The last five games Buffalo has found themsleves down by two goals or down by a goal in the 3rd period. Each time they have responded with desperate play, more d-men pinching, and more pucks at the net for decent scoring chances. They are 3-1-1 in those games.

Now starting off slow and getting down by two is a sure way to lose more often, but what if the team starts to open up the way they do when they're behind? The difference I've seen is not just about waking up and trying harder, it's about the d-men becoming more aggressive and getting in on the play. When they do that they support the forwards with the forecheck and really do a good job of putting more pressure toward the net.

As long as the far side winger is ready to drop back for a potential return rush they can handle being more aggressive. They have actually looked more impressive and taken the play to the opponent much better while playing this way. Maybe Ruff should take the snow tires off once in a while and put the high performance ones on more often. I haven't seen the same kind of defensive breakdowns this season as the last two. I think the d-men like Sekera, Tallinder, and Myers have shown enough improvement in their decision making, and an increase in confidence jumping into the play enough to ratchet up the pressure a couple notches.

Adding a little spice to the vanilla gameplan will start bumping up the production from the "top six", help to jump out in front with leads more often, and take some pressure off Miller. It's a little risky, but I think this team can handle it.

Well, """"""""""""HELL YES"""""""""""!!!

Don't get me wrong, I do love the defensive play, but man, to take a lead into the 3rd would really be alot of fun.

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

Well, I see the D jumping up (sometimes way up) into the play a lot, even when things aren't clicking. I think the real problem early is not that guys aren't opening it up, it's that they're chasing the play and the puck for long stretches. It's hard to jump in offensively when regaining the puck means a much needed line change.

Ham

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Do you believe yet?

I think with the style of play we've used for the first half of the season the forwards have learned to be more defensively responsible and will be able to handle filling in for the d-men when the need arises.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I agree Hammy, but getting the d-men involved early is also a way to get the team going early and taking the play to the opponent, rather than vice-versa.

Well 80, you SHOULD sound like a genius, because this seems pretty obvious to everyone except Mr. Ruff. I'm sure he is mentally crushing the other coaches when he absolutely refuses to run-n-gun even when it's obvious it would be to his advantage, but as I've said ALL sports need to incorporate deception. Remaining defensive until you're 2 goals down, and 10 minutes remaining removes any question what to what your intentions are. Maybe he's holding his cards close to his chest(until later in the season) is what his strategy is, and it had BETTER BE. When he allows this team to "feed", they completely embrace it. Maybe it's all part of his grand strategy. I hope he isn't wasting points along the way. We'll see.

Maybe someone should let Lindy in on this new forum. It would appear that most here are two steps ahead of him.

Hey, I admitted he may even be 2 steps ahead of us(that he intends to open it up at his discretion in the future). Remember, if we all thought the GM's and coaches were infallible, we'd have no reason to have a forum. The fact that they are unquestionably smarter or completely infallible would leave us no room to bitch would it?? If this were true, we could all just tweet shit like "I luv the Sabres " on twitter all day and night, right? I'm assuming that I'm allowed to assume he may have been wrong. Is that wrong?

You know, that open style of play got us 10 place in the East the past 2 years..

Im happy with the tight defensive play, especially when that's the style of play teams play in the playoffs...

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

KILL OTTAWA

Me too, but once in a while you need to throw a change up pitch. Lindy MUST know these guys can still light it up when they want to. I'm hoping he is just keeping it as the "genie in the bottle" thing. I know I'd always keep them guessing(every minute every game), but I haven't coached as long as he has. lol If this guy is a closet genius, I will be the first to kiss his ring. He certainly has had enough tenure and access to ensure a legitimate chance(s) at success.

Vanek King, it's risky regardless, but during the last two seasons we would see regular breakdowns in judgement and decision making from the d-men about when to join the rush and pinch. This season I have been impressed with improvement from the d-men I mentioned, and think they can be more successful being more aggressive this season. The last five games have shown a huge difference when they start pressing.

From Bill Guerin last night..."They were trying to get pucks on the net, really crashing," Guerin said. "They just played a more uptempo game the second half. They know the way they have to play. Maybe they weren't doing it early but they sure did pick it up."

This isn't just about playing harder, it's about playing more aggressively too. Their standard vanilla approach, while staunchly disciplined, is currently resulting in a stand around mode while the other team takes it to them for the first 20-30 minutes. They need to be ready at the puck drop, and maybe having the d-men ready to jump in and pinch from the start will get the whole team mentally ready to play hard and fast right away.

