Sabres vs. San Jose Sharks

Last night's game was another one that I would have loved to be in attendance for. Very upbeat, lots of energy (and goals) from the guys, and an all around GOOD game.

Paul Gaustad scored twice, and yeah, everyone can shut up about that now. He has never been a big goal scorer as is, and then when he doesn't score, people are all over him like "he has to step it up". Excuse the fact that he is always out there giving everything, protecting his fellow teammates in fights, just doing what he can for the team. You can go talk to Jason Pominville if you want to talk to someone about scoring who isn't. Like one goal since he's been back from injury? Ack. Yeah. So good job Gaustad! :)

Cody McCormick was also kicking ass last night, the whole Grier, Gaustad, McCormick line was in general. Cody is so fiesty anyway, but last night was EXTRA fiesty for him, and I liked it, I liked it a lot.

There have been so many injuries as of late that I am concerned at the beginning of every game at what might happen with so many pieces missing. Morrisson, Stafford, Niedermayer, Connolly, and Rivet just being healthy scrated for...who knows why. It seems to be ok at the moment though, but I think it is ridiculous that Rivet is our CAPTAIN, and obviously not up to par at the moment with the team. Please Lindy, pick someone else to be captain, this is getting crazy. Pominville has had an "A" for a longgg time, and while I am "ehh" about him and what he gives, I'm sure he would be good for team moral and in the locker room until you decide what the heck is happening with Rivet. Roy? I'm not so sure about. I have been a Gaustad captain pick for awhile, and he also wears an "A" now and then, so I think he would be a good choice as well. Just do something soon huh? Cripes.

We play Pittsburgh (ohhhh) tomorrow night at home, and they are number one in the league at this time. Kinda scary? Of course it is. Sidney Crosby? Yeah. We know him, he's good...scary good as RJ might say. Let's win this one...game on!!

-thumbs up-

I would like to take a moment to talk about my love of empty net goals.

Ok, so I know that the Sabres don't make them very often (or EVER, but that's a different story, unless you count that BEAUTIFUL diving one by Tyler Ennis last season, I'm pretty sure in the playoffs or sometime in that area, which was amazing) so yeah, maybe that is why I love to see them.

Patrick Sharp scored one tonight for the Blackhawks with something like 2 seconds left with them being up by one anyway, and it was glorious. I know they don't happen too often because most teams can keep things under control for the last minute or so when the goalie is pulled, but they are fun to see. Some are dramatic, some are just a matter of how precise a shot certain players have. I love when they come from halfway down the ice too, ahhhh. So pretty.

Ok, that was all I had to say.

Sabres vs. Ottawa Senators

I just had a whole thing typed up and this dsfkjdfkdfjk website seemed to have lost it or something, so yeah. Pretty pissed at the moment. But, I guess I will just type out a more condensed version from the last longer one.

Ryan Miller got back to back shutouts, one last night vs. Ottawa and one the night before vs. Columbus...yesss!! He needs to be up there in the top stats because Tim Thomas is hogging everything...haha. Good job Miller!

A pretty uneventful game vs. Ottawa, because well, there was no scoring at all until the shootout. Shootouts usually make me nutty, but last night I felt like we would win it, even my dad said he has a lot of faith in Miller in shootouts, and Miller is not his favorite player by any means. There wasn't as much physicality either, which was surprising. Patrick Kaleta was probably still tired from the night before. He got into this crazy full out rumble with Derek Dorsett from the Blue Jackets, and I swear he got 20 lefts on this guy. I don't know how the guy was still conscious when it was all over. He was pumped though, and it was great to see him back to his old role a bit. Lately, Cody McCormick has been doing a lot of the fighting, and Kaleta a little bit less. Even when I was at the Blackhawks game, he got in the middle of a fight, guys came to his aid to help, and he skated out. The guy behind me yelled "take your skirt off Kaleta!" which was rude, but I couldn't help but laugh just a little bit. He seems to be back on track though, and it's good to see.

Drew Stafford was back out as fast as he was back in with the rest of the team. He has some sort of shoulder injury that had him out for awhile, came back for one game, got hit and I guess must have re-injured it or something because he didn't play last night either. Connolly and Rivet are also MIA, but I don't really care...haha. I just think we need a new captain in general, but whatever. Things don't change that easily here, I've learned that.

