[Incomplete Title] Sabres (21-12-5) & NHL 2018-19 - Game 39 (MSG-B) vs. BOS (20-14-4) at 7 PM ET on 12/29

[26CornerBlitz]

Inside the Sabres: Hutton, Ullmark adjusting to another NHL goalie equipment change

 

 

Martin Biron would go to great lengths to make himself as big as possible on the ice. When a new piece of goalie equipment arrived, Biron would stand in front of the mirror to see how much of the net he could take up. He would add padding to address any possible weak spots.

 

Like goalies across the NHL, Biron, who spent nine years with the Buffalo Sabres, was searching for a competitive advantage. That constant on-ice arms race intensified thanks to the league's most notorious equipment offender, Garth Snow, who was loathed by Sabres fans and Ted Nolan for looking like the Michelin Man in net during the 1997 Stanley Cup playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers.

 

The league has since cracked down with equipment regulations, beginning with wholesale changes after the 2004-05 lockout when the league decreased the size of goalie equipment by 11 percent.

 

That continued this season when it mandated all goalies use smaller chest protectors, a move that was met by criticism and backlash from players across the league.

 

Many have told stories of painful shots to the collarbone and arms. Neither Carter Hutton nor Linus Ullmark has expressed such concerns. Both Sabres goalies said they had no choice but to adjust to how the sport continues to evolve.

 

"I just think it’s another thing to worry about," Hutton said. "Truthfully, I don’t even stress over it. It is what it is. They’re doing it whether you like it or not, so you just have to buy into it. I don’t mind the way the game is going. It promotes better athletes. You eliminate guys that are just big and block. I’m OK with it as long as we’re protected."

[26CornerBlitz]

 

 

 

[4merper4mer]

Small request 26:

 

When you change the thread title can you use"at" or "@" for roadies and have vs mean home?

 

Thanks for updating the title btw....good idea.

[26CornerBlitz]

 

Game Preview: 12/3/18 at Nashville

 

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

 

Game Notes

NHL Stats

Press Clips

 

LAST GAME
Friday, November 30
Buffalo 2 at Florida 3 (OT)
Goals: Skinner, Reinhart
Goalie: Ullmark (40 saves/43 shots)
PP: 1/4; PK: 2/4; Shots: Florida 43 – Buffalo 24

 

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 96)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Matt Hunwick (neck, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 27 games
Scott Wilson (ankle, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 27 games
Marco Scandella (upper body, Nov. 27; injured reserve) – 3 games
Conor Sheary (upper body, Nov. 27; injured reserve) – 3 games
Jake McCabe (lower body, Nov. 29) – 1 game

 

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/27: Recalled D Lawrence Pilut from Rochester (AHL)
11/30: Activated F Patrik Berglund from IR; Recalled D Matt Tennysonfrom Rochester (AHL); Placed F Conor Sheary and D Marco Scandella on IR

 

UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, Dec. 4: Toronto at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 8: Philadelphia at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 11: Los Angeles at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 13: Arizona at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 15: Buffalo at Washington, 7 p.m.

 

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at PREDATORS

• This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Predators this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Nashville 7-4 in Nashville on March 31
• Next meeting: Tuesday, April 2 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Predators; 6-4-0 on the road.
• This is the 26th game all-time between Buffalo and Nashville; Buffalo has a 10-11-4 series record.
• The Sabres are 9-4-0 on the road against the Predators all-time.

[26CornerBlitz]

 

Dahlin is another interesting candidate. Obviously the Buffalo Sabres are the league’s most surprising story this season, and the fact that they are picking up so many wins with a blueline that was utterly shambolic nine months ago speaks volumes.

 

Dahlin has been a major calming presence on that blueline – he is third amongst Sabres defencemen in ice time, but when he is on the ice, the Sabres are generating heaps of offence. So much so that Dahlin is actually third amongst all rookies in scoring, despite playing a position that doesn’t lend itself to accumulating big point totals.

