Blog Archives
Overreactions, 4/48 Edition: Vanek can’t do everything
Well, the defense tightened up a bit at least.
After dropping a 6-3 decision the night before in Raleigh, the Buffalo Sabres again took one in the loss column, a 3-1 defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Thomas Vanek scored the lone goal for Buffalo, his third of the campaign, to open up a 1-0 second period lead. (AD: Click here to visit BetOnIt.org to learn more about betting online) Vanek has been on the ice for all 11 goals the Sabres have scored this season.
“Thomas is off to one hell of a start,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. “He’s played awesome.”
Unfortunately, that one goal wasn’t going to be enough, as Carolina tied it a few minutes later on Alexander Semin’s first goal as a Hurricane. Jay Harrison’s point shot at 15:10 of the 3rd found the back of the net behind Ryan Miller to give Carolina the lead, and Jeff Skinner’s empty netter sealed it.
Dan Ellis, yes, that’s right, Dan Ellis, was superb in goal for Carolina, stopping 40 of 41 shots.
“Coming into Buffalo and getting a win is not easy, and he was a big of a part of that win tonight,” Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said after the game.
The Sabres did get a solid night out of Ryan Miller, who stopped 39 of 41 shots. But when you don’t have goal support, it’s tough to put it on the goaltending.
“You need to win these games or at least get to overtime,” said Miller after the game. “I need to make one more save.”
Buffalo next heads to Washington for a Sunday matinee with the winless Capitals.
- Lindy deemed Tyler Myers’ play tonight as “Okay” after the game, and while he did settle in and play decent defense at times, that’s irrelevant due to the egregious mistakes he made. The absolutely mindless play that created a 3-on-0 break for Carolina in the second period is completely unacceptable for what is expected of him. The only thing stopping me from saying he’s been Buffalo’s worst defenseman is the fact Robyn Regehr has possibly been worse.
- I avoided mentioning it above, but what the fuck is the point of having Mikhail Grigorenko here? Ruff gave an acceptable reasoning as to why he tried putting other lines out for defense. You know what? Fine. But you just made a budding franchise-cornerstone-type offensive center prospect skate with John fucking Scott. This develops him how? Playing him 6:48 a night when your team can’t score goals helps you how? Send him back to Quebec and let him get relied on for 20+ minutes a night. Don’t make him play with fucking plugs.
- Andrej Sekera: team leading 22:18 TOI. Most shots by a defenseman. Most takeaways. Most blocked shots. Best defenseman in a Buffalo uniform tonight. Was excellent jumping into the rush and busted his ass to get back. Read the rest of this entry
Overreactions, 67th Edition: On to the next one
As game time approached Wednesday night at First Niagara Center, the signs of a “trap game” started popping up. Whether it was Lindy Ruff sticking Ryan Miller in net again, the dreaded “first game back after a road trip” game, a late scratch of Andrej Sekera due to illness… you could find your reasons.
Buffalo responded with an effort that got them the result they needed.
Before a surprisingly lively crowd, the Sabres came home and in the end, took care of business, knocking off the Carolina Hurricanes with a 3-2 overtime victory on the strength of captain Jason Pominville’s powerplay goal 56 seconds into the fourth period.
After falling into an early hole and facing a one goal deficit after one, the Sabres had grabbed a 2-1 lead just 1:02 into the second on goals by Tyler Myers and Thomas Vanek. Carolina would later tie it up and the teams remained deadlocked after 60 minutes until the American hero, Pominville, ended it.
Ryan Miller made 22 saves for Buffalo, moving to 7-1-2 in his last 10 starts.
The Sabres now sit 10th place in the Eastern Conference at 70 points, just two behind 8th place Winnipeg with 15 games to go.
- Thomas Vanek’s ice time in his four-game streak without a point: 17:41, 17:45, 12:09, 16:20. Tonight: 19:47, two points. Likely due to the above-the-norm amount of powerplays, but noticeable.
- Big ups to Carolina’s Jussi Jokinen for taking three, yes, three minor penalties tonight. The way they’re calling games, penalties don’t get called often. Takes a supreme effort to pull that off.
- Alex Sulzer had a pretty solid game as a late replacement for the apparently sick Andrej Sekera. Three blocked shots, two shots on goal, and a snipe off the pipe that could’ve broken the tie in the second period. Looked good in his home debut. Read the rest of this entry
Overreactions, 40th Edition: Losing games good teams win
It was a promising start that materialized into nothing.
With Buffalo buzzing around the Carolina net early, it looked like the Sabres came to play. Ryan Miller was even stopping the puck. The results didn’t follow.
