Playoff game 1 lineup?

[GASabresIUFAN]

Krebs Thompson Tuch

Benson Norris Doan

Zucker McLeod Quinn

Greenway Kozak Malenstyn - Östlund in for Kozak if healthy

Dahlin Samuelsson

Power Byram

Stanley  ???

UPL Lyon(if healthy)

Who is playing with Stanley?

Edited April 16 by GASabresIUFAN

[Doohickie]

I might have said Metsa before the Stars game but he had a rough outing.  Thinking Timmins or Schenn.

[dudacek]

I’d be mildly surprised if it’s not Timmins.

Also be surprised if the rest ain’t exactly as posted.

[Second Line Center]

Metsa - bc we’re at home and can dictate who he plays against.  
 

Kess or Timmons will be the mid series adjustment if needed.   

[Taro T]

5 hours ago, dudacek said:

I’d be mildly surprised if it’s not Timmins.

Also be surprised if the rest ain’t exactly as posted.

Yeah, they like him on the PK and he brings more size against a team that is considered to play "big."  But really doubt that either he or Stanley are going to see anything close to 15 minutes on most nights.

Probably around 12 minutes each is the expectation.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

Yeah, they like him on the PK and he brings more size against a team that is considered to play "big."  But really doubt that either he or Stanley are going to see anything close to 15 minutes on most nights.

Probably around 12 minutes each is the expectation.

I’m leaning towards Timmins as well.  TOI will likely be game dependent.  Are we winning by 2-3 goals?  Are we chasing? Etc…. I think if we get a decent lead Lindy will up their TOI to rest the top 4 a little.  

[Nacho Libre]

Both Dahlin and Power have been on the right, correct? 

Or is it just Dahlin 

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Nacho Libre said:

Both Dahlin and Power have been on the right, correct? 

That has been their base, but it’s been pretty elastic.

From game to game, within games and even within shifts.

A lot of it seems to depend on whether the third pair is actually used as a pair.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Nacho Libre said:

Both Dahlin and Power have been on the right, correct? 

Or is it just Dahlin 

What @dudacek said.  When each is with his primary partner, he's on the right side typically.

[inkman]

11 hours ago, Doohickie said:

I might have said Metsa before the Stars game but he had a rough outing.  Thinking Timmins or Schenn.

Schenn terrifies me with the puck on his stick in his own end. It always looks like he’s struggling for his life.  

[CallawaySabres]

seriously, what happened to Kesselring? How do you go from the major component of the Peterka trade to not cracking the lineup. Can you imagine this D from top to bottom if he got back to form?!

[Taro T]

16 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

seriously, what happened to Kesselring? How do you go from the major component of the Peterka trade to not cracking the lineup. Can you imagine this D from top to bottom if he got back to form?!

How did Spacek go from key off-season FA acquisition to healthy scratch in the playoffs to captain of the team for the 1st Winter Classic?

Sometimes it takes a while for a D-man to adjust to Ruff's system.

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

Schenn terrifies me with the puck on his stick in his own end. It always looks like he’s struggling for his life.  

If only we still had Bryson.

 

 

😉

[inkman]

1 hour ago, CallawaySabres said:

seriously, what happened to Kesselring? How do you go from the major component of the Peterka trade to not cracking the lineup. Can you imagine this D from top to bottom if he got back to form?!

 

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

How did Spacek go from key off-season FA acquisition to healthy scratch in the playoffs to captain of the team for the 1st Winter Classic?

Sometimes it takes a while for a D-man to adjust to Ruff's system.

Throw a healthy dose of injuries in there and you’ve got a perfect mix for a lost season. It sucks. Especially with him being an RFA. Good for Buffalo I suppose as he’ll most likely accept his qualifying offer unless both sides can come to terms on something longer.  

[inkman]

51 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

If only we still had Bryson.

 

 

😉

I know this is tongue in cheek but the additions of Stanley and Schenn and the emergence of Metsa basically removed Bryson from the Sabres depth chart.  He didn’t have a role moving forward in the NHL. 

[K-9]

6 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I’m leaning towards Timmins as well.  TOI will likely be game dependent.  Are we winning by 2-3 goals?  Are we chasing? Etc…. I think if we get a decent lead Lindy will up their TOI to rest the top 4 a little.  

