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Oops, I'm a bit behind, here. That Sabres/Pens game was the first in a stretch without Henrik Tallinder. Last night's beatdown of the Bruins is what we look like with him in the lineup. Had he been healthy, you likely would've had an all-Sabres defense pairing in the All-Star game. He just always makes the right play, wins the battles in the corners when outnumbered, and makes whoever is on the ice with him look even better. Thanks to Danny Briere's hat trick, the Sabres have 5 players with 20 or more goals.
Other good news for the Sabres, Tim Connolly is skating on his own and could be back in 6-8 weeks. He showed a lot of skill last year, and his game is basically custom made for the 'new' NHL. His return would be huge, especially for the struggling power play.
Xav, the Pens have played great recently, the future is bright. I honestly hope you guys hang on to that playoff spot, and not just because it helps keep Toronto out. Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Apparently, I am what is called a "puck bunny". I, at least took the time to learn the game and cheer as a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins before I outed myself as a Sidney Crosby fangirl. I have been told I am unable to communicate complete sentences whenever a Crosby commercial (I too would like to find Sid in my shower) or interview comes across the screen. I'm ashamed but can I help it that he is a god of the ice?
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quote: Other good news for the Sabres, Tim Connolly is skating on his own and could be back in 6-8 weeks. He showed a lot of skill last year, and his game is basically custom made for the 'new' NHL. His return would be huge, especially for the struggling power play.
I actually played against Tim Connolly in the upstate New York youth hockey leagues at least a handful of times (around age 10-13). He's from Syracuse, and is very close to my age. He was quite good back then, but no one thought he was NHL material, at least that I had heard. Once Robbie Shremp starts playing games, that will be two NHL players I knew growing up.
quote:Xav, the Pens have played great recently, the future is bright. I honestly hope you guys hang on to that playoff spot, and not just because it helps keep Toronto out.
Yeah, it's been a blast to watch. 8-0-1 in their last nine games.
Yesterday's game against the Caps was a bit on the slow and boring end of things, nowhere near the intensity of the Montreal game. The fact that their offense stunk, and they still managed to win based on Fleury stealing the game is comforting. You can't expect Crosby to win every game for you, if you want to be a playoff team.
Today's rematch against Montreal should be a good game. I hope the excitement is high, and that the Pens play like they can. I'm not sure who will be in net though. Thibault is playing well this year, but he's no Fleury.
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Red Wings in a nice come from behind victory over Rangers last night. A little bittersweet to be playing against Shanahan, but he made his choice, and I wish him well.
Tied for third in the NHL with Buffalo, just need a couple more wins and some luck to take control of the league! Wings are going all the way this year!
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Pens defeat the league leading Predators 4-1.
They were clearly the better team tonight as well. Outplayed the "best team in the league" in every facet of the game. That makes them 9-0-2 in their last 11.
Next game is against Philly, who they have dominated 6-0 so far this season .
Mark Eaton being back from injury is huge as well. The Pens are now something like 15-3-1 with him in the lineup.
No team in the league has been better the last month or so.
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I almost feel sorry for Atlanta. They have a fantastic team, able to skate with the best. I got nervous every time Hossa, Kovalchuk and Kozlov streaked into the Buffalo end ("Please let Henrik Tallinder be on the ice for this rush!"), much as the Thrashers would get nervous seeing a reunited Vanek/Roy/Afinogenov line bearing down on them. They have a young goalie who will be making the big save for years to come...but the few hockey fans they have there have to listen to the chants of the opposing team. Anyway, our powerplay feasted on Atlanta's terrible kill so hopefully they will get hot for the playoff run.
Big game tomorrow against Ottawa, who've had our number this year. Our Western Conference friends Calgary and Edmonton come in next, which will be fun. Too bad we don't see them more often.
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Outstanding win for the Sabres last night! The Senators had beaten them 4 straight but the reunited RAV line would not be denied. Thomas Vanek scored his 27th and 28th goals (including the game winner), and Maxim Afinogenov broke out of a 9 game goal-scoring slump. As long as Paul Gaustad isn't hurt too bad (skate blade to the leg) we should be rolling when Calgary and Edmonton come in. Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Fantastic win for the Wings last night too, they're on a 12 game winning streak at home, and a five game win streak overall.
