Shutdown Pair

Tag: Canadiens

  • So It’s Your First Game Seven

    So It’s Your First Game Seven

    The Buffalo Sabres have made it to the end of the second round, prompting a game seven. The last time they had a game seven was also their last playoff appearance back in 2011 (stupid Flyers). Maybe this is your first game seven as a sports fan…if so, how are you feeling?

    I know it’s already been an absolute roller coaster of emotions this postseason. Late comebacks, goalies getting pulled, late hits, dives, terrible officiating, we’ve seen everything in these first two rounds.

    It’s going to be so much MORE tonight. The ideal scenario would be Buffalo scoring a couple of early goals and cruising by with some excellent defensive play to finish off the Habs. Look at the first six games…how likely do you think that is? Yeah, it’s gonna be a grind. I truly and firmly believe that the Buffalo Sabres can win this game and get back to the conference finals. But it won’t be that easy. It never is here.

    Your team is in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the best postseason in North American professional sports. If Buffalo can win tonight, they’ll face the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes have cruised through the playoffs so far, 4-0, 4-0 and haven’t played a game since May 9th. But if Buffalo gets there, I’m taking the team that struggled and fought and took every shot the Bruins and the Canadiens could give them and still answered the bell.

    “I can do this all day”

    I’ll give one final reminder – sports is *FUN*. Cheer, cry, wake the neighbors but remember how amazing the journey was.

    JFG

    Go Sabres.

  • A Tale of Two Teams

    A Tale of Two Teams

    Watching the game last night (and to an extent every game in this series) it felt like I was seeing two different Buffalo team. The one that started periods was dominant. They skated circles around the Canadiens, scoring goals and hemming them into their own end for multiple shifts. Then the Bad Sabres emerged, making dumb passes, skipping decent shot chances for a fancy pass, and otherwise making stupid decisions.

    I’m not sure what’s wrong with the first line. Alex Tuch has caught whatever Tage and Quinn have and all three were useless most of the night. Quinn in particular seems to be squeezing the stick, getting the puck multiple times in the slot and just, not shooting. Thompson took a stupid penalty away from the play which led to a Montreal power play goal 10 seconds later.

    Bright spots continue to be the Benson/Doan/Norris line, with Doan scoring on a deflection in front. Zucker had the first goal, and young Konsta Helenius continued is excellent play from last game with the Sabres third and final goal.

    Buffalo travels to Montreal tomorrow. I believe that with a few tweaks, they can push it to game seven. I’m planning to go to the watch part at KBC, I hope to see you all there!

  • Sabres Lay an Egg

    Sabres Lay an Egg

    The Buffalo Sabres lines (other than the 3rd one) looked absolutely lost as they dropped game two 5-1. Tage in particular seems barely functional as a human being, let alone a 40 goal scorer. Zach Benson was the lone bright spot and goal scorer for the good guys, working his ass off behind the net and then moving to the front for a tap in after.

    Benson mean mugging Dobes

    Benson about to say something ridiculous

    Tage Thompson was an absolute nightmare tonight. He fell multiple times, leading directly to goals. He passed when he should’ve shot, and never seemed to be in the right spot. I said during the game on Bluesky that if that had been Vanek back in the old days, Lindy would’ve put his ass on the 4th line. The old timer may be hoping he’ll play his way out of it but I don’t think the Sabres survive to the conference finals if Tage plays like that.

    Sorry they wasted your goal, Benny. Sunday, 7pm, these dipshits better be ready to do what they did in Boston.

  • Uh Oh, Montreal!

    Uh Oh, Montreal!

    The 40 goal scorer hasn’t netted one since game 1 against Boston. The team managed only *16* shots, getting outshot by 12 for the game. The Sabres lost two thirds of their faceoffs, and gave the puck away 15 times to Montreal’s 7.

    And yet, watching the game, I never once thought that Buffalo would lose. They scored an early goal after Lane Hutson tripped and gave the puck away, and honestly, they never looked back. Benson fed Doan for that first goal, and then Benson found McLeod on the power play (after Doan did excellent work in front of the net to gain possession) for the second tally. Montreal got one late in the first to make it interesting on a great pass across the crease on the man advantage to Nick Suzuki, but the second period went much the same as the first. Jordan Greenway scored, followed by Byram. Greenway in particular was all over the ice, hitting dudes and making plays.

    Buffalo didn’t have their best, especially from the top two lines, but it didn’t matter. The Canadiens can clean up their game tomorrow night, and they’ll have to if they don’t want to be down two games to none when they get home.3

    He pissed you off all game, and he’ll fucking do it again.

  • Gameday 2011-2012 – Canadiens at Sabres

    We all know what’s at stake for the Buffalo Sabres right now.  Every point is important, being 2 back of Washington (also playing tonight).  The improbable run Buffalo’s on (slightly more improbable than last year) is coming to a close, with only 8 more games left after tonight.  The Sabres have gotten a lot of help – the other contenders for the 8th spot have been doing a LOT of losing, so that even when Buffalo only picked up 1 point in a few games recently, it didn’t hurt.  They weathered Tyler Myers being out, and get him back tonight.

    So why isn’t there more buzz about this team?  Well, for me, I’m just enjoying the ride.  Trying not to get too wound up in case they falter.  Even if they make the playoffs, there are some juggernauts they might end up facing (Penguins look deadly right now).  Much like Gerbe’s second-half last year, I’ve loved watching Tyler Ennis develop.  I want to see more of this rough and tumble Tyler Myers.  I’m very much enjoying the success of the young guns on their call-ups, with Foligno in particular showing why we were okay with trading away Zack Kassian.

