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.

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.

• Tyler Ennis is a restricted free agent this summer. Sign him for as long as you can. Sign him for life. The kid is gonna be a star. That goal was the kind of goal that John Tavares would score and people would drool. He’s got skill, tenacity and is one of the most exciting players to watch.
• Sure, Derek Roy made a great play driving to the net for his shorthanded goal, but holy crap Jason Pominville had an incredible shift. Pominville twice collected passes from the defense and brought them into the zone, only to clear them back to the awaiting defense to kill time. On the rush with the goal, he called for the puck, brought it into the zone and drew two defenders before threading an unbelievably perfect pass to Roy.
• Paul Gaustad had the kind of game that makes contenders drool. A hard working goal, great defensive game, and 16/23 on faceoffs. Sabres can collect quite a haul for this guy.
• Tyler Myers had a really good game, and his vision on the Pominville goal was phenomenal.
• Seriously, who starts Brent Johnson against the Sabres expecting a win? Buffalo just knows how to light him up.
• Jason Pominville is 15th in the NHL in scoring about three-quarters through the season. Leading by example. What a player he is.
• Patrick Kaleta had the kind of game he needs to have to play a key role on the team. Almost 19 minutes of ice time, no penalties and he drew a couple penalties. The charging penalty James Neal got for running him led to the Ennis goal just after Neal exited the box. He was awarded a penalty shot and couldn’t beat Fleury. Good game for him.
• Andrej Sekera gets torn apart habitually by ignorant Sabres fans, so I feel obligated to mention that he was again phenomenal.
• Ville Leino picked up an assist on the Ennis goal, but I’d say he was by far the least visible Sabres skater on the ice. Didn’t notice him at all.
• Christian Ehrhoff should go buy the rink staff a can of paint for all the chips he’s putting in the crossbar this season. Guy has a cannon.

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.

• Andrej Sekera had a phenomenal game. He was strong and responsible defensively and was a beast in the offensive zone. He made a great play to set up Robyn Regehr in the second period that Regehr couldn’t put away. Sekera was great early in the season, but hasn’t been as good the last couple months. Tonight was a step forward.
• Zack Kassian’s fumbling of that 3-on-1 rush in the second period that preceded the Campoli goal is a sign of a kid who isn’t confident enough to make a play himself or a passive guy being indecisive. The fact he’s a part of this awful team should be worrisome. He’s got a bright future if he develops right.
• The Sabres would have the third pick in the NHL Draft if the season ended today, and a 14.2% chance of winning the lottery to move up to #1 overall.
• Tyler Myers again had a good game. Wasn’t perfect by any means, but he was good. Picked up another goal and was named second star.
• The announced attendance being sponsored by StubHub “where many fans bought their tickets” was extremely appropriate. Lot of red in the house, expectedly so.
• Ville Leino is quietly playing somewhat decent. Added two assists tonight, including a great effort on the Ennis goal. Not where he needs to be to justify the deal he got, but better.
• Very disappointed no Sabres fans brought a “Where’s Chara?” sign. More surprised than that to see little-to-no residual animosity from that spat after the last meeting.
• Thomas Vanek may have had his worst game of the season tonight. He seemed obviously frustrated and was watching the play a lot, trying to get the puck to do the work. He took the awful penalty that led to the Kaberle goal and was generally ineffective until late.
• If you’re trying to trade Brad Boyes, maybe playing him under 11 minutes on the fourth line isn’t the best way to showcase him.
• 12 of Montreal’s 18 skaters tonight wore numbers above 45. What a mess.
• Shoutout to Nathan Gerbe for the effort tonight. Had an assist, but was visibly the hardest skating player on the ice for both sides.

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.

