GDT: Capitals @ Sabres, 7:00pm Nov. 1, 2025, 🎙 📺 ESPN+/MSG

[Pimlach]

40 minutes ago, Mr Peabody said:

I’ve been down on Tage this year but that OT last night was a clinic on leadership.  He never gave up and the blocked shot was the cherry on top of an incredibly gutsy shift 

He gets a lot of flack here at time.  He is big and sometimes looks unorthodox out there.   Sometimes he tries to make a play and fails.  There are 31 other GMs that would take him in a heartbeat.  

What he is not is a guy that can do it on his own.  Neither was Eichel.  Neither was LaFonatine, or Mogilny, or Andreychek, or Perreault.  

[Taro T]

As the teams were lining up for the opening faceoff, noticed that Ovi wasn't just not on the ice, but was sitting at the end of the bench right next to Rob Ray.  He didn't take his 1st shift until the Kids Line finally was due to come on the ice and he took a shift, went up the ice and came back to the bench, right there next to Rob Ray again.  He had 5 shifts that 1st period, 4 of which were against the Kids and 1 against Thompson's line.  He rolled through with the other forwards on the bench only once that entire period (meaning he didn't sit next to Ray only that once).  And he was out there for Rosen's goal.  Oops, maybe only playing him against the kids wasn't the best of ideas.

In the 2nd, he sat next to Thompson (Logan, not Tage) to start the period and then took a shift against the 4th line.  He was out there against Thompson's line the next time and then on the PP (might have those 2 shifts inverted) then he seemed to go back to going against the kids.  Only took 5 shifts that period, too.  But he did stay out for all 2 minutes of the PP.  Once again, he only sat in the middle of the bench 1 time all period.

In the 3rd, wasn't paying that close of attention to his shifts, though when they got the back to back PP's he did end up taking a 3 minute shift.  His last 2 of the period were VERY short and in OT he didn't take the ice until well after Dahlin and Thompson had been out there a full 2 minutes.  As everyone saw he was technically their 4th SO shooter, but the puck just rolled off his stick.  And in the 3rd, he repeated the only sitting with his teammates once and sittling at the end of the bench the rest of the time.

Am not expecting him to play again next year.

As for the game itself, thought Dahlin played better than he had the past 2 or 3 games.  Thought Rosen was sharper prior to getting his goal than later, but he also wasn't getting to go against Ovie nearly every shift after he scored.  Thought McLeod was better than he'd been the past few, missing the net on the shorty breakaway attempt not withstanding.  Thought all 6 D had another strong game.  The talent is the best they've had in a long time, but will give Wilford props, they've been playing well and the PK is out of their minds.  They just aren't giving up many strong chances while short and didn't expect they'd get to that point with him directing the unit.

UPL was awful through 60 minutes.  So was the Caps goalie.  BUT in OT UPL was that UPL we'd seen back in January '23.  Not sure if it was getting banged up on that 1st rush when Tuch wouldn't let the Cap get to the front and the Cap ran into the net and the net hit UPL, or what the reason, but that was the best he's played in a long time.  As he tends to get into and out of his head, would give him the start on Tuesday (and tell him and Lyon that Lyon will get Thursday's start regardless to keep them both fresh and to not see UPL reinjure whatever he's been injuring lately) and see if he can't get into his own head in a good way.  

Quinn continues to be playing the right way in the offensive zone and isn't being bad in his own end.  Will take that for now and will hope he continues to improve in his own end.

Surprisingly, Power did NOT drop the puck back on the PP in the 2nd when there was a Cap on the ice right behind him.  Baby steps.  Of course, in the 1st he'd been part of the rare Triple Drop Pass combo and was the star of that making 2 of the 3 drop passes.  Truly dislike Seth Appert.

Greenway is playing a bit dirty since coming back.  Mildly surprised at that; if he can stop taking penalties doing so or if the PK unit can continue to be stellar, it isn't the worst development of the season. 

Still liking the 4th line's effort level.  Too bad Krebs hit the pipe in the 2nd shortly after the Caps had done so at the other end.