    I might just get to watch tonight, and while I’m not jumping-up-and-down excited like some people seem to be expecting, I’m happy.  Take it or leave it.

  • Crowd Comments

    I went to the Sabres/Canadiens game on Monday, and I thought I’d comment about the issue everyone is talking about (while they distract themselves from a stressful playoff run).  I had zero problems with the crowd or the noise they made.  Did it get quiet during play?  Yeah, but *I* get quiet during play – I’m watching!  I know I made a joke about it, but it’s true.  Let me turn this around:  those of you who think we should make noise the whole game, what exactly are we doing?  Random cheering?  Constantly trying to chant (even if no one is joining in)?  I’m serious, what do you want to hear?  I thought we were plenty loud at the right times.

    The other aspect of it was whether or not we were cheering Gomez’s injury.  I saw Myers hit him, and it didn’t look like a clean hit to me from the start, though the size difference can make that hard to judge at full speed.  I’m not surprised he got dinged though three games is a bit much for a non-repeat offender to me.  The Sabres have a history with Scott Gomez (the Miller injury – and another ‘lack of response’, painful memory there) so it’s not surprising that fans would be less than sympathetic with him being injured, but it’s not like it was being greatly cheered or anything.  Montreal media needs to remember that a few bad apples on Twitter don’t make a fanbase.  Just like a few Habs fans who flip over and burn cop cars after a playoff win don’t make up theirs.

    We have to hope at this point that the Sabres can rally without Myers (who has been more and more productive lately, including the game-winner against the Habs) and keep rattling off wins to try and get ahead of Washington or Florida.  Sekera is still out, and Sulzer has been playing well in his stead, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Brayden McNabb is back in.  See you at 7:30pm for Colorado.

  • SHHHH! I’m Watching the Game!

    Hey, you guys.  Yes, you, with the sign and the face paint.  Keep it down tomorrow night, my son and I are attending a hockey game, and I want to watch what happens.  Feel the wrath of my disapproving stare when you yell “SHOOOOOOT” seven seconds into a power play.  Quiver in your seats as I berate you (on Twitter, of course) for your random “WOOOOOO” when you got your twelfth beer, or an awesome nacho platter, or whatever the hell it was for.  Don’t even THINK of standing up if there’s a breakaway.  By the way, it’s “Let’s Go Buff-a-lo”, not “Let’s Go Sabres”, so don’t let me hear you say that, even if it’s your six year old who really wants to start a chant who starts it.  Boo ONLY the players on the approved villains list for the opponent at each game.  Don’t laugh at the Kiss Cam or the crotch-shot videos, that will only encourage them to keep showing them.  A round of polite applause is required when a correct call is made by the on-ice officials against an opposing player.

    Or, just go the game and do whatever makes you happy.  It IS a game, after all.  Everybody else can jump in a fucking lake if they don’t like it.  Conveniently, there’s one right outside the FNC.

  • Miller Thievery

    There used to be a vocal minority of Miller detractors, and one of their favorite songs to sing was “Miller never steals games!”.  And while the rest of us know that this isn’t the first game he’s stolen, it’s one of the most obvious.  The Sabres slept-walked through the first and most of the second, lucky that Ryan only allowed the one goal.  Jordan Leopold evened the score for them, cleaning up a Stafford rebound.  Montreal shot themselves in the foot, however, icing the puck with 6 seconds left in the second period.  Goose won the draw, a couple of quick passes and Vanek blasts it home for the eventual game winner.  Christian Ehrhoff added an empty netter.

    You can be sure Lindy will be pressing the boys on the importance of a 60 minute effort, but it sure is nice to have the real Ryan Miller back there as a safety net against those 20 minute ones.

  • Bruins and Canadiens: Appointment TV?

    The Bruins and the Canadiens play their sixth and final game of the regular season tonight, and the last two games have been quite memorable.  You have Chara ramming/guiding/elbowing/brushing Max Pacioretty into a stanchion between the benches (with the word used to describe it differing based on your rooting interest) in the last game.  The game before that was an 8-6 penalty fest that saw multiple line brawls, a half-hearted goalie fight, and numerous ejections.  What does that mean for tonight?

    Nothing.  IF any crazy shenanigans happen, it will be due to actions that happen tonight.  Both teams know full well this game will be watched VERY closely by NHL hockey ops, and the playoffs are too close to have someone important sent off for message-sending.  There will be fights, I wager, between the usual combatants, but unless someone elbows somebody in the face or Chara goes full Wookiee on a guy again, this game will be a tame one.  Even though we may want these two teams to beat each other up.

  • Gameday 2010-2011 – Sabres at Canadiens

    The Buffalo Sabres play their final regular season game against the Montreal Canadiens tonight at 7:30 PM.  Buffalo wants to ‘channel their anger‘ from the somewhat embarrassing collapse against the Preds the other night, so hopefully that leads to a beatdown of the Habs.  Said Gaustad:

    I’ll say this: Guys on this team care. They do show emotion and don’t think they don’t. It’s just that you don’t see it. It’s not something we normally reveal to you guys but we care. You just happened to see some of it [Sunday].

    I think it’s good for fans to see a bit of it like that (and to hear about Jerry Sullivan’s logo gaffe too) as it’s been a concern for some in the past, whether the Sabres players ‘care’ enough.  Sort of like the ‘Vanek is lazy’ meme.  Anyway, here’s hoping the team’s energy is well-focused tonight, as the Canes play Ottawa, which is not exactly an automatic loss for Carolina to say the least.