Sep

23

Toronto Maple Leafs (2) vs. Buffalo Sabres (3) – Win (Pre-Season)
Buffalo Sabres (2) vs. Washington Capitals (1) – Win (Pre-Season)
Buffalo Sabres (3) vs. Detroit Red Wings (1) – Win (Pre-Season)

Quite the nice record for the Sabres thus far! Hopefully their success will carry over to the actual season. I haven’t had the opportunity to actually watch a game, but from what I’ve heard and read, there aren’t too many things for me to complain about. Ryan Miller has been much better than par in his two starts. Our offensive lines have also been picking it up, outscoring opponents throughout large portions of the game. And when those shots are taken, they count. Even getting the puck somewhere the net usually leads to a scoring chance. Buffalo has that figured out!

The Sabres have two more pre-season games to go: 7:00 PM on September 26th at the Montreal Canadiens and 7:00 PM on September 27th at the Toronto Maple Leafs. Only a few more weeks until the 2009-2010 NHL season begins!

Sep

19

I needed my daily dose of laughter for the day, and found this commercial from the 2008 Winter Classic starring Ryan Miller. How did I not find this sooner? Enjoy!

Sep

18

Washington Capitals (4) vs. Buffalo Sabres (3) – OT Loss (Pre-Season)

After an off-season that started off too early and seemed to last forever, the Buffalo Sabres returned to action last night against the Washington Capitals in their pre-season opener. I was busy losing my mind watching Quarantine, which is one scary movie, no matter how many times you see it! If only there were some hockey players involved… But I digress.

Die By The Blade has a very thorough recap of the game. An overtime loss is one of the worst losses in hockey: Especially when your team was winning in the third period and took two penalties to be finished off. However, this is the pre-season, and the majority of the game seems to have been played well by the Sabres. But a well-played game compares to nothing if the final minutes are played poorly. Buffalo needs to work on being able to play a complete game and capitalize on winning opportunities. Defensively, I’ve always been the one to say that the Sabres need to concentrate on performing in their own zone. The scoring woes of last season were troublesome, to say the least. Yet being able to shut down an opponent’s offense and control your own zone is a priceless skill that I hope the team has together this season.

I think that last night’s game had a lot of promising aspects, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the Buffalo Sabres have to offer this season! For the video highlights from last night’s pre-season opener, take a few minutes to watch this video, courtesy of Double Edged Sabres.

(On a quick note, Sabres Center Ice is coming back to life for the 2009-2010 season! I finished up my MBA earlier this year, and now have the time to watch most of the games. Night classes have their definite downsides during any sports season. Hockey, here I come… Again!)

Nov

15

November hasn’t been the prettiest month for Buffalo. For all of the good that came about in the opening month of the season, I’m starting to get a little worried about the team. In tonight’s loss to Pittsburgh, I was actually almost convinced that the issues from the last week would dissipate. “No, no: A double no,” as Jeanneret would say. Jason Pominville started us off well with a nifty goal. The Sabres have been struggling with the first period, and I kept believing that they were saving the best for last. Recall those third period comebacks and shootouts? They seem like a distant memory.

Rewind to last night, which was another debacle. Losing 6-1 to Columbus wasn’t quite was I was expecting, nor do I think any Buffalo fan could have predicted the score. Most alarming has been the goaltending situation. Lalime proved early on that he could fill in for Miller and pull off some great saves. Unfortunately, last night was not his night. I felt a mix of frustration and sympathy for him. I really think that he is a great improvement over previous backup goalies: He can make most saves, gives the offense a chance, and knows what to do. Alas, he apparently just needs a few days of practice to get back to the level of play he showed last month. Which he better return to… Lalime is not a one hit wonder for the Sabres.

So I’m on a negative tangent tonight. Optimism still prevails! Buffalo has a few days before their next game on Wednesday against the Bruins. Recall the last back-to-back losses in late October? Lindy shook up the team, resulting in two consecutive shutouts of 5-0 and 2-0. Time for another one of those insane practice sessions. I’m not horribly worried: The Sabres always bounce back, and aside from the last two games, this season has been phenomenal. Let’s just hope they can turn around by Wednesday!

Nov

1

This video pretty much sums up my feelings. Sabres hockey, techno music, and Rick Jeanneret’s voice combine to form something words can not express. Or perhaps I just get overly excited about hockey. In any event, enjoy!

Nov

1

First off, I want to apologize for going missing for the past two weeks. Broken laptop? Check. Too much homework? Check. I missed a few of the better games, too, thanks to night classes. Perhaps the reason why I had some issues in finance was because I was thinking about how the Sabres were doing. However, nothing was bette than driving home one night to an overtime broadcast with Rick Jeanneret. It was beyond exciting, believe me!

Tonight’s 5-0 shutout win was spectacular. The first two losses of the season were not easy to swallow. Everyone looked a little out of it, and it seemed like our goaltenders were falling apart. However, being the optimist that I always have been, I knew things would turn around. This is Buffalo, after all! Lindy Ruff took action immediately, according to a Sabres news report:

We talked a lot about our forecheck and the intensity on our forecheck- what our first two guys have been doing, and haven’t they been doing,” Ruff said. “Our strength of our club has always been playing in the offensive zone and it’s been our weakness in the past two games. We gave up 23 scoring chances last night and part of that was due to the fact that we didn’t’ spend any time in the other team’s zone. We identified what we thought was missing and that’s always the great challenge – get them back on track…[Today we] tried to get ourselves grounded again.”