Henrik Zetterberg, my hero, scored two goals and picked up an assist, including his career 100th, to prove once and again that he's the most consistant, best offensive weapon the Wings have to wield. His first goal was a damned highlight play, he took it all the way in on the right wing, swooped around behind the net, and faked out Cujo and the Phoenix defense long enough for a backhanded wraparound. Smooth as ice. Pavel Datsyuk also scored, off a feed from Zetterberg. I doubted Pavel a bit in the beginning of the season, but I'm convinced more than ever that the two of them together on the ice is a sight to see, a damned fine sight to see.
Also, kind of funny, during one of the intermissions an advertisement for Toyota came up on the big screen and the entire crowd booed them.
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The crazy thing is that while the Pens are in 4th place in the east, they are still only 7 points away from being in 9th place.
Big game in Jersey on Friday. They've been rather hot themselves, so hopefully it will be a good game.
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Wings have pulled within one point of the league lead after a great third period against the Stars, led by our ace, Henrik Zetterberg, with three points of his own in the game.
We're tied for second now with Buffalo, though admittedly we are a game ahead of Nashville and two ahead of Buffalo, but there's still a LOT of hockey left to play.
Congrats to the Pens too, jeez they're on a streak.
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The Sabres won a great game against an Oilers team desperate for points. Miller and Roloson traded big saves, and Danny Briere came up clutch in OT. Max and Vanek got to play catch on the first Sabres goal, with TV taking the hit in front of the net and tipping his rebound to Max. Unfortunately, Max broke his wrist on the shift before, and is out at least six weeks. He joins Paul Gaustad and Tim Connolly who are also out with long term injuries. Jiri Novotny also aggrivated one of those 'high ankle' sprains, so he's on the shelf. It really sucks because the RAV line was clicking again. I imagine Drew Stafford will come up to fill Max's spot, not sure what'll happen for Jiri's.
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Now that was a great game. Wings pull into first place in the Western Conference, one point shy of the league lead, Henrik Zetterberg gets his first career hat trick off some amazing feeds from Datsyuk. There's no line in the NHL that can match Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Holmstrom. They're a force of nature!
Also really cool of Datsyuk to give the empty netter to Jason Williams, he needed that, and it said a lot about the kind of guy he is. Now if he can just not be a selfish bastard when contract negotiations come around...
Sad to see what happened to Shanahan too Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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They can have the title of best line in the West. I'd put either the RAV line or the Briere/Hecht/Pominville line up against 'em any day of the week. Both are within 10 points of the Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom line. That's considering Roy and Afinogenov missed 7 games each (and still counting for Max). That's pretty good, considering neither line has Drury's 32 goals.
The Rochester Americans, er, Buffalo Sabres doubled up the Flyers 6-3 last night, scoring 3 on the power play. Drew Stafford continued his strong play in place of Max, and Clark MacArthur made some great plays as well. Unfortunately, yet ANOTHER guy got injured, Daniel Paille will sit for a couple of weeks with a broken finger. Andrew Peters had an amazing goal for an enforcer, deftly kicking the puck to his stick and slamming it home in front of Esche. For those who like the rough stuff, RJ Umberger fought Brian Campbell, who hadn't dropped the gloves since junior hockey, and Fedoruk took on Peters 2 minutes in leaving Andrew an assist shy of the Gordie Howe hat trick.
I'd like to watch the Sens game tomorrow without anyone getting injured.
edit: I agree about Shanny, we were out that night, and the first thing I saw on the TV in the bar was the stretcher with him on it. What a great season he was having.
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Wings sail past the Blackhawks tonight with another goal for Datsyuk and two for Zetterberg. Datsyuk's goal was his 100th. That pulls the Wings into the lead of the West, and one point away from leader of the League. Nashville, Detroit and Buffalo are two points apart, with one point separating each team (sequentially).
Maybe we'll finally have some fire going into the playoffs this year!
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Massive fight Sabres vs Sens...Drury gets cheapshotted by Neil, and Lindy sent out Mair, Peters and Kaleta to clean house. EVERYONE fought, including Ray Emery and Marty Biron!! Lindy Ruff and Bryan Murray had a shouting match at the benches, and the cameras/mics caught Ruff dishing out 'You don't go after our f***ing captain!' with Murray giving it right back.
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Holy crap, that was an insane brawl! First time I've ever seen a goalie fight a non-goalie. The awesome thing is that Emery was smiling and laughing throughout both of his fights.
