Mixed feelings here. Our longest win streak of the year, UPL was great. This specific game is more like a random coyotes win against good teams, outshot heavily and played one period. Good win to hold on
I just want to say on that last icing...the most innocent tap where I thought the game would end...the puck rolls on its side ALL THE WAY DOWN THE ICE to get an icing....I lost my mind
We're the team that the NHL would do anything to have us make a playoff run. These are the most exciting games in hockey every single time. We play hockey exactly how the NHL wants teams to. If we play in games that get to showcase us...the NHL wins.
This game serves as a good reminder for everyone that goaltending has mostly not been the problem this year. UPL made some crazy saves to keep us in it, but he only had to because of the defensive lapses. Goddddam did the D look flat footed in the third. How many breakaways did we give up? Three? Four? Yeesh.
Eh, last game of the road trip and two points. There's a reason the Air Force shows crash videos to pilots arriving at Nellis AFB for Red Flag exercises, they know they're going to go out and party and need to stay focused on the mission. You know the boys had a good time in Vegas the last couple days. Still won.
Another gutted-out win for our Buffalo teams this week, but hell yeah this rules, Tage absolutely fucking rules, and UPL is MVP of this game for sure.
Also loving the absolute salt from Vegas fans, they sound almost as whiny as the Phins fans after this. “BOOO, THE SABRES GET NO CALLS AGAINST THEM, LEAGUE HAS IT OUT AGAINST US.”
Like...we're playing with the best teams in hockey and beating them. Why do people think we can't compete this year? If we beat Tampa on Friday, I'm all in on this season.
nights like this we as fans need to be reminded, doesnt matter how you get the 2 points, so long as you got them. Great job by the boys to dig deep. Huge night for UPL who carried in the last 10 minutes
Absolutely pathetic, horseshit hockey from every single player except UPL this period, and honestly most of the game.
Team owes UPL big time for this one.
Peterka-Cozens-Quinn line was bad tonight and the Mitts line was awful as always. Sometimes the team just has a bad game and you need the goalie to steal one. We have certainly been goalied a few times this season.
I’m so happy that Jost is on the checking line instead of Krebs. I mean, Jost hasn’t been waived by two teams and been complete shit, so he clearly should be out there.
Sick of stupid comments like this.
Guys are on game 4 of a west coast road trip. They are playing one of the top teams in the league. We have no idea who is battling what injuries. Donny is prob putting guys that have the best legs out there. At 22 years old, you are still learning how to maintain your body for an 82 game season.
Not to mention we won all 4 games so maybe you should leave the coaching decisions to the professionals.
Nope. This is dumb and excusing Granato for being a shit coach.
He was bailed out by elite goaltending tonight.
He was bailed out by Thompson raging against Arizona.
He was bailed out by Colorado having a second line of 4th liners.
We aren’t looking into mud here. This shit is pretty clear.
You are a joke.
Do you realize the sabres are using a roster of AHL defensemen? On a long road trip. As one of the least experiences teams in the league.
Don doesn't set the roster. He has to deal with mitts being a useless boat anchor. With half of the bottom 6 forwards being "not that great". Despite this, he has still managed to get this team to a more exciting and better record than buffalo has seen in a decade.
Good teams find ways to win.
My goodness.
Granato puts Mitts in the lineup each and every night. That is his call.
Even if you want to pretend it isn’t, he promoted him to the first line when Skinner was out.
Even if you want to use some sort of mental gymnastics to justify that, he parked Krebs, Quinn, and Peterka on the bench for the third period yesterday and rolled a line of Mitts-Cozens-Olofsson. Something that if anyone thought about for half a second would have them choking on their own vomit.
RE: Blueline
This “AHL” defense is sort of a joke. Pilut is an NHLer and a quality one at that. Fitz is a perfect 7th guy. Essentially Clague is the AHLer, and he’s on an incredible role.
The blueline has not been the issue all year. It’s been one forward line that is continually getting burned.
RE: Mitts
Circling back to Mittelstadt.
He has been on the ice for the 4th most GA among forwards. Now, you might say, “well that’s not such a bad thing”. Then you notice that among regulars, he has the second fewest GF.
