nfreeman
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Posts posted by nfreeman
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What a great win. This team has so much heart. I don't think they even thought for a second about caving in when Ottawa tied it. They just wanted to get out there and win it.
Meanwhile, how lame were the Senators? Hello, ladies, the series is not over at 2-0. You could have come out playing like your lives depended on it (ie like the Sabres come out EVERY time), b/c if you won tonight it would have been 2-1 and very much a series. But you were already half-resigned to losing the series and you pretty much mailed it in.
If I were a Senators fan I'd be pretty PO'd and I'd be wanting a new coach. Too bad the best one in the league works in Buffalo.
Separately:
1. Miller is the man. He had 4 or 5 huge saves. If he keeps on playing like this we are going to keep winning.
2. Great to see Max reappear. Definitely his best game of the playoffs.
3. Novotny played pretty well. He contributed substantially more than Vanek.
4. Emery isn't the worst goalie in the league, but he's probably in the bottom third. How could Muckler not pick up a goalie? This was his shot at the cup -- that team is going to get broken up in free agency after this year. He's no Darcy.
5. I'd love to see us sweep, the Devils win a couple of games, and we get a week or so to rest and heal the wounded so we get Kalinin and Connolly back at some point in the next round.
6. If we score first tomorrow night and don't play sloppy, Ottawa is going to quit.
7. I thought Tallinder and Lydman each had a great game.
Go Sabres.
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PA Fan -- I respectfully submit that going forward, we have an additional item for 5/10.
Yeah, baby.
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Holy mackarel. The hugest game in our fair city in 5 years. The best team in the league on the brink of the abyss. The Dominator returning like Lazarus to the scene of his past glory, this time in the enemy's uniform. Our valiant warriors suiting up yet again to take on the army of darkness, this time without two of our finest. The hockey world is watching intently. Do we really have what it takes? The odds are long. But the spirit, the guts, the heart are indomitable.
My stomach is in knots, but I love this team.
Go Sabres.
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Sabres play much better in their defensive zone and Miller is a bit sharper.
Sabres play a bit better in our offensive zone but Ottawa's D still has the upper hand and continues to largely stymie our dump-and-chase-and-cycle game as well as our PP. We eke out 25 shots or so vs. 32 or so for Ottawa.
Emery plays a bit better but still not that well.
Hecht returns (Vanek sits out) and plays with Briere and JP. That line continues to struggle on offense vs Chara and Redden but gets a goal on 2-on-1.
Max returns to Connolly's line and the Magic Man and Max set up Big Al for a one-timer that blows by Emery.
Drury-Grier-Roy continues to be the best line in the Eastern conference.
4-3 Sabres.
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By the way...holy Kalinin Batman! Dmitri has been one of our most consistent D-men throughout this series, in my opinion. I've been frustrated with him as much as anyone through the course of the season, but he looks like a different player out there in the 2nd season. He's generally calm with the puck, making good outlet passes, joining the rush when appropriate, making good decisions when to pinch, PLAYING PHYSICAL, and has been doing a really nice job of playing his man, not the puck in front of the net. He just doesn't look like the same intimidated player he was for much of the year. I think he looks confident, and is playing with some good aggression. It's been great to watch....I just hope he starts playing like this from Oct - June, instead of just April - June.
Great observation, topshelf. Kalinin has been consistently very solid, on both ends.
Another guy who's been quietly contributing a good bit is Kotalik.
BTW, does anyone know what the story is with Hecht? Is his knee hurting? He hasn't been that effective in the series thus far but I was surprised to see him scratched. I thought the Pyatt-Gaustad-Vanek line did very well though.
Go Sabres.
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What a great performance. A top 5 Connolly goal, a Miller shutout, Max getting loose, and an outstanding all-around offensive and defensive effort.
We will win on tues. (and in the next round, for that matter) if Miller plays that well again.
Yeah, baby.
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Just listened to Lindy on sabres.com. He said he expects Hecht to be back for game 1. If Hecht is back 100%, that's a very solid addition to our lineup. I'm guessing our lines will be:
Briere-Hecht-Dumont
Connolly-Max-Kotalik
Drury-Grier-Roy
Gaustad-Pominville-Vanek/Pyatt
Separately, Miller will be the man during the playoffs, and I think this is the right decision, but that was a pretty GD strong game Marty turned in last night.
