So the game last night was something I was hoping to see.The Sabres needed the two points more than they needed to look good.They’re heading onto the road for 8 of their next 9 and even though they have played well on the road, getting a win against a conference opponent that is slipping back to the middle of the pack was important.
Ryan Miller was fantastic. Absolutely fantastic and really have been ever since Lindy called him out minus a couple long shots getting past him.But last night he got them a game that they didn’t deserve to be in for two periods.Rob Ray said it that the Rangers played a great road game last night and were the better team.The Sabres looked slow and careless at time and Lindy pointed it out in his post game conference that they’d make turnovers that prolonged their shift and then would have to dump the puck and have the Rangers roll right back into the zone. That’s why Ryan Miller was great tonight.He was in position all night, he looked comfortable and seemed to like facing a lot of shots because he wasn’t in his ‘thinking mood’.Even the goal he let in wasn’t a bad one, Roy was shoved in front of him to screen him off.
I’m still not sure why they play that poorly at home and don’t really understand it.This game was like the Toronto game from a couple weeks back where the Sabres were the better team that night, but a late 2nd period goal rallied the Leafs, luckily they were on the right side of this decision with Detroit coming up.Detroit’s Detroit and it’s going to be difficult to go on the road after that game last night, but it would be nice to start this road haul off positively.I’d like to see the special teams take advantage of their opportunities and get some production from those second and maybe third lines and see if they can sneak this one out.
On a football note: I’m extremely excited to watch Ed Reed play today.He’s fantastic!
So Tim Connolly is coming back on Friday to play and I don’t know what to want or expect.For his sake and knowing what we’ve seen he’s going to play well while he’s out there, but there’s two ways to look at it and by all means and all kidding aside I hope he’s healthy for the remainder of the year.
You could hope that first he comes back and puts together a great 15 game or so stretch and there becomes some interest in him and the Sabres front office can use him as trade bait and get something for him before they don’t resign him at the end of the year.
On the other hand if he’s healthy he’s a little shy of a point a game player and plays both special teams.He could make the Sabres have a great third line for their playoffs and potential playoff run.
If you could guarantee me that he was going to be healthy for the whole remainder of the year, I would take the second option and ride him through the playoffs and wish him luck at the end of the year, but given his history, I would probably lean towards the first option and try to get value for him if there is any and let Ellis, Gerbe and other Portland players get NHL experience and potential playoff experience.Either way, as long as he’s healthy it will obviously be beneficial to have him back.How long?I’m not holding my breath.
Alright, so I finally got my lap top and am back in the swing of things, but I’ve felt beyond lost for the better part of a couple weeks and out of touch.I’m glad I have it back though and after last nights game I couldn’t wait to see what was out there.
Seriously, who bites someone? Ruutu’s post game comments said Peters’ hand was “by his mouth but he didn’t bite it”.Obviously this was before he had the opportunity to see the footage of him biting Peters’ hand.Wow.
As for the game it was nice to see the Sabres put together another solid performance.The win in Boston on Saturday was great, but I was happy to see them play a great 59 minutes (minus the back to back goals) and Lindy Ruff couldn’t be more right.For the Sabres to be great, they need their stars to play like it night in and night out and they’re coming around.More importantly Stafford and Pominville and some others are raising their game.I’d still like them to make a deal sooner rather than later though.This team is going to be in the playoff race and Lindy traditionally puts together a good second half push.Why not make your move now and try to build chemistry heading into or out of the All-Star break.
More to come, but I had to write something, too much has happened in the last two weeks to even try to write a monster post, but my absence sucks and I apologize.
Merry Chirstmas, sorry for the absence, but computer problems at home have allowed me to just dwell in back-to-back OT losses by the Sabres and a road win for the Bills over the last week. More to come soon, but Merry Christmas!
Embedded, didn’t work, but if you’d like to watch, feel free.
Here we go again.That wasn’t the prettiest of hockey games and the Sabres really seemed to labor through the whole game.Not sure if it was the couple days off or what but they didn’t have the energy and it showed throughout.
