QCity

Wouldn't shock me either. Got to beat these bad teams though, no bye-week or road game excuses. Here's a site that nicely illustrates the bye-week curse.

They have COL, ARI, NAS, ARI right out of the gate. Three games against the two worst teams. If they come out swinging, there's a small glimmer of hope. If they drop the first two, GMTM can switch to seller mode and ditch the UFAs Gionta, Kulikov, and Franson.

Chicago got stronger as the game went on, the Sabres' legs were shot halfway through the 2nd period. They needed the break badly.

I think it's a mistake starting Lehner tonight. Isn't there a stat that says goalies lose 25 pts off their save % in back-to-back games? Lehner certainly hasn't looked good the last two times DB tried this. Good to see Fedun clear, I like him as a fringe player.

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I agree. Falk has been playing well in his own end lately. Gorges is just sad. Fedun got waived, which surprised me. I doubt he clears.

About as complete a game as they've played this season. Putting Franson on that late PP was a classic example of over-coaching, and it almost cost them. Lehner is having a fantastic month.

Seriously. These games are terrible.

Regarding the power play: O'Reilly 7 years, Ristolainen 7 years, Okposo 7 years, Eichel and Reinhart upcoming long-term deals in the near future. We're going to have a top 3 power play for the next half-decade.

A lot of analysts will tell you that puck possession correlates to winning, and Bylsma doesn't emphasize that style of play. We really have no transition game, most of our 5v5 points are the result of dump and chase. Our D like to make long stretch passes to break out of our zone. These are low percentage passes that usually results in our wingers getting pinched to the boards or turnovers that allow the other team to repeatedly crash our blue line. Our PK is a disaster and constantly plays on their heels.

Nah, although if the bottom falls out and they drop the upcoming 4 games to COL and ARI things will get very heated.

This team can't string 3 periods together let alone 3 games. But they do have 4 games out of the next 7 against the 2 worst teams in hockey. Getting 5 out of 6 points on this homestand would be a nice step, but I just can't see it happening.

He's right.

Sabres. We've got 2 more years of Whaley before we can start the rebuild in 2019.

Top 4 teams are clearly in the Metro. After Montreal's crazy 13-1 start or whatever they have been playing at the same pace as the Sabres. Maybe Julien will light a fire, but still doubt anyone from this division is a serious contender. Three game homestand starts Thursday against a minor league team. Can't possibly screw that up, right?

If we could play Ottawa every night we'd win the President's Cup.

Julien to Montreal. Wow.

He's certainly a lot more astute than the casual fan who chants "QBR!" ad nasueum. But like any reporter who doesn't paint a cheery outlook, prepare for this analysis to get lambasted.

He could develop excellent chemistry with Sammy in the trainer's room.

I really can't make that sarcasm much more evident. I even used a head-slap emoji. Two Vancouver goals were scored literally fractions of second after their PPs had expired, essentially giving them 3 PP goals tonight. How many points has our atrocious PK unit cost us this year? I'd say at least 8 -- they certainly cost us 2 tonight. That was Eichel's worst game as a pro, he was awful.

Yeah, it's going to be a real nail-biter to see if it's us or Colorado.

Lehner saved the team during that 40 minute turtle.

Not nearly as talented as the fanbase thinks.

Still a better deal than what they paid for Percy Harvin.

Sounds about right.