NHL Playoffs thread...

[Fezmid]

Don't dare criticize "THE GREATEST GOALIE IN THE WORLD!"

 

Not a big-game goalie.

 

Ummm, wasn't Friday night an elimination game? And didn't we win 4-1....

 

Or are you just cherry picking the stats that make you look smart...?

[shrader]

I don't think Miller is a problem. Numbers aren't great but the goal right after the Sabres tied it at 2 was pathetic. Krejic took it from two Sabres, Myers and not sure who the other was and not one of them considered taking the body. Just let him roll out in front of the net.

 

And two cross ice passes to wide open forwards for goals. Miller might be able to stop those, but it's a near miracle when it happens.

[ExiledInIllinois]

I really hope not. Ruff is one of the best things to ever happen to this franchise. Is he perfect...no. But Ruff would be snapped up in a minute if we fired him. And our coaching would be much, much worse. The man can't make chicken soup out of chicken ****. Fix the roster and LIndy would look a lot better. In fact, I daresay, if we had an xtra D-man in 2006 or the NHL called the rule as it was written and called all year in 99 we'd already have two Cups with him as coach. FIring LIndy is something the Bills would do, not the Sabres.

 

I am torn too. If BFLO had any other team than the way it was built now... I could see letting Lindy go. You change the the coach when they are not getting enough out of the players.

 

Lindy is getting EVERYTHING out of them and and then some.

 

I would error on the side of KEEPING him.

 

Not the coaches fault here

[ExiledInIllinois]

Last 3 elimination games....4GA, 3GA, and 4GA for Miller....pattern developing?

 

Discuss.

 

 

Yes.

 

He gets flustered/rattled the bigger the game. Not that I don't like him and want to get rid of him... He is getting better at not coming unglued after allowing one.

 

Flame away some if you must.

[CountDorkula]

Yes.

 

He gets flustered/rattled the bigger the game. Not that I don't like him and want to get rid of him... He is getting better at not coming unglued after allowing one.

 

Flame away some if you must.

 

 

You cant blame 3 of the 4 goals on him yesterday.

 

A lucky deflection, Leaving Recchi all alone on the side of the net, Leaving Satan Alone in front of the net. NOt really Miller fault so i dont understand why people have to trash the best player on our team....

[ExiledInIllinois]

I'd love to see Guerin (or Recchi) brought in to show some of these guys how to be pros. I also think Matt Cullen would be a real nice fit given his PP experience. Agree with respect to Lombardi...he would be a great addition.

 

Is this list right and Frolov is a UFA? Interesting....

 

 

And there is part of the Lindy problem IMO... He is a control freak... Think he can handle a domineering vet player greater then him... The Hasek thing only lasted so long... Isn't Lindy still "controlling" the hitting through "system."

 

I agree with what one poster said about the creativity issues...

 

What I am saying is that there are "issues" we as fans just don't see or hear about... And I have been saying this going back to the fiascos a few years ago. There's got to be more interpersonal issues below the surface. It seemed Lindy has come a bit farther in re-engineering himself... But there is still work to be done...

 

For now we are stuck with the Jerry Sloan of the NHL.

 

Signed,

 

Psych in Illinois (I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night)

[ExiledInIllinois]

You cant blame 3 of the 4 goals on him yesterday.

 

A lucky deflection, Leaving Recchi all alone on the side of the net, Leaving Satan Alone in front of the net. NOt really Miller fault so i dont understand why people have to trash the best player on our team....

 

 

I know, I know... It was a tight/bum series... It just sucks. BFLO goes what? 0-20 on the PP... SO DOES BOS until they put two in the basket yesterday.

 

 

 

Hockey Gods hate us!

[Chef Jim]

You cant blame 3 of the 4 goals on him yesterday.

 

A lucky deflection, Leaving Recchi all alone on the side of the net, Leaving Satan Alone in front of the net. NOt really Miller fault so i dont understand why people have to trash the best player on our team....

