I didn't have a problem with it. There were lots of stoppages and Brouwer is regularly deployed as the center when down two. Ideally Backlund would have been there, but he was in the box.
That being said I think the turning point was the brutal giveaway and sequence right after we score to go up one. That shift gave the Sabres life and reason to keep playing and engaged. The book on them is score early and take them out of the game. Instead we immediately gave them life. Very similar to the Winnipeg game where just getting one more would have been the difference and Buffalo would have just gone through the motions.
On the positive side, I thought Lazar had a great game. The Flames also with that point have earned the 8 points needed for this 7 game segment, and they still have LA and EDM left to try to add on to that total. A three point game outside the conference, so they got a point and didn't give two to any meaningful team. On to the LA game.
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Sometimes you just lose. Its annoying. Move on. I would rather lose that game than the two on Wednesday and Thursday. No one needs to be fired or traded or not re-signed because of this loss
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You can see why the Sabres are so bad as for long stretches they were terrible and the Flames were just too sloppy to take advantage. They really do need to figure out this home ice issue as it's going to cost them a chance at making the playoffs if they continue to be a .500 home team.
I agree GG made a blunder on the faceoff decision. Lost an opportunity to even get on track in OT.
But man, the rest of the game... Monahan was invisible. Ferland didn't forecheck hard enough. Backlund had his hands full so excused for lack of offence, but I thought Brouwer and Tkachuk were better in the offensive zone. The third line seemed bogged down and trapped in the offensive corners - they just couldn't get to the middle. I think Hathaway may have used up his third line time. The fourth line was fine FWIW.
I thought Hamilton, Hamonic and Gio played fine. But Brodie - every time he had the puck it was an adventure. He was lucky not to score another own goal, but it didn't even matter because the puck went in 5 seconds later. I thought Stone got stuck in his own zone quite a bit. Kulak didn't, but he always seems to skate into trouble.
I was not very impressed. He lost a handful of puck battles and threw a couple of low percentage passes.
I think that line was better with Mangiapane. I guess Gulutzan wanted to see what Hrivik could do but in hindsight he should have probably left that line alone.
Like I said before, the team gained zero ground on the west with the 7 game win streak. Zero. Its not like they had a comfy cushion ahead of the teams and they come out completely flat for two straight games. With the pace the West is going, it may take more then 96 points to clinch. Sportsclub stats is giving 96 points a 65.9% chance to make the playoffs.
I thought they made huge strides. At Christmas we had 39 points and LA had 48. We were a point behind Anaheim and 3 behind SJ, with both teams having games in hand. Fast forward to today and we are a point on LA and 3 up on Anaheim with a game in hand.
There is a lot of games left to play, but they are in a decent position to take this down the stretch. In the age of NHL parity, very few teams will be free and in the clear.
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I didn't have a problem with it. There were lots of stoppages and Brouwer is regularly deployed as the center when down two. Ideally Backlund would have been there, but he was in the box.
That being said I think the turning point was the brutal giveaway and sequence right after we score to go up one. That shift gave the Sabres life and reason to keep playing and engaged. The book on them is score early and take them out of the game. Instead we immediately gave them life. Very similar to the Winnipeg game where just getting one more would have been the difference and Buffalo would have just gone through the motions.
On the positive side, I thought Lazar had a great game. The Flames also with that point have earned the 8 points needed for this 7 game segment, and they still have LA and EDM left to try to add on to that total. A three point game outside the conference, so they got a point and didn't give two to any meaningful team. On to the LA game.
I disagree, I thought this post from the Gulutzan thread outlined it pretty well:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
Monahan, Bennett, Stajan, Jankowski - they all have better face-off winning % than Brouwer. I don't care about handedness, Brouwer had lost two straight face-offs and Gully used him AGAIN - despite the fact he'd been on the ice for a minute and a half straight.
Even if Brouwer wins that face-off - what's the plan? Brouwer straight to the bench? Or was he planning to keep using him in the 4v4? So you're choosing to play the worst player on the team in 4v4 hockey while he's north of 90 seconds into a shift?
There's no defending leaving Brouwer on the ice. It was a coaching decision that directly led to the team losing the game.
Its pretty clear. He left tired players on the ice during a PK in OT. Just dumb.
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Re: Hrivik's play
I'm not sure we can properly assess anyone last night as the entire team was off. No one played up to their potential, even if that potential is low.
Re: Hrivik's play
I'm not sure we can properly assess anyone last night as the entire team was off. No one played up to their potential, even if that potential is low.
Except Lazar was as good as he's ever been and stajan was stajan. Hrivik just wasn't very good outside of a few hits. He couldn't control the puck and lost every battle. Expect to see Mangiapane back in next game.
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First post after coming over from the other place.
The lack of effort last night was really, truly disappointing. If we play this way against the oilers on thursday we're going to get buried.
Gulutzen has brain farts of coaching decisions akin to Brodie's brain farts on the ice.
Any possibility we could get some scoring help for Brodie still or has his value tanked league wide?
I cant give Brouwer any stick for this. Hes being a player and a good pro.
"I'm good coach! Ready to play coach! Put me in coach!"
Thats what any player is going to say.
Its up to the coach then to say:
"You did well and fought hard, but its someone else's fight now."
You're not playing 90+ second shifts regularly so why would you play a 90+ second shift in OT on the PK? Madness.
Not disagreeing with you, it's absolute madness. But on the bolded... how does signing a long-term big money deal and then absolutely failing on the ice, and usually not playing the role you were brought in to play make Brouwer a good pro? To me he looks like a ##### on the ice 99% of the time, and never seems to take any of the blame for his #### play in the press. Looks like an awful pro to me, and giving him an A is another disgraceful decision on the part of the coaching staff.
Noticed that the SNET broadcast blew it on the Lazar fight by missing it live and not showing it well on the replays, so here's the MSG replays where they show Lazar clocking him hard in the jaw twice:
First post after coming over from the other place.
The lack of effort last night was really, truly disappointing. If we play this way against the oilers on thursday we're going to get buried. Gulutzen has brain farts of coaching decisions akin to Brodie's brain farts on the ice.
Any possibility we could get some scoring help for Brodie still or has his value tanked league wide?
Lol that's a pretty funny assessment, accurate too.
They don't happen too often, but when they do it is absolutely Hindenburg-level disastrous and makes everyone angrily go "WHAT THE EFF???". And we also got a Brodie brainfart and a Gully brainfart in the same game, can't win games with that going against you even if it is against the poopy Sabres.
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Re: Hrivik's play
I'm not sure we can properly assess anyone last night as the entire team was off. No one played up to their potential, even if that potential is low.
I agree the book is far from written. Still the guy is 26, played 23 NHL games and has 3 points. Realistically, I see him as Freddie 2.0.
3 powerplays in the first period alone and only 1 goal on a phenomenal tip by Tkachuk. All 3 looked terrible, there are no crisp/clean passes back and forth with enough force to get the defense moving, there all slow easily anticipated passes.
Buffalo knew we had 1 guy with a shot to watch out for (gio) so they only pressed when the pass was going his way.
Another game where if we had a STRONG power play with more than 1 shooting threat out there we could and should see a lot more scoring chances. Cameron's been bagged on for this numerous times so I dont want to beat a dead horse, but the flames need someone dangerous out there or someone with a shot hard enough that people are afraid to get out and block it (Stone) and its not happening.
If we cant win the special teams battles, were going no where in the playoffs because games are called so tight then that if you do get one you need to be scoring.