Fun game to be at.

Don't recall ever seeing an OT where all 3 guys got caught on the ice for 2 full minutes and 2 of them got caught on the ice for another minute.  And shockingly, they didn't end up getting scored on through all that.  They hadn't played their shift poorly, they just went back and forth the 1st minute and then at what presumably was the end of their shift they simply couldn't get to the puck ahead of the Caps with fresh legs.

And whoever had Byram scoring the winner in OT with Ovie and Leonard shooting wide (giving Ovie the benefit of calling the puck rolling off his stick a "shot"), go blank yourself, absolutely nobody, not even Bo's mother, had that on their parlay.

Bring on Peterka and the Woolies / UTI's and get a 2 game winning streak underway.

[Pimlach]

50 minutes ago, Taro T said:

As the teams were lining up for the opening faceoff, noticed that Ovi wasn't just not on the ice, but was sitting at the end of the bench right next to Rob Ray.  He didn't take his 1st shift until the Kids Line finally was due to come on the ice and he took a shift, went up the ice and came back to the bench, right there next to Rob Ray again.  He had 5 shifts that 1st period, 4 of which were against the Kids and 1 against Thompson's line.  He rolled through with the other forwards on the bench only once that entire period (meaning he didn't sit next to Ray only that once).  And he was out there for Rosen's goal.  Oops, maybe only playing him against the kids wasn't the best of ideas.

In the 2nd, he sat next to Thompson (Logan, not Tage) to start the period and then took a shift against the 4th line.  He was out there against Thompson's line the next time and then on the PP (might have those 2 shifts inverted) then he seemed to go back to going against the kids.  Only took 5 shifts that period, too.  But he did stay out for all 2 minutes of the PP.  Once again, he only sat in the middle of the bench 1 time all period.

In the 3rd, wasn't paying that close of attention to his shifts, though when they got the back to back PP's he did end up taking a 3 minute shift.  His last 2 of the period were VERY short and in OT he didn't take the ice until well after Dahlin and Thompson had been out there a full 2 minutes.  As everyone saw he was technically their 4th SO shooter, but the puck just rolled off his stick.  And in the 3rd, he repeated the only sitting with his teammates once and sittling at the end of the bench the rest of the time.

Am not expecting him to play again next year.

As for the game itself, thought Dahlin played better than he had the past 2 or 3 games.  Thought Rosen was sharper prior to getting his goal than later, but he also wasn't getting to go against Ovie nearly every shift after he scored.  Thought McLeod was better than he'd been the past few, missing the net on the shorty breakaway attempt not withstanding.  Thought all 6 D had another strong game.  The talent is the best they've had in a long time, but will give Wilford props, they've been playing well and the PK is out of their minds.  They just aren't giving up many strong chances while short and didn't expect they'd get to that point with him directing the unit.

UPL was awful through 60 minutes.  So was the Caps goalie.  BUT in OT UPL was that UPL we'd seen back in January '23.  Not sure if it was getting banged up on that 1st rush when Tuch wouldn't let the Cap get to the front and the Cap ran into the net and the net hit UPL, or what the reason, but that was the best he's played in a long time.  As he tends to get into and out of his head, would give him the start on Tuesday (and tell him and Lyon that Lyon will get Thursday's start regardless to keep them both fresh and to not see UPL reinjure whatever he's been injuring lately) and see if he can't get into his own head in a good way.  

Quinn continues to be playing the right way in the offensive zone and isn't being bad in his own end.  Will take that for now and will hope he continues to improve in his own end.

Surprisingly, Power did NOT drop the puck back on the PP in the 2nd when there was a Cap on the ice right behind him.  Baby steps.  Of course, in the 1st he'd been part of the rare Triple Drop Pass combo and was the star of that making 2 of the 3 drop passes.  Truly dislike Seth Appert.

Greenway is playing a bit dirty since coming back.  Mildly surprised at that; if he can stop taking penalties doing so or if the PK unit can continue to be stellar, it isn't the worst development of the season. 

