Shutdown Pair

Category: NHL

  • Even Up

    I will be attending tonight’s game (and possibly some of the Party in the Plaza) so if anyone wants to meet up, let me know.

    A lot of noise is being made about the fact that Buffalo has never rallied from being down 2 games to 1 in a playoff series.  I am not too concerned, as it only takes one win to make it 2-2, even steven.  It’s a best of three from there if you can get it, a big test for a very young team, but has the possibility to be a big character builder for the future.  Especially for the D, which is getting big minutes from a lot of really young guys.

    We got better contributions in game 3 from the top liners, especially Vanek, and that needs to continue.  The team needs to backcheck more effectively to help out Miller, and the only ‘undisciplined’ penalties I’d like to see is Weber and Goose levelling dudes in front of the net.  The PK has been amazing, reducing the number of times short-handed could be the difference in the series.  I’m still feeling positive, and I’m going to enjoy the ride.  Let’s go Buffalo!

  • Split Down The Middle

    The Sabres returned home from Philly with a split in the series, 1-1.  Two one goal games, a cubic ass-load of penalties and one goalie switch already happening with Boucher getting the game 3 start after ‘Bob’ was chased.  I like what Lindy said about the physical play, that he’d rather see the team go too far with it than not far enough.  Cut down on the interference-type penalties, keep up with the physical play, and bring home game 3.  Some notes:

    • Looks like Pronger is still out.  Yes.
    • Mancari and Persson are sent back.
    • Nathan Gerbe is small.
    • Patrick Kaleta is from Angola.
    • Tyler Myers played Junior Hockey in Kelowna.
    • Sorry about those last three, thought I was Pierre McGuire for a second.
    • Drew Stafford needs to score, if only for everyone to see that he’s growing a mustache w/mutton chops from the looks of it.

    Taking the boy to his first official Taekwondo class tonight, but will be DVRing the game and watching as soon as I can.  Let’s go Buffalo!

  • Miller, Gerbe, Kaleta and Grier

    …and throw in Connolly and Gaustad too.  These guys came up huge for Buffalo tonight.  The scoring forwards were quiet, but the tough guys and agitators did their work (though with a few too many penalties).  However, they were also instrumental in killing those penalties, and when the shot got through, Miller was dynamite.  A road win in a tough building against the 2 seed.  Not pretty, but it still puts them up one game to none.  James Van Riemsdyk was a beast for the Flyers, but the top line players on both sides couldn’t get much traction.  Mike Grier may be glacier-slow, but he still hits like a ton of bricks, and he had some solid shots.  Love that the boys stood in against the Flyers in that regard and gave some back.

    Steve Montador, now there’s a problem.  He took some bad penalties and at times was not in the right place.  Sekera should be back soon, but that still leaves Morrisonn in there, who is pretty unnecessary with Weber playing decent.  Still, it’s hard to fault the D too much when you win 1-0.  The PK was superb, pressuring the guy with the puck and forcing the pass, but not getting too far out of position to do so.  I can’t wait for game 2.  SATURDAY WHERE ARE YOU?  (yes, I know it’s after Friday before you say anything)

  • Sabres VS Flyers, Game 1

    Well, the waiting is just about over.  Who wins?  The star goalie or the dopey kid Russian?  The Bullies or the Blades?  How corny can I get?  You don’t want to know.

    Let’s do this, Sabres.  Fortune favors the bold.

  • Mustaches for Martin

    I had planned on going full playoff beard this year (not that I don’t usually have one anyway but still), but I’m rethinking that with the brilliant idea of Mustaches for Martin. To honor number 7, Rick Martin of the French Connection (who often sported a Sam Elliott in a Western type ‘stache), many male (I hope) Sabres bloggers and tweeters are going mustache/sideburns. If you can’t grow one for whatever reason (like the wrong chromosomes), fear not, for there is a t-shirt:

    7370323-18083892

    I hope you enjoy them, and let’s go Buffalo!

  • Prediction Watch – A Recap

    If you recall, at the beginning of the year I gathered up as many of the Eastern Conference playoff predictions I could so we could compare the pundits’ prognostications to what really happened.  Now, one day before the playoffs, let’s take a look back and see who was close to right, and who was way off.