PHam said it was gonna be Timmins on the radio this morning. Said Metsa has been struggling of late and pointed to the weird goal Dallas scored when the puck took the weird bounce off the end boards. Said the goal scorer was Metsa’s guy all the way and he didn’t cover him. 

I’ve been less than impressed with Timmins since he returned but others have pointed out that his PK work has been good and I have to agree. PK will be a key in the playoffs as it always is so I’m cutting Timmins a ton of slack in the other areas of his game. 

[Taro T]

19 minutes ago, K-9 said:

PHam said it was gonna be Timmins on the radio this morning. Said Metsa has been struggling of late and pointed to the weird goal Dallas scored when the puck took the weird bounce off the end boards. Said the goal scorer was Metsa’s guy all the way and he didn’t cover him. 

I’ve been less than impressed with Timmins since he returned but others have pointed out that his PK work has been good and I have to agree. PK will be a key in the playoffs as it always is so I’m cutting Timmins a ton of slack in the other areas of his game. 

The goal scorer WAS Metsa's guy.  Before the shot that went wide was taken, Metsa was engaged with him in front of the net.  As the shot comes, Metsa loses him and doesn't realize it until the puck was getting shot into the now essentially open net.

Metsa seems to have lost some of his magic since coming back from the Amerks.  Don't know if that's just his play reverting to the mean of where it really will be or if it's due to his having played about 6 games in 8 days between getting sent down and then recalled back up and him not having fully restored his energy from that stint or some combination of the 2.

[Archie Lee]

23 minutes ago, Taro T said:

The goal scorer WAS Metsa's guy.  Before the shot that went wide was taken, Metsa was engaged with him in front of the net.  As the shot comes, Metsa loses him and doesn't realize it until the puck was getting shot into the now essentially open net.

Metsa seems to have lost some of his magic since coming back from the Amerks.  Don't know if that's just his play reverting to the mean of where it really will be or if it's due to his having played about 6 games in 8 days between getting sent down and then recalled back up and him not having fully restored his energy from that stint or some combination of the 2.

Metsa and Bryson are both the type of players (undersized, unheralded d-men with no offensive upside), who (sometimes unfairly) end-up being defined by their worst moments.

Edited April 17 by Archie Lee

[dudacek]

22 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

Metsa and Bryson are both the type of players (undersized, unheralded d-men with no offensive upside), who (sometimes unfairly) end-up being defined by their worst moments.

So far Metsa has largely been defined by a lack of worst moments.

Theyve started to crop up more as he’s started to be used as more than just sheltered filler attached to an elite partner.

[dudacek]

Related to the above, I’m real curious how Aspirot is going to hold up for the Bruins.

He’s bigger than Metsa but otherwise has a similar story of unheralded minor leaguer coming out of nowhere.

The difference between the two is that Aspirot hasn’t been sheltered at all. On the contrary, he plays with McAvoy as his regular partner.

His counting stats are excellent. His fancy stats not so much.

Hes a playoff neophyte being asked to play a big role and IMO is a bigger “never been there before” question mark than guys like Mule and Power.

[GASabresIUFAN]

 

[LGR4GM]

15 hours ago, dudacek said:

Related to the above, I’m real curious how Aspirot is going to hold up for the Bruins.

He’s bigger than Metsa but otherwise has a similar story of unheralded minor leaguer coming out of nowhere.

The difference between the two is that Aspirot hasn’t been sheltered at all. On the contrary, he plays with McAvoy as his regular partner.

His counting stats are excellent. His fancy stats not so much.

Hes a playoff neophyte being asked to play a big role and IMO is a bigger “never been there before” question mark than guys like Mule and Power.

61 games of NHL exp for Aspirot. Curious how a multi-game series will allow teams to target him or really any player. 

[sabrefanday1]

Still think Kesserling will be a good d-man. Imnjuries played a major factor in hisstruggles. We will perobably move on from Byram this summer so there will be a opening on defense. Far too early to give u[p on him. But for this series we need experience and toughness against the B's as they will no doubt try to run the Sabres and of course have their goon line out there at opening faceoff.