Shutdown Pair

Tag: senators

  • Comfortably Numb

    Okay, nice headline, nerd.

    I missed the later goal when my wife came home after the second period, but I just can’t get too worked up over this loss.  Miller played better, which was my main concern.  There needs to be some more scoring.  They didn’t take many shots, and when they did, they seemed to go right into Anderson’s chest.

    The Sabres forwards, almost to a man, deserve much of the blame for last night’s game.  Nine of Buffalo’s anemic 23 shots came from the blue liners, including the only two guys to have more than two shots (Sekera and Ehrhoff), and the only Sabre to score (Leopold).  On a night where you give up five shots to Erik Condra and SIX to Chris Neil, that’s not good enough.  I’m perfectly OK with any shake-ups Darcy wants to try for the forward group, although getting everyone back healthy might count as a shake-up too.

    Buffalo next plays tomorrow night in Toronto.

  • Gameday 2011-2012 – Sabres at Senators

    The Buffalo Sabres (well, mostly the Amerks) are in Ottawa to face the Sens tonight, and it seems the media there really like the idea of the two Foligno kids playing against one another.  Buffalo needs to come out swinging after getting their asses handed to them by the Penguins the other day, and beating the Senators, who currently sit 1 point behind the Sabres, would be huge for their place in the standings.

    I wish I could get all ‘venomous’ on the team, but they are (barely) in a playoff position, dealing with an almost laughable amount of injuries, I pretty much only feel sorry for them.  It’s a miracle that they are only a tire fire some of the time.  I’m perfectly happy watching whatever happens now, with the hope that they can get healthy enough (Myers practicing!) to push for a higher seed.  There is time, though it’s hard to remember that in the midst of a season.  The young players aren’t going anywhere.  There’s plenty of time to make changes if things continue to spiral down.  I’ll still be here.  Go Sabres.

  • Gameday 2011-2012 – Senators at Sabres

    The moderately disliked Ottawa Senators visit Buffalo tonight for a 7pm game against the Sabres.  The Senators currently sit in 12th place in the East, though that’s only 2 points behind Buffalo.  Ottawa has lost 3 straight games, giving up 14 goals in the process.  Buffalo, of course, has been treading water of late, alternating wins and losses while dealing with a ton of injuries.  There are some improvements in that regard, with Gaustad, Kaleta and Weber all practicing and possibly playing tonight.

    Paul Szczechura has been a good story over the past few games, and John Vogl at the Buffalo News has it laid out here.  He gets to center the top line again most likely, which is nice work for a callup to get.  I may not be able to watch tonight as I may be looking at a new vehicle, but I’ll be checking Twitter (as usual).

  • Gameday LIVE – Senators at Sabres

    In the pressbox tonight, so I’ll be updating this post with my thoughts between periods.

    1st Period:  Wow, two quick goals.  And they give one right back on the PK.  Fun stuff.  Anderson was terrible with his rebounds so Alex Auld is in net.  Some dude proposed on the Kiss cam.  I’ve wondered whether there are any people who are already engaged and just do that to get on TV/get attention.  The rest of the period had a slower pace with a bit more of the dodgy passing, though not nearly as much as the recent losses.  Vanek is a touch off.

    2nd Period:  Leftover penalty time killed easily.  Not much action then Enroth had to make a beauty of a save.  Vanek making some noise again, but the wraparound wasn’t there tonight.  Sabres powerplay showed some life with a short 5 on 3, with some very solid keep-ins and puck movement, but no goal so far.  Enroth got wiped out when Zenon Konopka shoves Gragnani into him, drawing a penalty.  Some activity in front of the Buffalo net, and Gaustad getting a bit testy when clearing the crease.  Will be watching in the third.

    3rd Period:  Sens fan in the building, wearing a hockey helmet.  Good planning.  Stafford and others had some hard hits to start also.  Goose just missed a tip in.  Ville Leino scored on a reviewed goal that came out of Auld’s glove, and the Sabres got a little ‘fancy’ (DRINK) for a few minutes after that.  Not unexpected in a 5-1 game.  That’s the final, though they did get a solid chance to score on Auld again close to the end.

  • Will “The Schedule” Become the Next Great Lindy Ruff Meme?

    We’ve all had fun with Lindy Ruff and the players and their constant use of ‘The System”.  “We didn’t play the system tonight” or “We’ve got to get back to playing our system”.  Now, with the goalie stuff going on, we have ‘The Schedule’.  Which goalie is playing tonight?  It’s Scheduled.  Who does Ruff consider his number 1(A?) right now?  You’d know, if only you could see The Schedule.  Is The Schedule a physical construct?  Or just a metaphysical one inside Ruff’s mind?

    The Sabres play the Senators tonight, and I heard that Chris Neil might not play.  That’s too bad, because I wanted Cody McCormick or Paul Gaustad to beat the snot out of him.  I think I’ll be home tonight barring anything strange happening.  But I have a wife and kids, so strange is possible…

  • Winning Weekend Fans The Goalie ‘Controversy’ Flames

    Buffalo played Jhonas Enroth in both back to back games this weekend, and won both by one goal.  It certainly won’t mute the vocal minority who are now thinking that maybe Enroth should be the one to get 50-60 games this year.  I don’t think that’s what is happening here, Ruff is giving Ryan Miller some time to clear that horrible Flyers game out of his head, get the work in at practice, and come back with a vengeance.

    As for the games, the one on Friday against the Flames was about as perfect a game as Buffalo could play.  They peppered Calgary’s backup goalie with shots, with Stafford and Gerbe scoring in the 2-1 win.  It was night and day from the difficult to watch team that couldn’t seem to buy a good scoring chance, when they weren’t too busy giving the puck away.  Last night’s game against the Senators was more even and not quite as dominant, but still showed a lot of positive signs.  Robyn Regehr was wrecking dudes, Boyes and Leino both played very solidly, and Nathan Gerbe was a stud on the Leopold goal.  Derek Roy scored the other Buffalo goal, and also had the decider in the shootout.  Vanek and Boyes both contributed in the shootout as well to keep Buffalo alive.  These two games really seem like what we were expecting from the start of the season, the right guys contributing…save for the goalie.  REALLY interested to see how Enroth gets used in the up coming week, with a Tuesday home game against Winnipeg, another Friday/Saturday combo with a rematch against Ottawa and a trip to Boston, then a Monday game in Montreal.  Is he back to one game on the weekend?  Two?  I think if Miller plays well against Winnipeg, assuming he goes in for that one, we are back to the ‘schedule’ for Jhonas.  But if he plays against the Jets…

  • 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.

  • Gameday 2010-2011 – Senators at Sabres

    The Senators are in town tonight, sitting last in the NHL with 3 points.  Brian Elliott will be facing Ryan Miller.  I will be juggling (figuratively I assure you) the three kids tonight by myself so don’t expect a lot of tweets, but I will if I can manage it.

    Let’s go Buffalo!

  • I’ll Take It

    I was camping this weekend, so I didn’t get to see any hockey or football, so I have no specific insight into any of the games.  Looking at the results, I am very happy Buffalo was able to beat the Senators, which is really the only thing I wanted out of the weekend.  Very good to see Derek Roy producing, Leopold and Morrisonn contributing, and Tyler Ennis in the mix too.  Beyond that, there’s not much I can say.  Hopefully will get the game on tonight.

  • 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.