GDT: Sabres @ Habs - Thu. 7 pm ET, Jan 4, 2024 MSG-B, ESPN+, RDS, TSN 📺 WGR 📻

[JohnC]

9 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Called it.

You had two choices: win or lose. You picked win. You got it right. Does that mean that you are our in-house Nostradamus?

You are entitled to pat yourself on the back. Oh wait, you have already done that.  😃

[JohnC]

6 minutes ago, ska-T Chitown said:

Maybe I am crazy and I won't be mad if other saw it differently - but when I watch the replay of Dahlin's gaffe (I think the real mistake was underestimating the defender), he looks up to the blueline right away and sees a Montreal player either step-for-step with or ahead of the first Sabre coming back. He kept the offensive player to the top/outside of the faceoff circle - it was not that bad of a play when you consider Buffalo's forwards' reputations for not back checking. He thought they might have a 2-on-1, so he played the pass, like you are supposed to?

Dahlin made a bad play in overplaying the puck.  Don't overthink this mistake that resulted in a goal. There will be times when he will force a play and it results in a goal for us. And there are times when he will force a play and it will end in our out net. It happens. 

[mjd1001]

21 minutes ago, ska-T Chitown said:

Maybe I am crazy and I won't be mad if other saw it differently - but when I watch the replay of Dahlin's gaffe (I think the real mistake was underestimating the defender), he looks up to the blueline right away and sees a Montreal player either step-for-step with or ahead of the first Sabre coming back. He kept the offensive player to the top/outside of the faceoff circle - it was not that bad of a play when you consider Buffalo's forwards' reputations for not back checking. He thought they might have a 2-on-1, so he played the pass, like you are supposed to?

Its hard to tell if that happened, but in the bigger picture.....this is why the Sabres D-men are probably BETTER than we give them credit for. The forwards don't backcheck, sometimes literally STOP at the blueline and don't enter the D-zone (Skinner), wave sticks at guys instead of even slightly bumping them, and are TERRIBELY out of position (Cozens).  Because of that, the D-mean have almost LEARNED to not play the way they should on a normal NHL team, but to have to think more...to analyze the situation more instead of reacting because they have zero idea what help the forward will give, and it makes the D-men look worse than they actually are.

[bob_sauve28]

3 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Its hard to tell if that happened, but in the bigger picture.....this is why the Sabres D-men are probably BETTER than we give them credit for. The forwards don't backcheck, sometimes literally STOP at the blueline and don't enter the D-zone (Skinner), wave sticks at guys instead of even slightly bumping them, and are TERRIBELY out of position (Cozens).  Because of that, the D-mean have almost LEARNED to not play the way they should on a normal NHL team, but to have to think more...to analyze the situation more instead of reacting because they have zero idea what help the forward will give, and it makes the D-men look worse than they actually are.

The forwards also hold onto puck in d-zone too long sometimes. I don't know if overall its good or bad, but they do lose the puck a lot. If they just "punted" the puck out, they lose control, but it's out of the zone. If they hold it, of course, they can initiate a rush better. 

[Pimlach]

33 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Its hard to tell if that happened, but in the bigger picture.....this is why the Sabres D-men are probably BETTER than we give them credit for. The forwards don't backcheck, sometimes literally STOP at the blueline and don't enter the D-zone (Skinner), wave sticks at guys instead of even slightly bumping them, and are TERRIBELY out of position (Cozens).  Because of that, the D-mean have almost LEARNED to not play the way they should on a normal NHL team, but to have to think more...to analyze the situation more instead of reacting because they have zero idea what help the forward will give, and it makes the D-men look worse than they actually are.

The Defensemen get blamed for too many of the goals night to night.  Whoever is in the tv screen gets blamed by fans here.  The cause is often somewhere else on the ice, our forwards and the “system” are not conducive to good team defense.  

Edited January 5 by Pimlach

[French Collection]

I am glad TNT got a pair of goals, this might get him going. You could see how Skinner was happy for him, TNT had probably been very frustrated with his play, maybe more than us.

Mitts keeps chugging along, our steady Eddie this year.

I have been one of Quinn’s biggest backers and he is not letting me down. He cannot be at 100% yet but he is back and making a difference.

Levi finding some consistency going forward from this game would be awesome. He’s still a rookie who will have hiccups but I don’t believe KA isn’t sending him back down.

Power and Mule were better, baby steps.

