Shutdown Pair

Tag: Daniel Briere

  • Gameday 2011-2012 – Flyers at Sabres

    Hmm, so not only do we have former Flyer Ville Leino centering the first line, but Roy is at the point on the power play, with Gragnani out of the equation.  Might we get a Mike Weber sighting?  Lindy wouldn’t say, but it wouldn’t be a huge surprise.  The Flyers come in without Danny Briere who is nursing sore ribs.  Sorry, boo-birds, your ownly chance to boo him will be when they announce the scratches.  Pronger is also out after nearly having his eye scooped out.

    I know that it’s the first meeting after the Flyers eliminated the Sabres from the playoffs, but I just don’t feel any great anger at them for it.  I mean, I always dislike the Flyers, and that didn’t increase it any.  Maybe it’s the hangover from the Pegula effect.  Leino will doubtless have some butterflies playing his old mates, perhaps moreso because it hasn’t gone that well here.

    It’s another 7:30pm start time tonight, and it’s on Versus, so plan accordingly.

  • Se7en

    Hey, I thought the title was appropriate with all the ‘mass murder’ and ‘getting away with murder’ comments going on…We’ve got the first game seven of the Stanley Cup playoffs coming up, after Buffalo came up short in game six.  I didn’t get to watch game five or six, being on the road or busy with family/Easter obligations, so no in depth discussion of what an asshole Mike Richards is.  Everybody knows, now.  I feel for Tim Connolly’s gray matter, and am thrilled to hear “That’s great, Derek” Roy might be back.


    The Sabres should have some advantages here, though whether they’d agree or not, I’m not sure.  Philly is ‘supposed’ to win as they are the 2 and Buffalo is the 7.  This season is a success no matter how you slice it, going from basement to playoffs, giving a high seed a run for their money (and maybe eliminating them!), and getting an owner with deep pockets and a deeper commitment to winning.  They had young players stepping in and stepping up, showing a brighter future there also.  These guys should just roll out there in Philly on Tuesday and have fun.  I want to see Myers with that grin on his face he had after games last year, the “holy crap, I do this for a living? AWESOME” look.  I want the Goose that dumps Briere on his ass at the faceoff dot.  I want the Gerbe who will slam into the bigger Flyers.


    I will be watching Tuesday, but my stress level is such that I may not be able to keep the game on the whole time if it’s close.  I hope to catch up with things a bit more in depth tonight, if I don’t fall asleep as soon as the kids do.

  • 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.

  • “Angry” Teams

    I don’t buy the whole ‘angry team after a loss’ thing that’s being attributed to the Flyers last night, at least as it pertains to them beating the Sabres.  Yes, the Flyers came out ‘flying’ so to speak, but it was undisciplined.  It seemed like Philly was going fbeor the body at the expense of everything else (sort of like year one Kaleta) and as a result, the Sabres were able to get the lead.  The Flyers felt that the first period fight gave them a boost, but I don’t buy that totally.  I can see it providing a boost for them to score that Briere goal, but you should be able to recover from that and fight back after the intermission at the very least.

    At the end of it, they got out-worked by the best players on the Flyers, and couldn’t cover for Miller having a less-than-stellar night.  He in particular blamed himself for getting upset on the uncalled goalie ‘contact’ by Briere.  I like that even after Flyers took a 5-1 lead, Buffalo kept working and got some goals back (Tyler Myers!  and Vanek had another goal), but it was THAT effort level they need to win their games.  They don’t work like that at home, and only worked that hard for about half of the game last night.  Still not time to push the you-know-what since there’s plenty of season left. (I know Adrian Dater hates those cliches, eff him)

  • Gameday 2010-2011 – Sabres at Flyers

    Buffalo is visiting Flyers for the first time tonight, with a 7:30pm game on everyone’s favorite channel, Versus.  Buffalo is flying high after a resounding win on Saturday against the Kovy-less Devils.  The boys are on the mend, with Shaone Morrisonn and Craig Rivet both practicing and Pominville steadily improving.  Only Rivet *might* play tonight, as there’s no need to rush anyone back with the way Butler, Sekerea and Weber played in their absence.

    Philly lost last night to the Blue Jackets, with an effort that made their coach angry.

    “The first 40 minutes there was nothing there,” Laviolette continued. “There was no jam to our game. We played mindless hockey without any energy, without any passion.”

    ‘Mindless’, ouch.  It’s possible that Philly (being who they are) come in with bodies (and elbows) flying.  Just noticed that there was some rough stuff at the end of the CBJ game, as noted by Broad Street Hockey:

    Something to look out for, though: Scott Hartnell received a ten-minute misconduct at the end of the game, possibly for hitting a ref with his stick.

    Yeah, sounds about right for him.  For the rest of the team, it appears that Pronger is still feeling the effects of knee surgery and is not at full speed, and Danny Briere was a penalty machine against the Jackets.  Also, wondering if we’ll see any fisticuffs from Jody Shelley, assuming he doesn’t end up in the press box.

    Just found out Luke Adam is called up for tonight, but not sure for who.  Stay tuned.

    edit:  Rob Niedermayer is out, didn’t travel with the team as per WGR550.  Well there you go.  Good chance for Adam to shine with the goalie sinkhole of Philly on tap.

    edit again:  The Niedermayers had a baby!  Congratulations, guys.