So, other than all the new ownership talk, it's business as usual. Golisano should just sell because he could give a crap less about hockey or this team it would seem. He just sees the $$$$ and fans filling the arena to capacity, and that's about it. This new guy seems to at least have a general interest in the sport which is more than what we can say now. Maybe we could also get a new GM if this owner comes in (pretty please??!!). We'll just have to see what happens with all that I guess.

So, until next time...game on!!

Sabres vs. Vancouver Canucks

Ok ok, so we won, in overtime, again. I like that we are actually WINNING, that is good, but does it have to be so down to the wire guys? Do we have to give up leads and screw things up in regulation every damn time? I would like a real regulation win, just to see if you guys can still do it, come on.

Exciting game though, one of the first ones in a long time in my opinion. They started off on a lead pretty early, and it looked good, like we actually would just win this flat out and be ok for once, and that things were on the right track again.

Then dumb penalties come, and the lead is lost, then taken again, then lost again and all that crap. It was a fast paced game though and the back and forth actually makes it more fun to watch sometimes, so I guess it was worth it.

Couple things:

-Ryan Kesler's face dive thing over the goalie and into the net...owww. It looked worse than I guess it turned out to be, but still. It had the potential to be really bad, thankfully it wasn't

-Tyler Ennis is still on fire and doing his thing out there and everyone loves it. Keep up the good work Menace.

-Tyler Myers overtime goal was a beautiful thing, and I'm glad he got it. Seems a lot of people have been down on him lately (which I don't get b/c he is nowhere near awful, but that's another story), so it was good for him to get that. After that penalty he took too that got us scored on, I think he redeemed himself there.

-Cody McCormick got his 3rd goal of the season which is awesome, and I really think he is far too underrated. He is out there all the time kicking ass as needed, and he scores here and there on top of it. Not huge numbers, but he is a good part of the team just the same. He deserves the recognition for a job well done.

-Ryan Miller has been back and I think that helps out the team a lot to know he's there. Enroth did well for us I think, as well as you can when you don't play in the NHL on a regular basis, but we needed Miller. Injuries still have Stafford and Gerbe out, so Ellis is still here until Stafford returns. I hope they all come back soon because I miss seeing them play. Kaleta left the game with some sort of upper body injury and didn't return, so who knows what that will turn into. I just hope it isn't too serious. We need all the guys back and healthy now more than ever.

All in all, good game, but I get so crazy when they celebrate nutty like this was something huge. You won, that is what you are supposed to do, and a lot more often than you are if you want to be on the road to any post season next spring. I get you are all proud, but you need to buckle down and win more, and be more consistent with it. Clutch wins will only get us so far. Please don't keep taking these games to overtime and shootouts, just win flat out a bit, please? I am proud though, so I guess you can go out tonight and party if you want, just not too much. Haha. Game on!!

Sabres vs. New Jersey Devils

First off....Kovalchuk...what in the hell was that?? haha. It was just hilarious the way it went down, my goodness. He just looked like "that just happened? oh boy" it was just BAD. The 2nd shootout the Sabres have been in and won, does it have to come down to this everytime? That is really the long way to go about winning boys.

Tyler Ennis is still kickin ass out there, and Tyler Myers has been doing better. I don't think he was ever doing really badly, but he just got off course a little bit was all. Enroth played really well, and Thomas Vanek is still struggling with finding the back of the net. He is trying like hell, but nothing seems to be happening for him. I'm sure it's getting on his nerves, you can see it on his face sometimes. :(

Seeing Martin Brodeur and Zach Parise all injured in the press box made me laugh a little. Not like "haha you're hurt" but more like "aww they look so sad and depressed, but they are the best dressed bunch of injured people I've ever seen" hehe. They were all in shirts and ties and cruches and casts...hehe. The Devils have been struggling just as much as the Sabres lately, and it has to suck to have your top two players for the most part out with injuries like that.

So, we won again, which is good. Keeping it up would also be good. Tomorrow it's the Rangers in NY and I just hope we can keep winning, keep the moral up a little bit and get out of the losing funk. Game on!!