 

They don't understand the game. I saw none of those games on TV and listened to most of them online and even I could tell he wasn't getting a lot of support up front. How many give aways in the defensive zone where there? And going 0 for the series on the powerplay? Come on, that's just embarrassing and try to blame either of those on Miller.

[EndZoneCrew]

If you can beat em in the alley, you can beat em on the ice.

- Conn Smythe

 

Disgraceful. Absolutely disgraceful.

 

How else does one describe the Buffalo Sabres gutless, spineless, shameless, cowardly, embarrassing, humiliating performance in the first round of the NHL playoffs? Bostons 4-3 victory in Game 6 mercilessly brought to an end one of the most shameful episodes in team history.

 

Things started off fine when Thomas Vaneks hot hand propelled Buffalo to an expected Game 1 win, but an ominous tone was set after Toni Lydman ran like a girl when challenged by Milan Lucic. Boston knew then and there that if they couldnt beat them on the ice, they could beat them in the alley.

 

The turning point in the series came early in Game 2 when Bostons Johnny Boychuck chopped Vanek down with a slash across the ankles, forcing him out of the series for four games, and shifting the momentum in favor of the Bruins for good. Buffalo would eventually give up three unanswered 3rd period goals, bowing to Boston 5-3. The Bruins would never look back.

 

Boychucks Game 2 cheapshot went unanswered, and the Bruins would take the next three games, and control of the series. In Game 3, Boychuck nearly decapitated Buffalos Matt Ellis with a vicious open-ice hit that, again, went unanswered by the timid, girlish Sabres. By the end of the night the Bruins had, in effect, made Buffalo their jailhouse bitches.

 

If you think youve seen this before, you have. It happened to former captain, Pat LaFontaine, who was severly concussed by an opponents elbow, his career cut short by the devastating blow. Captain Clutch Chris Drury endured a similar fate at the hands of Ottawas Chris Neil, whose head-shot drove Drurys face into the ice, leaving him prostrate in a pool of blood. The Sabres never made Neil pay for his dirty deed and the Senators have owned Buffalo ever since. Drury wisely requested a trade before he was killed.

 

Watching Boychuck, Lucic, Sean Thornton, and Zdeno Chara repeatedly bully and taunt Buffalo forced one to recall the many gutless Sabres teams of the 1980s captained by their useless, incompetent coach, Lindy Ruff. Ruff routinely served as a human punching pag for the likes of Bruins Gord Kluzak and Cam Neely, who greatly assistied him in developing his loser persona. His inexplicable longevity in the league can only be explained by a pact with the Devil.

 

Ruff was an absolute waste of space behind the bench, league officials clearly having even less respect for him than they do his pathetic players. By Game 6, referees and linesmen looked the other way as Ruff stood quietly behind the sorriest bunch of sissies the league has ever seen. Maybe Tom Golisano can cut his loses by selling billboard space on his gargantuan forehead.

Just how completely the Sabres submitted themselves to Boston became evidently clear at the conclusion of Game 5, when the Bruins sent Buffalo a message after the games final whistle. Even the effeminate Miroslav Satan got into the act, roughing up goalie Ryan Miller and getting away with it. Fittingly, Satan would deliver the coup de grace by scoring the game-winning goal in Game 6.

 

The Bruins strategy was not a new one. Bostons classic teams of the 1970s played under the tag, Big Bad Bruins, and the reputation was well-earned. Wayne Cashman, Terry OReilly, Stan Jonathan and John Wensink terrorized the league for over a decade, and gave their club a chance against more talented teams, like the Montreal Canadians dynasty. They would even challenge the Habs for the Stanley Cup three times.

 

Boychuck, Thronton, Lucic and Chara simply implemented a war plan that has worked since boys started playing pond hockey in the Great White North.

 

Well, I hate to say I told you so but this comes as no surprise to this writer. The Sabres organization has been cursed by incompetent ownership from the start, the Knox brothers unable to maximize the potential of the French Connection. 1st Round exits would eventually become an annual rite of Spring in Western New York. Twenty years later, Buffalo would similarly squander the talents of goaltender Dominik Hasek, as they presently are now with Ryan Miller.

