Shutdown Pair

Tag: sabres

  • May You Live In Interesting Times

    Well, this had to be one of the most interesting Sabres seasons in recent memory.  Buffalo started the season with a whimper, losing at a pace that had more of us thinking draft lottery than playoffs.  The first hints of Terry Pegula gave a vague hope for the future, but we didn’t know anything about him yet, so it was only a small distraction.  November was better than October, but not by much.

    December finally had a good game or two for Ryan Miller, and the Terry Pegula rumors picked up steam.  The Sabres’ best offensive player at the time, Derek Roy, went down with an injury and only just now was able to return.  After that, many of us (myself included) counted Buffalo out.  They’d only gotten 30 points in the first 33 games, Miller was not the Vezina Miller, and Myers was looking more like a rookie this year than last.

    January, things got VERY interesting there.  You’ll remember that’s when Stafford-mania began, as Buffalo came home for a game in the middle of the WJC road trip and beat the Bruins 7-6, on the back of a Staffy hat trick.  The beginnings of the upward swing were showing, with the Sabres going 4-0-1 after a sort of bottoming out loss to Calgary.  Nathan Gerbe suddenly found his way, earning his spot in the lineup and coming up huge (er, sort of) as the team inched their way back up the standings.  The month ended with the long all-star break, but the real story was still Terry Pegula, who kept appearing in all the right places as the team sale picked up steam.

    February, yeah, February was kind of fun.  Terry Pegula really did buy the team, Thomas Vanek was in Atlas mode, Twitter met the Pegula daughters, and Tyler Myers was an OT hero.  Pegula day was AWESOME, and the team was rolling.  March was much of the same, with Buffalo in the playoffs and controlling their own destiny.  Even their deadline day acquisition contributed for more than one game.  We fell in love with these guys, and never wanted the ride to end.  The Sabres won a bunch of games to end the regular season, looking primed to upset some dudes in the playoffs.

    Well, we all know what happened there.  They took the Flyers to 7, but couldn’t get it done.  Injuries to key guys didn’t help, but in the end, it was a 2 seed over a 7 seed.  So what now?  It’s hard to say.  This is Terry Pegula’s first off-season, and the team has ‘no financial mandates’.  Buffalo will have a lot of cap room (as high as $21 million thanks to the new TV deal) but also a lot of spots up for grabs.  Defense in particular could look very different, with only 3 guys under contract (one of them Shaone Morrisonn).  Will they make a big trade?  Go hard after the biggest names?  Fill spots with guys from Portland that should get a shot?  Do Kassian and Foligno figure in?  What do they do with Enroth (RFA)?  The ride will continue, and I can’t help but think the outlook continues to be bright.

    What will happen here?  Locker cleanout usually has some interesting bits, where we find out who was injured, especially.  I may comment on the other games and series, and then it’s off-season mode.  Future posts will look at the roster, the spots and free agents.  Thank you Sabres.

  • 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.

  • About that booing…

    Collecting my thoughts on the game, but I need to address this.  I was there last night, heard the cheers and the boos.  I’d like to offer an explanation for the latter, which may not be true for all who participated but I think it will cover most.

    I think the seeds of it starts back in the first period.  Buffalo carried the play, got one goal, and seemed to have the game in the bag.  The second period was more even but there were signs of trouble – too many giveaways and failed entrances to the Flyers’ zone.  We were living and dying with every save.

    The elbow by Richards gives the Sabres a chance – a chance to break the game open, plow the Philly jerks under and ride off into the sunset triumphantly.  Take the pressure off Miller.  Oh, but that power play.  I don’t think we could understand how a team that looked that good even strength in the first, could look that atrocious up a man in the third.  The frustration came to a head as, over and over again, Buffalo couldn’t even get the puck in the Philly end.  Where was this dominant first period team?  Every second that passed on that power play was more bewildering than the last.  Whether you agree with it or not (I didn’t boo), there’s only one way for people in a crowd to voice their displeasure audibly.