That first goal by the Devils was the epitome of the goals I hate by Ryan Miller.Yes I’m blaming him for the huge rebound right into the slot that led to the goal.The 5-on-3 rebound goal was definitely not Miller’s fault and the D should’ve dropped down on the play, but they seemed out of position throughout a lot of that kill.
The first goal by Stafford I loved.He made a great break out pass to Roy at center and then skated his ass off to get in front of the net and knock it in.Sometimes Stafford seems to have Vanek type (stress type) skills about him and it’s nice to see that he’s gotten his game much more simple and attacking the net.
Also good to see that Kaleta was back skating around and drew multiple penalties and scored a goal extremely similar to Stafford’s.
But seriously, the biggest problem is defensive zone turnovers.It led directly led to what 3 of the goals last night.I’m lumping not getting the puck out of the zone effectively with a turnover.It’s ridiculous how often they do that and it wasn’t just Sekera this time.It’s annoying and frustrating.
Kings are coming in on Friday night and I’m hoping that they can give me a Christmas present of a little bit of a run.Although December, last nights loss will hurt, they had a chance to go 3-0 against the Devils and pass them in the standings.It’s unbelievable how bad they play at home.If I were Lindy I would be doing something to their game day routine to try and find something that works because obviously they aren’t getting in the right mindset to play and they were sluggish for all 3 periods last night and New Jersey had played an overtime game the night before.
Side Note:Nice little plug last night on the SU/Canisus game for high school basketball in Buffalo.I seem to remember Buffalo getting much better when I was in early high school and Turner Carroll had those back to back great teams and Page and Stokes went and played well at good D1 schools.Now with Harris, Flynn and Haywood they have some more and teams like Niagara and UB (with Buffalo kids) are making a name for themselves.
Rematch of Saturday night’s game and even though Gerbe is out, at least Kaleta will be bringing his energy back for the Sabres. I would expect that Miller is going to play after the long lay off and should be ready to go.This is a big game in the standings for the Sabres and they need to stay in the thick of the race and you have to beat the teams you competing against. The Sabres (15-12-3) are two points behind the Devils (16-9-3) and have played two more games.The biggest part of Saturday’s win was that Lalime was in net and improved on his 1-4-1 for the season.The Devils are still a hot team and with Rivet out for the game I need to see both Sekera start putting together some games.He’s really struggled at times this year and they’re going to need production out of him going forward.
(courtesy of Getty Images)
Hopefully the Sabres can put together a solid 60 minutes tonight.They played a great first 37 minutes on Friday and ended the game well on Saturday.I’ll obviously take another effort like Saturday if it results in a win, but I’d like to see them play well after several days off and New Jersey having just played an OT game last night.
There’s a good article on Chris Butler and if there are more injuries on the blue line it’ll be interesting to see what Lindy does.
So on my way into work this morning I was listening back and forth between ruffled WGR and ESPN radio and Mike and Mike brought on Chris Mortensen to talk about the current coaching situations around the league and he brought up briefly the Dick Jauron ‘situation’ and seemed to think he thought he’d make it back next year.Now I can kick and scream all I want about this, but Chris Mortensen’s life is talking to people in NFL circles and to me that’s kind of the nail in the coffin for my hopes that Jauron’s gone.Although if he has a couple more beauties like Sunday who knows.
Ok, now I a full fledged believer that the Pro Bowl is the biggest joke in the history of football, sports and the world.I just got a text that fat slob that is Jason Peters made the Pro Bowl.Seriously, no lie it’s from the Bills.That’s so unbelievably awful.I’m not sure if it’s the fans or what that voted him in, but I know Buffalo fans didn’t vote him in.He was awful for the first 4 games and bad for the next 4 and has finally started to play better the last 5 or 6 games.This is a joke.That fat, lazy bastard better not think he can hold out again next year or I’m going to….well probably just give myself an ulcer, but still.
On top of that Nathan Gerbe’s hurt, but at least we get Kaleta back.
Also, here’s a good piece on Hockey Jersey etiquette although I think WGR and myself would add a couple to this rule:
Couples should not wear matching players jerseys (although it may be acceptable if they were wearing home and aways?)
