Yeah, I know, I said I didn't really care what the Sabres did against the Hurricanes..well..I lied.
-Hey Craig Rivet, you are Lindy Ruff's latest target in taking away ice time and sending a message to the team. So how do you respond? By getting a stupid cross-checking penalty in the first period that leads to a goal. Totally undisciplined. Of course, Rivet had an opportunity to make amends for it in O.T. when he was in on a nice give and go, but...he hit the post-
-Have you ever seen a 3 on zero break in a hockey game?! I can't even think of a good joke to describe that situation. Did the Sabres think the period had ended and decided to get off the ice? Did the Sabres think the last airplane for the Olympic break was leaving in 10 minutes? Did they think that Lindy Ruff wanted them to ride the stair masters during the period? Did the Sabres think the Cellino and Barnes graphic literally came out from under the ice? Maybe it was a dastardly plan amongst the world's nations to make Ryan Miller have a heart attack before the Olympics? Just inexcusable. If players are that out of breathe and need to make a line change, then maybe they should change their seats to the press box-
-I don't know what to make of Ryan Miller. Honestly, I know everyone will say that he must be tired. However, if look at the NHL stats, Miller is tied for 9th in games played, and is only separated by two games from 12th place. Hell, Martin Brodeur is 38-years old, and still plays every single night. I think a lot of it has to do with the Sabres defense. Remember how good Lalime looked at the beginning of the season. Heck, he gave up one goal to the Blackhawks and Penguins combined. Lalime's play against the Blue Jackets looked kind of similar to the way Miller has played over the last 12 games. That's what happens when your defense starts falling apart. Having Steve Montador falling to the ice with a blown tire, and having giveaways galore isn't helping Miller or Lalime out. However, you can't ignore the fact that Miller has been letting in a lot of bad goals recently. Maybe, Miller's hot start was just an aberration and he's just not as good as we all thought. I'm not saying he's bad, but maybe the system's flaws have made him go from an elite goalie to just a good goalie-
-Hey Craig Rivet, you are Lindy Ruff's latest target in taking away ice time and sending a message to the team. So how do you respond? By getting a stupid cross-checking penalty in the first period that leads to a goal. Totally undisciplined. Of course, Rivet had an opportunity to make amends for it in O.T. when he was in on a nice give and go, but...he hit the post-
-Have you ever seen a 3 on zero break in a hockey game?! I can't even think of a good joke to describe that situation. Did the Sabres think the period had ended and decided to get off the ice? Did the Sabres think the last airplane for the Olympic break was leaving in 10 minutes? Did they think that Lindy Ruff wanted them to ride the stair masters during the period? Did the Sabres think the Cellino and Barnes graphic literally came out from under the ice? Maybe it was a dastardly plan amongst the world's nations to make Ryan Miller have a heart attack before the Olympics? Just inexcusable. If players are that out of breathe and need to make a line change, then maybe they should change their seats to the press box-
-I don't know what to make of Ryan Miller. Honestly, I know everyone will say that he must be tired. However, if look at the NHL stats, Miller is tied for 9th in games played, and is only separated by two games from 12th place. Hell, Martin Brodeur is 38-years old, and still plays every single night. I think a lot of it has to do with the Sabres defense. Remember how good Lalime looked at the beginning of the season. Heck, he gave up one goal to the Blackhawks and Penguins combined. Lalime's play against the Blue Jackets looked kind of similar to the way Miller has played over the last 12 games. That's what happens when your defense starts falling apart. Having Steve Montador falling to the ice with a blown tire, and having giveaways galore isn't helping Miller or Lalime out. However, you can't ignore the fact that Miller has been letting in a lot of bad goals recently. Maybe, Miller's hot start was just an aberration and he's just not as good as we all thought. I'm not saying he's bad, but maybe the system's flaws have made him go from an elite goalie to just a good goalie-
-Miller's comments about the team playing like "fragile kids" is a telling point. Maybe he's sick of having to bail this team out every single night. It could also be a sign that he's just buckling under the pressure of having to be the man every single night. I just don't know..any help out there?-
-Give it up for Derek Roy. Yes, he ticks all of us off to no end, but you can tell the guy played with desperation against the Canes. He was battling around the net and earned his two goals-
-Tell me if you've heard this one before? Where is Thomas Vanek?-
-Can we please make a move? You know, when I start thinking of bagging on Lindy Ruff for not getting the most out of his players, I start thinking back to 2005-2007. Seeing the talent he had to deal with makes me understand how much Ruff can do when he has the tools to win (John Rigas, anyone?). Talent wins a lot in sports, which leads to the bottom line: The Sabres don't have enough talent to deal with the likes of Ottawa, Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Washington. Hell, I think the Flyers have more talent. I've said it once and I'll say it again, take away Ryan Miller and this team isn't even in the top 10 for the conference. Give Ruff the players to win and the team will succeed-
-As for my rant towards Darcy Regier, can't the GM look back to his 1999 Stanley Cup Finals team? The team was able to shack things up by trading for Stu Barnes, Rhett Warner and Joe Juneau. I'm not asking for Kovalchuk. I'm just asking for guys who will give 60 minutes a night and will be better alternatives than the "fragile kids" that we've had to endure for the last 2 and half years. People can fall in love all they want with the kids from Portland, but history shows that Regier is a way better GM at trading for talent rather than grooming talent-
-Sabres not only fall out of first place, but if the playoffs started today they wouldn't even have home ice in the first round. If that doesn't make your skin crawl, the Sabres are 10 points in front of the 8th place team. Nice, huh-
Not all goalies are built the same way. Some can carry a huge workload and some can't. I don't think Ryan can physically. The defense has fallen off for sure, but he's really looked to be fighting to get into position the last few games. He's not looking nearly so effortless. I think he's a very good goalie. I also think he needs to play 60ish games a season. The last few seasons Brodeue's numbers have caught up with him by the end of the regular season and dipped in the playoffs and that's been a huge factor in the Devils going on in the first round the last three seasons. It's too hard a grind for these guys to be playing that much. If they're not getting enough rest, it's going to show eventually.
ReplyDeleteGood point on Brodeaur, but for him to get tired and there's 26 games left..I just think maybe he's hitting a breaking point mentally. When your goalie has to sit on the bench for 20 minutes prior to a game and visualize what's going to happen out there, it kind of tells me he puts himself under a lot of pressure. Or maybe his just a loon.
ReplyDeleteIf it was just Miller struggling, or just the defense struggling, the team might be able to withstand that. Both struggling at the same time, though, is why we've lost six in a row. I'd say I'm looking forward to the Olympic break, but Miller and half the defense still won't get any rest.
ReplyDeleteIf you shoot to the net then maybe, just maybe, the puck might go in once in a while. Other teams try it and it seems to work. Poor Ryan.............
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