GAME DISCUSSION THREAD

[BuffalOhio]

I think overall, this was a lousy and boring game. The Panthers played the perfect road game, got in shot lanes, and blocked a ton of shots. The Panthers did not give the Sabres that many opportunities. And the few opportunities the Sabres got, they did not take advantage of. Vanek and Rivet both hit posts, and if either one goes in, this is a completely different game. Myers created a few chances but didn't get much on his shots. You have to give credit to Florida tonight, they played the perfect road game and made this game look ridiculously ugly, kind of like the Philly game on Saturday night which the Sabres won.

 

I missed some of the other losses, but I kind of felt that Miller just did not look sharp tonight. You could tell especially on the Weiss goal. Miller usually never would play that puck and would freeze it. I'm not sure why he decided to play the puck instead of freezing it, but it was clearly a mistake. I think some of the other goals were a result of really poor defensive play and the fact the Sabres were out of the game, so the goals looked worse than they were. While it would have been an exceedingly difficult save, I've seen Miller make the save on Stillman's goal a few other times this year, and similar saves on some of the other goals he gave up tonight. Which is why I can say, Miller didn't seem to look sharp tonight. I'm not concerned as I know what Miller is capable of, and every goalie has a bad night here and there.

 

Ugly game, poor play in the defensive zone, not taking advantage of opportunities, and Florida blocking tons of shots are why the Sabres lost tonight. How they react on Friday will tell me more about this team than the loss tonight does.

 

 

Miller never fully caught that puck and it dropped right in front of him. I'd rather know why Weiss was allowed to get to the net like that.

[FogBat]

Man, they looked like poo tonight. Way too much passing...bad passing...and not shooting the puck when they had the opportunities. Especially on the power play. It just seems that this team passes on so many open looks to the net, and looks for the blast from the point, which is inevitably blocked most of the time.

I caught parts of the third period, and it looked like they were just giving the Panthers the puck at will. The giveaways were just absolutely atrocious. It was pointless to continue watching because it just looked like they had no cohesion nor passion for this particular game. IOW, they were lacking fire in the belly.

[wonderbread]

I hate this team.

[darksabre]

Yeah, they suck.

[inkman]

Well I would not call 12-5-1 inconsistent if they want to win three loose one all year thats fine by me.

First of all it's lose, second, I'd feel more confident if they had beaten more than 3 decent teams.

[inkman]

I hate this team.

Strangely, I don't. They are what they are, which is much more fun to watch than last year.

[JohnRobertEichel]

Well I would not call 12-5-1 inconsistent if they want to win three loose one all year thats fine by me.

 

You mean win 2 and lose 1.

[...]

I was there. Yuck, again. NO effort, at all. Horrible play by all. None stood out as really trying to turn the tide once the second started.

 

Rivet needs to sit out a game or two. He looked terrrrrrrrrrible. Awful.

 

This game was the antithesis of the Leafs/Sens game the other night.

 

The crowd really tried to get the team into it, too.

[JJFIVEOH]

Gotta give the Panthers some credit, they played really well. I watch most of the Panthers games down here and they've been playing like that for the last 2-3 weeks. They don't have a ton of talent to work with and they've been controlling the neutral zone against most teams and just capitalizing on mistakes. I think the Panthers might be a playoff team this year, they started off bad because they thought they could be a scoring team and lost many games on turnovers. Sabres just didn't take them seriously.

 

Being a Sabres fan down here, trust me, I won't hear the end of it until March, lol.

[Guest Sloth]

I didn't catch the game last night, but many of the posts I read consisted of the Sabres passing too much. Derek Roy has had that problem the entire season. Pommers can fall in that category as well. Buffalo's scoring, if you look at the last 7 games or so, hasn't been good. There was a stretch where the Sabres only scored 10 goals in 5 games. Doing the simple math, that's 2 goals a game. Not something to be happy about...

[Mbossy]

Miller never fully caught that puck and it dropped right in front of him. I'd rather know why Weiss was allowed to get to the net like that.

Thank Connolly for that one. He let him skate right through.

 

I was there. Yuck, again. NO effort, at all. Horrible play by all. None stood out as really trying to turn the tide once the second started.

 

Rivet needs to sit out a game or two. He looked terrrrrrrrrrible. Awful.

 

This game was the antithesis of the Leafs/Sens game the other night.

 

The crowd really tried to get the team into it, too.

I still say he's got a busted/hurt hand from the other night.

[PASabreFan]

Well I would not call 12-5-1 inconsistent if they want to win three loose one all year thats fine by me.

 

Yeah, but 8-1-1 has been followed by 4-4. I'm just sayin'...

[PASabreFan]

The word that keeps coming back to me is immature. How can a team that was so tough mentally and physically last weekend turn into jello?

 

Vanek missed a deflection and jerked his head back in frustration, kind of curled into the corner nonchalantly with the play going somewhere else. And that attempted shoot in at the end of his shift, right onto the tape of a Panther play.

 

Miller was pounding his goalie stick after Florida's first goal, immediately after the strange intentional offside call. Then the WTF wave. After the game he truly sounded childish. Speaking of immature, was this 2004 again? Was he going to cry? Took a little stab at the fans, too.