Still liking the 4th line's effort level.  Too bad Krebs hit the pipe in the 2nd shortly after the Caps had done so at the other end.

Fun game to be at.

Don't recall ever seeing an OT where all 3 guys got caught on the ice for 2 full minutes and 2 of them got caught on the ice for another minute.  And shockingly, they didn't end up getting scored on through all that.  They hadn't played their shift poorly, they just went back and forth the 1st minute and then at what presumably was the end of their shift they simply couldn't get to the puck ahead of the Caps with fresh legs.

And whoever had Byram scoring the winner in OT with Ovie and Leonard shooting wide (giving Ovie the benefit of calling the puck rolling off his stick a "shot"), go blank yourself, absolutely nobody, not even Bo's mother, had that on their parlay.

Bring on Peterka and the Woolies / UTI's and get a 2 game winning streak underway.

Greenway is not playing dirty.  He is playing hard and attracting attention though.  

He took on Wilson and got him off the ice for a long time. That was a big plus for the Sabres.  

I like Greenway, when he is healthy he brings something we need.  

Will Ellis see another game?  

Edited 23 hours ago by Pimlach

[JohnC]

43 minutes ago, Taro T said:

As the teams were lining up for the opening faceoff, noticed that Ovi wasn't just not on the ice, but was sitting at the end of the bench right next to Rob Ray.  He didn't take his 1st shift until the Kids Line finally was due to come on the ice and he took a shift, went up the ice and came back to the bench, right there next to Rob Ray again.  He had 5 shifts that 1st period, 4 of which were against the Kids and 1 against Thompson's line.  He rolled through with the other forwards on the bench only once that entire period (meaning he didn't sit next to Ray only that once).  And he was out there for Rosen's goal.  Oops, maybe only playing him against the kids wasn't the best of ideas.

In the 2nd, he sat next to Thompson (Logan, not Tage) to start the period and then took a shift against the 4th line.  He was out there against Thompson's line the next time and then on the PP (might have those 2 shifts inverted) then he seemed to go back to going against the kids.  Only took 5 shifts that period, too.  But he did stay out for all 2 minutes of the PP.  Once again, he only sat in the middle of the bench 1 time all period.

In the 3rd, wasn't paying that close of attention to his shifts, though when they got the back to back PP's he did end up taking a 3 minute shift.  His last 2 of the period were VERY short and in OT he didn't take the ice until well after Dahlin and Thompson had been out there a full 2 minutes.  As everyone saw he was technically their 4th SO shooter, but the puck just rolled off his stick.  And in the 3rd, he repeated the only sitting with his teammates once and sittling at the end of the bench the rest of the time.

Am not expecting him to play again next year.

As for the game itself, thought Dahlin played better than he had the past 2 or 3 games.  Thought Rosen was sharper prior to getting his goal than later, but he also wasn't getting to go against Ovie nearly every shift after he scored.  Thought McLeod was better than he'd been the past few, missing the net on the shorty breakaway attempt not withstanding.  Thought all 6 D had another strong game.  The talent is the best they've had in a long time, but will give Wilford props, they've been playing well and the PK is out of their minds.  They just aren't giving up many strong chances while short and didn't expect they'd get to that point with him directing the unit.

UPL was awful through 60 minutes.  So was the Caps goalie.  BUT in OT UPL was that UPL we'd seen back in January '23.  Not sure if it was getting banged up on that 1st rush when Tuch wouldn't let the Cap get to the front and the Cap ran into the net and the net hit UPL, or what the reason, but that was the best he's played in a long time.  As he tends to get into and out of his head, would give him the start on Tuesday (and tell him and Lyon that Lyon will get Thursday's start regardless to keep them both fresh and to not see UPL reinjure whatever he's been injuring lately) and see if he can't get into his own head in a good way.  

Quinn continues to be playing the right way in the offensive zone and isn't being bad in his own end.  Will take that for now and will hope he continues to improve in his own end.