• Ryan Miller had been long overdue for a night off. Jhonas Enroth wasn’t especially horrible, but the move was made to try to wake up the team, and it did nothing except ruin Miller’s time for rest. Now he’s probably going to go back in and start tomorrow night against Montreal. Enroth is gonna need more starts. They need to know what they have in him moving forward.
• I tweeted during the game that Brad Boyes should be playing 18 minutes a night until he’s dealt. He played 16:29. Give him a proper audition now that they’re headed nowhere.
• Can’t be said enough how well Jason Pominville has owned that captaincy. Team MVP.
• Flyers forward Claude Giroux had five assists. Pretty sure that’s at least the second five-point night the Sabres have given up this season. Evgeni Malkin did it back in December.
• Nathan Gerbe hasn’t brought much of the offense that was expected and needed from him this season, but it’s nice to see the effort he puts in. Kid’s a scrapper.
• Paul Gaustad won 15 of 18 faceoffs in just 13:01 of ice time. That line, with Gaustad, Pat Kaleta and Drew Stafford, didn’t get much ice time. Think Lindy decided to save them for tomorrow night so they could play a bigger role? Not sure, but it’s a possibility.
• I think Zack Kassian is fully aware that there’s gonna be roster spots available soon as long as he doesn’t play his way back to Rochester. That scrap was needed to build his case. Would rather see more initiative to try throwing hits instead of fists but hey, whatever he feels like he needs to do.
• Tyler Myers needs to work on defending 2-on-1 rushes. I was looking forward to praising how he played for most of the night, but that play on the Hartnell goal was brutal. Gotta take the man or the shot. He did neither.
• Ryan Miller allowed four goals on 17 shots, but he got hung out to dry on just about all of them. He’s been spectacular lately and has gotten no support.
• With Dominic Moore getting traded, the market is officially open for UFA forwards. I’d expect a lot of scouts at the next two games, especially Sunday against Pittsburgh.
• Thomas Vanek’s slap shot hides way too much. Guy just needs to shoot more. That thing is lethal.
• Of all teams to get your ass kicked by… Philadelphia. Really?

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.

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.

• Tyler Myers and Christian Ehrhoff were on the ice and out of position on both Tampa goals. They were eventually split up, and then reunited. Myers led the team in ice time with 23:02.
• Made mention of it on twitter during the game, but Tampa’s 2nd goal, the eventual game winner is a look at what could be soon. The goal, scored by Steven Stamkos, a #1 overall pick in the draft, was set up by Teddy Purcell, part of the return from trading pending a pending UFA at the deadline a couple years back. A few more losses, and the Sabres might be looking at having guys like that on their team next year.
• Thomas Vanek looked pretty good, and his efforts set up Pominville’s goal. His unreal goal count in his career against Tampa (23 goals in 26 career games coming in) was not augmented tonight.
• The crowd was lifeless as it has been often this year, and the lack of energy seemed to drag down the effort level on the ice. See the live blog for more of my thoughts, but this is the kind of game where you need to get the most out of your fans to swing momentum.
• Zack Kassian was average in his first game back after recall. He missed an open net in the third period which could’ve tied the game. He had no shots on goal, one blocked, and two that missed the net in 9:44 TOI. He has six points in 20 games with the Sabres this season.
• With Kassian in the lineup, and an abundance of offensively minded players, Matt Ellis’ presence made even less sense. Something’s missing.
• Don’t remember noticing Robyn Regehr much at all tonight. Just thought about that looking at the roster. Stats show he played 17:27. Huh.
• The NHL needs to reevaluate how the officials are calling games. Things are just getting brutal to watch. The league has set up a fairly nice rulebook. The officials need to enforce it. Four powerplays between the teams isn’t legit. Call the game like the rules say. Special teams are a part of the game. The game sucked back when they didn’t call anything. No need to bring it back.

