The moment you’ve all been waiting for, the fifth edition of “The Instigator Podcast” featuring Chris Ostrander of Two In the Box and myself is out.
This week it’s all about the deadline, we talk Rick Nash & Columbus, what the Sabres might do, what they can do, some twitter comments and a special bonus edition of Plus/Minus.
Comments & suggestions can be directed to us. Let us know below or on twitter, @3rdManIn or @2ITB_Buffalo.
With a national audience watching at home, one could’ve easily argued before the game that the Sabres didn’t deserve the attention. Sitting 14th in the Eastern Conference, Buffalo is far from a marquee attraction, and being a part of NBC’s Hockey Day In America may have seemed unreasonable.
In the end, they knew how to impress a crowd.
The Buffalo Sabres, winless in their last four, jumped on the Penguins early and led for over 59 minutes of the game en route to a 6-2 win in Sunday matinee action.
Early goals by American immigrant hero Jason Pominville and Derek Roy gave the Sabres a lead they would never surrender in the opening minutes. Fargo, North Dakota native Paul Gaustad’s early second period goal, assisted by Oxford, Michigan’s own Nathan Gerbe and Jordan Leopold of Golden Valley, Minnesota, would prove to be the game winner.
Pittsburgh cut the lead to 3-2 before Milwaukee’s best Drew Stafford added an insurance goal. Buffalo pulled away on goals by Derek Roy and a highlight-reel score by Tyler Ennis.
Roy had his first three point night since November, tallying two goals and an assist. Pominville added two assists with his goal, giving him a team leading 57 points.
Ryan Miller, the East Lansing, Michigan product, stopped 24 of 26 shots to get the win.
Buffalo, thanks to a superb effort by the line of Gaustad, Gerbe, and Angola, New York’s Patrick Kaleta, kept Evgeni Malkin, the league’s leading scorer, in check. Malkin had just one assist and won only 2-of-11 faceoffs.
Here we are.
With only ten days until the NHL trade deadline, the Buffalo Sabres aren’t in the position they expected to be. No one expected this.
Buffalo now sits 15th in the Eastern Conference with 24 games remaining as they dropped a 4-3 shootout loss to Montreal at First Niagara Center on Friday night.
“I’m obviously very disappointed,” said coach Lindy Ruff after the game. “Embarassed.”
Twice in the first period, the Sabres grabbed leads on goals by Robyn Regehr and Tyler Myers. Both were cancelled by the Canadiens, who tied the game 2-2 with under 14 seconds remaining in the opening frame.
A second period goal by Montreal’s Chris Campoli gave the visitors what seemed like the deciding lead, but Tyler Ennis’ goal with just over eight minutes left in regulation was enough to get it to overtime.
Failing to capitalize on a truncated powerplay in overtime, Brad Boyes and Jason Pominville were both stopped by Carey Price in the shootout as Montreal’s Max Pacioretty and David Desharnais sealed the win.
“This is a game we should’ve put away but didn’t,” Ruff said.
Ryan Miller made 16 saves on 19 shots for the Sabres. With Carolina defeating San Jose, Buffalo is tied with the Hurricanes at 55 points, but sits last thanks to tiebreakers.
Yeah, it is too bad.
It’s too bad that the Buffalo Sabres came into Philadelphia with playoff hopes nearing non-existent. It’s too bad that after heading to the locker rooms at the first intermission with a 2-0 lead, it didn’t last more than a few minutes into the second period. It’s too bad that Ryan Miller’s rare night off lasted just under 27 minutes.
Blowing a lead is bad, but that’s not what happened here. Surrendering a lead and walking into a woodchipper is more like it.
Early goals by Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek, the only two players the team has been able to rely on all season, gave Buffalo an early lead en route to a 7-2 loss to the Flyers.
“This time of year, it’s unacceptable to get a lead like that and blow it,” Pominville said. “In the first, we had control, we generated chances and didn’t give up much. Then the momentum changed sides. That’s when you have to lock in and play better.”
Philadelphia climbed one back just 54 seconds into the second on a Max Talbot goal. Wayne Simmonds scored identical powerplay goals at 3:32 and 6:49 to cancel the lead and chase Jhonas Enroth. The Sabres didn’t get a boost from Ryan Miller, and the Flyers ran away with it.
Enroth stopped 15 of 18 shots in 26:49. Ryan Miller stopped 13 of 17 in relief.
14th place Buffalo now returns home to face Montreal Friday night at First Niagara Center.
Hot off the presses is the big-budget production known as the fourth edition of “The Instigator Podcast” featuring Chris Ostrander of Two In the Box and myself.
In this episode, we talk splitting the weekend, leaving games early, “Hockey IQ” vs. “Sabres IQ”, healthy changes everything (featuring the Incredible Lance Diamond), some fan questions and play some “Plus/Minus” again.
Comments? Suggestions? Are you convinced we’re your baby’s daddy? Let us know below or on twitter, @3rdManIn or @2ITB_Buffalo.
