GDT/ Hurricanes @ Buffalo Sabres Sunday 1pm THLN, WGR

[Crusader1969]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

This one was more meaningful to me than the Chicago game. A couple more and I might start to believe. Cautious optimism. 

Zucker has made a big difference. The lines look more balanced now. 

If Norris ever comes back Östlund goes back down. Kesselring for Bryson, there's your full team. No idea what the goalie plan is as always but UPL made some good stops today. I'd be happy to never see Greenway again tbh. 

I don't know what happened to Samuelsson over the summer - maybe his dad told him he was a disgrace to the family name - but he's not the same player at all. He finally looks like the solid defender we wanted/expected and is kind of giving us what a lot of us hoped Kesselring would bring after the trade. In any event his play has changed things a lot. 

The biggest impacts on this team over last year are Doan being able to play top 6, Kozak being solid bottom 6, and most of all Samuelsson being solid. 

Refs were far too involved in this game and the Benson no goal was bs but there are tons of these every season, or even every week. It's just garbage but it is what it is and they overcame it so whatever. 

I've seen Carolina play better than that but all the same Sabres beat them today plain and simple. They were the better team. Now we see how long this lasts. 

100%. Cautious optimism.   
 

 

[PromoTheRobot]

24 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

 

If there was a way to trade Norris I'd do it now if I was the GM. There likely isn't though. 

Or, we wait and see what Norris brings before we decide he's trash.

[ExWNYer]

2 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Or, we wait and see what Norris brings before we decide he's trash.

Exactly. Selling for pennies on the dollar is not a recipe for success.

[PromoTheRobot]

 

Being behind the Sabres slaps hard. 😬

[GASabresIUFAN]

4 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Being behind the Sabres slaps hard. 😬

lol, this from a fan base that hasn’t sniffed a Cup since 1967.   Not a single conference championship.  No President’s trophies.  

That’s 58 years of futility.  

Edited 1 hour ago by GASabresIUFAN

[shrader]

5 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Being behind the Sabres slaps hard. 😬

But hey, there’s still Nashville and Calgary. 

[PASabreFan]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Sorry, you can't say Sabres are dead last anymore.

 

I bet that's what you'd say the Leafs are.

[#freejame]

Went to the game today. I’m used to seeing us get spanked in Raleigh so this was a nice treat. Samuelsson is currently our best defenseman. What a season from him so far. Benson and Zucker really drive this team more than the scoresheet lets on. Lots of good performances today. 

[shrader]

15 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I bet that's what you'd say the Leafs are.

Ummm…. Wouldn’t everyone say that?

[Huckleberry]

22 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I bet that's what you'd say the Leafs are.

Just imagine them winning the Mckenna sweeps 🙂

[ExWNYer]

1 minute ago, Huckleberry said:

Just imagine them winning the Mckenna sweeps 🙂

[PASabreFan]

12 minutes ago, shrader said:

Ummm…. Wouldn’t everyone say that?

Well, no, PTR wouldn't.

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

 

If there was a way to trade Norris I'd do it now if I was the GM. There likely isn't though. 

Absolutely not! Are you taking hallucinating drugs? How about waiting to see what he brings to the ice. What is going on here?

[Rhyno716]

14 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Just imagine them winning the Mckenna sweeps 🙂

Boston owns that pick from the Carlo trade. 

[Eleven]

4 minutes ago, Rhyno716 said:

Boston owns that pick from the Carlo trade. 

It's protected.

[Night Train]

Ryan McLeod was such a good acquisition. 

[Taro T]

4 hours ago, Sidc3000 said:

I’m seeming more teams doing it

Most teams that work the drop pass (and the Sabres are not in this grouping though they work it way too often) are looking to have at least 4, if not all 5 guys hitting the blue line with speed which opens up a lot of possibilities to control the puck in zone.  If the D stacks 4 across the line, you dump it in and have one of the guys with speed retrieve it; if they try to take away passes and play a little deeper the puck carrier can simply enter the zone and then skate in, pass it, or curl back towards the blue line while others are going deeper.  Etc. etc. 

But the Sabres dump it simply to dump it.  They dump it too far back and they do it from too close to the offensive zone; they also usually have 2 guys already sitting at the opposing blue line so they're standing still when the puck retriever gets the puck back near the faceoff circles.  And that results in 4 of the 5 skaters being stationary when the puck carrier gets close to the blue line.  Heck, and even worse, last week on at least 2 occassions, they took the puck all the way to the blue line and then sent it back towards their own blue line.  They really don't understand that play.  A dump in isn't an option because nobody except the puck carrier is in motion.  There are limited passing options.  And very often, the puck ends up at the boards above the circles with nobody down low to try to chip it down low and they simply lose the board battle and get to regroup again.

 

[Taro T]

4 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Tastier than “fresh wings from the Anchor Bar in Buffalo”. 

What isn't?

[GASabresIUFAN]

Yes, Virginia that’s how you and the team should be playing every night.  

[Taro T]

4 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Everywhere is within walking distance if you have enough time.

 - Stephen Wright

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, Brawndo said:

Benson final regular season stat line 

0-82-82 

0-69-69

He's not going to end up above a ppg; or are you anticipating playoffs?  😉 

[JohnC]

35 minutes ago, Night Train said:

Ryan McLeod was such a good acquisition. 

He's not a flashy player or even a prolific stat performer, but what he contributes is responsible two-way play that this team needed more of. He and Zucker were terrific additions that have as much to do with the maturity they add both on and off the ice. You can see the difference for Quinn when he played with these two guys compared to playing on a youth line. 

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Overall good game, but by far the worst line was Tuch/Thompson/Doan for most of the game.

Even strength they had 2 scoring chance for, 7 allowed.  Their shots for/against, Fenwick, Corsi, Expected goals for/against....all were awful.

McLeod, Zucker, Quinn by far the best line of the night in terms of analytics.  Dahlin has the best analytics of all D-men on the game.

https://www.naturalstattrick.com/game.php?season=20252026&game=20347&view=limited

McLeod, Zucker, and Quinn got a ton of ice time down the stretch.

Ruff also mixed up the D a bit down the stretch pretty much stapling Bryson to the bench protecting the lead.  Had Dahlin and Power together some.

[Big Guava]

21 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Yes, Virginia that’s how you and the team should be playing every night.  

 

The problem is they talk about it a lot but don't actually do it far too often 

[Taro T]

7 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Jordan Greenway out... so he's injured?

After the game, Ruff said they're bringing him back slowly from his off-season surgeries (radio wonked out briefly, but pretty sure Ruff said he'd had double hernia surgeries) and so they'll give him a game off here or there depending upon how he's doing strength and conditioning wise.  Sounded like he could've played but they've got him on a ptich count for now.  So, Dunne got into another game.

And if that is actually the case, would expect Östlund to be the one getting sent down when Norris comes back if nobody else is out injured as it would be an offensive guy out for an offensive guy in.  Prior to hearing that, would've expected Dunne to be the odd man out as he was the press box sitter on Friday.