GAME DISCUSSION THREAD

[ROC Sabres]

Gerbe is playing like the biggest 5'5" player I have ever seen.

[gregkash]

Pommers needs to use a new damn stick. He has to have the record for most consecutive games with a stick broken.

[wjag]

Empty Netter by Pominville.. That goes in the books as a SHG...

 

Buffalo: :worthy: :worthy: :worthy: :worthy: Tampa: :censored: :censored:

[shrader]

Gerbe is playing like the biggest 5'5" player I have ever seen.

 

5'4

 

 

I love seeing crappy calls like that boarding call on Kotalik. My god, could he have done any more to avoid the hit? Oh well, I'll take the win, even if Vanek isn't scoring enough goals.

[rickshaw]

Empty Netter by Pominville.. That goes in the books as a SHG...

 

Buffalo: :worthy: :worthy: :worthy: :worthy: Tampa: :censored: :censored:

 

Nice win again after being down by 2 goals. Not a good habit to get into, but I'll take the points.

[SabresFan526]

Well, looks like we have a bit of winning streak going. Only 3 games, two wins against the same team, but I'll take it. Here's my take on tonight:

 

Special teams was big tonight accounting for 2 PP goals and Pommer's SHG.

 

Having watched tonight's game, I know we all knew it, but man Vanek is one talented mofo. He's got some of the best pair of hands in the NHL. And that backhand riser was just absolutely sweet. I hoped Lindy would put him out on the end in the shorthanded situation at the end so that he could get the hat trick, but oh well.

 

Pommer with a big game with a goal and 2 assists tonight. Good to see Pommer break out tonight as he's been in a bit of a funk of late.

 

Really beautiful pass by Kotalik to spring Vanek on the breakaway goal.

 

I'm convinced the NHL refs have it in for the Sabres. I think more so now after Miller filed a complaint with the NHL against one of their brethren. There were many terrible calls, but two in particular was the delay of game on Miller when he froze the puck when St. Louis shot it on net, which is absolutely absurd and then Kotalik's penalty at the end for holding up and barely grazing the guy on the icing. Absolutely ridiculous calls. Whatever, these idiotic calls only serve to pad Buffalo's PK stats, but they are horrible horrible calls.

 

Good game and good win tonight. Let's carry this forward to Friday and keep this thing going.

[R_Dudley]

If we continue to play the way we have for last 2 games(north-south, Puck on net, bodies to the net, forecheck, backcheck, finish checks, pay the czechs(wait Doms not on the team anymore), force play in other end and neutral zone......

 

then IMHO good things happen, the Hockey gods will smile once again on bounces our way and now that the officiating conspiracy has seen the light of day the Sabres continue this win streak and start re-establishing the home ice advantage.... Let s Go Bflo 4-2 Good guys.

Okay now on to the lottery, if only I could get those numbers.

 

Vanek is a superstar!!!

:thumbsup: He's money in the bank,, I mean after he cashes his paycheck right ...

 

What kind of call is that? That is ridiculous. The refs the last two games have been insane.

Okay so the officiating conspiracy is not over , these guys's have become overofficious jerks. That delay I have never seen called , first time warrants a warning if anything...The boarding on Kotalik was Rediculous(I know it's spelled Ridiculous but that ones for you Ink, ;) )

 

Overall a good way to start the home stand however they did start doing that cross ice stuff a few times and got into trouble, they just need to keep it simple north-south, shoot on and drive the net.... Okay next up we get to see Toronto for first time in awhile....

[Stoner]

I'm convinced the NHL refs have it in for the Sabres. I think more so now after Miller filed a complaint with the NHL against one of their brethren. There were many terrible calls, but two in particular was the delay of game on Miller when he froze the puck when St. Louis shot it on net, which is absolutely absurd and then Kotalik's penalty at the end for holding up and barely grazing the guy on the icing.