They haven’t been able to put a streak together so my expectations are very low, prove me wrong boys.

[Pimlach]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the new D combos:   Power-EJ, and Muel-Clifton?  
 

It appeared to me that DG did not stick to the defensive pairs for long.  
 

Side note:  Clifton is now +1.  I recall him being -7 when Clifton hate was gaining momentum.   

[SwampD]

11 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Cuzzy somehow got a double minor out of getting assaulted and battered.

Curb your enthusiasm there, Cuzzy.

If someone told me that that has never been called that way in the history of hockey, I would believe them. Third man in always gets the extra two. Complete BS.

[PromoTheRobot]

17 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

The Defensemen get blamed for too many of the goals night to night.  Whoever is in the tv screen gets blamed by fans here.  The cause is often somewhere else on the ice, our forwards and the “system” are not conducive to good team defense.  

I usually blame the guy turning over the puck, and that's often a forward. (Although Dahlin gets the goat horns last night.) The crap avalanche usually starts with a turnover or pass-to-no-one in the offensive end and results in an odd-man rush.

[PromoTheRobot]

11 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Cuzzy somehow got a double minor out of getting assaulted and battered.

Curb your enthusiasm there, Cuzzy.

What I didn't understand is how the teams were even strength with 2 MTL players in the box to one Cozens? And if Coz got a double minor, isn't that 4 minutes, not 2 minutes served concurrently? None of it made sense but I guess it was good for us.

[Pimlach]

2 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

What I didn't understand is how the teams were even strength with 2 MTL players in the box to one Cozens? And if Coz got a double minor, isn't that 4 minutes, not 2 minutes served concurrently? None of it made sense but I guess it was good for us.

Seems like we should have had a man advantage for 2 because Savard came in after the first scrum, that should have been enough to warrant the extra 2 as that could have escalated from there. 

 

[Broken Ankles]

17 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the new D combos:   Power-EJ, and Muel-Clifton?  
 

It appeared to me that DG did not stick to the defensive pairs for long.  
 

Side note:  Clifton is now +1.  I recall him being -7 when Clifton hate was gaining momentum.   

  According to Moneypuck, the Sabres played  ~8 minutes TOI (5v5) with different combinations.  Doesn’t seem different from what other teams do, especially with so many PP, And PKs which create scenarios for a change to a pairing on the next shift.  What I also found interesting was Clifton’s minutes/ TOI overall (19:32), and the fact that outside the top three pairings, the next two highest were Clifton with Dahlin, and Clifton and Power.  I took a giant bong hit of hopium last night that this kid becomes an asset moving forward rather than an excuse.  

[Shoot da Puck]

This is an exciting 1 game winning streak...

Very cool feeling 😎 

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

Dahlin made a bad play in overplaying the puck.  Don't overthink this mistake that resulted in a goal. There will be times when he will force a play and it results in a goal for us. And there are times when he will force a play and it will end in our out net. It happens. 

As related to me, Dahlin's comments post-game were to a similar effect.

I've had it. Eff this. This is the perspective of a player who loves to win, but does not hate to lose.

"The kids don't want it."

[bob_sauve28]

49 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the new D combos:   Power-EJ, and Muel-Clifton?  

 

That just seems like a natural combination. Good vet with good young talented player 

[triumph_communes]

Clifton has massively improved from being a total liability like he was at the start of the season.

 

Power has regressed. Sophomore slump, to be expected.

 

Samuelsson is just being asked to do more than he should be imo

 

 

My issue with the team is more that their play is more dependent upon whether opposing teams change their strategy to stop us or not. They look absolutely terrible if they do. They are fun to watch and outgun if they let us skate. It’s a coaching issue if we can’t adapt to teams holding the trap.  Our games against the Rangers for example- season opener we laid an egg. They trapped us good. The rematch they didn’t and we ran the same team over. Night and day. 

Edited January 5 by triumph_communes

[inkman]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the new D combos:   Power-EJ, and Muel-Clifton?  
 

It appeared to me that DG did not stick to the defensive pairs for long.  
 

Side note:  Clifton is now +1.  I recall him being -7 when Clifton hate was gaining momentum.   

 

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

That just seems like a natural combination. Good vet with good young talented player 

I guess the crux of the matter is: did Joki fair well with Dahlin.  Score would indicate so.  I’ll nose around for coke data. 

