bob_sauve28 Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 Or did we just not show up to play? Have to admit, I was shocked by how much they hit us and how little we hit them back. It just seemed we were not ready for this game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoner Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 I think questioning this team's heart, desire and work ethic is ridiculous. THIS of all teams. But I think a lot of people are going to analyze the game that way, including apparently Daniel Briere, because they can't face the possibility that Ottawa is better. Nothing that has happened in four games so far indicates otherwise. The Sabres' lone win was in a shootout at home. The other three games were routs. Last night had to be one of the biggest one-goal routs in NHL history. That it was just a one-goal game is a pretty good testament to the heart of this team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 This Sabres team is scary good. But that Ottawa team is freaking incredible AND has the Sabres' number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkman Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 This Sabres team is scary good. But that Ottawa team is freaking incredible AND has the Sabres' number. I guess the best we can hope for is that the Sens play a first round team that really thugs it up against them and either knocks them out or really beats them up so when we face them they might not be full strength. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_sauve28 Posted March 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 I think questioning this team's heart, desire and work ethic is ridiculous. THIS of all teams. But I think a lot of people are going to analyze the game that way, including apparently Daniel Briere, because they can't face the possibility that Ottawa is better. Nothing that has happened in four games so far indicates otherwise. The Sabres' lone win was in a shootout at home. The other three games were routs. Last night had to be one of the biggest one-goal routs in NHL history. That it was just a one-goal game is a pretty good testament to the heart of this team. I do think the Sabres were flat last night--except Miller and Briere--but even so The Senators rocked them. If it had been the other way around and the Senators were flat and we were ready to play, I can't see us putting 50 shots on goal. What's strange is how close we came to winning. Roy hit the post, Kalinin missed empty net, but I guess that's all because Miller stood on his head. I don't mind losing so much, but getting the sh*t kicked out of us was bad, real bad. That last play of the game really said a lot. We won the draw in thier zone but they got the goal. They simply beat us to the puck. We were flat footed, playing on our heals all night. I do think they are a better team, but we also were caught almost in daze. Was it they were not giving the effort? I don't think so. It was more like they didn't know if to attack or sit back or what. Shocked and awed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjsbu96 Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 I do think the Sabres were flat last night--except Miller and Briere--but even so The Senators rocked them. If it had been the other way around and the Senators were flat and we were ready to play, I can't see us putting 50 shots on goal. What's strange is how close we came to winning. Roy hit the post, Kalinin missed empty net, but I guess that's all because Miller stood on his head. I don't mind losing so much, but getting the sh*t kicked out of us was bad, real bad. That last play of the game really said a lot. We won the draw in thier zone but they got the goal. They simply beat us to the puck. We were flat footed, playing on our heals all night. I do think they are a better team, but we also were caught almost in daze. Was it they were not giving the effort? I don't think so. It was more like they didn't know if to attack or sit back or what. Shocked and awed! I agree that the last thing anyone should do is question the team heart. They played flat last night and heart is based on the longevity of a season, not just one game. Just like if we had won last night, I really do not like to draw anything on one game, but if I had to, I think you may see a young team getting its first real taste of 'postseason' atmosphere. The Sens have been pretty strong for a few years now - guys that have played together and have played in the postseason. We have a young team, that has not played together all that long and no matter how well you have played there is something different about a postseason atmosphere, saturday night, on-the-road kind of game. The players squeeze the stick, starting second-guessing everything, and forgot how to play the game that got them here. It goes one of two ways from here - the first is that Ottawa has our number the rest of the year and/or in to the playoffs, but the team learns and grows stronger from it. Or, it was an aberration and this cinderella improbable season continues and we turn it around next time. Either way, I can be happy with what will happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimFandango Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 Ottawa is good... we are good... and even if they are better than us... they are not 26 shots better than us every single night.... nor are they 26 shots better than us through two periods... chalk it up to Ottawa having a great night... and us having an ok night... and we got swept away... if both teams are on all cylinders and 100% healthy (without Peters in the lineup for us)... i think it is a closer game (regardless of the victor) BTW Peters played 1:56 last night... and was the least played Sabre... Varada played 8:00 and Shubert played over 6 minutes... I know everyone loves to hate peters, but i appreciate what he does for this team when it is appropriate for him to do it. However, he should not and would not normally be on the ice against the Sens. We were in a numbers game and had to give someone the ice time, which meant our forwards got overworked. We will have a chance to get back at them next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 I know everyone loves to hate peters, but i appreciate what he does for this team when it is appropriate for him to do it. However, he should not and would not normally be on the ice against the Sens. We