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Sabres vs Senators 11/21/09 Postmortem November 21, 2009

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Let me say this right off the bat: Though I’m sure he’s a swell guy, I haaattteeee Daniel Alfredsson. I was happy when Dany Heatley left the Eastern Conference, but I’d be ecstatic if Daniel Alfredsson terrorized the Western Conference too.

Tim Kennedy scares me a little. I’ll admit it. He’s so small, and yet he goes right into the middle of these scrums.

I was originally thinking about doing a “dislike” for having Gaustad and Vanek on the same power play unit, but it did seem to work out.

Memo to the Sabres: Scoring more than one goal would make winning easier.

EDIT: Whoever searched for “Drew Stafford hairy” made my day.

Liked:

  • The pass by Connolly on the first Buffalo power play. I’m not a fan of Connolly, but I sat up and took notice of that pass.
  • Hits were 15-4 Sabres after the first period.
  • Lalime’s play. Maybe it was playing his old team, but he was pretty solid in net.
  • The interview with Tyler Myers. What a cutie.
  • Lindy Ruff put Andrej Sekera at forward instead of Nathan Paetsch. Huh. I like it.
  • Tyler Myers playing on the 5 on 3, not for the first time this season. It’s hard not to get carried away with the excitement regarding this kid.
  • The Senators missing so many shots on the same 5 on 3. As I used to say about Alexei Zhitnik, those guys couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a peashooter.

Didn’t like:

  • The first several minutes of play. The Sabres looked pretty sluggish and were lucky Ottawa didn’t score.
  • Pat Kaleta checking Andrej Sekera. An accident, I’m quite sure, but still… careful, Patty.
  • The second Ottawa goal. Man, I hate that dude.
  • Lalime got run over and nobody on the Sabres reacted. Now, sure, maybe it wasn’t the time or the place, but I hope they at least saw the number on the back of that guy’s jersey.
  • Roy and Hecht, wearing the A’s tonight, both in the penalty box. I am not a fan of the delay of game penalty for putting the puck over the glass. I understand it, but I don’t like it.
  • Yet another second period full of penalties. Not a good way to win the game, fellas.
  • MSG going to commercial during live play on Buffalo’s penalty. Game came back and there was 1.10 left on the penalty.
  • The sudden inability of the Sabres to win key faceoffs. Where are you when we need you, Goose?
  • The lack of an HD picture because Cablevision doesn’t want to make a deal with Verizon for the HD to run on FiOS. I am not a fan of fuzzy pucks.

The Sabres, yet again, are off until Wednesday. They play the Capitals and the Flyers on the road, then come home to play Carolina one week from today. I was hoping Carolina would still be horrendously awful when the Sabres played them, but they’ve won a few games. Boooo. At least they only play the Flyers once more after this game. I don’t like those little Flyers bastards either.

Sabres vs Bruins 11/20/09 Postmortem November 20, 2009

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I watched the game after I got home from New Moon. We had a lot of “audience particpation” in the form of swooning and screaming. Not by me, I should add. Anyhoo…

Liked:

  • Tyler Myers going after Lucic after Lucic checked Henrik Tallinder. Good boy.
  • Toni Lydman making Mark Recchi do an unintentional double axle. I am not a Mark Recchi fan. He’s a baby.
  • The Sabres were hitting a lot in this game. They always play better when they’re hitting.
  • The play Pominville made for the first goal.

Didn’t like:

  • Zdeno Chara’s shot that Pominville blocked. Don’t hurt my Pommer, you freak.
  • The Sabres shots in the second period. Or, more accurately, the lack thereof.
  • The Bruins ran the net too much for my comfort and liking.
  • Clarke MacArthur seems pretty much invisible if he’s not scoring a goal. I don’t think that’s good.
  • Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

I think this is one of those times where I’d say “At least they got a point.”

The Sabres play Ottawa tomorrow night. Something to keep in mind if you’re fretting about the standings (and frankly, it’s a bit early for that anyway)… The Sabres have 2-4 games in hand on many of the teams that are right around them in the conference.