Surprisingly, Power did NOT drop the puck back on the PP in the 2nd when there was a Cap on the ice right behind him.  Baby steps.  Of course, in the 1st he'd been part of the rare Triple Drop Pass combo and was the star of that making 2 of the 3 drop passes.  Truly dislike Seth Appert.

Greenway is playing a bit dirty since coming back.  Mildly surprised at that; if he can stop taking penalties doing so or if the PK unit can continue to be stellar, it isn't the worst development of the season. 

Still liking the 4th line's effort level.  Too bad Krebs hit the pipe in the 2nd shortly after the Caps had done so at the other end.

Fun game to be at.

Don't recall ever seeing an OT where all 3 guys got caught on the ice for 2 full minutes and 2 of them got caught on the ice for another minute.  And shockingly, they didn't end up getting scored on through all that.  They hadn't played their shift poorly, they just went back and forth the 1st minute and then at what presumably was the end of their shift they simply couldn't get to the puck ahead of the Caps with fresh legs.

And whoever had Byram scoring the winner in OT with Ovie and Leonard shooting wide (giving Ovie the benefit of calling the puck rolling off his stick a "shot"), go blank yourself, absolutely nobody, not even Bo's mother, had that on their parlay.

Bring on Peterka and the Woolies / UTI's and get a 2 game winning streak underway.

With respect to Ovi this was a back to back for him, so it was probably pre-determined that he wouldn’t get much playing time.

I’m in the Maryland/DC metro area. If he wasn’t so close to his historic landmark goal, he probably would have retired after last season. I’m confident that this will be his last year because he is a shadow from his normal. As you indicate, no one is good enough to defeat Father Time. It’s never lost a game going against humans.

[Jorcus]

2 hours ago, Taro T said:

As the teams were lining up for the opening faceoff, noticed that Ovi wasn't just not on the ice, but was sitting at the end of the bench right next to Rob Ray.  He didn't take his 1st shift until the Kids Line finally was due to come on the ice and he took a shift, went up the ice and came back to the bench, right there next to Rob Ray again.  He had 5 shifts that 1st period, 4 of which were against the Kids and 1 against Thompson's line.  He rolled through with the other forwards on the bench only once that entire period (meaning he didn't sit next to Ray only that once).  And he was out there for Rosen's goal.  Oops, maybe only playing him against the kids wasn't the best of ideas.

In the 2nd, he sat next to Thompson (Logan, not Tage) to start the period and then took a shift against the 4th line.  He was out there against Thompson's line the next time and then on the PP (might have those 2 shifts inverted) then he seemed to go back to going against the kids.  Only took 5 shifts that period, too.  But he did stay out for all 2 minutes of the PP.  Once again, he only sat in the middle of the bench 1 time all period.

In the 3rd, wasn't paying that close of attention to his shifts, though when they got the back to back PP's he did end up taking a 3 minute shift.  His last 2 of the period were VERY short and in OT he didn't take the ice until well after Dahlin and Thompson had been out there a full 2 minutes.  As everyone saw he was technically their 4th SO shooter, but the puck just rolled off his stick.  And in the 3rd, he repeated the only sitting with his teammates once and sittling at the end of the bench the rest of the time.

Am not expecting him to play again next year.

As for the game itself, thought Dahlin played better than he had the past 2 or 3 games.  Thought Rosen was sharper prior to getting his goal than later, but he also wasn't getting to go against Ovie nearly every shift after he scored.  Thought McLeod was better than he'd been the past few, missing the net on the shorty breakaway attempt not withstanding.  Thought all 6 D had another strong game.  The talent is the best they've had in a long time, but will give Wilford props, they've been playing well and the PK is out of their minds.  They just aren't giving up many strong chances while short and didn't expect they'd get to that point with him directing the unit.

