Shutdown Pair

Tag: Ryan Miller

  • Lost Points and Positive Developments

    So, the Sabres scored 6 goals against the Islanders, and lost.  Ryan Miller had a post-game meltdownafter a question from noted feces enthusiast John Vogl.  A bad question, a worse answer after a horrible game.  Buffalo is still in the driver’s seat as far as taking a playoff spot, but Ryan’s issues, whether mental, physical or a combination make you wonder if the push is a good idea.  Should he play game after game after game if his numbers are suffering, just to squeak into the playoffs and go out with a whimper?  I know the hope is that you become last year’s Flyers, but as a fan that’s tough to swallow after winning the division.  Would any trade even fix this?  You’re not getting a better goalie than Miller, and it’s obvious no backup is getting played unless Miller’s car gets set on fire by some Montreal fans prematurely celebrating a playoff spot.  I suppose the best bet is to trade for more scoring and hope you can outscore your opponents.  Not easy.

    There are some nice things to talk about despite them being overshadowed by Millsygate.  Drew Stafford had his fourth hat-trick of the year and continues to muddy the trade him/sign him debate.  Tyler Myers has scored twice in as many games, he needs to be appearing on the scoresheet more if his team is making that playoff run.  Ennis and Gerbe are both contributing (a few giveaways there too but hey, rookies).

    Does Miller getting shelled (and NOT pulled) have any effect on whether or not he plays tomorrow and Wednesday?

  • Take a breath

    The Buffalo Sabres come into the All-Star break on a surprisingly good note, considering where they were even a few weeks ago.  8th place is in their reach, 6 points back with 3 games in hand on Atlanta, though before the year I’m certain most of us wouldn’t have pictured being happy about that but it’s what we have.  Even though the team is rolling a bit over the last 13 games, the break comes at a good time for the health of guys like Stafford, Kaleta, Vanek, maybe Montador, and Miller who could use a rest.

    The next game is February 4th against the Pens, and the 3 weeks after that leading to the trade deadline will tell the story.  It *should* be possible for the Sabres to make up ground with multiple games against Toronto, along with games against Ottawa, Florida, the Isles (well…), and Atlanta (a great chance to help themselves).  Get your points there, do some good work against the likes of Detroit, Washington and Tampa and see what happens.

    The trade deadline is the thing, though, isn’t it?  Despite Darcy Regier’s best efforts, it hasn’t been kind to the Sabres for several years.  Heck, I’ve liked some of the guys picked up but, well, hear it from Darcy:

    “One of the hard parts isn’t just finding good players but players that fit. That’s the challenge.”

    I’m pondering the roster this year, and I’m not honestly sure what the move is.  It’s easy to say they need scoring, but what team wouldn’t want that?  Heck, who do you move?  The ones we want to get rid of, nobody wants, and I think we generally like all of our prospects that we’ve gotten to see so far (even Byron scored, and Gerbe is on fire).  I don’t envy Regier’s position this year, especially with the specter of ownership ‘changes’ hanging over.

  • You Just Don’t Know

    Really, you just can’t know how a team, any team, will respond to an injury to a key player.  Many of us wrote off the season after Roy got hurt (myself included), but all the Sabres have done since then is go on a run.  Since the 5-2 loss in Calgary, Buffalo has gone 4-0-1, including a 7-6 barnburner highlighted by a Drew Stafford hat trick, and a 3-0 real shutout of San Jose, and a 2-1 win against the Coyotes, games in which the Vezina quality Ryan Miller made appearances.

    Players and coaches will always throw out the ‘other guys need to step up’ cliche when an injury like this happens, but it really is true, and it’s happened here.  EX:

    “Since Derek’s (Roy) gone, there’s a chance for a lot of guys to step up and play some extra minutes. Guys are trying to take advantage of that.”  Jochen Hecht

    Stafford is on a tear (in addition to the hatty he had an OT game-winner in Phoenix), Jordan Leopold has 10 goals, Shaone Morrisonn has brought an increased physical presence, Mike Weber has too (in addition to a few goals!) and there have been goals by Jochen Hecht, Luke Adam, and Jason Pominville, all guys who are in that ‘needs to step up’ category.

