Sabres vs Bruins Recap: 6 Star Edition

Rising Stars

1st Rising Star: Sabres heart and soul

Entering tonight, I was ready to write off the Sabres. I mean, how can you beat a playoff team like the Bruins, when you're missing four players from your regular rotation. I was getting ready to write that tonight's loss was all about not being healthy. Hell, even a cynic like myself, knows that playing with a quarter of your forwards that were in Portland just a week ago is merit for cutting the Sabres some slack. Well, that's why they play the games.

This may have been the Sabres most impressive victory since beating the San Jose Sharks before the Olympic Break. Sorry, but I'm not counting the beat down of the Florida teams. I said a week ago that it was going to be interesting to see what the Sabres would do against playoff teams like the Canadians, Bruins and Senators for the upcoming week. Yes, they lost again to the Senators. However, you can't dismiss their comeback effort against the Canadians. You also can't dismiss their effort for playing with five rookies in their line-up against the Bruins. Both of those winning efforts wouldn't have had happened if it were last year.

2nd Rising Star: The Sabres system

OK, so this is a continuation of the first star. I've been one to scoff at the notion of Sabres fans who try and compare this team to the 05/06 version. However, tonight, I couldn't help myself for going down memory lane of that time period. I remember during that season, the Sabres battled a ton of injuries, mostly due to their sports hernia problem. Even with all the injuries, that Sabres team were still able to find someone to pick up the slack. Tonight's game, had a bunch of kids that only played a handful of pro games, and were still able to play as if they had been 10-year pros. Hell, they made a Bruins vs Sabres game entertaining. I mean, when was the last time you said that?

3rd Rising Star: Tyler Myers

WTF else can I say about Myers. I mean, aren't you suppose to be hitting a rookie wall just about now? Myers 11th goal of the season is the most for a Sabres blue-liner since Brian Campbell had 12 goals in the 05/06 season. You want to talk about exceeding expectations, start with Myers. We all knew that Ryan Miller had the makings of being a great NHL goaltender before this season.

However, at the start of the season, no one in their wildest dreams would have expected this sort of production from a 19-year old kid. Myers, not only has been the Sabres best defenseman, but he has also added a play-making ability that the team has needed on the blue line since Campbell was traded two years ago. You could have also put Tim Kennedy or is Tyler Kennedy (More on that later) into the rising star category for tonight. He's been playing great as of late.

Falling Stars:

1st Falling Star: Tim Thomas

What the hell happened to this guy?! He won the fricken Vezina Trophy last year?! From a Boston stand point, he's got Bill Buckner and Grady Little written all over him. To let in three goals on 13 shots against a Sabres team that wasn't at 100% is totally unacceptable. That dude needs a bro-hug or a shrink couch, ASAP.

2nd Falling Star: Joe Micheletti

Or maybe I should call him Joe Rogan or Doc Emerick, or Michelangelo from the Ninja Turtles. Memo to Versus: You are suppose to be the home of hockey coverage on your stupid network that nobody watches. I counted at least 3x times that play-by-play man, Joe Micheletti, said the name "Tyler Kennedy," when it came to describing the play of Tim Kennedy...or was it Tyler Ennis? Hell, he could have been talking about John F. Kennedy at this point?! Now, this wasn't over one shift or a power play, this was throughout a period. Don't you think someone in the dam truck would have told him that Tyler Kennedy plays on the Penguins? Totally stupid.

3rd Falling Star: Drew Stafford

Was Drew Stafford even on the ice tonight? You would think that with two of the top six forwards not playing tonight, Stafford would at least try and put on his best effort to pick up the slack. Instead, he did absolutely nothing. If there's one top six forward I would love to jettison after this season, it's Stafford. He's done nothing during his career and is lucky enough to even be considered a top 6 guy. The Sabres need to trade this guy while they still can get value for him. Trust me, don't make this into a Max or Kotalik situation where you can only get a bag of pucks for him. The Sabres tried lighting a fire under Stafford when Ruff benched him earlier this season, and it worked..for like two games. Sorry, but Stafford's ship has sailed...actually, more like sunk.