GAME THREAD: Pens at Sabres 12/17

[Swedesessed]

:D :D

 

 

Max is starting to heat up!

 

GO SABRES!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Drive For Five]

Why isn't Briere playing?

[Knightrider]

3-1, but Roy got hurt...

[jayg]

3-1, but Roy got hurt...

I just tuned in , what happened to Briere and Roy?

[Sabresince70]

Briere is out w/ a hip problem - Roy may be back in.

 

Is anyone else watching this on Center Ice and getting the FSN-P feed? These guys are horrible! In the last minute they saw a phantom puck (it clearly was at the top of the crease and put in after the whistle) and struggled to count to 5 when figuring if it was a power play or 4 on 4. And.... If Crosby beat Biron like a rented mule, What do you relate Max's goal to?

 

And speaking of MAx - I think he has 3 points already tonight.

[blugold43]

Briere is out w/ a hip problem

sh!t :unsure:

[PASabreFan]

That's former Sabre Bob Errey as the color commentator next to HOFer Mike Lange, who really seems ripe for retirement. It seems like Errey's schtick is to be the biggest jerk he can be. He made perhaps the most idiotic comment I have heard in 35 years of watching hockey on TV. With several thousand Pens' fans cheering Sidney Crosby's nice first-period goal, Errey thought they were Sabres' fans who were so awed by the kid's goal, they decided to give him a standing ovation! I swear to God. Oh man. Horrible. Errey's catchphrase seems to be, "I really believe that." Did he really believe Sabre fans were cheering a Pitt goal? I guess it's plausible, except that they don't even cheer their own team's goals. The roar for Crosby was much louder than after any Sabre goal. After Drury's goal, the camera swept a section of probably three or four thousand people -- and if 50 people were standing, I'd be surprised.

 

Decent outing for Biron. A little shaky at times, with some big rebounds, but he got it together on a late second period PP for Pittsburgh. I'm really impressed by Pominville. Nice goal and almost as important a little later, he dropped to the ice to break up a two on one break.

[mphs mike]

Anyone else think that playing Miller for the last period to see what he looks like and get him some work would be a good idea? I assume he's the backup but don't really know. If so, I think this may be beneficial.

[Guest Guest]

Didn't Miller get sent to Rochester for a rehab assignment or is that over?

[Peter]

Great save to win the game.

 

Sabres win again.

[GGM]

I can't believe Marty did it again.

 

This time, they let him keep the save. :)

[shrader]

Anyone else think that playing Miller for the last period to see what he looks like and get him some work would be a good idea? I assume he's the backup but don't really know. If so, I think this may be beneficial.

Noronen was the backup again tonight.

[PASabreFan]

Incroyable! Deja vu.

[Peter]

Je suis d'accord.

[Larry Playfair]

We relaxed in the third, and they took full advantage of it. Didnt see the game, just listened.

 

Biron made a sweet save at the end to win his 13th straight, and Drury is producing - 18 pts in last 18 games, w/ 9 goals in the last 9. That is en fuego!!

 

Roy returned for the third, so it seems he is fine (got first star w/ 2 pts)

 

Max w/ 3 pts.

 

Connolly w/ 2 pts.

 

Gooooooooooooooo Sabres!! Very impressive.

[Kristian]

A few thoughts on tonight :

 

Great goal by Pominville, great play to break up a 2 on 1 in the 2nd.

 

Thibault gave Max an early christmas gift, weakest goal I've seen this year.

 

Why is Fitzpatrick on this roster? First his misplays a puck, to srping Crosby in on McKee for the 1st goal. On the 2nd goal he left his position in front of Biron to take out a Pens player with two Sabres all over him already? Result is that Oullet has about 3-4 acres of space to whack home that rebound that was lying in Fitz's skates. Jeeez, talk about poor judgement.

 

Biron looked horrible on the 3rd, a weak wrister from the point, and the rebound ends up right in the slot for The Pens to bang home. Plus he still goes to his knees waaaaaay too soon. GREAT glove save in the end, though. Gamesaver.

 

Crosby will from now on go under the name Crysby as far as I'm concerned. Christ, he should be playing for the Flyers as much as he cries and whines to the refs. Don't think I saw one play tonight where he didn't go straight to the ref to whine about something when the whistle went. Calder candidate? Maybe, but seriously, what a whiner.

[deluca67]

We relaxed in the third, and they took full advantage of it. Didnt see the game, just listened.

 

Biron made a sweet save at the end to win his 13th straight, and Drury is producing - 18 pts in last 18 games, w/ 9 goals in the last 9. That is en fuego!!

 

Roy returned for the third, so it seems he is fine (got first star w/ 2 pts)

 

Max w/ 3 pts.

 

Connolly w/ 2 pts.

 

Gooooooooooooooo Sabres!! Very impressive.

OK. Evreyone take a deep breath.

