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Sabres Vs. Flyers Round 1 Matchup


matter2003

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Philly to a Sabres fan is like Miami to a Bills fan. Both dominated us for a long period of time before we finally broke through. Remember the 0-for-the-Spectrum run and Bernie f***ing Parent? Similar to the 0-for-the-70s run of the Bills with Miami.

 

I hate the Flyers, and there's no team I'd rather the Sabres face. No predictions here, but I can't imagine ANY team in the East wanted to draw Buffalo.

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"They gave us a good game there, obviously losing in overtime. They’re going to come in here with a lot of confidence and we are going to have to shut them down quick and be hard on them. They have young, skilled snipers with a lot of speed. A good counteract to that is hitting them, being physical, and knocking them off of the puck. That’s Flyers hockey so we match up well.”

- Scott Hartnell on playing the Sabres.

 

Flyers seem to think they can impose their will and intimidate the Sabres. Bring it on boys!!! Let's go Sabres!!!

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LOVE the vids everyone!

+1 to all...

 

As for this series...honestly it's a toss-up (not trying to sound like a complete homer)

We've seen this Philly team 4x

Lost the first two 6-3 and 5-2...Both before Pegula sparked the fire under this team.

Next two, we win 5-3, and 4-3(OT).

 

Depending on which Sabres team shows up, depends on if we win this series, and how long it'll take.

I think this will be one of the longer East series' (well I think they ALL will be) and could be a 7 over 2 upset.

 

But Briere has Buffalo's #, as does Philly as a whole.

 

Some big questions to keep in mind heading into this...

- How does Miller look after his long rest and then the rest going towards Game 1

- Will players such as Stafford, Connolly, and Gaustad among others step up to the next level and play lights out.

- Flyers goaltending situation? Who starts in net for them? Will the goalie(s) get rattled?

- Flyers offense...how consistent will it be?

- Who wants it more will win this series; simple as that.

The biggest question is how will the special teams shake out. Philly has scored 13 short handed goals and given up 5. The Sabres have score 2 short handed goals and given up 13. The penalty killing % is close to being dead even with Buf 83% and Phi 82.8%. Buf has the higher PP % at 19.4% while Phi has a 16.6%. Take in to account the shorthanded goals and the Sabres PP is a +41 and Phi is a +44.

 

The Sabres are in a tough spot here. They need to stay aggressive on the PP to be successful while facing a team that can make you pay if your PP is off.

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Pronger makes that ENTIRE team go to the next level so I REALLY hope he misses at least one more game or two. I truly think you see a totally different team when he is in the lineup.

Well he has a broken bone in his hand, had surgery, and they said it would be 3-4 weeks in mid-March. Then he had a setback. Who knows when he'll be back, but hand injuries like this are tricky and he's no spring chicken by hockey standards in terms of healing. When he gets back, he better hope he gets no slashes on his hand. I expect you'll seem him later rather than sooner, and if sooner his effectiveness may be compromised. But the Flyers are much better with him, so maybe he'll make a Chris Drury cameo for a while.

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I have only two concerns for the entire playoffs: (1) Can Ryan Miller steal close games foe us? Every team on a great playoff run has stellar - not just "ok" - goaltending. And (2) Do we have the player(s) who can bury the big / killer goal in the huge moments? Remember how Drury and Briere could do it seemingly at will? Is Vanek there now? He has really stepped up his game of late. Maybe Gerber? Can he do it in the playoffs?

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Wow....had no idea about all the history Buffalo and Philly have with one another. ###### these guys then, let's do it.

 

Youngin indeed! (maybe?)

 

The biggest question is how will the special teams shake out. Philly has scored 13 short handed goals and given up 5. The Sabres have score 2 short handed goals and given up 13. The penalty killing % is close to being dead even with Buf 83% and Phi 82.8%. Buf has the higher PP % at 19.4% while Phi has a 16.6%. Take in to account the shorthanded goals and the Sabres PP is a +41 and Phi is a +44. The Sabres are in a tough spot here. They need to stay aggressive on the PP to be successful while facing a team that can make you pay if your PP is off.

