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Now THIS Is a Hockey Game


VansTheMans

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Anybody else watching this on Versus? This game has been EPIC thus far. Ending of the 2nd, and Ovechkin has scored 2 goals and Richards has netted a hat trick to make the score 4-3 in favor of Philly.

 

These two teams are gnarling at each other on the ice, dropping bodies and scoring goals left and right. They're flying out there.

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I'm watching. It's been a phenomenal game so far. Philly knows how to play hockey these days, and Varlamov has been absolutely sucking. Thankfully he was pulled at the end of the second. Ovechkin is also something special. The guy just cannot stop scoring goals. I hope the Caps can come back and make this game really interesting.

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Unbelievable game of hockey.

 

And yes, huge OT goal by Briere. On his bday. Gotta love it.

 

Philadelphia, like it or not, has crafted one of the most talented hockey teams in recent memory.

 

I don't think the Sabres would stand a snowball's chance in hell against either Philly or the Caps. That was like a game of playoff hockey.

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The one referee(I don't know his name. He has kind of a pointy nose) loves to call penalties.

 

Great game but ruined by the refs IMO. Both goalie interference calls were BS imo. Boyd Gordon penalty in the 3rd was very weak. The hit on Green in the first from behind was very sketchy too. The refs were on the Flyers side tonight it seemed like to me. Caps played great and almost pulled it off. Nice goal by Briere in over time tho.

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Absolutely. Anyone who says otherwise is just denying reality.

 

Which reality would that be? The one where he misses huge chunks of seasons ala Timmy C., but gets paid a ginormous amount of money?

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Which reality would that be? The one where he misses huge chunks of seasons ala Timmy C., but gets paid a ginormous amount of money?

Agreed, we have enough 'reality' on this team with Timmy

Don't you know? Former players are always better than current players.

I'm thinking more of the reality of a co-captain who wanted to stay here for a reasonable contract and who is a great clutch scorer -- OT, shootout, playoffs, etc.

 

I'm not saying we should've given him $50MM -- but the reality is we didn't need to and it shouldn't have gotten to that point. That was yet another instance of the Sabres outsmarting themselves. Would it have been better to spend the money on Max and Tallinder, or on Briere and a youngster? And while he's been hurt a fair amount of time since leaving here, I'd still rather have him than any forward on the Sabres except Vanek.

 

I don't see how anyone can look at the before and after and say that Briere didn't leave a huge hole when he left.

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I'm thinking more of the reality of a co-captain who wanted to stay here for a reasonable contract and who is a great clutch scorer -- OT, shootout, playoffs, etc.

 

I'm not saying we should've given him $50MM -- but the reality is we didn't need to and it shouldn't have gotten to that point. That was yet another instance of the Sabres outsmarting themselves. Would it have been better to spend the money on Max and Tallinder, or on Briere and a youngster? And while he's been hurt a fair amount of time since leaving here, I'd still rather have him than any forward on the Sabres except Vanek.

 

I don't see how anyone can look at the before and after and say that Briere didn't leave a huge hole when he left.

 

There was a moment for about two half seasons that was magical - the rest, not so much. Has there been a hole in elite scoring? Yes, there has been. But we hitched our wagons to him and Drury for many years and came up short. If your goal is to be better than we are now, sure he makes us better. If your goal is to win a Cup, then I don't think he's the guy.

 

Plus, like I said, the dude gets hurt. A lot.

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There was a moment for about two half seasons that was magical - the rest, not so much. Has there been a hole in elite scoring? Yes, there has been. But we hitched our wagons to him and Drury for many years and came up short. If your goal is to be better than we are now, sure he makes us better. If your goal is to win a Cup, then I don't think he's the guy.

 

Plus, like I said, the dude gets hurt. A lot.

:thumbsup:

 

This really is the last post about Briere that I ever need to read on this site ever again. It says it all.

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There was a moment for about two half seasons that was magical - the rest, not so much. Has there been a hole in elite scoring? Yes, there has been. But we hitched our wagons to him and Drury for many years and came up short. If your goal is to be better than we are now, sure he makes us better. If your goal is to win a Cup, then I don't think he's the guy.

 

Plus, like I said, the dude gets hurt. A lot.

I don't disagree that he's not THE guy for a cup-winner. But he's a very good player. More broadly, I really disagree with the notion that the Drury-Briere teams needed to be broken up because they didn't win a cup. Those teams needed a few tweaks, IMHO, not a rebuild.

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I don't disagree that he's not THE guy for a cup-winner. But he's a very good player. More broadly, I really disagree with the notion that the Drury-Briere teams needed to be broken up because they didn't win a cup. Those teams needed a few tweaks, IMHO, not a rebuild.

 

Eh... many thought that awhile back too. But, given what we know now - does that really hold? We had quite a few players shine brightly during that time, but their lights have dimmed. I once said in a radio interview that Tallinder was our MVP.

 

We were more than a tweak or two away, IMO. Unless you consider adding a couple top 5 NHL defensmen, power forwards to be tweaks.

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Eh... many thought that awhile back too. But, given what we know now - does that really hold? We had quite a few players shine brightly during that time, but their lights have dimmed. I once said in a radio interview that Tallinder was our MVP.

 

We were more than a tweak or two away, IMO. Unless you consider adding a couple top 5 NHL defensmen, power forwards to be tweaks.

I agree that a number of those lights have dimmed, but some, like Roy and Pommer, have dimmed IMHO because they can't handle (mentally, physically or both) the 1st or 2nd line role -- but they were great contributors in lesser roles.

 

I'd say we were a number of good decisions (ie keeping Grier and Dumont instead of Max and Kotalik, extending the co-captains and Soupy before they got too expensive instead of TC, Pommer, Hecht and/or Tallinder), one top-5 defenseman (just a guy like Montador -- not a franchise guy) and one top-7 forward (like Zubrus) away from not only a cup but from being in the hunt every year.

 

It would have been nice to have been able to find out, instead of bumbling the whole thing away.

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I agree that a number of those lights have dimmed, but some, like Roy and Pommer, have dimmed IMHO because they can't handle (mentally, physically or both) the 1st or 2nd line role -- but they were great contributors in lesser roles.

 

I'd say we were a number of good decisions (ie keeping Grier and Dumont instead of Max and Kotalik, extending the co-captains and Soupy before they got too expensive instead of TC, Pommer, Hecht and/or Tallinder), one top-5 defenseman (just a guy like Montador -- not a franchise guy) and one top-7 forward (like Zubrus) away from not only a cup but from being in the hunt every year.

 

It would have been nice to have been able to find out, instead of bumbling the whole thing away.

 

Agreed. Instead of signing our winning inner core, we signed the periphery group and hoped they'd be able to rise to the occasion.

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Eh... many thought that awhile back too. But, given what we know now - does that really hold? We had quite a few players shine brightly during that time, but their lights have dimmed. I once said in a radio interview that Tallinder was our MVP.

 

We were more than a tweak or two away, IMO. Unless you consider adding a couple top 5 NHL defensmen, power forwards to be tweaks.

Now that's comedy. Have you been invited back? Tallinder's approval rating has sure tanked; faster than even George Bushs' did.

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Now that's comedy. Have you been invited back? Tallinder's approval rating has sure tanked; faster than even George Bushs' did.

There is a post out there somewhere from the 05-06 season where I thought Tallinder would be a Norris trophy candidate in the coming years.

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There is a post out there somewhere from the 05-06 season where I thought Tallinder would be a Norris trophy candidate in the coming years.

There is also a post by yours truly mentioning Pominville in the same sentence as Robitaille, and I wasn't referring Mike. :doh:

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