swordplay

You Don't Play Games on Paper

I'd be tempted to think I'm actually a psychic if the Sabres weren't so easy to read. As I suspected, Buffalo was flat-out absent last night against Columbus. The only problem was, no one bothered to tell the Blue Jackets they were supposed to take the night off too.

The Sabres, coming off an impressive showing against the Bruins two nights prior, apparently figured they'd already put in their work for the week. For all you guys out there wondering why Sabres fans seem to be growing increasingly impatient with a team that can undoubtedly skate with anyone in the league, last night's no-show was as good a reason as any.

I had to watch the game on about an hour delay because Christmas trees apparently can't set themselves up yet -- Hello? 2011! Can somebody figure this out already? -- so a live blog was out of the question. But I did jot down some notes as the game went along. In no particular order:

- Kevin Sylvester is not a good play by play man. I consider myself a fairly nice person, so I won't say anything more. I know he's got some impossible shoes to fill, but still.

- Lindy Ruff seriously does not know when to pull a goalie. He demonstrated this in Philly when he waited one goal too long to pull Miller. Enroth was the only reason it wasn't 5-0 after the first period, but once Buffalo went down 3-0 last night in the second, that was the right time for a wake-up call. This would have given the Sabres a sporting chance to win a game that was clearly all Columbus up to that point, but it was all over once Enroth let a little squibber go between his legs to make it 4-0.

But that's basically all you could fault Ruff for last night. Even though I often wish you could pull a coach, he can't skate for his team, and it was clear the Sabres figured they could just show up and that would be sufficient to beat the last place team in the league. Even though I literally can't remember the last time they won in Columbus.

- In yesterday's post I naively let my optimistic side show when I commented that we might actually see some jump out of Buffalo because they have quite a few kids up now for the injured regulars. But then during the game I said to myself, "Apparently there's not enough injuries yet."

You're welcome. I take full responsibility for jinxing Robyn Regehr, who left the game at some point during the second period. Just for the record, though, the Buffalo Sabres are honestly the only team in the NHL that can lose players without anything noticeable happening. I was pretty bourboned up by the third period, but I couldn't see anything happen to Regehr that would've caused him to leave the game.

- Yes, the injuries are starting to pile up for Buffalo, but there's not a team in the league that wouldn't make room overnight to add Vanek, Pominville, Leino, Stafford, Ehrhoff, or Leopold. They're all still healthy (yes, I know I just jinxed someone else tonight). Great teams really only need an effective system, two great forwards, two great defensemen, and a great goalie (or a good goalie who's playing great). Everyone else essentially is filler, and as long as everyone plays with tenacity a Cup is within reach. On paper Buffalo was still a better team last night; Columbus won because they wanted it more. Much more, as it turned out.

- Gerbe was invisible.

- I think T.J. Brennan could be fo' real.

- I've essentially given up hope that Leino will ever hit someone. Thankfully all his points earn him a pass.

- No intensity, no desperation, no finishing checks.

- So, Sabre dudes ... after six hours working in the yard yesterday, could you really do no better than to give me a game that was over in the first period? I mean, yeah yeah .. I obviously expected and predicted your fate, but do I have to be right all the friggin' time? All I wanted to do was lie on the couch with my drinks and watch some good hockey, and it turns out your performance was even more painful than my aching ass body.

What's with people's fascination with trees? They're like cats that continually shit all over your carpet.

Apathy, Thy Name is the Sabres

It seems to me that there are years where the Sabres adopt a specific persona. In 2006-2007, they started out like a house afire, seemed unbeatable on any given night, and won the President's trophy. Last year, on an almost nightly basis, they played solid in the 1st period, completely disappeared in the 2nd period, and then came out in the 3rd and played great hockey, and maybe they pulled out a win, maybe not.

Although we're only a month and a half in, it's becoming rapidly and painfully clear that there are two traits that are going to be the hallmarks of this year's team... the first is to give up soft goals early (and lots of them), many times short handed, and then try to fight back late in the game. The second is flat, lazy play (the Vanek/Adam/Pominville line excluded), especially in the defensive zone.

As strategies go, this one sucks! The fact that this team is in first place is a fluke. At some point, the lazy play is going to blow up in their faces (like it did tonight) and they're going to find themselves in the middle of a lengthy losing streak, wondering why "the bounces just aren't going our way." Sound familiar? It should! It seems to happen every year right around this time. But this year is especially troubling. This team has more apathy than a team full of up-and-comers should have. Scratch that... it has more apathay than a bunch of multi-millionaire 20-somethings should have! I'm not going to beat a dead horse, but if you can't drum up some energy when one of the biggest goons in the league, Milan Lucic, takes your goalie's head off, you've got a serious problem as a team. Two days later in Montreal, Erik Cole took a run at Enroth in the crease and, again, no response. In tonight's game, Enroth got abused in the 1st period and FINALLY Tyler Myers stepped in and at least pretended to want to throw down, but the effort was feeble at best. (He made up for it by lighting up Brodeur twice, and by cleaning Dainius Zubrus'seseses clock in the 2nd. And for the record, show of hands, who knew Zubrus was still in the NHL? Anyone? Anyone?)

I'll give credit where credit is due, they get a little scrappy once they're down by a few, but how long can they keep winning games like that? For those of us old enough to remember watching Lindy Ruff in uniform rather than in a suit and tie, this season's going to be rough on the ticker.