 

Agree on the Kotalik call. Numminen was also drilled on an icing, Roy was high-sticked (and bled) right in front of the ref and Afinogenov was tripped behind the Tampa net. My theory is that Ruff embellished this whole Miller story to get his team in an us vs. them mindset. As Corp pointed out, it worked pretty well in 05-06. But the downside is that these refs are vindictive. I think it showed tonight.

 

However, the goalie can't freeze the puck with no one around. It was an unusual, but fair, call. Still, there are some weird calls floating around that you almost never see -- delay of game on Vanek, delay on Miller, abuse of officials from the bench, the call on Kotalik on the icing. What's next, a stick measurement?

[Guest Nos]

Wonderful win tonight, fantastic stuff, I'm thrilled about our special teams and the fact that Miller has been HUGE, Vanek is odds to win the scoring title, this is my first post so hello everyone,

meaning to register on one of the Sabers forums since 2006, when I first watched our teams beautiful hockey! The one thing that stands out and the thing that got me so in love with the Buffalo

is the fact that we play as one, and a lack of superstars (of course we have Vanek and Miller but they just blend in the group, and are not pampered like Ovechkin and Corsby). Actually, today's game

is all the evidence for all things that, at least for me, make a hockey team - unity, determination, skill and spirit... so let's go Buffalo, and transfer this play into Friday's game.

[R_Dudley]

Wonderful win tonight, fantastic stuff, I'm thrilled about our special teams and the fact that Miller has been HUGE, Vanek is odds to win the scoring title, this is my first post so hello everyone,

meaning to register on one of the Sabers forums since 2006, when I first watched our teams beautiful hockey! The one thing that stands out and the thing that got me so in love with the Buffalo

is the fact that we play as one, and a lack of superstars (of course we have Vanek and Miller but they just blend in the group, and are not pampered like Ovechkin and Corsby). Actually, today's game

is all the evidence for all things that, at least for me, make a hockey team - unity, determination, skill and spirit... so let's go Buffalo, and transfer this play into Friday's game.

 

Hey rookie welcome to the board. Good post.

 

So is CRO for Croatia ?

 

Regardless welcome and enjoy....

[Knightrider]

Wonderful win tonight, fantastic stuff, I'm thrilled about our special teams and the fact that Miller has been HUGE, Vanek is odds to win the scoring title, this is my first post so hello everyone,

meaning to register on one of the Sabers forums since 2006, when I first watched our teams beautiful hockey! The one thing that stands out and the thing that got me so in love with the Buffalo

is the fact that we play as one, and a lack of superstars (of course we have Vanek and Miller but they just blend in the group, and are not pampered like Ovechkin and Corsby). Actually, today's game

is all the evidence for all things that, at least for me, make a hockey team - unity, determination, skill and spirit... so let's go Buffalo, and transfer this play into Friday's game.

 

Welcome to the board!

[Guest Nos]

Hey rookie welcome to the board. Good post.

 

So is CRO for Croatia ?

 

Regardless welcome and enjoy....

 

Yup, Croatia is where I live, and thnx for the warm welcome guys...

[LabattBlue]

Game thoughts...

 

-Good start for a stretch where 4 out of the next 5 are at home.

 

-Slow start, but a pretty solid 2nd and 3rd periods.

 

-Glad to see Gaustad & Mair dropping them for the 2nd time in 3 games. Back to basics. Play to your strengths.

 

-Both of Vaneks goals were GREAT shots!

 

-Love to see Gerbe mix it up along the boards!

 

 

Time to kick some Maple Leaf ass on Friday!

[wonderbread]

Huge game.

 

Vanek is a pure goal scoring monster!

[Stoner]

Welcome Nos.

 

PASabreFan taps his stick on the ice.

 

Wasn't Dr. Kovach on ER from Croatia?