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

What I didn't understand is how the teams were even strength with 2 MTL players in the box to one Cozens? And if Coz got a double minor, isn't that 4 minutes, not 2 minutes served concurrently? None of it made sense but I guess it was good for us.

The NHL Rulebook doesn't specifically state how 2 and 2 from 1 team vs 2+2 from the other are to be served when all occur coincidentally.  But it does state that 2 and 5 from team 1 vs 2+5 fom the other result in 5v5 play.  So, one can infer that's the correct way for that call to be enforced.

 

2 hours ago, SwampD said:

If someone told me that that has never been called that way in the history of hockey, I would believe them. Third man in always gets the extra two. Complete BS.

Except 3rd man in refers to a fight.  The original 2 penalties were only 2 minute roughings, not 5 minute fighting majors.  Since there was no "fight" there was no 3rd man into the fight.

(Personally felt that Cozens should've only gotten 2 minutes, but wasn't asked by the refs for help with the call. 😉 )

[Crusader1969]

Without looking at the stat sheet , can anyone remember if Olofsson played last night?  The only thing I can remember is when Peterka hit the post and the MTL commentator confused JJP for Olofsson.  Otherwise, I honestly can't think of a thing he did. - positive or negative 

[K-9]

3 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

As related to me, Dahlin's comments post-game were to a similar effect.

I've had it. Eff this. This is the perspective of a player who loves to win, but does not hate to lose.

"The kids don't want it."

 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, Crusader1969 said:

Without looking at the stat sheet , can anyone remember if Olofsson played last night?  The only thing I can remember is when Peterka hit the post and the MTL commentator confused JJP for Olofsson.  Otherwise, I honestly can't think of a thing he did. - positive or negative 

In my opinion I thought he played a hard and tight game. He played a style of play suitable for a fourth liner. I have no complaints regarding his play last night. 

[ska-T Chitown]

38 minutes ago, JohnC said:

In my opinion I thought he played a hard and tight game. He played a style of play suitable for a fourth liner. I have no complaints regarding his play last night. 

I agree - there were several times I saw Olofsson actually hounding the puck and I think I recall (maybe it was just the whiskey) him creating a few turnovers. He even seemed engaged in the D zone which certainly must have been a dream. The 4th line were all +0, which in my mind was a win.

[JohnC]

8 minutes ago, ska-T Chitown said:

I agree - there were several times I saw Olofsson actually hounding the puck and I think I recall (maybe it was just the whiskey) him creating a few turnovers. He even seemed engaged in the D zone which certainly must have been a dream. The 4th line were all +0, which in my mind was a win.

It's likely that the less whiskey you take in will correspond with a lower number of turnovers attributed to VO. 😀

[Pimlach]

4 hours ago, Broken Ankles said:

  According to Moneypuck, the Sabres played  ~8 minutes TOI (5v5) with different combinations.  Doesn’t seem different from what other teams do, especially with so many PP, And PKs which create scenarios for a change to a pairing on the next shift.  What I also found interesting was Clifton’s minutes/ TOI overall (19:32), and the fact that outside the top three pairings, the next two highest were Clifton with Dahlin, and Clifton and Power.  I took a giant bong hit of hopium last night that this kid becomes an asset moving forward rather than an excuse.  

Any fancy stats on Power with EJ.   They started with that and I didn't see it much later in the game.  Of course PPs and PKs tend to shuffle the pairings a bit.  

[PerreaultForever]

7 hours ago, SHAAAUGHT!!! said:

Not to be a Donny downer, but this is one of the reasons why I’m not very excited about this win.  This team is an above average team when they show up and compete.  Last night it was Levi’s first game in Montreal, before that it was to “be there for Donny” or because they wanted to step it up to beat a top team. Otherwise they win one, and then take the next game or two off. 
 

The Penguins are 7-2-1 in the last 10.  If the Sabres come out and play a solid 60 on Saturday night it may give me some hope they turned the corner on the season. If they lose bad or give a half-hearted effort, well, it’s just more par for the course with Donny Meatballs at the helm…

True, Penguins gave the Bruins a lot of trouble in front of the net so we will be in trouble there if they play the same. If we play well it's likely a high scoring game. If we play poorly they will blow us out. 

We have skilled players who are capable of scoring goals at any moment, even when we play iffy, but the team play as a whole wasn't all that great even though we beat Montreal bad. They were bad.