Shutdown Pair

Category: NHL

  • Gameday 2011-2012 – Sabres at Hurricanes

    It’s hard to know what to write about this team right now – that was a rough loss last game, but if Myers is going to score and go beast mode on guys, well, that I’m glad to see.  Carolina sucks so hopefully Jhonas Enroth can rebound against them.  Weber is hurt, TJ Brennan is recalled, Hecht practiced, Ennis is still non-contact (think I got all that right).

    Wins tonight and tomorrow (Enroth gets both?) would be great for putting some distance on Toronto who is struggling through injuries and questionable goaltending also.

  • Gameday 2011-2012 – Devils at Sabres

    It feels like a really strange night tonight.  The Devils don’t exactly excite anyone, and there’s so much other stuff happening around the Sabres it really feels like this game is an afterthought.  They players are all answering questions about their injured goalie, the injured goalie is snarking at the media, and some of the media is snarking right back (looking at you, Sully).  Add in a few other injuries (Cody McCormick is out, Corey Tropp is back), a goalie ‘controversy’ now on simmer thanks to the concussion, the return of Tyler Myers (Grags sits) and you’re one ring short of a circus.

    The Devils might have Kovalchuk back tonight if he feels OK during the pregame activities.  New Jersey played in Boston last night, losing on a late goal, so for once Buffalo will be (slightly) more well rested.  Enroth is firmly entrenched in the net, though I’m curious about what happens this weekend.  It’s a 7:30pm Versus game, though Dave Strader is calling it and he’s solid.  We do get more Pierre though, so look for Rob Ray to ‘accidently’ elbow him in between the benches tonight if he starts close-talking.  Let’s go.

  • Backup Plan

    The Sabres backup goalie is Drew McIntyre.  If you are like me, you had to look him up to get the details, which include a grand total of 2 NHL appearances since being drafted in 2001.  He’s had some solid years but has never made the jump.  Ryan Miller has his second concussion in 8 months.  Jhonas Enroth is playing great…but in the worst case scenario of Miller missing significant time it’s worth noting that Jhonas has only had one season with more than 50 appearances.  Combine that with all the back to back weekends the Sabres have, and you can see that Enroth is in a bit of unknown territory.  It’s early yet, and I wouldn’t want anyone to panic (not that this fanbase has done that this year AT ALL), but the goalie situation beyond Enroth gets interesting very quick if Miller isn’t any closer to returning after this week.  Something to keep an eye on.

  • Head Games

    The plot, it does thicken.  After a resounding win over the Senators, Buffalo went to Boston and let the Bruins run roughshod over them (literally).  A lot has already been said about Lucic and Miller and responses.  I think Nick Mendola summed up the immediate reaction best for me:

    The Sabres immediate response to the offense was mostly fine in my book, given their personnel. Miller tried a blind baseball swing back at Lucic. Thomas Vanek tried to knock the train over. No dice. Andrej Sekera shoved Lucic and looked around for reinforcements. Not seeing any coming, he buried his head and hoped for the least beating possible. I’d like Paul Gaustad to look more interested in getting to Lucic, and maybe it’s above Tyler Myers’ weight class right now.

    While I did wonder where the Gaustad is that came off the bench to attack Ovechkin for cheap-shotting Briere, but the officials got their arms on guys as quick as they could and Goose apparently didn’t see it happen.  As for not taking care of Lucic later, well, for the rest of the 1st and 2nd periods, the game wasn’t out of reach (though those two goals later in the 2nd off stupid defense AGAIN had to drive even a concussed Miller crazy).  Would I want a full-on brawl to develop?  Would I have wanted Kaleta to run Tim Thomas?  Or the usual suspects to charge Lucic whenever they could, late/dirty or not?  I might’ve had a positive visceral reaction to events like that at the time, but after the fact, I’d be a bit disappointed.  I like Tim Thomas, and I wouldn’t like to see him get hurt, even in retaliation for a stupid shot on a Sabre.

    So, what happens next week when these two teams meet again, here?  There are a few scenarios:

    • Scenario One – The Sabres call up Kassian, roll out a line featuring Cody McCormick, Gaustad and BZK (backed by Regehr and Weber), and they brawl with whoever they are on the ice with, Neil/Drury game style.  EXTREMELY UNLIKELY.
    • Scenario Two – Cody McCormick fights Lucic, Kaleta hits him a few times.  Beyond that, a normal game.  MORE LIKELY.
    • Scenario Three – Gary Bettman or Colin Campbell attend the game, and the teams are on their best behavior.  SOMEWHAT LIKELY.

    There is one wild card in this – a Sabres player truly running a Bruins player.  Maybe Myers bounces Horton’s head off the boards accidently with his elbow.  Maybe Kaleta does the usual Carubba worthy hit near the boards on a guy in an awkward position.  It might even be an accident, and have nothing to do with the recent history.  But that’s the one thing that will kick that next game into clownshoes territory.  Still, the most likely one is the ‘one fight and done’ thing.  ‘The next game’ is always a disappointment.