[26CornerBlitz]

 

The Predators held a full morning skate on Monday at Bridgestone Arena and were joined by Bonino. Below is a projected lineup based on the session: 

 

Forwards

Ryan Hartman - Ryan Johansen - Kevin Fiala

Eeli Tolvanen - Calle Jarnkrok - Craig Smith

Miikka Salomaki - Colton Sissons - Austin Watson

Frederick Gaudreau - Nick Bonino - Rocco Grimaldi

 

Defense

Roman Josi - Ryan Ellis

Dan Hamhuis - Mattias Ekholm

Matt Irwin - Yannick Weber

 

Goaltenders

Pekka Rinne

Juuse Saros

 

Note: The Predators have not announced a starting goaltender for tonight's game

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[Alaska Darin]

The power play is just killing this team. 

[snafu]

2 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

The power play is just killing this team. 

 

For some reason, I've always thought putting a forward at the point on the power play was a mistake.  It's like they aren't used to seeing the play from there.  Also ( in recent games -- I'm not watching tonight), they've got Eichel way out by the boards at the top of the circle. He can't do anything effective from there. Too far out for a pass across the slot, and too far out to fool a goalie.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

FINAL: Sabres 1 - Predators 2

 

The Sabres come up short in Nashville.

 

 STAY TUNED FOR POSTGAME COVERAGE

• Tickets for Tuesday vs. Toronto
• Event Summary
• Game Summary
• Sabres TOI
• Play-by-Play

[Boca BIlls]

And the losing streak begins?

[26CornerBlitz]

 

[JohnC]

Our goal tending is keeping us in every game. 

 

Pilut is not going back down. He plays as if he has been in the league for a long time. He is a very composed player. 

 

The Predators are cup contenders. They swarm you when you have the puck.

 

Against Tampa and Predators it is clear that we are a notch lower. But the Sabres to their credit constantly battle to keep the game in play. 

 

The big takeaway for me in this game is the good play of Pilut. Adding another talent is moving forward. 

[Pete]

Pilut was making plays offensively and defensively all game.  He has some flash to his game, and made many slick passes off boards, and down the ice.  With a healthy Bogo, Dahlin, Risto, and Pilut- our D is lightyears ahead of last season

Edited December 4, 2018 by Pete

[plenzmd1]

11 hours ago, Alaska Darin said:

The power play is just killing this team. 

puzzling why it is so bad.. i was in and out of this game last night..but what I did watch dod not seem to be one of Captain Jacks finer games.. I think I saw one PP where he tried to carry it in on 3 occasions and lost the puck each and every time

[shrader]

4 minutes ago, plenzmd1 said:

puzzling why it is so bad.. i was in and out of this game last night..but what I did watch dod not seem to be one of Captain Jacks finer games.. I think I saw one PP where he tried to carry it in on 3 occasions and lost the puck each and every time

 

Carry to the line, attempt lateral pass directly through defender.  Wash, rinse, and repeat.  It wasn't just him either, it was the whole team.  If the only zone entry you attempt isn't working, you need to change it long before there's only 5 minutes left in the game.

 

The other thing that has been a constant the full year is that they're still not getting any secondary scoring.  They've had flashes, but it's fairly consistent at this point.  They could really benefit from adding a mid-line center later in the year, depending on who is available.  Mittelstadt could really thrive in a role similar to that Roy-Afinogenov-Vanek line back when they were kids drawing 3rd line matchups.

[JohnC]

9 minutes ago, shrader said:

 

Carry to the line, attempt lateral pass directly through defender.  Wash, rinse, and repeat.  It wasn't just him either, it was the whole team.  If the only zone entry you attempt isn't working, you need to change it long before there's only 5 minutes left in the game.

 

The other thing that has been a constant the full year is that they're still not getting any secondary scoring.  They've had flashes, but it's fairly consistent at this point.  They could really benefit from adding a mid-line center later in the year, depending on who is available.  Mittelstadt could really thrive in a role similar to that Roy-Afinogenov-Vanek line back when they were kids drawing 3rd line matchups.

This is a WGR clip of Housley's post game comments. It's a three minute clip. Everything you said was said by Housley. He makes the point, as you do, that if you can't carry the puck in then use a different tactic such as dump and chase to get into the offensive zone. He was also complimentary of Pilut. 

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/12-03-phil-housley-post-game

[GG]

It's clear that Sheary is the xfactor for the offense. Without him, there's little scoring threats  from the secondary lines at this point, and opposition adjusts to focus only on the Eichel line.  

