Anything but Killer B's

Well,  this is becoming a habit around here.  The Sabres are now 5-0 against Boston this season and if the Bruins miss the playoffs they can look back on the two leads they blew in the past two games as the final nails in the coffin of a misguided, mispent season. 

These were two teams that took radically diffrerent approaches in preparing for the lockout.  The Sabres chose to have as many of their guys under contract or own their rights as possible.  Showing faith in the rebuilding plan that was started with the forced trade of Dominik Hasek.  The B's, on the other hand, chose to leave the 03-04 season with only 4 guys under contract and only a handful of free agents.  GM Mike O'Connell then had to assemble a team in a similar manner to your average fantasy hockey pool during the free agent shark tank period of last summer. 

Going into the season Bostons' free agents signings like Brian Leetch, Dave Scatchard and Alexei Zhamnov were met with praise and huzzahs, while the Sabres' signing of Teppo Numminen was met with indifference bordering on sonambulation.  All the attention was spent on the loss of Zhitnik and Satan, even within Buffalo. 

Hmph. 

The difference between these two teams was in evidence tonight.  The Sabres were clearly the better team in nearly all areas of the ice and all phases of the game.  The Bruins squad that was iced tonight was far more engaged in interested than the ones who took the ice back in October and November.  The 3 guys acquired from San Jose for Joe Thornton practically guarantee that.   But, that said, if not for some unbelievable goaltending by Tim Thomas my flippant pre-game prediction over on HF (5-2 Sabres) would have been virtually prescient. 

Briere/Hecht/Dumont were outstanding again tonight.  Thought there was a little bit of a stink put up by Jack Edwards and the other guy in the Boston TV Booth over Danny's repeated running of the goalie.  And, I hate to say it, but, I agree with them.  This is something that has really gotten me angry during games this year.. the lack of protection of the goalies by the officials, and the classic over-reaction by them in penalizing the retaliation by the defending team.  While all of the incidents tonight involving Briere were definitely interference, there's little doubt in my mind that he intended any injury or malice, unlike many of the ones that have gotten me out of my chair screaming at the TV over the course of the season.  I'm all for limiting the goalies wandering around acting like defensemen, but, that said, then their crease should be close to inviolate and any attempts to run them gratuitously should be dealt with severly, both by the league and the team on the ice.   For all of the NHL's talk about enforcing the rulebook with respect to obstruction and hooking why can't they enforce their own rules on crashing the crease? 

Rory Fitzpatrick continues to make me worried about him being our #6 guy going into the playoffs.  With Dmitri Kalinin having a terrible season and rapidly running out of time to turn it around it truly is incumbent upon Darth Regier to make some kind of move to acquire some depth for the blueline.  That help needs to be a right-hand shot as well.  Having another guy to pair up with Kalinin on the 3rd pair would be huge for us. 

While I'm sure that Regier is trying to get a maximal deal for Marty Biron, tyring to land someone like Matt Greene or Derek Morris.  It is more likely that he's going to get a guy who we over at HF have been talking about for a long time now, namely Willie Mitchell from Minnesota.  While not a right-hander, he does play the right side, is big, mobile and responsible in his own zone.  With Kalinin's game a basket-case right now, getting a guy like Mitchell might just be thing to get Tri back into a comfort zone.  And allow us to keep Numminen's minutes under 15 a night going into the playoffs.

My predictions for the trade deadline are now as follows:

1. Noronen will be moved to a team out of the playoffs (after they move their high-profile guy... i.e. CuJo or Luongo)for a pick 2nd or 3rd rounder, possibly being packaged with a surplus forward for a higher pick or swap thereof.   
2. A lesser light defenseman, like Mitchell, will come our way for either a pick or a prospect not named Zagrapan, Paille or Stafford.  Yes, Jiri Novotny is probably not long for this organization.

Ta,

Comments

[Amanda]

I'm embarrassed that with all of your great comments, the thing I have to mention was the Boston TV people. I think they were about to stomp their feet and run out screaming "Moooooom, these refs aren't being faaaaair." I do agree that Danny should have let up and moved over a bit though. It was a bit much. However, I agree that we outplayed them, and I don't know when TV personalities will suck it up and be objective. I think Rick Jeanneret is first to admit when the Sabres are looking like crap and he's been with the organization for how long, 25 years? I know I have a silly rant here, but having Center Ice can really get on my nerves with that stuff.

[Tom L]

Howdy, Amanda!

Yeah... they were laying it on a bit thick last night, but there wasn't much else for them to talk about... because, well, as we all know, the B's just aren't very good.

I'd been saving up my 'running the goalies schpeel' for a while now, it is something that bothers the crap out of me. The circumstances surrounding last night's game just seemed appropos.

Danny didn't really do anything that terrible, I agree. Mostly my comments were aimed at the inevitable parade of no-name Steve Moore/Kirk Maltby types who will run the goalie with the sole intention of knocking him out of the game.

That crap has got to be removed from the game, and from that perspective the Boston announcers had it right last night.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ta,

p.s. I know the Maltby crack is going to arouse the ire of the Wings bloggers (if they ever get around to reading this that is), but I'll stand by it.

[lou c]

regier has been a very respectable gm for the buffalo sabres, his trades have done nothing but improve the sabres during his tenure. make no mistake there is a history of blockbuster heists when the sabres make trades, for example hasek for ruutu, or wilson for peca, but regier has gotten dumont, a former third overall pick, for grosek who is no longer even contributing in the league, and not to mention they threw in doug gilmour.
to say that chris gratton was a disappointment to sabres fans would be an understatent to say the least, so why would anyone complain about regier when he got rid of the goofy center for a sparkplug named breire? he does what the boss wants and the business is running smoothly. looking back into the past you realize that this team is no fluke or flash in the pan, they are a business operation in which all parts are in place for success, and apparently its working.
in response to accusations of incompetence by regier during the offseason this is what the boss said"I understand that," Golisano said. "But we can't let their impatience drive us to bad decisions. . . . This is not a game of do whatever it takes and spend as much money as you need to get the best players. That doesn't guarantee results, for sure. What it requires is finding players who can work together as a unit that have complementary skills and also meet the dollar specifications."

looking at that statement now it almost seems prophetic.
with a coach like ruff you know there will be no problem defensively, however he has had problems getting his players to put the puck in the net, that seems to be remedied now because he examined the nature of the game post lockout and realized that following the rules is more important now than ever and the team has responded with its best season post sixty games ever. when nick boynton takes three penalties in one game and blames it on dives, he should practice more and talk less, because the dive has been around as long as hooking.

[Tom L]

Lou C,

Welcome and thanks for your well considered thoughts. I agree that both Ruff and Regier have done a great job rebuilding this team, with no small amount of credit going to Mr. B.TomG as well.

The angst and criticisms levelled at all of them during the pre-season and, to a lesser extent, the lockout came from a good place, though. The people I heard such things from truly care about the franchise in a healthy and respectable way. In this case, though, they happened to have been wrong... and thankfully, man enough to see that.

All that matters now is that we are prepared mentally and physically for the playoffs to make as much noise as possible. The fans in Buffalo deserve a champion, and more importantly, a team to be proud of.

I look forward to your repeated visits here...

Thanks again.

Ta,