"The only thing you can be disappointed with is we didn't take advantage of the offense," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We did a lot of good things. We just didn't score."

-Lindy Ruff, after the Sabres were soundly defeated by the New York Islanders on Halloween Night.

Its true, we are a team that lacks consistent scoring. There is no major threat on this team from any 1 player, duo or trio.
Vanek has all but dissappeared. Connolly's showin up for a couple of games. Roy.....well, who is he again.

Although people may shrug this off as an "it was bound to happen" game, I have been stating it for as long as the Drury/Briere depatures. There is no solid single scoring threat on this team. Thats the bad news. The good news is that this was just one game and I am very happy overall with the teams early season performance. They will continue to work and grow together, as a unit.

My only real fear is the fact that last season started out roughly the same. Will we see another fiasco of a season? Only time will tell. I can say this much, and its only my opinion bare in mind, but this organization should be shopping Hecht, Sejkera, Mair and some prospects/draft picks for current talent that can contribute at a higher level and help stabilize this teams scoring ability to a more consistent theme.

It can be done, many of you will say we can't get much or its to early for that. Bullshit, after these first 10-15 games, its abundantly obvious this team can get collectively better on the score sheet if they brought in the right talent to do so.

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

I've gotta agree with you....we've got good second line depth, but no real first line threat.

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If guys like Roy, Vanek, and Pomminville can't raise the level of their game by this point in their careers, they probably never will.

That's a lot of money for three players who aren't gamebreakers.

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"I'll rap you with my cane; you pencil necked geek!!"

-Bowler, imitating Freddy Blassie, at the very first M & G.

Spot on, Howie. Vanek and Roy are good, but they're no Kane, Toews, OV, Crosby, Neal, Sedin, Alfredsson, Parise, Malkin, Semin, etc...

You can build a line around a superstar, but you can't put together a line and expect superstar impact.

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i apologize. i blame myself for the loss last night.
I have only been unable to watch two games..
and those two games have been our only two regulation losses.

Damnit Mel. PS - happy birthday.

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you're a few hours early but thanks!!!

BURRRRN HERRRR

I've missed two games myself. One was the latter two periods of last night's game. The other one, I missed the entire thing. I really don't remember witnessing a regulation loss, so I think that might have been it. If that's the case, kill me as well.

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Miles to go before I sleep

‎"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
-Khalil Gibran

Between scaring the little kids and being somewhat under the weather, I missed a good chunk of the first. Then, I just didn't care anymore and tossed on Horror fest 2006 with me lass. I had seen enough. The team has been sliding back into what we were this time last season. Win 2 games or so, then lose 3. Win 3 or 4, lose 3. Miller or Lalime didn't lose this game last night, we toyed around too fucking much in the Isles end. Passing, not shooting, Pommer and Timmy C. trying to send off these cute little passes. This team needs to watch the tapes from the first couple games and play like that. Granted, the chances we got, Marty was just as good if not better. They built on the missed chances by us and it gave them confidence. Then we just went into a shell of trying to stop the bleeding and it seemed like we were just waiting for the game to be over. Kind of like, how much were we going to lose by.

Oh, and as for the word "Consistency", hope Miller doesn't read that. lol He absolutely hates the shit out of that word.

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If it's a tight squeeze, spit on it! - NyI

He's a middling AHL player who had the good fortune of a drunk arbitrator. - The Squanto re: Tim Kennedy

We blew out the Wings for 6 goals, and you think we have a scoring problem?

One shutout on a night of very poor play, and you think we have a scoring problem?

This is silly. Ruff needs to fix the power play. We went 0-5 last night.

Special teams is a problem. Lazy attempts to finish last night were a problem.

Scoring goals is not a problem.

EDIT: I'm not saying I wouldn't like to see us add an offensive threat.

Any time you add a big goal scorer to ANY team, they get instantly better.

But I don't think it's a "problem" that will hinder us from being a dangerous team this year.

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Wheelhouse

But with you two gone we'll never win again!

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"Call a cop he robbed Delmore blind!!!"
Rick Jeanerette after Marty Biron's diving save back in 2000.

"I'm going to go to the spa and have a hot tub and massage and relax," Miller said. "That's it, and it's back to work tomorrow." Ryan Miller after clinching the North East division.

Take out the 6 vs Detroit, and look at the scoring. Take out the shutout loss to The Fishsticks, and we've scored every game. The verdict is still out there as to which team we are. Somewhere in the middle, I'm guessing.

We are expressing concern over two bad back to back games, a less than stellar power play, and a lack of production and energy from out "top" players.

This team also got off to a good start last year, and developed sloppy habits shortly thereafter. I am not about to give them a free pass after possibly falling into the same pattern this season. I am not writing them off either, but I believe there is cause to wonder a bit about a non playoff team that really didn't make many changes in the off season.

I won't judge them until we've played 20 games.

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"I'll rap you with my cane; you pencil necked geek!!"

-Bowler, imitating Freddy Blassie, at the very first M & G.

8-2-1 record...

33 goals for...

24 goals against...

WTF is the problem?? I guess the real problem is that half of you guys go nuts after a loss..

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Miller, Myers and Greir are sick, but not Jesus Christ..

KILL OTTAWA

^^^DING DING DING!!!!!!!!!^^^

Buffalo dominated the first period, missed a few chances (had some blocked actually). When after a bad TO by Myers led to them being down 1-0 when they woulda-coulda-shoulda been up 2-0, it took the wind out of their sails when a chunk of the team was already down with the flu. Shit happens. Let's see what happens Wed night, and after 20+ games before getting excited.

If we rebound with a win on Wednesday, this team will still have not lost twice in a row.

The Leafs game, I let them off the hook for. Records disappear when you're playing a rivalry game. Anyone can win.

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Wheelhouse

For me, the key is the effort put in the game AFTER they lay an egg. See if they've learned enough to not let themselves get into a rut, if they've learned to recognize such pitfalls and put the work in to avoid them.

Don't get too high after one win, don't get too low after one loss.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

This is not a fair statement at all. I've been saying since I came on the old boards. Nothing has changed here, win/loss, it doesn't matter. The facts are the facts in "my opinion". Remember, its only an opinion, but quite frankly, this team can get better, alot better.
And you can bet scoring is a problem. Defensively we've tightened up, but I saw this trend last season as well. The post was meant to stir the pot in thinking on any possible value that can be added and where that value would come from and how it would fit on this team.
Don't kid yourself, I would trade Vanek in a heartbeat if I knew it could increase the chance of a competitive team for the playoffs as well as the regular season. My loyalty is to the team, not the individual.
But otherwise than that, I have stated I am very happy with the team so far. I was last season at this time as well.

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

I hear Roy can't get laid to save his life.

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All the things we wanted each other to be we'll never be.

Last season doesn't phase me, and the fast start this season doesn't phase me either. Buffalo has 2nd tier talent that has a reasonable chance to beat top tier teams and make noise in the playoffs. To do this they have to play hard and smart, and stick to the gameplan on a regular basis, and stay relatively injury free. The last game doesn't change any of that.

Crunching numbers and analyzing individual stats right now isn't going to say much. It's too early and the team hasn't played enough important games against the better teams (so far Pit, NYR, Was). FWIW though, the first line has collected eight goals (four PPGs), but only been scored on three times while 5-on-5. That's not a very bad job so far.