Prediction: we will beat Philly in 5 IF Miller plays well AND the refs call the games like they did in the regular season. If either of those 2 factors is off, we could be in trouble. My official prediction is that both of those factors go our way and we beat Philly in 5.
Another prediction: those who are predicting TB beats Ottawa are kidding themselves. Ottawa will win in 4 or 5. Carolina, on the other hand, looks somewhat vulnerable, but I still think they'll beat Montreal in 5 or 6.
Holy mackarel I'm psyched.
Go Sabres.
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Here's my 2 cents:
1. Great win. Montreal may or may not have brought their A game, but we certainly did, and when we play like that we will beat anyone. We completely dominated the 1st period.
2. Miller is back. Hallelujah. He didn't have much to do in the 1st period but stoned the habs on real scoring chances at least half a dozen times over the rest of the game.
3. I've said this before, but the Connolly-Max-Kotalik line was a brilliant stroke by Lindy. They are electrifying. The article in the paper today comparing Max to Perreault was interesting -- I've been thinking that Timmy has a little bit of Gilbert in him. Heresy, I know, but Timmy really has it on a string.
4. Speaking of our lines, I decided last night that we have 2 legit #1 lines (Connolly's and Briere's), a legit #2 line (Drury) and a legit #3 line (Gaustat's).
5. Speaking of Briere's line, when Hecht gets back, who sits? I think it will be Pominville, who has been very quiet for about a month.
6. Every time I decide that we can't pay too much to bring McKee back next year, he has a game like last night where he is just a rock, and I feel like we need him back. This is a tough one, b/c I think someone will give him close to $3 million per year and I have a hard time seeing us paying him that much.
7. Grier at this point has hands of stone -- he is totally ineffective in the offensive zone -- but on the other hand he is tough, great on the PK and a good leader. I liked how he stuck his nose in when Bulis hit Tallinder after the whistle. I also think he protects Drury and Roy, who are both pretty small guys. This will be another tough post-season decision as I think Grier is a free agent and we are loaded at forward. Still, would we be better this year with, say, Novotny instead of Grier? I don't think so.
8. I'd really like to have Mair back for the playoffs but I doubt it will happen and it's much more important that he get well.
9. I know everyone likes Rick and Jim, and I do too, but TSN's coverage is consistently excellent. We would never see those highlights of Max from the 1999 world junior tournament on MSG. Although the TSN crew clearly favors the Canadian teams, they know a lot about the Sabres as well as the league generally.
Go Sabres.
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Tonight was just one of those nights that I was happy that I have Tivo.
Even though the level of insight and commentary on these boards is consistently very high, I'd like to urge EVERYONE to get Tivo for the stretch run and playoffs. It will help us all take it up a notch. It costs very little and allows you to (i) NEVER miss a game and (ii) use instant replay, slow motion, etc. to let you see, for example, which forward dug in and backchecked to break up an opponent's rush, who made a great pass from our zone to the offensive blue line, deflections, saves, penalties, etc. etc. It's just a sports fan's best friend (esp. in hockey where the action moves so fast and there are relatively fewer replays).
Go Sabres.
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A few observations/statistics:
1. according to the AP, this was the 1st time all season that Ottawa has given up 6 goals in a game.
2. we have 9 players with 40 or more points.
3. I love the Connolly-max-kotalik line. That quick return pass max made to connolly on TC's 1st goal was beautiful, as were Connolly's move to score on that goal and 4 or 5 other moves he had tonight.
4. connolly has 51 points in 59 games. previous career high was 45 points in 82 games.
5. I think Miller starts on Wednesday and I'm predicting another very strong game.
6. We can and will beat Ottawa in a playoff series if Miller plays well. I don't care if they don't have all of their guys right now. They haven't seen our best game either. If we play well it will be a great, exciting, skating series (although if Emery hits the skids like Miller did after the break ottawa might get cashed out in the 1st round, which would be very sweet for us).
