Recap: 12/29/09 Sabres vs. Penguins - Stafford, Lalime save the day

Recap (courtesy Sabres.com)

Perhaps the Sabres should bench Drew Stafford every other game?

Fresh off a benching against St. Louis on Sunday, Stafford had something to prove last night.  Yet in the first period, I had mentally singled out Stafford as the Sabre who looked like he cared the least out there - and that was really saying something, given that all of them looked disinterested.  On one of the Penguins' goals (and I don't remember which one), he was simply standing along the boards, not appearing to do much at all.

Then, down 3-0 in the second period, Stafford was chosen to take a penalty shot after our old friend Jay McKee covered the puck in his own crease.  Stafford "buried" it (he later admitted he whiffed on the shot a bit) and the comeback was on.  His second goal was impressive, but it was his assist on the Gaustad goal that made me realize he had put the team entirely on his back.  Easily the best game Stafford has played this year, if not ever.

Stafford may have stolen two points from Pittsburgh last night, but it wouldn't have happened without Patrick Lalime. Lindy gave Ryan Miller the hook after three soft goals left the team in a 3-0 hole.  Enter Lalime, who decided that the best way to build a rally was to make some saves.  The Penguins were happy to let him get into the game by pouring shots on net, and Lalime stood tall.  The 18 saves he made to close out the middle frame gave the Sabres a foundation upon which to build that rally.  Timely goaltending often brings with it a shift in momentum, and there was no better example than this.

Anytime you can say you came back from a 3-0 hole against the defending champs and won in regulation, that's pretty impressive.  This was one for the ages.

Next game: vs. Atlanta, 1/1/10.  The Thrashers are still clinging to the #8 seed, but are only 3-6-1 in their last 10.

Pregame: 12/23/09 Sabres vs. Capitals

Tonight, the Sabres invade the nation's capital for a game against the Southeast Division-leading Caps.  Washington has scored the most goals in the league by far.  Must have something to do with that Ovechkin guy.  I hear he's good.

I've got a bunch of errands to run today, but if I'm in front of the TV tonight, I'll be liveblogging the game.

What I'm watching for tonight:

• Will the road team score?  In both meetings this year, the road team has failed to score a goal.  Buffalo was shut out 2-0 on their previous trip to D.C. just under a month ago, only to return the favor with a 3-0 blanking of the Caps in Buffalo earlier this month.  If you believe in such trends, then you've got to be rather concerned heading into tonight's game with the way the Sabres have struggled to score this year at times.
• Powerless Play:  I almost don't want to write about this because the numbers are so bad.  The Sabres are ranked 27th in the league, converting on only 16.1% of their man advantage opportunities.  This figure includes an abysmal 10.6% on the road that is dead last in the league by a large margin.  There's no sugar-coating this. It needs to get better, now.
• Michael Neuvirth gets a start: Citing the above two bullet points, Washington obviously feels comfortable trotting out a rookie goaltender who is making just his fourth start of the season.  Neuvirth's record is 1-2 with a 3.70 GAA and .872 save percentage.  In other words, a goalie that teams who can score would likely do well against. 

Tonight's Predictions: 3-1 Caps, 64 combined shots on goal, first penalty: boarding

Weekend Recap - Sabres vs. Leafs, Penguins

12/18/09 - Sabres vs. Leafs (recap)

I will never, ever get tired of watching this.  When I'm having a bad day, this will cheer me up.



The Sabres were terrible in the first period, getting outshot 10-4 and showing no hustle whatsoever; Toskala's circus act was, unsurprisingly, the line of demarcation - and can you blame the Leafs' skaters for being demoralized when you're dominating a team in every way and your goaltender lets that in?  Three shots, two goals and 5:46 later, the Sabres were in complete control and Toskala mercifully called it a night.

Leafs fans in my section were strangely accepting and good-humored about the whole thing.  Maybe when you see comically bad goaltending night in and night out, you become desensitized to it.  I don't know. 

