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Overreactions, 46th Edition: Another Day, Another Dagger
After a gritty and admirable performance Monday night in a tough loss to Detroit, hopes were sky-high Wednesday night for the Buffalo Sabres.
Alright, it’s not even worth trying at this point.
In a game where few objective fans could convince themselves that the end result would be in doubt, it proved to be another nail in the coffin for the Sabres’ 2011-2012 season. Chicago, battling for the top spot in the West coming in, now sits atop the heap after handing the floundering Sabres a 6-2 defeat.
All-star captain Jason Pominville scored both goals for Buffalo, who have lost ten straight road games.
“We’re not dealing well with adversity,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “Until we learn to win again, you won’t win on the road.
“We’ve got some players that are way away from their game, and we’ve got some guys that I thought were good tonight, but we didn’t have enough of them.”
Pominville’s second goal tied the game at 2-2 minutes into the second period, but the Blackhawks scored four unanswered goals to coast away with two points.
Jhonas Enroth, who has been strong lately despite not finding wins, allowed six goals and stopped 29 of 35 shots. Enroth hasn’t picked up a winning decision since November 26.
The team flies to Winnipeg to face the Thrashers on Thursday night.
- With the need for some roster changes obvious, it’s a common topic of discussion to consider what players should be considered untouchable. Obviously, Thomas Vanek is the top name on the list. Many would throw in Tyler Myers as well. (I wouldn’t.) But Jason Pominville has been everything we could’ve hoped for when he was given the “C”. He’s having a phenomonal year, contributes in all areas. He’s part of the solution, not part of the problem.
- The NBC Sports crew calling the game were quite critical of the Sabres throughout the broadcast. Some on twitter seemed taken aback by it. It’s nice to get an objective opinion once in a while, isn’t it?
- Jochen Hecht’s pass to Pominville on the opening goal was absolutely sublime. Read the rest of this entry
Steve Montador dealt to Chicago
Darcy’s still dealing, apparently.
Just hours after the Sabres acquired the rights to pending UFA Christian Ehrhoff, Buffalo dealt defenseman Steve Montador to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Buffalo receives a conditional seventh round pick in either 2012 or 2013 in the deal, as explained here:
The Chicago Blackhawks have acquired the rights to defenseman Steve Montador from theBuffalo Sabres in exchange for the conditional seventh-round pick which Chicago will receive from Florida as part of the Tomas Kopecky trade…
…In exchange for Kopecky, the Blackhawks were due to receive the Panthers’ seventh-round selection in the 2012 Entry Draft, presently conditional to Nashville. If that pick is not available, Florida will transfer its own seventh-round selection in the 2013 Entry Draft.
Montador was signed as an unrestricted free agent in 2009. In two seasons, the defenseman scored ten goals and added 39 assists in 151 games as a Sabre. A physical presence on the blueline, he racked up 158 penalty minutes in his time in Buffalo.
Possibly the biggest goal Montador scored in the blue-and-gold was a second period goal against Boston in Game 4 of the 2010 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Putting the Sabres up 2-0 at TD Garden, with Buffalo at the time down 2-1 in the series, the goal was answered by two Bruins goals in the third period before Miroslav Satan ended the game in double-overtime.
This season, Montador had an assist on Tyler Ennis’ game winner in Game 5 against Philadelphia, his last point in a Sabres uniform. He was scratched for the Game 7 loss to the Flyers.
Should the Blackhawks not come to terms with the rearguard, he will be hitting the open market on Friday.
(Delayed) Overreactions from Games 5 & 6 of 82: Trade Myers!
Note: 3MI has been dealing with computer problems. This post was supposed to run Sunday. Here it as anyways.
Yeah, that was a joke. Don’t trade him… yet.
I’m not giving up on the gliding giant, but, my god, he has been awful.
Tyler Myers is sitting dead last in the NHL in plus/minus with an atrocious -7 through 6 games. For perspective, the defending rookie of the year is on pace to be -96 on the season.