Blank jersey (They do this a ton in Canada so it’s probably debatable, but I like making a commitment to a player and the team, but this is substantially better than the people who personalize their jerseys with their own names)
And it mentions wearing an Islanders’ Satan Jersey?I nix that rule.Team first, player second.I don’t think too many Jets’ fans are wearing Pennington jerseys in Week 17 this year nor will Dolphin fans be wearing a Jets’ Pennington jersey?
So I turned on Sportscenter this morning and was watching some of the recap from last nights Eagles’ game and they were interviewing Donovan McNabb.All I could think of was Marshawn Lynch’s interview last week. McNabb said that as a team, each individual said that they can do better and for the last couple of weeks they have been doing.It goes along with what I talked about yesterday and veteran leadership.The Eagles have enough players who know what it takes to win and the Bills didn’t have enough players stand up and say I can do better when things got tough they crumbled.
The Sabres and Bills are both at somewhat of the same time in terms of development and age, but the big difference is the young players on the Sabres went to back-to-back conference Finals and had savvy veterans to learn from and hopefully start to carry over for themselves and you’re starting to see Vanek, Roy, Pommer, Gaustad and the rest of the team take that leadership role. I’m just not sure where the Bills are going to look to get it outside of Marshawn Lynch and maybe Donte Whitner.I really hate Tom Donahue as a person for having back-to-back-to-back TERRIBLE drafts.It’s beyond annoying that his first day picks have turned into almost nothing and that’s why we’re lacking the veteran leadership.
On a side note, Syracuse managed to lose to Cleveland State on prayer.I’m not even that upset about it because the game shouldn’t have been that close and Syracuse played terrible, but seriously, what a freakin shot.
Seriously? I mean this is the time to make that official? They totally insult our intelligence and dedication. Obviously it says sources, but for this to even come out after the way yesterday turned out is a swift kick to the groin.
I woke up this morning and tried to think about something positive about yesterday’s game and the only one I can really come up with automatically leads me to the worst of it.Marshawn Lynch was for lack of a better word a beast yesterday.He called out himself and the whole O-line and himself went out to prove himself wrong.I loved watching him on the sideline trying to get people fired up with god forbid a little emotion.But with Marshawn Lynch playing another great game it just compounds the coaching mistake to throw the ball on 2nd down instead of running and trying to pick up the first down after you had already picked up 6 on first!That makes too much sense and we roll out Losman who seems to have the decision making capability of a 4 year old and expect him to make the smart play?Good god. You run the ball on second and you run the ball on third.JP LOSMAN IS AT QUARTERBACK! I mean as soon as JP rolled out who seriously went, “oh good I’m glad they didn’t give the ball to our best player and rolled out Losman, I think that will catch the Jets off guard.”Not only could you see the sack coming, but you knew it was going to be a fumble too.
As a fan, as a team they needed to win that game.This is a young impressionable team that learned early in the season how to win some games, but they’ve forgot that feeling.This is a solid core of young players who need to know how to turn the corner.There was an article by Leo Roth in the Rochester D&C on Saturday that talked with Kawika Mitchell about the difference between this year with the Bills and last year with the Giants and he said it was the players.I like that Donte Whitner has taken a leadership role, I really do.But every good team has viable veteran leadership that forces the players to hold themselves accountable.For instance, I’ve been saying for a while the Bills need to bring in a number 2 receiver this offseason and it may have to be a note in itself, but out of curiosity I looked up free agent wide receivers and a name of a guy I thought would be good for this young group.Amani Toomer (TJ Houshmandzadeh is a pipe dream), a guy who’s been around forever on winning teams and just gets the job done.He can teach Hardy and Johnson the position and more importantly be a great complement to Lee Evans. I know the Bills contract situation with receivers is loaded and they don’t have anyone coming off, but that’s why I’m a fan of saying goodbye to Roscoe.I love Roscoe as a punt returner when he’s not fielding punts on the 1, but I would much rather be getting production out of the receiver spot and put Jackson, McKelvin or someone else that is completely capable of returning punts back there.This team is the opposite of 2003 when we had older, veteran players and no young talent.Now the question is, do the people at One Bills Drive know what to do to solve it?
