Top 6 Reasons: The Sabres lost to the Bruins

I was a guest on Buffalo Sabres Now on Justin.tv. Please click on this link to hear my opinions on the Sabres. Yes, I sound a little crazy, cranky and mad.


Where the hell do we begin with this? Actually, where do I begin? I really didn't think the Sabres were going to lose this series. Frankly, I wanted this match-up. I thought the Sabres top six forwards would be able to beat down the Bruins and their anemic offense. I thought Ryan Miller would outclass a rookie goaltender. I had absolutely no respect for the Bruins and to be honest, I still don't. I think the Sabres felt the same way too. You can just tell in their demeanor after games that they were a rather confident bunch and really, who can blame them? Seriously? Miro Satan? Daniel Paille? No Marc Savard? Easy win, right? Wrong.

So what the hell went wrong with this bunch?

6) Vanek and Hecht Injuries
Look, even a pessimistic monster like myself has a little bit of a heart. The Sabres missed Vanek and Hecht like an alcoholic misses his Jack Daniels and Labatt Blue. Both these players represent the strongest points for the Sabres; best offensive player and the best two-way player. You think Hecht would have helped the penalty kill? You think the power play-which was absolutely horrible during this series-would have gone 0 for a zillion? OK, maybe it would have.

However, I would never have bet against the Sabres penalty killers. They have been lights out this season. I think the loss of Hecht was an even bigger loss than Vanek. Hecht is so vital to the Sabres defensive play and can always chip in a goal or two. Take away Vanek's brilliant five game stretch and everyone would be singing the blues for Jochen.

Then again, the Bruins were playing without their best scorer too. I'm sure the injury excuse will make the rounds at least 4-5 times during the Sabres season ending press conference.

5)Ryan Miller was great, but not super
Look, I'm not trying to fault Ryan Miller here. He played great this series. However, he didn't look like the Ryan Miller from the Olympics. The Sabres needed Ryan Miller to put on his Super Man cape or Batman utility belt for some of these games. Instead, he put on his Wolverine leopard print outfit and couldn't claw the Sabres to victory. Sure, he stole the Sabres a period or two, but he didn't steal a game. Miller needed to do that and he didn't. Yes, calling out Miller may be considered blasphemy in parts of Buffalo, but he...I feel bad, but he didn't go above and beyond to carry us in this series. If I were to tell you before the series that the Sabres would score 15 goals in six games, wouldn't you think that would be enough for Miller?

Maybe Miller was just too tired from the season or maybe he couldn't handle carrying a bunch of overpaid hacks on his team. Maybe Miller should have just left the beard alone and not gone with the porno mustache. In the end, Miller doesn't deserve to be on this list; but man, we needed a game stealer.

4) Has the Sabres oldest backbone cracked?
I've always talked about how I can't stand the way the Sabres front office always tend to make up excuses for their short-comings. From Marian Hossa never winning the Penguins the Cup to Philadelphia and Montreal's spending habits don't equal success. It just always seems that the Sabres upper management make a career out of second guessing everyone else, but themselves.

However, at least we had Lindy, a coach who never makes excuses. A guy who always calls out players and doesn't hide behind the excuses that the front office seems to make yearly. Well, for this series, Lindy reverted to what Sabres management has stood for: Complaining and whining

If there were a Ten Commandments for Buffalo Sports, I'm sure that "Thou shall not call out Lindy Ruff" would definitely make that cut. Well, I'm calling Lindy out. Everything Lindy did in this series seemed to be a little weird or off, didn't it? It pretty much started after game four. Yes, the referees stunk, but Lindy Ruff sounded like a whiny little bitch in his press conference. Look, Sabres played a decent game four, but Ruff/fans were acting as if the Sabres had the first two periods of their lives. Sorry, but you lost that game because your special teams stunk and Boston took it to you in overtime.

