Pregame-
Florida is not one of the premiere teams this season. So does Buffalo play down to its opposition a la last season, or do they outclass the cats?

I had my pizza. I had my wings. It's game time!

1st Period-
Not a bad first shift. No dangerous chances, but good possession.

Good shift by the RVS line. Buffalo seems to be controlling play early with some good forechecking. Very little defensive zone play.

Damn. Offensive zone penalty. That'll halt momentum fast. Heh, how often is Rivet gonna get a penalty below the goal line... in the offensive zone. Still, I liked seeing him down there.

Pommers and Roy combine on the forecheck during PK time to take a good 30 seconds off the clock. A couple good clears so far, too.

It's funny to see Myers waiting in front of Miller defending when a forward is behind the net, trying to skate to one side and get the puck out front. They've got to go waaaaay wide to get past Myers reach.

Florida doing a good job of pumping shots on Miller since the PP. Nothing too dangerous, but all they need is one little redirection.

Weiss just made Rivet look dumb on a semi-2-on-1. Hecht was backchecking hard to take it away after Butler somehow got caught flat footed at the Florida blue line.

I'll trade you a QWERTY for a DVORAK any day.

How nice is it to play Florida and not have to face Bouwmeester? That guy just shut everything down and ate up about half the game.

Goose line comes real close with several good whacks in the goal mouth.

Pommers just shoots wide on the 3-on-2.

Miller seems to be seeing the puck well, even with guys cruising in front of him.

Does anyone else feel Stafford plays small for his size? Oh, and Vanek almost snuck one in. That went off the blocker and off the post. Oh yeah, Vokoun catches with his right hand. Strange to see. Must be bizzarro hockey.

Nice to see Pommers eat one to try and clear the puck. He may not throw huge hits, but I do see him battle it out along the boards regularly. Odd that he's playing one of the longest streaks in the NHL. Why are some guys made of glass and others titanium?

Mac needs to heat it up again. He's cooled from the fast start.

Great walk in by Staff to take it hard to the net. Ice, I know you loved that one. Hard-nosed hockey. Just let me reassure you, I'm with you, brother. LOVE IT!

Sabres are getting some lengthy passes up the ice to jump start the rushes. They're not odd-man, but they're taking the pass and skating it in for good possession and chances generated.

How much do you think Cellino and Barnes paid Roy to schlep for them?

Mac almost cashes in on Rivet's rebound. Sabres do seem to be outplaying Florida thus far.

Montador comes in as the 4th man on the rush and misses the net. 3 on 1 the other way. Sekera makes a nicely timed play to break it up. Yes, I did say Sekera. Maybe Ruff knew what he was doing keeping him in in lieu of Lydman.

Thought Mair looked a little worse for the wear after throwing the big hit on the forecheck. Looks like he went straight to the bench. Good thing we've got some spare parts if Mair's taken himself out of the lineup.

Damn it, Roy, that's one unnecessary pass on the rush. You were in the clear to bring the puck in wide without contention and passed it back into Pomminville's skates for no reason.

It's ruled an intentional offsides and Florida ties it up off the faceoff. Ugh, I pin this one partially on you, Derek. Also, Hank, that was your guy. Fucking pay attention.

I really think Buffalo dominated play thus far, and now they're going into the 2nd period tied. Crap.

Myers makes a nice rush in the waning seconds then passes it into some skates. Better learn to finish that play off, Tyler. You got the blue line, if there's nowhere to go, get the puck deep.

Ham

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2nd Period-
Sabres playign in their own end a lot here in the early going. Shot from the slot 1 on 1. Miller makes the save, but should have flopped on it. Instead he tried to swipe it out with the stick and hits it into Weiss for the rebound goal.

Rivet gets schooled again. Not a good game for him.

Florida is blocking a lot of shots. Heh, Kennedy just pulled the Ennis move. And Kaleta draws a penalty. First PP of the game.

Looks like Florida is at the bottom of the league in PK. Better make them pay. Florida is playing stingy defense, and you don't know how many opportunities you're going to get. Make 'em count.

Roy floats a pass into 4 Panthers. Sabres are getting beat to the puck. Oooh, delay of game, though. Consider yourselves fortunate, Buffalo, now get your shit together and get on the same page.

Anyone else think the fake slap shot-turned pass from the point man is overused? Kind of loses its misdirection quality if you never shoot it.

2 straight power lays, 2 straight bad power plays. Rivet gets beat again to set up the 2 on 1.

Goose with the bomb! Campbell is crushed to the ice.

Vanek seems to be in the game a little bit more than recently. At least, 5 on 5.

