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Doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over again, and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.
Watching the Buffalo Sabres kill themselves repeatedly by making stupid mistakes and paying for stupid penalties that they have taken in games is the definition of insanity.
Ted Nolan sounds like a broken record and his team appears to have settled for the journey down the path of least resistance. After Saturday night's flogging at the hands of Sid Geno, Kunitz, Fleury and the Pens, Nolan called his team out. Again.
"On the bench when it's 1-0, everybody puts their head down and looks for something else to do. To be accountable, you have to stand up," a concerned Nolan said.
"If we win a game, they're all in there and they want to talk. But when you lose, they want to hide. It's the one thing where no one is going to come in and help us. The only way to get through tough times is you've got to be tough."
Thanks, Sabres.com
Accountability is a huge issue for the struggling Sabres right now.
On Thursday night, following Buffalo's 3-2 OT loss, the only players to speak after the game were Jhonas Enroth, Drew Stafford, and Tyler Ennis. The team played well and the players were decidedly better than they were in the 4-0 shutout loss in Toronto.
I thought it odd that the leadership group of Brian Gionta, Josh Gorges and Matt Moulson were conspicuous by their absence from the media scrums in the room.
On Saturday night in Pittsburgh, a similar thing happened when Enroth spoke after the lopsided loss. On this night, he was joined by the captain Brian Gionta and Cody McCormick. Mike Weber also spoke.
Where's the accountability? Where are the leaders? Where are the offenders?
To paraphrase Sabres coach Ted Nolan, when his team wins, every player wants to talk about it. But, when they lose, the players want to skate to a dark place and hide.
Nolan vented his spleen about his team's lack of accountability after the 5-0 drubbing at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins. His players should not be hanging their heads when they are losing 1-0. That's what's happening right now. Mike Weber said Saturday night that he thinks that his team needs to play with more anger. He has a salient point. Losing sucks. Losers lose. Winners push back. Winners don't accept losing very easily. Winners find ways to motivate their teammates and they drag them back into the battle.
The Sabres are lacking that competitive spirit right now and it appears to be eating Nolan alive.
Thanks, WGR Radio
Nolan calling out his team's accountability is not shocking to me. Hell, he compared his team to a Pee Wee team after they delivered a soft, uninspired effort in a loss earlier this season. Nolan would apologize to his players for his Pee Wee hockey blast. Are some of his players holding a grudge against him? Or have bygones become bygones?
This isn't Nolan's first kick at the can. He's coached in major junior and in the NHL before. He's tasted failure and success many times. He's found solutions to problems in the past. No matter what he does these days to motivate his team, it doesn't seem to be working for him.
The morning after the Toronto shutout, he ran his team through a hellacious 85-minute practice session. He skated them hard and sent them home exhausted.
I give Nolan a lot of credit as he's trying to see this season as a glass half full rather than a glass half empty. He wants to se his players stand up for one another and to accept the good with the bad.
Is Nolan cracking under the pressure of all of the losing? Is he made about something more than the losing? Are he and Tim Murray still on the same page?
Might Nolan lose his job if all of this losing continues to occur?
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Pittsburgh native Mike Weber would like to see his team play with more anger.
Weber says if the Sabres are going to goi down, they should go down swinging.
His assistant captain Josh Gorges said something after the Toronto debacle. Gorges said that the cutesy Sabres have to find a way compete hard and to out work the competition.
Thanks, Sabres.com
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Sabres GM Tim Murray would like his power Chris Stewart to get his scoring game going. The Sabres are twelve games into the season and Stewart has one assist and no goals.
The Sabres sure could use offense any way that they can get it right now. They've been shutout 5 times in the past 8 games. Stewart hasn't scored yet. Neither have Matt Moulson and Brian Gionta. Something's got to give with Stewart, who is still being scouted by the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, and other clubs. Stewart would add immediate value to the three aforementioned teams. Bryan Murray in Ottawa has been hot on Stewart's trail for some time. The Bruins need to replace the 30 goals that Jarome Iginla brought with him to Denver. The Penguins need to add depth and offensive experience to its top six forward ranks.
Like his teammate Drew Stafford, Stewart is playing out the final year of his current contract.
Murray could decide to trade Stewart or Stafford, or, both of them if the losing continues. Stewart's spirited street fight with Milan Luciuc on Thursday night likely raised the ey brows of Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli and his head coach Claude Julien. I'm sure that Chiarelli would love to get his hands on Stewart today. However, Murray would only be able to get pennies on the dollar for Stewart now as he hasn't found the scoring touch yet.
My guess is that Murray will hold onto Stewart until the March trade deadline in order to get maximum trade value in return. The thinking is that Stewart will finally find the score sheet and that will open up the flood gates for him.
Stafford may be the forward who is dealt first.
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Another game. Another loss. Such is life in Pegulaville these days.
Poor Jhonas Enroth. The guy cannot buy a break. Hs team continues to make stupid mistakes in front of him. The Sabres blew coverage on Brad Marchand's OTGWG on Thursday against Boston.
On Saturday night, it was much more of the same.
The Sabres were pasted by the Penguins to the tune of 5-0.
The Sabres have now been shutout 5 times in their last 8 games.
His team committed stupid penalties against the NHL's #1 PP unit and they were made to pat dearly for it. The Buffalo PK entered the Pittsburgh game the 8th rated PK in the NHL. Their ranking will worsen now that the Pens went 3 for 4 on the power play.
For the second game in a row, the Sabres landed only 14 shots on the enemy goalie. A moral victory over the mere 10 shots that they landed on Jonathon Bernier in Toronto on Tuesday night.
No wonder they can't score. They don't shoot the damn puck.
Matt Moulson, Chris Stewart, and Brian Gionta still have massive zeros in their goals scored column on the stat sheet. What the hell are these veteran 20 goal scorers waiting for?
Bilden av en tung dag pॠjobbet. pic.twitter.com/g1n0UG5fhD
— Linus Hugosson (@linushugosson) November 2, 2014
At the other end of the rink, Marc Andre Fleury posted his second shutout in a row.
The Detroit Red Wings were warm and cozy in their hotel rooms in Buffalo watching the Sabres-Pens game. The Red Wings and Sabres will drop the puck at 5pm on Sunday.
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All of this losing in Buffalo has me focusing more and more on Connor McDavid.
The Erie sniper scored another goal and added three more assists in their win on Saturday night.
In 14 games played, McDavid has already scored 14 goals and has chipped in 28 assists. He's an uncanny +30 already this season.
Breaking: OHL will mandate that McDavid ties one arm behind his back to make it fair for opponents to defend him
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) November 2, 2014
McDavid has scored more goals by himself than the Buffalo Sabres TEAM has in their 12 games played. The Sabres have scored only 12 goals and have been shutout five times in their last 8 games.
At this losing pace, Buffalo will have the first pick in the NHL Draft by virtue of its last place finish in the standings.
The Carolina Hurricanes shutout the Arizona Desert Dogs while the Sabres were being shutout by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Heading into Sunday's games, the Coyotes have 7 points, the Sabres 5, and the Hurricanes now have 4 points.
You remember Darcy Regier, right? The Sultan of Suffering knows a thing or two about tanking.
Regier is now he Assistant General Manager in Arizona. Ron Rolston is one of his scouts who routinely watches games in Buffalo and Rochester.
Wouldn't it be a bitch for Sabres fans if the Arizona Coyotes beat out the Sabres for McDavid?
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