UPL was awful through 60 minutes.  So was the Caps goalie.  BUT in OT UPL was that UPL we'd seen back in January '23.  Not sure if it was getting banged up on that 1st rush when Tuch wouldn't let the Cap get to the front and the Cap ran into the net and the net hit UPL, or what the reason, but that was the best he's played in a long time.  As he tends to get into and out of his head, would give him the start on Tuesday (and tell him and Lyon that Lyon will get Thursday's start regardless to keep them both fresh and to not see UPL reinjure whatever he's been injuring lately) and see if he can't get into his own head in a good way.  

Quinn continues to be playing the right way in the offensive zone and isn't being bad in his own end.  Will take that for now and will hope he continues to improve in his own end.

Surprisingly, Power did NOT drop the puck back on the PP in the 2nd when there was a Cap on the ice right behind him.  Baby steps.  Of course, in the 1st he'd been part of the rare Triple Drop Pass combo and was the star of that making 2 of the 3 drop passes.  Truly dislike Seth Appert.

Greenway is playing a bit dirty since coming back.  Mildly surprised at that; if he can stop taking penalties doing so or if the PK unit can continue to be stellar, it isn't the worst development of the season. 

Still liking the 4th line's effort level.  Too bad Krebs hit the pipe in the 2nd shortly after the Caps had done so at the other end.

Fun game to be at.

Don't recall ever seeing an OT where all 3 guys got caught on the ice for 2 full minutes and 2 of them got caught on the ice for another minute.  And shockingly, they didn't end up getting scored on through all that.  They hadn't played their shift poorly, they just went back and forth the 1st minute and then at what presumably was the end of their shift they simply couldn't get to the puck ahead of the Caps with fresh legs.

And whoever had Byram scoring the winner in OT with Ovie and Leonard shooting wide (giving Ovie the benefit of calling the puck rolling off his stick a "shot"), go blank yourself, absolutely nobody, not even Bo's mother, had that on their parlay.

Bring on Peterka and the Woolies / UTI's and get a 2 game winning streak underway.

 

Power seems to get the drop back plan better than Dahlin. Normally he is only getting one rush anyway but if he beats his man he keeps going. Dahlin did  beat the guy then drop back last night which is dangerous move. For the most part Dahlin has been doing it better this year than last but still needs work. 

Edited 22 hours ago by Jorcus

[Doohickie]

13 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

 

Yeah I noticed that.

I wonder how much Tuch really tunes into the contract talks or if he simply handed it over to his agent.  He doesn't look like a guy who wants out.

[Doohickie]

7 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Idc what you call it. Buffalo is currently near the bottom of the eastern conference and if the draft were right now they'd draft 9th overall. Glad we won, we aren't good enough and Kevyn should add to the team. 

If you think of this season so far as two seasons, the Sabres got 0.000 standings points in the first 3 games.

In the last nine games they got 13 / 18 possible points, or 72.2%.

If the last nine games are what the Sabres really are, the get 72.2% of 158 possible points (164 total, minus 6 for the 3 game losing streak to start the season).  That is a 114 point season.

Are they the team that lost three at the start?  Hopefully not anymore.  Are they the team that got 13 points in their last 9 games?  I find it hard to believe they will sustain that pace to be honest, but if they're more like the team of the last 9 games and less like the team of the 3 game start, the Buffalo Sabres will be in the playoffs.

I said it earlier:  The 0-3 start lit a fire under them.  They started out behind, but they rose to the challenge (so far) and have played good hockey since then.  Hopefully they fully overcome the slow start, and the Sabres that accomplish that are the Sabres we see for the rest of the season.

Of course another 3 game pointless streak would wash all that down the drain.  But I'm optimistic.  The team is playing better as a team than they have in recent seasons.

7 hours ago, North Buffalo said:

Ps UPL looks like he'a trying to kick out more rebound a la Lyon but neither controls them well nor seems to know when it'd be better to freeze pucks to stop play.

Upie gonna Upie.

[Doohickie]

5 hours ago, Freeezo said:

Is it just me or are crowds at home games alot bigger?

Last night was a player trying to score his 900th goal.  That was certainly a draw.

A few games back was the Maple Leaves.  A lot of the fans were not home fans.

But still, yeah, it is good to see a full house.

