Sabres vs Oilers Recap

-Well, it wasn’t pretty, but if you were to pinpoint the key to the game and why the Sabres have been successful so far this season, just look at the final 6 minutes of the game. Clarke MacArthur received a 5 minute major for his hit on Liam Reddox. The Sabres were clinging to a 2-1 lead and had to kill a 5 minute power play. You know how you get those feelings on a penalty kill when you think the opposition is going to score on you? I don’t know about you, but I didn’t feel that tonight. The Sabres have been successful because they know how to play sound defense and if the defense breaks down you have Miller to save your ass. The Sabres killed off the major and scored a empty net goal to win 3-1-

-Thought Goose was the best forward for the Sabres tonight. He was all over the ice tonight hitting and killing penalties left and right. Goose is the main reason that Adam Mair is expendable (besides Mair sucking)-

-Smart move by Ruff to move Connolly to the front line with Vanek and Stafford. The trio was the best scoring line for the Sabres tonight (when they weren’t killing penalties). I said in training camp that Connolly should play with Vanek. If Connolly is your best passer and Vanek is your best goal scorer, then the combo should be a no-brainer–

-So after watching the Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder special on ESPN, what would you say is the over/under on the amount of games Ruff will stick with the Connolly-Vanek-Stafford line? I’m saying 4.

-The Oilers went 1-7 on the Power play and had 29 minutes in penalties. The one thing you can count on from a Lindy Ruff coached team is a great penalty kill.

-Thoughts on the MacArthur hit: When the play happened, I switched over to the TSN Coverage because I knew the Sabres broadcast team would be as P.C. as possible because of the hit. The TSN crew said the same thing we all know, MacCarthur isn’t a dirty player, but he’s going to get suspended for this. The only way the NHL doesn’t suspend a player for a hit like that is if you’re a superstar player. MaCarthur is not and I doubt the league would pull the old “he’s a first time offender”routine. They save those for players like Mike Richards and Alex Ovechkin. Lets not forget that Oilers Coach Pat Quinn (who called the play “crappy”) is like the Grand Poobah of Canadian hockey. If he thinks it’s crappy, then so will the NHL –

-Do I feel it was a hit to attempt to injure? No. But I’m sure if the teams were reversed I would feel other wise.

–WTF is up with the Sabres power play? Ruff has tried everything from playing 5 forwards or throwing Pominville on the point. Nothing seems to work. Never thought I say this, but I miss Jaroslav Spacek–

-If you don’t like negative Sabres commentary, please get off this page now. Look, the game shouldn’t of been this tight. Edmonton was coming into the game on fumes, playing 3 games in 4 nights. Hell, the team had travel issues getting to Buffalo for god sakes. Besides the travel issues, the Oilers aren’t a good team. The Sabres should of had their way with the Oilers considering they were well rested and had a lot to prove after their terrible weekend-

-Also, can someone tell me the last time the Sabres played an entertaining game? I was almost falling asleep until the 5 minute power play added some much needed drama to the game-

-But I know, the battle cry amongst Sabres apologists will be that the team would of lost games like this last year and I should be giddy. But, I’m not. I want my team to be hungry and angry because they had back-to-back terrible games. A win is nice, but the teams is still proving they are the trail to being a 7th or 8th seed.