Post-Game Talk (GBU): I've seen this game before.

[HockeyTerror]

G:
Vanek
Miller
Kaleta
Ott

B:
Pommer
Foligno
Sulzer

U:
Pommer was super bad

Awesome:
Miller is pissed. At least he and Ott give a ****.

 

[joshjull]

i just watched the play 5 times, and your Sulzer criticism makes no sense. If he continues the pursuit of Crosby he leave the left side wide open for whoever that was.

Ennis stopped skating, when he could've closed out towards the puck/martin, preventing the shot attempt.

Why is Miller sitting almost inside the net on that goal?

Defense 101. Pin the player to the boards and he can't make a play or at least challenge him in some way well before he curls out of the corner/off the wall. He had him right there against the boards and does absolutely nothing to tie him up. Sulzer is so weak 1 on 1 and in manning up on someone that he didn't even try. Thats his man and he needs to make a play on him.

 

[Jame]

No. Hodgson was just manhandled off the puck right after he got.

re-watched it... your right.

 

[McCauleyChirps]

Miller audio. NSFW

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2181879/Miller_2-17-13.wav

 

[joshjull]

re-watched it... your right.

There are plenty of f-ups by Pommer later in the game. He gets a pass on this one

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

BUG analysis

B: Sabres inability to clear the zone killed them in the 3rd. Notably, Poms, Ennis, Stafford, Hodgeson.... (I put this more on the fwds today than the D who pretty much got the puck up to them.... the fwds couldn't clear.....

Sabres consistantly lost track of their checks in the defensive zone and several times I saw multiple players chasing the same opponent.

Also saw lots of moments when Sabres were nearly frozen on the ice focused on the Pen player with the puck and ended up waving their sticks at Pens passes as they went by.

By contrast, Sabres going to the Penguin net (good!!) were constantly knocked down by the Pens D. (We wave our sticks at their guys, they knock our guys to the ice.)

U: Leopold on the Powerplay........ Gerbe too....???


G: I liked Ott's game and him getting in Fluery's face at the end. Hodgeson had a decent 3rd.

Honorable mention: Vanek pointedly ignoring Ruff on the bench while Hodgeson is nodding his head at Lindy's comments......


Good teams find ways to win, bad teams come up with ways to lose. Easy to see which category the Sabres fall into.

 

[Jame]

Defense 101. Pin the player to the boards and he can't make a play or at least challenge him in some way well before he curls out of the corner/off the wall. He had him right there against the boards and does absolutely nothing to tie him up. Sulzer is so weak 1 on 1 and in manning up on someone that he didn't even try. Thats his man and he needs to make a play on him.

that's the effect of the new boarding rules IMO.

i dont mind laying some blame there... but if ennis closes out on the shooter, the shot never gets off. Ennis never should've been down almost to the goal line on that play...

and Miller should've been at the top of the crease cutting that shot down if it got through...

 

[joshjull]

Rewatching the GWG makes me even more pissed at Sulzer.

Crosby was almost completely stopped along the boards with Sulzer right behind him, on top of him basically. All Sulzer had to do was engage Crosby physically and pin him to the boards. Instead he give him a light shove with one arm and lets him come off the boards and walk around him.


This defense is a disgrace

 

[Lloydchristmas138]

U: Brad Boyes- 12 points in 14 gp

Grigorenko has shown he's not gonna help us win this year, and #3C is too important of a role for Jochen Hecht. The Devils got Ponikarovsky, the Jets traded for Tangradi, AT LEAST TRY SOMETHING DARCY..

Also, small point but this team misses Corey Tropp..

 

[joshjull]

that's the effect of the new boarding rules IMO.

i dont mind laying some blame there... but if ennis closes out on the shooter, the shot never gets off. Ennis never should've been down almost to the goal line on that play...

and Miller should've been at the top of the crease cutting that shot down if it got through...

If that was Weber or Regehr I could maybe see that having an impact but its Sulzer. He is so weak 1 on 1, gets mandled in puck battles and rarely ever hits people. So I highly doubt he was worried about that rule.

As for Ennis. I see what your saying but I still think thats a product of not being ready for the deflection off his stick.

 

[Jame]

Rewatching the GWG makes me even more pissed at Sulzer.

Crosby was almost completely stopped along the boards with Sulzer right behind him, on top of him basically. All Sulzer had to do was engage Crosby physically and pin him to the boards. Instead he give him a light shove with one arm and lets him come off the boards and walk around him.


This defense is a disgrace

it's the lindy ruff zone, "keep the play to the outside" that's the goal of every defensive zone shift on this team.

 

[joshjull]

it's the lindy ruff zone, "keep the play to the outside" that's the goal of every defensive zone shift on this team.

I would normally say its not Lindy's fault its on the player. But the makeup of this defense is on Lindy so yes its his fault.

 

[Fire Lindy]

This team is just brutal with a lead

 

[Herman Hessian]

not good enough....behind the bench to make the playoffs.

you think she should have been prettier, maybe showed a little cleavage, written Simi's birthday notice more neatly - cut it out more regularly or used better quality cardboard ?