5 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Sure, but that's one win less over 10 games which is 8 wins less over a season. I'd love to have more faith but after 14yrs, they gotta prove it. 

We'll see what the next 10 games holds. 

That last nine games, they collected 72.2% of available standings points.

[Taro T]

33 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Greenway is not playing dirty.  He is playing hard and attracting attention though.  

He took on Wilson and got him off the ice for a long time. That was a big plus for the Sabres.  

I like Greenway, when he is healthy he brings something we need.  

Will Ellis see another game?  

Eh, maybe it's just rust, but he had 2 knee on knee hits his 1st game back and had the shoulder to the Caps head (which led to Wilson going after him taking Wilson off the ice for 17 minutes and Greenway off for 7).  All 3 hits were dirty.  Were they intentional or mistimed?  Well, Greenway's never been a dirty player, so they very well could be mistimed, but regardless of the intent, the outcome was dirty.

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, Doohickie said:

Last night was a player trying to score his 900th goal.  That was certainly a draw.

A few games back was the Maple Leaves.  A lot of the fans were not home fans.

But still, yeah, it is good to see a full house.

That last nine games, they collected 72.2% of available standings points.

Last night was HFC night, and one of the Sabres "Gold Ring Partners" is Roswell Park.  That game will always be a good draw because Roswell makes sure of it.  (There was one just before Covid (pretty sure the season Covid hit, maybe the year before) that only had about 13,000 fans at; my understanding is Roswell was quite upset about it and every HFC Night since has been very well attended.)

As mentioned upthread, last night was a combo of HFC, Saturday night, a (nearly?) final chance to see Ovi, and them playing well at home.  

[Doohickie]

4 hours ago, JohnC said:

He seems more off to me this season. My sense is he is trying to do too much and is forcing the play instead of letting the game come to him. It seems to me he is working too hard to carry the team instead of just playing his game. Tage is another player who is trying to do too much and playing too much solo hockey. The injury to Norris hurt that line. 

I thought Tage looked better last night.  Maybe leave him at center until Norris returns.

I don't think Tage is necessarily better at center than wing or vice versa.  But I think shifting from one to the other when he's scuffling gives him a boost.

[Doohickie]

2 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

I can't get a feeling for Kesserling at all yet.  Like nothing good or bad.

Maybe thats a bad thing in that I don't notice him making good plays. Maybe thats a good thing that I don't notice him making bad plays.  

Yeah, I feel ya.  I mean, I want him in there over Bryson or Johnson or any other -son in the depth pool, but I see a guy who doesn't make mistakes but also doesn't make impactful plays.

That might simply be him learning the system and as he gets used to the flow, the impactful plays will come.  The last couple games were his training camp.

[PASabreFan]

The Sabres have average 2.00 points per game played (PPGP) in their five victories. That's more than a playoff pace.

[shrader]

3 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

The Sabres have average 2.00 points per game played (PPGP) in their five victories. That's more than a playoff pace.

Ahhh the classic argument around here by I forget who about how Drew Stafford has 0 goals in games where he doesn’t score a goal. 

[Pimlach]

59 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Eh, maybe it's just rust, but he had 2 knee on knee hits his 1st game back and had the shoulder to the Caps head (which led to Wilson going after him taking Wilson off the ice for 17 minutes and Greenway off for 7).  All 3 hits were dirty.  Were they intentional or mistimed?  Well, Greenway's never been a dirty player, so they very well could be mistimed, but regardless of the intent, the outcome was dirty.

I recall only one knee hit and I thought the other gut did it to Greenway.  

When you are tall its easy to look like you are targeting someone's head.  The replay on the head hit showed nothing that indicates it was intentional, the other player was leaning forward to follow through on his pass.    Lucky no one was injured but that's hockey and the Sabres have been on the wrong end of those plays way too often in the recent past.  

Greenway is not known as a dirty player.  

[GASabresIUFAN]

8 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

The Sabres have average 2.00 points per game played (PPGP) in their five victories. That's more than a playoff pace.

