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

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!)

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.

Sep

27

So I missed out on another preseason game, all in the name of higher education and cleaning. Believe me, after hearing the highlights of tonight’s game, it was NOT worth it. The Sabres were down 2-0 with around four minutes remaining in the third period. Derek Roy got the team on the board with assists from Afinogenov and Kotalik. My initial thought when the Sabres score their first goal of every game is, “Yes! There goes the shutout for the other team!” So ridiculous, but it makes me happy.

Anyways, as I sit here wondering why I didn’t tune in to WGR 550 to listen to this game, allow me to say that Paul Gaustad (one of my favorites, although I’m somewhat against favorites) scored the tying goal with five seconds left in regulation. A comeback that I’ve been dying to witness? Yeah, I missed it. But I suppose the fact that Buffalo won, thanks to Ales Kotalik’s goal at 1:03 of overtime, trumps all else.

Technically, I guess the preseason isn’t extremely important in the grand scheme of things. I watch the few games I get to see with a sort of haphazard, third-degree attitude… Aside from the moments when the Sabres score. It’s like good ol’ Pavlov: I automatically cheer whenever I: a.) hear the Sabres goal horn, b.) see any Sabres player celebrate a goal (even if it wasn’t a goal), or c.) witness an Andrew Peters fight that lasts for more than 15 seconds and results in a good smack to the other player’s face. Anyone else with me? Ha ha!

Enjoy this video of the last 40 seconds of play, which obviously includes Gaustad’s tying goal.

Sep

24

Unfortunately, I completely missed this game. Die By The Blade provided a nice re-cap, and it looks like the Sabres are slowly, but surely, improving. As with the first game, a loss doesn’t necessarily point to a failure. There are always ways to improve! Nothing else that I can really say without having been able to listen to or watch the game. Speaking of which, I have to agree with Heather B. at Top Shelf about the enormous difference between listening to a game and actually watching a game. Jeanneret does cater to my optimistic side, though!

Sep

22

It wasn’t exactly the prettiest game on the face of the planet, but I sure got my money’s worth after rushing home from night class! By the way, that test ended up in an 87, which wasn’t too impressive, yet I was content with the overall picture. Kind of like how the Buffalo Sabres played. From what I saw in the second and third periods, the Sabres have a lot of great talent still to come. I doubt any of us questioned that fact, but it’s always nice to verify the obvious. I personally enjoyed the play of both Mark Mancari and Marek Zagrapan: Nice passing, and even an assist-goal duo to show off.

On the negative side (which I can always seem to find), the Sabres’ play was quite spotty. Not enough consistency… Especially from some of the more experienced players. I’ve always felt that our defense left a lot to the imagination, and my suspicions were realized, once again. Don’t get me wrong: I think Sekera is maturing into an amazing player who will help bolster the blue line. My nickname/tag line hasn’t been the nicest: “Sekera, Don’t Make an Erra” (It rhymes, if you throw in a Jersey accent and some imagination). I sometimes closed my eyes last season when the puck went near him. All the same, I thought he did quite well against Toronto, minus the play where Moore passed him and scored a short-handed goal.

Decent game? Yes. The Sabres had a chance at pulling off a win if there were fewer mistakes. That’s not to say that I was impressed, but it was a nice way to start the preseason. This is the time when a lot of guys have to push forward to show that they are capable of playing at the top level. Now to see if those players who have been there all along can prove that their summer vacations are over.

Stop by Die By The Blade for the open threads: I usually stop by every few games when I’m home. Take a look: D.O. has done a great job with the site, and it’s quite nice to have live posts and responses!