Noah Östlund injury

[Pimlach]

10 hours ago, Derrico said:

Felt like Kozak played 25 min tonight

He played 16:55, probably 5 to 6 minutes more than he would normally play.   

Thompson played 24:30 and McLeod 21:18.   Krebs played 24:28 and spent time are center.  As expected all the centers played extra minutes with Kozak doing the  most extra lifting.  

Injuries happen in hockey games all the time.  It’s not a curse. It’s not a Buffalo thing.   The Sabres have Norris and he will be ready on Friday. 

[Chevyvanmiller]

Losing Noah stinks, but this team lost key players throughout the season and still posted the best record in the league from December onward.

I don't hear any fat lady singing. Keep the faith Sabres fans. This is a team of destiny.

Edited April 29 by Chevyvanmiller

[darksabre]

31 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

He played 16:55, probably 5 to 6 minutes more than he would normally play.   

Thompson played 24:30 and McLeod 21:18.   Krebs played 24:28 and spent time are center.  As expected all the centers played extra minutes with Kozak doing the  most extra lifting.  

Injuries happen in hockey games all the time.  It’s not a curse. It’s not a Buffalo thing.   The Sabres have Norris and he will be ready on Friday. 

I thought Kozak had a really nice game. Was hoping maybe he'd get rewarded in OT for his efforts. 

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, darksabre said:

I thought Kozak had a really nice game. Was hoping maybe he'd get rewarded in OT for his efforts. 

They lose offensive firepower with him in the middle 6 but he is steady and does not make many mistakes.   

Edited April 29 by Pimlach

[sabrefanday1]

3 hours ago, stenbaro said:

Losing him was a rather big reason they lost. That and being to picky on shot attempts and passing instead of shooting. And how can you let Pasternak get behind you in OT. 

Bo and Sammy had a bad night and they were on the ice when the winning goal was scored. I went to chemo yesterday for my 3 hour treatment and had to get up at 5AM to get on road and drive 2 hours to the hospital where I go and I was so tired but stayed up and was so disappointed with how we played. Chemo is hell and the agony of watching hotdogger Pasternack scoring the winning  goal was torture. Mind you Boston played their absolute A game and we were ptretty bad yet they were lucky to beat us.  Losing Östlund so early put so much stress on our 3 centers and Kozak is not anything special yer  played major minutes. Hopefully Norris is good to go Friday. Being a proud Canadian who loves this team from Day 1, thanks to al you for singing our nathional anthem, Gotta win Friday 

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, Chevyvanmiller said:

Losing Noah stinks, but this team lost key players throughout the season and still posted the best record in the league from December onward.

I don't hear any fat lady singing. Keep the faith Sabres fans. This is a team of destiny.

Or a team of density?  

[Pimlach]

43 minutes ago, sabrefanday1 said:

Bo and Sammy had a bad night and they were on the ice when the winning goal was scored. I went to chemo yesterday for my 3 hour treatment and had to get up at 5AM to get on road and drive 2 hours to the hospital where I go and I was so tired but stayed up and was so disappointed with how we played. Chemo is hell and the agony of watching hotdogger Pasternack scoring the winning  goal was torture. Mind you Boston played their absolute A game and we were ptretty bad yet they were lucky to beat us.  Losing Östlund so early put so much stress on our 3 centers and Kozak is not anything special yer  played major minutes. Hopefully Norris is good to go Friday. Being a proud Canadian who loves this team from Day 1, thanks to al you for singing our nathional anthem, Gotta win Friday 

The anthem was a great moment for me too.   I remember my first Sabres game in 1970 and when they played the Canadian anthem I was bewildered.  They never did that for the Bisons.  What is this song?  What is all this "stand on guard" stuff?   But it quickly became part of my beloved Aud experience and made Buffalo a unique hockey city.  

In todays crazy world it was great to see sports unite people.  

Sorry the team could not get it done and best of luck with the chemo.  You got this!  

[Second Line Center]

 

[Crusader1969]

I'm brining in Konsta to replace Kozak as the 4th line center.  Don't think the moment is too big for him and he's a better player 

[Nacho Libre]

5 hours ago, Punch said:

I can't surrender to this degree of fatalism, yet I feel the pangs all the same... I wonder how many other fanbases feel this tortured?

Courage! 

