Shutdown Pair

Tag: Christian Ehrhoff

  • Sorry, Ville

    Seriously, can this guy catch a break?  Er, bad choice of words.  The view from the press box probably isn’t helping him any, as his team struggles to find an identity (and their man in the defensive zone) managing only 1 point in the standings in four games.  Goaltending has been a bright spot, though they worked Miller so hard his groin kept him out of a game.  Jhonas Enroth ably filled in, but eventually, your team might have to chip in a goal or three.

    I wish I could say things are going to get better soon, but really, a team filled with teenagers, head cases and only one real scoring threat is not one that shakes off a slump easily.  All the line-juggling and benchings in the world won’t help.  Time, practice and teaching will.  That can’t happen if a player is in a suit.  Neither can it happen if he’s toiling on the fourth line alongside John Scott or Cody McCormick.  Mistakes suck, and they are hard to watch.  I get that.  But they need to be made if they are to be learned from.  Or, pessimistically, we need to see if a player CAN learn from them.  So give me Grigorenko and Larsson, Girgensons and Ristolainen.  Foligno, Pysyk, Hodgson – let’s see what we have.  If we’re going to suffer, let’s suffer with a purpose.

    Today’s lines at practice:

    • Vanek – Hodgson – Ott
    • Foligno – Ennis – Stafford
    • Girgensons – Larsson – Flynn
    • McCormick – Porter – Kaleta

    On D:

    • Ehrhoff – Pysyk
    • Weber – Myers
    • McBain – Ristolainen

    This is a problem.  Yeah, Grigorenko hasn’t been great.  But he’s not some 5 year veteran who needs to be shaken up by having to sit a few games.  He’s a KID whose best chance is to work on his game NOW.

  • It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over

    The Sabres traded away their captain yesterday.  Jason Pominville was a completely inoffensive, very solid player.  He said the right things, to a fault.  He played hard, he produced at a decent rate.  He provided us with one of, if not THE most exciting moment for the franchise since the lockout, the short-handed OT series winner against Ottawa.  I’ll wish him well in Minnesota.

    I do NOT think Buffalo is done dealing their core players.  Obviously they are until the season is over, but no one is yet safe.  Players with years left on their contract make a lot more sense to be moved in the offseason, at the draft for instance.  You know what exact picks you are getting then, and what holes you may need to fill.  And make no mistake, you will want to get players at the draft or via trade – you’ve seen the ‘Top’ UFAs at CapGeek, right?  The only one under 30 is Tyler Bozak, he of 23 points this year.  Pascal Dupuis isn’t scoring 40 for Buffalo, not unless he brings the rest of Pittsburgh’s top lines with him.  That leaves players in the system contributing, and players traded for.  I like the haul Darcy pulled in for Jason.  The two players are actual prospects, with good upside.  Another 1st rounder and a 2nd added to that is great.

    Would I trade Miller and Vanek.  My heart says no, especially on Vanek…but my brain says, why not?  You’d get a fantastic return, clear tons of cap room, and be well positioned to build a new core from the existing prospects and draft picks stockpiled.  Girgensons, Grigorenko, Armia, Larsson, McCabe, Hackett, Catenacci, Pysyk, any of them could be a star.  Or it could be someone else.  I’m with the majority that sees Steve Ott as the mentor moving forward, possibly with a letter.  On D, it’s Ehrhoff.

    It’s kind of funny how fast this has changed.  A few weeks ago, who could’ve imagined a Sabres team without Vanek and Miller?  Now, I feel almost…excited at the idea.  A new era!  A (presumably) new coach!  I want this, I want to see the change.

  • Which is it?

    Are the Sabres really as good as they looked last night?  Did getting two NHL players back in the lineup (even ones derided as much as Boyes) make that much of a difference?  Or were the Capitals really playing that poorly?  I’m inclined to think the latter, and I only heard the first period on the radio and watched the other two.  There was a lot of cruising around by Caps players, and Buffalo could consistenly break out of their zone and gain entrance on the offensive side.  For any of us that have watched Sabres games this year, you know it hasn’t been THAT hard to stop ’em from doing that.

    Christian Ehrhoff did some great work last night.  Scored what turned out to be the game winner, blocked four shots, had some other solid defensive plays.  Robyn Regehr frustrated Ovechkin quite a bit, including that hard hit behind the net.  Though my favorite ‘hit’ on Ovi is when he ran into Kassian and went flying backwards right along with him.  I’d like to give a shout out to Roy also, 21 minutes of ice time, had a point, won 65% of his faceoffs.

    Michal Neuvirth deserves ‘special’ recognition for being terrible, letting in 3 goals on 6 shots, none of which was some amazing, unstoppable shot.  He had nothing last night, not sure if it could be fatigue since there was that whole Christmas break thing.  On the other hand, it was Miller’s sixth straight start, and it was his best in that stretch, with both goals scored on him due to a screen in front.  The first might’ve even been goalie interference.

