Kelly the Dog

I'm basing it on knowing Pegula could care less about losing the year of contract, hearing Lindy and Darcy talk about it specifically several times in the last week, reading Roy's comments, hearing several of his Sabres' teammates comments in the last week, watching the games and his play, and considering the Sabres roster and line-up without him. About 20 things make me believe he is staying up and I haven't seen or heard even one thing that makes me believe they are sending him down. It's possible, and he still has to play the next three. But there is nothing at all so far that leads me to believe they are leaning to sending him down versus all points leading to him staying up.

Agree completely. I don't think at all that the comments about him on the defensive side were meant to say he is going to be a 3rd line defensive center, or that his offense will be wasted doing it. It was only meant to point out that it matters a lot, especially to Lindy, who probably isn't worried at all about his offense; Ruff knows that will come. He's worried about Grigs in his own zone, and if he is playing well there and not a liability, he's a sure bet to stay up because Ruff won't hestitate to use him, even if it's 13 minutes a game. I think there is very little chance he goes down.

Not the same thing, but equivalent to why there are a few hundred professional golfers and a few hundred thousand scratch golfers. A great golfer can make a really good percentage of 7-10 foot putts playing with his buddies. But put that same guy on National TV against the best players in the world with a few hundred grand on the line and see how well he concentrates and nails them. And Mr. Ghost, it's two completely different things from what Miller was talking about and your examples of a Wall Street guy and a soldier. There may be a lot more pressure on a soldier, and arguably on a Wall Street guy, although I don't think so in the financial guy example. But he isn't talking about intense pressure, he's talking about total concentration. If a Wall Street guy loses his focus for two seconds, it's not going to affect his job one bit.

You mean their defensemen in front of them?

Concentrating on something exclusively for five straight minutes without any other thought coming into your head is very hard. Not that NHL goalies have to do that either, but I agree that the mental fatigue is probably more exhausting than the physical element at times. And any fan can attest to the fact that goalies "lose focus" and let in goals they shouldn't, simply because it's just impossible to keep up that total focus. It's just not talked about a lot, at least I haven't seen it.

I normally agree with that, but he was asked flat out this morning if Enroth plays one of the two games and he didn't give an evasive answer. He said yes, Enroth will get one of the two, I'm just not going to tell you which of the two. Granted, he could still change his mind, or he could just be placating the radio guys, but he seemed pretty clear about it.

This debate in back to backs has raged forever, and coming into this particular game, IMO there are pros and cons both ways. To me, start Miller on Thursday away, the tougher game. He is hot, and will be coming off one day rest. He will have two days to prepare for the Sunday game against Washington. Lindy has already flat out stated that Enroth will get one of the starts, so he is probably not going to go to his "can't mess with the line-up or hot goalie" nonsense. Enroth gets the home game. Since it is a home-and-home, even though both teams are playing on successive nights, it should be easier for the Sabres coming to Buffalo than the Canes.

Like a lot of out of towners with Center Ice, I had my pick of the two telecasts. Sylvester was so bad IMO I spent about 2/3 of the game listening to the Leafs announcers.

I think Leino comes back on Thursday and it will be the first time he played with the line he practiced with, and I like the idea of the Grigs, Ott, Leino line a lot. I'd much prefer to have Grigs be the #3 C and, with a healthy team, have Gerbe, Hecht, McCormick, Scott, Kaleta battle for the 4th line. That is a much better team, IMO. Plus, the penalties in yesterday's game really screwed up with Grigs ice time. Lindy sounded happy with him. I'm all in favor of keeping him up. He doesn't need to tear it up to gain experience and confidence, or to not hurt the team. Finally, the only reason you play the game is to win it all. Win the Stanley Cup. While the chances of the Sabres doing that this year may be small, one of the few ways it becomes possible is if Grigs blossoms early and becomes a solid player if not a force to be reckoned with. As long as this won't kill his confidence, which I very much doubt, that is reason alone to keep him (considering the extra year on the contract is a non issue with Pegula as owner),

I'm not sure if all of Miller's quotes were in Vogl's write-up, but in the last two interviews I heard with him, in the last couple days including after last night's games, he said some really fascinating things, at least to me. He was talking about the mental fatigue that he experienced. That is what was so exhausting. To concentrate as hard as you can, for the whole 60 minutes like last night without a let-up is really hard and exhausting, and you cannot practice that. You can skate hard and be in physical shape to do it but the mental stress you cannot prepare for. He even said that he practices at home, like 5 and 10 minute intervals of intensely concentrating on one thing without ever stopping. That's a really undiscussed element of goal-tending, and kind of interesting he practices that on non-hockey things.

The key game will be Game #5. If the Sabres win, "Coach for Life" won't dare change his winning line-up, so Grigs will have to stay.

You have to figure that Pomminstein puts the game away 98 or 99 out of 100 times.

Winning and remembering the Alamo just rewards bad behavior.

Good night. Happy b-day. A win is a win is a win, especially on the road in back to backs within division.

Someone just died in Pomminstein.

Is that what you call it, "Paintball?"

Well, he's no Derek Roy, but... I'll take him.

Good thing it was from a female. I don't think we need any more guys with their first post being, "And now music to go with the scarves!"

Maybe that is scoring.

Who are these guys?!

And I immediately did!

You're tough to crack.

CHEERS!!

Okay, ready for the drop of the puck after back from commercial.

We'll have to do another then, at the drop of the puck, proving once again that I will do a shot at the drop of a hat.