7. I thought Vanek played his (lately) typical crappy game, but he got 13:33 of ice time and had 2 assists.
8. When Hecht returns, we will have 7 forwards competing for the 3 spots on the 4th line: Gaustad, Vanek, Mair, Pominville, Pyatt, Peters and Novotny (or has Novotny returned to Rochester?).
Go Sabres. I feel another huge roll coming on.
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Agreed. Max interfered, but it definately wasn't a high stick. I think the officials need to be more careful, or we will start seeing calls just because someone fell down.
I actually think that Max did not commit a penalty. 2 guys were going for the puck, it was right at their feet, and Max hit the Capital before the Capital hit him. Frankly, I thought the Capital took a dive, because Max is a small guy and was going forward but thrust his shoulder backward into the Capital -- so there couldn't have been that much force behind the hit.
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Corp, i disagree... i am too lazy to look up where he stands amongst sabres but i am pretty sure he is in the top 60 in the NHL with 31 assists... he has to be close to the lead for the sabres.... and he had three last night... I think he is coming into his own and getting better each month of the season. Everyone is prone to turnovers now and again but i think his play has dramatically improved
Right on, Grimfandango. Max has really stepped up his game and is now leading the team in scoring (and assists, tied with Numminen). I'd also say that Lindy values him more than before, based on Lindy's comments that I've heard and on ice time -- Max gets about 16-17 minutes every night. If you factor in the fact that he doesn't kill penalties EVER (although I wouldn't mind seeing him get a shot at it b/c I think there is a lot of potential for breakaways), he's among the team leaders and generally gets more ice time than Vanek, Pominville and Kotalik.
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February 25, 1983
The Sabres come from five goals behind to beat the Boston Bruins at the Aud, 7-6. Dave Andreychuk scores the tying goal late before Mal Davis nets the winner.
I remember that game well. That was one of the highlights of the Andreychuk-Tucker-Cyr draft class -- I think each contributed a good bit in this game. This in turn reminds me of one of my all-time favorite Roby-isms: "Andreychuk and Tucker play together so well -- they go together like ham and eggs."
Go sabres.
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Just because I need a Sabres fix and news is really slow, I will state for the group that Rico was my favorite Sabre when I was a kid. My favorites now are Connolly and Miller.
I'd be interested in hearing who others' favorites are, both past and present.
Go Sabres.
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How about we pump three early ones on Dominik so the crowd can chat "HAS-EK, HAS-EK, HAS-EK"......would love that!
I bear no ill will at all towards Dominik (and in fact plenty of gratitude and respect), but I agree that would be awesome.
Inkman -- if you're going to a hot tub party with the swedish bikini team, more power to you. In all seriousness, if you're a big enough fan to post here, you should get Tivo. It is without a doubt the greatest invention ever for the sports fan (especially if you have kids). I almost never am able to watch the games in "real" time, but I haven't missed a game yet this year.
Who here thinks tonight is Miller's coming-out party?
Go Sabres.
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PASabresFan -- thanks for doing these. I really enjoy them every day.
Sanderson was always an intriguing player -- unbelievably fast but not much more added beyond the speed. From time to time I worry that Max is going to turn out the same way -- sometimes he seems like he's turned the corner into close to all-star status, but then he disappears for 4 or 5 games.
The other thing I found interesting about Sanderson is that he's from Hay River, NW territories. Maybe he's so fast b/c growing up he had to skate 50 miles to get anywhere.
Check out the location of Sandy's hometown:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formt...ate=nt&zipcode=
Go Sabres.
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I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but here are my favorite items from this game:
1. ripping off 3 road wins in a row to finish that road trip 4-2.
2. Campbell applying some payback to Larson for Larson's hit on Kalinin. That was a big hit and a great team chemistry move -- yet another indication of the great group dynamic that this team has going.
3. Teppo blocking Kovalchuk's slapper at point-blank range -- took it right on the leg and didn't skip a beat. It must've hurt though.