    The rest of the week is busy for Buffalo, as they play the Devils tomorrow in Jersey, then go to Washington for these same Caps for Friday.  Saturday (Tux and Pucks) they return home for the Senators.  Enroth one of those games if Lindy still has ‘The Schedule’ going.  Might try for a press pass for Saturday depending on what ends up happening for New Year’s Eve.  We don’t usually go out.

  • Comfortably Numb

    Okay, nice headline, nerd.

    I missed the later goal when my wife came home after the second period, but I just can’t get too worked up over this loss.  Miller played better, which was my main concern.  There needs to be some more scoring.  They didn’t take many shots, and when they did, they seemed to go right into Anderson’s chest.

    The Sabres forwards, almost to a man, deserve much of the blame for last night’s game.  Nine of Buffalo’s anemic 23 shots came from the blue liners, including the only two guys to have more than two shots (Sekera and Ehrhoff), and the only Sabre to score (Leopold).  On a night where you give up five shots to Erik Condra and SIX to Chris Neil, that’s not good enough.  I’m perfectly OK with any shake-ups Darcy wants to try for the forward group, although getting everyone back healthy might count as a shake-up too.

    Buffalo next plays tomorrow night in Toronto.

  • Gameday LIVE – Rangers at Sabres

    Getting set up in the pressbox for tonight’s visit from Martin Biron and the New York Rangers.  It’s the Sabres’ first game against the Rangers, and Jhonas Enroth gets the call after Miller played in the win last night.  Leino comes back from his suspension, but Hecht (‘lower body’) and Corey Tropp (concussion) are both out, so Colin Stuart gets the recall from Rochester.  The wheel turns, does it not?  Eventually all of this focus on head hits might mean you don’t have a new player concussed every night.

    Some notes from the Sabres’ gameday crew:  Vanek has only been held scoreless in consecutive games twice, gaining a point or more in 20 of 28 games.  Stafford has 1+1 in the past two games.  Ehrhoff leads the team in ice time with 24:33 per game on average.

    I’ll be updating this post after each period with my thoughts.

    1st Period:

    Buffalo begins the game by taking a high-sticking penalty, Robyn Regehr 9 seconds in.  PK is no big deal for this team, and with some help the lineseman’s leg, they get a break.  Biron almost mishandled the puck right in front of him.  The penalty was killed.  Beautiful play from Kassian to Adam but it didn’t go in.  Enroth is absorbing shots, good sign.  Ehrhoff joins Gragnani with early giveaways.  The Sabres aren’t generating zone time or chances, though Drew Stafford is working hard.  Excellent opportunity from Chewie/Vanek/Pominville, then another partial break by Vanek afterwards.  Play picked up after the 8 minute mark, with the top three lines finally getting some chances.  Enroth had a big save on Brad Richards.  Cody took a number after getting knocked down in front of the net shortly after.  Rangers and Sabres trade interference penalties.  Vanek with a near-beauty out of the box.  Buffalo got a little scrambly at the end but managed to avoid the late goal being allowed.  Scoreless after one.

    2nd Period:

    Stafford/Ennis/Roy some solid work to start the period.  Seems to be more balanced early, Buffalo making some plays.  Not so many stoppages.  Good steal by Roy, and save by Biron.  Nice breakup by Ehrhoff coming back on a Rangers rush.  On the power play Vanek seems to forget how to puckhandle for a minute.  The Rangers score on a short handed rush when Hagelin picks his corner on Enroth.  Vanek answers not long after on a ‘fuck you I’m scoring’ blast from between the circles.  Brandon Prust took exception to Vanek giving old friend Marty Biron a show shower.  This is fun.  Not so fun when Callahan scores another shorty.  Ehrhoff has to knock him down there.  The crowd let’s the Sabres hear it at the end of the second for that second shorthanded goal.  2-1 Rangers.

    3rd Period:

    A few good chances to start the period.  Adam just missed on a great pass from behind the net.  And then Enroth lets in another softy.  Just a killer, that one.  Not even sure what really happened.  Ennis and Stafford had some great chances not long after that but to no avail.  Just don’t seem to be making good decisions when the puck.  Vanek has 2 great chances, then Kassian decks a dude along the boards and gets a penalty.  PK letting too many Rangers stand in front of the net.  Puck possession is a problem.  The Rangers ice the game on the power play, whistling a shot past Enroth’s glove hand.  It’s Gaborik.  There is a baby crying nearby, I don’t blame him or her.  4-1 Rangers.  Your three stars:  3 – Callahan, 2 – Biron, 1 – Hagelin.  Biron got a big cheer.

