GDT: Game 38/82 Sabres @ Blues 2PM CST FDSNMW

[mk80]

We had a bunch of missed opportunities today. Ultimately we needed to get a win and keep the momentum going in this stretch of games.

Should’ve , would’ve, could’ve.

 

[BlueOil]

this group tends to play to the level of their competition and they underestimated buffalo again

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

Special teams have been torpedoing this team.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

This is what they've done the past couple seasons. Tread water against the good teams. Hit a point in the schedule against lesser competition where you think they'll start to start gaining some ground, then they lose the bad teams.

 

[Stelmacki]

Completely forgot about the early start. Of course they lost to the sabres…

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Was there ever any doubt about this game?

I mean. I said this in the Tampa Bay thread before the Florida game.

"I'm expecting us to lose tomorrow then win 2 of the next 3 and then win against Chicago."

Florida L
Detroit W
Nashville W
Buffalo L

So I kinda expected this. Last week. Tho, I was expecting Buffalo to be coming in still on their Losing streak and they were going to break it against us.

 

[TheOrganist]

Special teams have been torpedoing this team.

No doubt. We haven’t finished higher than 20th in either or PK or PP percentage since 2021-22.

 

[Stlblue50]

I mean Faulk does need to front the puck carrier. If I had to guess Monty (whom the camera panned to and he looked pissed) was probably pissed off at Saad for not collapsing quicker and tying up Zucker’s stick.

What does “front the puck carrier” mean? Faulk was literally standing next to Zucker right in front of Binner and then gets tunnel vision on the puck carrier who was not in a “scoring position”.

This is where you need to read the play/situation and use common sense. Treat it like an easy to defend stationary 2 on 1 and take away the pass. That would make the puck carrier a very small threat until more help comes. Looking at the replay Faulk could have got his stick in the passing lane but was so oblivious that he never once even attempted to take away the pass! That’s a play that would put a younger guy right in the press box….his pinch on their 4th goal would get a younger guy sent to the minors

 

[TheOrganist]

What does “front the puck carrier” mean? Faulk was literally standing next to Zucker right in front of Binner and then gets tunnel vision on the puck carrier who was not in a “scoring position”.

This is where you need to read the play/situation and use common sense. Treat it like an easy to defend stationary 2 on 1 and take away the pass. That would make the puck carrier a very small threat until more help comes. Looking at the replay Faulk could have got his stick in the passing lane but was so oblivious that he never once even attempted to take away the pass! That’s a play that would put a younger guy right in the press box….his pinch on their 4th goal would get a younger guy sent to the minors

Just seems like a weird goal to go ape shit on Faulk. Every defenseman would leave the net front and challenge the puck carrier in that situation. His stick position wasn׳t the greatest but Saad didn’t do him any favors by being late to rotate. For what it’s worth, Monty seemed to most pissed about the Bolduc penalty in the post game.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

Crap game all around. Binny gave up two early ones and let Buffalo turtle. We worked hard to come back and tie it, only for Bolduc to take a selfish penalty. Our special teams are atrocious though, we have a bottom 5 PP with Monty as our HC and like a bottom 10 PK. Frustrating.

 

[Stlblue50]

Well this was the GWG where the Blues just tied it after pressing hard the entire game. It felt like the Blues were going to win that game without that breakdown.

Faulk has been driving me nuts for the 3rd season in a row. He’s never been a good defender but is getting worse, his strengths WERE on the offensive side. He would normally give you 10+ goals and 30+ assists per 84 games. Now he has 3 goals in his last 100 games and that includes 1st PP QB this season to go along with pacing below 20 assists and -18 for the year.

 

[Stlblue50]

Crap game all around. Binny gave up two early ones and let Buffalo turtle. We worked hard to come back and tie it, only for Bolduc to take a selfish penalty. Our special teams are atrocious though, we have a bottom 5 PP with Monty as our HC and like a bottom 10 PK. Frustrating.

Can’t fault the team for not working hard. The 2 major areas where lesser or undeserving teams win games is with goaltending and special teams. We might have the worst combined special teams (PP+PK) in the NHL and our starter has been bad, inconsistent at best this season.

 

[TheOrganist]

Well this was the GWG where the Blues just tied it after pressing hard the entire game. It felt like the Blues were going to win that game without that breakdown.

Faulk has been driving me nuts for the 3rd season in a row. He’s never been a good defender but is getting worse, his strengths WERE on the offensive side. He would normally give you 10+ goals and 30+ assists per 84 games. Now he has 3 goals in his last 100 games and that includes 1st PP QB this season to go along with pacing below 20 assists and -18 for the year.

Not many fans are going to argue with you that Faulk hasn’t steadily regressed since 2022. Unfortunately, he’s the second best RHD we’ve got with a rough contract that isn’t moveable for now. He’s part of the “warm body stop gaps until the impact kids are ready” contingent. Trust me I’ll be excited when him and Saad go the way of Krug, in some way or another.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

A weird thing I heard either this or last game was the Blues have only had one single day they have been able to practice since Monty took over (Or was it since Fowler got here?) due to the holidays and the constant back to backs and one day breaks between games. I'm hoping once they are actually able to get some more practices in they will be able to get some more stability in their system.

