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The Power fake shot pass to Olofsson on his goal was a thing of beauty.
Thompson pass to a streaking Tuch beautiful. Perfect passing.
Then the Girgenson rush.
Back in the Briere/Drury days, Ovechkin was really the only good player on the Caps and they were in the early stages of a rebuild. When the Sabres would play the Caps, my friends who were Caps fans would always comment about how the Sabres had perfect tape to tape passing every time. It really was the difference in the game a lot of times. The Caps would have what would look like a good breakout or scoring chance, but the pass to set it up would be off just enough to disrupt the play.
Of course, more recently it's been the opposite. The Sabres have been the ones who just seemed a little out of sync on passes. Now, it seems like they've largely fixed that and it's producing results on the ice.
Back in the Briere/Drury days, Ovechkin was really the only good player on the Caps and they were in the early stages of a rebuild. When the Sabres would play the Caps, my friends who were Caps fans would always comment about how the Sabres had perfect tape to tape passing every time. It really was the difference in the game a lot of times. The Caps would have what would look like a good breakout or scoring chance, but the pass to set it up would be off just enough to disrupt the play.
Of course, more recently it's been the opposite. The Sabres have been the ones who just seemed a little out of sync on passes. Now, it seems like they've largely fixed that and it's producing results on the ice.
For like 38 minutes last night, the sabres felt off. Bad passes, odd man rushes. And the switch flipped.
That's a good sign. But they need a more complete, well rounded game.
Just so much bad puck handling in their own zone. Two bad giveaways lead to two goals.
If this team can clean that up, they could be a tough team to beat.
They need better goaltending too. For a temporary solution, it's fine. But long term, especially if you hope to make the playoffs, they need an upgrade.
Nothing against either goalie, I like them both. And yes, it's a huge improvement over last year. But the bar needs to be higher
This may be a tough road trip but they will learn a lot from it.
The Sabres defense, when at full strength, is young and has been allowing a ton of shots on net. They were missing their 3 best, most veteran (*cough*) defensemen night. They iced:
Power (age 19) & Bryson (5' 9")
Casey Fitzgerald & Kale Clague (a recent AHL call-up)
Pilut (has very little NHL minutes) & Lybushkin (who is still nursing injury)
Missing: Dahlin, Jokiharju, Samuelsson
The Sabres won at home on Monday & Wednesday, lost away on Friday & Saturday against very good teams. While I would have like to see more out of Thompson, Okposo, and Olofsson last night, they never stopped playing. Notable hard play from Cozens and Peterka all night long was encouraging.
The Sabres need a Victor Hedman at veteran defenseman IMO.
Girgensons is off to a solid start. Maybe his best ever. While he has settled in his role as a checking forward here, he has 3 goals in the first 12 games and is a +1.
Remember when he was drafted? 2012 - 1st round #14 pick, behind Mikhail Grigorenko (#12) who is now playing back in Russia. Other Sabres picks from that draft were:
D - Jake McCabe (Chicago) - 2nd round
G - Linus Ullmark (Boston) - 6th round
Never figured Girgensons would be the one to stick from that draft class. But he fits his role well this year.
Comrie made several incredible saves last night. Keep reminding myself that Hasek didn't win them all either. Comrie is a keeper. The other Sabres will play hard in front of him.
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