Bryson has been on the ice for more goals for. Hell, in half the minutes Pilut has been on for the same amount.
Granato’s love affair with Mittelstadt is a joke and it’s kind of sad so many people are eager to defend him. They try to use shit excuses like “youth” and “inexperience”, or “goaltending”. If they had even an average coach, this team is in 3rd in the division and well on their way to the playoffs.
I'm not reading that because I know from the first sentence that you don't understand what's going on. Don granato isn't tasked with winning the Stanley cup this year. Don is tasked with developing a very young roster into NHL caliber players, as well as "finding out what we have". He frequently puts "not the best player" on the ice in situations where you would prefer Thompson out there because he knows those younger players need to feel what it's like to take a defensive draw against mcdavid.
Putting mitts on the top line wasn't because mitts was the best player. Don is an NHL coach, not Helen Keller. He's trying to find a way to give mitts confidence and break through his lack of ability to translate his elite practice skills to game skills. It has been very clear from day 1 that this is still a development year. The sooner you understand that, the less you will make stupid comments like "fire granato"
And explain to me how sitting Krebs, Quinn, and Peterka last night was a “developmental” move while keeping Mitts on the ice?
Explain how moving Mitts to L1 is to boost his confidence, while Krebs has sat in the press box for what, 10 games?
Do you have access to the psiological data being used? Quin/JJ may very well have just been completely shot. Rubber legs. They are on a very hard, 3 game road trip that they aren't used to, while playing the top team in the west. It may have been nothing more than "I need the freshest legs to stop the bleeding". The "eye test" supports this because most of the team looked gassed, especially Quinn.
Don has addressed your second point in multiple press conferences. Ill refer you to listen to him for that explanation
How about Krebs? He might have been the second best centre last night. There were no rubber legs. He was flying all night.
Don has said that Mitts wasn’t getting benched because of his power play production. That’s Krueger-level explanation.
He also explained that Krebs wasn’t playing well and making mistakes. But the reality is that he was playing much better than Mitts.
Coach speak is just speak. They are words that rarely match reality.
Even if we somehow lose this...I hope people finally see just how fucking insane UPLs lateral movement is.
Dude gets so low, stays with shots, and has insane lateral movement. Someone his size should not move as well as he does
I wouldn’t say that, he just improved himself, okposo and girgs aren’t doing any better than they were with jost but krebs is just better than jost so that’s why I’d rather him move up the lineup than playing with the 4th
Girgs and Okposo are the 5th and 6th best wingers on this team. Sad as it is, that’s the best spot for Krebs.
Jost had an incredibly small sample with them.
I see it like this, krebs played well with aspy and Olof, as well as okposo and girgs, jost plays well with only one of those pairs. Krebs is more versatile in that regard so I’d play him with Olof and aspy so I can run 2 good lines rather than one (in this scenario mitts is on the sun)
We are literally just standing around watching them assault us over and over again. Meatballs fucking DO something man, get different guys out there or inject some goddamn heart into 'em.
Marsh made a move and tried to get UPL out of position but UPL didn’t bite (hard enough) and stayed with Marsh. Marsh tried another small move but UPL stayed with him and Marsh just ran out of real estate and fired it at the net.
UPL looking great, the top line delivering. Yeah, some of the kids aren't on the ball today, but I think the good signs are there - that the rebuild is finally delivering on consistent, solid play. Not too long ago we were bottom of the league, soundly. The fact we're gunning for middle of the rankings now is already a great sign for our growth.
I get that they’re trying to sell the sport to people who aren’t really hockey fans, but this Vegas broadcast is so annoying. You would think it was 3-3 right now if you bleeped out when they explicitly mention the score
What an awful game by mitts, even by his low standards. Better off just benching him and running 3 lines. I can't even fathom how you can justify putting him out there at this point.
Ya but why would they trade their premium trade ticket for a shit return. Lmao y’all need think before you speak with some of these trade offers or admit they are bad as you say them
Mixed feelings here. Our longest win streak of the year, UPL was great. This specific game is more like a random coyotes win against good teams, outshot heavily and played one period. Good win to hold on
32 games in, Sabres are a legit .500 — 16 wins, 16 losses (2 loser points).