I think he is trying to say if the Sabres win 5 out of every 9 games they play, they'll have 45 wins.  That should be more than enough to make the playoffs.  The Sabres have won 5 of the last night, but only 5 of 12 for the season.

[Pimlach]

9 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

The Sabres have average 2.00 points per game played (PPGP) in their five victories. That's more than a playoff pace.

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Yeah I noticed that.

I wonder how much Tuch really tunes into the contract talks or if he simply handed it over to his agent.  He doesn't look like a guy who wants out.

He can't abandon his kids! 😭 

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

As the teams were lining up for the opening faceoff, noticed that Ovi wasn't just not on the ice, but was sitting at the end of the bench right next to Rob Ray.  He didn't take his 1st shift until the Kids Line finally was due to come on the ice and he took a shift, went up the ice and came back to the bench, right there next to Rob Ray again.  He had 5 shifts that 1st period, 4 of which were against the Kids and 1 against Thompson's line.  He rolled through with the other forwards on the bench only once that entire period (meaning he didn't sit next to Ray only that once).  And he was out there for Rosen's goal.  Oops, maybe only playing him against the kids wasn't the best of ideas.

In the 2nd, he sat next to Thompson (Logan, not Tage) to start the period and then took a shift against the 4th line.  He was out there against Thompson's line the next time and then on the PP (might have those 2 shifts inverted) then he seemed to go back to going against the kids.  Only took 5 shifts that period, too.  But he did stay out for all 2 minutes of the PP.  Once again, he only sat in the middle of the bench 1 time all period.

In the 3rd, wasn't paying that close of attention to his shifts, though when they got the back to back PP's he did end up taking a 3 minute shift.  His last 2 of the period were VERY short and in OT he didn't take the ice until well after Dahlin and Thompson had been out there a full 2 minutes.  As everyone saw he was technically their 4th SO shooter, but the puck just rolled off his stick.  And in the 3rd, he repeated the only sitting with his teammates once and sittling at the end of the bench the rest of the time.

Am not expecting him to play again next year.

As for the game itself, thought Dahlin played better than he had the past 2 or 3 games.  Thought Rosen was sharper prior to getting his goal than later, but he also wasn't getting to go against Ovie nearly every shift after he scored.  Thought McLeod was better than he'd been the past few, missing the net on the shorty breakaway attempt not withstanding.  Thought all 6 D had another strong game.  The talent is the best they've had in a long time, but will give Wilford props, they've been playing well and the PK is out of their minds.  They just aren't giving up many strong chances while short and didn't expect they'd get to that point with him directing the unit.

UPL was awful through 60 minutes.  So was the Caps goalie.  BUT in OT UPL was that UPL we'd seen back in January '23.  Not sure if it was getting banged up on that 1st rush when Tuch wouldn't let the Cap get to the front and the Cap ran into the net and the net hit UPL, or what the reason, but that was the best he's played in a long time.  As he tends to get into and out of his head, would give him the start on Tuesday (and tell him and Lyon that Lyon will get Thursday's start regardless to keep them both fresh and to not see UPL reinjure whatever he's been injuring lately) and see if he can't get into his own head in a good way.  

Quinn continues to be playing the right way in the offensive zone and isn't being bad in his own end.  Will take that for now and will hope he continues to improve in his own end.

Surprisingly, Power did NOT drop the puck back on the PP in the 2nd when there was a Cap on the ice right behind him.  Baby steps.  Of course, in the 1st he'd been part of the rare Triple Drop Pass combo and was the star of that making 2 of the 3 drop passes.  Truly dislike Seth Appert.

Greenway is playing a bit dirty since coming back.  Mildly surprised at that; if he can stop taking penalties doing so or if the PK unit can continue to be stellar, it isn't the worst development of the season. 

Still liking the 4th line's effort level.  Too bad Krebs hit the pipe in the 2nd shortly after the Caps had done so at the other end.

Fun game to be at.