 

Just when you thought things couldnt get any worse for the club, they did. The John Regis era ended scandalously when he and his son were convicted of fraud in 2004. Both continue to languish in federal prison. Fortunately, Tom Golisano saved the team from extinction, but all doubts as to whether or not the city of Buffalo is cursed were complete erased when he handed the clubs day-to-day operations over to former team president, Larry Quinn.

 

It should be interesting to hear how the effeminate Quinn puts a happy face on this years playoff debacle. The architect of the infamous Ted Nolan/John Muckler fiasco has turned the Buffalo Sabres into to pathetic hodgepodge of weak, cowardly metrosexuals, unable and unwilling to stand up for themselves or the jerseys they are paid handsomely to wear.

 

I admit I breathed a sigh of relief when Golisano bought the team but that feeling has now turned to one of complete revulsion. The teams present incarnation, comprised nearly entirely of useless, pathetic cowards, is an offense to the city of Buffalo and the great game of hockey.

I have to agree with almost all of this

-One fan's perspective (bnn.com)

[Chef Jim]

I know, I know... It was a tight/bum series... It just sucks. BFLO goes what? 0-20 on the PP... SO DOES BOS until they put two in the basket yesterday.

 

 

 

Hockey Gods hate us!

 

No, Boston had 6 PPG including the two last night.

[Cornerville]

No, Boston had 6 PPG including the two last night.

 

 

So much for the #1 PK unit in the NHL

[KD in CA]

Yes.

 

He gets flustered/rattled the bigger the game. Not that I don't like him and want to get rid of him... He is getting better at not coming unglued after allowing one.

 

Flame away some if you must.

 

How about if we just point out that you are full of sh-- as usual. At what point in the Olympics did he become flustered or rattled?

 

But yeah, good idea to blame the goalie in a series that had about 50 defensive end turnovers and a PP that was 0-for-series.

[bills_fan]

EZC -

 

Don't know who wrote that, but I disagree with a lot of it. In fact, the rant may have a few valid points, but is so poorly written that the points are lost.

[Delete This Account]

Yes.

 

He gets flustered/rattled the bigger the game. Not that I don't like him and want to get rid of him... He is getting better at not coming unglued after allowing one.

 

Flame away some if you must.

he overplayed the final, and as it turns out, decisive goal, and was trying to do too much on Recchi's tally from down low (however, the blame on that one should go to Connolly for putting the Sabres down a man to begin with). however, Miller had little chance on the other two.

-- perfect deflection in front.

-- two sabres get beaten behind the net, and no one checks the front.

 

and even on the last one, Miller made what should have been the difference-making save by somehow gettting his paddle back to stop Satan on the initial chance. how the Sabres failed to clear the zone after that is beyond me.

 

boston was better. and the difference wasn't in goal, but came down to which top forwards played better.

 

jw

[Dante]

If you can beat em in the alley, you can beat em on the ice.

- Conn Smythe

 

Disgraceful. Absolutely disgraceful.

 

How else does one describe the Buffalo Sabres gutless, spineless, shameless, cowardly, embarrassing, humiliating performance in the first round of the NHL playoffs? Bostons 4-3 victory in Game 6 mercilessly brought to an end one of the most shameful episodes in team history.

 

Things started off fine when Thomas Vaneks hot hand propelled Buffalo to an expected Game 1 win, but an ominous tone was set after Toni Lydman ran like a girl when challenged by Milan Lucic. Boston knew then and there that if they couldnt beat them on the ice, they could beat them in the alley.

 

The turning point in the series came early in Game 2 when Bostons Johnny Boychuck chopped Vanek down with a slash across the ankles, forcing him out of the series for four games, and shifting the momentum in favor of the Bruins for good. Buffalo would eventually give up three unanswered 3rd period goals, bowing to Boston 5-3. The Bruins would never look back.

