Pregame-
Just got back from watching Utica College turn Western New England into a shit stain on the ice. They pounded that team into the boards and pounded them on the scoreboard until nothing was left but a brown smear. 12-1 was the final. I'm hoping for a similar experience as I watch my DVR'ed Sabres game.

The Sabres better tighten up the discipline. With Grier out, don't tempt fate by playing a man short with your best penalty killer out with an injury. Buffalo really needs to have some get up and go to put pressure on this monster defense.

I'm also looking forward to watching a little Iginla. I don't really get to see too many late Western Conference games, so this is my chance for a little Calgary scouting. It's nice that they play every team at least once, now.

1st Period-
Bad angle and it pops out in front for the GA. Ugly. Stafford and Vanek watch Langkow pop it in on Miller's doorstep. How about you guys decide to tie someone up in front of the net, eh?

Roy, Mac and Pommers with 3 glorious chances. Myers jumped in on that shift, too.

Mair may not be a heavyweight, but I love his fights. He doesn't dance around. He throws for real. He took some shots, but he unloaded some, too. Looks like Prust went to the locker room.

Buffalo looks to have rebounded nicely from that early goal. They aren't backing down from this very imposing Calgary team.

Another great chance for Pommers. That line is buzzing. This one was a 3 on 2.

Vanek needs to skate harder on the backcheck and go for the steal when he's closer. He spends too much effort swinging his stick, and that leads to too many offensive zone hooking calls. Skate hard and surprise the guy from behind.

Mmm. Side boob during the first commercial break.

Neale just called MacArthur “MacIntyre”. Oh, Harry, your mind is half gone, but I like you anyway.

Nice walk out from Hecht. Kipper's on his game. Buffalo is swarming, but haven't solved him yet.

Buffalo is really hammering anything with a burning “C” on its jersey.

Hecht with another wraparound try. He's taking it to the crease hard so far. I like it. Buffalo is playing very physical.

What the hell just happened on the PP? Miller left the puck behind the net and nobody went to pick it up. Not a good sign for everyone being on the same page.

And it showed with 0 offensive zone possession time.

Some bad blood in this game already. Man, we never see Calgary. Where did all this come from? Can the Pattymouth work on Iginla? He dropped Iginla pretty good in that wresting match. Then he took his back. I half expected him to sink in a rear naked choke. I'll take Kaleta and Iginla off the ice for 2. That's a good trade any day.

Bouwmeester just gave Connolly a nice breakaway feed, but Connolly was slow on the release and Calgary got a stick on it.

That was a strange sequence there. I just noticed both Montador and Sekera down below the faceoff dots in Calgary's zone.

2nd try on the PP. Better have a good showing on this one. Goal! A faceoff win finally gets some offensive zone PP possession time, and the swarming, buzzing Sabres finally capitalize. That ought to do wonders going into the locker room. Keep up the intense play, boys.

Ellis with a real nice read to pick off the clearing attempt. No result.

Wow, shots are 17-4. I knew they were outplaying Calgary, but not by that margin. Roy on the 3 on 1 with 5 seconds left and he hits the post. Aaaaaaargh! A great period. Too bad a defensive brain fart by Vanek and Staff means they don't have a lead.

Heh heh. I was hoping to hear Roby say the Sabres were gangbanging the Calgary D during his analysis.

Ham

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Do you believe yet?

2nd Period-

RJ uttered “Roy whips it in”. So long as he doesn't give the opposite statement for a clear out of the zone.

Nystrom looks like Sylar from Heroes.

Get lots of clears on this PK. Make them skate the length of the rink. Butler just laid a solid lick along the boards. I hate the long change on the PK during the 2nd (and overtime). PK over. Nice work.

That interference penalty was BS. It totally should have gone the other way. Hecht was interfered with.

Good job, Miller. Don't cheat off that post. Goose with a clean faceoff win for the clear. Nice forecheck by Kaleta forces a turnover and takes another :20 off the PK.

I don't like Roy's “flyby” engagement on the wall. Get your stick in there and then lay the body in. I don't care if you're short. You don't see Kennedy backing down, do you?