 

[Chainshot]

The Good -

- Managing to take a 3-2 lead after going down 2-0 on the first two shots of the game.
- Signs of life out of the second powerplay unit.
- Ott-Letang had a thing going most of the game. Funny to see Letang react to Ott snowing him in front of the Pens bench during a line change.
- Kaleta, particularly the shot blocking.
- McCormick-Glass. Cody had some redemption there, and could've really, really done some damage when he had Glass' jersey over Tanner's head. Instead, he let him off the hook and just went.

The Bad -

- Defense. This team is bad at simple, basic defense.
- Taking the body while on defense.
- Puck security while trying to clear the zone.

The Ugly -

- Remembering when Pominville was a very good defensive player. Not doing it now. Great example, Cap.
- No room for more scouts in the press box. I think some of them must've been sharing seats up there.

 

[joshjull]

The Good -

- Managing to take a 3-2 lead after going down 2-0 on the first two shots of the game.
- Signs of life out of the second powerplay unit.
- Ott-Letang had a thing going most of the game. Funny to see Letang react to Ott snowing him in front of the Pens bench during a line change.
- Kaleta, particularly the shot blocking.
- McCormick-Glass. Cody had some redemption there, and could've really, really done some damage when he had Glass' jersey over Tanner's head. Instead, he let him off the hook and just went.

The Bad -

- Defense. This team is bad at simple, basic defense.
- Taking the body while on defense.
- Puck security while trying to clear the zone.

The Ugly -

- Remembering when Pominville was a very good defensive player. Not doing it now. Great example, Cap.
- No room for more scouts in the press box. I think some of them must've been sharing seats up there.

I really hope it leads to something but I'm not holding my breath

 

[kirby11]

The Good -

- Managing to take a 3-2 lead after going down 2-0 on the first two shots of the game.
- Signs of life out of the second powerplay unit.
- Ott-Letang had a thing going most of the game. Funny to see Letang react to Ott snowing him in front of the Pens bench during a line change.
- Kaleta, particularly the shot blocking.
- McCormick-Glass. Cody had some redemption there, and could've really, really done some damage when he had Glass' jersey over Tanner's head. Instead, he let him off the hook and just went.

The Bad -

- Defense. This team is bad at simple, basic defense.
- Taking the body while on defense.
- Puck security while trying to clear the zone.

The Ugly -

- Remembering when Pominville was a very good defensive player. Not doing it now. Great example, Cap.
- No room for more scouts in the press box. I think some of them must've been sharing seats up there.

"If I thought hitting won games, I'd tell the guys to hit more."
Seriously though, how much do the sabres have to watch other teams actually hit people when they go to the net and use the boards to take guys out when they drive wide before they realize the "wave your stick at the puck" strategy doesn't work?

 

[Jame]

If that was Weber or Regehr I could maybe see that having an impact but its Sulzer. He is so weak 1 on 1, gets mandled in puck battles and rarely ever hits people. So I highly doubt he was worried about that rule.

As for Ennis. I see what your saying but I still think thats a product of not being ready for the deflection off his stick.

after the deflection he takes a few strides and then coasts... it was a soft play.

 

[joshjull]

after the deflection he takes a few strides and then coasts... it was a soft play.

I can't really disagree. All round it was a soft play

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Defense 101. Pin the player to the boards and he can't make a play or at least challenge him in some way well before he curls out of the corner/off the wall. He had him right there against the boards and does absolutely nothing to tie him up. Sulzer is so weak 1 on 1 and in manning up on someone that he didn't even try. Thats his man and he needs to make a play on him.

I've been watching Sulzer more closely after your early season comments (disgruntlement) with his game and have also come to the conclusion that Sulzer is not physical enough for this game. He doesn't use his body properly to angle his opponents off the puck and he shy's away from contact when he's the 1st man to the puck. He has none of Sekera's finess so I am starting to wonder where the upside is.

This ain't drop in hockey and I am starting to think that Ehrhoff might have been carrying him since last season's trade.

 

[TheWook]

I'm not even sure of what to think of this team right now. To many glaring wholes on this roster, theres some talent but its mismatched

 

[stokes84]

i bet you don't fault Ennis on the GWG?

Not really sure why I would...

Hodgson has been arguably the worst forward in his own end in the entire NHL this season, in addition to being on the ice for 41% of the 5 on 5 goals against last year. It's not that small of a sample size anymore, and plays like that happen all to frequently with him. Forgive me for not being sold on him as one of the only two good skaters on this team. He has a LONG way to go.

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...s&minutes=125&type=goal&sort=A20&sortdir=DESC

 

[missingmika]

Best part was some kid telling Jessie Pegula that "your dad is not serious about winning the cup"... and she replied "And you can't be serious about that mirror pic" on Twitter.

 

[zenthusiast]

Best part was some kid telling Jessie Pegula that "your dad is not serious about winning the cup"... and she replied "And you can't be serious about that mirror pic" on Twitter.

 

[5 Minute Major]

Miller audio. NSFW

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2181879/Miller_2-17-13.wav

From what people were saying here I was expecting some epic rant.

Sounded pretty calm to me. Just dropped a couple f bombs. Whoopie.