Buffalo Vs. Boston, thursday 10/20/05
After an extended break last week where it was obvious that the Sabres needed to work on two things, conditioning and the Power Play, the boys in the AGH's returned to the ice against division rival Boston for a dreaded game on the road. The worries that had crept into my mind during the 4 days off between the loss in Florida and the game in Boston were pretty well dismissed afterwards.
- Could Ryan Miller rebound after that horrible goal in Florida? Yes. 30 saves on 33 shots, and big ones in the 3rd period when Boston pressed for the tying goal.
- Would someone not named Daniel Briere show up to play offense? Yes. Timmah! had a goal and an assist, while Big Al Kotalik got what would be the Game Winner.
- Would the Power Play continue to look like a bad game of Hot Potato? No. 2 for 8 and a lot of zone time. Better puck movement and better entries.
- Would Adam Mair make a difference on the 4th line? Oh yeah! Pyatt-Gaustad-Mair is going to be a truly frightening 4th line for a long time. Mair and Goose are great forechekers.
All in all a solid road victory. J.P. Dumont is beginning to look like the guy who got under everyone's skin in 03-04, which is key to his game. If he's trying to just play a finesse game we are in trouble. DmirTRI Kalinin (1 assist) looked closer to being in game shape than at any point so far this season, logging 22:32 for most ice time by anyone in a Buffalo sweater.
Flash Forward to Saturday...
NY Rangers vs. Buffalo, saturday 10/22/05
The big test here was whether or not the Sabres could contain the high-powered Ranger offense. Jagr's been a bull out there, playing like he means business for the first time in a long time. The Rags have a good transition game (Tyutin, Rosival and Kaspar), excellent grinders (Moore, Neiminen, Rucchin) and have been getting excellent goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist. Their power play is devastating having scored 14 before the game on Saturday.
It was imperative that this be one of those games where the Sabres would have to win the Special Teams Battles to have a chance at winning. They did, going 2 for 8 again on the Power Play and not allowing a Power Play goal (5 for 5 on the PK), including a 5 on 3 late in the third after a controversial call by Dan VanMassenhoven negated what looked like the tying goal for the Blueshirts.
All homerism aside, I think the right call was made. There was a penalty coming to Mike Grier on the play and that was why the whistle blew as quickly as it did. It's absolutely normal for the referee to blow the play dead once it looks like any kind of possession was established by the team about to be penalized, in this case Buffalo. That the Rangers were able to stuff the puck in after Miller made the save and mostly covered the puck is irrelevant. Had there not been a penalty coming then it definately would have been too quick a whistle and the Rangers should have scored.
The Sabres did a fine job on Jagr all night, mostly double-teaming him to take away his options. They even did this on the PK a few times and were mostly successful doing so. Chris Drury was absolutely huge i nthe faceoff circle, going 13-3. It was his win that allowed us to kill off the 5 on 3 that developed after the non-goal described above. That was a crucial moment in the game, the Rangers were pressing hard and Miller stood very tall. There's been rumbling about Drury's lack of production, especially considering his salary, and I'm sure no one feels it more acutely than Chris does. But, if he keeps playing the way he has, the goals will come. He and Mike Grier have become quite the checking combination.
The most interesting development of the evening came during the Sabres lengthy 5 on 3 towards the end of the game. Lindy Ruff sent out the 1st unit with Tim Connolly on the Left Point. They worked the puck around to open up the big shot from Timmah! twice only to have him hit a shin or something like that. When the 2nd unit came out, Ales Kotalik replaced Conolly. Same play, different result. Kotalik uncorked a monster one-timer that hit the twine. Moral of this story, Kotalik's shot is just flat-out better than Connolly's and as long as he can make the right plays at the point to help open it up, it's going to get us goals.
Other Notes: Ville Neiminen needs to unlearn his bad habits. 3 penalties for hooking. Some guys are obviously not adjusting to the new rules. I'm sure Tom Renny will have a talk with him about this. Either that or Ville will be off to another team real soon now.
Ta,
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