Casey Mittelstadt’s NHL debut didn’t follow the fans’ dream script- the Sabres looked flat (even though they had a 2 goal lead at one point in the first), and he was on a line with Evan Rodrigues and Sam Reinhart (instead of the fans’ preferred pairing with Jack Eichel). It did however follow this pathetic season’s script- Robin Lehner was weak and was pulled after 2 periods, the Sabres took pointless penalties, and then came within one goal in the third, and promptly imploded.
That about sums up the team’s effort last night. They came out strong, seemingly buoyed by their newest addition, and then their hapless goaltender gave up a weak goal less than one minute (and before the Sabres second goal was even announced on the PA) later. I have said it time and again and you can go back and look; this team plays worse when Lehner is in the net, and at this point it should be clear for every person to see. I don’t want to hear about how bad the defense is in front of him or his save percentage. He is responsible for keeping the team in the game and he continually fails to do that. Momentum is a big thing in hockey (analytics people will claim it’s not), and weak goals when the team is actually skating well and controlling the game kill any momentum that’s been generated. Now, I am not arguing with the fact that the majority of the players on this year’s team will not be with us next year and frankly will probably not be in the NHL. But we have seen small snippets of what the genius Jack Eichel can do to help this team win. Even when surrounded by mediocre, lower than replacement level players, he still shows flashes of brilliance. The most recent example before tonight was on Monday in Toronto. With strong goaltending from Ocho-Cinco (that night) the Sabres pulled off a big win to snap a long Toronto home winning streak. It was a great win. Tonight, O’Reilly scored to put us up 2-0, and then Lehner promptly blew it and that was the game. Chad came in to mop up in the third and gave up some weak goals, but at that point the game was already over. We saw the effort that they came out with in the second and third, and it is simply not good enough.
We are headed for last place (for what seems like the third year in a row) and are looking at getting the best odds in the draft lottery again (this is getting OLD). The only solace we can take in that fact, however, is that if we do finish last, we are guaranteed a top four pick in the NHL’s new draft lottery system. No more finishing in last and getting a guaranteed top two pick. In the current system, if we finish last we will have an 18.5% chance of getting the #1 pick, and News Flash to everyone who thinks we’re winning the lottery and getting Rasmus Dahlin with the #1 pick, an 81.5% chance of NOT winning. I’m no math genius but I’m not putting my money on 18.5%.
Unfortunately, we will probably not win the lottery, will have to pick a lesser prospect, and will miss out on the generational defenseman we sorely need. It sucks, but everyone who’s talking about getting Dahlin needs to do a reality check. I am not saying I don’t want him, I just don’t think it’s going to happen. We had the best odds to get McDavid and we didn’t. We had the best odds to get the #1 in Reinhart’s year… and we got Reinhart. He’s good, but he’s not the #1 pick. Eichel’s good, but he’s not McDavid. We also missed out on #1 pick Auston Matthews. The draft lottery SUCKS and we’ve never won it. What makes anyone think we are going to win it this year?
I was really pumped to see MittelSTUD’s first game tonight and I got my hopes up, and was let down. It feels bad but I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything more. It’s a sad story being a Sabres fan right now, but I believe that GMJB is heading our ship in the right direction. I am very glad to see the Amerks and a lot of our prospects doing well down in Rochester. They should make a good run in the Calder Cup playoffs. Another prospect to not sleep on is Cliff Pu. He has 27 goals on the year in the OHL, and had 2 tonight in the Kingston Frontenacs’ playoff game. He should be in Rochester next season.
This season is a dud, but Mittelstadt is here and will be a part of this team going forward. Hopefully in our next game, Housley won’t wait until there are 38.1 seconds left in the third period of a 6-3 laugher to put them on the ice together. Let’s freakin’ see what these two can do on the same line! What do we have to lose?
Go Sabres