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

• It’s about quarter to 6:00 (game time is 7:00) and while the seating bowl is not open yet, the 200 level and suites are getting a trickle of spectators. Zamboni is out on the ice, arena lights are fully on, and soft rock is playing quietly. Looking at the scoreboard, the new “We Live Hockey” graphic is everywhere. I see the emphasis on that marketing initiative since the team returned from the roadtrip. Funny how that’s the catch phrase now and people are arguing on twitter about why you’re allowed to leave games early. Anyways, nothing flashy really going on. I know in the past they used to show old games against the night’s opponent on the scoreboard at this point of the night. I think that’d be a better direction. And please dim the lights. It’s not showtime yet!
• Well, here we go. 5:59 and the arena goes dark and the music goes up. “Stranglehold” by Ted Nugent is playing. A little subtle, but could be worse. It’s not Christopher Cross at least. One of the improvements I was key on, and they’re doing it.
• 6:01, and fans are just entering the bowl. This is their first taste of the environment. This is where the tone gets set. Much better now than it was in the past.
• They’re playing some featurettes, including an NHL Rewind done by NHL Network. Thumbs up.
• Now they’re showing people in the crowd and playing “Freeze Frame” with 30:00 on the clock. Thumbs down. Two thumbs down. Way too hokey. There’s zero drama right now. You’re basically ruining the anticipation by doing this. The abundance of crowd shots needs to be trimmed.
• They cut back to the “We Live Hockey” graphic and “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” by Elton John. Thank you.
• Lights are on with just under 24 minutes on the clock. Not sure when the teams are actually coming out, but I think it’d be much better for them to pop on as the teams come on the ice. Instead of getting one massive rush of anticipation, you’re giving a minor jolt which dissipates and now the fans are sitting and waiting unsure what the hell the lights just came on for. Gotta eliminate this dead spot.
• Now they’re playing a featurette on the scoreboard. Great, but the fans are getting lulled into indifference right now. If lights are off for this, people don’t have that visual cue to pay attention to the ice. Right now they’re distracted. Clock is at 19:30, so approaching five minutes of unnecessary lighting.
• Now showing a video preview of the game hosted by Kevin Sylvester. I like this video a lot. Just not the right situation to play it. 18:00 on the clock, players should be out on the ice momentarily. Play this five minutes ago with the lights still out, and go with dramatic music right now. Would be a great way to generate more energy.
• And now they’re playing music from Grease. 16:42 on the clock. Ugh. I’m about ready to jump from the press box and run. They’re playing this shit and the team is walking out of the locker room. Absolute joke.

Warmups

• One of the things I complained about was the static graphics on the ribbon board during warmups, how it looked flat. Now they’re using an active Sabres graphic. The bowl pops a little more now. Upgrade.
• Still using MSG graphics on the scoreboard as they show each player. They look good on television, but they’re simply too hard to read in this environment. Make something unique.
• One of the things that I’ve campaigned for is some NHL stats and standings graphics on the board during warmups. It’d be incredibly easy to scroll stats along the side of the screen and show the players at once. Everything right now is way too simple. Bombard the fans here with information. They should know exactly how many points the Sabres are out of 8th right now. Don’t assume they do, because most don’t. Tell everyone how much this game matters. Make them care.
• Warmup music is pretty solid. The players usually pick it. Surprisingly, it’s appropriate for the situation. How does whoever picks the music not grasp that this is what the players want to hear? That this stuff works for the fans too? High tempo, high energy. Not hokey whatsoever. It’s just there, setting the tone. It doesn’t need to elicit a reaction. Take a hint.
• Flo Rida’s “Good Feeling” blasting through the arena. Pretty sure the guys picked it. It’s not an obvious thing to play right now, but it works. Just watching the guys on the ice, it seems like they’re into it. That is what matters most. No one ever really complains about the warm up music, because in most instances it’s the players picking it and they know best what works.

Pregame

• Clock is reset, and the lights are all on. Zambonis on the ice while they make announcements. Kill the lights. Seriously. Indifference is setting in.
• They just played an NHL Network preview video that went around the league. Nice, but the lights are still on. This should be easy.
• What day of the week is it? Oh, it’s Saturday. So they’re playing “Almost Saturday Night” by John Fogerty. It technically already is Saturday night. So this song should’ve been played never. Stop trying to be so damn cheeky. The emphasis on picking songs based on the words instead of the tempo is the sign of someone trying to be cute instead of trying to set an appropriate tone.
• Oh, and here comes Kid Rock’s “God Bless Saturday” to follow up. Awful.
• Lights go dim at just over five minutes. The game preview now playing. They gotta get someone other than the PA guy to do the voiceover. Need someone with energy. Great addition to the pregame though. Thumbs up.
• Place goes dark as “Wake Up” by Arcade Fire comes on. Oh, and here comes the flag. The flag has to go. It distracts fans from the video. I mean, if you’re sitting there, you’re like “Hey, look! Here comes the flag! Oh wait, here’s a video that I can’t see cause I’m passing a flag around!” As a game presentation department, you have the crowd’s undivided attention. Don’t give them more than they can handle. You’re ruining it for yourself by trying to do two things at once. Grab the crowd’s attention and take them in one direction, not two.
• Rick Jeanneret intro video. Nice video, but not appropriate as the sole intro video. Just completely aggrandizing to the fans. Not enough focus on the actual players. Doesn’t get anyone excited. The intro video should be the climax of anticipation. Not some love fest for fans. We’re here to see this game. Not because we’re supposed to be here.

