GDT: 11/04/25 Utah Mammoth @ Buffalo Sabres 7 pm MSG and Radio

[triumph_communes]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I thought it was an amazing performance by the Sabres, who were clearly outclassed by Utah. Yet they frustrated the Mammoth all night and even answered with their own goal when they feel behind. 

You knew they were going to lose OT against those Utah forwards but it was still a quality "loser point" earned with hard work.

I don’t pay attention to rest of league. I didn’t interpret Utah as anything dangerous. The youth players are making passes with confidence they simply haven’t been doing for a decade and that alone sustains offense enough to be dangerous. It also leads to some breaks against; but it’s manageable with the defense not being horrendous. I felt like this game could’ve easily been scored 5 to 5 and that is okay. As long as the great deflator in UPL isn’t in net 
 

Power is weak as hell. Maybe this bout of confidence across the team will help him break out of the mold, he has the toolkit if he ever wanted to. The d pairings is still perplexing me 
 

Tuch and Thompson are still acting like passengers tho. They really really need the Norris and Benson type players and are hurting the most without them. Zucker is a lesser degree of that mojo, and him being out is a real kicker. But the bottom of the roster has grinders going at it. And Lindy resonates with those players. 
 

think the roster construct is fine, this is some incredible bad luck on injuries

 

maybe this is my annual dose of hopium. But I’m not seeing desperation in these games except when UPL is in net 

[Doohickie]

12 hours ago, Stads said:

First place in the Eastern Conference has 18 points. Last place has 13. That is nutty

And the Sabres have a better points percentage than the 3rd place Boston Broons.

12 hours ago, kas23 said:

Does this team even practice 3 on 3s? Perhaps they should. Identify who is good at it and stick to them. 

They used to be really good at 3-on-3.  wtf happened?

[shrader]

42 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Four of the last five games IMO 

I couldn’t be any more specific with what I said. You are 100% wrong with this response. 

[Doohickie]

11 hours ago, Porous Five Hole said:

But at the same time, a fully healthy blue line, a hot goalie, and the kids chipped in a third period goal. So I don’t know how to feel about only getting a point. 

The coulda-woulda-shoulda in me keeps thinking about the two posts by Tage.  And the rushes where they passed one too many times.  The Sabres could have easily had 3 goals going into the third period.

The optimist in me says that kind of bad luck is not sustainable.  At some point the Sabres have to turn the corner.

[Pimlach]

1 minute ago, JohnC said:

Your eyes are different from mine. In this game, I decisively felt that Utah was the better team. We hung in there but on balance the team that played better won. If you came away with a different conclusion, that's fine. The highlighted commented you made is exactly what I saw in last night's game. 

Utah was by far better.  Everyone saw that.   The Sabres hung on in semi-valiant fashion and got a point.   That’s good.  

Where we differ is I’m not anointing Utah as a top team just yet, and getting 1 point is not a great achievement.  Utah is an unproven team, just like Buffalo. 

Buffalo missed another golden opportunity to pick up 2 points in OT at home.  I’m not happy or relieved to get  just 1 point  at home against a team like Utah.   I’m dissatisfied and disappointed.   I will be upset if they don’t beat the Blues in regulation on a Thursday.  

I set expectations higher, and hopefully the Sabres have too. 

[Doohickie]

11 hours ago, Taro T said:

Expecting UPL next game and they probably need to give him that one to keep from getting into his own head, but would like to see Ellis get a shot against his old team.

They're playing St. Louis.  Expect Colten Ellis in goal; he was a Blues draft pick.

[Shoot da Puck]

If we tie every game that  is over 80 points for the season, could get us to the playoffs

 

[Pimlach]

2 hours ago, shrader said:

It’s actually kind of nice having to actually look up the last time they put a game in the loss column. 

 

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

Four of the last five games IMO 

 

17 minutes ago, shrader said:

I couldn’t be any more specific with what I said. You are 100% wrong with this response. 

Your specificity is acknowledged.  I see OTLs piling up.    At least the Utah OTL was a come from behind effort in a game that the Sabres were outplayed in.  The others OTLs were blown leads. 

It makes you feel good to get 1 point, that’s ok.   But it gives me concern about the mental make up of this group, including the coaches.  
 

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Pimlach

[rickshaw]

These loser points are keeping them close but they keep it up, later on IF they’re in a playoff fight, they’ll probably lose out on ROW’s. That would be so Sabres of them. 

[shrader]

9 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

 

 

Your specificity is acknowledged.  I see OTLs piling up.    At least the Utah OTL was a come from behind effort in a game that the Sabres were outplayed in.  The others OTLs were blown leads. 

It makes you feel good to get 1 point, that’s ok.   But it gives me concern about the mental make up of this group, including the coaches.  
 