Remember when Goose was a late round rookie, short on skill but large on talent? How nice that he's improved so much on faceoffs. He really did a nice job at increasing his value.

Another dicey call on Buffalo. Miller getting upset at the contact on the PP. I don't actually like to see that. I want him focused on stopping the puck, not whacking guys. But Miller's got a point. He was run and no call. This is starting to turn into a lopsided game in terms of reffing.

PK's got its work cut out for it tonight, if the officials are going to try and hand this game to the Flames.

C'mon, Hecht, try hard to bleed on that high stick.

Jesus, how many fucking odd-man rushes can Buffalo give up on the PP? I swear, they give up more when they're up a man than when they're not.

Looks like hot and cold on the PP. Either they're all over them or they can't get their shit together and give up 2 odd man rushes.

Myers just got interfered with going to the net. No call there either. Fucking refs. Favor one team much? Is that like a fucking hobby for you?

Kaleta getting under their skin. Prelude to a Power Play. That's the name of my Broadway play about Patrick Kaleta.

Good on ya, Goose. Going after Phaneuf. Refs won't do anything about the cheap shots after the whistle? Take it into your own hands.

Sekera with another giveaway. You know, we got rid of Max. We don't really need anyone emulating his worst characteristics.

Good shift by Roy, Kaleta and Hecht. Not the intended line, I'm sure.

Is Clutterbuck really sporting the solo 80's stache for Minnesota? Great name, ballsy facial hairstyle.

Neale is now calling Cheechoo “Choo-choo” and Rob Ray has been laughing for about 20 seconds.

Sabretooth with some nice robot dancing right before the start of the 3rd.

Ham

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Do you believe yet?

3rd Period-

Weird. Mac was coming wide with speed, the defenseman fell over backward, and Mac still couldn't really get around him. And Mac's pretty fast.

Sabres got hemmed in early.

I like that Myers doesn't hesitate to get in on the forecheck. Even if he's by his lonesome.

Choppy play now, with little flow and lots of turnovers in the neutral zone.

Heh heh, Goose and Phaneuf getting acquainted again after the whistle.

Bah, another PK. Was it boarding? Crosschecking?

How 'bout them Canes? And you thought the Leafs were bad this year?

Lots of clears on this PK. Not letting Calgary really get set up.

Close call at the tail end. Miller was out of position, but either he got a piece of it, or someone else did.

And now the ref gets in the way of a pass along the boards after a real nice forechecking shift by Roy, Pommers and Mac. This is a conspiracy. That's what this is. A God damned conspiracy, and everyone's in on it! … Including her. (Bonus points for the source of that).

Connolly with some fancy plays on subsequent shifts for a couple chances. Nearly dragged it around Phaneuf.

Sekera just centered the puck into the crease. His own crease. This kid's gotta get his head on straight.

By the way, is Stafford even playing? He's been invisible. As has Vanek. Vanek's just not right. He's got no fire or drive this season. Lindy's gotta light a fire under him.

“What the fuck is that shit?!” outta Lindy's mouth after a missed icing call leads to a chance against.

Looks like this one is going to extra time. I'd like to see Roy and Pommers or Roy and Mac start, with Myers and Tallinder on the back end.

Overtime-

Boy, did I call that one. Roy and Pommers with a great chance right off the bat.

I thought for a second there they weren't calling the penalty when Myers was tripped. But that one would have been a little too obvious, even for these refs. Now's your chance, boys. Show me some of that hot PP, not the cold one!

Come on, 2 blocked shots from the point? Guys, a 4 on 3 is almost as good as a 5 on 3, and you can't even get a shot through? How about you move the puck a little more. Get those defenders up high moving a bit.

So many blocked shots. Give Calgary credit. They stayed glued to those shooting lanes. Oh, but a crazy flurry at the end! Boy, they buzzed 'em good, once the teams were back at even strength. I guess it's only fitting that this pinnacle of a goaltending dual will culminate in a shootout.

Dawes actually had an interesting try. It almost caught Miller unprepared, but Miller's reflexes saved it.

