'05-'06 Buffalo Sabres.

[deluca67]

To say I've been down on the direction of this franchise and the talent on this team may be a bit of an understatement. That said. I was shocked at how they played Saturday night. I did not see a collaspe like coming.

 

Watching that game makes me beleive that not only what I have been saying is 100% dead on. I'm starting to think it is worse then I ever imagined.

 

For the first time this season I am almost speechless. I had hoped I was wrong and that this team could prove me wrong. But the weakness thsi team showed I can not find the words to describe.

 

A major change in the comings days needs to happen. If no change comes this team will be out of the playoffs before the new year. This team needs direction, talent and heart. All are traits Regier knows nothing about.

[Taro T]

To say I've been down on the direction of this franchise and the talent on this team may be a bit of an understatement. That said. I was shocked at how they played Saturday night. I did not see a collaspe like coming.

 

Watching that game makes me beleive that not only what I have been saying is 100% dead on. I'm starting to think it is worse then I ever imagined.

 

For the first time this season I am almost speechless. I had hoped I was wrong and that this team could prove me wrong. But the weakness thsi team showed I can not find the words to describe.

 

A major change in the comings days needs to happen. If no change comes this team will be out of the playoffs before the new year. This team needs direction, talent and heart.  All are traits Regier knows nothing about.

I don't know. I think a huge portion of the collapse was due to the WAY Ottawa scored the 1st 2 goals. I was not happy with the thought of going into the 2nd tied 0-0, because if/when Buffalo plays Ottawa that close in a period, they HAVE to come out with the lead. Ottawa can take control of a game too quickly to say "well we came out even and we'll get them next period." That said, the Sabres did play them relatively evenly for the 1st 19:40. Unfortunately, periods are 20:00, not 19:40.

 

Even more unfortunately, they did NOT come out even after the 1st. Emery made a great play(s) on the 1st shorthanded breakaway and then Grier had a major mental malfunction in trying to drop pass. He compounded that by running around in his own end. IMHO he is directly responsible for the 1st goal against. The fact that it came so close to the end of the period magnified its significance tremendously.

 

The Sabres needed to play their best 5 minutes of the season at the start of the 2nd if they wanted to have any chance, as we all knew Ottawa would come out fired up to start the 2nd. When Alfie got the killer bounce off the post and off Marty into the net, that was it. The Heatley goal was immaterial at that point, as the Sabres knew in their hearts that they had just lost the game; just like all us schmucks that post on this board knew they had lost the game.

 

I take (small) consolation from the way the Sabres played in the 3rd. I still say these next 5 games will tell us volumes about how the Sabres will fare this season. All 5 games are winnable. The Sabres SHOULD be able to come out with 4 wins or at minimum 3 wins and a "tie". If they don't, I will start accepting the naysayers' opinions about the team.

 

As an aside, I will give him this next 5 game stretch to change my opinion, because I was very happy when the Sabres traded for him; but unless Grier starts to play hockey, he is my new personnal Smehlik.

[deluca67]

I don't know. I think a huge portion of the collapse was due to the WAY Ottawa scored the 1st 2 goals. I was not happy with the thought of going into the 2nd tied 0-0, because if/when Buffalo plays Ottawa that close in a period, they HAVE to come out with the lead. Ottawa can take control of a game too quickly to say "well we came out even and we'll get them next period." That said, the Sabres did play them relatively evenly for the 1st 19:40. Unfortunately, periods are 20:00, not 19:40.

 

Even more unfortunately, they did NOT come out even after the 1st. Emery made a great play(s) on the 1st shorthanded breakaway and then Grier had a major mental malfunction in trying to drop pass. He compounded that by running around in his own end. IMHO he is directly responsible for the 1st goal against. The fact that it came so close to the end of the period magnified its significance tremendously.

 

The Sabres needed to play their best 5 minutes of the season at the start of the 2nd if they wanted to have any chance, as we all knew Ottawa would come out fired up to start the 2nd. When Alfie got the killer bounce off the post and off Marty into the net, that was it. The Heatley goal was immaterial at that point, as the Sabres knew in their hearts that they had just lost the game; just like all us schmucks that post on this board knew they had lost the game.

 

I take (small) consolation from the way the Sabres played in the 3rd. I still say these next 5 games will tell us volumes about how the Sabres will fare this season. All 5 games are winnable. The Sabres SHOULD be able to come out with 4 wins or at minimum 3 wins and a "tie". If they don't, I will start accepting the naysayers' opinions about the team.

 

As an aside, I will give him this next 5 game stretch to change my opinion, because I was very happy when the Sabres traded for him; but unless Grier starts to play hockey, he is my new personnal Smehlik.

Your right on about Grier.

 

What does it say about the team that they can't overcome a bad play by one player. It was only one goal with 40 minutes left to play. The Sabres never came for the 2nd and 3rd.

 

That 40 minutes was the worst I've seen in 20 years. They had nothing to offer the Sens as far a game goes.

 

All I can say is "Wow". :(

[Taro T]

Your right on about Grier.

 

What does it say about the team that they can't overcome a bad play by one player. It was only one goal with 40 minutes left to play. The Sabres never came for the 2nd and 3rd.

 

That 40 minutes was the worst I've seen in 20 years. They had nothing to offer the Sens  as far a game goes.

 

All I can say is "Wow".  :(

Against Ottawa, I honestly don't know what it says about the team that they can't recover from the miscues at the end of the 1st. Against anyone else, it says some very bad things. Ottawa is clearly better than Buffalo. They are clearly better than at least 24 of the other 29 teams and in my opinion, they are better than the other 5 as well. My guess is that their psyche was crushed after the 1st goal. Even if it wasn't, it definitely was after the 2nd goal. Ottawa is too good, and the Sabres realize that Ottawa is too good, to give them "cheap" goals at either end of a period. The timing of the "Grier goal" was huge. If it happened with 5 minutes to go in the 1st period, maybe they can overcome it. Having the whole intermission to think about it and then giving up the quick goal to Alfreddson just crushed them. I don't think the Sabres consciously "quit" in the game. I just think that the Sabres KNEW they had to play an almost perfect game to beat the Sens. As soon as they were down by 2, they had just enough of a letdown that it grew to 4 before they realized what happened to them.

 

I've watched parts of about 8 Ottawa games this year. These guys are playing the best hockey that I have seen since the Canadiens of the late '70's. I'm sure they have weaknesses, I just haven't been able to figure out what they are so far.

 

Personally, I would say as a whole, the team played worse in HSBC against Ottawa than they did last night. I thought the Sabres did a decent job in the 3rd. They didn't win the period, but they didn't lose it either. Based on getting their butts handed to them over 4 of the previous 5 periods, I consider that a (very minor) moral victory.