Anthems

• Doug Allen is pure class.
• Eminem’s “Not Afraid” takes you from the anthems to faceoff. What was I saying earlier about worrying more about words than tempo? Place is silent after puckdrop.

1st Period

• Seriously, it’s like somebody died. No energy whatsoever. Is this surprising to me? Not at all. Ambient noise is minimal.
• No high energy music in first two stoppages. Organ first, than some other garbage. Third stoppage, silence then organ. Seems like they’re not even on the same page.
• Finally, fourth stoppage brings some actual music, and the sterotypical AC/DC rears its ugly head. Creativity? Little. Crowd interest? Little.
• First television timeout and the ice crew comes out. In many other arenas, this is the first appearance of a team of attractive females in appropriate outfits fulfilling this role. Here, nothing. I would like this to change.
• New attempt to generate crowd noise by having audio of Niagara Falls with fitting graphics before imploring the crowd to cheer. It might work if it was the other way around, where you tell fans to cheer, then blast the audio, but I don’t like the fact that it’s needed. If you’re doing a good job, the fans cheer on their own. They shouldn’t need your cues.
• Second TV timeout, time for the Verizon rewind. Good feature. They’re using a decent song as a bed for it. Then they go into the welcome for the troops. Unfortunately the crowd goes silent as soon as the applause die. It might be better to lead off the break with the troops welcome. Let the fans cheer, take a break, and then be ready to get excited for play again. Might help a bit.
• The New York Lottery “By The Numbers” feature, my favorite, makes its appearance. Been a great addition to a weak feature lineup.
• The Aesthetic Associates Center can not possibly be paying enough of a sponsorship fee to justify this awful “Gr8 Smles” spot. So awful. Who approved this? You’ve gotta bring something more engaging to the table than that.

1st Intermission

• Kids come out onto the ice for the shootout. I (along with many others I talk to) think they’d be better off letting the kids actually play instead of just a shootout. Let them skate around for a few minutes and get more fun than letting them stand there for five seconds of glory. I’m sure they do this to get the zambonis on to the ice quicker, but you can give them about the same amount of time anyways. Other arenas don’t struggle with that. Hell, I’ve seen other arenas do extended on-ice promotions. The Sabres do none.
• Kids have been done for a few minutes and the lights are still on. 9,000 people are falling asleep because they’re not engaged and the environment hasn’t been drastically changed to signal that it’s a break.
• They’re now playing “Moneygrabber” by Fitz and the Tantrums. Good song, but there’s no energy. Again, it’s not about whether a song is good or not, it’s whether it’s good-for-this-moment… and people are falling asleep.
• Quick “Around the NHL” spot that they do on MSG. I’d like to see something more extended there.
• Teams show up back on the ice. No dramatic entrance. Fans appear ready… to sleep.

