Not only the fans, but all of Ryan Millers teammates need to go to Hallmark and find the biggest freakin' thank you card and SIGN IT.

Dear Ryan, THANK YOU for having us 3rd in the east and 1st in the division. We owe you BIG TIME. Love, Everybody.


I don't care how much of a homer you may be, if it wasn't for the absolutely stellar play of Ryan Miller night in and night out, this team would be fighting for a playoff spot with Atlanta and the Rangers. Miller covers many of this teams glaring deficiencies. Deficiencies that are playoff-killers.

I am amazed at how weak their play often is. I don't care about their "effort". They goddamnned better be trying hard for 60 minutes considering they all make more money in one season than most of us earn over 30 years!

Can anyone honestly say with a straight face, that this team with just an AVERAGE goaltender would have any chance in the post-season?

The best teams DO NOT LOOK THIS BAD as often as the Sabres do, outside of goaltending. The only reason you can put them in the same sentence with Pittsburgh or Jersey or even Ottawa (I won't even mention the Caps) is because of Miller. And ONLY becuase of Miller.

Too bad Miller cannot join in on the PP.

A season-long buildup for possibly a one-and-done in April.

Depressing. (And I'm not just saying this because of tonight's game. Even though they won on Wednesday against the Habs, it was yet another disaster that Miller was able to bail them out of.)

Problem is, Miller is ONE GUY. In the post-season, that ONE GUY is going to be repeatedly fucked with and all the other "talent" on the team will not be picking up the slack on the other end by scoring. Gone are the Tampas and Floridas and Leafs. You actually have to work for those playoff wins and, quite frankly, have the talent outside of goaltending to pull it off.

But when has team like the Sabres made the playoffs without a good goalie?

It's still a team game and Miller is a huge reason for our success and our team knows it, and it knows it can cheat to try and score goals sometimes because of who is in net.

I'd feel more comfortable with a good goalie in net, it's the recipe for a good team, you have a guy who can stop the pucks, your team will play much better.

Ottawa wouldn't be anywhere had Elliot not been fantastic this year for them, Detroit would be out of a playoff spot had Howard not stepped in a filled the void in net, you think Montreal would be fighting for a playoff spot had Halak not stepped it up earlier this year when Price was garbage?

A good team should always be built around a good goalie, and that's that. This team has a great goalie and some good young guys locked up, we just need to fill some other pieces to be perfect. Even The Capitals need to rely on good goaltending in some games and same thing with Pittsburgh.

Everyone knows the goalie is the most important part of any winning team.

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You win as a team and you lose as a team.

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Impossible Is Nothing.

Sorry, can't drink the kool-aid on that one.

You bring up Detroit, Pittsburgh, Washington and Ottawa.

Really?

First of all, NONE of them have a goaltender as good as Miller.

And tell me;

Compared to Washington, who is our Ovechkin or Backstrom or Semin or Green?

Compared to Detroit, who is our Zetterberg or Datsyuk?

Compared to Pitssburgh, who is our Crosby or Malkin or Gonchar?

Compared to Ottawa, who is our Alfedsson or Spezza?

Who is our go-to guy? Our CLUTCH player?

THAT is the problem. When your clutch player is your goaltender, every game is a crap shoot.

This is funny as I saw this thread I was watching Jimmy Fallon's segment on his show where he writes thank you notes.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

But when you have a goaltender who keeps you in games do you need a clutch player? So Connolly isn't our go to go, Roy might not be, what about Vanek on some nights? Pominville?

So Gonchar as a defensemen is a go to guy? For scoring? Or for blocking shots?

You've not seen a few games recently where this team happened to win 4 in a row buy scoring plenty of goals, and also trailing by 2 with two minutes to go to win the game, that's not clutch enough for you?

How about the team trailing by three in consecutive games only to win them against Pittsburgh and Atlanta?

What about our team actually able to hold onto wins, what about our team that can outshoot other teams?