4. Teppo's long lead pass to DuMont for the breakaway and goal.
5. Vanek's goal -- what an amazing play. He backchecked, intercepted a pass by tipping it into the corner, played the carom off the boards perfectly, skated the puck FAST up the ice, feathered a perfect pass to Drury (and it was trickier than it looked to avoid the offsides as the pass and Drury were crossing the blueline almost simultaneously), and got his stick on a Drury slapper from inside the circle for an amazing deflection. If this kid continues to hustle he can become a star in this league.
6. Pominville's goal -- also very nice. Great pass through traffic to Hecht and great job of heading to the net in case there was anything there.
7. Miller! Miller! Miller! At least 10 very good saves and at least 5 great saves. He is the man.
8. More team cameraderie at the end when everyone was congratulating Miller. Maybe I'm just being naive but it really seems that this group really likes each other and is pulling for each other and everyone is busting his butt individually so as not to let down his teammates.
9. The conclusion I came to in the 3rd period: if we get Connolly and Briere back to 100%, if Drury stays healthy, and if Miller continues to play this well, we are going to the conference finals AT LEAST.
Go Sabres.
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the two penalties against max ,more than make up for the one on steen. max barely tapped the leaf on the 1st one. on the second one sundin tried to give him a shot to the back of the head and max retaliated. If he is gonna get a penalty for that,then why didn,t kaberle get two for pounding afinaganov in the back 3 times to help sundin on the play. i think the refs should realize that mats was taking a cheap shot at a guy half his size
I thought the 1st penalty on max was a legit slash and the right call. I totally agree with you that on the 2nd one, sundin took a cheap shot to which max was justified in responding. However, it took place when we had a 2-man advantage, which is very precious, so max should have known any retaliation would be likely to draw a penalty and turned the other cheek.
I really like Max and I like the fact that he doesn't take any s--- off of anyone, isn't afraid to dig it out of the corners, etc. I just would like about 20% fewer penalties out of him.
Go Sabres.
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Great win for the Sabres. The leafs got crappy goaltending but the sabres outworked them almost the entire game and earned the W.
A few observations:
1. I recognize eleven's point above about the standards seem to be different for miller and marty, but I thought Miller played really well. It just seems like he makes the tough saves when we really need them much more often than Marty does.
2. Favorite play of the game: DuMont's huge hit on Domi that made Domi charge after him & take a penalty, resulting in a PP goal for us.
3. Favorite play of the game, runner-up: McKee blocking 2 shots point-blank on the penalty kill, then grabbing the loose puck after the 2nd block and clearing it.
4. I can probably live with one bonehead penalty per game from max, but last night he had 2. Still, he creates so much offense that he is a true difference-maker.
5. based on ice time (under 12 min. last night), Vanek still hasn't earned Lindy's trust -- would be great to see him earn more as there is definitely a vacancy with Connolly out for a while.
6. With Philly and Ottawa coming up we need to beat Atlanta to bank the 2 points.
Go Sabres.
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Not tyrying to nitpick but Briere has missed 24 out of the 48 games the Sabres have played. 50%. ;)
Right on, LabattBlue. Everyone needs to check his facts before posting. It only takes a minute and it makes the dialogue much better.
Go Sabres.
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My guess is that he's watched the Sabres long enough to see our top 10 scorers (which at max goes back to Mogilny; not exactly old-time material)..
Eleven -- well said on the rest of your post, but what does the sentence I quoted mean? That Mogilny is the most recent of the sabres' all-time top 10 scorers?
In any case, I got curious, so here are the top 10 all-time (points):
Gil Perreault 1,326
Dave Andreychuk 804
Rick Martin 695
Craig Ramsay 672
Phil Housley 558
Rene Robert 552
Don Luce 526
Mike Foligno 511
Danny Gare 500
Miroslav Satan 456
Goals:
Gil Perreault 512
Rick Martin 382
Dave Andreychuk 368
Danny Gare 267
Craig Ramsay 252
Mike Foligno 247
Miroslav Satan 224
Rene Robert 222
Don Luce 216
Alexander Mogilny 211
Punch Imlach (great screen name, btw -- brings back memories) -- I would like to hear whom specifically you think we could get for Marty, or for Marty plus Max/Kotalik/Connolly (all 3 of whom I consider to be emphatically not for sale unless we get an all-star age 31 or less in the deal). I personally don't think Marty would bring much in terms of an immediate difference-maker on our team, but I would love to be wrong on that.
