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Thrashers 4, Sabres 3
What a pathetic first 10 minutes last night. I hate to say it but this team will make the playoffs and thats unfortunate because Lindy Ruff has run his course as this teams head coach.
The problem hasn't been the goaltending, the problem has been the play of the team in front of Patrick Lalime and Ryan Miller. It goes back to last year when Patrick Lalime had to fill in for the injured Miller and for the better part of March last year Lalime gave this team a chance to win every night but the offense and the team fell short.
Its the same old story, not enough finish and too little aggressiveness. Too many give aways and odd man rushes leaving their goalies hung out to dry.
Send Tim Kennedy back to Portland, yeah he scored last night but so what. Thats his first since 2009? Mark Mancari is bigger and looked a hell of a lot better in his own end and looked as if he could stand in front of the net in the offensive end.
The best medicine for this franchise would be a total tanking of the last part of this season and them missing the playoffs. They probably won't, but how about finishing in 8th spot? That could happen, the Bruins are just 8 points back. We'd get Washington who would crush us in the first round and that might be enough for Lindy's firing.
Its been three years since the last playoff run and over those three years Vanek has gone from a 40 goal scorer to a shadow of his former self, he'll be luck to get to 30, for a player who should be entering his prime and getting better hes gotten worse. You can also say that about Jason Pominville, Derek Roy and Max Afinogenov. All regressed since the last playoff run. I call that coaching's fault.
Want proof? Max scored last night and has 22 goals and 54 points. Last year he was sitting on the bench because Lindy Ruff couldn't put him into a position to succeed on the ice.
Either Lindy Ruff's message is falling on deaf ears or the message sucks. Its time for a change.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Still Not Pretty
When Patrick Kaleta and Adam Mair are your two goal scorers in a 2-1 win over a team that has scored one goal in three games its pretty sad.
Maybe I'm being a little harsh, maybe I should be happy they won, but until Thomas Vanek, Tim Connolly, Derek Roy and Jason Pominville start contributing to this teams success its going to be a long last 18 games or so.
Sure they have won two in a row but I see no reason to believe this is going to continue. Miller can't keep being expected to hold teams to one or two goals a night every night, sure hes the best in the league but you need to score more than two goals to win hockey games especially with Craig Rivet and Tim Kennedy coughing up pucks.
Heres the deal, we have 79 points, we need at least 15-16 more to be comfortably in the playoffs. That means winning 8 out of the last 18, going 8-10 or a combination there of.
I don't see it happening. But let them prove me wrong.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Play The System!! Capitals 3, Sabres 1
Ryan Miller was none too happy last night, yeah he recieved the applause at the beginning of the game but his team was getting booed off the ice by the end.
Bottom line, since January 19th this "team" has won a grand total of 3 games. I don't know what Raffi Torres is going to bring but if its anything short of an army I am getting this sick feeling like this team is not going to the playoffs.
What reason have they given us to think otherwise? They blew a 13 point lead for the division lead to the Ottawa Senators in a month, right now they have just a 10 point lead over the 9th place NY Rangers and we all know who plays for that team. The Rangers will fight and claw their way up the standings because they have the guy we should have signed forever, Chris Drury and it all goes back to losing him. There is nothing to say this team can't lose a 10 point lead over the next month if they don't right the ship and fast.
I was absolutely elated last night to hear Ryan Miller call out his teammates and I hope some resent that he did. He didn't call anyone by name but you got a feeling of who he was talking about, Roy, Vanek, Pominville, and the defense.
Where was Craig Rivet our captain to answer to the media? Has a goalie ever been named captain? Ryan Miller showed why maybe he should be or at the very least an assistant captain.
Lindy Ruff was a little more kind, he took the blame stating it was his fault why the team wasn't up to snuff. I don't put this on Lindy and from Miller's comments he was smart enough not to put this one on Lindy. There were alot of players who had a lot of time off to rest so being tired is no excuse.