Penalty to Buffalo. Both PKs are playing well thus far. PPs are pretty miserable. Buffalo holding their position in the box well and Florida can't really generate anything inside. Myers throwing a stiff jolt.

Sekera plays Dvorak strong as he tries to put his head down and rush wide. Reggie's actually having a decent game.

Roy got smoked coming over the line. Roy takes a run for a little revenge. Buffalo playing the body a little more on that shift. Seems like the Sabres only play physical if their opponent does likewise.

Goose just misses the rebound. Buffalo D are joining as the 4th man well tonight, but it has yet to yield dividends.

Sekera now battling strong along the boards. Vanek and Staff combine for a nice chance 10 ft out.

You'd think Roy being so small would have better acceleration.

Power play! Goose wins the draw cleanly and a couple good chances are the result. Then Connolly reloads and skates in offside. Seems like having a faceoff in the Panthers' zone is the only way Buffalo can get PP possession in the offensive zone. I keep seeing #4 in white and thinking “J-Bo”.

Ham

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3rd Period-
Though there have been some bad bounces to take goals away, Buffalo seems to have stalled after the late 1st period goal by Florida.

Again the RVS line gets Vanek the puck in front of the net for a chance. They're actually playing pretty well 5 on 5 tonight.

Buffalo hemmed in for a loooong shift.

I want to see patience in their decision making, but desperation in their effort.

Vanek with a lazy dump, gets picked off right at the line.

Hecht with a pass behind Pommers on the 3 on 2, but Pomminville didn't even blink at it. He didn't even try to turn and recover that puck.

Goose's motor is really going tonight. He's gotten himself and the puck to the goalmouth numerous times.

Baaad call. Glove pass, but Tallinder hit the puck with his stick before Pommers did. Ah, good correction, ref.

Stafford with 3 straight keeps in a span of about 3 seconds. Yeoman effort.

Another odd man rush and Reinprecht over to Stillman who roofs one. Rivet fails to keep at the blue line and gets caught. This is Rivet's worst game this season, possibly as a Sabre. He's gotten beat as often as the meat of an adolescent boy who's just discovered masturbation.

Another PP opportunity to try and get back into this one. If ever this game there was a time for the PP to get working, this is it.

Florida is 29th in the league on the PK and they're making Buffalo look like a beer league team. Rivet takes it wide around the net on a broken play and puts the puck out front where it bounces a couple times and Mac taps it in. Ugly, but I'll take it. You're back in it, boys. Ignite a little fire with that goal.

Florida cycling well to eat up the clock and then chipping it out when they're in their own zone. It's going to be tough to generate chances. Mac and Pommers get some chances off Rivet's stick, but no dice. Rivet has picked it up here since the PP.

Kaleta gets the interference call. Which I don't mind. There's too much of that when guys are coasting in together after the loose puck.

That just about kills their chances. Kaleta, I love you, but dick move there.

And a deflection salts this one away. Actually, they may actually have a better chance of scoring twice with the goalie pulled in 2 minutes, than being on the PK until 0:18 left.

Empty net. Game over.

I thought Buffalo really outplayed them in the 1st, but Florida capitalized on Buffalo's mistakes, which were many. Shrug it off and get ready for Saturday.

And a little salt in the wound as Moore sneaks in the backdoor with a minute left.

I think Buffalo gave up on this game a little bit once Kaleta took the late penalty, so the 6-2 score is a bit misleading. A couple of posts and pucks bouncing over sticks with wide open nets might have changed the game, but Buffalo gave the game away with mistakes and odd-man rushes. And the Power Play looked ghastly. Take the MacArthur goal away, and they rarely even got possession in the zone.

Ham

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Weird game. Tons of flow, but the passes weren't there tonight.

It wasn't a loss due to lack of effort, that's for sure.

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Wheelhouse

It was one of those games where we get a bad call and a few weird bounces and it snowballs. Florida scored some strange looking goals last night.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Exactly.

I've gotta hand it to Florida though. They just looked like there was no way they were going to lose that game.

I think we got caught carrying the puck through the trap a little too much.

Still, even though it was a loss, it's nice to see that they were still moving their feet and hustling out there.

Last year, a 6-2 loss would have stemmed from no effort, lazy, bummish play, and I'd be wayyyy more pissed afterwords.

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Wheelhouse

agreed with all of the above. We also had many chances to change the outcome of that game, but were just off by a sliver. Imagine if Vaneks post shot went in, and Rivets... Both missed by just inches.. Sabres just couldn't seem to catch that break they needed.

I was actually slightly relieved. My husband came home last night with the Sims 3 World Adventures expansion pack. About half way through the second period I switched to Sims and took my family to FRANCE!!

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Its NNYFAN, but you can just call me Kris.