Between Thursday's annual "No Defense Here" Classic against the Lightning and this afternoon's apparent (and I say apparent as I forgot the game was a 2pm start time and was out with the wife) stinker from Ryan Miller the Sabres are certainly giving the fans in the seats something to get excited about.... The coaches, on the other hand, have got to be wondering just how many times they're going to have to repeat the mantra about how games leading up to the playoffs will get more and more tightly played.
I'm sorry I missed the game against the Flyers this afternoon. As apparently three different Sabres teams showed up. In the first period the sloppy, overly-cute Sabres-Peeps had their chance to strut their stuff and did their level best to spot the Flyers to a 2-0 lead. In the 2nd the Edmonton Sabres showed up, outscoring the Flyers 4-3 with Ryan Miller doing his best Grant Fuhr impression... unfortunately that would be the 1998 Grant Fuhr and not the one that actually played with the Oilers back in the 80's. In the 3rd the same team that beat Philly earlier in the year showed up (minus Rya Miller), apparently outskating and outworking the Flyers, drawing penalties, outshooting them 13-1 and outscoring them 2-0, with Mike Gri-ere potting the game-winner with just 4 seconds left. In my mind that's karmic payback for tying the 'Canes the other night with 0.4 secs left and eventually beating them in the shootout.
Points of interest:
- Derek Roy has 2 hat tricks in as many weeks. He's been playing with tenacity and fire. He's had a hard look to him recently. You can see it in his eyes.
- Dmitri Kalinin and Tim Connolly both returned from their injuries. Tri was paired with Teppo Numminen against Tampa the other night, and didn't look too bad. He's comfortable on the left side and Numminen's game is simple and direct, which should help to ease Tri back into the lineup while he rebuilds his confidence
- Speaking of Teppo, he finally bulged the twine for the Sabres, having compiled an NHL record 32 assists before finally doing so. Props to the Repo Man.
- Ryan Miller has finally showed a couple of cracks in his game. According to the boys on HF, Philly victimized him a few times today glove-side high. He was replaced in the 3rd by Marty Biron, who got no real work, seeing only 1 shot.
- Maxim Afinogenov was benched in the 2nd half of the Tampa game. He was notably brutal with the puck in his own zone. I have no idea how bad he played today but with the return of everyone from the M.A.S.H. unit, his ice-time is going to decrease, especially if he isn't going to put out the effort or use his linemates.
- The Briere/Hecht/Dumont line has been simply amazing. They scored a couple of goals on the rush against Tampa on Thursday that could best described as 'too easy.' 4 points for Hecht today.
As much as I love the flurry of goals for, more defensive efforts like the 3rd period need to be forthcoming if the boys are going to be serious in their chasing Ottawa for the division title.
Ta,
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