12/19/09 - Sabres vs. Penguins (recap)

Admittedly, I didn't watch much of this game.  The problem with watching sports tape-delayed is attempting to avoid the outcome before you've seen it.  Thanks a lot, Facebook.  Once I inadvertently saw the final score (while still watching the first period), I lost interest in watching the rest of the game.  I know, bad blogger.  In my defense, I had to play taxicab driver for my in-laws.  Anyway, here are the important points I'm taking out of the Pittsburgh game:

• Lalime has now had two strong starts in a row;
• We salvaged a point against a team that has won five straight;
  
• Jason Pominville, at least for one evening, figured out how to hit a wide-open net instead of whistling a shot high and wide, fanning on it, or shooting into the goaltender's pads;
• The power play still sucks (0 for 8).

Next game:  Tonight againt the Laffs once again from the ACC.  What interesting and creative ways will we find to abuse Toronto goalies this time?

 Read more >>   Options >>  

Pregame: 12/18/09 Sabres vs. Leafs. Bleccch.

I never look forward to a Leafs game.  Not because I'm afraid we'll lose; it has everything to do with their stupid obnoxious fans.   Leaf fans piss people off in NHL arenas all across North America, but especially here in Buffalo due to its proximity to "The Center of the Hockey Universe" (gag me with a spoon).   The obnoxiousness, arrogance, and sense of entitlement of the average Leaf fan is downright unbearable.  Last game I went to, some idiot Leafs fan was sitting in my seats as I arrived and wouldn't move.  He expected ME to move so he could sit with his buddies.  You gotta be kidding me.  A season ago, a Leaf fan stuck his ass in the face of a guy in my section and wiggled it after a Leafs goal; this came after said Leafs fan threatened this guy with violence the entire game.  That's just the tip of the iceberg.  I could write a book with all the appalling Leaf fan behavior I've seen, and I'm sure others have witnessed far worse (especially our "friends" in Ottawa).

Anyway... the game.  Paul Gaustad returns to the lineup tonight, so perhaps we will actually win a faceoff or two now.  Kaleta and Butler remain out, while Gerbe is questionable.  Miller gets the start in net.

What I'm watching for tonight:

• Fast start: Leaf fans tend to shut up pretty quickly when their team falls behind by large margins.  I'm hoping for a 5-0 Sabre lead before five minutes are gone in the first period.  This will cause Leaf fans to drink even more heavily than usual, at which point it becomes even easier to make fun of them.
  
• No Kessel, no goals: Take Phil Kessel out of the game and the Leafs will struggle to score.  This team shut down Ovechkin a couple weeks ago; certainly they can handle Kessel.
  
• Seriously, the Leafs should just play with six skaters: Jonas Gustavsson "leads" the team with a 3.14 GAA and .900 save percentage.  I don't need to say anything further, because this leads me into...
  

Tonight's Predictions: 15-0 Sabres, 97 combined shots on goal (85 by Buffalo), four Toronto goalie changes, 10,000 drunken Leafs fans, and a partridge in a pear tree.  First penalty: bench minor on the Leafs, two minutes for irritating me.

The NHL Wheel of Discipline strikes again

In a year when the NHL is promising to crack down on hits to the head, an obvious headshot by a dirty player who has a history of being suspended - that's gotta be good for, what?  Three games?  Five games?

How about nothing?

"NHL discipline" is the biggest oxymoron in the book.  Emphasis on "moron".

This league is a joke.

Hurl.

Apparently, one of the reasons the Sabres were so sluggish last night (pardon the bad pun, but I didn't make it, RJ did during the broadcast) was the fact that several players had food poisoning.

If it's any consolation, guys, I felt pretty sick myself watching you get dominated by an AHL roster.

I've had food poisoning before.  Sure, it sucks.  That's probably why ice time was low for guys like Lydman and Grier.  But Stafford was likely the only player affected on the top two scoring lines.  Doesn't exactly explain the inability to pop a single puck in the net now, does it?

Can you imagine if Miller were sick too?  The score would have been 10-0.

Anyhoo, let's just forget that game ever happened.  The only thing I'm more sick of than losing to Ottawa is talking about losing to Ottawa.  Bring on the Leafs.