After game five, Lindy Ruff then began begging for the NHL to suspend the Sabre killer, Zdeno Chara, because of getting the instigator penalty at the end of the game. Sorry, but it was Paul Gaustad that decided to take a chunk out of Chara's leg during the melee that was deemed to be instigating. Everyone knew that from looking at the replays. Lindy Ruff was just looking for something/anything to get an advantage over the Bruins. Maybe he should have tried coaching the Sabres up on the man advantage instead.

Then, whether you want to say it's calling out or not, he told the media that it's up to Thomas Vanek to play. I've been watching sports for over 20 years and when your coach says something to that effect, he's sending a message. Whether it was overblown or not, Lindy should understand that Vanek is a mental case when it comes to being pressured.

He should have kept everything in house. The press clippings that Ruff delivered seemed more about making excuses and coddling this fragile bunch than preaching accountability. Lindy should have been slamming the penalty box door in between their private parts for the way some of these guys played.

This just didn't seem like the no non-sense coach that we have all learned to love and give a pass to for the last 13 years. I saw a coach that was at his end whits with this team and was trying to look for anything to hide the fact that the team didn't play well.

Now, should Ruff get fired? No, but he needs to be held accountable. How many times can we just sit here and chalk up the Sabres short-comings to personnel? There has to be a reason that Raffi Torres decided to go scoreless for 20 plus hockey games. OK, Raffi could have just sucked. However, if management keeps on telling us that the top six forwards are more then capable of guiding this team to a Stanley Cup, then someone has some explaining to do.

3) Special teams weren't so special
Awful, just awful. I mean it wasn't even close. I've been preaching during the regular season that the power play was something to watch out for and I mean that in a not so good way. There were just too many games this season that the Sabres looked as if they didn't have a clue what the man-advantage was about. At times, it was as if it was a moral victory for them to just set-up the dam thing. Well, all those worries manifested into what was one of the worst special teams performances ever! Hell, the Bills players from the Music City Miracle thought the special teams were pathetic. They looked horrendous this series. Did I mention that already? Someone needs to call Scott Arniel. Better yet, trade some of the star players who anchor that unit (I assure you, way more on that later)

As for the penalty killing unit's struggle, that comes as more of a shocker. Like I said earlier, losing Hecht for the series really hurt the unit. However, you're going against Boston. The Boston Bruins and Miro Satan. The Boston Bruins and their dead last scoring offense. You would think that Ryan Miller and Lindy Ruff's coaching style/system would be enough to weather the storm of the great Bruins power play. Hell, penalty killing and Lindy Ruff teams go hand and foot.

Well, it wasn't to be for this series. What made it look worse was how the Bruins really just had there way with the man advantage. Even when they didn't score, you couldn't help but wonder "Why can't our power play/penalty killing look this way?" They moved the puck gracefully and put a ton of pressure on the Sabres PP unit. I can't even remember seeing an easy kill by the Sabres. Think about that Sabres fans. How envious were you with the Bruins power play or penalty killing during this series? Would you have really thought that was possible two weeks ago?

2) Top six forwards just aren't good enough
Well, not only did the Bruins outplay the Sabres, but so did the Portland Pirates. I'm sure we can all figure out which players I'm talking about. The names and faces remain the same/invisible for the top six guys. Now, should this really be a surprise? All you have to do is check the Sabres archives in my blog. I've been preaching since December that the Sabres undoing in the playoffs was going to be the top six forwards. Everyone wanted to say that I was just being negative and a Jerry Sullivan wannabe. Unfortunately, my worries were very much warranted.

I've gone over ad nauseam about which Sabres forwards I'd like to see packing their bags to Parts Unknown. Tim Connolly and Drew Stafford are the first to go. I'm not going to get into the preambles about these guys. Hell, the dead horse has been beaten enough and is sitting in a container of Elmer's glue. All you have to do is check out the playoff stats. No goals for Connolly or Roy in this series. Jason Pominville had two of the most quietest goals you will ever see in a series. It's just when the Sabres needed a big time goal, it either didn't come or it came from Tyler Ennis and Mike Grier. Enough is enough with these top six guys. They had their shots at being the next Drury or Briere and they choked it all away.

