Sabres vs. Flyers--Game 1

Last night's game was majorly nutty and weird, no scoring on the Flyers part? Odd.

We can thank Miller for that, he was amazing in my opinion. Without him, I don't know how that game would have played out. Much, much worse is my guess. Buttt, we won! Miller also got a playoff shutout which is awesome.

Some are saying that the lone goal scored by Patrick Kaleta (PK!! :) was lucky and kind of a weak one for "Bob" to have let in. I don't know. I guess it seems like at times the Sabres were begging to be scored on. All the penalties (come on guys, just stop with those) and giving up the puck, shots on goal being lower at times, etc. It was just an overall ODD game for me. It was pretty exciting, but a lot of the time with the stopping because of fighting or scrapping or whatever, I am just like come onnn, stop it and let's play. A good fight or whatever once in a while is ok, but come on. Pushing and shoving every time the whistle blows is a little bit much.

Having one game won, and in Philly no less, is good because it is part of the battle won for us. There is still a lot to go though, and we have to play there again tomorrow, and it is pretty crucial to win and keep it up coming back to Buffalo for Monday. To have TWO wins and then be back home seems like an ideal situation.

I really hate predictions. Would a lot of people predict their favorite team to take it all the way? Probably. Can you realistically say that you think that will happen? Like in your head, not your heart? Well it's hard because hockey involves both. Stats aside, keeping out eternal pessimists and all that, who knows what can happen. I will just leave it at that. Anything can happen at this point. Game on!

Oh and on an ending note: Steve Montador, stop it. I mean it. You are killin' me here man. :|

We won???!!

Yeah, it finally happened, it had to eventually...haha. The Thrashers really aren't that good to begin with, but I thought all the ex-hawks would have put up a little bit more of a fight tonight. The arena just looked pathetic, I don't know if I would be happy or sad about that. On one hand, you could go to a game for probably pretty cheap and not have a ton of people around you all packed in and have some nice space. Butttt, there probably isn't a lot of energy in that arena, seeing as there is hardly anyone there. Pros and cons people.

Thomas Vanek got his first goal of the season! Woo! I don't know why it was so much put upon him to get a goal, I guess cause he's one of the top forwards, but so is Connolly and he does NOTHING half the time, so yeahhh. He seemed relieved about it, and I'm sure this will shut some people up, for a little bit at least. There was also a nice goal by Cody McCormick and Tyler Ennis and I think also one from Tyler Myers, so it was a good night for a lot of guys.

Not so much for Steve Montador who was pushed around, hit in the face, bled somewhat, etc. Geez. I don't know if they had it out for him or what, but yikes. He took it all like a trooper though.

I was also glad to see Kev Slyvester interview Jason Pominville in the intermission. He looks really good and is getting better and will hopefully be back in the line-up soon. They were like "let's replay the video from that night" I'm like oh whyyy are we doing this? It makes me so creeped out every time, and just seeing him on that stretcher makes me nervous. No need to replay the video a million times thanks.

So next game is back home vs. Ottawa. Oh boy. I think we may need to prepare for this one, as we may very well get our asses handed to us, we shall see. We beat them once, but I still think that was a fluke...haha. Hopefully we can keep winning for awhile longer, it feels nice. Game on!!

Sabres vs. Bruins--Game 4

Well, a loss in a 2nd overtime wasn't EXACTLY what I was expecting, but my pessimistic father foreshadowed some kind of loss for the Sabres. I think he might just be somewhat bitter after all these years, but I (try) to not count anything out until it is all said and done.

Now that game 4 IS said and done, I guess I can complain, but I will leave that to a minimum. The guys knew what they had to do, they started to, and then they let the lead fall from their grasp...again. I don't want to say we need our injured players back, because that can't solve anything completely, but it sure as hell can't hurt. Unless one of them put it past Miller on us (sorry Dan Boyle, I said I wouldn't bring it up again...). A couple things here:

Ryan Miller really seems to be putting his best effort in, but even he is slipping up here and there, along with the major slippage of the top men we have left. Tim Connolly checked out as soon as the playoffs started (even before that actually), Derek Roy is still trying to make pretty plays all by himself and wanting to be a star, and Jason Pominville is just ehhh at the moment.