 

The Sabres got lucky tonight. They sweep the Pens by scoreing 8 goals. 5 on the power play. More so tonight. If the Sabres played that way against any other team all the streaks would have come to an end.

 

The Pens were able to jump on the Sabre defense and beat them down low. How many scambles around the Buffalo net were there tonight? A dozen?

 

Fitzpatrick was just horrible. I'm not sure who was worse Fitzpatrick or Grier. I'm glad to see Grier get benched. Call up Thornburn.

 

And can someone please explain how Andrew "Juice" Peters gets to wear an NHL uniform. There is something wrong with that.

 

I'm glad the Sabres took the four points. But I am sure Lindy and the coaching staff will have a lot to go over in the meetings.

[Larry Playfair]

I dont have to take a breath when we are on this kinda roll. Its great and I am going to bath in it. It is something i havent seen, maybe, in my lifetime. I know its early, but this is impressive, and Im going to enjoy every minute, and I am going to forget reality and for a few months...I am going to believe.

 

There are some impressive victories in this run:

 

Nov 15 NJ Won 4-1 9-9-0 Martin Biron Martin Brodeur 13,022

Nov 17 WAS Won 8-5 10-9-0 Martin Biron Brent Johnson 12,471

Nov 19 @BOS Won 3-2 11-9-0 Mika Noronen Andrew Raycroft 17,565

Nov 22 NYR Lost 2-3 (OT) 11-9-1 Kevin Weekes Martin Biron 16,018

Nov 23 @NYI Won 4-3 (OT) 12-9-1 Martin Biron Rick DiPietro 13,212

Nov 25 MON Won 3-1 13-9-1 Martin Biron Yann Danis 16,009

Nov 27 @WAS Won 3-2 14-9-1 Martin Biron Olaf Kolzig 11,658

Nov 29 @PIT Won 3-2 15-9-1 Martin Biron Marc-Andre Fleury 15,118

Dec 1 @MON Won 3-2 (OT) 16-9-1 Martin Biron Jose Theodore 21,274

Dec 2 SJ Lost 0-5 16-10-1 Evgeni Nabokov Mika Noronen 18,007

Dec 4 @COL Won 6-4 17-10-1 Martin Biron Peter Budaj 18,007

Dec 8 ANA Won 3-2 (OT) 18-10-1 Martin Biron Jean-Sebastien Giguere 12,504

Dec 11 @MIN Won 3-2 19-10-1 Martin Biron Dwayne Roloson 18,568

Dec 14 DAL Won 4-3 20-10-1 Martin Biron Marty Turco 16,575

Dec 16 @PIT Won 4-3 (OT) 21-10-1 Martin Biron Marc-Andre Fleury 16,648

Dec 17 PIT Won 4-3 22-10-1

[deluca67]

I dont have to take a breath when we are on this kinda roll. Its great and I am going to bath in it. It is something i havent seen, maybe, in my lifetime. I know its early, but this is impressive, and Im going to enjoy every minute, and I am going to forget reality and for a few months...I am going to believe.

 

There are some impressive victories in this run:

 

Nov 15 NJ Won 4-1 9-9-0 Martin Biron Martin Brodeur 13,022

Nov 17 WAS Won 8-5 10-9-0 Martin Biron Brent Johnson 12,471

Nov 19 @BOS Won 3-2 11-9-0 Mika Noronen Andrew Raycroft 17,565

Nov 22 NYR Lost 2-3 (OT) 11-9-1 Kevin Weekes Martin Biron 16,018

Nov 23 @NYI Won 4-3 (OT) 12-9-1 Martin Biron Rick DiPietro 13,212

Nov 25 MON Won 3-1 13-9-1 Martin Biron Yann Danis 16,009

Nov 27 @WAS Won 3-2 14-9-1 Martin Biron Olaf Kolzig 11,658

Nov 29 @PIT Won 3-2 15-9-1 Martin Biron Marc-Andre Fleury 15,118

Dec 1 @MON Won 3-2 (OT) 16-9-1 Martin Biron Jose Theodore 21,274

Dec 2 SJ Lost 0-5 16-10-1 Evgeni Nabokov Mika Noronen 18,007

Dec 4 @COL Won 6-4 17-10-1 Martin Biron Peter Budaj 18,007

Dec 8 ANA Won 3-2 (OT) 18-10-1 Martin Biron Jean-Sebastien Giguere 12,504

Dec 11 @MIN Won 3-2 19-10-1 Martin Biron Dwayne Roloson 18,568

Dec 14 DAL Won 4-3 20-10-1 Martin Biron Marty Turco 16,575

Dec 16 @PIT Won 4-3 (OT) 21-10-1 Martin Biron Marc-Andre Fleury 16,648

Dec 17 PIT Won 4-3 22-10-1

Of the 16 games you have listed? Only 4 are wins against teams that would qualify for the playoffs today. Only 1 is against a team higher then a 7th seed (Dal#3).