I'm not saying all these guys have to go, but Connolly and Stafford would be a nice start. Hell, even if you can't get fair value for them, at least I would have the peace of mind knowing that the Sabres realize these guys are finished. Plus, would it be a bad thing to see Tyler Ennis and Nathan Gerbe on the first 2 or 3 lines? I'll leave you with this stat; Tim Connolly and Derek Roy have only scored two goals in their last 22 playoff games. Enough said.

1) Status Quo for Management
Tell me if you have heard this one before? The Sabres didn't do enough at the trade deadline. We heard it after the 05/06 deadline when the team traded Mika Noronen for a bag of pucks. We heard it after they picked up Dominic Moore and re-signed Tim Connolly which was portrayed as a legit deadline deal (eye roll). And now, we are going to hear it for this off season. I never thought I would say this, but after living through the Dominic Moore and Bob Corkum era; Raffi Torres brought a new low to deadline day deals. Hell, has anyone ever been benched after being acquired at the trade deadline? I said it before, the Sabres needed a trade in order to compete with the top five of the conference. Well, little did I know that they couldn't even compete with the bottom half.

Management screwed this up. If I could see the question marks regarding the top six forwards, then the Sabres management should have saw it too. Yes, on paper, Raffi Torres looked like his physical play would fit with the Sabres. Well, the dude couldn't even crack the line-up because he was either out of shape or just playing out the string. The Sabres management owed it to Ryan Miller, Mike Grier, Lindy Ruff and all of the fans to make a legit trade for the playoff run. Torres wasn't that guy and they deserve to be bitch slapped for it.

Look, Darcy Regier has done some great things with this organization. He's drafted guys like Ryan Miller, Tyler Myers, Thomas Vanek and a host of other NHL players. However, when it comes to trying to get his team over the hump, he always seems to have a knack to clam up and not do a dam thing. He failed during the President Trophy year to realize that the team needed more grit. For the last two years, the Sabres seemed to only need one more player to at least get into the playoffs. Sorry, but Dominic Moore and Big Bear aren't going to cut. Now, we have Torres to go on the Mount Rushmore of failed trade deadline deals.

Everyone knew that the Sabres had to get better to compete for a Cup. You can only play the Miller and the East is weak card so often. For goodness sakes, when Cody McCormick and Nathan Gerbe are being called up to add spark to your team, you have issues.

In the end, the players gave us a great effort in the playoffs, but they just weren't good enough. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about Darcy Regier's effort.

Overall
Look, I'm very angry right now, more so than usual. I'm sure my year end post will be a lot nicer than this. I'll say this, if you want to sugar coat the playoffs as a learning experience for the Sabres, I'm just not buying that. Prior to this series, the core of this team has played in over 30 games in the postseason. The Sabres had 14 players with playoff experience on this roster. Um, sorry, but these aren't all little kids that just turned 21. Obviously, the Derek Roy's and the Tim Connolly's should have learned their playoff lessons in 2006 and 2007. Those guys are lost causes if you ask me. Hopefully, guys like Ennis, Myers and Gerbe aren't slow learners.

Bottom line: The Sabres problems aren't as complicated to as brain surgery. All the Sabres have to do is trim the fat off some of their top six forwards and re-sign Tallinder and Grier. That's it. Will they do it? Probably not. But at least they are changing their uniforms!! (Double eye roll)

Quick Sabres Thoughts

First off, I hate the NFL Draft. I really do. You want to know why? Because they got me! I wanted to give my full attention to the Sabres game. However, Colt McCoy and Jimmy Clausen's stock falling was just too good to pass up on. Plus, I wanted to see if the Bills would get their quarterback. Yes, I watched about 50% of the hockey game and will catch the replay on Center Ice. So, I'm just going to wrestle off some random Sabres stuff.