Blogging alert! November 20, 2009

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Taking my best friend and fellow Sabres fan Stacy to New Moon for her birthday tonight is going to mean I won’t see the game in real time. Fear not, loyal readers: I’m setting my DVR! Yes, I will check the score before I start watching it to see how closely I need to pay attention, but possibly tonight, probably tomorrow, I will issue my usual postmortem. Until then…

 

Search Terms Fun November 19, 2009

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As some of you may know, WordPress allows you to see what search terms people use to find your blog. Now, I have no idea why someone who searched for “Little Bo Peep” got my blog in their results, but hey, we don’t discriminate against shepherdesses here at 2 Minutes for Roughing.

Someone out there is making a concerted effort to become, I speculate, either the girlfriend or the wife of Tyler Myers. Well, either that or there are several girls out there who want to know “How much money does Tyler Myers make”.

Another fan seems to enjoy figuring out if her “Jason Pominville fantasies” mesh with the rest of the world’s. I couldn’t tell you. Pominville is my favorite player by far, but fantasizing about him? Can’t say as I do. Sorry.

A third searcher wants to know if “Carrie Underwood Mike Fisher breakup” has happened. Not from what I’ve heard, but I’ll let you know if I do.

Here’s something that might explain the recent play of Thomas Vanek. In the past couple of weeks the search string “Thomas Vanek party” has shown up. I know he rocks a pair of cycling shorts, but that’s about it for my information. Oh, and Goose looks good in tennis whites. Had to throw that in. Must give the boy props when he’s playing as well as he is.

Oh, and for the person who asked “How did the Sabres do 11/18/09″? Um, not well. Read the postmortem.

Sabres vs. Panthers 11/18/09 Postmortem November 18, 2009

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The Sabres are coming off of an impressive two-game performance. That always makes me leery. Why? Because, let’s face it, the Sabres don’t tend to play these games well – it’s like it’s an emotional letdown or something.

The stats after one period made it look like Florida won the period. That’s not what I saw, though. Yes, they blocked shots, won more faceoffs, and got some good rushes, but it seemed like the Sabres were the better team. That wasn’t the story in the second or third periods, unfortunately. Florida simply wanted this game more. Why are the Sabres so disinterested in mid-week home games against weaker opponents?

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be the penalized player coming back to the bench after the other team scores? Eesh.

The Pens have five injured d-men. Ouch. I heard they were recruiting in the beer leagues in Pittsburgh.

Liked:

  • I’m falling in love with Paul Gaustad more and more every game. As people who know me can tell you, even though my favorite player is Jason Pominville I have a huge soft spot for defense. I played defense in soccer for years, and I understand how challenging it can be. Gaustad plays defense like his life depends on it. You’ve got to respect that if you’re the opponent.
  • The beautiful clearing passes by Tyler Myers during the first Florida power play. Like I said, I love good defense.
  • Captain Rivet’s got some offense!
  • The worst kind of player to face, I would think, would be one who plays with no fear. I think that’s part of the reason Pat Kaleta draws so many penalties.

Didn’t like:

  • I didn’t see the first goal, but I flinched as soon as I saw Ryan Miller trying to get rid of the puck after the initial save. Turns out, I was right. What were you thinking, Ryan Miller?
  • One hit after an entire period? Are you kidding me?
  • The power play 5-6 minutes into the second? Total crap.
  • 14 giveaways halfway through the game. That’s not good. (Thank you, Captain Obvious.)
  • Missed shots and opportunities. The puck was sitting in the Florida crease like a big, juicy steak so many times I thought I was going to see a pack of Dobermans going after it.
  • Bad penalty by Kaleta. However, I can excuse him for it because he does draw so many penalties. Unfortunately the Panthers scored, and that pretty much stuck the fork in the Sabres.
  • They showed Lindy Ruff on the bench shaking his head and frowning with about a minute left in the game. Funny enough I was doing exactly the same thing.
  • When did Miller become a sieve? Did he go out drinking last night or something? Apparently the entire team went on a bender – none of them were worth much tonight.

The Sabres play Boston on Friday and Ottawa on Saturday. I hope they don’t get distracted by Carrie Underwood in the crowd at the Ottawa game – apparently she’s still dating Mike Fisher. At this early-ish point in the season both Boston and Ottawa are on the outside looking in. The difference between them and the Sabres seems to come back to goals allowed, which makes sense since the Sabres don’t allow too many shots and Ryan Miller has the best save percentage and GAA in the NHL. (Maybe not after this game, though.)