With time winding down on the Sabres’ window to reinsert themselves into playoff contention, there are games that carry more weight than others. Facing a Tampa Bay team two points behind them in the standings, this was one of those games.
That window slid a bit further towards the closed position tonight.
Coming out flat after an inspiring win last night, in front of a lifeless crowd, the Buffalo Sabres couldn’t overcome another two goal deficit, falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 2-1 defeat.
Ryan Miller was solid in net, stopping 26 of 28 shots, but the goal support wasn’t quite there.
Jason Pominville’s third period goal, his 20th of the season, cut the deficit in half, but a late surge, including a shot off the crossbar by Christian Ehrhoff, couldn’t find an equalizer.
“We didn’t play well enough,” said head coach Lindy Ruff after the game.
With the night’s results, Buffalo falls to 14th in the East, eight points behind 8th place Toronto with a game in hand.
The Sabres’ unbeaten-in-regulation run came to an end after going 5-0-1 in their last six. They next face 6th place New Jersey at home on Tuesday.
It’s been almost two months since the first time I did this, instead of doing a typical blogger live blog, which has been done extensively before, I’m gonna focus on something a bit less obvious: game presentation.
More than ever, it’s become a lightning rod of conversation, thanks to media (local and out-of-town) being extremely critical of the crowd and the energy at the arena. The organization has clearly taken it to heart. They’ve made an obvious point to acknowledge that things aren’t right, and that’s the first step.
They have been listening. They’ve made some changes, many positive. Considering my strong feelings towards what needs to get done, it’d be pointless to demand change and then not point the good things out and react. However, there’s still things that need work.
There’s a new introduction video featuring Rick Jeanneret. They’ve got a new goal song, “Lonely Boy” by the Black Keys. They’ve been dimming the lights here and there. These are improvements, but things aren’t perfect. Things will never be perfect, which can’t be looked at as a negative thing to say, but trying to be better is the important thing.
So for tonight’s game, this will be an attempt to analyze, provide criticism (constructive when possible) and look at what’s been changed and what needs to change.
Pregame
All over Buffalo, fans had to walk away from Friday night’s game happy. Maybe they’re happy from the win. Maybe they’re happy with how it happened. Maybe they’re just rubbing this one in Gary’s face.
Facing a two-goal third period deficit and another nail in the coffin containing the team’s playoff hopes, the Sabres fought back to tie the game and took home the win, defeating Dallas 3-2 in a shootout.
After Thomas Vanek’s powerplay goal made it 2-1 early in the third, it was Derek Roy‘s tying goal with Ryan Miller on the bench and just under 39 seconds left on the clock that sent it to overtime.
Brad Boyes and Nathan Gerbe scored in the shootout for Buffalo. Miller stopped three of four shooters before Michael Ryder missed the net to seal the win. The Sabres netminder stopped 24 shots through 65 minutes.
Buffalo moves into 11th place in the East with the win, eight points behind 8th place Toronto with a game in hand. The Sabres have won five of six and will next face 13th place Tampa Bay on Saturday night.
In place of a traditional “Overreactions” post, which would be extremely tardy, this is 3MI Roadtrip Recap. A mix of what the postgame blogs usually look like and a look into the trip. Hope you like it. If you don’t, feel free to move to the Congo.)
Preamble
Not often that you get opportunities to see your team play twice in one day. Well, sort of.
Couple weeks ago a buddy of mine alerted me that the Rochester Americans were playing a weekday morning game in Toronto. He suggested we go for the 11am start. Oh, and the Sabres were hosting the Bruins the same night. What are the odds? Luckily, getting a day off work was feasible, and it worked out great. Easy drive Sabres game didn’t start until 7:30. Plenty of time.
So we hit the road early and headed up the QEW to Toronto to see the Sabres’ minor-league affiliate play the Leafs affiliate to start one hell of a day.
Rochester Americans @ Toronto Marlies
Viewed at: Ricoh Coliseum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The Amerks have had their struggles with injuries. With Joe Finley out with a lower body injury, facing a Toronto team they’ve had tough games against this season, things didn’t get much better.
Getting an early start in front of thousands of school kids, the Rochester Americans lost 4-3 to the Marlies at Ricoh Coliseum.
Rookie Zack Kassian scored twice for Rochester, who now sits 9th in the AHL’s Western Conference.
Max Legault scored the other goal for the Amerks. David Leggio made 21 saves in the loss.
Rochester struggled offensively for much of the game, generating just ten shots through two periods. Kassian’s second goal came with under four seconds left.
Hot off the presses is the third edition of “The Instigator Podcast” featuring Chris Ostrander of Two In the Box and myself.
In this episode, we talk trades, trade deadline, what direction the Sabres might go, take some fan questions and play a game of “Plus/Minus” for the first time.
Comments? Suggestions? Would you like to call us names? Do it below or on twitter, @3rdManIn or @2ITB_Buffalo. Giddy up.