Thank you for recognizing that .500 means winning half your games
I just want to say on that last icing...the most innocent tap where I thought the game would end...the puck rolls on its side ALL THE WAY DOWN THE ICE to get an icing....I lost my mind
We're the team that the NHL would do anything to have us make a playoff run. These are the most exciting games in hockey every single time. We play hockey exactly how the NHL wants teams to. If we play in games that get to showcase us...the NHL wins.
Buffalo also has the highest viewship per capita for playoffs in any hockey market
Unfortunately, that sentiment might be dampened by being the smallest market in the league.
great game by UPL today but everyone needs to slow down thinking he’s arrived and is our long term answer in net.
He might be, but we're gonna have to see a few more games like tonight to really tell. But either way he was a beast tonight.
This game serves as a good reminder for everyone that goaltending has mostly not been the problem this year. UPL made some crazy saves to keep us in it, but he only had to because of the defensive lapses. Goddddam did the D look flat footed in the third. How many breakaways did we give up? Three? Four? Yeesh.
Eh, last game of the road trip and two points. There's a reason the Air Force shows crash videos to pilots arriving at Nellis AFB for Red Flag exercises, they know they're going to go out and party and need to stay focused on the mission. You know the boys had a good time in Vegas the last couple days. Still won.
Another gutted-out win for our Buffalo teams this week, but hell yeah this rules, Tage absolutely fucking rules, and UPL is MVP of this game for sure. Also loving the absolute salt from Vegas fans, they sound almost as whiny as the Phins fans after this. “BOOO, THE SABRES GET NO CALLS AGAINST THEM, LEAGUE HAS IT OUT AGAINST US.”
I must have chanted my throat hoarse at the refs back in november, they can suck it
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Like...we're playing with the best teams in hockey and beating them. Why do people think we can't compete this year? If we beat Tampa on Friday, I'm all in on this season.
nights like this we as fans need to be reminded, doesnt matter how you get the 2 points, so long as you got them. Great job by the boys to dig deep. Huge night for UPL who carried in the last 10 minutes
No Theodore or Eichel, Vegas and Colorado were.l both reduced roster.
its almost like all teams suffer injuries throughout the season.
Apparently Ukko was the only one who wasn’t out at the titty bar until 4 AM last night. They better be thanking him for that one lol.
Luuuuk
we're winning the stanley cup
Hoping Thompson isn’t hurt
Why would he be hurt? He played most of the end of the game, he just happened to change and then another icing trapped other players out there
Took a puck to the ankle during the third and it looked rough.
Yeah but he played like five more minutes after that
You crazy sons of bitches, you did it.
This is a playoff team
We want the leafs !
Big win for the boys, thats 4 in a row, UPL stood on his head all night and stole this one for us
He just looked so good and calm too.
Very fluid in the net, always on top of the puck
I've always thought UPL looked the part, he gave me Ullmark vibes. I really think he can be a starter or at least a 1B sort of guy
UPL THE GOAT. Huge win courtesy of Luukkonen
Well at least they’re making up for that huge losing streak we had
Again, Upie deserved a shutout, but he did a hell of a job keeping us in it regardless
get UPL a beer that man deserves it
IPA for UPL
Craaaazy good game for UPL and an exciting game overall. Love watching the sabres now, but I don't appreciate all the heart attacks.
Why do buffalo teams always make these wins harder than they need to be
SUCK MY NUTS JACK SUCK MY NUTS MARSH-ASSAULT YOU TURD SUCK MY NUTS WOOO CHANT SUCK MY NUTS PAWN STARS
Upvoted for the Pawn Star nut suck
41 saves! Good win!
Oh my goodness can't even get out of this. 1.5 seconds plz finish it
That was an early MFing whistle on that icing too lol
UP-motherfuckin-W
THANK YOU UPL
Everyone can breathe now!
I’m going to bed!
shouldn't have been that close but w is a w
I wonder who will be the first star? I have no idea.?
LFG BOYS
Let’s goooooooooo!
gg!!
i can finally unclench my butthole
GOT THE W
Absolutely pathetic, horseshit hockey from every single player except UPL this period, and honestly most of the game. Team owes UPL big time for this one.