[shrader]

28 minutes ago, JohnC said:

This is a WGR clip of Housley's post game comments. It's a three minute clip. Everything you said was said by Housley. He makes the point, as you do, that if you can't carry the puck in then use a different tactic such as dump and chase to get into the offensive zone. He was also complimentary of Pilut. 

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/12-03-phil-housley-post-game

 

Now if only he had said that during the game instead of after.  Either he said it and they didn't listen or he never did.  I'd say we're still in the coach growing pains stage.

[26CornerBlitz]

 

Game Preview: 12/4/18 vs. Toronto

 

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

 

Game Notes

NHL Stats

Press Clips

 

LAST GAME
Monday, December 3
Buffalo 1 at Nashville 2
Goals: Reinhart
Goalie: Hutton (23 saves/25 shots)
PP: 0/4; PK: 1/2; Shots: Nashville 25 – Buffalo 22

 

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 102)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Matt Hunwick (neck, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 28 games
Scott Wilson (ankle, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 28 games
Marco Scandella (upper body, Nov. 27; injured reserve) – 4 games
Conor Sheary (upper body, Nov. 27; injured reserve) – 4 games
Jake McCabe (upper body, Nov. 29) – 2 games
Jason Pominville (upper body, Dec. 3) – 1 game

 

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/30: Activated F Patrik Berglund from IR; Recalled D Matt Tennyson from Rochester (AHL); Placed F Conor Sheary and D Marco Scandella on IR

 

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, Dec. 8: Philadelphia at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 11: Los Angeles at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 13: Arizona at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 15: Buffalo at Washington, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 16: Buffalo at Boston, 5 p.m.

 

TONIGHT’S GAME
MAPLE LEAFS at SABRES

• This is the first of four meetings between the Sabres and Maple Leafs this season.
• Last meeting: Toronto defeated Buffalo 5-2 in Toronto on April 2
• Next meeting: Monday, Feb. 25 in Toronto
• The Sabres are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Maple Leafs; 7-3-0 at home.
• This is the 211th game all-time between Buffalo and Toronto; Buffalo has a 115-69-26 series record.
• The Sabres are 70-28-8 at home against the Maple Leafs all-time.

[JohnC]

1 minute ago, shrader said:

 

Now if only he had said that during the game instead of after.  Either he said it and they didn't listen or he never did.  I'd say we're still in the coach growing pains stage.

When you go against a more talented team the issue sometimes isn't so much what you should do as it is that they are preventing you from doing what you want to do. The Preds were impressive in swarming and clogging up the middle. The better option was to dump the puck and chase. On the other hand they were still in better position to retrieve the puck. In other words not only was option A stymied so was option B. The better and deeper team out talented the less talented and thinner team. 

 

It's not surprising that teams are going to make a concerted effort to jam our prolific first line. Saying that there is a need for secondary scoring is obvious. The problem is that the secondary scorers simply don't have enough ammo to take the pressure off of the first line. 

[shrader]

1 minute ago, JohnC said:

When you go against a more talented team the issue sometimes isn't so much what you should do as it is that they are preventing you from doing what you want to do. The Preds were impressive in swarming and clogging up the middle. The better option was to dump the puck and chase. On the other hand they were still in better position to retrieve the puck. In other words not only was option A stymied so was option B. The better and deeper team out talented the less talented and thinner team. 

 

It's not surprising that teams are going to make a concerted effort to jam our prolific first line. Saying that there is a need for secondary scoring is obvious. The problem is that the secondary scorers simply don't have enough ammo to take the pressure off of the first line. 

 

Missing both Sheary and Pominville doesn't help with the secondary scoring issue either.  I'll stick to my guns though with the thought of adding another center somewhere during the year.  I'm not sure who that would be, but there is enough talent on the lower lines where adding in one piece could light that fire under their *****.

[JohnC]

16 minutes ago, shrader said:

 

Missing both Sheary and Pominville doesn't help with the secondary scoring issue either.  I'll stick to my guns though with the thought of adding another center somewhere during the year.  I'm not sure who that would be, but there is enough talent on the lower lines where adding in one piece could light that fire under their *****.