The young guys, Ennis and Kennedy, continue to fuel this team, which should turn the heads of the "veteran" players to maybe work a little harder, but all it seems to be doing is letting them put all the work on the young guys instead. Geez. Kennedy and Ennis, you can stay on the team when everyone else is FIRED.

Steve Montador has been delivering hits and scored a goal tonight as well, along with Kennedy. I think he steps up when he needs to.

Cody McCormick was like the new little big toy, and it was good to see someone new out there to rough up the Bruins. He did make his name heard tonight in some ways, and it went pretty well on his part.

I won't go into all the flaws and what needs to happen, because I have been listening to so much WGR lately, I might just explode. I really do like Nick Mendola's powerplay show in the morning though. I listen every morning from 10-noon and I like his point of view and agree with a lot of what he has to say. I also like that he takes calls and takes the caller's opinion into account and doesn't just bash them right away, even if he doesn't agree with what they have to say. He had Marty Biron on his show this morning, and I also really like Marty Biron. Would you like to come back to Buffalo Marty? Maybe? You could, it's cool. hehe. I also just went googling, and found out Nick Mendola graduated from the same high school I did 2 years before me. Weirdddd. I also like Marty Biron's cute accent, I can't help it. He seems like a really cool dude.

So that's that. The guys come back to Buffalo Friday and well, we all know what they have to do. Oh boy. Game on!!

Sabres vs. A team way better than them (the Canadiens)

I don't even know what this was tonight. It was not a hockey game I can say that. Maybe one team was playing hockey, but the other team was doing something far from it. It was really painful to watch to be honest.

Teams have off nights, this is true. The Sabres have had two off nights in a row. Also by off, I mean WAYYY off, like I could have watched high school hockey being played and not known the difference. Ouch much boys? Well, you all deserve it.

Let's break down a few things:

-Connolly and Vanek are not there, that is well known. Butttt, just a few mere games ago this was all ok, more than ok at that point actually. We had fresh new talent from the minors up here and it was going well. Well, there are reasons those boys are still in the minors, maybe it has something to do with inconsistency. But then again, our own top 6 has problems with that, and they are full fledged NHL'ers and have been for years now. So now what do we say hmmm? Yeah, who knows.

-Tyler Myers is NOT going to be a perfect hockey player all the time, no matter what anyone wants to think, same for Ryan Miller. Now, that isn't trying to make excuses, but you can blame a few, and then you can blame the whole team, and tonight that whole team was to blame for that.

-More stupid penalties like for delay of game (this one still gets me every damn time) and slashing are just nuts, no need boys, now come onnn.

-The fact that those Canadiens stayed on the Sabres like glue didn't help. No breathing room huh boys? That's what they wanted. Everytime you turned around, stumbled, fell over yourself (or a goalie) and they were there. Got you a little irritated too hmmm? Which all boiled down to that thing at the end with Gaustad, Montador, and wayyy too many Montreal guys for Gaustad to take on by himself. I'm sure he used enough profanity tonight to make a sailor blush, and rightfully so. I think I did the same.

This all boiled down to no goals from the Sabres, and Jaroslav Halak getting his 2nd shutout in a row. Boy Buffalo, way to make them feel special.

Random notes:

-Brian Gionta is from Rochester and his hockey idol is Pat LaFontaine. He was also the shortest NHLer at 5'7" until Nathan Gerbe came in at 5'5". Why do I know this? I don't know. Last time I checked, Gionta was a NJ Devil. Last, LAST time I checked, he was a Montreal Canadien. Ok then.

-Too bad PK wasn't playing tonight so we could get a reprise on the "f'n geek" situation with Dominic Moore. Maybe that's why Moore played so well tonight, no one making fun of him and hurting his little geek feelings. Who knows.

