Better Effort, Same Result
Nov 22, 2008 NHL
The Buffalo Sabres had a much stronger effort against the Flyers last night, but still ended up on the losing end of a 3-0 shutout by Biron. They generated a ton of shots (40) but the powerplay really did ‘em en, going 0 for 5, including a decently long 5 on 3. Unfortunately, as the last penalized player returned to the ice (Scott Hartnell), he got behind the D on a break and beat Miller. Philly would score midway through the third to ice it, followed by an empty netter (both by Jeff Carter).
The new-look lineup was pretty good from what I saw (too nervous to watch the whole thing), call-up Mark Mancari was not afraid to fire away, and Paetsch wasn’t on the ice for any of the goals against. By the way, the Buffalo highlight of the night might just be Peters’ performance in his fight with Josh Gratton:
Gratton starts throwing at Andrew Peters before he’s got his hands up, but Peters recovers and lands multiple solid shots (right around the :20 mark Gratton has a ‘Why did I do this again?’ look).
The Islanders come in tonight, with a whole laundry list of injuries and having lost the last three to the Sabres by a combined 14-5. I’m probably recording this one tonight so if there are any worthwhile videos to put on Youtube, I’ll be taking care of it.
Tags: buffalo, carter, flyers, gratton, hartnell, Hockey, mancari, Martin Biron, NHL, philadelphia, Ryan Miller, sabres
Rivalry Renewed
Dec 23, 2007 NHL
The Sabres and Flyers have played two games in two nights, and both were smashmouth affairs won by Buffalo. Friday’s game at HSBC Arena was the first visit of Danny Briere, and he got the normal chorus of boos. The scoring started on a rebound sent in by Drew Stafford that had to be reviewed. Earlier Biron had stopped a shot that was batted out from in front of the net by his D, Stafford’s crossed the goal line first though. Philly scored the next two to take the lead in the second period, but Kotalik scored on the power play to tie it up early in the third. Jochen Hecht scored the game winner for the 3-2 victory. Yo-yo has been clutch lately, he’s been one of my favorite Sabres this year (Spacek is a close second).
Speaking of Spacek, he had two thundering hits (including leveling Danny Briere) as well as two assists. He really symbolized the challenge Lindy Ruff laid before his team for these games: take the physical play to the Flyers. Don’t react to it, initiate it. They did, and it showed.
Saturday’s game was even more rough-and-tumble if that is possible, 4 fighting majors and 6 roughing penalties for example. It was a back and forth affair, with Maxim Afinogenov putting the Sabres on the board first on the power play early in the first, with the Flyers’ Jeff carter tying things at the end of the first.
Things blew wide open in the second period however, with Buffalo scoring 2 goals in the first 8 minutes (Kotalik and Pominville). ‘lik’s goal came with him winning the draw and cleaning up the rebound from Goose’s wraparound attempt. Philly then tied it up with 2 quick shorthanded goals from Carter and Richards. The teams then traded power play goals (Spacek’s 8th of the season, Richards’s second of the night). Timonen gave Philly the lead early in the third, but Philly iced the puck with 14 seconds left in the game. After the game, their coach would complain loudly about the call on that, but Kotalik wins that draw next to Biron and the puck goes to Jochen Hecht, who rips it short-side where Vanek redirects it into the net to tie the game with less than 8 seconds to go.
OT was owned by the Flyers after Buffalo took two penalties, but they managed to keep the puck out of the net to reach the shootout. Miller stopped all three Flyers (including one on a pretty sick poke-check) but Ales Kotalik netted one on Marty Biron to get the win for Buffalo. I’d go into more detail but my PVR cut off the shootout thanks to all the penalties, I guess I need to have it record more than an extra 30 minutes from now on. What a great way to go into Christmas break. The Sabres return to action on Boxing Day, which is the day after Christmas for you folks who don’t live quite so close to the Canadian border, with a game against the Ottawa Senators.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, briere, carter, Drew Stafford, flyers, hecht, Hockey, kotalik, Martin Biron, Maxim Afinogenov, NHL, philadelphia, pominville, richards, ruff, Ryan Miller, sabres, Spacek, timonen