2nd Period

• No apparent effort being made to bring energy to the building. If you’re looking for “fun” music, you’re in luck. If you’re looking to get psyched up for this hockey game, turn on your iPod.
• Here comes the blooper reel at your first television timeout. Not sure if it can get quieter, but if there’s anything that can kill a crowd, it’s this. I get that it’s sponsored. I assume it won’t be back next year. But they gotta find a way to renegotiate that deal. Don’t tell me it can’t be done, because that’d be a flat out lie.
• Tampa scores, and the flat crowd is flat as ever. I can hear guys on the ice from the press box.
• The Atwal Mad Minute is the kind of promotion they need more of. You can do that kind of stuff more often. You don’t need to spend half a television timeout showing people in the crowd.
• Tampa scores again. Crowd is flat. Sure, the on ice results have influence. But there’d be much more energy if they could cultivate it. They’ve done nothing tonight to prove they can do that.
• Kiss Cam is a necessary evil. Incredibly easy to sell sponsorships to. I’m not going to advocate getting rid of it because in today’s sports business world, that’d be a stupid thing for the organization to do. But they can pick a better bed than Fleetwood Mac to keep energy level up. But there’s no energy level to keep up, so I guess it doesn’t matter.
• Period ends with a whimper. Place is dead.

2nd Intermission

• High school shootout is nice, but isn’t it overkill to have a shootout during both intermissions? Can’t change it up a bit? Don’t wanna involve any people besides ones that actually play hockey?
• Lights remain on again. They had finally started dimming them the last couple games, but apparently any positive change isn’t allowed to last.
• They can probably limit birthdays to one intermission feature. Doing both is unnecessary. You can find ways to entertain the crowd and keep them engaged. Or you can be lazy and do neither and put up a couple graphics and play weak music.
• This “Shake Your Beauty” commercial for Blue Cross is awful. Healthy changes everything? These ugly women dancing are making me sick.
• Blows me away how many people sit here and stare blankly for 15 minutes because they’re not being engaged and yet nothing is being done to change it.

3rd Period

• Well, here’s them blasting “Desire” by U2 as the team comes back on the ice. This I approve of. Turn the volume up and save this mess.
• They’re making an effort to actually play appropriate music here and there. It’s just too late to save this crowd. Whitney Houston would fit right in with this bunch.
• Sabres score and the crowd erupts. The first appearance of “Lonely Boy” and it’s again the looped version of the first two lines of the chorus. Please go back to just letting it play. It works on its own.
• Ribbon board graphic for Jason Pominville has a Canadian flag on it. This needs to be fixed. Looks dumb when he’ll be playing for Team USA in April at the Worlds.
• TV timeout brings the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Dance Cam. A solid minute plus of showing morons dancing on the scoreboard. In the future, maybe consider some sponsored highlight packages that would probably work infinitely better.
• Second television timeout, time for Carubba Collision. They’ve been playing Pat Benatar with that for way too long. Nice, timely selection.
• After the 50/50, they segue into “Apache” and fans jumping around. You’d think they were up 9-1 right now. Or that this was the AHL.
• 7:55 left, Sabres take a penalty, and there’s a short break because of injury. This is when they decide to play “Enter Sandman” tonight. Timing is everything. That’s bad timing.
• They pull out “We Will Rock You” too. You know, you wouldn’t have to get this blatant if you did this stuff all game.
• Sabres call a timeout with 1:12 left, down 2-1 and the DJ responds with “Rock And Roll All Night” and then “Crazy Train” at the game’s critical point. Is “Mony Mony” next?

End of Game – Lightning 2, Sabres 1

• Cue the somber music. Yes, the Sabres lost, so everyone must go home miserable.

Analysis

I had planned to do this because over the last few games, it was remarkable how many changes were made. While some have stuck around and show some growth in the product, in many cases, they’ve just reverted back to the old habits.

Tonight we saw a morose crowd for most of the night. It’s easy to blame what’s going on out on the ice for that. That’d be the easy and obvious thing to do, without analyzing the effects of each thing the game presentation does.

Ted Black frequently claims that the best game entertainment is winning. That’s a dangerous way to think as an organization. When people complain about the music or poor atmosphere, that’s not it. The game is the entertainment. The presentation, which fails to engage the crowd, is the issue. The game is what everyone’s here to watch. Assuming that people need to be entertained in spite of the game is the wrong way to look at this and the wrong way to treat it. Presentation is exactly that: presentation. Take the game and surround what goes on the ice with the optimal media to keep the crowd engaged. To emphasize the highs and minimize the lows. That’s what presentation is supposed to do.