Some of this is simply a mental issue and being ready, period. Some of the problem is gameplan though, and getting the d-men involved reverses the trend we've been seeing the last 5-10 games.

Maybe opening it up would be better for our team... Maybe it doesn't.. Nobody really knows... But if Lindy Ruff says we are gonna open it up for the last half of the season, I wouldn't be too comfortable with the 3rd place we have right now..

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

KILL OTTAWA

I don't know, I make alot of smart ass remarks about the lack of offense, but (and its confession time) I am thrilled with the current record the team has, not overly thrilled, but just enough.
I would like to see a trade made still. And Drew's 1 night wonder performance doesn't remove him from underneath the axe, but they drove to the net, didn't stop moving their legs and kept offensive zone pressure on more frequent after the penalty shot.

Thats really been my point all along, even through out the Kovalchuck rants. I am a firm believer in the addage: "A good offense is a good defense". To me anyways, the more time you spend in the offensive zone, the less time you'll spend in your own zone on defense.

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

Opening up is definitely key to applying pressure - But, they have to skate their asses off. There isn't any room for error or floating or lollygagging.

If they bust out, they had better forecheck hard - sell out - be fast to the puck, and backpedal like it's the end of the world, when the play goes the other way...

Shorter shifts - Higher energy-level. More aggressive approach. Can't go full-tilt up-ice and run out of steam.

And responsible play would demand that you check yourself off the ice, instead of dragging your shift out while running on fumes. (Roy and Afinogenov are/were prime examples of staying past the change and coughing up the puck, with nothing left to give...)

The gap (control) works both ways - keeping the forwards honest on the breakout, then forcing them to hightail it on the backcheck.

Agreed.

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

Yup, and the rushes have to be as a unit. Only attack when you're pretty sure you can at least get it deep for a chase. One or two quick passes out, not the one fancy move that gets checked just as the other 2 forwards have started off fast in the other direction. The forwards have to "hot read" when the opportunities are good, and take them. The only thing left is how often the coach lets them try that, which is what I think we're trying to talk about here. I think our fore-check can be good, and it doesn't need to be held back all the time like it's some nuclear arsenal. I think Ruff will probably take the muzzle off a little more as the season goes on.


/and yes, I know what the Sabre's current record is.

Tonight was an instant replay of the last five games. I watched the Atlanta feed and the announcers commented how the d-men were so much more aggressive during the comeback. I guess though that the team will just think they can do this on a regular basis and keep sleepwalking through the first half of games.

It's another nice comeback win, but the kind that makes you sick knowing that they will get steamrolled for a losing streak pretty soon. I know there are some faulty attitudes on the roster that have to do with this trend, but again, if the d-men jump in more at the start of the game maybe they will get on top of opponents instead burying themselves into a hole.

I just don't get it.

Nothing's changed.

This is how the system is supposed to work, and it's how they've played all season long so far. For some reason, it's been out of sync at times lately.

Are we forgetting the insanely high shot totals we had to start the season?

This is the same style and the same hockey team.

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Wheelhouse

Uh, the system is not supposed to have them get out-hustled for 30 mins before they decide to play.

"Any time you get points in this league, you're happy, but we're not satisfied," Miller said. "I think we have to be a lot better to truly call ourselves a team that wants to contend."

Miller added he wasn't positive in addressing his teammates prior to the comeback.

"They made me eat my words, so good for them," Miller said.

Ruff expressed concern about his team's performance, too.

"We're not going to keep coming back from 3-0," Ruff said. "We're right on the cusp of either gettingt it figure out and going one way or looking pretty bad."

It's obviously the same team, but they are standing around with a vanilla approach and watching the other team take it to them for the first half of the last six games. They are playing harder and DIFFERENTLY once they are down, and they dominate enough to dig out of those holes. That's not going to happen every game, so how about playing hard and differently (ie-more aggressively) from the opening faceoff?

I'm not talking about the poor performance and getting down 3-0. That would be a pretty ridiculous assumption.

I'm saying the opened up style of play, the massive amount of swarming and pressure on the puck carrier. That's all stuff that isn't only used to catch up on the scoreboard; it's how this team is supposed to be playing at all times. That's how the system is supposed to work.

For some reason, they haven't been in "sync" so to speak at times. And when your system relies on EVERYBODY being in exactly the right spot in order to create the turnovers and force mistakes, you can't afford to be out of sync.

That has been this team's biggest issue of late.

What I've been impressed with lately has been their shot selections and ability to make plays with the puck on their sticks once they get out of those funks, like they did tonight.

The top 6 are making very good decisions.

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Wheelhouse