 

Boychucks Game 2 cheapshot went unanswered, and the Bruins would take the next three games, and control of the series. In Game 3, Boychuck nearly decapitated Buffalos Matt Ellis with a vicious open-ice hit that, again, went unanswered by the timid, girlish Sabres. By the end of the night the Bruins had, in effect, made Buffalo their jailhouse bitches.

If you think youve seen this before, you have. It happened to former captain, Pat LaFontaine, who was severly concussed by an opponents elbow, his career cut short by the devastating blow. Captain Clutch Chris Drury endured a similar fate at the hands of Ottawas Chris Neil, whose head-shot drove Drurys face into the ice, leaving him prostrate in a pool of blood. The Sabres never made Neil pay for his dirty deed and the Senators have owned Buffalo ever since. Drury wisely requested a trade before he was killed.

 

Watching Boychuck, Lucic, Sean Thornton, and Zdeno Chara repeatedly bully and taunt Buffalo forced one to recall the many gutless Sabres teams of the 1980s captained by their useless, incompetent coach, Lindy Ruff. Ruff routinely served as a human punching pag for the likes of Bruins Gord Kluzak and Cam Neely, who greatly assistied him in developing his loser persona. His inexplicable longevity in the league can only be explained by a pact with the Devil.

 

Ruff was an absolute waste of space behind the bench, league officials clearly having even less respect for him than they do his pathetic players. By Game 6, referees and linesmen looked the other way as Ruff stood quietly behind the sorriest bunch of sissies the league has ever seen. Maybe Tom Golisano can cut his loses by selling billboard space on his gargantuan forehead.

Just how completely the Sabres submitted themselves to Boston became evidently clear at the conclusion of Game 5, when the Bruins sent Buffalo a message after the games final whistle. Even the effeminate Miroslav Satan got into the act, roughing up goalie Ryan Miller and getting away with it. Fittingly, Satan would deliver the coup de grace by scoring the game-winning goal in Game 6.

 

The Bruins strategy was not a new one. Bostons classic teams of the 1970s played under the tag, Big Bad Bruins, and the reputation was well-earned. Wayne Cashman, Terry OReilly, Stan Jonathan and John Wensink terrorized the league for over a decade, and gave their club a chance against more talented teams, like the Montreal Canadians dynasty. They would even challenge the Habs for the Stanley Cup three times.

 

Boychuck, Thronton, Lucic and Chara simply implemented a war plan that has worked since boys started playing pond hockey in the Great White North.

 

Well, I hate to say I told you so but this comes as no surprise to this writer. The Sabres organization has been cursed by incompetent ownership from the start, the Knox brothers unable to maximize the potential of the French Connection. 1st Round exits would eventually become an annual rite of Spring in Western New York. Twenty years later, Buffalo would similarly squander the talents of goaltender Dominik Hasek, as they presently are now with Ryan Miller.

 

Just when you thought things couldnt get any worse for the club, they did. The John Regis era ended scandalously when he and his son were convicted of fraud in 2004. Both continue to languish in federal prison. Fortunately, Tom Golisano saved the team from extinction, but all doubts as to whether or not the city of Buffalo is cursed were complete erased when he handed the clubs day-to-day operations over to former team president, Larry Quinn.

 

It should be interesting to hear how the effeminate Quinn puts a happy face on this years playoff debacle. The architect of the infamous Ted Nolan/John Muckler fiasco has turned the Buffalo Sabres into to pathetic hodgepodge of weak, cowardly metrosexuals, unable and unwilling to stand up for themselves or the jerseys they are paid handsomely to wear.

 

I admit I breathed a sigh of relief when Golisano bought the team but that feeling has now turned to one of complete revulsion. The teams present incarnation, comprised nearly entirely of useless, pathetic cowards, is an offense to the city of Buffalo and the great game of hockey.