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Round two tonight. Emery is crazy, there's a reason he always has boxers painted on his masks. It was brave of Marty to step out there and take him on, should've tried talking him to death though, it's what he's best at. Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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What a game. What a game. 6-5, and given the way both offences were playing, I wouldn't have been surprised if those scores had been doubled. Sucks to be Briere though. Really.
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Good news on Drury, he is not having any headaches so he may not have a super-serious concussion. Hopefully he can see out of right eye now, too.
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So how about these last minute trade deals?
Keith Tkachuk goes to Atlanta for a plethora of draft choices and Metropolit. St. Louis made a damned smart choice there I think. They got a first and third round pick for 2007, a second round pick for 2008, and if Tkachuk re-ups with Atlanta, they get the first round for 2008 as well. St. Louis is planning for the log haul. They'll get some great players in the next couple years and should emergy in 08 and 09 as a serious team.
We could have gotten Tkachuk in Detroit for a similiar deal, Ken Holland was perfectly willing to give up draft choices, but not top young prospects.
Our own deal got us Kyle Culder from Chicago, form Philadelphia.
Philly traded Culder to Chicago for Kukkonen and a third round draft pick.
Chicago turned right around and traded Culder to Detroit for Jason Williams. I like Jason Williams, he was one of my favorite players, but he's had a bad slump this year. Last year was the best year of his career. Culder is having a similiar slump, after being a scoring leader for his previous team. I don't like losing Williams, slump or not, but Culder adds a brute force checking power that we've been sorely lacking on our team. Everyone says Detroit isn't physical enough, so we looked at tkachuk and forsberg, losing both, I guess we decided to go with Culder, still retaining our offensive power.
We'll find out tomorrow night against Chicago.
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St. Louis made out like a bandit. Atlanta is desperate not to miss the playoffs and it shows. He and Kovalchuk may end up making a scary pairing, but it could be too little too late.
The Sabres want a power forward, preferably with a Stanley Cup winning pedigree. Barring that, some depth defensemen they can stash in Rochester would be fine. They won't give up the future to get them, though.
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The Sabres trade Biron to Philly for a high draft pick, and pick up Ty Conklin from Columbus for a 5th. This opens up about 1.6mill in add'l cap room for more moves. Come on Darcy, get us some depth!
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St. Louis gives up Guerin for yet another first round draft pick. They're giving away the store and betting everything on drafting a young team.
quote:Bertuzzi to Detroit???!?
Don't get me started. I dislike Bertuzzi strongly. Ken Holland is banking on Bertuzzi getting better by the playoffs, and being a strong offensive power, probably on a line with the newly aquired Calder and Robert Lang.
He wants toughness and some grit on our front lines, and though we had to give up a prospect to get him, it wasn't anyone really important, and if Bertuzzi can't play, we don't lose any draft picks. As far as Holland is concerned, if Bertuzzi does well and we win a cup, we'll be happy to give up some draft picks. If Bertuzzi doesn't, then we haven't really lost anything.
I don't blame Florida for trying to cut their losses. They lose Luongo for the useless Bertuzzi, and they wanted to try and get something out of it.
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If he recovers in time AND plays to his potential, he could be a huge signing. I don't think I could ever cheer for him. Like you said though, not much to lose.
I think Buffalo did well today. Marty would've been gone at the end of the year no matter what, and he deserves a team where he will be the starter. Novotny has potential, but I like adding Zubrus for his size, and he is pretty good alongside major league scorers. All the eggs are in the Ryan Miller basket though, so here's hoping he stays healthy.
The poor tired Maple Leafs fans got booed out of their building after a 6-1 loss to the depleted Sabres. Jochen Hecht was pressed into service at center as Danny Briere sat out with the flu, and scored 2 goals. Callups Drew Stafford and Clark MacArthur also scored, along with Pominville and Roy (who has really picked it up with all the injuries). I can't get over how well these guys, who have all of 6 or 7 games of NHL experience are playing, with real ice time to fill (14-18 minutes for Ryan and MacArthur).
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Very exciting game between Buffalo and the Pens tonight.
You could tell the Pens were fired up from the arena news (I am happy for them, but it would have been nice to be able to drive the 2 hours to KC to see them).
They were racing for the pucks, putting on hits, and just showing an amazing amount of effort.