    Miller is concussed, and Drew McIntyre will be the door opener for however long that lasts.  Jhonas Enroth is the man now, and it’s no easy stretch coming up, in Montreal tonight, home for NJ Wednesday, then another set of back to backs this weekend (Friday in Carolina, Saturday here for Phoenix).  You have to think Darcy and Lindy are hoping Miller is ready for the weekend but with a concussion, you just can’t know.  The team needs to pull together here and rally.

  • Gameday LIVE – Senators at Sabres

    In the pressbox tonight, so I’ll be updating this post with my thoughts between periods.

    1st Period:  Wow, two quick goals.  And they give one right back on the PK.  Fun stuff.  Anderson was terrible with his rebounds so Alex Auld is in net.  Some dude proposed on the Kiss cam.  I’ve wondered whether there are any people who are already engaged and just do that to get on TV/get attention.  The rest of the period had a slower pace with a bit more of the dodgy passing, though not nearly as much as the recent losses.  Vanek is a touch off.

    2nd Period:  Leftover penalty time killed easily.  Not much action then Enroth had to make a beauty of a save.  Vanek making some noise again, but the wraparound wasn’t there tonight.  Sabres powerplay showed some life with a short 5 on 3, with some very solid keep-ins and puck movement, but no goal so far.  Enroth got wiped out when Zenon Konopka shoves Gragnani into him, drawing a penalty.  Some activity in front of the Buffalo net, and Gaustad getting a bit testy when clearing the crease.  Will be watching in the third.

    3rd Period:  Sens fan in the building, wearing a hockey helmet.  Good planning.  Stafford and others had some hard hits to start also.  Goose just missed a tip in.  Ville Leino scored on a reviewed goal that came out of Auld’s glove, and the Sabres got a little ‘fancy’ (DRINK) for a few minutes after that.  Not unexpected in a 5-1 game.  That’s the final, though they did get a solid chance to score on Auld again close to the end.

  • Will “The Schedule” Become the Next Great Lindy Ruff Meme?

    We’ve all had fun with Lindy Ruff and the players and their constant use of ‘The System”.  “We didn’t play the system tonight” or “We’ve got to get back to playing our system”.  Now, with the goalie stuff going on, we have ‘The Schedule’.  Which goalie is playing tonight?  It’s Scheduled.  Who does Ruff consider his number 1(A?) right now?  You’d know, if only you could see The Schedule.  Is The Schedule a physical construct?  Or just a metaphysical one inside Ruff’s mind?

    The Sabres play the Senators tonight, and I heard that Chris Neil might not play.  That’s too bad, because I wanted Cody McCormick or Paul Gaustad to beat the snot out of him.  I think I’ll be home tonight barring anything strange happening.  But I have a wife and kids, so strange is possible…

  • The New Boss

    The Sabres won last night, though it still wasn’t pretty and took overtime and stupid penalties by the Thrasherjets to do it.  So it pretty much ‘solves’ nothing about the Miller/Enroth debate.  As I was watching the game last night, I think I came up with a good analogy for what is happening.  It’s like when your boss retires, and some new guy comes in from another department to take over.  You stop surfing the net, or goofing with your phone, or flirting with the hottie that sits a few cubes behind you.  Look at ME, you are saying, this company is my LIFE.

    But after a few weeks, you ease the throttle back a notch.  Your work’s getting done, so there’s no harm in checking those NFL injury reports.  You find yourself standing next to the hottie’s desk chatting away after you get coffee.  It happens, you’re human.  That’s where the Sabres are with Enroth, though.  It’s still New Boss Mode.  They sit up straight and pay attention for Jhonas in a way they don’t for Miller right now, and make no mistake, Miller needs the D to do just that.  He needs to find his game, so they need to quit cheating, making bad passes, and generally expecting Miller to make the save.  He isn’t right now, so they need to put their phones away, leave the hottie alone (she’s got a boyfriend anyway guys) and get to work.  In the long run it’ll make them a better team when Ryan does get his game back on track.

    Cody damaged Glass's hand WITH HIS FACE

    As for the game last night, I missed the first period, and when I saw the score I thought “darn, I missed all the fun”.  Yeah, not so much.  Thomas Vanek scored twice (although the second one was ricocheting a goal in off him in his office), and Roy had two goals, including the one that tied the game late to send it to overtime.  It was a penalty-filled affair, with the Jets taking some dumb penalties in particular.  I thought Gerbe embellished to get the penalty in the OT.  Pominville played half the game.  A special nod to Gaustad for the super-sweet pass, and Cody McCormick for the epic bout with Tanner Glass.  Commander Cody got cut, possibly by Glass hitting his helmet as Tanner had to ice his hand in the penalty box afterwards.  Oh, and congratulations to Corey Tropp for his first NHL goal.

