-Finally, the Sabres played an entertaining hockey game (Insert Hallelujah song). It was the first time the Sabres scored more than 3 goals in a month (Insert fireworks and confetti). It was the first time the Sabres scored more than 3 goals at home since January 6th (Insert rioting). Yes, it wasn’t exactly against a perennial powerhouse in the West, but when you can thoroughly entertain me for most of the game, I don’t care who you’re playing. But besides my entertainment value, it was a great all-around win. You name it, they did it. They scored, they played great defense, they hit hard, and had some good timely goaltending. Everyone contributed…even Derek Roy did-
-The Sabres blue liners played their best offensive game of the season. Tyler Myers was all over the ice and could of had a hat trick tonight. Myers played with passion and looked like the guy from October and November. That’s the Myers the Sabres need to see. All of his shots from the point seemed to be on net and he did a great job of pinching in the offensive zone. Myers stat line of four points (1 goal and 3 assists) were a career high for the rookie. It’s good to see him play with some hop in his step, considering that he’s been struggling for over the last month. Hell, I even liked his dumb interference penalty because it showed how aggressive Myers wanted to be tonight. Good job against your home state, Tyler-
-Have to also give props to Andrej Sekera and Craig Rivet who played extremely well in the offensive zone. Yes, Sekera did have a costly giveaway, but I see a lot of promise in the young defenseman. I saw a player tonight that was skating really hard and was able to deke out a couple of Dallas players in the process. I remember watching the Olympics and see Sekera play with passion, and even on certain nights he outplayed his all-world teammate, Zdeno Chara. Considering how offensively challenged the Sabres have been at times this season, getting Sekera some more ice-time would be beneficial for the offense. Maybe Ruff is seeing that as Sekera logged over 22 minutes in ice time tonight. In other words, he’s a lot better than Steve Montador. As for Craig Rivet, nice pass from behind the net to set-up the Mancari goal. Sorry, but you’re still too old-
-The Sabres blue liners are going to be very key for the Sabres offense in the playoffs. My confidence in the top 6 forwards is still shaky and their going to need all the help they can get to score. We all know Ruff’s system is predicated on defenseman being aggressive in the offensive zone. Like I wrote the other day, when you have Ryan Miller back there, you can definitely take more chances on defense. Hopefully, this aggression from the blue-liners isn’t just a one night stand-
-I’ve been saying for months that it’s time for the Sabres to get some of their youth from Portland up here. Hello, Mark Mancari. It’s about time that you finally took the bull by the horns. God knows the Sabres have given you a number of chances to make the parent club. Mancari played great tonight, scoring a goal and an assistant. When the guy’s head is on straight, he’s the complete package for the Sabres. Size, decent speed and a great shot are traits that definitely work for me. Now, I’m not ready to tell Mancari to start house hunting in Buffalo, as most fans are already anointing him over Stafford and half the team. However, this is a good start for him to try and crack the starting line-up on a full-time basis-
-Dear Mr. Kaleta, please don’t get hurt so much. The Sabres need your aggressive style of play and hitting. Yes, I know there’s Adam Mair and Paul Gaustad, but Kaleta seems to be the only guy of the trio who can be a threat on the offensive end of the ice. It’s kind of hard for Lindy to play Adam Mair 13-15 minutes a game when he’s so one dimensional. As for Gaustad (who didn’t play tonight), he’s battling injuries and hasn’t been himself since getting hurt in December. When healthy, Kaleta doesn’t seem to have the problem of hitting and scoring a timely goal. BTW- It’s good to see him drop the gloves-
-Memo to Thomas Vanek: You really need to watch those F-bombs when you are unable to bury a scoring chance. I mean, there are kids watching at home! I heard your little F-bomb in the first period. You’re lucky Lindy doesn’t wash your mouth out with soap. In all seriousness, it’s good to see Vanek get on the scoring sheet. Especially for the sake of all those drivers who are on the road after Sabres games. It wouldn’t surprise me if Vanek has a serious case of road rage when he leaves the arena after not scoring a goal-
-Wow, the Sabres were able to get HBO as a sponsor of tonight’s first period…Impressive. Not so impressive… your new sponsor is some junkyard that you can sell transmission parts at-
-Memo to Sabres TV producers: First off, you decide to run the same “Whip” Topic from three months ago (wrote about the stupid topic then), which tells me when Kevin Sylvester asks the viewers to email the staff for topic suggestions, he really…REALLY means it! Secondly, the argument of having 10 playoff teams in each conference is completely absurd! I don’t even know how the math would work with those brackets. Would the 1st seed have a bye? Would there be a play-in game? 10 teams? Pssh…..Why don’t we allow the AHL and the roller hockey league into the NHL playoffs. Lastly, look, I’m a notorious cynic when it comes to Buffalo teams, but it’s strange that the Sabres would run this topic twice in three months. We all know that the Sabres are all about making as much money as possible. Having 10 playoff teams would only insure that the Sabres would be in the postseason for the next 30 years. That’s a lot of playoff tickets to buy. Why not try and
make a convincing case on TV, that way so some of the uneducated fans can contact the NHL about the travesty of not allowing crappy teams into the playoffs. Yeah, I know…I’m evil and I’m reaching-
-Wow, I just went through a whole recap without mentioning how Ryan Miller played tonight. That’s good news, because I’ve totally run out of things to say about him…Unless you want me to talk about Elton John wanting to meet him and his Today Show appearance. Yeah, didn’t think so. All kidding aside, it’s good to write nice things about other Sabres not named Ryan Miller-
-This has been such a roller coaster year for the Sabres. To think they are only 3 points out of 2nd place in the conference with one game in hand is kind of cool. Playoffs are coming! Are you ready?-
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