Getting their fill of the professional sports scene featuring the Sabres and the Bills.
The driving force behind the excitement of a Buffalo doubleheader today really begins with the Buffalo Bills as they head to Foxborough, Massachusetts with the opportunity to tie the New England Patriots in the standings. Buffalo is 10-4 so far this season and has the swagger of a contender ready to knock down the champ and though it might not happen, BillsMafia has no fear as they know the vaunted Patriots era is coming to a close soon and their beloved Bills are on the upswing ready to take their place in the East.
For Buffalo sports fans in Western New York, Southern Ontario and throughout the U.S., the 4:30 p.m. Bills/Patriots game (which was flexed to this spot by the NFL) is the main event with the undercard being a 1 p.m. face off between Sabres and the Los Angeles Kings at KeyBank Center in downtown Buffalo. Although one might wish the Sabres were still in the upper reaches of the Atlantic Division, they are in the midst of a pack battling for position despite a slumping November and slow crawl out of the muck they were once in.
Buffalo heads into tonight's matchup with the Kings having lost two in a row after going on a five-game point-streak (3-0-2.) The Sabres are 4-3-3 in their last 10 games overall and are a rather robust 9-1-0 against Los Angeles at home in their last 10 meetings. The only loss by the Sabres at home against the Kings came in February, 2018 and it broke a 15 yr. winning streak against L.A. It was a clunker of such horrific proportions that a large thud was heard throughout the quiet Arena as general Jason Botterill took out his frustrations on a nacho bar. The 'Kids Day' crowd was also very unhappy and let the Sabres know it as they left the ice to a chorus of boos trailing 4-0 after two periods of play.
That team had a rookie coach and a truckload of problems encapsulated in the opening paragraphs of the blog I wrote the following day:
"The Buffalo Sabres are paying four players not to play hockey for them anymore and by the looks of their last game, are paying some of their roster players to skate in the Blue and Gold but not really play for them either.
"One player seems to be saving himself for an expected new team via trade and another one's apathy may be construed as pouting. The Sabres may have leader who's probably banged up, but still only seems to lead on occasion, a scorer that isn't scoring (and has the worst plus/minus on the team,) an agitator who's playing like he's been neutered, and a large group of players that fluctuate between playing up to their potential and falling prey to the crap show their caught up in. At times this group puts it all together and shines like in a couple of recent games against top teams. More often than not for this collection of Sabres players, the individual inconsistencies are too many and too broad to come out with a victory on many nights and certainly not in the afternoon where Buffalo is 0-5-1 in day games. At their worst they form a black hole on the ice that sucks in the entire soul of the franchise into it leaving the Knox Brothers looking down and asking themselves, 'What the hell has happened to our beloved Sabres?'"
"One player seems to be saving himself for an expected new team via trade and another one's apathy may be construed as pouting. The Sabres may have leader who's probably banged up, but still only seems to lead on occasion, a scorer that isn't scoring (and has the worst plus/minus on the team,) an agitator who's playing like he's been neutered, and a large group of players that fluctuate between playing up to their potential and falling prey to the crap show their caught up in. At times this group puts it all together and shines like in a couple of recent games against top teams. More often than not for this collection of Sabres players, the individual inconsistencies are too many and too broad to come out with a victory on many nights and certainly not in the afternoon where Buffalo is 0-5-1 in day games. At their worst they form a black hole on the ice that sucks in the entire soul of the franchise into it leaving the Knox Brothers looking down and asking themselves, 'What the hell has happened to our beloved Sabres?'"
Yeah, it was that bad. But it's gotten better. Still not quite to the level that many in Sabreland would like to see some two years later, but it has gotten better, at least with captain Jack Eichel on the ice as of late. Although they do have their moments.
Buffalo is coming off an equally horrendous performance in Philadelphia on Thursday where they were as listless as they were that Saturday afternoon against the Kings. The Flyers scored three goals in the first period and added three more in the second as they cruised to a 6-1 win. The Sabres were without Eichel and his 17-game points streak and it looked as if the rest of the team was neutered as they came up with a performance as lame as anything we've seen dating back to that Saturday afternoon in 2018. About the only saving grace was the way defenseman Rasmus Dahlin stood up for himself as he was getting tag-teamed by a couple of Flyboys and the reaction of fellow D-man Rasmus Ristolainen as he threw himself into the fray looking to take on both Philly players.
Today is a new day, however and Eichel hopefully will be on the ice for today's matchup. He and forward Even Rodrigues did practice with the team yesterday and were listed as questionable yesterday. Rodrigues took a hard shot to his ankle against the Flyers and was in a tremendous amount of pain before being helped off of the ice. The Sabres also lost center Johan Larsson in the Philly game with head coach Ralph Krueger stating to the media post-practice yesterday that he definitely won't play the next two games. With that being the case, Curtis Lazar got the call from Rochester.
Krueger talked to the media pre-game this morning and said that Linus Ullmark will be back in net but made no commitments to the lineup. Yesterday's lines and pairings at practice looked like this:
Olofsson - Eichel - Reinhart
Skinner - Johansson - Aspllund
Vesey - Rodrigues - Sheary
Girgensons - Lazar - Okposo
Dahlin - Bogosian
Scandella - Jokiharju
McCabe - Ristolainen
Miller - Montour
Kick back and enjoy Buffalo sports fans. While everyone's else is out and about doing their Christmas thing, we'll have a doubleheader to watch this afternoon and into the evening. Hopefully the Sabres and Bills can make it count.
And one more thing, Happy Winter Solstice Day! We here in the Northern Hemisphere are looking forward to longer days beginning tomorrow.
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