 

 

The first two were blown points. Then the next two they took 3/4 points in a pair of games where they were down by 2 goals. These things have a way of balancing out. 
 

These points matter. There’s only one team on the league with more OTLs than Buffalo right now and take a look at where they’re sitting right now. 

[inkman]

1 minute ago, shrader said:

The first two were blown points. Then the next two they took 3/4 points in a pair of games where they were down by 2 goals. These things have a way of balancing out. 
 

These points matter. There’s only one team on the league with more OTLs than Buffalo right now and take a look at where they’re sitting right now. 

Every season I’m mother freaking the teams with 17 OTL’s that are 10 points ahead of the Sabres and in the playoffs.  It would be nice to turn the tables.   

[shrader]

2 minutes ago, inkman said:

Every season I’m mother freaking the teams with 17 OTL’s that are 10 points ahead of the Sabres and in the playoffs.  It would be nice to turn the tables.   

And we’re not even at that point of the season yet where pretty much every single game goes to OT. 

[JohnC]

20 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Utah was by far better.  Everyone saw that.   The Sabres hung on in semi-valiant fashion and got a point.   That’s good.  

Where we differ is I’m not anointing Utah as a top team just yet, and getting 1 point is not a great achievement.  Utah is an unproven team, just like Buffalo. 

Buffalo missed another golden opportunity to pick up 2 points in OT at home.  I’m not happy or relieved to get  just 1 point  at home against a team like Utah.   I’m dissatisfied and disappointed.   I will be upset if they don’t beat the Blues in regulation on a Thursday.  

I set expectations higher, and hopefully the Sabres have too. 

I’m not anointing Utah as a top team. I didn’t sat that they were. However, based on what I watched night, it’s not unfair that this young team is a rising team. 
 

With respect to being disappointed or not at getting a point in a game where you were decisively outplayed (my opinion), I’ll gladly accept the point. If we would have outplayed them or even played them evenly, I would be disappointed at getting just one point for the home game.

[Pimlach]

36 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

 

They used to be really good at 3-on-3.  wtf happened?

They were pretty good at 3v3 when Granato was coach and they had not yet "learned defense".  

[elijah]

Utah is 5th in xGF% at 5v5 and 11th in xG, they’re 10th in xGF% in all situations and again 11th in xG. 

For those that don’t value analytics, they’re 9-4, in 3rd place in the West and have a +9 goal differential, which is 5th in the entire league. 

They’re a better version of the ‘22-‘23 Sabres. It’s a fast and extremely talented forward group that can score all over the ice, except they’re more rounded and more analytically (defensively) sound. I understand a lot of the reasons to not trust the Sabres in this thread, but bashing Utah as if they’re some bottom feeder is certainly not one of them 

 

EDIT: Just to add, if your counter-argument to this is that they’re unproven and it may just be a hot start — it’s still just that, a hot start. 

The Sabres took an ugly game that they didn’t belong in against a hot team, top 5 hottest in the league to be exact, and without 5 of their top 12 forwards they overcame a poor performance with mismatched talent all over the ice and forced OT to steal a point. Again, let me repeat they did it with a decimated roster and against a (currently) top 5 team in the league. 

The OT struggles are getting a bit concerning and frustrating, but it’s like the drought is making a lot of people miss this start for what it is. 

They’re playing hockey right now that passes the eye test AND the analytic test, they’re on an 88 point pace on the season despite starting 0-3, and they’re 5-1-4 with a 114 point pace in the L10. They’re playing good system hockey, and albeit losing multiple OT games, they’re picking up loser points along the way. This is all while missing over 50% of their roster over various points of the season. 

Let them keep scrapping and staying afloat in the race, even if that means racking up loser points, and see if they can put it all together and get hot when they finally have what resembles an NHL roster with guys getting healthy. They’ve earned some patience with the start so far this year.

 

EDIT 2: One last edit, they’re also doing all this with Tage and Dahlin (and imo Tuch) playing well below what we’ve come to expect from them and what they’re capable of. 

Edited 43 minutes ago by elijah

[SabreFinn]

Utah might seem like a  young team but how many Stanley cup winners do they have on their roster?

[Crusader1969]

8 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

You can say "bottom line" all you want but you  are blatantly wrong. I already acknowledged Tuch missed his man, that doesn't pardon Quinn for his play. He was in position and another player would have moved up and used his body. Quinn just tried a feeble stick check and got walked past. 

Look, it's a TEAM game with interconnected responsibility. If there was a breakaway and you were across the ice you don't say "Oh, not my man, I can go to the bench" you hustle across the ice in desperation and try to cover for the guy who missed his check. This wasn't a breakaway but I hope that illustrates the point for you with a blatantly obvious example. 