    Looking at the standings, Buffalo is currently 10th, 8 points behind Boston and Montreal (catching both would jump them all the way into 3rd).  The schedule for the month means Lalime will be keeping the bench warm quite a bit, as there is only 1 back to back set of games as part of a 3 in 4, with two of them against the Isles.  Gotta get him in once there, I’d think.  There’s a game each against the teams they are chasing in the Northeast, how successful January is probably turns on how they do there.  It’s a tough lead to make up, but a team that plays the way they have in the past few games can do it.  They are making it interesting, at least.

  • Mike Weber, Scoring Machine

    SOMEONE needed to step up while Tyler Myers is out, and last night it was Mike Weber, who got his first 2 NHL goals and led the Sabres to a 4-2 lead over the Edmonton Oilers.  Weber also had an assist for a 3 point night, while Luke Adam and Jochen Hecht had the other 2 goals.

    Buffalo needs to win these games, but they just haven’t consistently.  Secondary scoring happened last night, and honestly you might as well call it primary scoring with Timmy, Roy and Myers out.  The Sabres need to win 4 or 5 of these games for me to think about them managing a playoff berth.  Do you see that happening?

    Congratulations, by the way, to Ryan Miller for finally getting win 200.  Despite the team struggling, he’s having a pretty nice few weeks (engaged to a hot actress, etc.).

  • Goose-Eggs

    I was going to create a photoshop involving Gaustad and laying eggs, but I think you all will fill in the visual much better than I could.

    Back to back genuine shut-outs for Ryan Miller, that dude is back.  He didn’t have to do much against Columbus who lost their focus pretty early, but Miller was great in out-dueling Brian Elliott in shutting out the Senators.  They’ll need this tomorrow and the rest of the week as well, as a visit to Boston is followed by home games against San Jose and Pittsburgh.

    This note also of interest from Bruce “Malkin to the Kings” Garrioch:

    The Sabres are looking to move veteran D Craig Rivet. He has been a healthy scratch six times this season and is the club’s captain. Making $3.5 million, Rivet is going to be a tough sell.

    It makes sense, but like Bruce says, not many teams need a $3.5 million defenseman who isn’t cracking the roster on the (current) 11th team in the East.

  • Mixed Results and Who to Root For

    Didn’t get to see much of any of the sports this long weekend, so the emotions that are churning over the Sabres and Bills losing aren’t really affecting me.  I am bothered by the Sabres anemic offense in the past few games most of all.  Thomas Vanek is scoring, Miller is solid and seems to have his mind right, and there is a long break (no games until FRIDAY) for the team to work on their problems and get healthy.

    In the mean time, the rest of the league will catch up to the Sabres in games played during this break, to an extent.  Here’s who to root against (or for if you prefer) until Friday:

    • Monday:  Ottawa plays Edmonton.  Here’s hoping the Oil youngsters come through.
    • Tuesday:  Tampa Bay plays Toronto.  Stamkos hat trick?
    • Wednesday:  Edmonton continues their East coast swing in Montreal.
    • Thursday:  Tampa/Boston, Edmonton/Toronto, NJ/Montreal, San Jose/Ottawa all on tap.

    Nice thing about that is there are no NE versus NE situations where a team is guaranteed of getting two points while Buffalo is idle.

  • Gameday 2010-2011 – Leafs at Sabres and Clarke MacArthur

    It’s a post turkey day game tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have former Sabre Clark MacArthur as their leading scorer.  You are hearing a lot out of this article by James Mirtle, with this as the money quote:

    “In Buffalo, I didn’t really have the opportunity to do this,” MacArthur said. “You look at the minutes I was playing, like 12 minutes a game on average. What are you supposed to do with 12 minutes a game?”