Whatever dude, those teams I listed, without a goaltender they'd be, OM MY FUCKING GOD, NOTHING ALSO.

Look at the teams without a decent goalie, where are they sitting in the standings right now? Look at the teams who have had good goaltending this year? Where are they sitting?

Goalies don't win games, it is the team that does, but having a goalie as good as FUCKING RYAN MILLER is a huge bonus. Do I think this team would be struggling to make the playoffs without Miller, of course I do, but you take away Fluery, Howard, Nabakov, Luongo, Bryzgalov, Anderson, and a few tohers, do you think their teams would be where they are at right now?

Detroit wasn't even in the playoffs earlier this year without Howard stepping in, Pittsburgh has to rely on Fluery just as much as we have had to with Miller sometimes, Washington sometimes needs to rely on Theodore or Varlamov when they aren't scoring 5 goals a game. Phoenix would be dead in the water and not competing for first in the West without Bryzgalov's stellar play this year, Boston would also not even be in the playoffs without the effort Rask has done for them this year.

Please tell me more teams that rely on a goaltender all to often or needs to rely on their goalie to help them play better? If your team is comfortable with their goalie they play better, simple as that, and the last few games you think the effort wasn't there for this team and such? We outplayed Ottawa tonight but had bad breaks, we outshot them also. And just missed on the tying goal with Vanek hitting the post.

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If you want to win a cup, in addition to ur great goalie, you damn well better have AT LEAST ONE clutch guy.




That's the kind of logic and "rationale" that makes me not bother to address the rest of your post.

Hint: Many shots doesn't mean "outplayed". Do you even pay attention to what the freakin' coach even says repeatedly at press conferences?

Or let me just quote Bucky Gleason (who I'm sure you hate for his honesty) in today's paper:

"Here's a disturbing stat: since Feb. 1, the Sabres have one regulation victory over a team currently in the playoffs. It was against a San Jose team that was finishing off a road trip and was running for the bus before the Olympics. Otherwise, it has been a string of mostly mediocre play, good fortune and poor opponents."

"The Sabres can look at their record through 73 games and be satisfied, but they're kidding themselves if they think they can make any noise in the postseason in their current state."

And what-do-you-know, even Paul Gaustad disagrees with your assessment of the Ottawa game:
"It's not a fluke. Very rarely is it a fluke. It's us committing 60 minutes against these guys. We can't be scared. We have to go after them. They paid attention to details, and we didn't. Enough is enough. We have to beat teams like this to get past any round in the playoffs. We have to be better, and we have to prove it."


I know. Everybody who says the "Emporer has no clothes" is a jerk who doesn't know anything.

Oh, and here's a little fact that isn't in Bucky's column:
Since Jan. 1, the Sabres are 6-12 against current playoff teams.

This team, irrespective of rank at the moment, needs a bit of an overhaul if there is to ever be a cup in this down not meant to hold beer.

Every New Jersey Devils team in the last 15 years would like to disagree with you.

He's part of the team.

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Wheelhouse

This

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LETS GO BUFFALO!

I agree that we need to add on a clutch player. We have a great goalie and Myers is good too but Miller can't score and even though Myers does things that impress he still makes dumb rookie mistakes which isnt a real big deal considering he is still a dumb rookie lol.

The Sabres' forwards have the potential to be first liners but what sets them back is that they are way to inconsistent. If Pommers played like he is now for the entire season then he would be better off and more importantly the team would be better off. The same goes for guys like Roy, Connolly, and Vanek. They have the tools required to succeed in this league but they just don't use them.

The Sabres need a leader who can lead by example. People thought that when we brought in Rivet that he would fill in the gap but we need someone who can motivate these guys because they lack any sense of drive that makes them push for a win before the last 10 minutes of a game. We need someone that plays good all year and tries to score before we are down.

Not to say that with the team we have now we cant win anything in the playoffs but what I am saying if we want a more realistic shot and a higher chance of winning then we need a more complete team.

