Hits
Ryan Miller is froot: That’s the Ryan Miller I want for the playoffs! Earn your fricken money! Take out your aggression! Get pissed off because some fans questioned whether Enroth should start! Yell at me for saying that you were mediocre this year! I’m happy for Miller. I know I get on him, but the past doesn’t mean much for someone like me. Tonight, it was Back to the Future. It was Vancouver all over again. He played great. The Flyers were really all over the Sabres tonight and Miller stood on his head. Miller’s best save came when he robbed Syvret in the first period. I’m not going to say he stole the game, but he was an accomplice in the theft.
DEFENSE!: Reason why Ryan didn’t steal it, is because of the defense. I don’t know anything about defense. I hate talking about it. Call me the Mike Martz of hockey bloggers. However, tonight? I couldn’t be more excited about it. All I know is that Sabres forwards and d-men seemed to fill up the shooting lanes and the Flyers couldn’t get any real clear shots on goal. The forwards did an exceptional job in not over pursing or being out of position (I think that means the same, but I don’t know defense, so, bear with me). Just great team defense and Lindy must be smiling somewhere. BTW, read Heather B. at www.topshelfblog.com cause she knows more about defense than I do.
Dream situation: How awesome is it that a Buffalonian scored the game-winning goal in the playoffs? I know Kaleta has had a rough year due to injuries, penalties and inconsistent play, but he brought his “A” game tonight. To me, the Stanley Cup playoffs are all about effort and no one has ever doubted #36’s heart. Problem is, he just breaks down too much. Tonight, he played with fire by hitting everyone in sight and crashing the net. Also, the Gerbe/Goose/Kaleta line was dynamite tonight.
Who the hell scored? If you were to tell me in November that the Sabres game winning goal for a playoff game would be scored by Pat Kaleta with assists from Marc-Andre Gragnani and Paul Gaustad, I’d tell you that you were nuts?!
Penalty killing: Probably the most impressive aspect of tonight’s game. You know me, I don’t care for PK, as I think it is boring or I just don’t have the mental capacity to speak about it. But when you can keep the Flyers from scoring on six power play opportunities, you are going to get commended for it.
Butler puts #44 on his Butt: I think it says it all. Probably the first time that someone from the Sabres put a Flyer on his ass. Actually, I think Butler played his best game of the season. I mean, he was hitting people and blocking shots. He was outstanding. As someone tweeted to me, I guess he must have been pissed off about some clown pretending to be him on Twitter.
Injuried players return: Since I can never pat myself on the back because I am always wrong (See: Predictions), I’m glad I went with my gut in saying that Kaleta needed to play. Alright, it wasn’t exactly me standing alone on a desert island. However, he did exactly what I wanted: Kill everyone!! This is playoff hockey and judging by tonight’s game, you want guys who can hit and forecheck the crap out of the opposition. I also thought after a sluggish 1st period, Mike Grier really came out strong in the 2nd period. It seemed like he was always killing a penalty and at one point, he even gave a knockout hit to someone along the board. He was awesome. Speaking of hits, we gave out more hits than Tony Montana does at a house party.
Deja Vu: Don’t know about you, but that game was almost identical to game 1 of the Sabres vs Sens playoff series in 1999, which Buffalo won, 2-1. Hasek stole that game and the Sabres never looked back.
Misses
FORE!! Did #4 decide to go golfing? He was dreadful tonight. He had a terrible giveaway that led to Miller robbing Syvret. Then, he took a stupid penalty towards the end of the period. What the hell has happened to him??! It was only 3 months ago that I entertained the thought of giving him a 3.5 million bucks. I don’t know if Ruff benching him towards the end of the season really screwed him over, but he just hasn’t been the same. It’s surprising, because up until February, he was our best defensemen. Go figure.
Fossil found in the 1st period: Someone may want to check out the Buffalo Science museum to see if a fossil was missing (#20).
Top six ghosts: It’s early, but guys like #29, #26, #19, #22 and #21 didn’t do much of anything. I don’t need to rehash last year’s playoff series in Boston, but Patrick Kaleta and Paul Gaustad can NOT be the Sabres best forwards! Now, someone did tweet to me that Connolly and Pommer were key on the penalty kill, and I totally agree with that. But still, you gotta score, guys.
Rick Tocchet blows: So I was watching the Flyers feed and every 10 minutes, I kept hearing this announcer sound as if he was sleeping. Seriously, I think the producer needed to yell at this guy to wake up before he talked on camera. After investigating on twitter, I found out that Mr. sleepyhead was Mr. Gambler himself, Rick Tocchet. At one point, Tocc spoke about how Ryan Miller helped steal the Silver Medal in the Olympics. Fine, except for one Problem… He thought Ryan Miller was Canadian?! Yes! He said Miller led team Canada to the Silver medal?! My goodness. I guess Tocchet was too busy placing bets on hockey games to realize that Miller’s name doesn’t exactly sound Canadian..Eh?
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