 

Silly penalties have been duly noted.

 

A childish effort by guys who were hockey men mere days ago.

 

On to Friday!

[LabattBlue]

The word that keeps coming back to me is immature. How can a team that was so tough mentally and physically last weekend turn into jello?

Maybe they are on the 4 year maturity plan with this being year 1. Once all the core players are in their 30's and have completed the program, ONLY then will it be revealed that maturity was not the reason for the level of suckiness!

:lol:

[wonderbread]

The word that keeps coming back to me is immature. How can a team that was so tough mentally and physically last weekend turn into jello?

 

Vanek missed a deflection and jerked his head back in frustration, kind of curled into the corner nonchalantly with the play going somewhere else. And that attempted shoot in at the end of his shift, right onto the tape of a Panther play.

 

Miller was pounding his goalie stick after Florida's first goal, immediately after the strange intentional offside call. Then the WTF wave. After the game he truly sounded childish. Speaking of immature, was this 2004 again? Was he going to cry? Took a little stab at the fans, too.

 

Silly penalties have been duly noted.

 

A childish effort by guys who were hockey men mere days ago.

 

On to Friday!

 

 

Didn't hear the stab at the fans. The audio vault from GR doesn't work at work. Give me the details please.

[Mbossy]

Didn't hear the stab at the fans. The audio vault from GR doesn't work at work. Give me the details please.

He only said something like: We're not hear to put a show on for the fans, we're here to win the game, that should make them happy.

 

IMO, he wasn't putting down the fans.

[PASabreFan]

He only said something like: We're not hear to put a show on for the fans, we're here to win the game, that should make them happy.

 

IMO, he wasn't putting down the fans.

 

I said "little stab." A lot of fans had been booing the power play. Ryan said he didn't care what the fans thought of the power play, or the penalty kill.

 

Ryan was copping a strange 'tude all night -- during and after the game.

[carpandean]

I said "little stab." A lot of fans had been booing the power play. Ryan said he didn't care what the fans thought of the power play, or the penalty kill.

 

Ryan was copping a strange 'tude all night -- during and after the game.

He said something along the lines of "we aren't here to please the fans with every play; we're here to win games, which will make them happy."

[LabattBlue]

He said something along the lines of "we aren't here to please the fans with every play; we're here to win games, which will make them happy."

Miller has banked a lot of goodwill with the fans due to his play this season, but I'd be careful what I say. I know it is not easy to say the correct thing when you have a mic put in your face, but the more appropriate answer would have been "The fans spend their hard earned money to attend the games and they can cheer or boo. To be honest, we deserved to be booed at times during the game".

[PASabreFan]

He said something along the lines of "we aren't here to please the fans with every play; we're here to win games, which will make them happy."

 

And he said he didn't care what the fans thought of the power play.

[PASabreFan]

Miller has banked a lot of goodwill with the fans due to his play this season, but I'd be careful what I say. I know it is not easy to say the correct thing when you have a mic put in your face, but the more appropriate answer would have been "The fans spend their hard earned money to attend the games and they can cheer or boo. To be honest, we deserved to be booed at times during the game".

 

He wasn't asked what he thought of booing fans. He was asked whether Florida's "boring style," which Miller openly scoffed at, made it tough for the Sabres to get the crowd into the game. Ryan's very crafty. He got the dig in, but he did so in a way that should protect him from criticism. Except from pricks like me.

[wonderbread]

I said "little stab." A lot of fans had been booing the power play. Ryan said he didn't care what the fans thought of the power play, or the penalty kill.

 

Ryan was copping a strange 'tude all night -- during and after the game.

 

 

Maybe its the new West Herr ads he's doing with Tasker. Now that he's made it to the big time he doesn't care what people think of him.

 

That and you are a prick PA. Thats what keeps em coming back.

[Eleven]

And he said he didn't care what the fans thought of the power play.

 

And he ended it with what carp wrote; he knows the fans are important. It wasn't really a stab, it was more of a little prick. Miller had a little prick (at the fans).

[nfreeman]

The word that keeps coming back to me is immature. How can a team that was so tough mentally and physically last weekend turn into jello?

 

Vanek missed a deflection and jerked his head back in frustration, kind of curled into the corner nonchalantly with the play going somewhere else. And that attempted shoot in at the end of his shift, right onto the tape of a Panther play.

 

Miller was pounding his goalie stick after Florida's first goal, immediately after the strange intentional offside call. Then the WTF wave. After the game he truly sounded childish. Speaking of immature, was this 2004 again? Was he going to cry? Took a little stab at the fans, too.

 

Silly penalties have been duly noted.

 

A childish effort by guys who were hockey men mere days ago.

 

On to Friday!

Good post, except the stuff about Miller.

[Foligno's Nose]

I feel sorry for Ray, Kevin and Roby tonight. What the heck do you talk about after a game like that. Put up some test bars and go home. Friday's only two days away.

 

What do you mean?

 

Do they all ride home together and need a conversation topic?

 

I remember when they all used to stay around after the game to talk hockey and such?

 

"Hockey Hotline" or the "Lexus Post-Game Report" it was called...

 

It was back in the day...before I got DirecTV.....