The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Posted 8:10 AM ET | Comments 4
I'm with Briere on the Rachunek no-goal from game 3(if you heard his post game comments, you know what i mean); it shoulda counted. I understand why it was called no-goal but i didn't agree with it. Yeah, the call tonight was crap, too, but it should never have come to that. When an offensive threat like the 'bres are giving up 2 goals a game, the series should be over by now. Unfortunately, at this point, it looks as if the 'gers want it more than the 'bres and all i can say is i hope you dirty (heh heh.....j/k) Ranger fans get as drunk as possible off of this win only to experience the worst hangover come next sunday evening. Of course, the Sabres will need to show up (did they even leave Buffalo??) and solve the riddle they call Lundqvist.
It's a shame, and much more frustrating, when the Sabres can show up for the final ten minutes of a sixty minute contest, take it down to the wire, and basically tie the game with seconds left. Not frustrating because of "the call" but because the Sabres ARE the cream of the crop in this league yet they sure as hell aren't playing like it. Truth be told, the 'bres stormed back many times from 1, 2, and even 3 goals during the season and it seems as if they've carried that, for lack of a better term, logic into these playoffs. Unfortunately, for them, the playoffs aren't the regular season and you can bet that the other teams are going to play with 100% more tenacity and intensity in the second season.
Plain and simple, what worked for Buffalo in the regular season is coming back to bite 'em in the ass, now. I remember Ryan Miller's comments after the 3 goal come-from-behind win against Toronto at the HSBC Arena, on March 23rd, when he said something to the effect of "The bottom line is: if we're the big, bad team we think we are, we're gonna have to come out and play a full sixty minute hockey game". Well, it looks like it may take the only Sabre that has shown up for both games in the Big Apple to light a fire under his team. You'd think that the team would get the message from Miller's performances over the past four games but he may just have to do it vebally. If I were him, I think I would've crawled out of my skin after the Sabres listless performance last night. Not only is Miller playing well enough for this series to be over already but, over the last 5 or so games, he's been playing the BEST hockey of his career, both mentally and physically. Ironically, Miller may have been the 'bres biggest question mark coming into the playoffs and, now, with the playoffs 9 games old, he seems to be the only Sabre to have shown up game after game, period after period, play after play. He has proven himself as a major playoff performer and, more importantly, one of the top two, if not THE, leader of this team. But it's tough when you're the only guy constantly giving 150%. What makes it even tougher is when you're the GOALIE; ya can't score, ya can't break out, ya can't do much except for stop as many pucks as possible and pray to the hockey gods that your team gets their collective head out of it's ass and scores more than 2 goals a game.
It comes down to keeping the feet moving, getting back to what got you here in the first place and stop looking for excuses like bad ice and bad calls. There are two teams out there playing on the same ice in a game being officiated by the same refs. Enough of this awful excuse for playoff hockey from these clowns. It's time to buckle down and PLAY HOCKEY...not just hockey but Sabres hockey, something we've seen for about a total of fifteen of two-hundred eighty (yeah, that's 280) minutes played so far in this series (for you fractionistas out there, that's 1/18 of the seires thus far). Thus, I'd like to call out a few Sabres and challenge them to show up for game 5 on friday night>>>>>
AFINOGENOV
BRIERE
CAMPBELL
CONNOLLY
DRURY
HECHT
KALININ
LYDMAN
MAIR (maybe not as much as the others but nonetheless)
NUMMINEN
POMINVILLE
ROY
SPACEK
STAFFORD
TALLINDER
VANEK (the only Sabre who has been more or less consistent other than Miller)
ZUBRUS (he was a monster in games 1&2...not so much since)
..............good day!>>>>>>edited for cleon d
It's a shame, and much more frustrating, when the Sabres can show up for the final ten minutes of a sixty minute contest, take it down to the wire, and basically tie the game with seconds left. Not frustrating because of "the call" but because the Sabres ARE the cream of the crop in this league yet they sure as hell aren't playing like it. Truth be told, the 'bres stormed back many times from 1, 2, and even 3 goals during the season and it seems as if they've carried that, for lack of a better term, logic into these playoffs. Unfortunately, for them, the playoffs aren't the regular season and you can bet that the other teams are going to play with 100% more tenacity and intensity in the second season.
Plain and simple, what worked for Buffalo in the regular season is coming back to bite 'em in the ass, now. I remember Ryan Miller's comments after the 3 goal come-from-behind win against Toronto at the HSBC Arena, on March 23rd, when he said something to the effect of "The bottom line is: if we're the big, bad team we think we are, we're gonna have to come out and play a full sixty minute hockey game". Well, it looks like it may take the only Sabre that has shown up for both games in the Big Apple to light a fire under his team. You'd think that the team would get the message from Miller's performances over the past four games but he may just have to do it vebally. If I were him, I think I would've crawled out of my skin after the Sabres listless performance last night. Not only is Miller playing well enough for this series to be over already but, over the last 5 or so games, he's been playing the BEST hockey of his career, both mentally and physically. Ironically, Miller may have been the 'bres biggest question mark coming into the playoffs and, now, with the playoffs 9 games old, he seems to be the only Sabre to have shown up game after game, period after period, play after play. He has proven himself as a major playoff performer and, more importantly, one of the top two, if not THE, leader of this team. But it's tough when you're the only guy constantly giving 150%. What makes it even tougher is when you're the GOALIE; ya can't score, ya can't break out, ya can't do much except for stop as many pucks as possible and pray to the hockey gods that your team gets their collective head out of it's ass and scores more than 2 goals a game.
It comes down to keeping the feet moving, getting back to what got you here in the first place and stop looking for excuses like bad ice and bad calls. There are two teams out there playing on the same ice in a game being officiated by the same refs. Enough of this awful excuse for playoff hockey from these clowns. It's time to buckle down and PLAY HOCKEY...not just hockey but Sabres hockey, something we've seen for about a total of fifteen of two-hundred eighty (yeah, that's 280) minutes played so far in this series (for you fractionistas out there, that's 1/18 of the seires thus far). Thus, I'd like to call out a few Sabres and challenge them to show up for game 5 on friday night>>>>>
AFINOGENOV
BRIERE
CAMPBELL
CONNOLLY
DRURY
HECHT
KALININ
LYDMAN
MAIR (maybe not as much as the others but nonetheless)
NUMMINEN
POMINVILLE
ROY
SPACEK
STAFFORD
TALLINDER
VANEK (the only Sabre who has been more or less consistent other than Miller)
ZUBRUS (he was a monster in games 1&2...not so much since)
..............good day!>>>>>>edited for cleon d
(Feel free to break your writing up into paragraphs any time now bro!) I think Hecht comes out for Goose
Good article. Well said. As a Rangers fan here's a tip for your Sabres to use - Go at Malik every time he's on the ice, and unfortunately for the Rangers and their fans it's a lot.
There's a few people on that list I don't think belong, but your sentiment is hard to argue with. Go Sabres.
A Peter-Gabriel-Genesis Reference.... well done!!! * thumbs up *