-Look, I pretty much acted as if the end of the world was happening after game 4. I still stand by those comments. However, this series is really far from over. Hell, its the Sabres. They were inconsistent all year; losing three straight and then winning four straight. They now have 72 hours to get Thomas Vanek healthy. They have to beat a not so great Boston team (Sorry, but I still don't think they are that good) in two straight games. Kind of sounds simple, doesn't it? Tonight's game was about five things:

1)Solid effort from all four lines.
2)Finally not losing a lead.
3)Still trying to pile it on when they were out in front.
4)They played all 60 minutes.
5)Outhit the crap out of the Bruins.

-Who the hell needs the trade deadline when we have Portland? I know I've been skeptical about anointing rookies as the second coming, but when Tyler Ennis is your leading playoff scorer, you got things working for you. Actually, it could mean that your team really sucks. But Ennis looks like someone that we are all going to enjoy for a very long time. Whenever he gets the puck on his stick, you kind of get the feeling he's going to do something special. The guy has game-breaker written all over him. As for the other Pirates, McCormick and Gerbe were big time gamers tonight for the Sabres. Lots of energy and hitting from the duo-

-Loved Ryan Miller pulling Miro Satan off the rugby pile up. BTW, no way Chara gets suspended for getting an instigator penalty in the final seconds of the game. Yes, I know, there's some sort of terminology involved that if Chara uses self-defense or something, he gets off the hook. However, this is the NHL. They don't discipline star players, especially in the playoffs. Hell, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the referees use a different rule book for the post season. Which I'm sure the NHL hire-ups will do the same thing when they are looking to discipline star players-

-Love Mike Grier! Takes a shot off his head and is bleeding from behind his ear. Does that stop him? Nope. The guy just keeps on ticking like a Timex Watch. BTW, tied for the team lead in goals for the playoffs. You guys better resign his ass!-

-Sorry, but that's all I have on the Sabres. Like I said, I was watching the draft. But the Sabres just need to play like they did tonight and we will be seeing a game 7 in Buffalo. Prediction in my RJ Voice: "This series is going back to where Millard Fillmore's buried!!"-

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Side Note

You know, I was going to save this for one of My Buffalo Media sports blitz columns, but I really want to get into this for a second. Can WGR at least try and not shove 10 hours of non-stop Sabres coverage down my throat? Look, I get that you work with the Sabres and you have to make money off each other. But for god sakes, they were babbling for hours about Vanek being healthy and that maybe Lindy Ruff was holding him back. It was so convoluted that at one point, I had no clue what the hell they were talking about. Seriously, they literally sounded as if they were making this story up.

However, that's not me beef. I'm just sick and tired of WGR treating the Bills as some second rate franchise (OK, they kind of are) that resembles the Buffalo Blizzard or Buffalo Destroyers. Do I really need to get into the love affair the city of Buffalo has with the NFL and the Bills? The NFL has made the Draft into the second biggest event in the football calender year. Can the hosts at least look at a mock draft to understand what players are available? Can they maybe make a phone call to Mark Gaughan or a NATIONAL draft expert to speak about players available? I mean, if you can have the entire broadcast team of Versus and MSG as guests on your show, you could at least have Todd McShay on. For goodness sakes, Pierre McGuire doesn't need to be on WGR three times a week.

If you're going to have Joe Buscaglia (Who acts as their draft expert) as your go to guy for draft coverage, don't you think he should have been on at least once during Schopp and the Bulldog? Seriously, I don't even think the afternoon hosts interviewed anyone with draft credentials. Now, it should be noted that Buscaglia now has his own show that has aired like 3 times during the last two weeks; at the not so friendly talk show hours of 7-9pm. Bottom line: your "Draft Expert" should be on during peak hours for your radio programming. God forbid the NFL Draft takes away from Schopp and the Bulldog discussing the TV show Lost and Hot dogs.

