GDT: 2026-27 SEASON OPENER — Sabres at Columbus, 10/1/26, 7:00 pm, MSG, ESPN+

[Scottysabres]

18 minutes ago, #freejame said:

I haven’t seen much mention of it but I thought Tage was largely invisible last night

I said it a couple of times in the GDT. That entire line was invisible nearly all game. The Sabres need their star players to show up, that didn’t happen last night. It’s unacceptable to be frank on the matter. If they can’t get up for a game where is the accountability? Either correct the inconsistency or trade it out for something more consistent imo.

[LETSTUCHINGO]

6 minutes ago, Scottysabres said:

Let’s not go over board now. Yes the thug landed 3 or 4 good facial pops, but none were haymakers. Metsa acquitted himself well enough to earn some praise and respect from players league wide I’d imagine.

As for Olivier, he’s an enforcer with some skill and can skate. I don’t hate the guy, but as an opposing player I have no love for him either. He’s the exact type of player the Sabres lack to be honest.

Nobody is going over board, exactly what happened. If you think that Olivier only landed 3 or 4 than you either didn't watch it or you better go back and learn how to count!

[HILLsabre]

Hats off to Metsa, but this team got exposed once again, that they're not physical enough. I'm not just talking about fighting, it's more of their natural style to avoid the physical contact as a whole. Last night, UPL constantly had blue jackets in his face. Look at the tip ins! Goal #5 I believe there were 3 opponents within a stick length. Just saw a lot of the same old thing from our defensive unit last night.

[LGR4GM]

15 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Well it definitely wasn't good, but I still think the net front D was the main problem. They had free reign and hence all those tips and redirections. 

If the defense has to be perfect to give UPL a chance to play well, that is a major problem. 

[Scottysabres]

24 minutes ago, LETSTUCHINGO said:

Nobody is going over board, exactly what happened. If you think that Olivier only landed 3 or 4 than you either didn't watch it or you better go back and learn how to count!

Meh, the rest were helmet hits or weak to the face. The 3 or 4 that landed caught him in the mouth. It wasn’t as though Mars’s needed assistance back to the dressing room.

[LETSTUCHINGO]

32 minutes ago, Scottysabres said:

Meh, the rest were helmet hits or weak to the face. The 3 or 4 that landed caught him in the mouth. It wasn’t as though Mars’s needed assistance back to the dressing room.

Metsa's face looked like it got hit with a tenderizer when he was in the penalty box. When he exited, I'm sure he received treatment. When he returned to the ice, the swelling that was very noticeable under his left eye was already gone!

[Taro T]

16 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

UPL made lots of big saves. But no one cares or remembers. You can't give up one high danger change after another and expect your goalie to save you 100%

 

He made one very nice save in the 2nd and the 2 nearly btb HD chances in the 3rd.  Nothing he could do on the 2 PP goals against.  But he HAS to find a way to stop at least 1 of the other 3 he let in and ideally at least 2 of them.

Sabres had been dominating in the 1st and then Crevier and Power both try to take the same man and UPL can't bail them out.  He makes that save there, and likely it never becomes a game.  He was unable to do so and next thing we knew he gave up 2 more goals in (essentially) the last 2 minutes of the period for 3 against on only 7 shots and they never were able to find a way to get it all knotted back up again.

Yes, the PP was bad and the PK was awful and the D was bad too (with the only exception pretty much being Power).  But the timing of allowing things to go kerplewy matters significantly, and things on the scoreboard went kerplewy at REALLY bad times.  And 3 goals on 7 shots simply can't happen at this level.  Overall, can't see how his grade could be higher than a D and don't believe that an F is unwarranted if one wanted to go there.

[Jorcus]

I will say this about that fight last night, I have never seen Power more animated in my life. He was really pissed and legit tried to get involved. Very different from the normal slow skate in late and help pull someone off the pile. 

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, Jorcus said:

I will say this about that fight last night, I have never seen Power more animated in my life. He was really pissed and legit tried to get involved. Very different from the normal slow skate in late and help pull someone off the pile. 

He could have done a lot more IMO.  

It was game 1 and the entire team was not ready to play even a moderately physical game.   The Sabres just were not ready for that kind of game.  

 

[bunomatic]

How about that PP? 

[Nacho Libre]

Sabres will be fine 

[LGR4GM]

 

 

[PerreaultForever]

5 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

If the defense has to be perfect to give UPL a chance to play well, that is a major problem. 

Not "prefect" but they need to box out, lift more sticks, force people outside and just generally occupy more of the net front space. Knies spent all night in a place he had no business being. Even when these guys don't tip it in they have UPL trying to look at them and paying attention to them in case and then he isn't focused enough on the actual shot. That rarely shows up in stats. A goalie who has confidence in his D always plays bigger and more aggressively. 

[NAF]

I actually thought the effort was there and that they played pretty well last night. The PK and PP were meh, but I'm inclined to wait 5-10 games before calling for Appert's head. Kulich was non-existent on the 4th line. I don't think it makes sense to play him in that role but I'd love to be proven wrong.

[clink]

22 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

If the defense has to be perfect to give UPL a chance to play well, that is a major problem. 

[SabresFan69420]

22 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

If the defense has to be perfect to give UPL a chance to play well, that is a major problem. 

I’ve said it before but the one thing Helly would give us is the ability to erase 1-2 mistakes (of which this young team will make many) a game. 
 

UPL usually doesn’t do that

[Pimlach]

17 hours ago, NAF said:

I actually thought the effort was there and that they played pretty well last night. The PK and PP were meh, but I'm inclined to wait 5-10 games before calling for Appert's head. Kulich was non-existent on the 4th line. I don't think it makes sense to play him in that role but I'd love to be proven wrong.

Swap Kulich and Krebs starting tonight.