Go Sabres.
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I was listening on the internet and it cut off in the middle of Lindy, but I thought he said it was a class 2 knee and that he would be out 6-8 weeks. Lindy said Kasperitis a dirty player and a coward. He was none too pleased...
Dammit.
Kasparitis is officially #1 on the S-list now. I'm referring to tonight's incident plus the final goal of the Dominik era.
On the plus side, if Connolly is out 8 weeks, that still brings him back with 5 weeks and 17 games left in the regular season. If he and Briere get back around the same time AND get back to 100% AND this is the last one of these GD severe injuries to our absolute best players, I'm still picking this team to win at least 2 rounds in the playoffs.
That was a great win. Kotalik really stepped it up as did Max. I liked JP on the line with Roy and Max. Very sound defensive play and Miller was great.
I think in the 3rd period, Pominville took Connolly's place on the line with Kotalik and Hecht. Does anyone know if any of those 3 has previously played center?
We will overcome this too. On to toronto.
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I wish the Sabres would pony up the dough to make a Cup run rather than be satisfied with a possible playoff appearance and then a quit exit.
It seems their primary objective is to not lose money. Winning seems to be secondary.
What are these conclusions based on? We are still well short of the trading deadline. It's not like a bunch of highly-paid stars have been traded this year with the Sabres sitting on the sidelines.
Were you expecting Golisano to sign a bunch of expensive veteran free agents last offseason and commit to losing $10 - $20 million based on last year's financial results? ie just because he's rich, we the fans have a right to expect him to throw away millions of dollars in losses every year so we can get peter forsberg or teemu selanne or scott niedermayer? Life doesn't work like that.
Now that the sabres are selling out the arena regularly, I expect us to make a carefully targeted, economically sensible move or 2 before the trading deadline and again this coming off-season. Our total payroll will probably go up a bit, but will not approach the cap. We are not going to sign any $6 million players but I can see us picking up a $4 million or even $5 million player in the right situation.
If attendance continues to be strong and we fail to make any such moves, then I think you will have the right to criticize ownership. Until then you are just jumping to unjustified negative conclusions.
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Boy I really hope that Lindy can still find a place in the lineup for Dynamo Peters if Dumont comes back. Maybe he can sit Vanek, Kotalik, Connoly or Max instead. I would hate to see Peters presence missing from the lineup. <_<
Boy, everyone likes to take shots at Peters (Labatt, I'm not singling you out -- quite a few other posters do so as well). Peters is only doing his job, and it's probably the hardest job there is on the ice. Bottom line is that until the NHL bans fighting, we need a guy like him. Lindy knows it -- that's why Peters keeps dressing for games and why most teams still have a guy like him.
Peters wasn't the reason we lost to Van & Calgary. Those losses were due to team-wide floating -- ie we were a little too self-satisfied after beating LA and Edmonton.
I don't like the fact that teams still need fighters. I'd prefer a fighting ban and the roster spot going to another small, skilled guy, but until that happens I'm not going to criticize the sabres for having Peters.
Go Sabres.
This Day in Sabres History :: May 10
in This Day in Sabres History
Posted
In case you were being facetious, we had sort of a big game at HSBC on 5/10/06...
Anyway, I don't bear a grudge against Dominik for letting in that goal -- not after all of the ones he kept out. When I hear Kasparitis, I think "cheap shot at Connolly's knee" and "I really hope Grier obliterates him at some point next year".
But actually I'm not thinking about any of that right now. I'm thinking about the fact that I picked the Sabres in 6 mostly b/c there was no way I wasn't picking my team -- but in the back of my mind I knew it would be an uphill battle. But a few days later, here we are, about to sweep, with the Senators exposed as flashy, gutless pretenders and the Sabres as a GREAT hockey team.
That's why I want 5/5/06, 5/8/06 and 5/10/06 saved for posterity in the "today in sabres history" file. But something tells me PAFan was going to take care of that anyway.