So, Friday starts off pretty damn well, I get up to go to work only to find out it's a half-day due to it being Homecoming Weekend for Florida. It's cluelessness like that that still leave me being just a southerner-in-training.... well, that and my having not shot and cleaned a deer yet. When I say things like, "But I used to love college football," with a plaintive and hopeful look like the one my dog gets when I'm chewing on a piece of steak and looking right at him, I still get disapproving looks from the Keepers of the Southern Flame. I get sympathy for my stance about the Second American Revolution and hating Lincoln, but....... no college football.... no admittance to the group. Application Denied!
Forget the fact that all of the above is strictly in my head, and I guess it's up to you to decide where my head should reside. Regardless of all of that, having just a half day of work on Friday and only two uncomfortable conversations with co-workers and family ahead of me on the schedule, things looked great for an evening of serious couch-potato(e)ing.... After frittering away the hours leading up to the puck drop power-levelling my Druid on World of Warcrack I sat down next to the wife with a bowl of nuts, a glass of whiskey (Eagle Rare,10 yr, single barrel bourbon... not bad... a little too sweet) and my slavish fan-boy devotion to the guys in the Angry Goat Heads.
It was Boston vs. Buffalo... and the B's were banged up. Things looked good for our boys. 7:30pm rolls around, we switch the satellite receiver to the appropriate channel of NHL Center Ice ready to receive the dulcet tones of Rick Jeanneret giving us the pre-game run down only to find a game of CFL Football. Ahh, sweet irony.
Quick! To the Bat-Internet-Connection!.... check with HF to find out what the story is....Apparently the deal between DirecTV and MSG had gotten signed only minutes beforehand, otherwise the Sabres game would not have been showing. I guess the game wasn't on NESN for some reason. After about 5 minutes of obsessively switching back and forth between where the Sabres should have been and some other games... the feed changed from CFL Football to the DirecTV "Technical Difficulties' screen. Things were looking up, at least now that channel was worth watching.... :)
After about 15 minutes of idling around flipping through the other games, waiting for them to get things straightened out I switch back to 'blue and white' channel to see the not-so-glorious non-AGH 3rd jerseys flying (well, bumbling really... the first 10 minutes were not good hockey) around the ice at the HSBC arena. The comforting sounds of Rick and Jim were in evidence, even if they had to compete with a bad crowd mix, and all was much better with the world.
Things got even better in the second period when the Sabres out-worked and out-skated Boston to a 2-0 lead. It was one thing to put up numbers against the disorganized Isles, it's quite another to do so against the harder-working, more balanced Bruins. Ryan Miller was just fabulous in this game, none of the jitters or over-committment that was evident in the game on Wednesday was visible on Friday. The top line is going to start garnering more attention, which should open up the ice for the 3rd line (Kotalik-Connolly-Afinogenov). The 2nd line has the unenviable position of being both the checking line and the top PK'ers. I'll be surprised if Drury and Hecht's numbers meet my original projections for them this year, to be honest. Someone has to draw the tough assignment, and Gaustad/Pyatt are not quite ready for it yet.
Speaking of those guys I really like what they bring to the table. Pyatt has been an absolute horse out there. More physical and more aggressive. He's been attacking defenders coming through the neutral zone, using his body to shield the puck and gain the zone. When the fourth line has the puck in the offensive zone and can handle themselves against the opposition's 2nd line, that's a tactical victory that won't show up on the scoresheet, but will win you games. Those guys need to keep up the hard work.
The third period was a good test for Miller. Boston came at him hard through the first ten minutes and he rose to the occassion. We could have easily surrendered the lead during that stretch... the B's were that good. But, we got some outstanding work from both Jay McKee and Henrik Tallinder then, both playing very smart, very steady in their own zone. Two quick notes on these guys...
- McKee is beginning to look like the Jay McKee pre run in with Mount Mario. The weight he's lost is evident in how much better his skating is... which translates into better postioning and better puck movement.
- Tallinder has grown up a lot and is beginning to look like Mattias Ohlund out there. Not flashy... no one aspect of his game stands out from any other. He skates, moves the puck, makes good decisions and surprisingly, has a good shot from the point. He uncorked it twice on Friday and both were well-timed/placed. The first one turned into the 2nd assist on Grier's goal.
The sign of a good team is one that can weather a storm and then capitalize on the other team's mistakes. The goal by Ales Kotalik was a perfect example of this. Lindy Ruff had been trying to get "Al" more ice-time, and he did so by shifting up his bottom two lines and not playing Andrew Peters much. Kotalik has been the beneficiary, teaming up with both Connolly and Gaustad. It was 'Goose' who made the play at the blueline to trap Brian Leetch and spring Al. He has a monster of a shot (if he could pass worth a damn would be a star in this league) which he uncorked on Andrew Raycroft beating him far-side high, ringing it off the inside of the post.
Max's goal sealed what was a near perfect game from the boys in Red, Black and White.
The less said about saturday's whitewash in Ottawa, the better. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much, and for the most part they lived up to my expectations. 3 games in 4 nights on the road against the class of the Eastern Conference. Ottawa did to the Sabres what the Sabres did to Boston the night before. They were quicker, sharper and more committed. Had Hasek let in a goal during the first period, we might have had a chance, but the boys were out of gas in the third period, and what was a close game became a rout quickly. The game-surfing started once it went 4-0. Hats off to the Sens, they are a squad to be emulated not envied.
Ta,
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