The only time Schopp and the Bulldog spoke about the draft for more than 10 minutes was when they talked about Tim Tebow. That's it. For the last two months, all I heard was Bulldog drooling (Ironically, like a dog) over the concept of having Tebow play for the Bills. I assure you, the reason why the WGR hosts decided to use Tebow as their draft coverage poster boy was because he's the easiest topic to talk about. Everyone has an opion about the dude and you don't have to be a college football expert to know about him. It's a lazy topic done by lazy hosts who just don't feel like researching anything. Hell, I think they made up the Vanek topic from today just so they can avoid speaking about the draft.

Then to top it off, Schopp goes all (Paraphrasing here), "Well, we aren't really getting many calls about the draft, so lets keep going with the Sabres." Um, Mike...the reason why you're not getting many calls is because you know of only 10 players in the NFL Draft and the Tim Tebow topic can only be rehashed so often. I'm sure if you had a draft expert on the show, taking questions about certain players, you would get some calls.

Yes, the Bills suck. But you shouldn't ignore them. OK, my rant is done.

Sabres vs Bruins Recap: 8 star edition

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.

Sabres vs Bruins Recap: 12 star edition

Rising Stars

1st rising star: Zdeno Chara
They always say you shouldn't wake up a sleeping giant. Well, that Giant is awake and he's angry. Yes, I hate Chara just as much as you do. But the guy played great tonight and proved why he's a Norris Trophy winner. Chara is just so tough to move off the puck and when you try and hit him, you're the one that's going to be taking the brunt of it. Chara decking Ennis into the Bruins bench at the end of the first period, might have been the wake-up call that Boston was looking for.

2nd rising star: Tuukka Rask
Yes, Rask let in some soft goals in the first period. But it could have been a lot worse for the Bruins. The Sabres were all over them in 1st period, and it could have very easily been 4-0. Rask stood on his head and weathered the storm. I think we can start throwing out the "He's just a rookie" crap out the window.

3rd rising star: Derek Roy
I'm going to tell you right now that Roy is making the falling star list. On the rising star part, I thought he had a ton of energy tonight. I thought he was the Sabres best forward for the first two periods. He was great on the forecheck and was even better in the defensive zone. With the injury to Vanek, Roy has to pick up the slack.

4th rising star: Tyler Myers
Played a nice game tonight and proved that his game one short-coming was nothing more than first game jitters. Myers made some nice plays, especially helping the Sabres get out of the defensive zone when the Bruins pressure was relentless during the 2nd period.

5th Rising Star: The Bruins psyche

You have to give the Bruins credit for not shutting down after having such a lackluster first period. They came out of the gates hungry and determined for the 2nd period; erasing the two-goal deficit pretty quickly. Even more impressive was how the B's didn't put their heads down after the Sabres scored a late 2nd period goal to take the lead. At that point, it seemed like the Bruins were reliving game one all over again. However, they came out strong in the third period. Even after taking the lead, the Bruins were still all over the Sabres, out shooting them 8-6 in the third.

Falling stars

1st Falling Star: Thomas Vanek injury
Nice fu#$en slash, err...hook by Boychuk on Vanek. I couldn't help but do my version of Obi Wan Kenobi; "That's no hook, that's a space station." OK, I just wanted to use a Star Wars reference.

Look, I'm not blind. The Vanek injury hurt the Sabres tonight, and looked as if it stopped all of the team's momentum. But even his injury, shouldn't be an excuse for the way the Sabres played in the 2nd and first half of the 3rd period. They had absolutely no passion and couldn't get the puck out of their own zone. This isn't just an isolated incident. Hell, just go back to game 1, when the Sabres played like crap in the 2nd period.

As for the Vanek injury, there was a lot of buzz on twitter with fans looking to stab themselves in eye because of it. Hold up there, One Eye Willy. Remember what happen three weeks ago in Boston? The Sabres played pretty well with Gerbe, Ennis and Mancari in the line-up. Listen, Vanek has played great since returning from injury, but how big of a factor was he during the regular season? Sorry, but the Sabres played just fine with him playing average.

