Big C Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 Phew! Wasn't east but they got the regulation 2.
K-9 Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 (edited) Well, this game proves it: the key to our success is keeping Scandella and Hunwick together as a D pair. Edited January 30, 2019 by K-9 3
YoloinOhio Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 I’m still convinced Housely does not own more than one shirt
BillsFan4 Posted January 30, 2019 Author Posted January 30, 2019 Big win tonight. It puts buffalo within 2 points of the last wildcard spot, 3 points of Boston and 5 points of Montreal, who is sitting in 3rd. We still have 2 games in hand on Montreal and 1 game in hand on Boston. buffalo desperately needs to take advantage of them. I like how how they played tonight. The 2nd period wasn’t great but it was a solid game overall. We won on a night Eichel didn’t carry the team. Sheary, Mittelstadt, Rodriguez and Thompson all had pretty good games. That’s what buffalo needs if they’re going to make a playoff push. Tomorrow night is another big game. They can make up another 2 points on the competition. It’s a very winnable game against a struggling Stars team.
K-9 Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 43 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said: I’m still convinced Housely does not own more than one shirt That means he owns one more shirt than clues.
JohnC Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 9 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said: Big win tonight. It puts buffalo within 2 points of the last wildcard spot, 3 points of Boston and 5 points of Montreal, who is sitting in 3rd. We still have 2 games in hand on Montreal and 1 game in hand on Boston. buffalo desperately needs to take advantage of them. I like how how they played tonight. The 2nd period wasn’t great but it was a solid game overall. We won on a night Eichel didn’t carry the team. Sheary, Mittelstadt, Rodriguez and Thompson all had pretty good games. That’s what buffalo needs if they’re going to make a playoff push. Tomorrow night is another big game. They can make up another 2 points on the competition. It’s a very winnable game against a struggling Stars team. I don't see us passing Boston. They are the better team. However, I do see us being able to pass Montreal. What was encouraging about this game was that we were getting secondary scoring. Sheary scoring is encouraging. What I continue to find troubling is the lapses on defense around the net that leaves the goalie exposed. I continue to believe that the Sabres will be in the playoff hunt until the end of the season. 1
K-9 Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 14 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said: Big win tonight. It puts buffalo within 2 points of the last wildcard spot, 3 points of Boston and 5 points of Montreal, who is sitting in 3rd. We still have 2 games in hand on Montreal and 1 game in hand on Boston. buffalo desperately needs to take advantage of them. I like how how they played tonight. The 2nd period wasn’t great but it was a solid game overall. We won on a night Eichel didn’t carry the team. Sheary, Mittelstadt, Rodriguez and Thompson all had pretty good games. That’s what buffalo needs if they’re going to make a playoff push. Tomorrow night is another big game. They can make up another 2 points on the competition. It’s a very winnable game against a struggling Stars team. Aside from one or two shifts, Eichel’s line pretty much dominated every time out. It contributed two goals on the night but it was nice to see the continuance of the secondary scoring we’ve seen the last few games. It was Sheary’s best game of the year. Let’s hope he doesn’t disappear for the next 30 games. I’m happy for the win, but from an analytics standpoint, it wasn’t that pretty. Our warts were on display but we were able to overcome them tonight for a change. Going into tonight, I figured we needed to get to 96 points to make the playoffs, meaning we needed to capture 42 of the remaining 68 points on our schedule; a .617 clip. I’m skeptical we have what it takes to get there given what I’ve seen the last seasons and a half, but we got off to a good start. And I’ll take it.
Jauronimo Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 1 hour ago, K-9 said: Aside from one or two shifts, Eichel’s line pretty much dominated every time out. It contributed two goals on the night but it was nice to see the continuance of the secondary scoring we’ve seen the last few games. It was Sheary’s best game of the year. Let’s hope he doesn’t disappear for the next 30 games. I’m happy for the win, but from an analytics standpoint, it wasn’t that pretty. Our warts were on display but we were able to overcome them tonight for a change. Going into tonight, I figured we needed to get to 96 points to make the playoffs, meaning we needed to capture 42 of the remaining 68 points on our schedule; a .617 clip. I’m skeptical we have what it takes to get there given what I’ve seen the last seasons and a half, but we got off to a good start. And I’ll take it. I thought Sheary Middlestadt and ERod were the best line on the ice tonight from either team. They were dangerous all night and sustained pressure in the offensive zone. A few weeks ago I commented that nearly all our scoring was coming from the rush. Tonight we saw three beautiful goals from sustained pressure. Hutton instills zero confidence. I am still shocked this one didn't go to OT. Reinhart looked dangerous tonight. What the f@#$ is it with this team and beginning/end of a period??? How many goals do they intend to give up in the final seconds of a period? Unacceptable. Game puck goes to Scandella who I barely noticed tonight. He finished a respectable -1. Dahlin and Bogo were a +4 in a 5 goal effort. 2 assists a piece. Keep them together, please.