Sure, could be a bunch of bad breaks, but Chicago’s first goal last night is Exhibit A as to what is ailing Myers this season: it doesn’t look like he has any clue as to what he’s doing on the ice. He’s showing no confidence in his abilities whatsoever. He’s making weak plays and playing with no swagger to speak of. It’s gotta get to a breaking point eventually, right?
The Sabres did show a bit more edge in last night’s 4-3 loss to the Blackhawks. They dominated the first period and looked solid the rest of the game. By “rest of the game” I mean “second period.” The same Sabres who blew through a four-game homestand gaining only one point showed up and let the defending champs give them another check in the loss column.
“We dominated the game for most of the night,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. “I don’t think they had more than a handful of chances. They got opportunities that were few and far between … But they didn’t makes mistakes on their opportunities.”
This coming off a listless and uninspired effort on Friday, falling by a score of 2-1 to Montreal on the night the franchise celebrated the 40th anniversary of their first home game. That game leading to coach Lindy Ruff making a clear threat in the postgame press conference.
“We might play three lines [tonight], we might play 2 1/2 lines. They know that. The gig’s up now. You can sit on the end of the bench. The guys that are going to put the work in are going to play.”
We’ll go chronologically here… Read the rest of this entry
Overreactions from Game 3 of 82: At least Pommer ain’t dead.
It’s crazy how one vicious hit can pop the balloon of a team with momentum.
After storming into a quick 2-0 lead against a young goalie making his first start of the season, the Sabres’ train got literally derailed when forward Jason Pominville got jacked up from behind by Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson late in the first period of Monday night’s game.
Not only was Pominville carried off in a stretcher, the Blackhawks carried off a 4-3 win, rebounding from the shakiest of starts to keep the Sabres winless inside the friendly confines of HSBC Arena. Pominville suffered a concussion and cut on his face, but appears to be relatively alright.
“That was a terrible hit,” said Thomas Vanek. “It was a hit to the head from behind. [Hjalmarsson] is not a dirty player. That was just a bad hit obviously. He got penalized for it and I’m sure they’ll look at it again.”
Quick hits on the second loss of the season:
- Derek Roy is officially a superhuman and apparently has decided he would like a shot at Alexander Mogilny’s single season goal mark. Only 72 more to tie, Roysie!
- Drew Stafford, it is much appreciated that you decided to show your face on the scoresheet tonight. Make it a habit, please. Read the rest of this entry
Anyone still here?
What’s up all?
Yeah, about that me-not-posting-for-two-months stuff… I think it’s time to hop back on the horse here.
So, until I fall off the wagon again, or run out of other clichés to use to describe my lack of posting, I’m gonna try to get this rolling again. Which, considering once this week’s development camp ends, it’ll be pretty quiet in regards to Sabres talk until September, is great timing.
But I feel like I can step it up with the Bills-related posting, and I can come up with other stuff to do. Usually I can do some pretty in-depth analysis (whether it’s related to how much Adam Mair sucks or not), so topics, whether suggested by you or just whimsical, should be easy to come by.
Blackhawks’ Kane arrested in Buffalo
This is one headline I sure didn’t expect to see this morning when I checked the Buffalo News website for Bills news.
Buffalo native, Chicago Blackhawks star, and South Buffalo’s favorite son, Patrick Kane was arrested this morning, the Buffalo News reports.
Chicago Blackhawk right winger and South Buffalo native Patrick Kane and a relative face robbery and other charges after allegedly assaulting a cab driver and failing to pay their fare after getting a ride from Chippewa Street early this morning.
Kane, 20, and James M. Kane, 21, were arrested about 5 a.m. on Eastwood Place, according to Buffalo police reports.
Alright, so you can assume two things from this report.
- Kane was drinking, and was most likely drunk, because no one goes to Chippewa and gets a cab ride back sober.
- Our boy Pat is a drunk asshole.
What kind of moron does this kind of thing? Read the rest of this entry