I have to agree with almost all of this

-One fan's perspective (bnn.com)

Great post. Especially the bold part. Bruins may have lost all respect for the Sabres at that point and maybe Buffalo lost their self respect. Ive scene this exact scenario unfold with teh Sharks against the Oilers a few years back. Milan Mihalic cheap shotted by either Torres or Pasani can't remember. Milan out for the series because of it. But no balls by the Sharks to retaliate. To let the Oilers let them know they can't get away from it. Ron Wilson, in his infinite wisdom, had benched Parker(enforcer) for most of the playoffs so San Jose had no grit out there at all. Needless to say that was the turning point of the series and the Sharks never really got their game back. You have to have toughness out there in the playoffs. Not just an enforcer but everyone has to be willing to take hits to make plays and hit to force mistakes. If you don't have this your not going far.

[ExiledInIllinois]

he overplayed the final, and as it turns out, decisive goal, and was trying to do too much on Recchi's tally from down low (however, the blame on that one should go to Connolly for putting the Sabres down a man to begin with). however, Miller had little chance on the other two.

-- perfect deflection in front.

-- two sabres get beaten behind the net, and no one checks the front.

 

and even on the last one, Miller made what should have been the difference-making save by somehow gettting his paddle back to stop Satan on the initial chance. how the Sabres failed to clear the zone after that is beyond me.

 

boston was better. and the difference wasn't in goal, but came down to which top forwards played better.

 

jw

 

I agree with you John and the other guys... I am getting on Miller probably wrongly because it does seem when one gets in, another or deciding goal gets by... It is strange and unfairly falls on him. Yes, not a lot a softies got by... Again, he is getting better at shrugging them off.

 

The unfortunate thing is that the games were so tight that Lindy couldn't pull what Lavio did with Gerber/Ward back in 2006... And light a fire under his team.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Great post. Especially the bold part. Bruins may have lost all respect for the Sabres at that point and maybe Buffalo lost their self respect. Ive scene this exact scenario unfold with teh Sharks against the Oilers a few years back. Milan Mihalic cheap shotted by either Torres or Pasani can't remember. Milan out for the series because of it. But no balls by the Sharks to retaliate. To let the Oilers let them know they can't get away from it. Ron Wilson, in his infinite wisdom, had benched Parker(enforcer) for most of the playoffs so San Jose had no grit out there at all. Needless to say that was the turning point of the series and the Sharks never really got their game back. You have to have toughness out there in the playoffs. Not just an enforcer but everyone has to be willing to take hits to make plays and hit to force mistakes. If you don't have this your not going far.

 

A player may not retailate... It has been weeded out of the game... And if they do, then those players you are preceived to being "playing" dirty. Now, the victor is mostly the one who can draw first blood. Unfortunate that the players have to live up to such lofty expectations. That is why the game has turned into a piece of crap the last 20 or so years.

[Dante]

A player may not retailate... It has been weeded out of the game... And if they do, then those players you are preceived to being "playing" dirty. Now, the victor is mostly the one who can draw first blood. Unfortunate that the players have to live up to such lofty expectations. That is why the game has turned into a piece of crap the last 20 or so years.

You can push back though by not cheap shotting their skilled players, but taking hard runs at them.

[ExiledInIllinois]

You can push back though by not cheap shotting their skilled players, but taking hard runs at them.

 

Right... It is such a fine line now. My point was that you gotta strike first with the smash mouth play. Of course something the Sabres never do. The game would be so much better if they got rid of the instigator rule. I am not all for goons skating around...

 

Anyway that is the problem with the game... Everybody should be considered a "skilled" player

[WWVaBeach]

After watching all of the series I think this team is in serious need of some fire or grit up front, obviously you do to from your post. Here is a list of free agent forwards this off season. A couple names that stick out to me is Lombardi and Jason Williams. Nice forwards I always have liked Lombardi as he plays very well in playoffs. Always a pain in the ass if your up against him. Jason Williams from a perennial winner Wings. Eric Belanger looks pretty interesting as well. All in all the pickings are pretty slim but maybe these guys could bring some push up front instead of being passive like the Roy, Connolly and so on. I thought Torres would be a nice addition but his best must be behind him as he was benched the last couple games.

 

To me the only person who came game in and game out with grit or fire at least during this series was Grier.