The best comparison to our team is Phoenix unfortunately, a team that on paper probably shouldn't even be in the playoff run, yet are deep enough in there to have a spot all but cinched. It all comes back to Bryzgalov and Miller (also the two in line for the Vezina, coincidence?). Both teams are able to not be offensive juggernauts, but score at the right times/stop a lot of goals and win games.

Detroit, Pittsburgh and Washington are bad comparisons.
Detroit = Hit by injury throughout most of the season and a few key players underperforming. Plus Howard helped keep them afloat. Still a very talented offensive team.
Pittsburgh = Fleury is a very solid goaltender, perhaps not of Miller proportions, but they have a bit of all-star offensive and defensive talent as well. A good balance.
Washington = They could have the Caps website developer in net and still win games, they are just so damn stacked up front.

That said, the playoffs are different beast. The regular season means nothing when the postseason comes around. Right now I'm just crossing my fingers we can cinch a playoff spot, I'll worry about how this teams stacks up when we know who we have in the first round.

Do I think we're a cup contender? Not really... but I know we've beaten the Caps and the Penguins before this season (I know I just said the regular season doesn't matter, but give me a break... im scraping the bottom of the barrel here lol), and that Montreal game on Wednesday was an ode to how 1 or 2 black and blue, hard working goals can completely turn a night of hockey on it's head. I don't think we should really count on that, obviously, but it's interesting.

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Great post. Dead on.

Washington has lost games to the Isles and Lightning this year. In an 82 game season, every team looks like shit several times. Get better expectations.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Why are there so many fans that want to separate Ryan Miller from this team? "Without Ryan Miller, we'd be an awful team." Okay. Well, we have Ryan Miller. Awesome. Moving on...

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

Thank you to Patrick Lalime for doing what Ryan Miller could not the past two seasons.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

HAHAHA, secure a playoff position.

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When you say you're going to "not bother to address the rest of your post," it'll make you a lot of enemies really fast. That shows that you do not care what anyone else has to say and that only your opinion matters. Don't be that guy. Also, Bucky Gleason is a fool. Most of what he says does not add up. He said in that same article that despite the fact the Sabres have the best goalie in the league and are tops in the division, they don't even have a shot at the Cup. I ask, why not? Remember last year when just about everyone picked the Sharks to win the Cup (myself included)? They did not fare so well against a so called "weaker" Anaheim team. What about when the Bruins should have beat Carolina? And the Devils before them?
The point is, ANYTHING can happen in the playoffs. Remember '99, when it was thought the Sabres were going nowhere that year? Does this team not seem like the '99 squad? Outside of Satan, we had no big goal scorers. All we had was some goalie named Hasek, and we all know what happened in the end.

Also, Do not give me that whole "this team needs an overhaul" bull. Why would we piss away all these building blocks we have in place? It is obvious this team is doing something right. You don't lead your division by chance. The Canadiens had a major overhaul, and they're doing great, aren't they? There is no need for an overhaul, just a piece here or there (say a RW and PP QB) to have this team being favorites every year. However, they can still challenge if they play consistent, hard working style hockey. That is what wins games, especially in the playoffs. We all know the current roster can do that, because we have seen them do that all season. We are not on top of the Northeast by some fluke, or by luck. They have struggled at some points, but this team is hungrier than I've seen them in two years. If they show up every game and stick to the system, they can go far.

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Rest in Peace Nani. 10/3/10

Gerbacity



"Grier coming in over the line. He leaves it to Gaustad. The shot. THEY SCOOOREE!! RING UP ANOTHER ONE FOR THE GOOSE!!! HONK IF YA HEAR THE GOOSE!! 3-0 BUFFALO!"

Sabres Rocker spot on, we have seen what this team can do when they play, they win.

It's 82 games in a season, you're going to have some duds here and there, and not every team can play Balls to the Wall for every 82 games.

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