I assure you, there won't be many rising stars for tonight's post.
Rising Stars
1st rising star: Bruins Hitting
I've been saying all along that I didn't believe the Bruins could outscore the Sabres. To be honest, I've been kind of arrogant about it. Unfortunately, I totally underestimated Boston's hitting. They beat down the Sabres tonight. I never saw a team take so many hits and not return any sort of retaliation. Yes, I get that the stats showed hits being even. But there's a big difference between seeing Boychuk clobber Matt Ellis and Tim Kennedy hitting someone. I'm thinking mack truck in comparison to a moped.
2nd Rising Stars: Mike Grier/Paul Gaustad/Raffi Torres
Great night for this line. They played extremely well and were the only line to show up on both ends of the ice. I saw passion, I saw hitting, I saw a reason not to crap on Torres for the next day or two. Grier was outstanding and has been the most consist forward for the Sabres in the postseason. I really, really hope the team decides to resign him. Hell, just look at the dam photo I posted! That's a warrior! He's only going to cost you around 1.8 million dollars. You're going to make a fortune off changing the dam uniforms for the 20th time. Please, give some of that money to him.
Falling Stars
1st Falling Star: Top Six forwards
When Mike Grier leads your team in shots on goal (7), you have a problem. Look, I know they are missing Vanek and Hecht, but the effort I saw from these guys tonight was absolutely pitiful. The usual invisible suspects are the same. I don't know how Derek Roy can go from being one of the best Sabre forwards the first two games to being absolutely invisible. Wait a minute. What the hell am I saying? I've seen this dam movie before. Two games on, five games off. It's like listening to a workout video. It's the same thing.
Do I even need to get into Tim Connolly? Yeah, I know. His conditioning isn't there. WTF does he do during rehab? Eat La Nova Chicken Wings? Ever hear of a stationary bike? Not to mention, You missed only 9 games!!! And you're not coming back from a dam torn ACL injury?! I've been saying it all year, the Sabres top six forwards are going to be the death of their playoff run. Tonight's effort proved that. Show some passion, assholes!
2nd Falling Star: No message sent to Boychuk
Look, I'm not the type of person who thinks you need to drop the gloves in order to send a message. I think at times, Buffalo fans get too wrapped up into the team playing like they are at a bar fight on Chippewa Street. However, for this occasion, someone needs to stop this Boychuk a$$hole. He completely laid out Matt Ellis and no one came over to try and shove this guy or pretend to be tough. The Sabres reacted as if Boychuk swatted a fly. No one on the Sabres team gave a rats ass. I saw a scared team tonight that didn't want to get involved with the big bad Bruins. BTW, having Craig Rivet and Andrej Sekera drop the gloves with only 5 minutes left in the game is a case of too little, too late. You should have been trying to send a message in the first period.
3rd Falling Star: Andrej Sekera
Yeah, I think we have seen the last of Sekera this postseason. He was just awful tonight. To think, by next year, we could be seeing Sekera, Chris Butler and Mike Weber being regular guys on the blueline. That's a lot of youth. Lindy is going to pull out the five remaining hairs on his head. Actually, I think after this series, it's going to be two. Please, resign Tallinder.
4th Falling Star: Harry Neale
Someone please call Kaleida Health and have Harry Neale tested for Alzheimer's disease. The Sabres played better tonight than in game 2? Are you kidding me!? They were way worse tonight. The Bruins beat down the Sabres for all 60 minutes of the hockey game. Even when the Sabres had the early lead, you can just tell that the lead wasn't going to hold up. I can't remember the last time I watched a tied game and knew from the 1st period on, that the Sabres were going to lose.
5th Falling Star: The Battles
Mark Recchi is out muscling Tim Kennedy for the game-winner? Miro Satan beats Tim Connolly in the corner to help on the first Bruins goal? Um, what is wrong with this picture? This isn't Zdeno Chara winning battles. I think the biggest reason for the Sabres loss tonight was a lack of passion. I just didn't see it with them tonight. I had to remind myself that I was watching playoff hockey. I thought I was viewing a Saturday preseason matinee. The Bruins wanted to get dirty. They wanted to feed off the home crowd. They wanted to win, the hard way. Can't say that about the Sabres.
6th Falling Star: Power Play
This is really getting old?! I heard that Lindy Ruff spent the morning practice trying to better the power play. Yeah...you may wanna try a little harder. I don't pretend to be this big time X's and O's guy when it comes to game planning the powerplay. However, you may want to try and dump the puck in. You know, instead of trying to skate pass five guys. I still laugh when I flashback to regular season and Paul Hamilton saying that we shouldn't worry about the power play. Sorry, but the Sabres need to just decline the penalty like they do in the NFL.
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