I looked at the schedule coming out of the break last week and saw the first two games Pittsburgh and Washington and I had a feeling that Lalime was goint to start against Pittsburgh which he did and he gave them a chance to win so Lalime did his part. The goaltending is there, where is the rest of this team. I thought this week had the potential to be a nightmare and continue the woes of this team from pre-break and so far it has been as awful as I thought.
An inability to finish plays. Danny Gare was filling in for Mike Robataille last night while Roby gets healthy from his car accident. Maybe they should keep Danny around and have him work with the forwards like Rick Martin did a few years back on shooting the damn puck.
Danny couldn't say enough about Raffi, lets hope he comes in like Danny said he would because this team needs everything that Danny talked about especially the leadership up front.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Matt Cullen to Ottawa: Our GM Should Be Fired
The fact that Matt Cullen, a solid two way center was dealt to our division rival Ottawa Senators yesterday for what amounts to a 5th/6th defenseman and a 2nd round pick is embarrassing.
Matt Cullen would have been the perfect third line guy to allow TIm Kennedy to fly back to Portland for the rest of the season and solidify the Sabres third line. I would have given up Craig Rivet who in my eyes has become a 5th/6th defenseman and a 2nd rounder in a heartbeat to make that move.
Now Ottawa has their third or second line center and the Sabres sit here as usual claiming patience and all his garbage of chemistry....there is no chemistry.
Matt Cullen would have been a perfect fit, better than Dominic Moore from last year and you could have gotten him for next to nothing. Part ways with a second round pick and an over the hill defenseman this time of year and you might be surprised what a basement dwelling team like the Hurricanes are willing to give up.
Darcy should be fired for not getting on the phone and at the very least planting a seed of doubt into Carolina's mind that they could get slightly more for Cullen. Darcy had to know that there was a deal in the works for Cullen, its been all over the internet now for three days.
Darcy can sit there and say all he wants, that Cullen would not have fit into the Sabres plans or didn't fit into this team. He can say what ever he wants but right now hes got a fragile lockerroom that is getting frustrated whether they say it or not and a coach that Im sure would like to see his GM do something to support a team that needed help a week ago.
There has got to be other players out there of Matt Cullen's stature who could fit in at third line center. Thats our biggest issue right now. Adam Mair is not the answer, Paul Gaustad is not the answer, you need a guy who can balance the scoring with the defense, Gaustad is a lifetime 4th liner, Mair is lucky to be on the team.
Its our GM's job to go out and find the answers for this team so they can stay ahead of a division they had a strangle hold on no more than three weeks ago.
Where is the Darcy Regier who went out and got Doug Gilmour and Donald Audette at the trade deadline? Where is the Darcy Regier that acquired Rhett Warrener for Mike Wilson? And if Im correct turned Rhett Warrener into Chris Drury. Where is the Darcy Regier that turned Chris Gratton into Danny Briere? If he can't then maybe we can go out and get someone who will.
Bob Gainey anyone?
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Panic Button: Hurricanes 4, Our Self Imploding Hockey Team 3
The panic button is officially being pressed. We have been in this rut since the road trip with two wins against the Devils and Bruins sandwiched in between we are basically coughing up losses since Anaheim.
We had this one 3-2 in the third on home ice against the worst team in the Eastern Conference and we cough it up.
Darcy, don't be the passive GM you have been, its time to shake this thing up cause its starting to break down. Its time to do something.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Senators 4, Sabres 2
This one was painful to watch. I had the luxury of watching it live from the second row of the 300 level of the HSBC Arena and it was not a fun game to watch.
From a malfunctioning HD camera that didn't provide the league the necessary replay to properly review what all 18,000+ in attendance could see was a goal in the first period to Alfredsson and Spezza tearing us a new asshole this game was a disappointment of huge proportions.
We tied it up in the third and it looked promising but too many cutesy, putesy plays and too many giveaways cost this team a game they deserved to win for 40 minutes of and lost it based on the middle 20.