    Postgame Thoughts:

    Lindy felt the powerplay was too stationary, not making the defenders change their angle of attack.  He also felt that they had more and better chances than last night, but made more mistakes.  There were a lot of shots missed high, he noted that they had discussed shooting high on Biron, but they couldn’t make it happen.  Marc-Andre Gragnani had been coached to join the rush more, but he still made some tough plays.

    I’m honestly not sure where to go with this tonight.  They weren’t terrible, though maybe Enroth was in the second and third.  Some blame can be laid on his teammates on a couple of the goals, but none of them were impossible stops.  It’ll be interesting to see if Miller starts to get more starts or if Lindy sticks with The Schedule.

  • Sabres Win; Miller Gets Tootoo’d

    What a wild affair in Nashville, as the Sabres beat the Predators 3-2.  Luke Adam, Zack Kassian and Tyler Ennis scored, but the real story will again be Miller getting flattened.  This time, the team came to his aid like he owed them money, though Ryan tried to fight his own battle by punching whoever came near.  Jordin Tootoo was the culprit, and though he was being gently touched by Ehrhoff at the time, he practically leaped into Miller’s chest like a linebacker making a tackle.  Gaustad dove in to take care of business and it basically seemed like exactly what we should see when that happens.

    Kassian’s goal was sweet, there was some hard work, but the team was severely outshot.  Miller made some huge saves, before and after getting mauled.  We all now wait to hear what Tootoo will get for a suspension, if any.  He’s no boy scout though I don’t know how much of that would count for Shanny’s repeat offender status.  Lindy Ruff was outraged after the game, and this might be the first time I would wish we could play Nashville again in a season.

  • While you were sleeping…

    I don’t check the standings religiously this early in the season, but I saw them today and did a bit of a double-take.  In case you haven’t seen them either, Buffalo is now behind both Toronto AND Ottawa in the Northeast division, with Montreal 2 points behind.  There’s still plenty of time, no question there, but it’s a bit disconcerting to say the least.  Ottawa is supposed to be terrible, but they’ve won 6 straight.  They haven’t exactly been taking on intimdators (Columbus, Florida, Carolina, the Rangers) but you beat the teams you play and they are doing that.  Buffalo can’t afford to lay eggs when playing all the middling to bad teams, especially at home.

    So what’s wrong?  I think you have to start with the defense.  Myers has looked unsure of what to do at times, which is unlike him when he’s playing well.  He’s waiting too long to decide on whether to go for a pass or just clear the puck, and opponents are reaching him and making the decision for him.  Ehrhoff isn’t great defensively, but Canucks fans could’ve told us that.  He’s gotta be scoring if he’s not going to be defending.  Gragnani has just been a train wreck out there recently, passes to nowhere, difficulty in breakouts, pretty much everything seems hard for him.  Will not be surprised to see Mike Weber get a shot Wednesday.

    It’s not time to panic and trade everybody, but Buffalo can’t afford to be standing still for too much longer.  They just might end up where they were last January,with no new ownership boost available to save them.

  • 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.

  • Winning Weekend

    I only got to see bits and pieces of the Sabres games in Europe, since I was at work for one of them, but you can’t ask for much more than what they did.  Two wins, including one after a terrible night of travel.  Contributions from Ehrhoff and Leino, Thomas Vanek doing his Atlas thing, Luke Adam making a case to stick with the big club long term.  Oh, and your new captain Jason Pominville leading by example with 4 points already.  The Sabres got a bit squirrelly in the 3rd periods, but Miller seems ready to take care of business in the Buffalo end, so you’ve got that too.  The next game can’t come soon enough, though I understand they need time after the trip so I will manage to wait until Friday.  😀

  • Yeah Sabres!

    I haven’t felt compelled to post much of anything this preseason, as you may have noticed.  A touch of snark at the Leafs here, a bit of whimsy about Shanny’s player discipline for head-hunting there.  Beyond that though, nada.  I think there’s a good reason…I’m satisfied.  For the first time in a while, I so like what the team has done in the offseason I don’t feel the need to do a bunch of research, or scour Behind The Net’s advanced stats, to try and show you why Buffalo should be better this year than last.  The moves stand on their own.  They took a playoff team from last year, lost only a few players, replaced them with guys who are most likely quite a bit better.  Jhonas Enroth looks primed to be the solid backup goalie that we’ve waited years for, and Miller has been sharp early as well.

    I guess what I’m saying is, I need the season to start to find something to complain about, or praise highly.  I’m content.  Once the games start, I can champion someone’s cause for the Calder again, or show video of why Ehrhoff is an important player for the Sabres.  Let’s resolve to make this the best blogging and tweeting year for Sabres fans ever.  The season begins, and I’m ready.