Penguins vs Sabres reactions

-OK, I know I b#$ch and cry about the Sabres style of play boring me to sleep, but maybe I need to shut my mouth and just let their boring ass scheme just play out. It was a really fun and entertaining back and forth hockey game, but that entertaining style just isn’t a recipe for success for the Sabres-

-We always here Lindy Ruff talk about wanting his defensemen to pinch in on the offensive side of the ice. However, when you have a team like the Penguins whose transition offense is that deadly, it’s going to kill the Sabres when their defensemen are caught deep in their offensive zone. The Sabres gave away too many odd man rushes because of that. It’s different to have Crosby and company coming in on a break, than having Jamie Langenbrunner lead the rush-

-Look, I know Ryan Miller should be the least of my worries, but that’s the second straight game that the Penguins have bombed Miller. In the last four periods, Miller has given up 8 goals against the Penguins. Yes, I know that Miller played pretty well in the 1st and 3rd periods, but if you look at his last three games against offensive minded teams (San Jose, Vancouver and Pittsburgh), Miller has been getting shelled. Yes, I’m picking on Miller, but if he gets burned against the hot Senators again, I may get a little worried about playing teams with stellar offensive talent-

-Way too many giveaways by the Sabres defense tonight. I think Lydman and Montadour may need to take another trip to the press box, they were just dreadful tonight-

-BTW, where the hell were the Sabres during the first 17 minutes of the 3rd period? Totally unacceptable for their lack of effort. Absolutely no sense of urgency. That pissed me off more so than the Sabres giving up four goals in the 2nd period-

-I thought Thomas Vanek played an outstanding game. The Sabres forward could have had at least a hat trick with the opportunities he had. He has five goals in his last 8 games, and looks to finally be coming into one of his Vanekesq streaks-

-Someone needs to send a tape of this game to the NHL offices in Toronto or NYC. That’s the type of exciting style of play that would create new fans to get behind the product-

-I’ve been big on the Sabres bringing in another scorer on the front or blue line, but maybe this team needs a Mike Peca type player that can go against the top forwards in the NHL, and hit the crap out of them. Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen the Sedin twins and Danny Heatley skate circles around the Sabres. I know there aren’t too many dynamic duos like Crosby and Malkin, but sooner or later you will be meeting players like these in the playoffs. Maybe for the Sabres, I should go with defense wins championships rather than offense keeps Joe awake motto-

-So lets bottom line this: A game like tonight makes me absolutely scared sh$%less to play the Penguins. Their offense is just ridonculous! Even when the Sabres came back from 3-0 down against the Penguins a month ago, the goaltending by Lalime (in relief of Miller) kept them in the game, as the Penguins just kept on coming. That sort of goaltending is needed to beat the Penguins. If the Sabres meet the Penguins in the playoffs, they are going to have to play that 2-1 dull ass style in order to beat Pittsburgh-