BillsFan4

Wow, gaping hole on defense there.

McDermott doesn’t have the greatest record on his challenges. Hopefully he wins this one... not too sure though. I’ll be more surprised if it’s overturned than if it isn’t.

I don’t know if that was a trick play call or if Corey B just messed up there. CB looked very unsure of what he was doing, whatever the call was.

What in the F was that?!

Gutsy call to go for it. I like this new aggressive McDermott.

Huh?

Nice pass Josh!

Where is McCoy on this drive so far? hopefully just giving him a rest.

Yeah baby! I’ll take it.

Come on defense!! Hold em!

Special teams was awful on that play. No no excuses there. That punt had great hang time.

Ah, damnit. It looked like KB was open, too. Allen had all day to throw it there.

McCoy showing that burst!

Great pressure up the middle by Kyle Williams on 3rd down.

I like that McDermott was aggressive and went for it on 4th and 1. Nice play calling by Daboll on that drive, too.

Well... after 1 period, they look MUCH better than last game. It really looks like Housley got through to them because they are playing with much more structure in all 3 zones. They are also keeping things more simple and taking what the NYR are giving. They actually look like they’re playing like a team so far. I love the fire and effort level I am seeing from just about every single Sabre, too. Especially the main guys like Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner, Sheary, Risto etc. I am still seeing a few things to clean up, like breakdowns in coverage and dumb decisions with the puck. But that is fully expected. Everything isn’t going to be fixed overnight. I just want to see continued progress... The real test will be to see if this team can maintain this structure and effort level for an entire game. And even more so when they hit some adversity.

I used to sell Toyota vehicles when I lived in Florida. Ive sold numerous different makes of cars/trucks/motorcycles etc. The two I would recommend most highly and without any hesitation - Toyota and Honda. Both are high quality and build to last. If you take care of them properly and do the maintenance, they can last you forever. I had a customer that used to come into the dealership. He had a Honda with well over 300,000 miles on it and it still ran perfectly. I dont know that I would buy a new American made car, to be perfectly honest.

Very curious to see if the Sabres can rebound tonight. There are fewer excuses against the Rangers. They don’t have an experienced veteran team anymore. They are a young rebuilding team just like us. They have a new coach fresh from the college ranks. New system. New faces in the lineup (not sure if they’ve had quite the turnover we have though). This should be a game we win. But at the absolute bare minimum I want to see guys playing the right way.

Same here. I didn’t even know there was a comment section until I read through this thread. Of course I let curiosity get the better of me. Just awful. Unfortunately, racism seems to be on the rise here in recent years.

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/phil-housley-postgame-10418/t-277437090/c-61606303 I thought Housley was dead on in his post game presser (he usually is...). I had many of the same observations during the game. Getting too cute/fancy, over passing, refusing to take what the other team is giving you. Refusing to dump and chase. Refusing to backcheck properly. Blowing their assignments. He’s right that these veterans need to make a choice to play the way the coaches are asking them to. Sadly, our main guys seem to be the biggest problem as far as that’s concerned. Like Eichel trying to skate through FOUR Bruins at the blue line. Sometimes you just have to take what the other team is giving you. That’s why our 4th line was our most effective much of the night. What good is a coaching change going to do if these players simply refuse to follow a game plan? It was an issue with bylsma and it’s still an issue now. We could have the best coach in the world, but if the players simply refuse to do what the coach is asking, it won’t matter who the coach is. Remember when everyone was convinced that firing bylsma would solve the Sabres problems? Honestly, IMO they probably shouldn’t have fired bylsma when they did because I feel like it sent a bad message to the players. They wouldn’t follow bylsma’s game plan, didn’t seem to like him much and didn’t listen to him. In the end, they were rewarded for it. I am not saying Housley is the answer at head coach. He sure hasn’t shown that he is. But I guess I am still of the opinion that it’s more of a player issue than a coaching one. We’ve seen them play well when they stick to the game plan. But it just hasn’t happened enough over the last 3+ years. If this was a new issue under Housley, I would totally be on the “fire the coach” bandwagon. But it’s not a new issue. It has been an issue through 2 different coaches now. When you are seeing a lot of the same mistakes, from the same guys, under multiple different coaches, that to me says it’s a player issue. I think some of theee players have been given free reign from day 1, didn’t have to earn anything and have been rewarded for it.

I don’t know... those first 2 periods I didn’t really see them playing much of a system out there. More than anything I see guys scrambling around out of position, just chasing pucks. I saw too many “just playing” and doing their own thing, completely disregarding the system. That’s been an issue for Buffalo for years. If they would actually stick to the system and cover who they’re supposed to be covering, it could have prevented a couple goals tonight. These last 5 minutes they’ve been doing what I just mentioned - keeping it simple and cycling the puck and this is about the best they’ve looked all game.

The Sabres need to settle down here and simplify? Guys look jittery out there. Too many bobbled pucks and passes. Guys tripping over their own skates. Too many cute/fancy plays, too. Everyone trying the fancy play instead of the simple one. Sometimes you just need to do what our 4th line is doing - dump and chase, cycle down low and along the boards and create some scoring chances.

Hey, our goalie made a save on a breakaway. Is that allowed?

Well... not the start I was hoping for. I thought they looked good at times to start the period. But after that 1st goal form Boston it put the Sabres back on their heels. I knew Boston would come out with a big push after last night, though. Lets see how Buffalo responds in the 2nd and 3rd here. Hopefully now everyone should have their feet under them. Some of those opening night jitters should be passing. The young guys should hopefully be settling in, too. And Buffalo should have the advantage as the game goes on. Boston is playing back to back in the 2nd game of the season. I expect them to show some fatigue. Hey, On a positive note, Eichel looked good in the face off circle. He was actually using his body and his power instead of just trying to finesse it like the past few seasons.

So excited for the season to start. I really hope this is the year Buffalo takes a legit step forward. They have the deepest lineup that they’ve had in many years. Guys seem to have the right attitude. I just hope they put it all together on th ice. They are playing a pissed off bruins team tonight that just got badly embarrassed last night. I hope buffalo is just as fired up as the bruins will likely be. The Sabres better come ready to play... We have a few young guys playing their first games here, so I expect some nerves to start the game. I just hope they start out fast and with energy. They need to show up from puck drop. They started games out slow way too often last season. Lets go Sabres!