- Battling through and not quitting. They had some very good cycle on the Tampa D and kept it up as things wore on.
- Cleaning up the turnovers.
- Stafford and Vanek continue to prop-up the pop gun offense.
- Connolly with another.
- The Mini's were energetic and Ennis's feed to Connolly was awesome.
- Myers dropping Downie.
- Good PKing
- Gaining a point on 8th
- Ennis filling in Smaby
- McCormick-Byron-Gerbe good... but they threw Vanek out there in place of Gerbe and Byron/McCormick set the table
- Weber's early hit in the third -- nice tone setter. The backhand pass to Vanek? Holy eye-popper.
- Leopold was offensive in a good way.
- Seeing Hecht jawwing Vinny and clearly was giving him some **** for their fight.
The Bad -
- Both of Bergenheim's goals had me questioning Miller's focus
- Downie is such a dip. He takes a dumb penalty after the goal. With the attention on the the linesman incident, it will probably cost him some cash too.
- Roloson. Rattled badly and still no wins against Buffalo.
- Hedman-Ohlund did not look good.
- Rej greyed my hair tonight. That first goal, all he has to do is hard into the wall and it's going the other way. Meh. Glad Myers picked him up tonight.
The Ugly -
- Marc Andre Bergeron. Minus 4 and a non-factor all night except on Stafford's fall into Roloson.
- Where the hell are these guys most nights in Buffalo?
__________________
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle
1st Period: bad
2nd Period: worse
3rd Period: ****ING AMAZING
My only fear about this game is that we'll head into Florida and hit a rut offensively. We've scored 6 and 7 goals in our last 2 games, usually our team comes up flat after having 1 high scoring game, let alone 2. Let's hope I'm wrong though.
The only bad things that stuck out to me were Miller's play and some of the defensive breakdowns on those TB goals. Other than that, the team was great and hopefully they'll take their talents down to South Beach against the Panthers next game.
It was amazing how Tampa looked near perfect for the first two periods. Then a little physicality, a little unrest, and their team just fell apart. That looked like a sure loss for the Sabres for almost the whole game, then they just burst out of nowhere and score seventy billion goals.
It was amazing how Tampa looked near perfect for the first two periods. Then a little physicality, a little unrest, and their team just fell apart. That looked like a sure loss for the Sabres for almost the whole game, then they just burst out of nowhere and score seventy billion goals.
They're the Capitals of the previous two seasons. Great offensively. Questionable defensively. Of Boston, Philly, or Tampa, I'd certainly prefer the Lightning if we make the playoffs.
Vanek has carried this team offensively since roy went out. he deserves a lot of credit, he's just under a point per game now. staff has also been great when healthy.
And a -2 with 0 points in a 7 goal effort. Pominville with the same result. At least Pominville has been better lately; Hecht has been awful all season.
Great game overall, though. The third period was awesome.
the good
- being at another Stafford hattie game
- Weber/Morrisonn
- Vanek/McCormick line in 3rd
- Ennis speed game
- good call ref (leopold tying goal)
- very composed game
the bad
- Miller on Bergenheim 1st goal
- Hecht/Poms
- Not a good game from rej
Tampa in the first period reminded me of the Sabres in 06-07. The raw speed, the odd man rushes off turnovers. Thought we were really lucky not to be down further. Miller kept us in this one, again.
Rej had a particularly hard time, especially on the 2nd Tampa goal. He muffs a pass in the neutral zone allowing Hedman to bear down on him, knock him over and chip the puck into the zone, and then topped it off with a picture perfect pass through Sekera's legs right onto Lecavalier's stick.
Loving Myers and his physical play of late. He's been taking out the trash since the All-Star break.
G - the continued fight in the team
B - the continued inconsistency this season
U - Miller on 2 of the 4 goals
Am I in the minority here? I don't want the Sabres to make the playoffs and get rolled in 4 and hurt our draft position. This team is absolutely positively not good enough to make a legit run at the cup. Is it talent? Is it drive? Is it heart? Is it coaching?
It should be Nieds, but judging by the fact he was the skater of choice on a 3-on-3...I guess Byron will go down
Granted, it's not the worst thing for Byron's development to spend more time in the AHL, but the Sabres are better off with him in the lineup than Nieds.
G - the continued fight in the team
B - the continued inconsistency this season
U - Miller on 2 of the 4 goals
Am I in the minority here? I don't want the Sabres to make the playoffs and get rolled in 4 and hurt our draft position. This team is absolutely positively not good enough to make a legit run at the cup. Is it talent? Is it drive? Is it heart? Is it coaching?