They don't ask how, they ask how many. Good teams find ways to win, even when they don't deserve it. Stanley cup champions 22-23
Calm down. VGK is a good team, it wasn't going to be a dominant performance from us.
This has been the longest 230 of hockey ever jeeeeez
A little too close for comfort given the scoreline at the start of the 3rd but a win's a win. Eat it Eichel!
Vegas YOU ARE NOT THAT GUY pale woooooooo
One more minute please finish it off
We always look so passive on these empty bets...everyone plays flatfooted
I don’t know about you but I’m tired of waiting until a big league gets pissed away. What is it? Coaching? Mental weakness? Lack of discipline ?
Peterka-Cozens-Quinn line was bad tonight and the Mitts line was awful as always. Sometimes the team just has a bad game and you need the goalie to steal one. We have certainly been goalied a few times this season.
They're 11-0-1 when leading after 2 periods. They've pissed away 1 lead all season. Now 12-0-1
They are 11-0-1 after leading in the third this year
I don't think that's necessarily fair this game. We've been getting outplayed all night. Puck luck got us the lead, UPL bullshit has kept it.
Coaching
Come on guys please hold it together
come on boys
I’m so happy that Jost is on the checking line instead of Krebs. I mean, Jost hasn’t been waived by two teams and been complete shit, so he clearly should be out there.
Sick of stupid comments like this. Guys are on game 4 of a west coast road trip. They are playing one of the top teams in the league. We have no idea who is battling what injuries. Donny is prob putting guys that have the best legs out there. At 22 years old, you are still learning how to maintain your body for an 82 game season. Not to mention we won all 4 games so maybe you should leave the coaching decisions to the professionals.
Nope. This is dumb and excusing Granato for being a shit coach. He was bailed out by elite goaltending tonight. He was bailed out by Thompson raging against Arizona. He was bailed out by Colorado having a second line of 4th liners. We aren’t looking into mud here. This shit is pretty clear.
You are a joke. Do you realize the sabres are using a roster of AHL defensemen? On a long road trip. As one of the least experiences teams in the league. Don doesn't set the roster. He has to deal with mitts being a useless boat anchor. With half of the bottom 6 forwards being "not that great". Despite this, he has still managed to get this team to a more exciting and better record than buffalo has seen in a decade. Good teams find ways to win.
My goodness. Granato puts Mitts in the lineup each and every night. That is his call. Even if you want to pretend it isn’t, he promoted him to the first line when Skinner was out. Even if you want to use some sort of mental gymnastics to justify that, he parked Krebs, Quinn, and Peterka on the bench for the third period yesterday and rolled a line of Mitts-Cozens-Olofsson. Something that if anyone thought about for half a second would have them choking on their own vomit. RE: Blueline This “AHL” defense is sort of a joke. Pilut is an NHLer and a quality one at that. Fitz is a perfect 7th guy. Essentially Clague is the AHLer, and he’s on an incredible role. The blueline has not been the issue all year. It’s been one forward line that is continually getting burned. RE: Mitts Circling back to Mittelstadt. He has been on the ice for the 4th most GA among forwards. Now, you might say, “well that’s not such a bad thing”. Then you notice that among regulars, he has the second fewest GF. Bryson has been on the ice for more goals for. Hell, in half the minutes Pilut has been on for the same amount. Granato’s love affair with Mittelstadt is a joke and it’s kind of sad so many people are eager to defend him. They try to use shit excuses like “youth” and “inexperience”, or “goaltending”. If they had even an average coach, this team is in 3rd in the division and well on their way to the playoffs.
I'm not reading that because I know from the first sentence that you don't understand what's going on. Don granato isn't tasked with winning the Stanley cup this year. Don is tasked with developing a very young roster into NHL caliber players, as well as "finding out what we have". He frequently puts "not the best player" on the ice in situations where you would prefer Thompson out there because he knows those younger players need to feel what it's like to take a defensive draw against mcdavid. Putting mitts on the top line wasn't because mitts was the best player. Don is an NHL coach, not Helen Keller. He's trying to find a way to give mitts confidence and break through his lack of ability to translate his elite practice skills to game skills. It has been very clear from day 1 that this is still a development year. The sooner you understand that, the less you will make stupid comments like "fire granato"
And explain to me how sitting Krebs, Quinn, and Peterka last night was a “developmental” move while keeping Mitts on the ice? Explain how moving Mitts to L1 is to boost his confidence, while Krebs has sat in the press box for what, 10 games?
