Sabres Pound New-Look Senators
Feb 12, 2008 NHL
The Senators had two new faces in the lineup, but the result was a painful 5-1 smackdown by the visiting Sabres. Thomas Vanek was all over the place, getting his first career Hat Trick on some very different goals. The first was a booming slapshot on a play that started with a steal from Connolly, the second came on a rebound Vanek spun and swept into the net, and his final goal was a redirect from his usual vantage point in front of the net.
It was Clarke MacArthur that really stuck the knife in and twisted, though, as he scored just seconds after the Senators’ Randy Robitaille had cut the deficit to one. Looked like Pominville had the final goal to round out the scoring.
This was total domination by the Sabres from the first puck-drop. They pounded shot after shot at Ray Emery, leading that category 27-11 after 2 periods. Their sticks were always tipping the Senators’ passes. The PK was strong (killing 5 of 6) and the PP was stronger (2 for 5, but the final goal came just as a penalty was ending). The only thing missing would be to see Chris Neil get beat down in a fight, and I really thought Pratt was going to step into the ring at one point for that. The Sabres come home tomorrow to face the Leafs, I sure hope some of this fire follows them.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, B-Lo Sports, connolly, emery, hat trick, hattrick, Hockey, macarthur, neil, NHL, ottawa, pominville, pratt, Ryan Miller, sabres, senators, Thomas Vanek
