A Tale of Two Shots

Link: Buffalo News - Biron's glove is golden.

It was the worst of saves.  It was the best of saves.  Two different 3rd periods, same team losing to the same team by one goal.  The same goaltender caught a puck he should have had no business catching.  The only things different were the name of the shooters,  the times on the clock... and, of course, the outcome. 

On Friday, after video review, Ziggy Palffy scored the tying goal to send the game to OT.  On Saturday, Martin Biron caught the puck on the other side of the goal line with less than a minute to play to preserve the Buffalo Sabres sweep of a home and home series with the Pittsburgh Penguins.   

All I want to say about whether Palffy should have been awarded that goal on Friday is that plays like that should be called consistently.  It's been my experience that the Video Review guys are made of different stuff and don't have the stones to regularly make the right call each time.  And the last thing I want to think is that if the teams had been reversed would the same shot have been called a goal.  For what it's worth, I think it was a goal, if only by a half an inch or so.

I did get out to watch both games this weekend.  The wife and I ate some bad food, couldn't hear the game at all (though I always have a version of Rick Jeanneret's call going through my head) and had a complete blast.  Onto the game recaps:

Buffalo vs. Pittsburgh, Friday December 16th

Marc-Andre Fleury kept this game close, especially in the first, with the Pens taking 5 penalties.  In the end, though,  the Sabres power play would prevail, going 3 for 8 on the night, and win them the game in OT.   It was good to see Daniel Briere get a goal after missing 7 games with an abdominal injury (though that's not completely a thing of the past).  But, in the end, this was Chris Drury's best game this season.  3 points including the Game Winning Goal, 7 SOG, nearly 19 minutes TOI and winninng 14 of 21 faceoffs.  Big Al gets a nod as well for his 3 point evening. 

The fourth line of Goose, Scud and JPom  were a blast all night long, embodying Tom Benjamin's idea that hockey is a game of Puck Position (not possession) constantly hemming the Pens in their own zone.  Scud (Adam Mair) recaptured the Sabres grip on this game after the long review of Palffy's tying goal with a devastating lay-out of Sergei Gonchar the shift after the game resumed. 

Points of Interest:

• All four lines have solidified for 90% of the game.  Briere-Connolly-Kotalik, Hecht-Drury-Grier, Vanek-Roy-Afinogenov, Mair-Gaustad-Pominville
• The Road Penalty killing continues to struggle giving up 2 goals.  Hard to find nits to pick with 8 straight road wins... but, there you go.
• Sidney Crosby needs to shut up and play hockey.  He's too talented to resort to trying to play gamesmanship with the refs.  I know it's tough, Sidney... I know you want to win, but not at any cost.  You're not losing because the refs aren't calling the game right... you're losing b/c your teammates suck.

Buffalo vs. Pittsburgh, Saturday December 17th

Unfortunately I walked into this game just as Sidney Crosby put a relative softie past surprise starter Martin Biron.  I missed Scud and Max's goal (hell, I still haven't seen a replay of Scud's goal).  The Sabres were solid at home against a Pens team that was basically beaten before they took the ice.  The Sabres opened up a 4-1 lead after 2 periods.  The only thing I was worried about was taht they were starting to take this game fro granted in the last few minutes of the 2nd period and was happy that they didn't give the Pens life for the 3rd period. 

That happiness lasted all of 24 seconds after the start of the 3rd.  It was obvious that the Sabres were tired and hoping that they could sleepwalk through the period.  It took until about halfway through the period for them to put together a couple of good, positionally dominant shifts.  By then this was a  one-goal game.  One can argue that maybe Biron should have stopped one of the other shots before having to make that big save with his glove, but the truth is that maybe the Drury line could have actually covered someone on the Pens 3rd goal as well.  Holy Bad Rotation, Batman! 

In the end that save by Biron was a statement about his desire to be the #1 guy in Buffalo.  And, frankly, who can argue with him at this point.  We gave Chris Drury a pass early in the season for his lack of production and horrendous +/- because of all of the 'intangibles' he supposedly brought to the table.  Well, let's see, what kind of intangible quality does Biron bring to a team that has won 13 times in a row when he begins the game between the pipes?  Many of those wins were gritty, come-from-behind nail-biters. 

Personal biases towards or against particular players should not enter into our analysis of the situation.  Results are all that matters.  In economics intentions cannot be measured.  That you intended to spend your last $100 on a teeth-cleaning doesn't mean anything when you actually spent that money on a dinner at a fine restaurant.  The results here are clear, this team, for whatever reason is peaking now with and because of Martin Biron.  Changing that for any reason is stupid.  He definately needs a rest sometime this week.  The depleted Flyers look like a good opportunity to get either Miller or Noronen some work.

Ta,

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