Sorry this is late but I was travellingthe last couple of days and was barely able to catch the game on wednesday night. I made it to a television set just before the halfway point of the game, having just missed Danny Briere putting the Sabres ahead 2-1. My pre-season thoughts on this team were evident against the Isles last night. This team is fast and skilled with an offensive upside as high as any team in the NHL. On the flip side this team is still a bit disorganized on the back-end. That may be because Dmitri Kalinin was out nursing a groin and we had to dress both Brian Campbell (who played very well offensively) and Fitzie. Regardless oh who was on the ice wednesday night, this team was something that they haven't been in a long time.... entertaining.
They wre certainly prepared to use the new rules to their advantage. Briere's first goal simply would never have happened in 2003-04. He would have been hooked, prodded, poked and harrassed until he gave up trying to get a shot off, and if he did it would have been a weak one the goalie could easily stick aside.
The most impressive thing about wednesday's game was how well the team responded to a goal against. Every time the Isles tried to get back in the game, the Sabres shut them up by scoring an answering goal. This is the hallmark of good teams. I remember thinking while watching the Red Wings of the late-90's that the last thing the opposition wanted to do against them was score... because then they knew they were in a hockey game and turned it up another notch. I saw a bit of that last night from the guys wearing the Angry Goat Heads and it brought a smile to my face. Moreover, this team put up 5 goals against a legitimate #1 goalie. Last year they tended to pad the score and vitcimize #2's a lot, and had trouble scoring against #1's. They saw a lot of #2 goalies last year, which had an inflationary effect on their Goals For.
Chris Drury was a monster in the FO circle, winning 60% of his draws. Paul Gaustad is well on his way to becoming everyone's favorite lunch pail guy. Ryan Miller was a mixed bag certainly, but he got the win and made the saves he needed to make (except that horrible goal by Zhitnik). There is still the feeling that our goalies are incapable of maintaining a lead and that is something that has to improve.
Other Thoughts: I watched most of the Ranjerks and the Habs last night and while I despise both teams I had to say the game was really fun to watch. So far the game looks to be approaching what all of us want to watch.... shinny with hitting. There was plenty of both last night, along with some drop-dead beautiful goals.
Jagr is still a flat-out monster and as long as he can keep his attention level up, the Rags have a legitimate top line.
It was good to see Satan wearing the goat horns after the opener. Lindy Ruff was happy that he didn't score, he made a point of it in the press conference post-game. Chris Drury went out of his way a couple of times to take the body on Miro as well... something a lot of us were expecting given his off-season statements about Miro. It was certainly a gut feeling of mine that Drury would pay him a little special attention. That's my kinda hockey.
Ta,
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