Liveblog: 12/16/09 Sabres vs. Senators

Tonight is my first attempt at liveblogging a game.  I've been wanting to do this for a while now but have been unable to, usually because we're at the game and it's impossible to liveblog on an iPhone with a squirming two-year-old on your lap.  And it seems like every time we're not at the arena, I can't pay attention to the whole game because of other commitments.  But tonight, I have nothing but two and a half glorious hours of free time to dedicate to Buffalo Sabres hockey and its associated liveblogging.  Join me, won't you?

Pregame:
The Sabres enter tonight's game in Ottawa on a four-game winning streak, their fourth of the season.  The first three such streaks ended with a loss in game #5.  The Sabres' recent lack of success in Ottawa is well-documented; the Kanata losing streak stands at four, the last win coming on 3/27/08 in a shootout.  Honestly, I'm surprised the streak isn't longer.  Seems like we never beat Ottawa on the road.

Ottawa is missing a ton of players tonight: Spezza (out two months with a knee issue), LeClaire, Chris Neil (darn, what a shame), and now Nick Foligno.  Meanwhile, Buffalo is fully healthy except for Chris Butler.  So if the Sabres can't end the curse tonight... when will they?

1st Period:
- Hey look at that, the Sabres lose a faceoff to start the game.  I never could have seen that coming.  (Sadly, I had that typed out before the game even began.  That's how bad we are on faceoffs with Goose out of the lineup.)

- Pominville just barely avoided what could have been an ugly hit. That sort of reminded of the hit Connolly took in the 05-06 playoffs, except the elbow stayed down and Pommers bounced off it.

- And Miller is officially in the game with a nice blocker save.

- Pretty even so far with five minutes gone.

- Huge left pad save by Miller on Cheechoo.  Senators are starting to take control.

-  Referencing Ottawa's injuries, Harry Neale says "Beware of the wounded bear".  But I didn't think we were playing the Bruins tonight? ... (Whoever had "second commercial break" in the "when does Mike start making bad puns" pool, you just won.)

- Kaleta with a nifty between the legs pass to Kennedy to clear the zone.  For a guy who has a rep of running around and being a goon, he continues to show a different side over the last three games...

- Another huge save by Miller on a 3-on-1 rush.  Miller is keeping us in the game right now.  I hate to be a Debbie Downer so soon, but can't you just feel the implosion coming?

- I swear, no one generates odd-man rushes against the Sabres like Ottawa.  Trades and injuries haven't changed that a bit.

- Good, sustained pressure in the Ottawa zone for the first time in the game results in a good scoring chance.  Pominville made a great play to keep the puck in the zone.  Miller follows suit with another good save when play goes the other way.

- 1-0 Ottawa.  Alexandre Picard lets a weakish wrister go from the left point that Miller never saw.  Sekera wrestled with a Senator in front of the net and blocked Miller's view.

- Sekera gives the puck away and nearly puts the Sabres in a 2-0 hole.  Miller is standing on his head right now.

- And the first period is over.  Shots are 11-5 in favor of Ottawa.  A typical Kanata first period in which the Senators take control quickly, and the Sabres give up too many odd man rushes and scramble around in their own end.  If not for Miller it might be 4-0 right now.

- Ice time is very even right now amongst the forwards, ranging from 4:23 (Tim Kennedy) to 5:40 (Vanek) of ice time.  Tallinder and Myers, as usual, lead the defense with 8:17 and 8:15 played.

2nd Period:
- RJ: "The Sabres were sluggish in the first period."  Oh Rick, you slay me.

- Jarko Ruutu with a vicious hit on Kaleta.  He made contact to the head with the shoulder, and drove his head into the glass.  Given the NHL's attention to headshots as of late, you can bet he'll have a meeting with Colin Campbell.  Five minutes for boarding, and he's lucky that's all he's getting.

- Can someone explain to me exactly what purpose Jochen Hecht serves on the power play?

- Connolly to the box for slashing.  Sort of questionable, but so much for an opportunity to climb back into the game.