Unfortunately, the presentation at First Niagara Center does the opposite. It’s inconsistent and too often, seems oblivious to the actual game. Therein lies the issue. You get the sense that they don’t go hand in hand. They should.

Changes have begun to come in go, as any drastic alterations usually give way to the way things were before, when they didn’t work. The goal song could be different Tuesday. Who knows.

The thing I’ve begun to question most is whether or not the people organizing the presentation recognize the issues or are willing to make drastic moves. I’ve begun to doubt it. The culture they’ve created at games is flawed. They can tweak all they want, but it’s more than a tweak. It’s not about directly creating fan interaction, telling people to cheer. It’s about creating the symphony that is the game, where the fans take it upon themselves. Where they organically begin to cheer because they’re led to believe that this is the moment they need to step up.

They wait for that organ to start playing, because if that organ doesn’t play, they don’t know when to start cheering. They’re not in the game.

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.

• Not sure how Kari Lehtonen wasn’t one of the three stars. He was outstanding for Dallas, making some ridiculous stops. The save on Vanek in the waning seconds of overtime is highlight reel material.
• Vanek started out playing with Matt Ellis and Cody McCormick. That didn’t last. It shouldn’t have even been a line to start.
• Can’t believe what possesses so many to leave early in a one-goal game. That’s “hockey IQ” right there.
• Still not sure how there hasn’t been an overwhelming appreciation of what Tyler Ennis’ return has done for the Sabres. The kid is the most dynamic skater on the roster. Even without being on the scoresheet, he generated many of their best chances, including the pretty between the legs pass to Drew Stafford in the second that was denied by Lehtonen. Adding him down the middle has been key.
• I thought Tyler Myers played one of his better games of the season. Usually, I seem fairly critical of him, mainly because few are willing to be critical of his play. However, he was quite solid, and other than a few rare hiccups, did some very nice things. He hasn’t been getting his point shot through enough, but he did when it mattered, and he got the assist on the Roy goal.
• Note the guys on the ice for the tying goal: Vanek, Roy, Stafford, Jason Pominville, Paul Gaustad on the draw, and Tyler Myers at the point. It should mean something that those guys as a group came through in that moment, right?
• Christian Ehrhoff is undoubtedly the team’s #1 defenseman right now, and his heads-up play in overtime to set up that last chance show a guy playing with confidence. Would’ve been a highlight-reel goal if Vanek converts that.
• Luke Adam got scratched. If they know he’s not playing, and they’re going to send him to Rochester, why didn’t you do it in time for him to play Friday night instead of sitting on his ass in the press box?
• In the long line of “surprisingly good ideas that they decide not to stick with in optimal form”, they went ahead and edited “Lonely Boy” to just looping the first part of the chorus instead of letting it play. Whoever decided this sounded better is an idiot.
• Saw a pleasant increase in the number of black-and-red jerseys in the crowd Friday night. I’m sure it would’ve been higher if the team recognized that era a bit more, considering the prime demographic in the crowd bled those colors in their formative years.
• Relieved that the Sabres don’t have to deal with Steve Ott more than once a season. That dude plays like a prick. He’s good.
• Speaking of black-and-red, Thomas Vanek’s goal tied him with Miroslav Satan for 7th on the franchise’s all-time goals list. Satan’s legacy isn’t exactly the most fondly remembered by most Sabres fans, but that dude put up goals when goals didn’t come often.
• Sabres took what seemed like a lot of penalties. They took four. The referees putting the whistles away of late continues to be bothersome. Call the rules, guys.

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.