I think watching my Jays come within 2 outs of the World Series and blow it changed me. I’ve never seen a team of mine (Sabres, Jays) come that close and fail. To have it ripped away so thoroughly and unusually. Things go wrong. The sabres aren’t extra tortured this year so far. We’ve had a great season where, when it started, we’d all have been happy, see, ecstatic, just to make the playoffs. In fact we are reasonably healthy right now relative to most teams, and up 3-2. The woe is my fandom stuff I don’t get tbh as it stands. I’d see that if we almost made the playoffs this year and blew it 

Edited April 29 by Nacho Libre

[muppy]

all this talk of losing the series is getting on my last nerve.  This team has shown quite recently their ability to Dub in Boston

 

I'm not going to go all slit my wrists because we lost in OT yesterday

 

I'm going to wait until it goes to game 7 and then I'll be  gripping. Not Now

 

For me Östlund was a significant loss. its time to regroup and refocus on the matter at hand. which is adjusting and keep it moving forward

 

[Second Line Center]

Krebs - Tage - Tuch

Benson- Helenius - Doan

Zucker - McCleod - Quinn

Greenway - Norris - Malenstyn

[Nacho Libre]

3 hours ago, xzy89c1 said:

Those were the two worst games we played.

We dominated game 1

3 hours ago, zow2 said:

I didn't see Boston crying about missing Viktor Arvidsson and laying down.  He didn't even make the trip to Buffalo.   Sabres fans need to get a grip.  If the team blows a 3-1 series lead it's not because of Östlund.   He's a nice player for sure,,, and was missed last night because we were down a Center.  but fans need to understand that players are going to get battered and bruised and miss time.  You just pray it's not the superstars.  

F*cking rights

It does sound a little like crying today. I get it, but come on now 

[Second Line Center]

If we plan on playing in round 2, Helenius needs to be called up.  

I said this yesterday if he’s good enough to make this team in 4 months (he is) then he can play on it right now - and we will need him in the event Norris goes down especially in game.

  

 

[...]

5 hours ago, inkman said:

They aren’t going to do it.  

I think they would if there was a need. No way Lindy or Jarmo sacrifice a Stanley Cup because of a cheap, entry-level contract. 

[inkman]

1 minute ago, ... said:

I think they would if there was a need. No way Lindy or Jarmo sacrifice a Stanley Cup because of a cheap, entry-level contract. 

Unless Pearson & Dunne are both injured, they will get the nod over Konsta. How tremendously stupid would they look if the Sabres are eliminated in game 7 against Boston and they burn the first year of Helenius’s ELC for two games. 

[...]

4 hours ago, Scottysabres said:

 

It would depend on the situation. Injuries, Helenius required skill sets at the club lvl. I’m not advocating he get put into the lineup, merely that it’s very possible if conditions warrant it. We aren’t in the regular season, this is the Stanley Cuo playoffs, it’d be foolish to be rigid on such a subject.

 

1 minute ago, inkman said:

Unless Pearson & Dunne are both injured, they will get the nod over Konsta. How tremendously stupid would they look if the Sabres are eliminated in game 7 against Boston and they burn the first year of Helenius’s ELC for two games. 

I can't imagine being so locked into a thought you can't see around it. If Helenius fits the parameters, the choice to bring him up is made. 

Arguing that a year of some player's entry level contract is more important than giving a team as much ammunition it possibly can to win a Cup is exceedingly fatuous.

[SDS]

9 minutes ago, ... said:

fatuous

Are you body shaming?

[Second Line Center]

13 minutes ago, inkman said:

Unless Pearson & Dunne are both injured, they will get the nod over Konsta. How tremendously stupid would they look if the Sabres are eliminated in game 7 against Boston and they burn the first year of Helenius’s ELC for two games. 

If Norris wasn’t hurt or injury prone I think doing nothing at the moment is what they’d lean toward.  
 

But bc he is hurt and the center depth questionable I think he has to play.  Because what’s plan B now if Norris goes down?  We plan on playing at least 2 more weeks right? 
 

Unless they think he can’t contribute right now and isn’t ready.  If that’s what they believe then ok.  But if it’s about the contract it’s possible that won’t sit well with the players.  
 

We will find out tomorrow at practice I'd assume.   

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, Second Line Center said:

If Norris wasn’t hurt or injury prone I think doing nothing at the moment is what they’d lean toward.  
 

But bc he is hurt and the center depth questionable I think he has to play.  Because what’s plan B now if Norris goes down?  We plan on playing at least 2 more weeks right? 
 

Unless they think he can’t contribute right now and isn’t ready.  If that’s what they believe then ok.  But if it’s about the contract it’s possible that won’t sit well with the players.  
 

We will find out tomorrow at practice I'd assume.   

Well, apparently Norris could have played yesterday but the determination was that with the Sabres having 3 games to get a single victory, Östlund playing very well in his role, and presumably extra time helping Norris get even healthier that they decided to not play him yesterday.

Considering he could've played yesterday, 100% expect him to get put into the lineup in Boston.  Considering Kozak did well and better than one might expect Dunne to play in a top 9 role, am expecting Kozak to get the start again in Boston.

Am not seeing where they'd play Helenius who has 0 NHL playoff experience and only 9 NHL games under his belt to date.  Now, should the Sabres lose game 6, can see scenarios where Helenius draws into game 7.  But just don't see where this coaching staff expects him playing on the 4th line or him bumping one of Krebs, Benson, or Norris to the 4th line makes the team better than it would be with Norris taking his normal spot between the kids and Kozak centering the 4th line.