    It’s funny…we were exhorted by media and fans to be ‘loud’.  There was a concerted effort from all in attendance to do just that.  The crowd was all in, with deafening cheers, helpful whistles, and yes, boos.  I find it difficult to expect a crowd to be boiling with emotion…except for the 10 minutes where the team is playing like Keystone Kops.  When that happens, just sit quietly and politely.  Right.

  • Even Up

    I will be attending tonight’s game (and possibly some of the Party in the Plaza) so if anyone wants to meet up, let me know.

    A lot of noise is being made about the fact that Buffalo has never rallied from being down 2 games to 1 in a playoff series.  I am not too concerned, as it only takes one win to make it 2-2, even steven.  It’s a best of three from there if you can get it, a big test for a very young team, but has the possibility to be a big character builder for the future.  Especially for the D, which is getting big minutes from a lot of really young guys.

    We got better contributions in game 3 from the top liners, especially Vanek, and that needs to continue.  The team needs to backcheck more effectively to help out Miller, and the only ‘undisciplined’ penalties I’d like to see is Weber and Goose levelling dudes in front of the net.  The PK has been amazing, reducing the number of times short-handed could be the difference in the series.  I’m still feeling positive, and I’m going to enjoy the ride.  Let’s go Buffalo!

  • Split Down The Middle

    The Sabres returned home from Philly with a split in the series, 1-1.  Two one goal games, a cubic ass-load of penalties and one goalie switch already happening with Boucher getting the game 3 start after ‘Bob’ was chased.  I like what Lindy said about the physical play, that he’d rather see the team go too far with it than not far enough.  Cut down on the interference-type penalties, keep up with the physical play, and bring home game 3.  Some notes:

    • Looks like Pronger is still out.  Yes.
    • Mancari and Persson are sent back.
    • Nathan Gerbe is small.
    • Patrick Kaleta is from Angola.
    • Tyler Myers played Junior Hockey in Kelowna.
    • Sorry about those last three, thought I was Pierre McGuire for a second.
    • Drew Stafford needs to score, if only for everyone to see that he’s growing a mustache w/mutton chops from the looks of it.

    Taking the boy to his first official Taekwondo class tonight, but will be DVRing the game and watching as soon as I can.  Let’s go Buffalo!

  • Miller, Gerbe, Kaleta and Grier

    …and throw in Connolly and Gaustad too.  These guys came up huge for Buffalo tonight.  The scoring forwards were quiet, but the tough guys and agitators did their work (though with a few too many penalties).  However, they were also instrumental in killing those penalties, and when the shot got through, Miller was dynamite.  A road win in a tough building against the 2 seed.  Not pretty, but it still puts them up one game to none.  James Van Riemsdyk was a beast for the Flyers, but the top line players on both sides couldn’t get much traction.  Mike Grier may be glacier-slow, but he still hits like a ton of bricks, and he had some solid shots.  Love that the boys stood in against the Flyers in that regard and gave some back.

    Steve Montador, now there’s a problem.  He took some bad penalties and at times was not in the right place.  Sekera should be back soon, but that still leaves Morrisonn in there, who is pretty unnecessary with Weber playing decent.  Still, it’s hard to fault the D too much when you win 1-0.  The PK was superb, pressuring the guy with the puck and forcing the pass, but not getting too far out of position to do so.  I can’t wait for game 2.  SATURDAY WHERE ARE YOU?  (yes, I know it’s after Friday before you say anything)

  • Sabres VS Flyers, Game 1

    Well, the waiting is just about over.  Who wins?  The star goalie or the dopey kid Russian?  The Bullies or the Blades?  How corny can I get?  You don’t want to know.

    Let’s do this, Sabres.  Fortune favors the bold.

  • Mustaches for Martin

    I had planned on going full playoff beard this year (not that I don’t usually have one anyway but still), but I’m rethinking that with the brilliant idea of Mustaches for Martin. To honor number 7, Rick Martin of the French Connection (who often sported a Sam Elliott in a Western type ‘stache), many male (I hope) Sabres bloggers and tweeters are going mustache/sideburns. If you can’t grow one for whatever reason (like the wrong chromosomes), fear not, for there is a t-shirt:

    7370323-18083892

    I hope you enjoy them, and let’s go Buffalo!

