Shutdown Pair

Tag: Nathan Gerbe

  • Gameday 2010-2011 – Sabres at Senators

    You know, what was AWESOME to type.  Yes, boys and girls, it’s hockey time again, with the Sabres opening their schedule away at the hated Senators.  The lineup is ‘healthy‘, so all 23 roster players could be in the mix.  Myers is paired with Morissonn, beyond that the defense pairings are in flux.  Sekera has the inside track to play, which would leave Butler and Weber out.  Gerbbe is the odd forward out, tonight at least.  Pascal Leclaire in goal for the Sens, probably Miller for the Sabres but haven’t seen anything for sure yet.

    For the Senators, Jason Spezza hurt his groin and may miss the game.  It remains to be seen if the Sabres will take advantage this year.  Volchenkov is gone, Gonchar in on D.  Let’s get this year started on the right foot, with a win against these jerks.  I’m probably out of posting action the rest of the weekend, and may be stuck listening to the game on the radio or following on my phone, so whoever goes on Saturday, make it loud.

    edit:  Lines and pairs here, but no official word on Miller.

  • Sabres End Preseason on a High Note

    While the Flyers dressed what amounts to the roster for their AHL team last night, a 9-3 win HAD to be fun for those present.  You can’t read a lot into it, other than, the guys who were supposed to score scored.  Such as Myers, Ennis, Gerbe, Stafford (1+3, nice job Angry Eyebrows), Roy, Pominville, and so on.  Kaleta knocked out Darroll Powe apparently.  Carcillo did…something to get ejected, no idea what.  Bring on the regular season!

  • Sabres Fall To Leafs 5-4

    Didn’t end up getting to see this, but I didn’t want it to pass without comment.  The big three for the Sabres (Miller, Vanek, Myers) sat this one out, among others, while the Maple Leafs iced what amounts to their regular season lineup.  Nathan Gerbe scored twice, including one on a penalty shot, while Stafford and newcomer Jordan Leopold had the other tallies.  The power play went 2 for 5.

    One thing I like seeing, Buffalo poured on the shots again, putting 39 on Jonas Gustavsson.  That comes after pelting Gustavsson and Rynnas with 44 shots in the previous tussle two nights before.  Hopefully this continues into the regular season, as one thing that bugged me the past couple of years is the Sabres’ tendency to make one too many passes.  Part of the improvement comes from Ennis and Gerbe, who have 13 shots between them in the two games (with Ennis not playing last night for personal reasons).

    Tonight, we get the Kraft Hockeyville game, facing the Senators in Dundas, Ontario.  It’s a neat event, and this might just be viewable for us, unline the rest of these games.

  • Buffalo Sabres: A Look At The Depth Chart

    With training camp less than a month away, and the Buffalo Sabres roster looking pretty much set, I thought now would be a good time to investigate the lines and defense pairings for the coming season.  Starting up front:

    Ennis – Connolly – Pominville
    Vanek – Roy – Stafford/McCormick?
    Gerbe – Gaustad – Kaleta
    Hecht – Niedermayer – Grier

    It’s an odd mix of diminutive players and size/grit, to be sure.  Zack Kassian could make things interesting when he’s off his time-out from GMDR and gets to sign.  I’m not sure what happens if McCormick gets one of the RW spots, Stafford really is the only one that can come out.  I don’t think you play anybody out of position to try and keep him in the lineup.  Gerbe, I suppose, could end up on the fourth line if Lindy wants to keep Hecht up on the third, though my hope is with cagey vets like Grier and Niedermayer taking over the fourth line will get more than 6 minutes a night.  It’s a lineup that has some scoring potential, but should help out the revamped defense core quite a bit as well.  Speaking of:

    Myers (RH) – Morrisonn (LH)
    Montador (RH) – Leopold (LH)
    Rivet (RH) – Sekera (LH)

    Butler (LH)

    Obviously Myers is the top dog, and I slotted Morrisonn next to him as he’s another more stay at home type as Tallinder was for Tyler last year.  You get a similar Off/Def pair with Montador/Leopold, leaving Rivet and his bad shoulder to mentor Sekera and Butler in the third pair.  This keeps the left hand/right hand balance, and keeps Rivet healthier so he can bulldoze some guys in front of Miller.  If Leopold can chip in points to balance the Myers pairing, the offense from the backend will be right where it needs to be.  Now, Morrisonn may not fit in as a first pair guy which blows all this up but I think this works the best.

    I don’t HAVE to go over the goalies, do I?  Miller gets more work than we like (without the Olympics thankfully), especially considering the TWENTY TWO back to back game situations.  Does Lalime get 15 games?  Lalime and Enroth combined for 14 starts last year, I’d like to see that at 20 with all the back to backs but I can’t predict it.

    Look, it’s not the wholesale changes in the top 6 we were looking for, but as we’ve investigated before, there aren’t a lot of guys available who are a for-sure improvement.  Stempniak might be a one-hit wonder, and there’s that self-imposed cap…