I don't see this regime giving up substantial assets to get the center that you are seeking. Botterill is building a contender. It's not about the now as it is the near future. Maybe Nylander will be moving up soon? 

[shrader]

3 minutes ago, JohnC said:

I don't see this regime giving up substantial assets to get the center that you are seeking. Botterill is building a contender. It's not about the now as it is the near future. Maybe Nylander will be moving up soon? 

 

I don't think it would take something too substantial.  It tends to fluctuate from year to year, but you typically see a mid-line guy wind up moving for a 2nd-4th round pick and maybe a crap shoot prospect.  I'm paying that price if I can get these young guys some actual playoff experience.  Yes, they're not winning this year, but I do think that experience would be incredibly valuable moving forward, especially to wash away the stink of constant losing.

[K-9]

1 hour ago, shrader said:

 

Missing both Sheary and Pominville doesn't help with the secondary scoring issue either.  I'll stick to my guns though with the thought of adding another center somewhere during the year.  I'm not sure who that would be, but there is enough talent on the lower lines where adding in one piece could light that fire under their *****.

In the meantime, I wonder why Housley doesn't have Jack playing a few 3rd or 4th line shifts in a game to give those wingers a spark now and then. Coaches have been doing that forever with the latest being Hitchcock giving McDavid shifts on the bottom six to generate some offense from those lines. 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, shrader said:

 

I don't think it would take something too substantial.  It tends to fluctuate from year to year, but you typically see a mid-line guy wind up moving for a 2nd-4th round pick and maybe a crap shoot prospect.  I'm paying that price if I can get these young guys some actual playoff experience.  Yes, they're not winning this year, but I do think that experience would be incredibly valuable moving forward, especially to wash away the stink of constant losing.

We have that type of middling players in Sobotka and Bergland. I'm not criticizing their play because they are useful filler type players who don't necessarily help you yet they don't hurt you. My preference is to ride with the younger players such as Mittelstadt and Tage and hope that the added playing time will accelerate their development. My worry is that they will hit the proverbial wall sometime in this grinding season. 

 

Where I somewhat disagree with you is that I believe that this roster as this is presenty constituted is good enough to make the playoffs this year. Let's put things in perspective. The Sabres were the worst team in the league last year. We have impressively moved up the ranks in one season. Be patient and trust the process. 

[26CornerBlitz]

 

[26CornerBlitz]

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by 26CornerBlitz

[26CornerBlitz]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[K-9]

I hope Babcock’s prediction comes true; that soon Buffalo fans will once again be buying all those tickets before Leafs fans can get their hands on them. 

 

Losing out on Babcock really hurt us. Best coach in the game. Housley should take notes.

[26CornerBlitz]

 

 

 

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[Buffalo716]

At the Sabres game rn in a suite!

[26CornerBlitz]

Sabres dominate the 1st but don't cash.  No score after 1. 

[plenzmd1]

Lordy, what a difference from last night. 

 

Not that I have thought of her naked or anything, but does Tappen look Preggo to anyone? That girl needed  a Sammy in the worst way last year, so maybe she just starting to eat like a normal person. 

 

But i guessing she preggo

[26CornerBlitz]

Jeff Skinner on Sabres' Success, Joining Bills Mafia, and More

 

 

Greg Wyshynski ESPN

 

The Buffalo Sabres have been the NHL's hottest team and biggest surprise this season. Their success can be linked to competent goaltending and some smart moves by GM Jason Botterill to reshape the roster of a team that hadn't made the playoffs since 2011. None of those moves was smarter than the acquisition of left wing Jeff Skinner from the Carolina Hurricanes. He was entering a contract year. He needed a change of scenery, and Buffalo was close to his hometown of Toronto. His goal-scoring prowess seemed to be a fit with center Jack Eichel, and Eichel would be the best center with whom Skinner had played.

 

Through 25 games, Skinner had 19 goals to lead the NHL. His chemistry with Eichel has provided the engine to drive the Sabres up the standings.

 

We spoke with Skinner recently on the ESPN On Ice podcast about his move to Buffalo, success on the ice, what's happening in Carolina and, of course, the Bills Mafia:

[plenzmd1]

25 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

At the Sabres game rn in a suite!

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