With 3 minutes left and a 2-2 tie I had a guy feeling that this thing could only end bad. The Senators claimed yet another win from our grasps and continued their 10 game winning streak.
What was a 13 point cushion a few weeks ago is now a slimming 3 point lead with still two games in hand. Mike Grier and Tyler Myers were the two best players on the ice, unfortunately neither one of them can score you the goals you need to win and shouldn't be expected to.
Myers was one of one or two Sabres to jump Chris Philips after Philips plowed over Ryan Miller, why all five Sabres didn't jump Philips is beyond me, instead the 20 year old rookie went in and dropped his gloves.That should be a much different response.
Now is the time Darcy, find a move that will improve this team. All but two players at this point are off limits, Tyler Myers and Ryan Miller are untouchable, everyone else can be had if the price is right.
Make this team better Darcy!.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Character Win: Sabres 2, Devils 1
To come back from the longest road trip in recent memory and defeat the second place team in the Eastern Conference would have been great by anyone's standards, but to do it via overtime and a shootout was just icing on the cake.
Ryan Miller may have been average the last few games of the trip but tonight he out dueled possibly the greatest goalie in NHL history maybe providing a little hint of what is to come in Vancouver.
Tim Connolly's streak is over but I'll bet he'll trade the scoring streak in for a winning streak. We are now one back of the Devils for second in the East with Boston, Pittsburgh and Ottawa up next all teams looking to catch us in the standings.
Its getting to be that time of year again....its almost playoff time, every game counts. This was a character win, one they probably didn't deserve but they got it and it counts.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Ducks 5, Sabres 4
After the first period the only thing that kept me coming back for more was the fact that the Anaheim announcers were gushing about how good the Sabres were playing despite being down 4-0. I never heard a team down 4-0 sound like they were playing so well. If RJ and Harry Neale retire I want the Anaheim announcers to do Sabre games.
So I stayed awake with toothpicks holding my eyes open and wouldn't ya know less than a minute into the second its 4-2 which kept me intrigued enough to keep it going all game long.
While the result wasn't there it was actually a pretty good game to watch, lots of scoring and the possiblity of a comeback.
Every team has a stinker, it was looking like it early but they hung in and almost pulled it off. Patrick Lalime was hung out to dry because they were simply too aggressive in the first period. Lesson learned move on to LA and go right back with Lalime to give Miller his night off.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Sabres 7, Coyotes 2
Top dog in the Eastern Conference and 12 points up over everyone in the Northeast Division. Last night rocked! Guys who haven't been scoring but should be scoring, scored.
We also got to see how this team plays with a lead and with a lead bigger than one goal. There was no nail biting last night, there were no hockey heart attacks, this was all Sabres from start to finish.
This team is good. BTW hows that Habs/Leafs battle for the bottom of the division going?
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Sabres 3, Toronto 2 The Sabres Watch Goes 10 In a Row Vs. Leafers
All sorts of streaks and big games in this one. Most important we extended the winning streak to 6 games, but there was another winning streak in there too, 10 wins in a row against the Leafs wow. One day that will change but right now The Leafs are our punching bag that we love to beat on.
My 19 year old man crush continued his incredible rookie season with 2 goals and 1 assist. Tyler Myers is starting to get some national attention now. Hes 2nd in rookie scoring with 26 points, we have a bonafide offensive threat on the blueline and hes only 19.
Ryan Miller made 48 saves which is way too much and can't happen again. I was listening and keeping track online last night due to some TV issues and when I saw 15 shots in the first barely halfway through I was getting concerned.
After this one we now have 60 points, second in the Eastern Conference and now officially ahead of the Washington Capitals by 2 points.
Next up is tonight with Colorado coming in for their only game, its going to be a big test against one of the top teams in the Western Conference and then we get a long stretch off without another game until Thursday which is unusually long but needed for a team that has been very tired.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
