Ok, What Happened?

[Rabbit151]

As I said on the game day thread, they could have put the Cirque de Soleil in the Sens end of the rink to entertain the fans on that side of the arena and the performance would have gone un-interrupted by the Sabres.

 

We all knew the Sabres weren't going to win every game, but the way they lost is what's troubling. You can put all the positive spin on it you want...Miller was great, they played bad but still had a chance to win....but the fact is the Sabres were beat down, hard.

 

We won't have to ask questions much longer though. This is a tough week coming up. The Sabres are playing Carolina and Ottawa, and as the more tired team due to the schedule.

 

It was really disappointing to see how badly they were outplayed, outhustled, outhit by the Senators. The Sabres had no answer for the Sens speed and effort.

 

Here's my positives, I only saw the first 2 periods by the way, but I liked Kotalik believe it or not. I actually saw him use his speed, he can really fly. I saw a lot of determination from him. Normally when I see him, he just kind of appears in time to score a goal, he's not a take control of the game kind of guy. It was a huge game for the Sabres and I liked kotalik's effort a lot.

[hopeleslyobvious]

When you speak of desparation, what were the two Sabres thinking when they allowed the Senator player to skate the length of the ice without making an attempt to knock the puck away from him.

 

There were plenty of other examples. I think they are too numerous to name.

[nfreeman]

As I said on the game day thread, they could have put the Cirque de Soleil in the Sens end of the rink to entertain the fans on that side of the arena and the performance would have gone un-interrupted by the Sabres.

 

We all knew the Sabres weren't going to win every game, but the way they lost is what's troubling. You can put all the positive spin on it you want...Miller was great, they played bad but still had a chance to win....but the fact is the Sabres were beat down, hard.

 

We won't have to ask questions much longer though. This is a tough week coming up. The Sabres are playing Carolina and Ottawa, and as the more tired team due to the schedule.

 

It was really disappointing to see how badly they were outplayed, outhustled, outhit by the Senators. The Sabres had no answer for the Sens speed and effort.

 

Here's my positives, I only saw the first 2 periods by the way, but I liked Kotalik believe it or not. I actually saw him use his speed, he can really fly. I saw a lot of determination from him. Normally when I see him, he just kind of appears in time to score a goal, he's not a take control of the game kind of guy. It was a huge game for the Sabres and I liked kotalik's effort a lot.

 

 

Rabbit -- I don't think anyone would dispute that for the 1st 2 periods we got outplayed and that we were outplayed to a disappointing/disturbing degree. Personally, I think we were a little uptight and the penalties got us out of our rhythm early. Losing Connolly and Hecht really hurt (I know, Ottawa doesn't have Havlat or Dominik, but the Sabres lost 2 critical players at the last minute). Also, Ottawa simply has awesome potential and they always seem to bring their A game when they play the Sabres.

 

However, I think we outplayed them in the 3rd period (which I guess you didn't get to see or you chose not to watch out of disgust). We were all over them, with multiple good scoring chances, in the last 10 minutes, and if we hadn't had to kill a 2-man shorthanded situation with 7 minutes to go, I think we would've tied the game.

 

The other positive I'll take away from the game is that Miller is back to 100% sharpness. If he keeps playing like that and we get Connolly and Hecht back, we can beat that team. They are awesome, but we can beat them.

 

Go Sabres.

 

PS: I think Chara is an unrestricted free agent after the season. I wouldn't mind seeing him in a Sabres jersey. Holy mackarel he is good.

[Rabbit151]

I usually have to miss all Saturday games due to work. I was real happy to see that I didn't have to be at work last Saturday quite as early as usual. Maybe I was bad luck for the team. As soon as I stopped watching, i guess they made a game of it.

 

I'm not too worried about that one game though. I think the next 3 games will really tell the tale as to whether or not a Stanley Cup is on the horizon. Can they out-skate Carolina and Ottawa?

[bob_sauve28]

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.

Labatt, to me that play was the one that stuck in my damn head about the game. Our two guys just looked lost on that play, and many more.

 

I'll add, we couldn't get to center ice and dump it in, so we tried passing through people and it always bounced to them. Or when we did get a shoot in their defense just gobbled it up and got it quickly moving in the other direction.

[LabattBlue]

 

PS: I think Chara is an unrestricted free agent after the season. I wouldn't mind seeing him in a Sabres jersey. Holy mackarel he is good.

I would love to see Chara in a Sabres uniform, but he is going to command as big a salary as any UFA on the market. I think our chances our somewhere between slim and none, but you never know. :)