At the end of the night, it was the Sabres, after going unbeaten in regulation in their last eight visits to RBC Center, that walked away empty-handed, losing 4-2 to the Hurricanes.
“They’re only really good opportunities if you bury them,” Ruff said. “We work to get position offensively. It was good. Not converting isn’t any good.”
As usual, it was the leading scorers showing up without help, as Buffalo got goals from Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville.
Miller looked like he was going to play the type of game that could get the team a win. Stopping all 15 Carolina shots in the first, he limited Carolina to Justin Faulk’s powerplay goal in the second through two periods and 23 shots.
In the end, it was Buffalo’s futile attempts at offense than led to the team’s demise, as a pressing pinch on a four-on-four led to a two-on-one and Chad LaRose’s game winner in the third. Miller finished with 31 saves.
The team’s center situation also got even more dire, as Derek Roy went down with an injury early in the first and did not return. Ruff indicated that he will miss some time with the damage.
- Paul Gaustad is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. He is currently counting $2.3 million against the cap. He has three goals in 37 games this season. If this team doesn’t turn the ship around soon, take the draft pick at the deadline and run.
- Again, the lack of secondary scoring is the team’s biggest issue. The team’s top line (Jochen Hecht, Jason Pominville, Thomas Vanek) have scored the team’s only goals in nine of 40 games this season. The team is 2-7-0 in those nine. The two wins were shutouts. If the rest of the team doesn’t chip in, the team dosn’t win. End of story.
- Lots of jokesters on twitter seemed pretty happy about Roy being hurt. First, being pleased about the guy who’s supposed to be the team’s best center is pretty lame. Second, you can’t trade someone who’s hurt. Everyone that wants him gone is stuck with him unless he’s healthy. Think, McFly. Read the rest of this entry
Overreactions, 19th Edition: Sabres are winners, Canes are losers
Coming off the worst performance of his career, Jhonas Enroth showed that he can recover from a weak effort. Recover, and then some.
Enroth registered his first shutout of the season and a first period powerplay goal by Jason Pominville was all the offense the Sabres needed in a 1-0 win over Carolina.
Enroth made 34 saves after allowing five goals on Wednesday night against New Jersey.
“After a game when you play like that, you just want to get out there again,” Enroth, said. “I’m happy I got the start right after that game.”
Carolina was able to throw 14 shots on Enroth in the third period, but the rookie was up to the challenge, moving to 6-1-0 on the season.
Pominville scored his seventh of the season on a feed from Thomas Vanek, as the pair remain in the top-5 in the NHL in points. The Sabres finished 1-for-2 on the powerplay.
With the win, Buffalo is just one point behind Philadelphia for first place in the Eastern Conference.
- Big rivalry game in Carolina, huh? I could tell by all the empty seats. Some ‘Canes fans seem to claim that they avoid going to Sabres games because they don’t want to deal with the Sabres fans. Wimps. Considering they’re the ones who think it’s a rivalry, they don’t seem to care enough about it to actually show up.
- Tyler Myers, in my opinion, had a better game in Carolina than he did Wednesday against New Jersey. He seemed much better in the defensive zone, and seemed a little smarter in deciding when to rush the puck, save for trying to carry the puck on a rush while the team was shorthanded, leading to an odd-man rush the other way. Still some issues, but he’s been better.
- Overall, it was a good night for the defense. Sekera was sublime. Leopold continued his strong play and even Regehr looked good. Enroth stopping every shot helped too. Read the rest of this entry
Overreactions, 3rd Edition: Sabres can’t weather the storm
The conditions in the Buffalo area on Friday night were far from perfect. In a way, the bad weather was a harbinger of things to come.
On a night expected to be a celebration of hope, it was the dark clouds of stormy weather and the Carolina Hurricanes that put a damper on the evening, as the Buffalo Sabres dropped a 4-3 decision in their home opener at First Niagara Center.
The Sabres jumped out to a lead twice in the first period on goals by Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy, only to have both cancelled by the Hurricanes. The damage was done after Buffalo had taken a 2-1 lead in the first, with Carolina adding two shorthanded goals, one by Brandon Sutter at the end of the first and one by Tim Brent in the second, to give the visitors the lead.
“We didn’t take care of the puck at all tonight,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We created a great number of opportunities, but we gave up some beauties. And all those beauties were given up because of plays we didn’t need to make. … We burned ourselves tonight.”
A late third period goal by Drew Stafford to tie the game was answered moments later by Carolina’s Jeff Skinner on a powerplay to give the ‘Canes a win.
