[Corp000085]

7:00pm

Just win, baby!

LETS GO BUFF-A-LO!

[gregkash]

I'm looking at these next three games as must wins. We can't be on a 7 game slide going into the olympic break.

[rbochan]

I don't know if I want to watch this.

[NowDoYouBelieve]

Frankly, I'm not even worried about the team. I still think the Sabres are quality. I know it doesn't feel like it, but this big slide that we're in right now isn't so different from what other good teams experience at least once per season.

We're 2-7-1 over the last 10 games. The Devils are 3-6-1 over that same stretch. If it weren't for a miracle comeback against the Leafs, they'd have the same record as us. The Penguins went 3-7-0 during a 10 game stretch of this season. The Kings were in the major doldrums before their recent hot streak...so were the Senators.

Human nature is to overreact when you're emotionally attached to something. To most of us here, we see the worst and say "the Sabres are being exposed for the bad team that they are". From a more rational outsider's perspective (the kind I always strive to use for my own sanity), we're a good team that's going through a slump. The benefit of racking up so many points at the beginning of the season is that when you hit your slump (and every team hits their slump), it doesn't kill you in the playoff race.

SO LET'S GO BUFFALO

You know we're going to beat the Bruins :thumbsup:

[Mbossy]

Jim Lorentz and Joe Crozier induction into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame before the game tonight. This should give the team a little extra boost tonight.

[CallawaySabres]

give me 1-0 and the 2 points with a really ugly game and I'll be happy. Cannot let the Sens get in that 3 spot. Two out of 3 wins before break should bode well for the final stretch.

[Scrappy]

Give us a good win Buffalo 3-1. Get back on track and snap the losing skid!

[spndnchz]

Montador out.
Ellis out.

Sekera and Kennedy back in.

[inkman]

spndnchz, on 09 February 2010 - 11:22 AM, said:

Montador out.
Ellis out.

Sekera and Kennedy back in.

I'm not sure what Lindy's beef with Kennedy is but I want to see him in the line up every game. Sekera is way too talented and important to this organization to be sitting in the pressbox. Even if they move him, he needs to be out there learning on the job. I do hope they keep him though.

[spndnchz]

inkman, on 09 February 2010 - 11:32 AM, said:

I'm not sure what Lindy's beef with Kennedy is but I want to see him in the line up every game. Sekera is way too talented and important to this organization to be sitting in the pressbox. Even if they move him, he needs to be out there learning on the job. I do hope they keep him though.

I think Kennedy has been confused/mentally tired the last week or so. Hopeful that a few games to rest the nerves have done him some good. We need to remember this is his first full season for us. He's been scrambling around and not trusting his instincts during games, defensive lapses.

IMO, Myers has been in this boat too. The Olympic break is going to do wonders for these guys.

[Assquatch]

So Ruff skated them hard for 70 minutes yesterday. Can someone smarter than me tell me why I shouldn't expect an extremely tired team tonight, as if it were playing the second of back-to-back nights?

[d4rksabre]

Assquatch, on 09 February 2010 - 11:50 AM, said:

So Ruff skated them hard for 70 minutes yesterday. Can someone smarter than me tell me why I shouldn't expect an extremely tired team tonight, as if it were playing the second of back-to-back nights?

Because these are professional athletes who get payed to be in shape?

[PASabreFan]

d4rksabre, on 09 February 2010 - 12:15 PM, said:

Because these are professional athletes who get payed to be in shape?

But Lindy said yesterday -- and I apologize for decontextualizing and deconstructing his actual words -- this is a season where you can't wear your team down to a "nub." He said if he had done that more often, the Sabres might have five or six more losses. Quite a dubious claim, if you ask me.

Assquatch, I would also worry about the team being worn down. I wonder why this situation is any different than other times when he opted for rest. Lindy's just doubting himself, that's all. "Practice like you play! Play like you practice!" he bellowed during the practice. What a genius.

[shrader]

spndnchz, on 09 February 2010 - 11:46 AM, said:

I think Kennedy has been confused/mentally tired the last week or so. Hopeful that a few games to rest the nerves have done him some good. We need to remember this is his first full season for us. He's been scrambling around and not trusting his instincts during games, defensive lapses.

IMO, Myers has been in this boat too. The Olympic break is going to do wonders for these guys.

Our rookies have looked like rookies lately. I hadn't thought of the nice little bonus of the olympic break until you just mentioned it now.

[Assquatch]

d4rksabre, on 09 February 2010 - 12:15 PM, said:

Because these are professional athletes who get payed to be in shape?

And this is different than the second of back-to-back nights how exactly?

[shrader]

Assquatch, on 09 February 2010 - 12:24 PM, said:

And this is different than the second of back-to-back nights how exactly?

There should be a longer gap between the two than there would be with back to back games, right? This wouldn't be the first time that a team has been skated into the ground, only to play a game the next day.

[nfreeman]

NowDoYouBelieve, on 09 February 2010 - 08:34 AM, said:

Frankly, I'm not even worried about the team. I still think the Sabres are quality. I know it doesn't feel like it, but this big slide that we're in right now isn't so different from what other good teams experience at least once per season.

We're 2-7-1 over the last 10 games. The Devils are 3-6-1 over that same stretch. If it weren't for a miracle comeback against the Leafs, they'd have the same record as us. The Penguins went 3-7-0 during a 10 game stretch of this season. The Kings were in the major doldrums before their recent hot streak...so were the Senators.

Human nature is to overreact when you're emotionally attached to something. To most of us here, we see the worst and say "the Sabres are being exposed for the bad team that they are". From a more rational outsider's perspective (the kind I always strive to use for my own sanity), we're a good team that's going through a slump. The benefit of racking up so many points at the beginning of the season is that when you hit your slump (and every team hits their slump), it doesn't kill you in the playoff race.

SO LET'S GO BUFFALO

You know we're going to beat the Bruins :thumbsup:

Good man.

spndnchz, on 09 February 2010 - 11:46 AM, said:

I think Kennedy has been confused/mentally tired the last week or so. Hopeful that a few games to rest the nerves have done him some good. We need to remember this is his first full season for us. He's been scrambling around and not trusting his instincts during games, defensive lapses.

IMO, Myers has been in this boat too. The Olympic break is going to do wonders for these guys.

I've noticed this too in the last few games. If we're lucky, the Olympic break will let him recharge his batteries.

[NowDoYouBelieve]

Assquatch, on 09 February 2010 - 12:24 PM, said:

And this is different than the second of back-to-back nights how exactly?

No matter how hard you're skated in practice, it doesn't equal the overall physical toll of an NHL game. Plus, back-to-back games come with an additional mental wearing-down from the first game to the second.

[d4rksabre]

NowDoYouBelieve, on 09 February 2010 - 12:28 PM, said:

No matter how hard you're skated in practice, it doesn't equal the overall physical toll of an NHL game. Plus, back-to-back games come with an additional mental wearing-down from the first game to the second.

^That.

[North Buffalo]

I agree some of the guys just look tired, Kennedy, Myers, Rivet, Grier and others like Stafford and Gaustad seem to be under performing. Also, I think the Sabres miss Kaleta stirring the pot and keeping the Sabres as well as the other team on edge and involved mentally in the game. Even Mair looks tired and hasn't stirred the pot as much, he looks like he is saving himself for something or just getting old?