were in a numbers game and had to give someone the ice time, which meant our forwards got overworked. We will have a chance to get back at them next week. This is why in a situation like this, you bring up a guy like Paille or Novotny who can skate a regular shift and make a contribution instead of dressing Peters and letting him sit the bench for the whole game because he has nothing to add. As a result of dresing Peters, you end up having to double shift some of the other forwards in order to roll four lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seannie34 Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 I think that one of our real problems last night was the lack of passing to get through the neutral zone. I saw Vanek atleast twice try to skate through 4 defenders rather than pass the puck. Usually we get good setup passes to create the fast break but last night players wanted to skate the puck in themselves. The in the OT win over Ottawa the players looked like they didnt care who they were playing they were just playing there game but last night they looked sort of intimidated. I think they thought too much about the importance of the game and then they came out flat. Atleast Miller was there to save our butts or it wouldve been alot worse. Drury also took some very uncharacteristic penalties that didnt help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 Some observations: 1) Ottawa is still the best team in the league. 2) The Sabres looked like they had the yips, they had been looking forward to this matchup for too long and looked tenative and a step slow. After the first two Ottawa goals I had the feeling that that was not the worst thing in the world to happen, after that they seemed to relax and begin to skate better. 3) Emery makes Ottawa beatable - a healthy Hasek makes them unbeatable. 4) Anyone see a replay of the dive call on Brier? That penalty was a killer. I didn't see a replay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHAAAUGHT!!! Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 I'm gonna make this real easy for everyone. The Sabres were a tired, worn out team, no more, no less. They have been playing too many games lately to be able to keep up with Ottawa last night. It didn't help that they lost one of their best defensive players in Hecht and when they had their string off penalties they often had at least one, sometimes two defensemen in the box. Ottawa is too quick of a team to have our defense playing extended penalty kills against them when they were worn out before the game even started. It's not the time to freak out and get worried we can't compete with the top teams in this league. If your questioning that you should really try to watch more hockey. Look at it this way, they Sabres were outplayed 1000000 to 1, and it was still only 3-2 with 1 minute to go, that's not too shabby. They can't win them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock DJ Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 Keep those rose colored glasses on bud. :) "Tired" teams don't finish because they don't have the stride in them. The goals last night were because specific players DIDN'T, not because they COULDN'T. Whether they were in awe, starstruck, indecisive, intimidated, or whatever you want to call it, tired is not the word I would use. The ENG looked more of indecision. Neither Tallinder nor Kotalik chased the puck, thinking the other was going to get it. Oh well....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoner Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 Shaaaught (best screenname on this board, BTW)... Your post makes good sense except for the "tired" business. I don't buy it. Ottawa has been playing as many games as the Sabres. How long is the flight to Ottawa? Maybe 45 minutes. It's all well and good for the fans not to overreact to the loss, and I think most fans appear to be taking it in stride. I am a little concerned about Briere's remarks though. Hopefully said in the bitter aftermath of a big loss. Does he really think the Sabres have an "issue" that needs to be resolved before the playoffs? "We show up with no effort by so many guys, that's just embarrassing. I don't know how to explain it, but there's definitely an issue here that we'll have to resolve before the playoffs start." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHAAAUGHT!!! Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 There were definately players that didn't give a decent effort last night; I completely agree with that. I think it was just a bad game, which is bound to happen to a team in an 82 game season no matter how good they are. The combination of getting into early penalty trouble, 10 hard played games in 18 days, and not having very good skaters (Peters and Pyatt) fill in for Connolly and Hecht were all a factor into this loss too. That being said, I can't wait until Adam Mair suits back up. If we had him in the line up last night instead of Peters Lindy would have probably been able to roll all 4 lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR HOLLIDAY Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 Don't forget that Ottawa is well known for screwing things up come playoff time. <They have that to fight through as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan in MD Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 The loss of Hecht really hurt. Lindy was forced to improvise against, probably, the best team in the league. Beating Ottawa at full strength is difficult. Suddenly having to do so without one of your best two-way players makes it doubly difficult. Also, that you can make up an early deficit against most teams in the league does not necessarily mean it will happen against a team like Ottawa. Hopefully, this game was a learning experience, in that regard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_sauve28 Posted March 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 The loss of Hecht really hurt. Lindy was forced to improvise against, probably, the best team in the league. Beating Ottawa at full strength is difficult. Suddenly having to do so without one of your best two-way players makes it doubly difficult. Also, that you can make up an early deficit against most teams in the league does not necessarily mean it will happen against a team like Ottawa. Hopefully, this game was a learning experience, in that regard. Ottawa is missing key