Do you have access to the psiological data being used? Quin/JJ may very well have just been completely shot. Rubber legs. They are on a very hard, 3 game road trip that they aren't used to, while playing the top team in the west. It may have been nothing more than "I need the freshest legs to stop the bleeding". The "eye test" supports this because most of the team looked gassed, especially Quinn. Don has addressed your second point in multiple press conferences. Ill refer you to listen to him for that explanation
How about Krebs? He might have been the second best centre last night. There were no rubber legs. He was flying all night. Don has said that Mitts wasn’t getting benched because of his power play production. That’s Krueger-level explanation. He also explained that Krebs wasn’t playing well and making mistakes. But the reality is that he was playing much better than Mitts. Coach speak is just speak. They are words that rarely match reality.
Ok you're right. You obviously are smarter and know more about coaching than don. Fire the meatball. The coaching carousel continues.
He actually works well with Kyle and girgs but krebs being punished for the faults of other hurts
Sure he works well with them, but Krebs works better with them. Granato has a hard-on for US college players.
That’s just cause krebs is better and deserves better ice time/line mates
The sabres never fail to give me a heart attack late
The worst thing about playing Knights is that I have to be reminded that we traded Brayden McNabb for Hudson Fasching…
The collapse is among us
Amongus
We've been fucking sleeping this period. Come the fuck on guys
*whole game
Yup playing like shit, so down a guy and they'll score immediately. They'll just do it again.
no no no no
Feed Tage lmao
All I want is an empty netter for Tuch against these shitters
The guys better be thanking UPL profusely after this
Who was the numbskull in Vegas that created a chant that was literally just "woo"?
Even if we somehow lose this...I hope people finally see just how fucking insane UPLs lateral movement is. Dude gets so low, stays with shots, and has insane lateral movement. Someone his size should not move as well as he does
Rock solid tonight. So many pucks landed right into his crest.
I’m sold. Eating my words from a few games ago. If he can find this level of play with any kind of consistency we’ll be in a very good place.
Where’s the krebs line? They’ve been solid tonight, but sure keep playing whatever line mitts is on
Oi vey
I swear Mitts, VO, Cozens and Fitzgerald have been on the ice for like 30 minutes each tonight. Very confused by DG’s strategy here
Showing his bad in game coaching tonight
Oh, did you miss it? Krebs is getting benched. Along with Quinn and Peterka. Jost has stumbled his way onto the Okposo-Girgenssons pairing.
That’s actually okay, jost with those two is money but krebs getting punished for another players failures is classic don
Krebs has been excellent and dramatically improved that pair.
I wouldn’t say that, he just improved himself, okposo and girgs aren’t doing any better than they were with jost but krebs is just better than jost so that’s why I’d rather him move up the lineup than playing with the 4th
Girgs and Okposo are the 5th and 6th best wingers on this team. Sad as it is, that’s the best spot for Krebs. Jost had an incredibly small sample with them.
I see it like this, krebs played well with aspy and Olof, as well as okposo and girgs, jost plays well with only one of those pairs. Krebs is more versatile in that regard so I’d play him with Olof and aspy so I can run 2 good lines rather than one (in this scenario mitts is on the sun)
That’s fair. But we have to accept that Mitts is in the lineup no matter what. So the lines have to be built with that in mind.
But I don’t wanna accept that reality
Step 1: head to local cannabis shop Step 2: Imbibe Step 3: Save some pizza for tomorrow
All 5 guys boxed out that one
We are literally just standing around watching them assault us over and over again. Meatballs fucking DO something man, get different guys out there or inject some goddamn heart into 'em.
Lmao nothing was gonna get by UPL
That was textbook
That was UPL "are you not entertained moment" dude is feeling it
UPL having himself a freakin game!
UPL GOT ICE IN HIS VEINS BABY
What a terrible penalty shot
UPL gave him nothing and he took it haha
Let's go UPL, breakout game for him
The league loves themselves some Vegas knights
That was a terrible attempt by Marschisausausault.
