Good:
- The apparent 180 in attitude with this team regarding sticking up for each other... any time someone has touched Miller this season, the Sabres have taken a penalty doing something to protect him.
- VHP. Playing like a first line should, all of them getting points. Hodgson doesn't look out of place at all.
- Miller. Never makes it look difficult but he made 34 saves, the kind of play we'll need from him this season to be contenders.
- Stafford. Little thing I've noticed from the first two games, he seems to be connecting on a LOT more passes. I feel like last year that breakaway pass to Philly wouldn't have happened. He gets a lot of passes on the tape.
- Grigs in the defensive zone. He was almost always the first forward back and made several plays getting his stick on the puck. Absolutely not out of place playing defense in the NHL.
- Ott. He's awesome.
- Sulzer. So solid defensively. I can't think of a big mistake he's made in these two games.
- Defense overall was pretty good, definitely frustrated the Leafs forwards getting into the zone, it was just a struggle once it got into the zone.
- The calls we're getting this season.... is that now four disallowed goals in two games? I don't think I've ever seen that many go one way.
- PK. That extended 5-on-3 was amazing.
- Beating the Leafs.
Bad:
- Grigo's confidence with the puck on offense. I really wish he would've shot on that 2-on-1 and scored, because it feels like he's so concerned with playing defense he doesn't want to get caught making a mistake.
- Got absolutely killed at the dot, 46-19, against a team that I don't think most would consider seriously deep at center. And oddly enough it wasn't Grigs who killed us.. he was 4/7. Hodgson (5/17) and Ennis (2/12) is really bad.
- Also got outshot by a lot.
- Ennis' miss on the pass by Vanek.
- Scott losing to Orr.
Ugly:
- Giving out scarves to their fans is the most Toronto thing ever.
No one even when around Miller in the Philly or Toronto games after he got bumped..... Like this a lot
That may be true, but I saw one defensive sequence where Grigs was thrown out of the draw, Hecht took it, lost it and they nearly gave up a goal as a result. The other forward on the ice was Ott.
The other key draws I saw down the stretch had Hodgson taking them and losing them.
We have a top 10 guy who can play defence (so you don't him running to the bench after the draw). Use him. And if he is tired, feel free to use your TO.
Grigs did better in the dot than Ott. The Sabres were all losing their faceoffs today... (felt like the Stars SC). They'll work on it.... Toronto isn't even that great of a faceoff team either.
when it wasn't buffering, the quality was terrible. The game showed up so much better on my 17" laptop compared to the 46" TV. I hope they fix it, otherwise I will be severely disappointed.
when it wasn't buffering, the quality was terrible. The game showed up so much better on my 17" laptop compared to the 46" TV. I hope they fix it, otherwise I will be severely disappointed.
Hmm... the quality auto-selects based on connection performance. For me it is usually great quality, but sometimes it downgrades for a bit. I haven't had a problem with it being stuck on poor quality though. I have had some issues with connecting to the service or a stream, but I'm hoping that gets cleaned up when they adjust to their current amount of users.
Instead of the hand wringing and perspiration over the Sabres faceoff percentage... How about we give it more than a couple games before yelling fire! The faceoffs % may get better over the next 5-7 games. If it's flatlining after a total of 8-10 games, then I can understand the ZOMG!!!!
Give it a little time. 2 games, 2 wins. Scoreboard.
Don't know if anyone caught the Toronto feed but add to the Awesome: The bad ass chap who sang the national anthems. He was ****ing astounding. Anyone know who that was? Military guy
It was kind of a boring game, but that's the way they go sometimes. I wouldn't say the Sabres looked ugly, they didn't look awesome either, but they're tired... The first two games back from a long hiatus, so it shouldn't be hugely surprising. I thought we managed to get through it quite well honestly. A few years back, a game like this would have really scared me. "Here they go again, they're playing with no heart and it'll be awhile before we see it come back." I don't feel like that anymore. Sure, we weren't in the Leafs end a whole lot, but we played great defensively and we buried a couple like we needed to. I guess what I'm trying to say is, we were a little slower tonight, but it wasn't because of a lack of effort or heart like years past, it was because they were just tired... they were still hustling, it just wasn't as fast Anyone know what I'm saying?
IDK, for me, it's an entirely different feeling than years past and it makes me happy as hell.
Myers needs to carry the puck up the ice more.
Myers and Hoff both need to tee it up more at the blue line, wth?
FES hasn't been what it was so far, maybe put grigs on that line and move Foligno down for a game or two and see what happens? Give us a chance to see what he can create out there. I'd put him at wing for a game and center for a game with Staff and Ennis. Thoughts?
Don't know if anyone caught the Toronto feed but add to the Awesome: The bad ass chap who sang the national anthems. He was ****ing astounding. Anyone know who that was? Military guy
Good:
-Miller
-V - H - P
- Miller
- PK
- Miller
- Sulzer, Erhoff
- did I mention Miller?
- we where very effective in front of the net (even if poms and ennis couldn't score on a wide open net)
bad
- I thought the leafs outplayed us
- we're not blocking enough shooting lanes to help miller
ugly:
- refs as usual
- myers was our worst defender
Maybe I watched an entirely different game, but I thought he was solid defensively for the most part. Yeah, he had that one absolutely stupendously stupid giveaway, but other than that he was more or less the same as Sunday. Rock solid in his own end, somewhat physical. Just didn't get involved with the rush much --- which I think was a plan, no Sabre D really got offensively involved much.
I thought Myers has certainly been the least of the Sabres problems the first 2 games.
Anyone know what I'm saying?
And those helped the Sabres to that win too.