They blew a 2 goal lead, going to overtime for like the billionth time in a row, even though they had thoroughly outplayed the Sabres (twice the number of shots, over twice the number of hits). They pulled it out in the shootout, however, which they've been winning automatically recently.
In the beginning of the year, Fleury's shootouts were embarrassing, and Crosby was like 1-7. They've both turned it around big time. (Christensen has been a pretty much guaranteed SO goal all year.)
posted
I caught part of the game while I was watching the Wings game at a sports bar. Fun game.
Wings beat the Nashville Preds tonight in the first game of a home and home to put us within one point of the lead in the Central, the West, and the league
Wings I thought performed very well for still being without a few key players, as did the Predators. It's amazing to watch the guys who come from the AHL come in and totally rock, and I think they all try very hard. Filppula has been very impressive in his stretch of time on the Wings. I look forward to seeing him in the playoffs and being a regular on the team next year. I hope Zetterberg comes back soon!
Hopefully by the end of the night tomorrow we'll be the league leaders!
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It was a great game last night. I wish we could've pulled it out in the shootout, one place where we are missing some of our best (Max, Kotalik). Miller also looked a bit shaky, normally he's money in the SO. If only we could've played the whole game like the last 10 minutes...still, this is the game the league had in mind with the new rules. Back and forth, two goal leads lost, shootout magic by Crosby, Christensen and Stafford. Hopefully we can get right against Florida. One bright spot from last night is that several of our scorers might be getting out of some mini-slumps. Now if Vanek could get a few more goals, I want him to get to 40. Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Wow! That was one hell of a game between the Preds and Wings.
Wings managed to take both the games in the home and home versus their divisional rivals. The Wings now move into the lead in the NHL, after two hard fought games. The game was played with playoff like intensity, tons of sweet checks and a fair amount of trash talking. I think these guys will meet each other in the Conference Finals (where the Wings will beat them to play maybe the Sabres in the East ).
Sadly Valterri Filppula is out with an undeterminted injury for the time being. Both teams took a hit, with Erat being out for the Preds after a bad hit last night. This is most distressing. He's a great up and coming star. Ken Holland, Wings GM, said he hopes to have ALL the Wings healthy and playing by the playoffs, with Zetterberg being the last to come back.
quote: Starting this season, the four conference finalists will get the bottom four picks in the NHL's entry draft, according to multiple reports.
Previously, only the Stanley Cup winner was assigned the final pick in each round.
Now, regardless of their regular-season record, the 29th selection in each round will go to the Cup runner-up, the paper reported. Losers of the conference finals will draft 27th and 28th, with the team with the better regular-season record drafting in the lower spot.
The change, apparently spearheaded by Red Wings general manager Ken Holland, gives teams with good regular-seasons that flop in early playoff rounds better spots to pick from.
"I've been talking about this at the GM meetings the last number of years. In the end, I guess it was voted through," Holland told the Detroit Free Press. "You look at the NFL, where their draft selection is based on playoffs. I just think it's hard to win two rounds in the [NHL] playoffs. If you win two rounds, you get to the final four."
NHL teams voted 23-6-1 in a fax vote over the past week to approve the changes, the Sun reported.
Most of the comments I've seen on this deal are as I expected, they think it's hilarious that the Red Wings are spearheading an effort to give teams who burn out in the playoffs a better bid. However the Wings won the President's Cup last time they burnt out, and might again this year, which would put them at the bottom of the barrel, making the point moot. To say nothing of the fact that our best players were picked in the third, fourth and fifth rounds in their years, and we consistently trade away high draft picks to develop less popular players. Tough luck haters.
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The Pens blanked the devils tonight, 3-0. Two impressive wins in a row.
They are 4 points behind New Jersey right now, and have a reasonable chance of passing them to win the Atlantic, and being second seed.
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Effective use of ALL your draft picks will be the key to success in the NHL now. It shouldn't be possible to sign free agents out the wazoo with the salary cap. Some Sabres and their draft positions:
We should be getting Spacek, Kotalik and Paille back in a week or so. We've been playing like a team with half it's lineup out, and perhaps a bit comfortable at home (with a short bus ride to Toronto mixed in) for too long. A road smackdown of the Florida teams would great for getting on track.
