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.
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.
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.
The easy thing to do if you’re a fan is to write off this season.
The likelihood of salvaging this season is slightly above zero, that’s not just based on emotion, but the facts. It would take an incredible run of wins to find a way back into the playoff picture. All it takes is winning, right?
Well, seems they’re figuring that out.
After some lights-out defense and goaltending gave them the edge in breaking out of their extended slump, the Buffalo Sabres survived an early hole, coming back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the New York Islanders in a shootout, winning 4-3.
Ryan Miller broke Dominik Hasek’s franchise record for career wins with his 235th, stopping 35 of 38 shots through 65 minutes and stopping Frans Nielsen in the shootout.
“I played with great teams and many great players, so this is very satisfying,” said Miller, a fifth-round draft pick in 1999 who debuted for the Sabres during the 2003-03 season. “And it was a good comeback win for us. We played a solid game, sticking with it and getting chances.”
Nielsen opened the scoring at just 1:39 of the first period, and after Nathan Gerbe tied the game four minutes later, Buffalo faced a two-goal deficit after 20 minutes. Maligned centers Derek Roy and Paul Gaustad scored in the second and third periods to force overtime.
Buffalo survived an onslaught in overtime, as a too many men penalty allowed the Islanders a chance to win, but Miller stopped all nine New York shots in the five minute extra session.
After an extended absence from First Niagara Center, there may have been some hesitation in expecting a welcoming atmosphere. The Sabres had dropped to the basement of the Eastern Conference in the course of their 18 days between home matches, and finally seemed to be turning a corner in their last two games, both tight wins.
But it turned out alright. Not good, but alright.
Welcoming the 1st place New York Rangers to town, the Sabres got a stellar performance from Ryan Miller in a 1-0 shootout loss.
Of course, there’s a fine line between a low scoring game being brutal to watch and intense. The Sabres and Rangers walked the line and a national television audience enjoyed a goaltending clinic.
“It was fun to be a part of. I haven’t had too many good outings in the last few months,” Miller said. “To go up against Lundqvist, who’s having a great season, and have a night like this, where it kind of puts us in the spotlight at each end, it’s nice to be a part of.”
Miller made 29 saves to earn his second shutout of the year, but took the loss after Ryan Callahan beat him in the fifth round of the shootout.
All-Star captain and American hero Jason Pominville was the only Sabre to beat Henrik Lundqvist in the shootout, extending it in the third round after New York’s Marian Gaborik scored in the first round.
Approaching this game, the most feasible explanation for how the Sabres could end their 12-game losing streak on the road against a goaltender they’ve had trouble with would be simple: Don’t let the other team score.
(Ed note: The least feasible would be a team of angels assisting them in exceeding their capabilities.)
For the most part, Buffalo took care of that. And it worked.
Riding a horrible stretch of play into the final game before the NHL All-Star break, the Sabres found a way to get it done, stealing a 2-1 shootout victory in New Jersey.
“This is huge for us,” said Sabres defenseman Jordan Leopold, who scored in regulation. “The past few week have been tough and challenging and we capped off a long, long road trip with a win. It was not a perfect game. We got outshot and outchanced but in the end we got a couple of big saves from Ryan. He kept us in the game and we were able to win in the shootout.”
Leopold’s fluky goal late in the first period was all the cushion Ryan Miller needed to get them a point, as he stopped 27 of 28 shots through 65 minutes. Jason Pominville scored in the third round of the shootout to extend it, and Nathan Gerbe scored the walk-off winner in round 4.
Buffalo pulled out two points despite registering a mere 14 shots on goal through regulation and overtime.
The Sabres hit the mid-season siesta sitting 14th place in the Eastern Conference, ten points out of a playoff spot with 33 games remaining.
In a shocking development, the Buffalo Sabres lost another road game. The streak of futility outside the 716 area code has now reached 11 in a row.
Yes, 11.
This time, it’s a 4-1 defeat to the team formerly known as the Atlanta Thrashers at an AHL arena somewhere in Canada.
Drew Stafford scored the lone goal for Buffalo. Failing to beat goaltending icon Ondrej Pavelec more than once isn’t going to get anyone very far.
Special teams wasn’t an area of strength on this night either, with the powerplay leaving empty handed after two opportunities and the penalty kill allowing two goals on four chances.
“You’ve got to win that battle,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said about the special teams. “We had a tough time getting shots through. They got theirs.”
The solution to the team’s problems getting points continues to elude the roster and coaching staff, and the season continues to slip past the point of saving. Ryan Miller, who started extremely strong in this game, stopping 18 of 19 shots in the first period and making key stops on many of the 30 shots he faced through two periods, couldn’t have stolen this one.
Another game, another search for answers.
Things didn’t look too promising coming in to Monday’s game at Joe Louis Arena.
Riding an eight-game losing streak on the road, Buffalo was about to run into a buzzsaw. Detroit was ready to extend their home winning streak to a franchise record 15. The numbers indicated it could be trouble for the Sabres.
Surprise, surprise.
While they held them off the board for just over five minutes, there wasn’t much reason to think the Sabres had any chance to get out of there with points, and they dropped a 5-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway.
“We’ve got to wake up,” Buffalo forward Jason Pominville said.
Ryan Miller got chased after allowing five goals on 14 shots in the first 24:32 of action. He expressed his frustration after the game, and, just like many of us have been saying, there’s no magical cure in his eyes.
“If you want to just destroy a team and go out and be reckless and do something, yeah. Then there’s going to be new guys in here. But other than that, this locker room is going to be pretty much the same, if not completely the same and we gotta find it from in here [points to chest]. You can’t sit and wait for somebody else to fucking do it.”
The nine game losing streak shows no signs of stopping, with the team unable to put together a good road game and visits to Chicago, Winnipeg and St. Louis, all arenas where the home team has dominated, awaiting them.
This is what a season slipping away looks like.
Opening a seven-game road trip, one would think it’d be prudent to snag what points you can in the games that should be deemed “winnable.”
Facing the 15th-best team in the Eastern Conference should fall into that category. Saturday night’s game in New York didn’t fall into the “win” category, though.
Despite another phenomenal performance from rookie Jhonas Enroth, Buffalo couldn’t get the goal support or the defense it needed, dropping a 4-2 defeat to the last place Islanders.
“When you don’t execute exits out of your zone, you have a hard time generating much at the other end,” Ruff said. “On the bright side, I did think Jhonas was terrific.”
Enroth’s 36 saves were in most instances timely and crucial to keeping the game close. The Sabres got goals from Patrick Kaleta and Derek Roy, but a late goal by New York’s Michael Grabner was the deciding marker.
Buffalo got a chance to tie the game, as Thomas Vanek got a penalty shot with just 1:24 left, but the team’s leading scorer rang a shot off the post behind Isles goalie Evgeni Nabokov. New York added an empty netter with 30 seconds remaining to seal it.
Next up for the Sabres is a trip to Detroit, where they face the Red Wings on Monday night, winners of 14 straight of Joe Louis Arena. Oh boy.