players, too. I don't think that was the issue. The Sabres didn't hit, they made bad decisions, they got caught flat footed many times and they didn't look like they deserved to be on the same ice surface as the Senators. Someone on here pointed out that the Senators have much more playoff experience and I think that showed last night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePolishSabre Posted March 20, 2006 Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 My observation... WNY over reacting once again. We lost to the Sens, big deal. We can't go 82-0 it would be something, but it will never happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matter2003 Posted March 20, 2006 Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 I've said it before and I'll say it again: For some reason we are afraid and intimidated by the Senators. Yes they are a good team, but we have played other teams that are considered elite teams and didn't play like we were scared to death of them. I am not sure what it is about them that rattles us so much---could it be their freakish 7 footer Chara that un-nerves our players?? I mean I think we turned the puck over more times in this game than we did in the previous 8...on routine forechecks our defensemen acted like the puck was a grenade about to explode and just got rid of it however they could---usually right onto an Ottawa players stick. It looked almost like a little league hockey game at times where Ottawa would send 1 player in to forecheck and the Sabres player would seemingly freak out and throw the puck anywhere without looking. It is obvious that this team is intimidated by a player or players on Ottawa and they need to get over it in a hurry because it would be an ugly series if they play like that for all 4 games of a series that we would likely get swept in... That is not to say we can't play with them---I most certainly feel we can, but we have to play Ottawa the same way as we do all the other teams we play---we cannot be afraid or intimidated by them because we already have lost the game before it begins if we are... Matter2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoner Posted March 20, 2006 Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 Hey matter... I don't really have a comment on your post. I just noticed it was your second post here and wanted to say welcome and keep 'em coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodfella25 Posted March 20, 2006 Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 I've said it before and I'll say it again: For some reason we are afraid and intimidated by the Senators That about sums it all up. I think we are so worried about getting beat by their skilled players that it takes us off our game and basically makes us play timid hockey. There are 2 things, IMO, that cost us the game the other night. The first is the fact that this team refuses to step up when a game gets physical. Aside from the Kasparaitis incident, and maybe when McKee got jumped by Smith in Edmonton, there are really only a handful of games I can think of where this team was able to withstand hits and throw some back. Chris Neil was running our players all game, particually McKee, and NO ONE responded. No one wanted to trouble themselves to throw a hit. God forbid Pyatt drops his purse to throw a hit, but I am sure "he just needs more time to develop." <_< Sure there were scrums after the whistle...but last time I checked it's what happens between whistles that counts. The second is that much like Carolina, the Senators defense is vastly superior to ours. People can defend our defense all they want, but when it comes down to it they don't play smart. The Sens were able to be aggressive (by pinching) yet did not get caught with too many odd man rushes going the other way, and our defense was the complete opposite. It also helps when your anchor is 6'9 Chara. I know many people on this board agree with me that we have needed a top four defenseman all year long, and it never happened. There were some available, so I don't buy the "we are always looking to improve our club/when the deal is right" rhetoric Regier loves. I know many also believe that nobody should be second-guessing Darcy at this point, but I am willing to second guess him (as I have all along) for not bringing in someone if we are serious about getting to the cup. If you need further proof of how much better their defense is at getting in/staying in position, look at the final shot count for the game. If Emery saw 48 shots, we would have won the game 7-3. Also adding to their defensive superiority was the fact that their forwards backchecked so well on our timid attack, that we could barely get the puck in past the blueline. They clogged up the neutral zone and held the blueline, while we just let the Sens carry the puck in all night long. Sorry I don't mean to be Mr. Negative, I know this team will be fine, I am just commenting on why I think we lost that game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puma2577 Posted March 20, 2006 Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 how the hell did kalinin miss that empty net????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffalOhio Posted March 20, 2006 Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 how the hell did kalinin miss that empty net????????? Pyatt, too. He must've had some mascara in his eye and lost sight of the target! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeleslyobvious Posted March 20, 2006 Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 how the hell did kalinin miss that empty net????????? Just as important, what the hell was Kalinin doing on the first Ottawa goal. Maybe it wouldn't have done anything, and they still would've scored, but on a shot like that, get desperate and dive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted March 20, 2006 Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 Just as important, what the hell was Kalinin doing on the first Ottawa goal. Maybe it wouldn't have done anything, and they still would've scored, but on a shot like that, get desperate and dive! When you speak of desparation, what were the two Sabres thinking when they allowed the Senator player to skate the length of the ice for the EN goal without making an attempt to knock the puck away from him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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