- What exactly are Sens fans booing?  Did someone just spot Dany Heatley in the crowd?  Meanwhile, Brian Elliot makes his first big save for Ottawa off a Tim Connolly blast.

- Yet another Ottawa 2-on-1.  Yet another big Miller save.

- The kiddo is starting to climb all over me.  Liveblogging is getting more difficult.

- Sabres desperately need a good shift, a fluke goal, something.  This is getting a little out of hand.

- MacArthur just barely misses cashing in on a rebound.  That's a step in the right direction, but the Sabres are being outshot by roughly a 2-to-1 margin right now, and are continuing to look like they usually do on a trip to Kanata. Miller can only keep them in this for so long.

- Chris Philips goes off for hooking Grier down to the ice. Sabres on the power play, hopefully with better results than the previous one.

- And the trend of taking penalties while on the power play continues.  Sabres kept the puck in the Ottawa zone for a full minute but couldn't put one in, then Roy tripped Alfredsson, who clearly dove but did not also get a call.  If the roles were reversed, you know Roy would have gotten a diving call.

- Two Ottawa giveaways, two odd-man chances, two great saves by Brian Elliot.  At this point, there is simply no other explanation than The Curse.  I will now commence poking pins into a voodoo doll with a Senators #30 jersey.  And for good measure, a Bryan Murray doll too.  Just because.

-  And the horn sounds with Ottawa still leading 1-0.  A slight kerfuffle ensues as Mair smashes Volchenkov into the glass, appearing to injure him, and took a penalty on the play.  Buffalo got stronger as the period went on, but just hasn't taken advantage of the few good opportunities they've had to tie it up.   Shots are 18-12 Ottawa.

3rd Period:
- This just in from Sabres Edge: Kaleta will not be back tonight. 

- Miller makes three more outstanding stops on the PK, and the Sabres take yet another penalty.  If they intend to spend the entire third period killing off penalties, I don't like their chances without Kaleta around to score shorties.

- The goalpost comes up with a huge save of its own just as the second Sabre penalty expires.  A brief discussion amongst the referees seems to conclude that Toronto need not be called.

- Another flurry in front of the Ottawa net; this time it's Jochen Hecht who just misses a rebound on an empty-net opportunity.  Ottawa sends a man to the box.  Sabres are 0 for 2 on the PP so far.

- Ottawa kills its third penalty and takes a fourth as Ruutu retaliates for a Roy hit. They always get the second guy.

- The entries on this power play are abysmal.

- A lengthy stretch without a whistle in which the Sabres have controlled the puck for the most part.  Ottawa is clearly content with sitting back at this point.  A few near misses, but still no equalizer.

- And there's your ballgame, kids.  Mike Fisher makes it 2-0 with 1:36 to go by banging home a rebound off a Peter Regin blast from the blue line.

- Ruutu takes another penalty just to make things interesting.

- Harry points out that the Sabres average 32 shots per game, but only have 18 tonight.  This is largely due to Ottawa's puck control, as the Sabres never really seemed to be able to play their usual puck possession game tonight.  It's also due to The Curse.

- And it's over.  Brian Elliott gets his fourth career shoutout as the Senators keep The Curse alive, winning 2-0.

Wrap-up:
Ottawa always seems to get the home barn bounces against the Sabres - I can recall the game after the infamous Brawl Game in 2007, which Ottawa won 6-5 after a shoot-in took a crazy bounce out into the slot and Miller was way out of position - and tonight felt no different. The Senators controlled the puck throughout much of the game and Buffalo never could get set up in the offensive zone, resulting in very few chances that they didn't convert.   Buffalo's fourth four-game winning streak ends with a thud, and Ottawa is now 22-6-4 since the lockout against Buffalo.

Hope you enjoyed the liveblog.  I had a lot of fun with this tonight, and although my chances to liveblog future games are very limited, I look forward to doing this again.

Weekend Recap

I'm declaring it St. Patrick's Weekend after two victories that are largely because of two Patricks - Lalime on Friday vs. the Blackhawks, and Kaleta on Saturday vs. the Rangers.