[Two or less]

Wonderful win tonight, fantastic stuff, I'm thrilled about our special teams and the fact that Miller has been HUGE, Vanek is odds to win the scoring title, this is my first post so hello everyone,

meaning to register on one of the Sabers forums since 2006, when I first watched our teams beautiful hockey! The one thing that stands out and the thing that got me so in love with the Buffalo

is the fact that we play as one, and a lack of superstars (of course we have Vanek and Miller but they just blend in the group, and are not pampered like Ovechkin and Corsby). Actually, today's game

is all the evidence for all things that, at least for me, make a hockey team - unity, determination, skill and spirit... so let's go Buffalo, and transfer this play into Friday's game.

 

Hey, welcome to the forum. Was this game on TV in Croatia?

 

It's really cool to see a fan all the way from Croatia come join and talk Sabres hockey. Talk about a global league. The love Buffalo (city and fans) have with the team is unreal. We truly are passionate about our hockey. I'm glad that people across the pond can be even notice that.

 

Just wondering, how many games have you watched and who you're favorite player is?

[bob_sauve28]

I wonder if we can catch the Pens, who lost again tonight

[nfreeman]

A decent win, but I'm still far from convinced that this team is going to play with desperation and mental toughness on a regular basis. Let's remember that TB is just an awful team -- and they still came out and dominated us at home in the 1st period. Sound familiar? Good teams don't let that happen very often. The Sabres let it happen more often than not.

 

Now we get to an interesting 5 games -- the leafs at HSBC, then home-and-home vs a very hot Devils team, the Kings at HSBC (gee, I wonder whether we'll come out determined and focused for that one? or will we play listlessly and flush another 2 pts down the crapper?), and the habs in Montreal. If we get 7 or more points out of those 5 games, then maybe we have reason for optimism. Anything less than that and there's no reason to think we're anything other than the same spotty team that probably won't make the playoffs again.

 

A few other items on this game:

 

- I had no problem with the ref calling the penalty on Kotalik -- it was a clear violation of the new rule. I did have a problem with Kotalik making a really stupid play to get penalized. Having said that, the non-call on Max getting tripped was pretty egregious.

 

- Miller had a great game

 

- Stafford's giveaway was an atrocious play, but otherwise, he continued his recent run of strong play, including good puck control in the offensive zone.

 

- Also a good game from the Goose and the Pigeon.

 

- It would be great if the empty-netter gets Pommer going. There doesn't seem to be much chemistry between him and Vanek yet.

 

- Gerbe still hasn't really done much, but I like watching him play and he does seem to have gotten things loosened up for Roy.

 

- I'd like to see more from MacArthur and Paille. Lately there's been no offense (points or chances) out of either of them, and no hitting out of Paille.

 

- Both Vanek and Lindy have really fattened up their career stats vs. the Bolts, eh?

[MajorMinotaur]

i think the reason for the kotalik call being so brutal was the fact that the exact same thing happened earlier. Artuiken on our old man teppo. And the refs let it go. In fact Artuiken assumed he was going to get a penalty anyways and just grabbed mairs head. Truth be told he wasn't going to get one. Yes, when you hit someone on an icing they SHOULD get a penalty. But it applies to BOTH teams. Not only was Artuiken's hit harder, he didn't try to let up. Kotalik tried to slow at the last second.

[Guest Nos]

Welcome Nos.

 

PASabreFan taps his stick on the ice.

 

Wasn't Dr. Kovach on ER from Croatia?

 

Yes, but he had a horrible accent - I don't :D

 

Hey, welcome to the forum. Was this game on TV in Croatia?

 

It's really cool to see a fan all the way from Croatia come join and talk Sabres hockey. Talk about a global league. The love Buffalo (city and fans) have with the team is unreal. We truly are passionate about our hockey. I'm glad that people across the pond can be even notice that.

 

Just wondering, how many games have you watched and who you're favorite player is?