 

I'm not saying don't enjoy it. I'm just saying things might get tougher when the Sabres start playing some of the better teams.

[blugold43]

philly's going to clobber us if we don't play better than that.

[nfreeman]

Of the 16 games you have listed? Only 4 are wins against teams that would qualify for the playoffs today. Only 1 is against a team higher then a 7th seed (Dal#3).

 

I'm not saying don't enjoy it. I'm just saying things might get tougher when the Sabres start playing some of the better teams.

 

 

DeLuca -- you are absolutely right about strength (or weakness) of schedule. I do think that at the end of the year Montreal will be seeded in the 4-6 range -- although we beat them after they had lost Kovalev. Mon. night against Philly will be a good test. Forsberg is 8th in the NHL in scoring and Gagne is 12th.

 

tonight, I thought we played well and then coasted. Marty didn't look sharp notwithstanding the amazing glove save at the end. However, we still got the W so I don't see how he doesn't get the start against Philly.

 

A few other observations:

 

1. the Pittsburgh TV production was lousy.

 

2. Max may be having a breakout year. I really like the RAV (Roy-Afinogenov-Vanek) line. As a random side note, Max leads the sabres in penalty minutes.

 

3. Roy looks like a pretty good NHL player.

 

4. I'm pretty concerned about Briere. If this is aggravation of the abdominal strain -- how is he going to hold up for the 30 games in 60 nights or whatever it is after the olympics? and the playoffs? We are going to need him if we are going to take a real shot in the playoffs. He looked really good Fri. night -- and I really like him on the line with Connolly and kotalik.

 

5. I'm still on board with trading Marty if we can get something good for him.

 

6. Maybe I'm the only one, but I don't think Peters is that bad. He serves a purpose and he can skate and forecheck. His line didn't look outmanned when he was out there. Also, with Pittsburgh installing a hard-line coach, it was reasonable to expect them to instigate aggression -- which Peters helps keep in check.

 

7. connolly's pass off the boards to Max for his goal was very sweet, as were both of Max's assists -- nice digs out of the boards and then quick, accurate passes to Mair and Pominville.

 

Go Sabres. I'm already psyched for Mon. night.

[Knightrider]

Actually, when we played a lot of those teams they were in the top 8...

 

Also, if that Rangers game were a playoff game, I firmly believe we'd have won it with the younger legs. Shootouts are nice, but that is not a true loss IMHO...

 

That said, the effort tonight wouldn't have been enough for Philly. I half wonder if they weren't looking ahead to that game in the third...

[Eleven]

(to nfreeman)

 

1. I'll bet. But MSG isn't so much better. Watching HNiC reminds me of what hockey should look like on TV.

 

2. That's not just a random side. Max needs to stop taking bad penalties. (But I loved his elbow to Crosby tonight--no call.)

 

3. Yes. And he did last season, too. That kid is a keeper.

 

4. It's reported as a sore hip last night; let's see whether he plays on Monday before panicking. And even if he's out some more, well, this team seemed to be able to win in his absence recently. But hope he's back Monday.

 

5. Nuts to you. We know the streak, and during the home and home against the pits, he cost only one softie (the second goal last night) and made some great saves. Then again, look up my earlier posts on Biron; I have a different opinion of him than most of this board (and this city) has.

 

6. The Sabres have a guy named Peters?

 

7. Connolly is playing better than most 22-yr-olds I can remember on this team. The kid really has come on. The trade looks better every day, presently, but I still wonder what the team could've done with one more year of Peca and Hasek together.

 

Side topic: A public apology to one Brian Campbell. I said you'd never amount to an NHLer, and I said it often. You're still slow, but I'm still very wrong. Awesome pass last night.

[shrader]

Of the 16 games you have listed? Only 4 are wins against teams that would qualify for the playoffs today. Only 1 is against a team higher then a 7th seed (Dal#3).

 

I'm not saying don't enjoy it. I'm just saying things might get tougher when the Sabres start playing some of the better teams.

We didn't have Briere for a good portion of that streak. That has to count for something.

[deluca67]

We didn't have Briere for a good portion of that streak. That has to count for something.

It does.

 

Briere gives the Sabres better 5 on 5 production.

 

The point about the schedule is that Yes, many of the teams were top eight at the time. But if they are not now it might be the Sabres caught them on a down turn. I do give the Sabres a lot of credit. You still have to take advantage of the schedule and they have done that.

 

The Sabres are on their way to the playoffs. But do you really want them matching up with another team with Fitzpatrick, Peters and Grier in the lineup? Call me greedy. First all I wanted was a playoff spot. Now that I seem to be getting that? I want home ice. Pick up a blueliner, call up Thornburn and waive Peters and the Sabres will be on their way.