So it's fair to say if Tuch gets his man Quinn doesn't have to make the play but it's not fair to say it's not also Quinn's fault. 

They aren't desperate enough and aggressive enough in OT. They love open ice and think they can just take turns at possession and make nice plays. They need to use their speed and attack the other team's puck carriers more. Create puck battles and then win them. 

Ok so why did your original post only blame Quinn?

if Tuch converted on any of his two glorious chances (including a wide open net).  This conversation doesn't even happen

my point is, for many on this board the fingers are always pointed at Quinn and Power.  

On a night like last night a guy like Tuch shouldn't be above criticism.   
 

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

They lost Dobson but added Matthew Schaefer. The Sabres need to move on from Power sooner rather than later. He's never going to play the more assertive style needed to be a top nhl player. 

Ok but your replacement can not be Bryson 

 

[Doohickie]

26 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

They were pretty good at 3v3 when Granato was coach and they had not yet "learned defense".  

They were better last season even.  Maybe the Granato hadn't worn off yet.

[mjd1001]

1 minute ago, Crusader1969 said:

 

my point is, for many on this board the fingers are always pointed at Quinn and Power.  

On a night like last night a guy like Tuch shouldn't be above criticism.   
 

I think people blame Power too much. I pointed out a few games ago.. power was on the ice and a goal was scored against the sabr.. when if you break down the replay he was the actual only player on that entire side of the ice that played it correctly. 

So yeah, I agree. There are people who have it out for power that will just blame him for things that aren't even his fault if he was anywhere near something bad that happens. 

Quinn, on the other hand, I have been very tough on and I believe he fully deserves it. He has played somewhat better this year... But still not a complete game. Last year, however, I truly think he may have been the worst forward in the NHL of guys who played a regular shift in their top 9 around the league. 

Tuch is good, he is solid all around, he plays a complete game. He's not perfect though, he does make mistakes And he does have bad games.

[Pimlach]

57 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

They're playing St. Louis.  Expect Colten Ellis in goal; he was a Blues draft pick.

I want to see Ellis again.   Maybe his former team knows how to expose him?  Maybe he steps up and beats them?  

It adds a bit of intrigue. 

Or Ruff could just play UPL and hope that he does ok. 

[DarthEbriate]

7 minutes ago, SabreFinn said:

Utah might seem like a  young team but how many Stanley cup winners do they have on their roster?

I thought maybe Marino was older and had been with Pitt as a 7 or something (like Ruhwedel) and maybe Vanecek was older and had been Washington's backup... but they are not.

But at least four in Sergachev, Maata, Schmidt, and Cole. Their entire backend.

[Crusader1969]

4 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I think people blame Power too much. I pointed out a few games ago.. power was on the ice and a goal was scored against the sabr.. when if you break down the replay he was the actual only player on that entire side of the ice that played it correctly. 

So yeah, I agree. There are people who have it out for power that will just blame him for things that aren't even his fault if he was anywhere near something bad that happens. 

Quinn, on the other hand, I have been very tough on and I believe he fully deserves it. He has played somewhat better this year... But still not a complete game. Last year, however, I truly think he may have been the worst forward in the NHL of guys who played a regular shift in their top 9 around the league. 

Tuch is good, he is solid all around, he plays a complete game. He's not perfect though, he does make mistakes And he does have bad games.

If Tuch only had a bit more accuracy on his shot. 
I dare to say, no one misses the net on high danger chances more than him 

 

[SabreFinn]

4 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

I thought maybe Marino was older and had been with Pitt as a 7 or something (like Ruhwedel) and maybe Vanecek was older and had been Washington's backup... but they are not.

But at least four in Sergachev, Maata, Schmidt, and Cole. Their entire backend.

Stenlund and Vanecek got theirs with Panthers also 

[Pimlach]

Just now, Crusader1969 said:

If Tuch only had a bit more accuracy on his shot. 
I dare to say, no one misses the net on high danger chances more than him 

 

You are on a anti-Ruff Crusade.   He is one the the better players on team.  Not a perfect player, but he brings a lot and he is far from being a problem on this team.  

Tuch Shooting Percentage - Career: 12.4%

2024-2025 season: 18.3%   (82 games,  36 goals) 

2023-2024 season: 11.5%    (75 games, 22 goals)

2022-2023 season: 16.5%    (74 games, 36 goals) 

2021-2022 season: 8.6%       (50games, 12 goals) 

Now factor in hits, blocked shots, PK, leadership/toughness.  

[kas23]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

They're playing St. Louis.  Expect Colten Ellis in goal; he was a Blues draft pick.

I wouldn’t do this. If any team knows his weaknesses, it’s the Blues. Put UPL in there; it sends a subtle message to him.