So not that it would've saved the game or anything, but why didn't we dress McNabb yesterday?
Good:
- Vanek still cares.
- Its nearly Christmas, which means it's almost time for the Knicks to start playing.
Bad:
- Everything else.
- The Rochester Americans are not going to win a Stanley Cup anytime soon.*
- Just as Ennis started to get it going (last game) BAM he goes down again.
- Roy/Stafford being "on notice" seems to be paying off...
Ugly:
- Miller's stats for the year. Even games we win in regulation he's letting in like 3 or 4 goals. The Caps have shown us that the road to the Cup is not paved with 9 and 10 goal games.
*Note: I do know that much of what we have affectionately known as "the core" has remained intact for most of the year. But like Rob Ray was saying at one of the intermissions the constant stream of injuries has caused a near constant juggling of the lines. It's really hard to develop any sort of chemistry if on a day to day basis you have no idea who you will be playing with. I mean as soon as Leino-Adam-Kassian were starting to get something going BAM Leino goes down. Injuries are not an acceptable excuse for all that is going on right now, but they certainly play a large-ish part in it.
Trade Pomminville, Roy, and Boyes by the deadline. Did you see Pomminville bail on a 50/50 puck early in the game? When your Captain's will to win is BROKEN by a rookie, of equal stature, you've already lost the game.
I get that Pomminville, Roy, and Boyes are very talented, and high quality professions ,and class acts for the most part. But this is a contact league. The Sabres MUST change their entire philosophy this season, they need a different approach and it has to start with player moves.
Speaking strictly for tonight, the Sabres defensive scheme was pretty decent. They only gave up 26 shots. The goaltending let them down in a big way.
Thats not really true, they packed themselves into a tight box and let the Penguins pass the puck around the zone with impunity. Keeping the puck to the perimeter is a good defensive principle but you've got to have at least some puck pressure or else the other team will pick you apart, just like last night.
Thats not really true, they packed themselves into a tight box and let the Penguins pass the puck around the zone with impunity. Keeping the puck to the perimeter is a good defensive principle but you've got to have at least some puck pressure or else the other team will pick you apart, just like last night.
That's not false, but the goaltending sucked big time last night. With decent goal-tending, we lose by 1 or 2 goals. Or, maybe we even win because the rest of the team is not so deflated. I hate to say it, but this loss is primarily on Miller. If you give up 3 goals in 9 minutes, your team has almost no chance to win. That first goal caught him napping, and then his confidence was shaken. The defense has some responsibility, but that game might have played out completely differently if Miller makes a couple of early saves. Also, I don't blame Ruff for starting Miller. You can't be scared to start your franchise goalie back-to-back or against a particular team.
What the hell is with Ruff's handling of the goalies last night? Completely baffling to me.
I think that after Miller was posting up 3 goals on 7 shots he obviously wanted to pull him. But Enroth had been put through a particularly crazy practice earlier in the day. He didn't have a full game in him, so he sent Miller out in the 2nd, and then Enroth in the 3rd.
Once the decision was made to pull Miller I think he knew that neither of his goalies had anything, and that if they were going to come out of the game with any points that it would be on the backs of the rest of the team.
Doesn't make it the move that I or a lot of people here would've made, but I gotta assume that that was his thinking.
Vanek, Pommer, Roy, Stafford, Goose, Miller.... all healthy....
the injury excuse doesn't float with me... oh no, a bunch of guys who played like dookie most of the year have been out... big deal
agreed. i've said it myself, there is enough fire power out there to win games, maybe more with kassian now. no excuses. sabres had 117 game lost to unjury the pens 160. they played and ahl defense vs the pens.
goal tending was absurd. call up the 3rd stringer and make miller and enroth watch him start the next 4 games.
I think that after Miller was posting up 3 goals on 7 shots he obviously wanted to pull him. But Enroth had been put through a particularly crazy practice earlier in the day. He didn't have a full game in him, so he sent Miller out in the 2nd, and then Enroth in the 3rd.
Once the decision was made to pull Miller I think he knew that neither of his goalies had anything, and that if they were going to come out of the game with any points that it would be on the backs of the rest of the team.
Doesn't make it the move that I or a lot of people here would've made, but I gotta assume that that was his thinking.
Interesting that they would put the backup through that intense of a practice right before the 2nd of back to back games, when it's reasonable to expect that he might need to play.
Interesting that they would put the backup through that intense of a practice right before the 2nd of back to back games, when it's reasonable to expect that he might need to play.
Enroth had a hard practice during a team meeting and optional skate?
I think that after Miller was posting up 3 goals on 7 shots he obviously wanted to pull him. But Enroth had been put through a particularly crazy practice earlier in the day. He didn't have a full game in him, so he sent Miller out in the 2nd, and then Enroth in the 3rd.
If true, that's some amazingly incompetent coaching.
On the 2nd game of a back to back, it's asinine to exhaust your backup goaltender in practice. If anything, both goalies should get a light practice and the backup should start.
So not that it would've saved the game or anything, but why didn't we dress McNabb yesterday?
Good:
- Vanek still cares. - Its nearly Christmas, which means it's almost time for the Knicks to start playing.
Bad:
- Everything else.
- The Rochester Americans are not going to win a Stanley Cup anytime soon.*
- Just as Ennis started to get it going (last game) BAM he goes down again.
- Roy/Stafford being "on notice" seems to be paying off...
Ugly:
- Miller's stats for the year. Even games we win in regulation he's letting in like 3 or 4 goals. The Caps have shown us that the road to the Cup is not paved with 9 and 10 goal games.
*Note: I do know that much of what we have affectionately known as "the core" has remained intact for most of the year. But like Rob Ray was saying at one of the intermissions the constant stream of injuries has caused a near constant juggling of the lines. It's really hard to develop any sort of chemistry if on a day to day basis you have no idea who you will be playing with. I mean as soon as Leino-Adam-Kassian were starting to get something going BAM Leino goes down. Injuries are not an acceptable excuse for all that is going on right now, but they certainly play a large-ish part in it.
Are they the ones that play that cute game where you bounce a rubber ball around, and then they blow the whistle a lot so the fans can watch really rich, really tall guys shoot free throws uncontested?
