#i still hate taging that motherfucker

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 57 - NYR - Burn the Tape

We came into this seven-game homestand with some needs: capitalize on your home-ice advantage and get into this playoff race in a more consistent manor. That mission didn’t start well for sure but whether it felt like it or not the Sabres win percentage went up. It was the ugly win-loss pattern that is torture to endure during a playoff race this tight but it was better than the losing stretches that prevailed before the bye-week. As this homestand went on it became clearer some switch had been flipped even if not always to successful ends. From the end of the Carolina game onward, maybe even the end of the Minnesota game in places, the Sabres defense has stepped up and fought tough matchups. If the Sabres were going to end this homestand on a high note it would take all cylinders firing properly. That Winnipeg game was closer than that final score would indicate and one bounce different against the Hurricanes and the standings look quite a bit different right now. The past is the past though and so is the Rangers Cup window. Yes, let’s do some Playoff Trash talk: Rangers, during your supposed Cup window you never looked close. In fact, having watched most of those years during the Sabres tank years I could see the truly dominant performances were rare. That’s how the Rangers win in the playoffs: barely. This season its very unlikely you make it and a matchup like this seems to take on a different flavor when its locked in together for 4-7 games. Sabres in 5. So, remember those positive things I said about Buffalo before the trash talk? The Sabres did not do those things. This was probably the most disheartening loss of the season, if not its damn close to the Home Opener shutout. This game made me not want to do these for the rest of the season. Nonetheless, I am your Sabre Soldier and won’t ever give up. This mess ended 6-2 Rangers. You know how we all thought the Rangers would be the easier New York team to beat? Yeah, fuck us, right?

This game was so bad its in a category of games that don’t even earn a full goal-by-goal recap. Spoiler Alert: Jeff Skinner scored all the Sabres goals this game. To be specific, he scored two goals. That was all we got this game. Yes, there were other opportunities. Jack Eichel rang one off the bar. Sam Reinhart was stopped by this young Bulgarian sensation in Rangers goaltender Alexsandar Georgiev. Tage Thompson missed two wide open nets right in front when the score was 3-2. Apart from a section of the second period and the last ten or so minutes of the third period this game looked like no one knew how to play hockey. Everyone was watching the puck, everyone seemed to bump into each other like they were all playing their own game. The Sabres had opportunities on a night New York was not playing a sound defensive game. Remember how we’ve been talking about the Sabres cleaning up play in their own zone the past three or four games? They took that and threw it out the window. I feel so bad for Linus Ullmark who you kind of feel was in the wrong place at the wrong time starting in this game. What goals are we blaming on him? Right, I said I wasn’t doing a goal-by-goal recap. Well fuck it with this game. For Ullmark’s sake let’s dissect this train crash.

4:09 into the first a grown man named Boo Nieves scored the first goal. This was a scrambled play no matter which way you cut it and Ullmark was screened maybe two different ways. The second goal came about ten minutes later when Vlad Namestnikov launched a shot from the blue line that got redirected in front of Ullmark by Jesper Fast. Ignoring the fact that he was screened the Sabres were playing basketball-style zone defense this period and it was not working. The Linus Ullmark fault counter is still at 0 now as the Sabres find themselves down 2-0 going into the second period. The Rangers are getting penalized frequently now, once for putting the puck over the glass in a delay of game. This Rangers team is bad. THEY’RE BAD! Luckily in the middle period the Sabres did respond a little. Jeff Skinner got the puck out alone in front and put it far side around Georgiev. The visitors responded because good things can never last with this Sabres team and Jimmy Vesey of all the hated little Eminem-looking motherfuckers tucks one in like a blot of lightning on a blown coverage. Ullmark had locked down the post. I am not blaming this one on him. Jeff Skinner got another goal, this time on the powerplay later in the period. This got me feeling maybe the Sabres could salvage something from this horror show. I mean if they can score a powerplay goal then why not? Why not, because we must be tortured with no frigging back-to-back wins for eternity! The Sabres poured it on late in the third and could’ve tied it on several shots. None beat the Prince of New York and Buffalo blew a d-zone coverage in their own zone to allow Pavel Buchnevich to tap it in. That goal is the only one you can sort of blame on Ullmark. The air left the building and I turned the radio off full of disappointment and hopelessness. Okay, so the first of the two remaining goals could also be blamed on Ullmark if you feel the need. The net was wide open for Namestnikov, but the 6-2 goal is literally an empty net. 6-2 Sabres but 2-2 if we’re only counting the goals Ullmark gave up. That thing stung.

There was other stuff that happened in this game on top of defensive breakdown, horrible play in their own end and generally unacceptable performance. Uhh… Kyle Okposo fought. He probably shouldn’t be fighting, and it looks like he got hurt doing it. No updates on his condition as of the posting of this but a cursory look over his history tells you exactly why its so scary that this fight happened. You know what, there really isn’t anything redeemable about this game. Burn the tape! Burn the tape and well you’re at it Fire Housley. There is no way this team not being able to beat lesser opponents consistently, except for Detroit, is not a problem of coaching. Housley said they played soft after the game: You think, Phil? Something has got to change. I said I’m on this crazy rollercoaster until the end but boy did I want to get off after this game. After New Jersey tomorrow night, you have the Leafs, Caps, both Florida teams, and the Penguins in the following six games. There was no help on the out-of-town scoreboard last night and the Sabres now sit five points out of the last playoff spot and five points back of the first team out in Carolina. This was hot trash last night and I don’t know if I have any confidence this team won’t continue to be hot trash and fall out of the playoff race in the coming weeks. I guess we’ll have to find out! Like, share and comment: I feel bad asking after this mess. Enjoy your weekend maybe not thinking about the Sabres.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Imagine if Jeff Skinner isn’t on this team. Yeah, its like last season all over again.

