Players running into each other, no spacing, desperate chuck and pray passing, they desperately need a break and to take their head out of their ass.
ScotiaTailwagger
I mean, it kind of is still an excuse. How many players on this roster aren’t used to the minutes they’re playing and an 82 game season?
philosofik
You can tell from watching just a few minutes that they’re thinking too much. They’re waiting for opportunities that just don’t come along often, trying to line up that perfect shot. We don’t have to crash the net on every possession, but we seem to avoid doing it at all. There’s an art to hockey, but sometimes it’s just having bodies in front of the net to redirect or knock in loose pucks. I swear, it seems like we never have anybody right in front of the goaltender.
And as long as I’m shaking my fist at the Internet, we crumble at the slightest bit of forecheck. As soon as there’s any kind of pressure on the puck carrier, he either loses possession outright or he tries to pass through traffic. And if somebody is actually running a neutral zone trap, we never seem to have an answer for it.
Ok, I’m done ranting. On the positive, we are a young team and these are issues that can be corrected. Nobody expects this to be a Cup run sort of year. We’re obviously still building, so I’m just trying to enjoy the glimpses of what we’re becoming.
Timotheus2443
It is still an excuse, albeit one that gets a little less valid with every game. No one on the roster save Tuch, Skinner, Okposo, and to some extent Lyubushkin and Jost, have had any experience with the long grind of a season where late season games actually have playoff implications. This is their first foray into these types of games and they need to learn how to play in them. This season is about gaining the experience in these kinds of games, and next season is going to be about putting that experience to work.
The main issue right now is the constant reversion to playing too much east-west. Defenses are very good at locking down the east-west game if there’s no other drive going forward. The Girgensons-Krebbs-Okposo line is effective on the forecheck because they play primarily north-south, are physical on the boards, and have enough creativity to keep a good cycle going. The Olofsson-Jost-Mitts line is also figuring that out and it’s showing up in their much improved play lately, although it’s still not great.
The top two lines have gotten away from the north-south game and their production has suffered greatly for it. They aren’t opening up shooting lanes and are throwing soft, blind passes into the middle of the ice when they get in trouble, but no one is there to pick them up because they’re all on the wings instead of in front of the net. The kid line is understandable here as Quinn and Peterka are trying to figure that side of things out, and Cozens is still working at it. Thompson, Tuch and Skinner should know better though.
Part of it is teams are playing a tighter defensive game, but the other side is that the Sabres as a whole need to push past the struggle and get back to what made them so effective in the first half of the season.
BARDLER
Youngest team in the league struggles with consistency, this should be a surprise to absolutely nobody.
thek00laidman
Youth is absolutely an excuse. The last part of most players’ game to develop is in the defensive zone and that is where this team has been utter dog crap. They have the collective defensive awareness of a potato. More experience will help with that.
Markcu24
Uh, when they are the youngest team in the league it kind of is.
isthatwhathappened
Clown take, they have a line with three literal kids on it. Which contenders try and mirror that approach? You need the majority of your good skill players in their prime (around 26-30) for sustained success.
8 Comments
Players running into each other, no spacing, desperate chuck and pray passing, they desperately need a break and to take their head out of their ass.
I mean, it kind of is still an excuse. How many players on this roster aren’t used to the minutes they’re playing and an 82 game season?
You can tell from watching just a few minutes that they’re thinking too much. They’re waiting for opportunities that just don’t come along often, trying to line up that perfect shot. We don’t have to crash the net on every possession, but we seem to avoid doing it at all. There’s an art to hockey, but sometimes it’s just having bodies in front of the net to redirect or knock in loose pucks. I swear, it seems like we never have anybody right in front of the goaltender.
And as long as I’m shaking my fist at the Internet, we crumble at the slightest bit of forecheck. As soon as there’s any kind of pressure on the puck carrier, he either loses possession outright or he tries to pass through traffic. And if somebody is actually running a neutral zone trap, we never seem to have an answer for it.
Ok, I’m done ranting. On the positive, we are a young team and these are issues that can be corrected. Nobody expects this to be a Cup run sort of year. We’re obviously still building, so I’m just trying to enjoy the glimpses of what we’re becoming.
It is still an excuse, albeit one that gets a little less valid with every game. No one on the roster save Tuch, Skinner, Okposo, and to some extent Lyubushkin and Jost, have had any experience with the long grind of a season where late season games actually have playoff implications. This is their first foray into these types of games and they need to learn how to play in them. This season is about gaining the experience in these kinds of games, and next season is going to be about putting that experience to work.
The main issue right now is the constant reversion to playing too much east-west. Defenses are very good at locking down the east-west game if there’s no other drive going forward. The Girgensons-Krebbs-Okposo line is effective on the forecheck because they play primarily north-south, are physical on the boards, and have enough creativity to keep a good cycle going. The Olofsson-Jost-Mitts line is also figuring that out and it’s showing up in their much improved play lately, although it’s still not great.
The top two lines have gotten away from the north-south game and their production has suffered greatly for it. They aren’t opening up shooting lanes and are throwing soft, blind passes into the middle of the ice when they get in trouble, but no one is there to pick them up because they’re all on the wings instead of in front of the net. The kid line is understandable here as Quinn and Peterka are trying to figure that side of things out, and Cozens is still working at it. Thompson, Tuch and Skinner should know better though.
Part of it is teams are playing a tighter defensive game, but the other side is that the Sabres as a whole need to push past the struggle and get back to what made them so effective in the first half of the season.
Youngest team in the league struggles with consistency, this should be a surprise to absolutely nobody.
Youth is absolutely an excuse. The last part of most players’ game to develop is in the defensive zone and that is where this team has been utter dog crap. They have the collective defensive awareness of a potato. More experience will help with that.
Uh, when they are the youngest team in the league it kind of is.
Clown take, they have a line with three literal kids on it. Which contenders try and mirror that approach? You need the majority of your good skill players in their prime (around 26-30) for sustained success.