5) Peter Laviolette outcoached Lindy Ruff: Look, I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to figuring out how to be outcoached in a playoff series. However, it’s insane that the Sabres had a record of 1-2 against the Flyers when they pulled their goalie. I mean, when the opposition pulls their goalie, you should win walking away, right? Every time the Flyers pulled their goalie, the Flyers got hot. The Sabres were outscored 8-2 after the goalie switches. Hell, the Sabres were lucky to win their only “Goalie pull” game (Game 5), when they were outplayed in the 2nd and 3rd period. All I know is that when the Sabres had the Flyers on the ropes, Count Dracula pulled the goalie, and then the Flyers seemed to drain our blood dry. The Sabres just didn’t seem to have an answer. I still can’t believe the Flyers pulled all three of their goalies. Not only did they pull them, but they started 3 different goalies?! It marked the first time it happened in the playoffs since 2004 with Vancouver. Ridiculous. Anyways, I’m not trying to say Lindy sucked. He was fine, even though it seemed like his team went into a shell when the pulls happened. However, Peter was better at pushing the buttons of his team and it started with the pulling of all 3 of their goalies. Plus, it’s not like any of these goalies were big-time upgrades. It was all about shaking things up and it did the trick.
4) Tom Golisano and Daniel Briere: Before the series started, I had stated that I felt this could be a turning point in the Briere vs Buffalo Sabres saga. For the last four years, Briere and the Flyers have been way better than the Sabres. It was going to be our opportunity to finally say, “F-off, captains, because we don’t need you anymore. We just whipped your ass.” Well, it didn’t go down like that. In fact, Briere kicked our asses. Yes, I know, some of you have gotten over it and if anyone brings it up, you’ll block them on twitter or just walk away. However, that doesn’t change the fact that if Danny Briere was on the Sabres right now, we’d be in the 2nd round. Hell, we might even have home ice throughout the playoffs. He’s a game-changer. Even though he had one more goal than Thomas Vanek, it kind of felt like it may have been 20 goals to 3. Just every goal that Briere got was a big momentum changer. Plus, you always saw him reeking havoc and just being involved. This is something that Vanek needs to learn how to do better. His five goals just seemed to be so quiet. He’d score his goal and you would never hear from him again. This isn’t suppose to be an indictment against Vanek, he played well, but you can’t compare him to Briere. Hell, you can’t compare any of our skill players to him. That bastard is just that damn good! The guy shows up when the time is right. Anyways, I mentioned Golisano in the headline of this blurb, because after seeing Briere fist pump more times than Snooki in Vegas, I can only hope that Tommy Boy was in a ditch or in the Florida Keys on the same raft that Tom Hanks was on in Castaway. Yes, Tom Golisano, I still fricken despise you! You and your stupid, “Oh, we don’t do contracts during the regular season or if we signed #48, we wouldn’t be able to sign #19 and #29.” FOLK THEM! I’d keep Briere over half the damn team!? Damn you, Golisano. Damn you and the 100 million you made off this team.
3) Veterans were inconsistent: I wrote before the series that my biggest concern was that the Sabres didn’t really have a history of clutch performances in the playoffs. After this series, the list has been cut down (Miller and Vanek are off the list), but there are still some who are left. Look, I thought Drew Stafford had some moments in this series where he looked good, however, the bottom line is that your soon to be 5-million dollar forward has to score more than one goal. Tim Connolly continued his playoff futility, as he has more concussions in his last 29 playoff games than goals (2 to 0). Jason Pominville? Well, he killed penalties, but that was about it. Brad Boyes was also very disappointing, as he just didn’t seem that aggressive and only scored one goal in his last 17 games (Regular and post season). He just didn’t seem like he had a lot of confidence and was always shooting pucks high or wide. Now, I know some will talk about how everyone on this list contributed in other ways. Penalty killing, faceoffs and defense. I’m sorry, but those guys are paid to score goals. You can find anyone to play solid defense. Pay a guy 1.5 million to just play defense. To score 3 goals between the four of them, in a series where the goalie was pulled three different times, isn’t good enough in my book. Bottom line: The Flyers top guys outplayed the Sabres top guys.
2) Injuries: As I wrote yesterday, I normally play up the “Injuries are a part of the game” rhetoric when teams/fans use it up as an excuse. However, it’s totally acceptable for this series. Ladies and Gentleman, your Buffalo Pirates! To put some of the injuries in perspective, if you looked at the opening night roster for the Sabres, 9 of the 17 players that suited up that night, were out during portions of this series. I mean, we were counting on Rob Niedermayer to be our best offensive center?! Hey, Derek Roy, save us in game 7 after being out for over 4 months!? Hell, with all the injuries, I think it added to why Sabres fans enjoyed this team’s run. You had to admire their moxie and how young guys came up big (IE: #63, #42 and #17). BTW, would the Sabres have beaten the Flyers if they were healthy? Man, I don’t know. I really don’t know. You’d think so, but man, the Flyers are just so good. I don’t know…
1) Game 6: Right after Tyler Ennis scored the game winner against the Flyers in game 5, I said it right then and there, “We have to win game 6!” I don’t know what it was, but I had an awful feeling about going back to Philly for game 7. That building, that crowd, that damn hobbit. It scared me more than taking a SAT or trying to make a move on a super model. Whether you want to call it being negative or not, I just thought they would kick the sh#t out of us. I even went as far as to suggest on twitter that the Sabres should try and force the issue with #55 and #9 to start in game 6. As far as I was concerned, the Sabres needed to throw in the kitchen sink against Philly. Honestly, they did just that in game 6, but the Flyers were a resilient bunch. The bottom lines are that the Sabres had a two goal lead at one point, they chased out the Flyers goalie…again, and they had a 3rd period lead…but, they blew it. I don’t know what happened, but I just sensed that the Sabres never recovered from that game or at least when the Flyers tied it. You could just sense it after the game and even after the series concluded, when Miller and Ruff made reference to that game. You normally don’t hear players or coaches rehash a game like that, especially when the series didn’t end at that moment. I mean, what happened to the loosey goosey bunch that Lindy talked about after game 6. By going back to that game after the series concluded, it proved to me that the team didn’t get over that loss and were just trying to brainwash themselves. I mean, it took what? 5 minutes for Lindy to address game 6 after the series just ended? They knew they had blown a golden opportunity. I tried to have a brave face on twitter, but I told my friends that I thought we were DOA in Philly. I felt the Flyers had all the momentum and more importantly, the better talent. When it comes down to game 7’s, 9 out of 10 times, the better team will win. That’s what happened. The Flyers were better and we just ran out of gas and players. Game six will haunt me for a long time. It may not be the same feeling after game 6 against Pittsburgh in 2001, when we were a minute away from the ECF and how that team had the talent to get to The Finals, but this series still stings. Playoff hockey is fun and you just don’t want it to end.
Bonus reason #1: The Flyers were just the better team. Top to bottom, they had way more talent and proven players. I admire the Sabres for taking them to game 7.
Bonus reason #2: The defense. Steve Montador was god awful in this series. I don’t know what happened to #4, but he can kiss his 3.5 million dollar contract goodbye. As I wrote yesterday, they are just too young right now and going against a Flyers squad with 8 guys with 19 goals or more, was just a little too much. Too many giveaways and odd man rushes were given up by the defense. If it wasn’t for Ryan Miller, this series would have ended in 5.
(Up next: Highlights of the year)
Save the date: 7-1-11
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