  • Prediction Watch – A Recap

    If you recall, at the beginning of the year I gathered up as many of the Eastern Conference playoff predictions I could so we could compare the pundits’ prognostications to what really happened.  Now, one day before the playoffs, let’s take a look back and see who was close to right, and who was way off.

    As you can see, Corey Masisak and the SBNation Preseason Rankings were close, having Buffalo 6th and 7th respectively.  TSN and USA Today’s preseason power rankings also had Buffalo in the 9-11 range in all the NHL, solidly in the playoffs.  You can read the rest – some others weren’t very specific, just predicting a return to the playoffs or another division title.

    The most fun, though, are the ones who were really, really wrong.  Especially Tim Panaccio, the Flyer’s beat writer for CSN Philly.  I’ll put the whole thing here again to jog your memory:

    5. BUFFALO
    Lindy Ruff has been around longer than any other active coach in the league and will set a few records this season for both longevity (games coached) and victories. But as long as current ownership continues to wade in the middle of every season’s salary cap, the Sabres will never realize the dream of a Cup Final. Why goalie Ryan Miller hitched his wagon to this franchise long-term is beyond us. Buffalo is much weaker on defense, having lost both Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder. And the days of Michael Peca’s on-ice leadership are l-o-n-g gone.

    This gets even better if Buffalo takes out the Flyers in the first round.  (that’s 5th in the Northeast, picked below Toronto and Ottawa)  Of course, he couldn’t predict that a new owner would come in, or that Vanek would take that leadership mantle, or that the offseason acquisition of Jordan Leopold would work so well, but hey, who am I, right?  It’s kind of funny, looking back, at how many of these guys picked the Devils to be top 5 in the NHL.

    The Puck Daddy predictions were quite humorous, I was ready to talk up Erin Nicks for picking the Sabres to be 5th, but she also had the Devils first in their division, so that’s a wash.  Justin Bourne had Buffalo 7th but also had NJ and Ottawa in the playoffs.  Oops.

    So there you have it.  A great look at the preseason predictions that every columnist conveniently forgets about, unless they manage to hit on something right (which isn’t that often).

  • Sabres vs. Flyers – Grudge Match

    There’s a history in this matchup, no question, whether it’s the 75 Stanley Cup finals, the 06 playoffs (can still hear RJ’s call of the Umberger hit to this day), and Philly and Buffalo look to add another chapter this week when they meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.  Aside from fanhood reasons, who you think wins this series is probably based on whether or not there is a ‘switch’ that a team can flip to start playing well.  In the Flyer’s case, the switch is probably present in the form of lurking horror Chris Pronger, who never met an elbow to the head or stomp to the leg he didn’t like.  Having seen Philly a few times recently, you can see that without Pronger they get a little squirrelly in front of Bobrovsky at times.  If Pronger can steady things there, I can see the series going differently.

    Wild Card for the Sabres:  Nathan Gerbe.  We know what Thomas Vanek can do, but as Gerbe demonstrated against the Flyers he can be a difference-maker.  He, along with Drew Stafford, has been a big part of the Sabres’ surge in the second half of the year, scoring 9 of his 15 goals in the months of March and April after scoring only 1 from October to December.  He’s had good chemistry with Paul Gaustad, who provides the bulk in front of the net to screen the goalies.

    So, am I going full homer and picking the Sabres to win this series?  Yes.  I think Ryan Miller, even the slightly more vulnerable one of this year, is still a + over Bobrovsky (or any of the other goalies if he gets the hook).  Both Buffalo and Philly are top scoring teams in the East, with Philly having a slight edge, though Buffalo is better in that regard more recently.  I’ll tell you what, it’s going to be a very tight series, and I can’t wait for it to happen.