Ryan Miller had 30 saves in the loss, while Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward made 39 stops to get the win.
- I’m gonna go ahead and say Andrej Sekera was Buffalo’s best defenseman. Tyler Myers made a great play on the Stafford goal, but ‘Rej was dynamic all night.
- The powerplay obviously had problems, as evidenced by the two shorthanded goals they allowed. But it wasn’t even bad giveaways that made them look bad. Carolina’s penalty kill just gave them nothing. The Hurricanes were collapsing into shooting lanes and the Sabres weren’t moving the puck around enough to handle it. It seemed like the point men kept trying to get that point shot from the high slot instead of working the points and getting the PK out of position. After looking good in the first two games, it was a dreadful night on special teams for Buffalo. Read the rest of this entry
Overreactions, Preseason Edition #1: Success isn’t always perfection
Well, it’s good to be back, isn’t it?
Hitting the ice for the first time in the newly-named and remodeled First Niagara Center, the Buffalo Sabres opened the 2011 exhibition slate with a 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Earning goals from Paul Gaustad, Nathan Gerbe and an empty netter from Patrick Kaleta, the team came back to get the win on the strength of 11 saves from Jhonas Enroth.
Sure, the game presentation still sucks ass, but who cares when the buildings full and the team wins, right? I’ll save that for another post. I won’t let that ruin the insight on the game.
Points to make after a meaningless win:
- It seemed to me like a lot of the rookies played very tentative. The Zack Kassian-Luke Adam-Marcus Foligno line was ineffective for most of the night. It took a while for Alex Biega and T.J. Brennan to settle in. They seemed afraid of making mistakes.
- Yes, the Sabres failed to crack the scoresheet with Brian Boucher in net for Carolina, but they really didn’t generate any offense whatsoever anyways. Opportunities were limited until the third period.
- Zack Kassian is going to need at least a year in the AHL. I’ve been fully unimpressed with him in this game, at camp and in the one game I saw from Traverse City. The tools are clearly there. But he’s not ready. Read the rest of this entry
Sabres announce 2011 preseason schedule
The countdown is now on: 90 days until the Buffalo Sabres hit the ice to begin the 2011-12 season.
This morning the organization announced their preseason schedule, a move that comes weeks before it has in the past.
The Sabres will begin their preseason slate at home on Monday, September 19 when the Carolina Hurricanes visit HSBC Arena. The Sabres will then travel to Montreal to play the Canadiens on Wednesday, September 21. The team will participate in a home and home series with the Toronto Maple Leafs starting at the Air Canada Centre on Friday, September 23 and then at HSBC Arena on Saturday, September 24. After a game on the road in Columbus the following day (Sunday, September 25), the team will travel to Washington on Friday, September 30 to face the Capitals.
The Buffalo Sabres will also play an exhibition game against Adler Mannheim at SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany, on Tuesday, Oct. 4, as part of the 2011 Compuware NHL Premiere Challenge to complete the 2011 preseason schedule.
As expected, you have your home-and-home with Toronto, with one of them likely being a blowout win for the Sabres. You have your Wednesday night TSN game against Montreal, which will probably be on NHL Network as well.
Full credit to the Sabres for doing this earlier this year. Last year, the preseason schedule was announced by the team on July 8. Fans in recent years have been able to piece together the entire slate based on other teams beating them to the punch. Not so much this year. Good to see. Read the rest of this entry
Mutual Disrespect: Why Carolina fans hate Buffalo
We’ve all heard stories of that series in 2006. We’ve read online about the hatred since then. But, for me, my first true look at the Hurricanes/Sabres “rivalry” came yesterday in my first visit to RBC Center.
From what you read about online, you’d expect to have to run the gauntlet wearing Sabres gear in that building. After attending Game 4 against Boston last year, I’m pretty sure I can handle anything, but mentally I was preparing for dealing with a lot of smack-talking.
Especially in light of News & Observer columnist Luke DeCock’s commentary on game day, pleading for ‘Canes fans to defend their arena:
This is the Hurricanes’ last chance to make the playoffs. A loss today and they’re finished. Their only hope is to pick up two points on the Sabres today, win their final three games and hope for a little help elsewhere…
…There’s too much on the line for the Hurricanes today for their fans to be bullied out of their own building. It’s time for the Hurricanes to defend their home turf, on and off the ice. Because otherwise, the Buffalo fans win.