    See you Friday when the Sens come to town.  May be in the pressbox for that one.

  • Gameday 2011-2012 – Jets at Sabres

    It’s going to be quite a night at the FNC tonight.  Dale Hawerchuk and Rick Jeanneret will be inducted into the Sabres Hall of Fame (hey, that means they get swords right?  COOL).  The newfangled Thrasher-Jets are in town for the first time, and we are all waiting impatiently to see which goalie gets the nod tonight for Buffalo.  Ryan Miller provided some choice quotes regarding the situation:

    “I’m here to win,” Miller said Monday. “That’s the emotion you get from me. If I’m discouraged, if I’m pissed off, that’s just how it is. I want to win. I don’t want to be out there getting scored on. I don’t want to be pulled out of a game. I want to, you know, I want to fucking win the game.”

    I put the bad words back in, those weren’t in the News story.  Could you imagine all the letters (hand-written!) they’d get from the old people that still get a physical copy of the paper?  Heh.  By the way, love this bit from Lindy Ruff at the end:

    “There’s a lot of fire there,” Ruff said. “He’s emotional about his game, and that’s what you like. I like him the way he is.”

    I keep hearing the chorus to “Just the Way You Are” now.  Aww.  Moving on, Ennis and Hecht are still recovering, and Kaleta is still suspended, so I imagine Corey Tropp will still be in tonight.  As an aside, wasn’t his name being pronounced like it was spelled ‘trope’ in the preseason?  Or maybe at Traverse City.  Whichever way it’s said, he hasn’t looked out of place out there to me.  It’s a 7pm game, but expect it to start a bit later with the pre-game festivities.  Adjust your DVRs accordingly if you need to record the game.

  • Winning Weekend Fans The Goalie ‘Controversy’ Flames

    Buffalo played Jhonas Enroth in both back to back games this weekend, and won both by one goal.  It certainly won’t mute the vocal minority who are now thinking that maybe Enroth should be the one to get 50-60 games this year.  I don’t think that’s what is happening here, Ruff is giving Ryan Miller some time to clear that horrible Flyers game out of his head, get the work in at practice, and come back with a vengeance.

    As for the games, the one on Friday against the Flames was about as perfect a game as Buffalo could play.  They peppered Calgary’s backup goalie with shots, with Stafford and Gerbe scoring in the 2-1 win.  It was night and day from the difficult to watch team that couldn’t seem to buy a good scoring chance, when they weren’t too busy giving the puck away.  Last night’s game against the Senators was more even and not quite as dominant, but still showed a lot of positive signs.  Robyn Regehr was wrecking dudes, Boyes and Leino both played very solidly, and Nathan Gerbe was a stud on the Leopold goal.  Derek Roy scored the other Buffalo goal, and also had the decider in the shootout.  Vanek and Boyes both contributed in the shootout as well to keep Buffalo alive.  These two games really seem like what we were expecting from the start of the season, the right guys contributing…save for the goalie.  REALLY interested to see how Enroth gets used in the up coming week, with a Tuesday home game against Winnipeg, another Friday/Saturday combo with a rematch against Ottawa and a trip to Boston, then a Monday game in Montreal.  Is he back to one game on the weekend?  Two?  I think if Miller plays well against Winnipeg, assuming he goes in for that one, we are back to the ‘schedule’ for Jhonas.  But if he plays against the Jets…

  • Gameday 2011-2012 – Flames at Sabres

    Well, that was an interesting week.  We see line shuffling, Miller chased in less than 7 minutes, Enroth holding the line for a comeback try, but ultimately still losing at home to the Flyers.  Kaleta gets suspended 4 games, and Corey Tropp is up to take his spot in the lineup.  Ready your Tropp-ic Thunder or Tropp-ical Storm puns now.

    So, Kaleta.  He definitely hit the dude in the head, I don’t know that he was trying to head-butt ’em, but it was a reckless play that contacted the head, so 4 games works.  The people spoke and Kaleta was the popular choice for most suspended Sabre, and now he’s got quite a lead.

    The Flames come in tonight for another 7:30pm start, off a 4-1 win in Detroit last night.  That’s right, Buffalo gets to be the rested team tonight.  Calgary is pretty much on par with the Sabres right now, with solid wins surrounding painful losses.  They’ve at least had the decency to win more than one at home, though.  Lindy is playing coy about which goalie plays tonight, as for Calgary, they play Kipper into the ground so it wouldn’t surprise me to see Kiprusoff out there.  Doesn’t help that backup Henrik Karlsson is 0-1-1 with a 3.32 GAA in his limited appearances.  We’ll probably know more after practice today.