‘PHizzle out in Philly’

One word after watching Buffalo play what was perhaps their most up and down performance of the year….ugly. The boys skated for the first 10 minutes of the game, and they skated for the last 10 minutes when they opened their eyes and realized they were down 4 goals. Last time I checked you can’t play 20 minutes of a 60 minute game in the NHL and have a chance to chalk up a W. It also doesn’t help when your best player on the ice is a rookie who probably won’t see the big leagues the rest of the year. There might be some serious issues at this point Buffalonians…. Hecht, Connolly, and Stafford all need to take a page out of Luke Adam’s work ethic book, and if they don’t sooner rather than later they should be the one’s flying back to Portland, not someone who is busting their tail the entire game like Adam. Why this kid could get called up from AHL Portland this morning, fly from Portland to Philly, get practically no rest today and then put up more effort and offense than those other 3 combined is beyond me…

Everything that this team did so well last year, has completely gone out the window. I really find it hard to believe too, that our defense and penalty kill can be that much worse due to the departures of Tallinder and Lydman. Yes, I know we haven’t had a healthy back line all year with Morrison, and Rivet out on the reg early on, but I do believe that Weber and Butler have played pretty solid as fill ins. Giving up 3 PP goals in a game is a recipe for disaster, and until we get back to that top 10 penalty kill like we are so accusomted to having, we will continually stay around the bottom of the league in that stat.

Something has to change, Lindy has shaken the lines up time and time again and it’s just not working. After 10 games, this team is definitely on pace to miss the playoffs, especially losing points to all of these other Eastern Conference teams. Are the defending Eastern Conference champs, Philly, probably a more balanced team than Buffalo? Sure they might be, and they played with more balance  and tenacity tonight to knock off the Sabres, but this is also a team that had an away game last night. There is absolutely no reason that Buffalo shouldn’t have been ready mentally, physically, or emotionally for this game…They just once again flat out got beat up by a team that wanted the 2 points more than they did.

I’m 110% behind Lindy and his coaching staff, but they better come up with something to snap the boys out of this funk because winning every other game in the NHL is a great way to lose your job, or in his case not get an extension at the end of this year.

3-6-1 after 10….With Atlanta, and Dallas looming on the road for this weekend. It’s time for a serious act of desperation Buffalo and find a way to get back to .500, and then salvage the season from there.