Sweet move by Roy!

Jokinen juuuuust snuck it through. I thought Miller's stick actually stopped it, but it dribbled through.

Myers with a poorer performance of his same move. Miller fakes the pokecheck twice on Iginla and stones the shot.

Pommers with a nice shot to put the pressure on Calgary (or Miller, if you prefer). And Miller gets the ol' five hole closed on Bourque's attempt for the win!

I really liked Roy, Pommers and Mac tonight. Connolly also generated some chances. Tallinder played well, Montador too. Kaleta and Goose were gritty as hell, and Mair stepped up well. Hecht protected the puck behind the net like he used to when Briere was still in town, and Kennedy was fast and agile on the wall.

Stafford and Vanek were barely there. And I wish Sekera had been. Seems like the only thing Sekera made you notice were his giveaways.

And Miller was a beast. I really wish they didn't have to rely on him stoning breakaways and stopping odd-man rushes, but the guy's always been covering up for poor play in front of him. He's just doing it just as well if not better than before, and there are a fair number of games where he's actually getting help, too. Jesus, if we only had a backup worth his salt.

Now for a tough rematch with Philly as the Sabres are coming off a game the previous night. Hopefully they put forth a better showing tomorrow than the last time they faced Philadelphia.

Ham

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Do you believe yet?

Vanek 12 min
Stafford 10 min

hmm 1st line. they dont get a lot of chances. Roy played 25 min , so it s no wonder that you noticed him more often

maybe Vanek isn t so hot in the moment, but i think he should change the team. Ruff doesnt trust in him.

but as I cant change the team, Ruff should leave

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HOCKEY IS BACK!

But in just twelve minutes, Vanek looked BAD. You can't play a guy that simply refuses to backcheck and that will lose every single battle in the corner.

If you goto a game, you see guys like Ellis and Gaustad busting their asses. Vanek doesn't move. He's a lazy waste of salary in these games.

Scoring is supposed to be his specialty, and he's not even good at it. We'd rather put in a 19 year old defensemen than a guy that is making 7 million dollars to just score goals.

Just look around the league. You want to say we still need the scoring? This guy is making Kopitar, Kovalchuck, etc...type money but is not a game changer. And you know what? He could've even scored tonight, but even if he did, he wasn't putting the effort forth that deserves a NHL contract.

Vanek isn't good at ANYTHING but scoring goals. Now that may sound funny, but almost every single Sabre has another skillset, whether it be faceoffs, hitting, grinding, pass interceptions, passing...etc...

Vanek just has his open nets, and when that's not going for him, he's worth nothing.



/rant

Markus, I agree with you 100% on Vanek. 4th line players like Mair and Ellis have been 10 times more useful than him. If he isn't getting those tips or screening the goalie he isn't doing anything positive for the team.

Fucking YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!1st line.............we need the old Vanek back.........at the moment....he is playing krkrkrkrk bad!

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Einmal LASKler, immer LASKler! FAN since my first breath.
Einmal ein Sabres, immer ein Sabres! FAN since 2005.

RJ............I love him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Einmal LASKler, immer LASKler! FAN since my first breath.
Einmal ein Sabres, immer ein Sabres! FAN since 2005.

RJ............I love him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think every player has that drive "in" them just certain ones never go to that level.

It's just about heart. Some may be ok with Vanek JUST staying in front of the net and not moving, but i'm not.

Again, I want him to do well. It is for the better of the team if he starts tearing it up.

They just force feed his nostrils smelling salts next game.

Lots of Iginla jerseys. Iginla is pretty much a Patty Kaleta that can score with less balls.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

What was up with this matchup? Why all the fighting (not that I mind)? It was like we were playing Ottawa in the playoffs! We only play them once a year...what's with all the hostility?

Also, are there a lot of Flames fans in Buffalo? I was washing dinner dishes and heard the first score and the cheering...i thought we were playing in Calgary for a minute!

Anyhoo...I loved this game. It was so fun to watch.

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Its NNYFAN, but you can just call me Kris.