x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Buffalo Sabres 4, Nashville Predators 1: Drown Your Saros

Ordinarily, I would take a loss like this pretty hard. But playing the young goaltenders over Carter Hutton is exactly what the Preds should be doing, even if Hutton wasn’t an option tonight due to injury. Juuse Saros played fine in his debut, and frankly you’re not going to win many games when you only score one goal. None of the 3 goals he allowed were super soft, but I guess the third one that he kinda kicked in would be one we’d pin on Hutton as weak so we’ll mark it here as well. So…what’s going on with the offense? The guys who are injured aren’t exactly game-breakers offensively, so that ain’t it. Hopefully David Poile is starting to move from window shopper to serious buyer. And not in the bargain bin, please.

Random Observations

  • Nice to see Phil Housley honored at home for his Hall of Fame induction. I know it seems like there’s been a few of these, but hey, it’s the Hall of Fame. When I make the Blogger’s Hall of Fame I’m going to insist on being honored every time I leave the house.
  • Lots of good stuff on the first PK. Some early work for Saros and just-miss chance for a shorty by Ryan Ellis.
  • Is there anybody out there who finds the GOLD helmets distracting? Not sure if that’s been talked about or not this season.
  • I like Arvidsson and all that, but dang his size seems like a problem to me. Spinning like a top out there early on.
  • Our Most Handsome Player is on fire (relatively speaking)! That’s #250 for his career.
  • 1st Intermission Report: There are a lot of really crappy concerts coming to Bridgestone soon…get your tickets. Also, James Neal in his bodysuit for the interview, which is always a delight.
  • Arvidsson goal! Waived off! Coach’s challenge! We lost! Preds are winless in the coach’s challenge in franchise history.
  • Speaking of Arvidsson, he’s doing some great things here early in the 2nd. Almost like he’s trying to stick it to me for my criticism above.
  • Point-blank shot for Neal on the PP…but he can’t find a gap. Can’t believe he missed that.
  • Major and a game misconduct for Arvidsson…I’m sure he didn’t mean to do that but you can’t behead people on the ice. It’s against the rules.
  • Buffalo scores on the resulting PP. One too many Juuse rebounds there. I’m sorry.
  • Make that 2 for the Sabres on the PP. Dammit.
  • 2nd Intermission Report: Welp.
  • Things are not going well, IMO. Saros kinda drags one into his own net. Preds down 3-1.
  • Colin Wilson with the first good chance of the 3rd, but no dice. I think I know how this one is going to turn out…
  • The post is a Sabres fan, clearly. Needed a goal on that PP with less than 7 minutes to go.
  • This may be a #HotTake, but here goes…Forsberg does way too many of those twirling, no-look, behind the back passes. Would rather see a regular pass that finds a home.
  • Quick broadcast update: We finished the game with 6 “On the Forecheck” mentions by Willy and Stu, which are always greatly appreciated. Stu also finished with 2 “he’s a handful”s and one “he’s got a long stick”, a bit below his season averages in both categories.
  • Empty-netter for Buffalo. {Insert bad words}

OTF’s Super Duper Stars of the Game

  • Juuse Saros– Even though he’ll take the L, he played pretty well in what was an unexpected early NHL debut.
  • I guess Mike Fisher?– He scored the Preds’ only goal so I guess that’s something.
  • #Adversity coming early this year– Maybe we’ll get that 1C with 50 games to play instead of 30.

Tweets of the Game

BoxscoreGame SummaryEvent SummaryWar-on-IceHockeyStatsNatural Stat Trick

Roll the video highlights…