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Memo To Lindy: We Need Scoring
Paul Gaustad was back in the lineup last night, that I get, but the decision to send Mark Mancari back to Portland I don't. This team with the exception of one game since the Olympic break has been unable to score more than two goals in a game.
So what do they do? Send Mancari, one of the leading scorers in Portland back and leave Matt Ellis and Adam Mair in the lineup.....????????
In the end, the Sabres have no one to blame but their poor decision making on what players to play and what players to sit. I appreciate Adam Mairs work ethic, like the way Matt Ellis works in the corners but the fact is they will both get their 5-10 goals if that on the season and that will be it.
Mancari netted a goal and picked up an assist in the three games and was looking more and more comfortable each shift he played, playing on the Vanek line much of the time. How is it that Lindy and Darcy think this team is better with Matt Ellis in the lineup? They can't make that case.
What's wrong with leaving a young guy who is big at 6'3" and has a nice scoring touch? He plays big and hits and hangs around the net. His 22 goals and 42 assists make him the organizations leading scorer with 62 points. I'll tell you whats wrong with it, absolutely nothing, he should be back up next game sit Mair or Ellis take your pick.
Category: Sabres
Sabres 5, Capitals 0
What a difference! Vanek with two, Miller was outstanding and even though the Caps were without Ovechkin, the Caps are still a tough team and Miller did well to keep them off the scoreboard in the second period.
Derek Roy found himself again and Jason Pominville added his third resident to his village on the season.
So far, Thomas Vanek has 11 goals and 3 assists for 14 points, however, the most impressive numbers to me are Andrej Sekera with 7 assists already and Jaro Spacek with 1 goal and 6 assists. The blueline is contributing on the scoresheet and for a team that has prided itself on that over the last several years, that is a good sign.
Ryan Miller whose best shutout total on a season was 3 last year in which he played 76 games, now has one through 8 games, it would be nice to see a few more.
Currently they are in fourth in the conference with 16 points, one behind Montreal for top spot in the Northeast. Next up, New Jersey and Martin Brodeur on Monday.
Lightning 5, Sabres 2
Halloween came early last night for the Sabres, they were scared right out of their own building right from the start as Tampa took a 5-1 lead and made easy work of the Sabres.
All of a sudden the defense looks awful, maybe there was something to having a good balance between right and left handed defensemen. Since Craig Rivet went down, this team has looked more and more shaky.
Vanek who has cooled off a little and missed on two great chances and scored on one which was too little too late. That one was his 9th of the season. Im still waiting for Derek Roy to get with it and Drew Stafford showed up for two games and has since gone night, night!
I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, they are still an impressive 6-2-2 so its not like they are hanging on by a thread just yet. If this thing goes three or four games then I'll start calling for the heads of several players.
One guy I still don't like in the lineup, Andrew Peters, for three minutes of ice time is he really worth it? They have other guys who can be tough and fight if they need it, but most nights, they don't need a fighter, they need a goal scorer, Mark Mancari would be a nice fit, big and tough and hes tearing up the AHL right now with 10 points in 6 games. Nathan Gerbe is also worthy of a call up, 6 goals and 2 assists through 6 games.
Senators 5, Sabres 2
Well, hopefully last night got it out of their system. After starting the season with 8 games with at least a point last night for the first time you can honestly say, they sucked.
Everything sucked last night, the officiating was awful, they missed wide open nets on at least two occasions, played poorly defensively and really the only player that showed up was probably Patrick Lalime. He was in net with no support from anyone so yes five went in, but two of those were breakaways and out of the other three, one was an errant pass directly in front of the net.
The two goals they scored late in the game came with powerplays that had the Sens down two men on one of them. They would have meant something had the wide open net chances gone in. Pominville had one, Vanek and Roy had chances all night and as usual, Max dances but he never finishes.
Nights like this will happen and lets face it, they were a tired bunch after coming home from the west coast. Get it behind you, just hope that the Sens didn't wake up permanently.
The record now is 6-1-2 for 14 points and a three point lead in the division. Next up Tampa Thursday night.
Avalanche 2 Sabres 1
Last night was one of the most exciting 1-1 games I have seen in a while. There was not a lot of scoring but both teams had around 30 shots on goal and went long stretches in each others zones putting pressure on each other.
