics matter when you like what they say, but when they are bad they become meaningless or there are "other" factors. 

I heard him talk about how he really liked the first 4 minutes against Boston before the Bruins scored. He thought they possessed the puck well in the offensive zone. Which they did. Good analytics. But not one mention of how all that possession was around the outside perimeter and they didn't actually generate a single dangerous scoring opportunity. Those would be the other bad numbers. 

Granato has no real answers. 

Cognitive dissonance is a hell of a drug...

[inkman]

20 minutes ago, lowsabre said:

Cognitive dissonance is a hell of a drug...

Drugs are also a hell of a drug 

[PerreaultForever]

51 minutes ago, TageMVP said:

Starting to look like that. I mean, just by way of association, couldn't one argue that he was a bad hire to begin with because he was an assistant on Ralph's staff? That whole staff was terrible. 

Maybe this team was doomed with Granato no matter what. 

I think Granato is a good coach for the NCAA or as an assistant. He could play good cop/big brother/best friend under a hard ass Tortorella type head coach. 

The system he is using doesn't work in the NHL and his game management is atrocious. I'd also say he's a poor leader/motivator but that also falls on the (lack of) leadership. 

There are too many nice guys around and not enough warriors who want to win badly at any cost. 

[lowsabre]

Just now, inkman said:

Drugs are also a hell of a drug 

Maybe they'll help with the powerplay

[Cityo'Rasmii]

So much for the expresso advantage!

[inkman]

13 minutes ago, lowsabre said:

Maybe they'll help with the powerplay

They make it look better or you forget what hockey is…you never quite know.   

[pi2000]

coaching 

[TageMVP]

19 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I think Granato is a good coach for the NCAA or as an assistant. He could play good cop/big brother/best friend under a hard ass Tortorella type head coach. 

The system he is using doesn't work in the NHL and his game management is atrocious. I'd also say he's a poor leader/motivator but that also falls on the (lack of) leadership. 

There are too many nice guys around and not enough warriors who want to win badly at any cost. 

Good points. I do think Granato has some qualities to him but that are much more aligned to being an assistant coach. It's okay to be upset as the head coach sometimes. Get mad at a ref, chew out a player, show me something that proves you care. Players rally from stuff like that. Pull the goalie after 2 goals, anything. I don't think I've ever seen him upset which is bizarre because he's the head coach. How the team plays is ultimately up to him. 

On another note, he can't fully be blamed either because the Sabres consist of players who are all too similar. You would think 12 years of this no grit crap would inspire a change but all the GMs, coaches and players have tried the exact same strategy for 12 years. 

It's lunacy  

[Cityo'Rasmii]

30 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I think Granato is a good coach for the NCAA or as an assistant. He could play good cop/big brother/best friend under a hard ass Tortorella type head coach. 

The system he is using doesn't work in the NHL and his game management is atrocious. I'd also say he's a poor leader/motivator but that also falls on the (lack of) leadership. 

There are too many nice guys around and not enough warriors who want to win badly at any cost. 

 

4 minutes ago, TageMVP said:

Good points. I do think Granato has some qualities to him but that are much more aligned to being an assistant coach. It's okay to be upset as the head coach sometimes. Get mad at a ref, chew out a player, show me something that proves you care. Players rally from stuff like that. Pull the goalie after 2 goals, anything. I don't think I've ever seen him upset which is bizarre because he's the head coach. How the team plays is ultimately up to him. 

On another note, he can't fully be blamed either because the Sabres consist of players who are all too similar. You would think 12 years of this no grit crap would inspire a change but all the GMs, coaches and players have tried the exact same strategy for 12 years. 

It's lunacy  

Spot on @PerreaultForever and @TageMVP

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, TageMVP said:

Good points. I do think Granato has some qualities to him but that are much more aligned to being an assistant coach. It's okay to be upset as the head coach sometimes. Get mad at a ref, chew out a player, show me something that proves you care. Players rally from stuff like that. Pull the goalie after 2 goals, anything. I don't think I've ever seen him upset which is bizarre because he's the head coach. How the team plays is ultimately up to him. 

On another note, he can't fully be blamed either because the Sabres consist of players who are all too similar. You would think 12 years of this no grit crap would inspire a change but all the GMs, coaches and players have tried the exact same strategy for 12 years. 

It's lunacy  

In fairness he has yelled at refs. We've seen the occasional on the bench outrage. Don't think I've seen him yell at players though. More significantly I don't think he benches players for poor performance. Not the main guys anyway. Benching a rookie or a Jost or Olofsson doesn't really count. They also seem to get rewarded too easily and mediocrity is accepted. 

Remember when Torts took over Philly? Called them all fat and lazy and had them doing sprints for hours until some of them puked. Some people here laughed about the dinosaur. 

I can't speak to all teams, but I know the accountability threshold in Boston is really high, but they also have a really strong veteran leadership core that functions to get the most out of players. There's a lot of internal competition to be great. The lack of that in Buffalo is on KA not Granato.

To your second point most definitely. I said this in the Boston game thread I think but the TNT guys nailed it in the second intermission. "too many of the same guy" and the prospect pool is pretty much more of the same. That's most definitely on KA. 

I know a lot of people might scream don't trade away the future but imo at this point you either move several guys off the roster or you move prospects for the things we need now (which we needed in free agency but didn't act on)

imo we still need 1 good veteran goalie, 1 solid big defensive defenseman, 2 tough 4th line grinders and one bigger veteran winger who will drive the net (or a 2 way 3C and you move Mitts to the wing, either way but a leader type). They don't have to be top level guys but they do have to be hard working character guys. That's what we need now, and that's likely what we will still need next year and none of that is waiting in Rochester, Europe or any other junior league. 

and I would be fine moving any combination of Savoie, Kulich, Rosen, Östlund etc. to get those things if need be.  

[Quint]

I think at least some of it has to do with the fragile psyche of the young team. With all the losing over the years, there is now a dodgy relationship with the fans . Most of the players, besides maybe Okposo and Girgensons, don't understand the history. They just hear a lot of booing and it gets them anry. Dahlin and Thompson recently spoke about this. So the players come out flat in the first and get the yips when they almost expect the crowd to boo them. Then losing became a habit.