If the Vanek injury is long-term, I still think the Sabres are in the driver's seat against the Bruins. Yes, Boston scored five goals tonight, but a lot of those goals seemed to be fluky and just mental mistakes by the Sabres. In the end, before all of you start jumping off the Peace Bridge because of the Vanek injury, realize how successful this team was with Vanek playing subpar hockey this year. And consider that this piece of advise is coming from a Sabres cynic.

BTW, If the Sabres somehow lose this series, don't blame it on the Vanek injury! I can already hear the talking heads for WGR blaming injuries; just like they did last year when the Sabres didn't make the playoffs. The Bruins best offensive player can't cross the street without having visions of Matt Cooke cleaning his clock out. Again, everyone is playing at a disadvantage and the Sabres just need to find guys that can step-up.

2nd falling Star: Tim Connolly

The gloves are off, Timmy. You played like absolute crap tonight. You were passive and extremely lazy. Those are two traits that I can't stand for a hockey player to have. Your play on the game-tying goal was a complete joke. If you didn't see the replay, check out how lazy Connolly was when he was chasing Boston's 4 on 2 break on Miller. Dude was strolling like it was a training camp scrimmage.

I'm so sick and tired hearing about how great this guy is suppose to be. He's been living off his dam eight game playoff performance from five years ago. Instead of flashing back to Philly, when he was playing on the 4th line, how about focusing on what he's done in the playoffs as a whole. Connolly hasn't scored a goal in his last 19 playoff games. This is a prime example of me being worried about the Sabres star players stepping up in the post season. Tim, you aren't riding the coattails of Drury and Briere anymore. You need to step-up.

I guess the only time Connolly can go on a point streak is when Team USA didn't consider having him play for them in the Olympics. I assure you, I don't care if the Sabres win the cup, if Connolly plays like this for the rest of the postseason, I'm taking on a personal vendetta for this team to trade him.

BTW, Jason Pominville came really close to making this list. He played like crap during the first 35 minutes of the game. He's lucky he scored a goal.

3rd Falling Star: Sabres trying to do their best Harlem Globetrotters

Look, I'm all for having as many highlight reel goals as possible. But can we stop with the dam drop and no look passes. Too many times tonight the Sabres tried being too cute with the puck. Sorry, but drop passes may work against defensively challenged teams, but not against the Bruins.

4th Falling Star: Raffi Torres

Real quick...I'd like it if Raffi could at least score a goal before his rental contract expires. Is that so much to ask for? Yeah, he's a grinder, but I thought the Sabres were getting a scorer, not Dominic Moore version 3.0.

5th Falling Star: Derek Roy

Derek, I thought you really skated hard tonight, but you really stunk in the 3rd period. You need to stop doing your "take on the world" mentality when you're facing four Bruins at the blueline. Dump the puck in. Stop trying to Max Afinogenov your way to the net.

6th Falling Star: Sabres defensemen

Too many turnovers and not enough getting involved in the offensive zone. If the Sabres are going to miss Vanek for an extended period of time, they need to have there defensemen pinch in more. Hell, I'm only asking for what Lindy Ruff always preaches about. As for the giveaways, the play by Lydman on the empty net goal was one for the blooper reel.

7th Falling Star: 2nd Period

I already touched on this earlier, but I think it deserves its own category. It's the second game in a row that the Sabres played like crap during the second stanza. There are no excuses to give up a two goal lead against a Bruins team that can't score. Yes, Vanek was hurt, I get it. But it's not like Vanek is a Selke Award winning forward that has to contain the likes of Michael Ryder and Miro Satan.

Overall

Look, I'm not going to panic over the Vanek injury...yet. Not to beat a dead horse, but this team has proven they can win when Vanek isn't playing at a high level. I think the Sabres need to get back to basics and play solid defensive hockey. There were just too many turnovers and too many odd man rushes.

Plus, the Sabres need to get back to the hitting like they did in game one. You know that the Bruins are going to be completely amped up in their home rink. The Sabres can't let the Bruins dictate the style of play. Buffalo needs to go out and initiate the hitting against Boston.

