Shutdown Pair

Tag: Dwayne Roloson

  • Let’s Play Two

    The Sabres play the Lightning again tonight, at home this time after getting their hats handed to them by the same team on the road.  Tyler Ennis cut his hair and got hurt…coincidence?  I think not.  Anyway, it does leave Buffalo an interesting option – move Ville Leino to the wing and play Hecht at center.  You’d never have a better time, as the injury is the perfect excuse to try it out.  If Leino goes gangbusters back at the wing, you can leave him there as long as you like.  If not, he can go back in the middle.  It doesn’t mean he’s a ‘bust’ if he plays better on the wing, he might just need more than a couple of weeks to adjust and get his feet under him.  No big deal.

    It’s a 7:30 start time again (seems like we’ve had a bunch of those already).  Garon is apparently going to be in goal again, as the Lightning noticed Roloson hasn’t beaten the Sabres in 9 tries.  Still, Buffalo needs to solve the TBL defensive scheme and get some shots on net.  Garon is beatable, and Vanek has eaten these guys up in the past.  I think we’ll see some solid play tonight.

  • Vanek, Stafford Overwhelm the Lightning

    The Sabres recovered from a bad start (and a few tough goals given up by Miller) to roll over Dwayne Roloson and the Lightning 7-4.  Drew Stafford notched a hat trick, Vanek scored twice, and Jordan Leopold and Tim Connolly had the other goals.  Mike Weber and Tyler Ennis both had 2 assists.  A Vanek goal late in the second to make it 3-2 Tampa was the turning point, and the Bolts came completely unraveled after Stafford bumped Roloson on Leopold’s goal (he was pushed into him).

    I was listening on the radio and tracking it on the phone, and was shocked when I saw the score jump from 3-3 to 6-3.  Now the big discussion point while we await Pegula-mania to kick in is what to do with Stafford.  Did he finally ‘get it’?  My feeling is yes, knowing how hard he worked in the offseason and seeing the pace he is on (37 goals in 64 games after last night).  His longest stretch held pointless is 3 games, and it’s only 4 games for goals.  He’s shooting more, and I’m having a hard time thinking of a bad game for him.  Sign him to a Roy-like contract, $4mil a year for as many years as he wants.  I’d be A-OK with having Angry Eyebrows around long-term.