 

And as to what's plan B if Norris goes down?  Its essentially what we saw when Östlund went down.  Have Krebs play LW on the Thompson line and C on a lower line.  Keep the McLeod line relatively intact and keep playing them as much as possible against the Pastrnak line and have Thompson and Kozak also double shift to an extent.  Which is also pretty much the plan B for any of the other C's getting hurt in-game.

[Chevyvanmiller]

[...]

12 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Well, apparently Norris could have played yesterday but the determination was that with the Sabres having 3 games to get a single victory, Östlund playing very well in his role, and presumably extra time helping Norris get even healthier that they decided to not play him yesterday.

Considering he could've played yesterday, 100% expect him to get put into the lineup in Boston.  Considering Kozak did well and better than one might expect Dunne to play in a top 9 role, am expecting Kozak to get the start again in Boston.

Am not seeing where they'd play Helenius who has 0 NHL playoff experience and only 9 NHL games under his belt to date.  Now, should the Sabres lose game 6, can see scenarios where Helenius draws into game 7.  But just don't see where this coaching staff expects him playing on the 4th line or him bumping one of Krebs, Benson, or Norris to the 4th line makes the team better than it would be with Norris taking his normal spot between the kids and Kozak centering the 4th line.

 

And as to what's plan B if Norris goes down?  Its essentially what we saw when Östlund went down.  Have Krebs play LW on the Thompson line and C on a lower line.  Keep the McLeod line relatively intact and keep playing them as much as possible against the Pastrnak line and have Thompson and Kozak also double shift to an extent.  Which is also pretty much the plan B for any of the other C's getting hurt in-game.

I don't believe anyone is serious about bringing up Helenius just because Östlund is out, except for the first person to mention his name in this thread. The discussion has morphed into whether they would use Helenius IF THE CIRCUMSTANCES WARRANTED the move and despite his contract status. 

Obviously, the circumstances (or the parameters) would have to be rather particular. The question is: would they do it, contract status be damned?

[Brawndo]

49 minutes ago, inkman said:

Unless Pearson & Dunne are both injured, they will get the nod over Konsta. How tremendously stupid would they look if the Sabres are eliminated in game 7 against Boston and they burn the first year of Helenius’s ELC for two games. 

Another point of view regarding Helenius and potentially burning in a year off of his contract. He has not and will not accumulate enough games this season to earn a year towards UFA Status.  During his next contract negotiations he will most likely only have two full years of NHL Production which may help reduce the AAV.

His confidence in play has never been lacking and his metrics during his eight games were actually positive. He did everything that was asked of him when he was returned to the Amerks
 

The other thing  that drought taught us is the playoffs are not a guarantee. It took historic run by this team to get to where they are and the rest of the Atlantic seems to be right in lock step with them. Florida will probably be a legit playoff contender again next season. They need to pull out all the stops this year as next year isn’t always guaranteed.

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, Second Line Center said:

Krebs - Tage - Tuch

Benson- Helenius - Doan

Zucker - McCleod - Quinn

Greenway - Norris - Malenstyn

Tage - Norris - Tuch

Benson- Helenius - Doan

Zucker - McCleod - Quinn

Greenway - Krebs - Malenstyn

 

It feels like a lifetime ago, but I seem to remember Tage having good chemistry with Norris early on.

[Taro T]

23 minutes ago, ... said:

I don't believe anyone is serious about bringing up Helenius just because Östlund is out, except for the first person to mention his name in this thread. The discussion has morphed into whether they would use Helenius IF THE CIRCUMSTANCES WARRANTED the move and despite his contract status. 

Obviously, the circumstances (or the parameters) would have to be rather particular. The question is: would they do it, contract status be damned?

It seems people are serious about bringing Helenius in because Östlund is out.  Wanting him and Norris in rather than Norris & Kozak/Dunne.  Though that sentiment is far from universal in the thread.

As to your question, would they put him in if the circumstances warrant it?  Personally believe that answer is absolutely.  But can't see that situation arise prior to game 7 and even then doubt they'd do it unless one of the other top 9 skaters also goes out injured.  IF the 4th line somehow ends up primarily responsible for an L, could see it; but can't come up with the scenario where that line is taking the brunt of the blame of an L.

The bigger Q to me is who starts game 7?  Fully expect Lyon to start (and win, btw) game 6.  BUT if they lose game 6 in a game where Lyon played well, do they risk the goalie swap or do they risk not giving the skaters a kick in the pants which is what swapping goalies when the goalie played well does.  Hoping we don't get to a point where those decisions need to be made.  Not yet at any rate.  Just win Friday and then hope the Habs series goes the full 7 and let guys heal up a bit.