A Sabres/Wings series would be awesome. I can hardly imagine the booing Hasek would get for a Finals game here. We would drill him as we usually do, so hopefully Osgood or whoever is comfortable coming off the bench.
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If the Playoffs Started Today, a handy page at Yahoo sports that shows what the matchups would be, how the season series went between the teams and who is on the outside looking in.
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quote:A Sabres/Wings series would be awesome. I can hardly imagine the booing Hasek would get for a Finals game here. We would drill him as we usually do, so hopefully Osgood or whoever is comfortable coming off the bench.
I'd love to see that series! I imagine Hasek would probably get about the same treatment in Buffalo that he got here after he left us the last two times then came back. But he's been stellar this season, so I can't really fault him there.
Ozzie played an awesome, awesome game on Tuesday. He's on top of his game, and I think would be totally ready to go in Buffalo.
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Ty Conklin got his first Sabres start and win last night against the Florida Panthers. He weathered a storm of 45 shots, while his mates only managed 20. The Sabres made the shots count, getting 5 in on that old fossil Belfour. Drew Stafford scored twice, and one each for Zubrus, Drury and Pominville. Brian Campbell played an absolutely fantastic game too, assisting on 3 goals with some great passes while soaking up 28 minutes. Unfortunately, Toni Lydman went out with an upper body injury, so we may see Spacek back a day early for tonight's game.
For the fans of other teams: is it just me, or are fewer obstruction penalties being called? I'm hoping it is an aberration but we've only been getting 2 or 3 power plays per game. Normally our team speed helps generate more. Something to keep an eye on.
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Don't even get me started on the crappy officiating lately. The home and home with the Preds had some of the worst officiating I have ever seen.
If they are going to call little crap, then they need to call EVERYTHING to make it fair. Otherwise let's play it like the old days had let all that little crap go, but I'm sick of some of the crappy calls and lack of calls I've seen lately.
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w00t! Sens win again. Great game between the Leafs and Habs too. As always, they went to a shootout, and the Habs ended up taking it.
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Yup yup. All I ask if for the league to consistently call the penalties they promised to call when things started back up. I guess it was a good week for them though, nobody else got cracked in the grill with a stick or severly concussed with a late hit.
The Sabres picked up 6 of 8 points on their current road trip, to stay ahead of the boring Devils for first in the East. The team's play has been uneven of late, but they had a lull last year before getting hot heading into the playoffs. I was not home for HNIC last night, being stuck in a bar filled with old geezers who watched horse racing instead of hockey.
BTW, Vanek isn't soft. Scored his 35th today, still has time to reach 40. Campbell is an assist machine (14th in as many games), and Drew Stafford struck again, making a case to stay in the lineup no matter who comes back.
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Absolute worst call I have ever seen in hockey today in the Wings/Blues game. The puck was clearly over the line, and it was still called a save, losing us the game, especially after letting in Dough Weight's questionable goal, I think the refs just handed the game to St. Louis, totally ridiculous.
We earned that win, which we needed after a horrible game against Columbus. Now we'll have to play that much harder against Anaheim and Nashville next week.
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Absolute worst call I have ever seen in hockey today in the Wings/Blues game. The puck was clearly over the line, and it was still called a save, losing us the game, especially after letting in Dough Weight's questionable goal, I think the refs just handed the game to St. Louis, totally ridiculous.
We earned that win, which we needed after a horrible game against Columbus. Now we'll have to play that much harder against Anaheim and Nashville next week.
Total. Crap.
I'll have to agree with you on that one. Much to my dismay.
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Sometimes I really hate technology, I had this post all set up, then hit the backspace button to get rid of something, and the page went back one and I lost the whole post.
Anyway, the abbreviated version, this is a survey taken from 80,000 fans of all 122 professional sports teams in the four major sports.
The Buffalo Sabres rank first, as the team that provides the most overall fan satisfaction.
Detroit has three teams in the top 18, the Pistons are fifth, Tigers 12th, and Wings 18th. Our highest rankings are sixth, ninth and second, respectively, for ownership to fan relations. There's a breakdown in eight different categories you can check out on the link.
Nice that we have three in the top 18, but the Detroit Lions are 122nd. And they deserve it.
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I was waiting for my ESPN the mag to come to post about this, but yeah, the Sabres rule. Interested parties should click on the link for the Sabres to get a brief rundown on what the team has gone through.
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