    As you might imagine, this generated some snarky responses from Sabres fans.  Let’s deconstruct this a bit, shall we?  Clarke showed promise in his early cups of coffee with Buffalo, in particular getting 8 goals and 15 points in 37 games in 07-08.  He followed that up with an uneven 08-09 where MacArthur would show up for a few stretches and then vanish.  That included a 17 game and 20 game goalless streaks.  He had 5 goals in the last 8 games of the year, and 6 goals in the first 13, and ended up with 17.  His average TOI was actually 13:50, though he was definitely getting the Lindy doghouse treatment at times with some 6-8 minute games.  Those are balanced out though, even during the bad streaks he was given ample playing time (16min + more than once) to get going and couldn’t.

    His 09-10 season was more of the same, a burst of goals to start the season, then long stretches of inactivity, which lead to Clarke getting traded to the Thrashers for a couple of mid-round picks.  Atlanta didn’t accept the arbitration agreement (they specifically allowed the arbiter to set it high so they wouldn’t have to do a Tim Kennedy-style buyout) and he signed with the Maple Leafs.  MacArthur currently is on pace for 28 goals and 73 points for them, and good for him.  I just take issue with him acting like 187 games and 12 minutes 14 minutes a night is not enough to prove yourself.  The Tiny Tyler is making quite an impression with 15 a night, is that extra shift that huge a difference?

    Anyway, Miller and Roy are both in tonight as per the esteemed Mike Harrington.  Rivet is still sitting in favor of Weber.

  • Gameday 2010-2011 – Penguins at Sabres

    The Thanksgiving Eve special may feature quite a different lineup than the last few games.  Ryan Miller practiced Monday but couldn’t commit 100% to playing against the Pens, after missing Saturday’s game.  Tim Connolly started practice but didn’t finish it with a groin injury.  Jochen Hecht skated on his own after practice but is expected to play Wednesday.  Drew Stafford isn’t quite there yet, still no contact.  Rob Niedermayer had his knee scoped and is on the shelf for a couple of weeks.  This has prompted the Sabres to proactively call up Luke Adam and Colin Stuart from Portland.

    The prevailing thought is, if Miller can’t go against the Pens, Enroth comes back up and plays.  Hard not to blame Lindy after Lalime’s gaffe, but when you only score one goal there’s not much margin for error.

    Might actually end up attending this one.

  • Gameday 2010-2011 – Kings at Sabres

    We’ve got another Western conference foe in the building tonight, as LA is in town.  They are coming off two straight losses, putting their road record to 4-4.  Ryan Miller is likely to get both games, and Rivet is said to be making it back in the lineup (but not sure for who).  Kaleta may be ready to return as well.

    I like the team the Kings have put together.  Doughty and Johnson are a solid foundation on D, Jonathan Quick is in the top 3 in GAA and SP, and they are getting balanced scoring out of their top 2 lines.  They are really right where the Sabres SHOULD be this year, and perhaps will be moving forward.

    I wonder if perhaps the Kings’ backup goalie, Bernier gets in tonight for yet another backup goalie for the Sabres to face.  He had the Monday loss to San Jose, but the Kings play tomorrow in Boston so it is possible.

  • Gameday 2010-2011 – Canucks at Sabres and SO MUCH MORE

    The Vancouver Canucks come to Buffalo for a rare visit, in the 40th anniversary year of both teams’ existence.  According to the Buffalo News, it’s Miller versus Schneider tonight, denying Ryan Olympic vengeance, barring an outburst of Sabres goals to chase Cory Schneider.  Craig Rivet is “getting very close to playing” or retiring, if you believe ESPN.com’s NHL rumor mill.

    • The Islanders shuffled the deck chairs on the Titanic and fired Scott Gordon as coach.  He will be a consultant, which means they don’t want to be paying a guy to do nothing (other than Yashin).
    • The whole Colin Campbell fiasco should be getting more mainstream play.  Most likely the big guns are doing their own diligence first, though, so hopefully we see stuff soon.
    • Raffi Torres (now on the Canucks) has 7 goals.  *sigh*
    • As mentioned in the Buffalo News’s notes up there, this would be the 10th backup goalie the Sabres have faced, which is what happens when you a: have been bad and b: other teams have goalie injuries

    I should be watching tonight, this could be another big statement game against one of the best in the West.