plenzmd1 Posted May 25, 2006 Report Posted May 25, 2006 lets say Tallinder is out. I think the way the boys attacked the regular season and never once used injuries as an excuse is a positive. Lets face it, we are a TEAM, not a few superstars. This will be one more testament to that fact. Have you heard any of the boys say"man, if we only had Timmy or Dmitri, this would be a differant series". If any team can overcome this, this is the one!!!!!
matter2003 Posted May 25, 2006 Report Posted May 25, 2006 I agree we have played thru injuries all year, but most of them were to forwards, which we have plenty of. Connolly, Mair, Dumont, Briere, Hecht were all out for extended periods of time, but we had plenty of others to step in for them... Numminen was the only signinficant loss for any stretch of the regular season on defense. Kalinin was out for a while also, but he wasn't even playing a lot of nihgts back then anyways... It is was asking a lot to make up for 2 defensemen being out and having to dress numbers 7 and 8, but for 3 regulars to be out and having to play with 7,8 and 9 may be too much for any team to overcome. I know if there is any team in the league that can overcome these losses, it's this one, but at some point, you have to have the horses if you want to win the race... We are going to be dressing 3 defensemen that have had little to no action in the NHL this season, let alone during the midst of the Conference Finals. Jillson played very well tonite, but Janik did not have a good game in game 2, and now we have to throw Paetsch into the mix. It's obvious the defense will suffer, I mean we are basically trading Numminen and Tallinder for Janik and Paetsch...that is a very,very, very, very lopsided trade... I would expect the Sabres to play a lot more defensively in game 4 and have the forwards hang back a little more to help in the defensive end... I think honestly think we have to win Game 4 to have a shot at winning this series...if we go back to Carolina tied at 2, we are gonna be in some trouble, especially if none of the defensemen are back by game 5.... I wonder if Lindy will toy with the idea of putting Pominville on defense with the impending return of Mair?
DonInBuffalo Posted May 25, 2006 Report Posted May 25, 2006 I'll repeat what I said in another thread here: Champions overcome adversity. Unless Tallinder had a fake cast and sling, I think it's a safe bet that he's done for this series and probably these playoffs. Of course, that's a huge loss. Numminen skated today, and is hoping to play Friday, which sounds to me like he's likely to return in this series. I've assumed all along this series would go at least 6 games. If he is able to play on Friday, then I'm not particularly worried, especially with the Sabres having the last change where the generally won't have to worry about getting the "wrong D" out there for a particular shift. I strongly disagree that the Sabres "have to win Game 4 to have a shot at winning this series". If they win game 4, they gain a stranglehold on the series, needing to win only one of the remaining three games. If they lose game 4, Carolina regains home ice, but it would still be very much up in the air. Keep in mind that Connolly could return at some point during the series, changing the dynamics of the situation very much.
Knightrider Posted May 25, 2006 Report Posted May 25, 2006 IIRC McKee was out for ~ a month in the November / December time frame also...
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