Did it work? You be the judge after checking out the game summary. Both Paul Gaustad and Tim Connolly have recently returned, bringing some additional offensive talent to the line-up. More than that, though, I see the Buffalo Sabres as a team. No one tries to out-do everyone else. Whenever someone gets knocked down by some crazy fool on the opposition, you can bet that another Sabre is lurking a few feet away, ready to jump in. The depth chart has been surprising at times, yet it works. Even with the newest shake-up, I still see good things from every single line. After tonight’s game, I can not wait for another outing with my Sabres… Monday, 7:00 PM against the New Jersey Devils. Make sure to tune in on Versus!

Oct

15

I missed my hockey quite a lot, and to have the Sabres returning in the way that they have has been wonderful. I was a little skeptical about some of the decisions made, yet is there anything to complain about? The penalty kill has been perfect, and not just by chance. Tonight’s game against the Rangers included a four minute major penalty against Rivet that looked like a fairly normal situation. I was excited, to say the very least! Add to that a short-handed goal, and I’m in heaven with the Sabres.

The bad news comes with more injuries: Jochen Hecht underwent surgery, thereby joining the Paul Gaustad Club. He is expected to return in about two weeks, and Gaustad has another three or four weeks. Fortunately, everyone is stepping up quite a bit to fill any voids that may have been created by their losses. A 7-1 win and a 3-1 win? I’ll take those in less than a heartbeat.

In terms of what is the cause of the Sabres’ success, I don’t think there is any one specific thing. The defense has been phenomenal, and I’m usually one of the toughest critics of the blue liners. The offense and goaltending are other very strong: It’s worth noting that Ryan Miller should be able to relax knowing that he has a reliable back-up. Everything has come together perfectly, and I’m already counting down the time to the next game!

Friday, October 17th at 7:30 PM the Sabres take on the Canucks. Make sure to tune in!

Oct

11

Could there have been a better beginning to this season? Not for me. The Sabres came out strong last night, and never truly let up. Of course there was room for improvement, but is any team ever considered perfect? I was very happy with the start of the 2008-2009 hockey season. A shootout win made it even better. Six months without Buffalo meant that I was expecting something great, which I got.

The highlight of the night, at least for me, was the chance to yell “TEPPO!” every time I saw #27. With the documentary about Numminen playing before the game, as well as during one of the intermissions, it was hard not to get excited about his return.

Another thing I missed? Jaro Spacek’s interviews. Rob Ray’s questions were perfectly articulated, yet Spacek gave another wonderful performance. I do have to say that he is getting better at speaking English, but his trademark yell-into-the-microphone style is absolutely priceless!

Offensively, I think Buffalo had a few issues with setting up plays. However, there was also the issue associated with them not being able to completely figure out Montreal’s defense. To their credit, they held off the Sabres for a decent amount of time. But when you’re up against an offensive powerhouse with amazing goaltending behind it, there’s not much you can do. Hence, the shootout win.

The Sabres will next play on Monday, October 13th, at 2:00 PM against the New York Islanders. Get ready for another great game!

Oct

2

Listening to the first period, it seemed like the Minnesota goal horn was malfunctioning and making way too much noise. Nope: Not so. The Wild were simply beating down the Sabres, and it sounded like we were having some serious defensive zone issues. Then again, I’m horrible at picturing what’s going on when I’m listening to a radio broadcast. Jeanneret mesmerizes me. However, it wasn’t a complete wash: The Sabres held Minnesota to those three goals from the first period, and were able to build up a not-so-terrible showing.

It seems like Buffalo has been able to do well in the final period. As much as I love those last-minute comebacks, I’m a little worried about the team falling into that pattern prior to the season even starting. One can only go so long before the other teams focus on tightening up in the final twenty minutes, or before the energy starts to drain a little earlier than expected. I’d like to see the next two preseason games have a bit more of a level playing level throughout the entire game.

On an unrelated note, being sick is absolutely no walk in the park. Here’s to getting better in time for the final preseason game television broadcast!

Sep

29

Well, the tables were turned against the Sabres last night, as they fell to the Minnesota Wild in a shootout. Back up to the third period, though, and there was a very good chance that they would succeed in putting together back-to-back wins. Enter Spacek. Without being able to see the game, I can’t comment on how bad it was. R.J. made it seem like it deflected off of Jaro’s skate, but other reports, like Sabres Edge, put it a little differently:

9:16 p.m.: Jaroslav Spacek scores with 2:57 left to tie the game. How? Because he scored into his own net. Oh well. It’s just preseason.

I was a bit ho-hum over listening to the game, since I was also attempting to watch Sunday Night Football and take part in my fantasy league’s draft. I’ll leave that for another time, because my methods of choosing players is nowhere near professional. I did end up with the first round pick, though, which was not wasted.

Buffalo has been playing very well, if I may say so. Jochen Hecht scored the only goal during regulation time, which was set up by Clarke MacArthur. Yet another person vying for a spot on the roster. There are a lot that are either on the line, or close to it: Weber, Zagrapan, Mancari, Kennedy, Gogulla, Butler, Schutz, Sekera, and now MacArthur. Fortunately, I think that the team has a good foundation of veterans and semi-veterans, affording them the opportunity to take on some younger talent. The preseason hasn’t been perfect, yet I’m confident that we’re in store for a great hockey season in Buffalo.

The post-game notes, courtesy of the official Sabres web site, told a somewhat depressing story:

Lindy Ruff reported that Dan Paille suffered a “bruised thigh” after taking a hard hit from Marc-Andre Bergeron midway in the second period. The winger left the game following the play.

“It just tightened up on him,” Ruff said. ““He’ll be okay in maybe a day or so.”

Paul Gaustad also did not return to the ice following the play. After Paille was hit, Gaustad circled back at the blueline to stand up for this teammate, “jamming his thumb” in the process according to Ruff.

“X-Rays are negative,” Ruff said. “We will see how he is in the next couple of days too.”

Anyone with me in opening up a Sabres hospital? It appears to be the best way to meet the players with all the random injuries sustained over the last week.