 

[DatDude44]

Relax, played very well, if we outchance, outshoot and out posses teams like that on a regular basis, we'll win alot of hockey games. The PP isn't netting the results we want yet, but their process looks way better, actually creating chances and dangerous shot opportunities, only a matter of time before those start going in the back of the net.

Hopefully we get faulk of the PK and that'll start to turnaround......

 

[sbet1998]

The team played well, but Binnington is once again a bottom-tier goaltender and the special teams are awful. That's literally the only way to lose that game -- bad goaltending and STs. Im ready to let Hofer take over. At the very least they might be able to fix one problem.

Binnington is back to playing small and he's a small GT to begin with. Way too much net. He's not confident.

 

[Reality Czech]

The team played well, but Binnington is once again a bottom-tier goaltender and the special teams are awful. That's literally the only way to lose that game -- bad goaltending and STs. Im ready to let Hofer take over. At the very least they might be able to fix one problem.

Binnington is back to playing small and he's a small GT to begin with. Way too much net. He's not confident.

He should have stopped the 4th one no doubt, and an argument could be made he could have stopped Thompson's goal. However, I'll give a goalie the benefit of the doubt on that one with an elite goal scorer wide open in the slot. The other two goals he had literally no chance on.

Spotty defense, crap PP, untimely penalties and poor finishing cost us this game.

 

[TheDizee]

Relax, played very well, if we outchance, outshoot and out posses teams like that on a regular basis, we'll win alot of hockey games. The PP isn't netting the results we want yet, but their process looks way better, actually creating chances and dangerous shot opportunities, only a matter of time before those start going in the back of the net.

Hopefully we get faulk of the PK and that'll start to turnaround......

Nope, if this was a one off loss I would agree. But they play down to teams like this on a consistent basis and will be the main reason they miss the playoffs.

If anything their severe shot advantage was a one off thing.

 

[Xerloris]

Crap game all around. Binny gave up two early ones and let Buffalo turtle. We worked hard to come back and tie it, only for Bolduc to take a selfish penalty. Our special teams are atrocious though, we have a bottom 5 PP with Monty as our HC and like a bottom 10 PK. Frustrating.

Oh Binny gave up 2 early goals as if he just stepped to the side and let them have it, oh wait, that was our f***ing defense that did that.

 

[execwrite1]

From the P-D

The Blues are 3-9-3 this season when they have a negative special teams goal differential in a game.

Team has improved this year but these Blues are not a playoff team.

 

[BlueSeal]

A bad team on paper doesn't mean they don't show up to play. We didn't show up to play. That's the difference. Army needs to bring in a few more people before we can sit down and have any real discussion about this team.

As it stands, we will barely miss the playoffs (1-3 points), so I don't get where everyone's doom and gloom come from. We know we're not making the playoffs and that's OK.

I also don't understand where the incredible amount of hope comes from with the kids downstairs either, that's a big, huge IF over anything else if it all turns out how it looks.

I'd rather it be like this where it doesn't set us back. We have enough that we can build forward if necessary and that's what matters.

 

[Xerloris]

We haven't been good since we got Buch, I can only assume at this point he's responsible and he's clearly a locker room cancer. I mean we got him for Blais and a 2nd, obviously the rangers just wanted him f***ing gone. Now we know why.

 

[DatDude44]

Nope, if this was a one off loss I would agree. But they play down to teams like this on a consistent basis and will be the main reason they miss the playoffs.

If anything their severe shot advantage was a one off thing.

We outplayed them in every way, what're you talking about. We lack high end scoring talent, it happens, we're gonna have games like that. and Binner was awful.

 

[Reality Czech]

We outplayed them in every way, what're you talking about. We lack high end scoring talent, it happens, we're gonna have games like that. and Binner was awful.

Which goal should Binner have stopped besides the 4th one? I'm wondering if you only read the box score instead of watching the game.

We outplayed them in most ways but gave up too many prime scoring chances. Those brain farts cost us the game along with our lack of finishing ability and atrocious power play. Binner wasn't great but he also wasn't "awful." The 4th goal didn't cost us the game.

 

[DatDude44]

Which goal should Binner have stopped besides the 4th one? I'm wondering if you only read the box score instead of watching the game.

We outplayed them in most ways but gave up too many prime scoring chances. Those brain farts cost us the game along with our lack of finishing ability and atrocious power play. Binner wasn't great but he also wasn't "awful." The 4th goal didn't cost us the game.

Fair, I didn't like the thompson goal at first and obviously the kulich one. Don't blame him on the zucker goal but i've seen binner make that save numerous times, just wished he had bailed us out on one of those.

But yeah i watched the entire game lol, we were by far the more dominant team, bounces didn't go our way. it happens.