ChevyVanMiller Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 4 hours ago, BillsFan4 said: Thank God those ping pong balls went our way for a change. Dahlin will be considered one of the best ever when he hangs them up at the end of his career. 1
BillsPride12 Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 Is it just me or did anybody else think Mittelstadt just had his best game of the season? 1
tbarg12 Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 1 hour ago, BillsPride12 said: Is it just me or did anybody else think Mittelstadt just had his best game of the season? Agreed, that Sheary Middlestadt ERod line was phenomenal last night. Can't wait for tonight's game, I'll be the only guy in a Sabres jersey in the Stars season ticket section. 1 1
Cripple Creek Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 (edited) 13 hours ago, BillsFan4 said: I am not at all surprised to see Pilut sit tonight. He is young and he had a very rough game in his last outing. His mistakes last game led to at least 2 goals against (I think it may have actually even been 3 iirc). NHL coaches prefer experience. This is nothing new. IMO, most veteran coaches are worse than Housley when it comes to playing youth vs relying on veterans. Housley has a lot of young players in the lineup as it is. More than many/most teams. He is actually giving the young guys more opportunity than a lot of other experienced coaches around the NHL give their young players. Though I’d prefer Pilut in the lineup to Hunwick, I understand why Housley is going with a bit more experience tonight, in a crucial game. We have 3 games in hand on Montreal and it is vital to our playoff hopes that we make up ground. They are currently 7 points ahead. We have a chance to make up 6 of those 7 points. Housley talked about how he wants the team to tighten down their game and not make so many mistakes so it doesn’t surprise me that he is going with experience over youth. This team has kind of been living and dying by these young guy’s mistakes all season. If they are serious about making a playoff push I can understand why he feels that limiting all these mistakes is so important. Hunwick was lost out there. Edited January 30, 2019 by Cripple Creek
shrader Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 7 hours ago, BillsFan4 said: -64.4% centerfield? -73.9% Stanley Cup Finals? 1
Pete Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 It's a big game tonight. They played great last night against a very good team. They are starving for the playoffs, and it's right there for the taking. Poor Risto. That Middlestadt-ER-Sheary line played great, and might just be that secondary scoring line we need. My guess is Sabres turn it on here and go on a nice run.
JohnC Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 The below link is Paul Hamilton's comments on WGR about the Columbus game. His observations matched my observations. I consider him to be a fair-minded observer. I have never considered him to be a homer when it comes to evaluating players and games. What I'm seeing seems to be different from what some others are seeing. I thought Hutton played a good game in a loosely played game. And that shouldn't be surprising after a week long break. So it's not unexpected that on the defensive end there was some slack play. Other than one soft goal I thought Hutton played well and came up with some big time saves at critical junctures. I thought Hunwick played solidly for a player who has been out all season long. He wasn't too noticeable. And that is a good thing! He, like Scandella, is at best a third pairing caliber of player. And from what I saw he fulfilled his role. Scandella is what he is. I don't understand the bashing. Where Scandella becomes exposed as a liability is when he is asked to play beyond his role of a third pairing defenseman. In this game I thought he, as with Hunwick, played reasonably well. In the big picture its about the young players getting better. I thought Mittelstadt played very well. And Tage's goal was a typical Tage shooting goal from the slot. From a visual standpoint Eichel is the most eye popping player in the game. On the other hand I thought that Dahlin was one of the best players in a game full of very good players. There is a smoothness to his game that belies the actual dominance of it. What a gem. When making a judgment on this game let's remember that Columbus is a good team with a lot of very good players. Let's put things in perspective: We beat them on the road. I'm not going to predict that the Sabres are going to make the playoffs because there is little margin of error for us to qualify. What I can comfortably predict is that we will be in the playoff hunt until the end of the season. Looing back from last year I consider that tremendous improvement. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/01-30-paul-hamilton-howard-and-jeremy-0 1
K-9 Posted January 30, 2019 Posted January 30, 2019 1 hour ago, JohnC said: I thought Hunwick played solidly for a player who has been out all season long. He wasn't too noticeable. And that is a good thing! He, like Scandella, is at best a third pairing caliber of player. And from what I saw he fulfilled his role. Scandella is what he is. I don't understand the bashing. Where Scandella becomes exposed as a liability is when he is asked to play beyond his role of a third pairing defenseman. In this game I thought he, as with Hunwick, played reasonably well. John, you are an intelligent man. But if you’ve watched every game this season and can’t understand why Scandella gets bashed, I don’t know what to say. He’s been our biggest liability on the back end all year and the analytics bear that out. But he’s a veteran and Housley is too chicken s**t to hold him accountable while, conversely, he sits our best analytics-based defenseman at the drop of a hat. He is decent on the PK. But that’s it. Decent. He’s been a train wreck everywhere else this season.
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