• Kassian looked like the Kassian we know. Wasn’t throwing his weight around, but strong physically and good around the net. He’s not going to be the player everyone wants him to be. He’ll be good though.
• Made an effort to watch Dennis Persson as much as I could. Seems like he’s slowly becoming a bit steadier. His selection was always assumed to be under the intention that he’d grow into a Henrik Tallinder-type, and I can see it. Tallinder took his sweet time developing. Persson is progressing slowly as well. Not ready to say “bust” yet. He was -2 on Wednesday.
• If you’re into roadtrips, I highly recommend heading up to Ricoh for a game. Beautiful little AHL arena. Very intimate environment.
• Travis Turnbull is a guy that can be a mainstay on the Amerks for a few years. A joy to watch. Plays with a lot of intensity and spunk. Had a nice scrap with Toronto’s Kelsey Wilson.
• I submit the Marlies’ ice girls as Exhibit A for why they are a positive addition to a game atmosphere. Wow.
• Drew Schiestel looked really good to me. He’s been on the verge of deserving a recall for a couple years. He’s struggled with injuries, but I liked his game. Solid.
• Seeing Mike Ryan out there, I still wonder how he got so much time on the Sabres’ roster a few years back. More speed than hands. Hell, more looks than hands. He doesn’t have good hands.
• I’d like to see the Sabres and Amerks try to work some more day-night games into the schedule next year, like an afternoon Amerks game and evening Sabres game. I bet you could get a good amount of people trying to do both if you market it right.
• Brayden McNabb looked like the best defenseman on the ice for both teams. Good. Let him get used to that feeling before you worry about getting him in a Sabres uniform for good.
• I tried letting Toronto’s Mike Zigomanis know that I was coming, hoping I could meet him after the game. I don’t think he got the fax though. Still funny.

We were back on the road before 2:00, which gave us plenty of time to beat any semblance of afternoon traffic. We got back to Niagara Falls and grabbed some food and entertained ourselves for a bit.

[Events occurring between 3:30pm ET and 5:00pm ET redacted.]

Bruins @ Sabres
Viewed at: First Niagara Center, Buffalo

Ryan Miller was spectacular. When Ryan Miller is spectacular, usually the team will come away with points.

Goals usually help too.

Facing the team that seemed to bring out the worst in them back in November, the Sabres played possibly their best game of the season, earning a 6-0 victory in front of the home crowd.

Captain Jason Pominville scored twice for Buffalo, who won their fourth in five games. The Sabres also got tallies from Christian Ehrhoff, Tyler Ennis, Drew Stafford and the night’s lightning rod, Patrick Kaleta.

Kaleta was in top form, goading the Bruins into multiple penalties and taking on Boston’s Milan Lucic in a scrap.

The first star was Miller, making 36 saves for his 25th career shutout.

Buffalo’s scant playoff hopes remain alive. If this game showed anything, it showed that the team that was expected to contend still has something in the tank.

• If it weren’t for the fact that the league’s supplemental discipline system is so fucked, I’d think Shawn Thornton would be up for a suspension for jumping off the bench and jumping Mike Weber. Rule 70.2 indicates that it would be justified. He received an instigator. But I don’t expect it. Shit, they barely call penalties as it is.
• Best part about Leino’s goal wasn’t the spin-pass to Pominville, but Ville juking the shit out of Boychuk at the blueline. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
• Doc Emrick is the best. I counted four references to Drew Stafford going to North Dakota alone. Also snuck in a Nathan Gerbe-Boston College shout-out as well.
• For being a rough-and-tumble rout of a hated rival, the crowd was dead. Same garbage that I’ve complained about in the past reared its ugly head. If the people dining at your restaurant are complaining about the food, you tweak the recipe until you get it right. If you can’t get the right recipe to satisfy the customers, then you gotta look and see if your cook is good enough. I think it’s approaching the time where you need to get rid of the cook.
• Tyler Ennis had a great game. A beauty of a goal and an assist on the last-minute marker by Stafford. The kid is a big reason for the recent success.
• Ville Leino is finally getting rewarded for his efforts. Two assists and a +3 rating. Hopefully he keeps it up.
• The fourth line was hardly relevant, save for Cody McCormick’s early scrap with Thornton. The lack of depth there will hurt this team if they try to make a run.
• The goal song is a solid pick. I wouldn’t call “Lonely Boy” by the Black Keys inspired, because it’s just a great song with that sing-songy type thing that everyone loves for a goal song since “Chelsea Dagger” took over the world. Good pick, but it’s not an unearthed gem like “Beautiful” was.
• Lost count of how many fake Bruins jerseys I saw. Would’ve been easier to count the real ones. Typical bandwagon.

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.