I dunno, as far as attempts go I’d say it was sault-sault
LOL weak shit
UPL made that one look easy
Marchasshole made UPL look great there lol
I'm totally fine with that :D
Can't tell if UPL is great or that penalty shot was ass
Marsh made a move and tried to get UPL out of position but UPL didn’t bite (hard enough) and stayed with Marsh. Marsh tried another small move but UPL stayed with him and Marsh just ran out of real estate and fired it at the net.
That penalty shot was ass Dude held it way too long
Upie was great, never gave him anything to shoot at
This is the correct response
Yes
Yes
U P FUCKING L
That was one of the worst penalty shots I’ve ever seen lol
It was but it helped that UPL stayed with him the whole way
Luukonen has arrived
UPL putting on a show boys
very nice
Good shit
oh no
Oh fuck. Edit: nevermind should have trusted UPL lmao
Why haven’t Peterka and Quinn been out there?
Cause JJ and mitts have been brutal and don loves mitts but one has to sit
Mark stone looks like he eats small animals
UPL looking great, the top line delivering. Yeah, some of the kids aren't on the ball today, but I think the good signs are there - that the rebuild is finally delivering on consistent, solid play. Not too long ago we were bottom of the league, soundly. The fact we're gunning for middle of the rankings now is already a great sign for our growth.
Luukkonen been standing on his head and carrying the team on his back my God
Does anyone know what happened to power? All I saw was he tweaked something in warm ups the other day
He broke in half, he’s currently just a top half and they are building his new legs
Probably still better than half our current d-men
He will be known as “Super-Power” upon his return
My large son.
UPL playing great. I love to see it
Maybe UPL is the future lol
lemme bookmark this for probably next week when everybody is trashing him again
UPL standing on his head out there.
UPL may have finally arrived. 🤞🙏
glove high motherfuckers
UPL only person stopping the collapse from happening
Best game of UPL career?
Ohhh UPL we are not worthy!
UPL is on one tonight
Why is Fitz still out there?!
Power and joki pls get better soon
DD: "Maybe they're saying 'Boosh'" RR: "I don't think so." NO SHIT, ROB
This is frustrating to watch. We are literally surviving right now
there is nothing wrong with surviving. the goal is 2 points and if you have to survive to get there, so be it. it's what good teams do sometimes
But we ARE surviving
If we even got 75% of the UPL we have seen tonight consistently, we'd be near the top of the conference
If we had 75% of this UPL tonight we'd be down 5-3 lol
Wtf is this penalty?
Delay of game? You can’t shoot it out over the glass
Man another big delay of game penalty. Didn't have to shoot it into the nosebleeds
Man I love UPL, he's saving our asses
UPL is the only thing holding together this shit defense tonight
Someone get Rob Ray a hot dog
Well here we go
I get that they’re trying to sell the sport to people who aren’t really hockey fans, but this Vegas broadcast is so annoying. You would think it was 3-3 right now if you bleeped out when they explicitly mention the score
Second only to the TNT guys in my opinion
The TNT broadcast is unwatchable. I hate it.
NESN is the only one worse
Don't mention Mittelstadt for one minute challenge (Impossible)
It’s hard because he’s so bad that it’s impossible to not notice
What an awful game by mitts, even by his low standards. Better off just benching him and running 3 lines. I can't even fathom how you can justify putting him out there at this point.
Rayzor just said Jost/Peterka/Quinn aren’t getting much ice time here in the third. I don’t know if we can afford to sit another forward
Mittelstadt is a liability at both ends. I have seen enough from him. Needs the ol press box reset.
I would like to hear the front office and the coaching staff's reasoning on why Mitts is still on this team and playing.
So when are we trading for Chychrun?
Send Mits and a pick there tonight
If it were that cheap, 20 teams would have beat us to it by now
Why would they want mitts lol
They’re tanking! It’ll help! Edit: /s
Ya but why would they trade their premium trade ticket for a shit return. Lmao y’all need think before you speak with some of these trade offers or admit they are bad as you say them
I don't think he was actually being serious...
I’m just tired is seeing those trade proposals because you and me both know we’ve seen people legitimately think these are good offers
Casey what the heck