-Toni Lydman continues his role of making me nuts, but I could add a lot more to the list tonight. He is quite high on it though.

Tuesday we take on the NY Rangers for the last regular home game of the season. I want to get tickets, but then again, DO I? I mean, the Sabres have won 5 of the 7 games I have attended this season, which is pretty good, so maybe I should be there. I would like to be I guess. We'll see what happens with that. Until then, shape up or ship out dudes, I mean it. Game on!!

Paul Gaustad is a faceoff wizard.

He also got Lexus leader because of it. He is ranked 5th overall in the NHL in faceoffs won, and he won almost all of them tonight. Man was on fire tonight, and it was quite awesome. He can also grow facial hair faster than Tim Kennedy can get that thing above his lip to grow that looks like a chocolate milk moustache. Awesome!

Derek Roy scored, as did Steve Montador, but that's where it stops. We tied it up twice, but never led, and the game just might have been a confidence thing. Getting too cocky to the point "how could we NOT beat these crappy Leafs?" ughh, yeah, didn't happen.

A lot of scrambling around, guys couldn't get their feet moving, and Miller seemed to be out of it for a bit of it. Toronto just looked really strong tonight too, they didn't let Buffalo get puck possesion for most of the game, and well, that lead to the win for them for the most part. Empty net goals do not help either. Penalties galore also do not help. Someone was in that box for most of the 2nd and 3rd periods, and they were pretty much useless ones. Ackk.

Random notes:

-Chris Butler was a healthy scratch tonight. Haha, finally someone took into account that he is awful. The +/- doesn't lie people.

-It was kind of scary to see Myers almost get into some kind of fight. We need him very much, no need to try to hurt him, please leave him alone thanks.

-What was that Carubba Collision? Two trucks or some crap? Oh geez PK, come back already. Tape up that thumb and let's roll...haha.

Ok, so we did not win this one. It was kind of crappy to watch and most of the fans I'm sure are just ehhhh about this. It is a known fact that the Sabres often have inconsistency problems. It is something that could hurt them in the playoffs because there is no "next game we will do better". Once the games are lost, it's done for good. Come on guys, a loss to a team like this just should not have happened. Maybe it was back to back games to blame, travel, being tired, who knows what Lindy, the players, etc, could come up with. Someone like Gaustad will say something like "there are no excuses" or "it's unexceptable", because he is right on both accounts it would seem. It's on to Montreal next, and they are not as crappy as Toronto was supposed to potentially be. Let's get it done hmmm? Game on!!

Sabres vs. Montreal Canadiens

This game was utterly painful to watch for more than three quarters of it. Painful and boring, a painful boring mix if you will. Oh my.

First off, they looked like they had never played a game before, like they had been on vacation for months or something. Guys falling, tripping over each other, over sticks, broken sticks galore, it was just a big mess. I bet the timbit players they bring out at intermissions could have played better than the Sabres did for 55 minutes of this game.

The last couple minutes were like a small miracle really. I'm sure a ton of people left that arena, and they were cursing in their cars on the thruway...haha. It just seemed out of reach, but with a goal by Tim Connolly (and a sly pull of Miller by Lindy) we scored one goal, and then Montador (I really thought this was a Gaustad goal :() tied it up with not much time left in the 3rd.

I was really, REALLY hoping we would be able to win it in overtime, because as any Sabre fan knows, shootouts are nerve wracking, gloomy, overall BAD experiences a lot of the time. Well well now Vanek and Pominville, you guys did it, you both scored a goal. Better late then never I guess.

So overall, I got amped at the end of the game, but most of it was a snoozefest. I guess the guys at least gave us something we wanted in the end, because the two points are what they are really after at this point. The guys just looked asleep out there tonight. Even the bench after the shootout was won was lookin' dead, geez. Come on guys!! This is the time, get it goin'! Games like tonight will NOT fly in the playoffs, not in the least. You will not be playing bottom teams just praying for playoff spots, you will be playing playoff worthy teams ready to kick ass. Wake up and hit this home stretch hard, we know you can do it. Game on!!!