#buffalo sabres #hockey #blog #nhl

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: 2018 Prospect Tournament

There is an anxious time after Labor Day when you can feel the hockey coming like Christmas music in November.  You know Training Camp is almost here but it’s just not quite here yet. It’s the special limbo zone between the start of September and Training Camp. We’re seeing all the beat reporters tweeting whose attending the informal skates at Harbor Center but it’s all still a bit meaningless. Any good marketing man or woman knows that this is the ideal time for some powerful pumping of one’s own tires. How better to do that then to parade out all the Prospects we haven’t seen do much here since June and call it a Prospect Tournament! Now that I live in Buffalo I am really going to enjoy this. I went to the first game against the Devils Friday night and going there on its own is enough to get a Blue & Gold diehard going, but standing in the far corner because the thing was more than sold out? That is the Buffalo Difference. Sabres fans are ride or die and let me tell you, there were few places to even stand and watch that game. You can call it the Dahlin effect or you say Hockey is back!

Kris Baker, probably one of the better follows on twitter if you like the Sabres or just want to know about our prospects, went on record on Chris Ostrander’s podcast last week before the Tournament began saying that the lineup in this tournament is probably the best this organization has ever had in a Prospect tournament. Kris knows what he’s talking about. He petted my delicate Amerks fan heart when he said this team likens back to the 2004 Rochester Americans team that had the likes of Jason Pominville and Tomas Vanek. That was the last Amerks team to win a playoff series for the uninitiated here. If those appraisals don’t send you into hysterics and drive into the cart rack at Tops like I almost did then hop on the hype train because it’s leaving the station! CHOO CHOO!

Rasmus Dahlin is perhaps all you need in a tournament like this to make a show. The new Swede on the block demonstrated some intense passing and playmaking skills in the Sabres first game against New Jersey. Dahlin scored his first goal through traffic like Orchard Park after a Bills game. He shot, tucked it in and had a rather brief celly for scoring his first goal in a Sabres uniform. He played it cool because he’s a good boy and lives on criticism so would hate to get distracted by success, right? I cannot stress enough how Dahlin pushed play from the back Friday night. His second goal was a rebound he cleaned up into an open space on a play he had orchestrated from back in the defensive zone. He ran more complete plays in the first period than the Bills did in Baltimore on Sunday. Ok, that’s the last Bills joke. Dahlin threw his weight around too: he destroyed some poor guy right by the benches in the Devils game. The guy has fucking sonar for the puck though; he never looks at it. He certainly saw Tage Thompson’s breakaway goal he sprung. Oh yeah, there were other players on the ice too! Several others similarly went off like they were NBA players dunking on your local JV team. Don’t worry; there is space on this hype train, CHOO CHOO motherfuckers! Maybe my enthusiasm for a Prospect tournament is a little too telling of how long I’ve been dealing with a shit team. Hmm. CHOO CHOO bitches!

Tage Thompson is a hard guy to miss on the ice. I mean that literally and figuratively, the guy is 6’ 5” and looks every inch of it. He was a brute on the ice playing with a fire that must have been smothered in the City of Blues. My wife, who openly crushed on Ryan O’Reilly, thought mere height and tenacity could not replace Ryan in her heart and perhaps I ought to give her more time to heal on that front. A woman’s heart is deep and… I haven’t seen Titanic in a while; I don’t know the rest of that saying. Anyway, Tage scored on the breakaway in a goal that required no shortage of fancy footwork and butt checking. I’ve been waiting for some goliath to come onto this team and teach butt checking. I may have my man now. Vasily Glotov and Victor Olofsson played some of their first competitive games on North American ice with some venom. Unlike the upcoming Venom movie, we’ll probably be talking about these two sensations long after their debut. Both will likely start in Rochester but my God, Glotov scored a few goals this tournament and skated so well that I think he’s the one Russia is using to hack our elections. I felt scandalized watching this kid. He and Casey Mittelstadt (who also played in this tournament, could not keep his helmet on and could not buy a goal for all the emotion and effort he put in) have the baby face market cornered in this organization. Olofsson and Glotov could be reason enough for me to buy an AHLTV subscription this season.

CHOO CHOO, there’s more sweet boys lifting our hearts from downtown this September! Rasmus Asplund has developed very nicely since his drafting in 2016. He scored what maybe the best goal of the tournament against the Penguins Prospects carrying the puck from the neutral zone through at least two defenders to tuck in a backhand. Andrew Oglevie scored a sausy one. He’ll have a thoroughly deserved bang up year in Rochester for sure. Oskari Laaksonen spent his time setting up several plays whilst having the most unique name in the tournament in my humble opinion. My next goalie crush Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen (or UPL for nickname’s sake) stole my heart and struck my eyes with those neon orange pads although it’s clear he needs more development time. Will Borgen continues to prepare for his assassination of Johan Larsson for that last center position on the big club and oh… Alex. It’s you. You’ve heard my shit-talking haven’t you? Three goals in the three games of this tournament and praise from Amerks coach Chris Taylor. Hmm, you have my attention but you haven’t proven my criticism ill-founded quite yet. Stay healthy, bud, stay healthy.

Training Camp starts Thursday. The Sabres Preseason ramps up next week. Expect New Look Sabres to become a more regular arrival in your feed as the regular season draws nearer. Share this thingy with your friends on all the social media you can copy links to. I won’t be heartbroken if this blog simply becomes a public diary of my Sabres viewing life but wouldn’t it be cool if it became something more? Isn’t this easier to read than an article from a beat reporter or someone who is actually smart? Think about it.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. I feel it coming. Eichel baby is going to get that C. Or at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

#buffalo sabres #hockey #blog #new look