 

Nice research on that info! :thumbsup:

But that is also correct, whose special team's takes charge?

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Last year the Flyers made the playoffs on the last day of the season, and their momentum carried them all the way to the cup finals. I hope the Sabres can ride the wave this year and be the Eastern Conference's Cinderella team.

 

But I have to admit our shortcomings on defense scare the crap out of me. Just watch a replay of period 2 from Friday night's game. Plus we just don't know how the defensemen without alot of playoff experience are going to respond (Weber and Grags come to mind.) And I think Morrisonn is the weakest link. He gets caught out of position alot because he just can't keep up with faster forwards.

 

Fortunately, I think Buffalo has the advantage at the goalie position. Miller is playoff tested, and who knows how Bobrovsky & his magic 5-hole will respond?

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What is Pronger's status for the series?

If he's in for game 1 I should think with the setback thats being reported that he won't be his usual nasty old self with the stickwork,i.e. crosschecks and slashes etc in front of the net. His hand will be something we can maybe exploit. Alls fair in love and war.

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They really need to drop Briere like a bad habit game one of this series when he tries to just skate over our blue line with the puck. They were letting him do that all game on friday. We need to set the tone early, hell even take a penalty doing it...

While I still think Carter, Richards, Pronger & bob will have the. Most impact, letting B-rod know it ain't gonna be easy would go a long way.

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Some keys to the series(some more obvious than others)...

 

- Miller vs. Bobrovsky/Boucher. Should be a big advantage to Buffalo. If not, the Sabres will be in trouble.

 

- Sabres blueliners vs. the Flyers forecheck. There is not a lot of playoff experience on the Sabres blueline(especially with Leopold out). If the Sabres start to cough up the puck due to a hard forecheck, it will cause major problems.

 

- Special Teams - You would think that with their forwards, the Flyers would be in the top 5 in PP%. Instead they are a very lackluster 19th. The Sabres playoff demise last year was their AWFUL PP(0-19) and mediocre PK(6 GA - 22 PK).

 

- Will the "stars" live up to their billing. Myers, Stafford, Vanek, Pominville, Miller & Connolly...I'm talking about you!

 

- Can Hecht & Leopold play at all during the series?

 

The key in bold worries me the most.

 

 

Flyers in 7. :(

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Buffalo in 6... Plus the Flyers fans are all a bunch of ######'s, heres proof...post-1447-065686700 1302448746_thumb.jpg

There are some things money cant buy, for everything else theres terry pegula. Lets all hope the next 3-4 days off get us healthy (not counnting practice). I think our strategy against philly has to be lock them down in our zone and beat them along the walls. Keep everything outside and play physical and throw any puck at the net because ba ba ba bobravoskerann aint the best gt in the league and he reminds me of a lalime.

 

Sabres better hope vanek can stay healthy for thhis playoff because we need him desperatly. The additions of Stafford ( better play), Ennis, Gerbs, and our young strong def corp I think might make our team harder to wear down. I am actually glad that we have been able to let these young def play a whole season for the most part together because their play has greatly improved.

 

TC, he has one job this playoffs outside of not dying, feed pucks. He has shown amazing skill in the last couple months and idk if its pegula lighting a fire under him or simply the contract thing but idc. TC as much as I am pained to say it can help win games. He didnt win a single faceoff last night so i am a little concerned and hope Roy returns sooner rather than later.

 

Final thought here is Boyes... no pun intended. He played a heck of a lot better yesterday with his 3 assists and his +3 rating. We need that hard fighting, agressive boyes for the playoffs. The guy has talent and I am unsure if he has connolly tendencies or he is still working out our system. Hopefully hes getting it and can be a contributor because he has the linemates and skills to do it.

 

Sabres went 28-11-6 since Jan. 1 to earn the most points in the East during that span.

 

Should be a good series and I hope we win 1 in philly and 2 at home and end it in 5-6. Lets Go Buffalo!!!!! :death: the flyers!

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