    As you can see, Corey Masisak and the SBNation Preseason Rankings were close, having Buffalo 6th and 7th respectively.  TSN and USA Today’s preseason power rankings also had Buffalo in the 9-11 range in all the NHL, solidly in the playoffs.  You can read the rest – some others weren’t very specific, just predicting a return to the playoffs or another division title.

    The most fun, though, are the ones who were really, really wrong.  Especially Tim Panaccio, the Flyer’s beat writer for CSN Philly.  I’ll put the whole thing here again to jog your memory:

    5. BUFFALO
    Lindy Ruff has been around longer than any other active coach in the league and will set a few records this season for both longevity (games coached) and victories. But as long as current ownership continues to wade in the middle of every season’s salary cap, the Sabres will never realize the dream of a Cup Final. Why goalie Ryan Miller hitched his wagon to this franchise long-term is beyond us. Buffalo is much weaker on defense, having lost both Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder. And the days of Michael Peca’s on-ice leadership are l-o-n-g gone.

    This gets even better if Buffalo takes out the Flyers in the first round.  (that’s 5th in the Northeast, picked below Toronto and Ottawa)  Of course, he couldn’t predict that a new owner would come in, or that Vanek would take that leadership mantle, or that the offseason acquisition of Jordan Leopold would work so well, but hey, who am I, right?  It’s kind of funny, looking back, at how many of these guys picked the Devils to be top 5 in the NHL.

    The Puck Daddy predictions were quite humorous, I was ready to talk up Erin Nicks for picking the Sabres to be 5th, but she also had the Devils first in their division, so that’s a wash.  Justin Bourne had Buffalo 7th but also had NJ and Ottawa in the playoffs.  Oops.

    So there you have it.  A great look at the preseason predictions that every columnist conveniently forgets about, unless they manage to hit on something right (which isn’t that often).

  • Sabres vs. Flyers – Grudge Match

    There’s a history in this matchup, no question, whether it’s the 75 Stanley Cup finals, the 06 playoffs (can still hear RJ’s call of the Umberger hit to this day), and Philly and Buffalo look to add another chapter this week when they meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.  Aside from fanhood reasons, who you think wins this series is probably based on whether or not there is a ‘switch’ that a team can flip to start playing well.  In the Flyer’s case, the switch is probably present in the form of lurking horror Chris Pronger, who never met an elbow to the head or stomp to the leg he didn’t like.  Having seen Philly a few times recently, you can see that without Pronger they get a little squirrelly in front of Bobrovsky at times.  If Pronger can steady things there, I can see the series going differently.

    Wild Card for the Sabres:  Nathan Gerbe.  We know what Thomas Vanek can do, but as Gerbe demonstrated against the Flyers he can be a difference-maker.  He, along with Drew Stafford, has been a big part of the Sabres’ surge in the second half of the year, scoring 9 of his 15 goals in the months of March and April after scoring only 1 from October to December.  He’s had good chemistry with Paul Gaustad, who provides the bulk in front of the net to screen the goalies.

    So, am I going full homer and picking the Sabres to win this series?  Yes.  I think Ryan Miller, even the slightly more vulnerable one of this year, is still a + over Bobrovsky (or any of the other goalies if he gets the hook).  Both Buffalo and Philly are top scoring teams in the East, with Philly having a slight edge, though Buffalo is better in that regard more recently.  I’ll tell you what, it’s going to be a very tight series, and I can’t wait for it to happen.

  • One

    The number you need to know is one.  One point seperates the Buffalo Sabres from the playoffs.  They can get the point themselves, either tonight or tomorrow night, or the Hurricanes or Rangers can hand it to them by losing, even in OT or the shootout.

    Of course, the much more satisfying way to do things is for the Sabres to take care of their own business and win out.  Philly (tonight’s opponent) hasn’t exactly been instilling confidence in their fans, and they had a closed-door chew-out session with their GM.  Columbus (tomorrow’s opponent) is in a tailspin of epic proportions, having only 3 wins since the beginning of March.  They will also be operating on short rest as they play Nashville tonight.  Things are stacked in the Sabres’ favor.