Don't recall ever seeing an OT where all 3 guys got caught on the ice for 2 full minutes and 2 of them got caught on the ice for another minute.  And shockingly, they didn't end up getting scored on through all that.  They hadn't played their shift poorly, they just went back and forth the 1st minute and then at what presumably was the end of their shift they simply couldn't get to the puck ahead of the Caps with fresh legs.

And whoever had Byram scoring the winner in OT with Ovie and Leonard shooting wide (giving Ovie the benefit of calling the puck rolling off his stick a "shot"), go blank yourself, absolutely nobody, not even Bo's mother, had that on their parlay.

Bring on Peterka and the Woolies / UTI's and get a 2 game winning streak underway.

UPL wasn't awful. 🙄

[PASabreFan]

R.I.P.P.T.R.

[SwampD]

2 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

The Sabres have average 2.00 points per game played (PPGP) in their five victories. That's more than a playoff pace.

So you're sayin' they just need to win, to get the most points and have a winning record.

Your logic is sound.

[JohnC]

4 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Yeah I noticed that.

I wonder how much Tuch really tunes into the contract talks or if he simply handed it over to his agent.  He doesn't look like a guy who wants out.

I’m sure that he doesn’t want out. But he’s a veteran who is well aware of the business side of the game. He’s said in an interview that I listened to that he’s not bothered by the contract negotiations because it is in the hands of his agent. 
 

I consider him to be a core/essential player. His stats are good but his leadership value is immeasurable. 
 

I expect a deal will get done because management recognizes his value to the team and organization. For an organization that has a had a lot of instability, he’s a pillar of stability. 

[#freejame]

5 hours ago, Taro T said:

As the teams were lining up for the opening faceoff, noticed that Ovi wasn't just not on the ice, but was sitting at the end of the bench right next to Rob Ray. 

Really good right up here, but I want to add that I’m pretty sure Ovi has always typically sat at the very end of the bench closest to the opposing goal, regardless of where the rest of his line is. 

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, #freejame said:

Really good right up here, but I want to add that I’m pretty sure Ovi has always typically sat at the very end of the bench closest to the opposing goal, regardless of where the rest of his line is. 

Very well could be.  Had never really paid that much attention to the opponents on the bench before; but it was REALLY noticable after having initially noticed it and it seemed odd that during each period (don't believe he did it in OT because he only had the 1 shift; was too busy watching the action to pay attention to where he was on the bench after his shift ended) he sat amongst his teammates between 1 single pair of shifts.  He didn't not sit there in a period and he didn't sit there more than once coming back from a shift.

Very well could be something he's always done, or has done for a very long time.

And when he was sitting at the end of the bench in the 1st and 3rd, he was at least being a good teammate and opening the door for guys coming back to the bench.

[PerreaultForever]

13 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Did you see why they were "passive?" Dahlin and Thompson were caught out there for minutes. In fact Tage got felled by a blocked shot and gutted it out because he couldn't get to the bench. It was 3-on-2 for a while the Caps were able to change the times!!!

I know about the blocked shot with Thompson but it was even before that. It was almost the whole OT. 

[Taro T]

5 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

He can't abandon his kids! 😭 

UPL wasn't awful. 🙄

Awful is a SLIGHT exaggeration, but not by much.  He was very bad in the 1st 60 minutes, though he did improve slightly in the 3rd.  He wasn't moving well, gave up huge rebounds, was playing small, slow to react.  Would say he had 1 nice NHL caliber save that wasn't shot into his logo in the 2nd period and would give him about 3 of those in the 3rd.  And, good for him, his teammates did a very good job of getting to those huge rebounds after the 1st few minutes of the game and did a good job of limiting the true high danger chances against.

But, OT went about as well as he could've hoped for and with any luck at all that and the SO will get him the self-confidence he needs so much because it is so evident how much his game changes when he's playing with confidence vs when he has little to none.  Surely there are other guys in the NHL that are hit or miss as much as he is but particularly like he is with large stretches of 1 or the other not really a true good today, bad next game, so so the next after that and so on and so forth; but don't watch enough non-Sabres games to indentify who they are.