BillsFan4

Mistakes are just killing this team. That seems to be the story almost every game. Risto just let Keith skate right by him and bury a prime rebound, and earlier Dahlin and Bogo left a man free right in front of the net that directly resulted in another goal against.

Pretty good start by Buffalo (8mins in) And boy... I forgot how little defense Chicago is playing these days.

I read/heard it so long ago that I honestly can’t remember where exactly I saw it. I know they mentioned it one time on the John Murphy show on WGR. But I also remember reading it somewhere. Ill try to hunt around for it when I get a chance later today/tomorrow.

I disagree completely with Schopp. 1) neither of Rex’s teams were better than last year’s Bills IMO. His best year was 8-8. Last year the Bills went 9-7 and made the playoffs for the first time in almost 2 decades, and they had a lot less raw talent than either of Rex’s teams did. 2) his offense was, for the most part, better than his defense during his time in Buffalo. The 2015 offense was #7 in scoring, and iirc I believe the 2016 offense was also top 10. How many times did we fans say “if only we had our 2014 defense with this 2015/16 offense...” ? If anything, I feel his defense held him back in his time here. 3) discipline definitely held the Bills back. They were one of the most penalized teams in the NFL (if not the most penalized). Penalties cost them wins in some games. I feel that The lack of discipline trickled throughout the entire team and showed in numerous forms. To name a few - effort level on the field, execution of play calls, a general level of confusion among the players, lack of preparation, and the list goes on... I believe that a lack of discipline showed up on game days and hurt the Bills.

https://www.nhl.com/news/fantasy-reaction-from-2019-nhl-all-stars/c-304213724?tid=277729150 I wonder if they’ll wait until after the trade deadline to finalize a deal with Skinner or if they’ll try to get it done before then just to be safe (though I can’t see him getting traded unless the contract gap is huge). Skinner can’t sign for 8 years until after the deadline. Max before the deadline is 7 years.

Rex ran a country club and put in minimal effort. He thought he could just give the players some inspiring speech on Sunday and they would go out and win. He was the last one in the building every day and the first to leave. He delegated much of his responsibility as a head coach. He was a disaster in NY, too. They’re still trying to recover.

Agreed. That goal should have counted if you go by the rule book. The red took all of 2 seconds to review it, too. There were only 2 damn games in the whole NHL tonight. Why couldn’t it have been reviewed in Toronto? Seems like a better idea than letting the red who made the call review it... Goaltender interference is like the catch rule in the NFL. Nobody seems to know what the hell it is and everyone calls/reviews it differently.

These refs are absolutely brutal tonight. Sooo many calls that should have gene made against Dallas. This was one of the worst - And I counted at least 3 blatant slashes that went uncalled. 2 of them even interfered with a shot/scoring chance. If you Shawn a guy in the hands when he is trying to take a shot in net, it is called for a penalty 10 times out of 10.

Getting hit pretty hard where I’m at. My snowblower died, too (figures, right?). The damn starter gear is stripped of something. Ive shoveled about 5 times in the last 2 days. I’m running out of places to pile it up. lol

My guess would be that He’s a proven veteran who is well respected in the room and by the coaching staff, and is one of the only players on this team with significant playoff experience (he probably has the most playoff experience out of any Sabres player). He’s also relied on to play on the penalty kill (that is ranked #9 in the NHL). He’s #2 among defenseman in average minutes per game on the penalty kill. Plus, it’s a lot easier to scratch a young, unproven player like Pilut vs a well respected veteran. Scandella has earned his stripes in the NHL. He’s proven to be a top 4/6 defenseman over the past 8 years of his NHL career. Younger players tend to get scratched more often than older, proven veterans. The vets are usually given more leeway in their mistakes and time when they are struggling. It is not a unique situation to Buffalo. We may not like it as fans, but it happens all over the NHL almost every night. Unless the young player is a top draft pick, they are usuallly required to “earn their stripes”. And Every single fan base around the NHL has at least 1 player that they don’t understand why their coach keeps playing. Every fan base has their whipping boy(s). Even the very best coaches around the NHL have players that they rely on that make their fan bases bang their heads against a wall. There are well documented complaints of this against Babcock, Quenneville, Trotz, Cooper, Boudreau, etc etc. It was a common complaint about Lindy Ruff for years, too.

There’s actually quite a few intriguing names out there right now. Very interested to see what direction the Bills go.

lol. ‘Corsi For’ percentage (basically measures puck possession and/or offensive zone possession. It’s the share of all shots for and against while Dahlin is on the ice) and ‘Scoring Chances For’ percentage. I’m not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to these advanced stats but both numbers/percentages are considered pretty exceptional. Anthing over 50% is considered a solid Corsi number, and an elite corsi for % is usually considered to be anything over 55%. I didn’t mean to imply that Eichel didn’t have a good game. I just meant that we won, and scored 5 goals, on a night where Eichel only had a single assist. It wasn’t just him carrying the team out there last night.

Did you end up catching the legendary fish in the swamp? If so, any tips? I’ve tried 3 or 4 separate times now and just kept catching lake sturgeon. I use the special swamp lure and have tried standing in a few different spots, and even tried taking that little rowboat out. This is the first legendary fish I’ve had trouble catching. The other 8 I’ve vaught I had no problem with.

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.

Not a great finish to the 2nd period. Back to back goals allowed. They have to come out with a hard push in the 3rd. Buffalo desperately needs these 2 points tonight.

Never knew that Ullmark’s grandma died the day before Rochester’s playoff series started. Makes a lot more sense why he struggled. I give him a lot of credit for staying with the team.

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.

Personally, I think this is a downgrade over what Miami had.

Panarin’s agent made it very clear before the season even started that Panarin wouldn’t be signing in Columbus before free agency. He even went as far as to say “I’d trade Panarin if I were Columbus”. The agent and panarin went went out of their way to give Columbus plenty of notice, and even said that they told Columbus so early because they wanted to be fair to them. So, IMO It is totally on Columbus for deciding to keep him. I can’t blame them for hoping that he’s change his mind, but it’s not Panarin’s fault at all IMO. He was traded there after signing in a big city (Chicago).

Who they hire to replace Culley will be key. They need to get this hire right. Im hoping they get someone experienced in working with QBs. I dont care if McDermott goes with another young, hungry coach as long as he at least has some type of background as a QB or working with QBs. I just don’t really want to see this treated as an entry level job, where they bring in someone with no real experience. Allen’s development is too important. I’d rather they wait than bring in someone just to fill the spot.

What do our resident leafs fans think? Id say it’s a Pretty nice trade for both sides. Muzzin is a good top 4 defenseman, and will instantly be the 2nd best defenseman on the leafs roster IMO. I don’t know how they will work the pairings seeing as Muzzin is also a lefty (and better on the left side. Can Reilly play on the right?). And LA got a 1st + a very nice prospect in Grundstrom and a B level prospect in Durzi. Don’t know as much about Durzi. Heard he’s having a good season, but he’s also currently unsigned, 20yrs old and still playing in juniors. He was an over-ager the leafs took in the 2nd in 2018. Muzzin being under contract next seasn at only $4M is a win for Toronto, too. I assume he will most likely be Gardiner’s replacement next season. Thanks. Appreciate it.

I am excited to see what they do to close out the season. I hope like crazy that they are able to make the playoffs, but no matter what this is valuable experience. There are so many players on this roster who have yet to experience being part of a team trying to make a playoff push (which is pretty sad to think about, especially when you realize that guys like Risto and Girgensons are in their 6th year...lol).