Again, Vanek is good, but he's not the end-all-be-all that everyone is making him out to be.

PS: Totally forgot to mention the power play. It stunk again tonight. Get better, guys. Because if the Bruins are going to play physical and take liberties on your team, you're going to have to make them pay on the power play.

Sabres vs Bruins: 12 star edition

Rising Stars

1st Rising Star: Ryan Miller

At this point, Miller must own a fricken galaxy with the amount of stars I've given him this year. He was sensational tonight. That 2nd period was all Miller. I mean, the guy made 23 fricken saves in that period! That's like a game worth of shots for the Bruins. It was like I was reliving game one of USA vs Canada for that period. You can try and build Tyler Myers as the next Chris Pronger or Tyler Ennis as the next Moginly, but this team is nothing without Ryan Miller. I guess my whole logic that Miller wasn't under the most pressure for this series was a little bit off.

2nd Rising Star: Thomas Vanek

Thomas Vanek, welcome back! Vanek was awesome tonight. That was the guy we saw from last year and the Senators game from last weekend. He was innovative and really aggressive. He looked like a goal scorer tonight. He buried his scoring chances when they came across his stick and was a constant nuisance to Rask. The play he made when he deek the hell out of d-man, Johnny Boychuk (Nice f#$ken name), and almost went in all alone on Rask was incredible. Great game, Thomas.

3rd Rising Star: Derek Roy

Derek Roy is playing with an edge? Roy is back checking? No way! I hate to keep using the word aggressive, but that's how Roy played tonight. You can tell from the first two minutes of the game that Roy was on his "A" game. Any time Roy's line was on the ice, they put a ton of pressure in the offensive zone. That's the beauty of playoff hockey, everyone forgets what you did during the regular season and only cares about what's happening now. Roy and Vanek stepped it up...BIG TIME!

4th Rising Stars: Tyler Ennis and Tim Kennedy

Boy, these kids sure didn't look like rookies tonight. Ennis was one of the Sabres best forwards on the ice tonight. He looked incredible when he zipped past Chara late in the third period and almost scored on Rask. He kind of looked a little like Max. Also, Tim Kennedy looked really great. His pretty pass to set-up the Craig Rivet goal was sick. Just a lot of jump in their skates tonight. A lot of times, fans and media members get too wrapped up into whether this kid/rookie can play well in the playoffs. Yes, some will falter. However, you can't underestimate the heart of a young kid. When these kids get on the ice in the playoffs for the first time; a rookie can't help himself, but get really excited and play with a ton of energy. That's what these kids did tonight. Now go have a Beer...non-alcoholic, of course :)

5th Rising Star: Craig Rivet

You know something? I like Craig Rivet. I heard him yesterday on WGR (Check the interview out on their website, it's a good one) and his attitude was tremendous. He seems like the type of guy you could have a beer with after a long day of work. Yes, he has struggled this season, but the way he talked during the interview, showed me why he's the captain of this team. Good for Rivet to get the game-winner tonight.

6th Rising Star: MSG and the Sabres crowd

Great job by the MSG-TV crew. That was a kick ass opening video montage for the team. As for the fans, when I see a homemade Stanley Cup outside of the HSBC Arena, with a beer funnel attached to it, I can't help but smile and wish I was there. BTW, if you want to solve the problem of having such a low crowd reaction during the regular season games, just have Party in the Plaza year round. Trust me, Beer is the great equalizer to a dull game.

7th Rising Star: 1st period action

WOW! If that 1st period didn't get your playoff blood pumping, then you should call 911, because you must be dead. Great first period. Scoring chances, fights, hits, skating...it had everything! Maybe this series won't be as dull as I thought. BTW, you had to love Toni Lydman giving the hand gesture/Italian version of fu#$ off to Lucic. If you don't know what that is, just google it.

8th rising star: Hit that bitch!

