Well, this was about as dominant a 5-3 empty net victory as you can get. A run-and-gun first period transitioned to a lockdown 2nd and 3rd. Several Sabres were really going tonight, and I think the worst Sabre may well have been Miller, if you can believe it.

While watching this one, I was wondering what the heck got into Kaleta. He was bashing people all over the ice. Then I realized: Buffalo boy. I bet it's real easy for Pattymouth to get a good hate on for Dallas.

Roy-Vanek-Mancari were beastly, in both zones. And Roy was mostly forgettable until late in the 3rd. Vanek was doing well controlling the puck in the corner and pulling out with speed to create. Mancari was everywhere and showed a huge level of compete. Where the hell was that in his other callups?! He excelled on offense, but also was instrumental on the Miller-down-and-out miracle save.

Myers. Holy crap! He looked like he was on turbo boost while everyone else had already exhausted theirs. 4 points, and he could have had a couple more goals on top. Even his penalty, dropping the defenseman while going to the net, made me smile.

Rivet had a good game. Finally. Loods was solid. Kaleta, as already stated, hit every Star thrice, then dropped the gloves and had a real good showing against Ott. He was pumped after that one, too. Torres looks like he's not too far off from contributing. Mair and Ellis were solid.

Looking at the goals against, the first was a tip-in. Hard to fault anyone on that. The second was Sekera with the giveaway in the neutral zone. The last was all on Miller. Barring the lax first period defensively, the Sabres gave up very little. Even when the Stars had extended zone pressure, they were collapsing well and working as a cohesive unit to keep everything to the outside. 11 shots combined in the 2nd and 3rd. The Sabres really peppered them, too: 40-something shots for.

All-in-all, a great win. This one was more convincing than the Philly or Ranger wins. And they've strung 3 together now. With the defense having a bit of a resurgence, things are looking better in terms of hanging on to the division lead.

Ham

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Do you believe yet?

Well said, Ham.

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Wheelhouse

http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/03/11/9 ... o-the.html

maybe that's why Kaleta was so full of it tonight too.

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"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." ~ Han Solo


We truly are not worthy of Miller!

About sums it up Ham.

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

nice review.... it was good to see them play a solid, energized game! Now they just have to keep it up... I love the VRoooooM line... and what ever they are feeding Myers and Patty, don't stop they were both on a mission! I want to see more Mancari right now and less Drew, I know its only one game with him playing like that, but you have to run with it! And we will soon be able to put in our best face-off guy back on the ice... When Goose comes back, sit Ellis, bounce Kennedy down a line... and I think we are ready for a solid run...

KEEP IT UP GUYS!

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