 

Hm, how many games, I really don't know, I've been watching hockey since I was 13-14, but I didn't get a chance to truly watch the NHL until my family got a satellite dish when I was

about 16, now I'm 23 and these last couple of years via the internet (let's say the last 3 years) I've been watching a whole heap of games... So you can say I know my hockey, at least

for a Croatian :D I use these sites to watch games live: http://atdhe.net/, http://www.justin.tv - I try to use the first one because it has an extremely good feed, it's like watching TV,

the games that I don't watch live I download from http://www.nhltorrents.co.uk/ - they cap all the games and then the next day post them online. I used to watch the 2006-2007 season

on googlevideo/nhl but then it got shut down, now it's only an archive for some of the old games... I manage since Croatian TV isn't big on hockey... morons. My fav player was Steve

Yzerman, and now I like Ryan Miller, Ilya Kovalchuk, Thomas Vanek, Afinogenov, Kovalev, Koivu, Markov and Price. I like guys who can skate well, but also team players and scorers

(that would put Kovalchuk as my fav player now, but I think it's Vanek - he'll become our leader in many more ways then just goalscoring). Lindy Ruff is my fav coach. PS the reason I like

Buffalo so much is the fact that I'm a big supporter of my hometown football team (soccer) and us fans are sooo passionate about it, the chanting is a tradition here, when we played FC

Arsenal 30 000 fans stayed at the stadium 30 mins after the game chanting and singing even though we lost 0-3. So I enjoy clubs with passionate fans cause I am one, and I'll bring mine

here...

[deluca67]

I went to my first game in a couple of seasons last night. The wife scored awesome tickets from work. 7 rows up right behind Miller (twice).

 

Some observations.

 

The Sabres passing was weak last night. Not crisp at all.

 

It seemed TB was intent on laying a body on Vanek all night. He was getting bumped all night. He is a horse in front of the net.

 

Gerbe's mistake led to the first Vanek goal. He was late getting off the ice and by the time Vanek completed the change he was behind the Tampa D.

 

Gerbe looked like one of the kids they bring out between periods.

 

I think Gaustad has been reading this board and is taking it to heart. He seemed intent on being the physical force a player of his size should be.

 

The Sabres D spends too much time chasing in their own zone. They wasted a lot of energy when they simply should have stayed in position.

 

It was a great time. I didn't even mind paying $8 for a coke and a hot dog. They do need to take the word "Jumbo" off the menus. If that hot dog was "Jumbo" I would hate to see what they would consider a "regular" hot dog.

[That Aud Smell]

I think Gaustad has been reading this board and is taking it to heart. He seemed intent on being the physical force a player of his size should be.

glad to hear you made it out for a game.

 

in terms of dropping them from time to time, i think we can expect to see more of that from goose now that his hand is starting to feel better. i'm glad to took a pass on artyukin [sic] - that could've been ugly. btw, i didn't tune in until the second period - was gaustad in fact penalized for the hit on craig (as neale suggests in the fight clip)?

[sniperwoj]

was gaustad in fact penalized for the hit on craig (as neale suggests in the fight clip)?

 

It was a clean hit. There was no penalty, although the refs probably wanted to call one. <_<

 

I think play was stopped because there was a delay of game penalty.

[inkman]

btw, i didn't tune in until the second period - was gaustad in fact penalized for the hit on craig (as neale suggests in the fight clip)?

No. Last nights game was a poor one for the broadcast team. Harry was his usual senile grandpappy while Rick seemed to miss a lot more than usual. The whistle blew because a TB player had put the puck over the glass in the defensive zone right before Goose hit him. It took them 20 minutes to figure that out.

[LabattBlue]

No. Last nights game was a poor one for the broadcast team. Harry was his usual senile grandpappy while Rick seemed to miss a lot more than usual. The whistle blew because a TB player had put the puck over the glass in the defensive zone right before Goose hit him. It took them 20 minutes to figure that out.

There was one play where Harry said that Stafford had a great chance but the save was made. They show the replay and Harry reiterates what a great chance it was for Stafford while the replay is clearly showing that the puck never got to Stafford and the play was broken up by the defenseman.

 

 

I was never a big Lorentz fan and I thought Neale was going to be great, but he SUCKS! Bring back Barnaby to be the analyst and send Neale packing.