I'll take a 2 to 1 margin in hits for a playoff game. Lindy Ruff always talks about playing out of character. When Toni Lydman is hitting and taking on Lucic (well, sort of), that's playing out of character. It reminded me of the 99' playoffs, when everyone, from Geoff Sanderson to Miro Satan were hitting the crap out of the opposition.

Falling Stars

1st Falling Star: Tim Connolly

I'm already going out on a ledge and say that Tim Connolly isn't going to have a good series. He just doesn't match-up well against the Bruins defense. I think if Connolly goes against teams that take more offensive chances (Caps, Pens and Sens), he'll be a key contributor. In order to score goals against Boston, you have to forecheck and crash the net. That's just not Connolly's style.

2nd Falling Star: Steve Montador and Tyler Myers

Eh, one guy showed the intensity of playing in a scrimmage in September, while the other one was a turnover machine. I know it's only one game, but lets hope this is just a one game incident for the duo.

3rd Falling Star: Power Play

This is kind of a bitter sweet falling star. The Sabres looked good moving the puck on the power play, but you can't go 0 for 5. Especially, if it looks like the Bruins are going to try and start scrums after the whistle and get stupid penalties.

4th Falling Star: Zdeno Chara

Me, Chara. You, small. This penalty box, too small. Let me out of it!! Idiot. After tonight's game, I finally understand why the home crowd boos this guy so much. I can now say that I really don't like Chara. He's just a tall Andre the Giant looking fool. Nice mouth guard, dude. I hope that fixes your overbite. Actually, I probably just hate the guy because that's what playoff hockey is all about; Hating the opposition.

Overall
I just thought of this, but maybe the Sabres are a lot like me. I've been so bored with their regular season for the last month or two, that my hockey mind was wondering all over the place. Now that it's playoff hockey, I'm ready and focused. Maybe the Sabres were just looking forward to the playoffs to play their best games. OK, I'm sounding a little too gitty. You don't have me yet, apologists. But I'm happy.

My quick Bruins vs Sabres preview

Look, everyone has pretty much dissected the tale of tape for this match-up and there's no need for me to just rehash everything. Zdneo Chara is taller than Tyler Myers. Tuukka Rask has better numbers than Ryan Miller, but started only 39 games this season. Neither of these teams are going to be confused with LaFontaine and Mogilny versus Oates and Neely. They both play defensive hockey and rely on their goaltending. Their styles of play makes me want to fall asleep. Boston Market is better than Buffalo Wild Wings. Blah, blah, blah, blah.

Here's the bottom line (or at least a couple of lines). This is the one match-up that I think the pressure isn't as high on Ryan Miller, like it would be against the Penguins, Capitols or Senators. The Bruins can't score to save their lives. When you have only one player that has scored over 20 goals, then you have a better shot at scoring at the Playboy Mansion as a shit poor, nerdy teenager. Ask yourself this; what if Ryan Miller doesn't play his best series against Boston? What's the worst he can do? Give up 2 goals a game? Like I said, Boston can't score a lick.

Now, I just want to get out some of the wives tales that are going around about this match-up. Yes, Rask has never started a playoff game, but before we start going all "We got him right where we want him" rhetoric. Lets not forget that Ryan Miller and Cam Ward were both rookies when they guided their teams to the Eastern Conference Finals in 06'. Yes, the Sabres had Patrick Lalime and Jhonas Enroth start two games against Boston; both wins for the Bruins. However, the Sabres only scored 11 goals in six meetings against the Bruins; three of those goals against "The artist formally known as Tim Thomas." That my friends, is where the series is going to be won or lost. No, not Tim Thomas, but if the Sabres can score.

The pressure is on the top six forwards. If the Sabres lose this series, it's going to be on them. If you really believe in the stats for both teams; scoring is where the Sabres have a clear cut advantage. I never thought I say this, but I'd rather have the Sabres top six forwards over the opposition. If the Sabres can score 2-3 goals a game, they are winning this series. It's going to be tough. I have a feeling this series is destined for a couple of overtime games. I think the Sabres offense is going to do just enough to beat the Bruins.

Buffalo in six games.