I’ve visited many arenas around the league to catch the Sabres on the road, Raleigh being the 9th of 29 cities sporting an NHL team outside of the 716 area code. The tailgating was as I expected, not what you’d see in Orchard Park on a Sunday, but much more than you’d see in other NHL cities. I’m sure if Buffalo had that kind of weather, and that kind of space, it’d be similar. Among with the ‘Canes fans who were obviously regulars based on their set-ups, there was plenty of Sabres fans out in the parking lot having a few pregame beers… hostility nowhere to be found.
For the most part, that was absent on Sunday. Sure, the occasional comment would come from a ‘Canes fan. (Walking in, some tool in a personalized jersey (forget the name) was poking fun at my Enroth jersey… I would’ve loved to run into him again after the game) Other than that, fans in Carolina gear kept to themselves. Most of the crowd noise was reactionary, not appreciating the “Let’s go Buffalo!” chants raining down from the upper deck.
It seemed to me that both sides were being extremely civil for most of the game, unwilling to put themselves out there for risk of the harassment they’d take later on for it. The distaste went towards their own team. At least until Marc-Andre Gragnani’s point shot found its way into the net. Read the rest of this entry
Overreactions, Edition 79: Nothing could be finer.
In a defining moment, a bounce went Buffalo’s way.
A point shot from Marc-Andre Gragnani bounced past Carolina’s Cam Ward to give Buffalo a 2-1 overtime victory, and two points in possibly the most crucial game of the season.
The Sabres weathered a storm of sorts, as Jhonas Enroth was stellar in goal, making 35 saves, and the special teams killed off all six penalties, including over a minute at 5-on-3.
Of course, the Hurricanes probably felt they were lucky to get a point out of it, only beating Enroth on a fluke deflection that found its way over his head, right?
“It appeared to be going wide, and it got deflected off of something,” Ward said. “I’m not sure what it hit, but they got a lucky break.”
Right, guys.
In addition to Gragnani’s first NHL goal in the extra session, Chris Butler added his first goal of the season in the first period.
Carolina remains on the outside looking in, and the Sabres are a few points away from locking up a playoff spot. Buffalo sits in 7th place, just one point behind 6th place Montreal.
- Yes, Ryan Miller is still our number one goalie. Buffalo media, please stop making this an issue. Enroth’s presence only matters in this type of situation, where Miller is hurt. When Ryan returns, Jhonas will be going back to the bench. What about Lindy Ruff’s history with goaltenders makes you think he can balance them? If he can ride Miller, he will.
- Congrats to Eric Staal for seamlessly claiming Mats Sundin’s title of “biggest dickhole in the NHL” for himself. Little shots behind the play, after the whistle, and holding enough star status to get away with it.
- Cody McCormick seemed to throw his weight around a little more on Sunday than he has of late. I’m not complaining. He cleaned some people out.
- The officiating wasn’t very good, both ways. Lots of things could’ve been called, especially away from the play. But that call on Ennis right after Carolina got away with two blatant crosschecks was atrocious.
- With all the special teams work, the Sabres’ top line of Thomas Vanek-Tim Connolly-Jason Pominville didn’t get as many shifts together as I would like to see. They generated some good chances when they did get on the ice together though.
- Speaking of McCormick, I’m still not sure I like Cody on Gaustad’s wing opposite Gerbe more than Mark Mancari. That line was rolling for a bit.
- Matt Ellis gets points. 8-1-2 with him in the lineup.
- Another officiating note… why the hell didn’t they blow that play dead sooner when Enroth lost his helmet? That’s gotta be automatic.
Sabres host Tampa Bay on Tuesday, and pending other results could clinch a ticket to the postseason with a win. That’d be swell.
Overreactions, Edition 74: Standing ground
It really wasn’t about what the Sabres did Friday night at HSBC Arena.
Sure, they defeated Florida 4-2 to gain another two points in the standings. The important result of the night, coupled with Carolina’s win over Tampa Bay, was that Buffalo didn’t let the ‘Canes close any of the three-point gap that separates the two teams.
Drew Stafford led the way with two goals and an assist, and the Sabres eliminated Florida (and Ottawa) from playoff contention.
Jason Pominville scored the opening goal early and Stafford’s second of the night came just 13 seconds after Jordan Leopold made the game 3-1 in the third period.
“Once you get that one goal, the crowd gets into it and the momentum shifts,” Pominville said. “And then we got another one off the bat, and the building kind of exploded. It’s a fun building to play in when it gets like that.”
Ryan Miller made 22 saves and allowed just one goal in the first 59:57 of the game before Florida added a meaningless tally at the end.
- Anyone else notice how I need to make mention of Tyler Ennis being all over the place (in a good way) almost every game. Added two assists, both on very smart plays, and now is just seven points back of the rookie scoring lead. Read the rest of this entry