Lalime was outstanding on Friday night in turning aside 39 of 40 shots.  Chicago helped get Lalime in the game quickly, getting 14 shots on net before the eight-minute mark. He seemed to feed off the confidence built by that flurry, making save after jaw-dropping save.  I'm certain that none of us expected this kind of performance from Lalime; at one point, I caught myself wondering if Miller had slipped on a #40 jersey for the evening.  At any rate, it would be nice if Lalime could play a few games a month like this and take the pressure off Miller.

Kaleta had a two-goal game the following night that, similarly, no one saw coming - including a breakaway goal in which he apparently channeled the inner Mario Lemieux no one knew he had.  Kaleta ripped a shot underneath the crossbar that was a real goal-scorer's goal, even knocking the water bottle off the net in the process.  Kaleta was the difference in a fairly evenly-played game.

Tonight we're back at it against Les Habitantes.  Ole, ole, ole and all that.

Blogroll (better late than never)

I finally got around to making a blogroll of the Sabre bloggers that I read on a daily basis.  They're all really good bloggers that inspired me to take a stab at blogging myself, and thus to whom I owe a debt of gratitude.  So if you're one of those bloggers and are reading this - thanks.

If you've discovered my site by now, you probably already read these folks - but perhaps there's a new one or two in there for you.

(And hopefully by making this post long enough, I'll push down the video I posted a while back that was covering up the blogroll.  Heh.)

Pregame 12/11/09 - Sabres vs. Blackhawks

Tonight the Chicago Blackhawks come to town.  The Central Division-leading Hawks are 11-2-1 since Jonathan Toews returned from a concussion and lead the West with the fewest amount of goals against.  Wait a minute, the Hawks have given up the fewest goals in the West?  The same Hawks that trot out Cristobal Huet as a starting goaltender?  Miracles do occur.

What I'm watching for tonight:

• Boooo!  The boo birds will likely be out in full force tonight to "welcome" Brian Campbell and Patrick Kane back to Buffalo.  Kane's transgressions are one thing, but to me it'll be more interesting to see how the guy who infamously asked Buffalo fans not to boo him when he returned will be treated.  The topic of booing former players is something I just don't understand, and that's a whole other post I'll probably work on for next week. It's been percolating for a while.
  
• Patrick Lalime gets a start: Oh joy.  Maybe we could stuff all five skaters in the crease and have them block every shot, make it to overtime tied at zero, and at least salvage a point.
• Faceoffs: Could someone who wears a blue and gold jersey please win one?

Predictions for tonight:  I don't think this one will end up well for our heroes tonight, as Chicago is just too hot right now.  5-2 Hawks (remember, Lalime is starting), 68 total shots on goal, first penalty: interference.

Time for a new script

Is it just me, or does it seem the script has been the same for the first two periods of every game for the last month or so?

Act 1: The Sabres come out flying, pouring shot after shot on goal and dominating play in the offensive end.  Despite this, the first period ends with a maximum of a one-goal lead.  Buffalo may in fact trail.

Act 2: All momentum is lost as a second-period parade to the penalty box ensues.  After killing penalty after penalty, our heroes are now too spent to bother scoring goals, and may even give up a few.  Shots on goal swing drastically in the other direction.

A look at the stats backs this up somewhat; going back to the Flyers game on November 6th, in the last 14 games the Sabres have outshot opponents 8 times in the first period but only twice in the second period.  They've taken 31 minor penalties in the middle frame over that stretch, for an average of just over two per game.  They went to the box five times in the second vs. Edmonton and had four more trips times two nights later vs. Calgary.

Obviously, "shots on goal" and "goals" are not the same.  In fact, the Sabres have given up just as many goals in the first over that stretch as they have in the second (10 in each period).  But the shot stats do suggest to me a shift in momentum,  and I believe we're seeing a team that wears down and gets lazier as the game goes on.  Because they aren't taking advantage of their fast starts on the scoreboard, they're allowing teams right back into the game, and I think this is what's making them so streaky lately.  Win three, lose three, win four, lose four....

Or I could just be completely crazy.  I won't rule that out. Anyway, let's hope to see a good, consistent 60 minutes tonight against the Devils.