The goaltenders at either end could not have been any better and it went into extra shooters in the shootout to finally settle the score. Unfortunately we came out on the wrong end of that so we got the pity point.
I still say the NHL should make an overtime win worth 3 points. Ditch the pity point altogether. Though, I am not going to complain. A road game against a non-conference opponent like Colorado and that pity point helps.
Thomas Vanek's point streak is over though he had many chances, Daniel Paille got the lone goal which was his first. So one streak ends, another one begins.
Next up, Ottawa tomorrow night at home.
Sabres 4, Wild 3
I admit it, after Ryan Miller put the puck in his own net and it was 3-1 I turned it off. I figured it just wasn't their night. How wrong I was. I woke up this morning to hear about the comeback kids finishing the job last night just 44 seconds into overtime.
To cap that off, who scored the winner? The one guy left on this team to get himself in gear besides Max, Derek Roy.
Thomas Vanek also got himself a few more points and nother goal which keeps his hot streak alive with 8 goals and 3 assists.
The scary thing is, I don't think we have seen this team play its best hockey yet. They have injuries to Craig Rivet, Paul Gaustad, and Tim Connolly. Get those three going and this team is that much better. Here they stand though, 6-0-1 and looking like a shade of the team two years ago that started 11-0-1.
Sabres 3, Bruins 2
5-0-1 now on the season after beating the Boston Bruins. Another come from behind style game that saw them down 2-0. They kept their cool and came back and gave Thomas Vanek a chance to score in the shootout with the game winner. He can score short handed, on the power play, five on five, and yes we forgot, he can score in the shootouts too.
I think the league should consider counting the game winning shootout goals. The win leaves them tied with Montreal for first.
Thrashers 3, Sabres 2
Okay, so last night they struggled and we found out shockingly that the Sabres will not win 82 games this year. They lost their first game of the season but not without a fight. They clawed back after being down 2-0 and games like that are going to happen.
Kari Lehtonen was great in goal for the Trashers late when Buffalo poured it on. Early though Patrick Lalime had to be just as stellar as Atlanta had 19 shots on goal in the first. Lalime was great early and in my opinion you can't fault a goalie for the shootout loss. All you can do is get there and keep your fingers crossed. Without Lalime it would have probably been 5-0 after the first.
So, first loss yes, but they scrounged up a point, 9 points on the season and Thomas Vanek scored his league leading 7th goals and we found that Jason Pominville's contract must have fallen off his back last night because he woke up with 2 points.
Next up the big, bad Boston Bruins.
Buffalo 5, Vancouver 2
This is officially a great start. 4 games, 4 wins. One was against the lowly Islanders but the other three were against very tough teams. Montreal, NY and Vancouver tonight.
Thomas Vanek is off to a red hot start with 6 goals now in his first four games and Ales Kotalik had a two goal night to help Buffalo to a win over a tough Vancouver team.
That win puts us in 1st place in the Northeast and only one of three undefeated teams in the NHL. I would say that Montreal was in the undefeated category but they have what they call an overtime loss.
I may be rehashing an old argument from last year, but an overtime loss, is a loss and it just so happened to come against the Buffalo Sabres, who recieved a win. Last year we debated a little whether an overtime loss was an official loss, if it wasn't it wouldn't have the L in the OTL which stands for loss.
So, to get back on track there are three undefeated teams in the NHL, Montreal is not one of them. After tonight, there may only be two. San Jose is playing Anaheim.
Buffalo 3, Rangers 1
The 5-0 Rangers are now 5-1. Buffalo was behind 1-0 and thanks to a hit by Patrick Kaleta, drew the Rangers into a penalty that Thomas Vanek capitalized on.
Nothing is more encouraging right now than to see Thomas Vanek and Ales Kotalik off to hot starts. Vanek scored his 4th and 5th goals tonight giving him two short-handed goals already on the young season.
The other encouraging sign is Ryan Miller and Patrick Lalime both look sharp only allowing 1 goal in all three games. Buffalo is now 3-0. Next up Vancouver who I am liking a lot to win the west. It will be another good test in this early season with two young strong forwards Alex Burrows and Steve Bernier whom the Sabres traded away in the offseason.