    Let’s see them accelerate into the playoffs.  Bust down the door against Philly, and roll that momentum forward.

  • It’s NOT About Miller VS Enroth

    Look.  I personally have not heard any fan (either around the water cooler at work or from the people I choose to follow on Twitter) say Enroth should start over a completely healthy Ryan Miller.  There are always people who like the backup goalie or QB when they play well, but what I’m seeing is more “yeah Enroth is awesome too!” than “He’s better than Miller!”.  WGR has had an on air personality or two asking if Enroth should start until he loses, but beyond that, it’s Miller as the number one.  I can’t speak for WECK, as I haven’t listened (sorry, I can’t stand political talk and I avoid stations that play it).  There’s more furor over the furor about this imagined discussion than anything.

    It’s not a perfect example, but this reminded me of the win streak that Biron and the Sabres went on back in 2005-06.  Miller wins the job, does pretty well, gets hurt, Biron goes on a run, but Miller is the guy.  Biron may have gotten a few extra games here and there because of his performance but everybody knew who the goalie of the future was.  Miller is still the goalie of the future and the now.  Having an actual backup that is trusted just strengthens the team and gives options for future acquisitions.

  • Potential Opponents

    Now that the Sabres are all but assured of making the playoffs, let’s take a look at their most likely combatants.  There’s a few possibilities here, as the Sabres could be anywhere from 6th to 8th.  7th is the most likely spot to finish in.

    First up is the Washington Capitals.  The season series with the Caps was 1-2-1, with Miller going 1-2-0 with a 2.32 GAA and .924 SP.  Jhonas Enroth played the game last week, losing in OT (sandwiched between those 2 outstanding games for what it is worth).  The win, if you recall, was the game that Thomas Vanek dazzled John Carlson and Braden Holtby for the OT winner.  I’d be curious to see what a seven game series against the Caps would look like, as Buffalo is playing much better lately, and Washington has some injuries of their own they are dealing with, including Mike Green, Dennis Wideman and Tom Poti on the blueline.

    Next up in the likely opponents list is the Flyers.  Unlike the Caps, the Sabres have one more game against the Flyers this Friday, going 1-2 in the first three.  Ryan Miller has played all 3 games against Philly, and the numbers aren’t great – 4.03 GAA, .881 SP.  Again, a couple of those were earlier in the year and the most recent game is a 5-3 win.   The Flyers are 2-3-3 in their past 8 and who knows what’s going to happen with their goaltending tandem.  Bobrovsky is the likely starter for the playoffs, though you have to think Philly wouldn’t hesitate long to put the more veteran Boucher in there if  ‘Bob’ struggles.  They’ve also been missing Pronger and Briere, though Briere might be in for the Sabres game Friday.  Pronger hasn’t played since March 8th and had a ‘minor setback’ in rehab that puts his earliest return game 1 of a potential playoff matchup at the earliest.

    The other likely foe would be the Boston Bruins.  This probably happens if the Sabres can overtake Montreal for 6th in the conference.  Buffalo has gone 4-1-1 in the season series, with Miller posting the 4-0-1 portion of that, with a 3.01 GAA and .911 SP.  Those numbers are skewed a bit by the 7-6 SO win where Stafford scored with 30 seconds to go to tie the game.  Tim Thomas took back the goaltending job from Tuukka Rask and had a Vezina-caliber season.  I’m really hoping they end up playing Montreal, though.  It would be great drama, not to mention they are likely to beat each other up.

    As of today, it is still mathematically possible to see the Lightning (and an even smaller chance to see the Penguins) but it’s so unlikely that there’s no reason to worry about it.  Looking at the potentials, there’s nobody there that this team, they way they are playing can’t stand toe to toe with.  There’s a lot of variables right now with the health of key guys up and down the Eastern conference, including the Sabres with Miller, Pronger as I mentioned, and the Washington D.  Boston has the best goaltending situation, but the Sabres still have a great record against them.  I know the excitement builds with every passing day, and I expect tonight’s home game crowd to blow the roof off the place.  Let’s send this team streaking into the playoffs.