Tyler Ennis, please help us.

He's been keeping the team afloat at this rate, and I love him for it. His extra willingness to just get out there and give it all is amazing, and it's showing that he is a hard worker and a great athlete. His shoot out goal last night made me excited for the first time in a long line of games I've seen Buffalo play this season. I just thank him for actually making an effort to win for this team.

I know a lot of people are discouraged and want things to change and blah blah within the team, coaching, management, etc., but as we all know, for the most part, nothing will happen. Last night's win, even though it was good and we NEEDED IT BADLY, was kind of like a little bandage on the whole situation. We can't say we lost all these games in a row, because hey, we just won. In a shoot out no less, without Miller even playing to help us along.

Speaking of which, with Miller's injury has come more games for Lalime and Enroth. I felt completely horrible for Enroth the first came he played up here this season. It was just like he was thrown under the bus, and the team didn't help him out at all. I know he needs to be prepared to come up and play at any time, but come on, that was crazy. Poor guy never stood a chance. I'll assume that's how Miller feels sometimes. He can play the best games ever, but if the other guys on our team never score goals, we'll never win. I just hope Miller and Stafford come back from their injuries soon, because we need everyone healthy and on track here. Matt Ellis came back up though because of Stafford's injury, and that was cool to see him play again. At least you know that the guy you are calling up knows what's going to go on and he will be ready for it. I miss Ellis being here though, I never even knew what happened to him. One game he was here, the next it was like he disappeared into thin air, I had no idea he went to Portland. Geez.

On a different note, I went to the Sabres 40th anniversary exhibit at Albright Knox today for the opening. A lot of the guys were there walking around, and it is a great exhibit. I need to go back with my dad because I know he will love it. Pictures and video spanning the whole 40 years of the team. I would have liked him to be there to explain some of the older stuff to me, because I still do have questions here and there about people and things like that. The Stanley Cup and other trophies will be on display from January 2-5th, so maybe we will go back then and see both.

Ok, all for now.

So besides winning anything...

I guess there is some other "news" going on in Sabresland:

1.) Jason Pominville has been medically cleared to play again. Thank goodness, because we need someone out there who knows what he's doing. Hey Pominville, can you help us win something again, please??? But yeah, I'm glad he's better for the most part and is coming back, because we need him, and I know the team needs him.

2.) Craig Rivet with not resign as captain. Dammit, couldn't get him to do it himself now it will probably never get done because I swear Lindy is too afraid of these guys to do anything. So yeah, less than stellar captain forever it seems.
-Dreams of Jonathan Toews as our captain, is snapped out of it by brick to the face- Yeah right, like that would ever happen.

3.) Nathan Gerbe has a broken jaw and has to wear one of those hideous cages that Thomas Vanek wore not that long ago if I'm not mistaken. I think it was him anyway. I don't think it was hideous though, I KNOW it was. Poor Gerbs. Get better soon.

4.) Luke Adam was named AHL Rookie of the Month, yeahhhh. I wish he could play more up here, but with more guys coming back, I guess that won't be happening, but I'm happy for him. All the promise for this team lately seems to be in the younger guys and the guys waiting in the wings to play. Hmmm, lack of spark, lack of giving a crap, lack of energy maybe? All the vets are too busy worrying about paychecks and diapers to give a crap about their jobs. Ya know, when that happens, I'm sure somebody would tell you to retire, so maybe some of you should. Yeah, I'm passed pissed on a lot of this stuff.

On an unrelated note, it looks like just as it was promising for Jordan Staal to come back to the Penguins lineup after his summer long battle with a foot injury of some sort, it looks like he got some sort of other injury in practice. My gosh is that rough. I know a lot of hardcore Pittsburgh fans have been awaiting his return for awhile, as have I, and now this. I just hope it isn't too serious, and he will actually be able to play like he was supposed to soon.

So yeah, that's the news for now. We play back home Wed. against the Bruins I think it is (have I been so uninterested I have yet to look, or care? maybe), so yeah, that should be really dandy. As images of this past spring's playoffs replay through people's heads, the rest of us will just sit and pray to the hockey gods we can win one, because the Sabres are getting down to the Bills level, and that is just scary. Please send help. Game on!!