Perhaps it was the headline that read,
Lindback courts many fans' displeasure, and the notion put forth that "he’s on his way to becoming one of the most reviled Sabres ever," as written by the author, Jon Vogl of The Buffalo News. Or maybe it was the number of games he's played in consecutively, which has reached eight, all since Michal Neuvirth was traded to the NY Islanders. Or it may have been something unseen, but Sabres goalie Anders Lindback began last night's game versus the New Jersey Devils in a petulant mood.
He wasn't angry, throwin' crosschecks or elbows or anything like that, but it seemed as if there was a slight change in his demeanor as seen when he handled the puck early in the game. It looked as if something was bugging him, throwing him off a bit. It had the look as if he'd mentally thrown his arms up to say, "whatever."
Although there's plenty of blame being thrown around as the Sabres "lead" over the Arizona Coyotes has slipped to three points in the race for McEichel, not too much malice has been directed at Lindback for him stealing points left and right. Sure there's been references to slipping in the shower or pulling a groin to get him out of the crease, but I've yet to see outright disdain and hatred directed towards a goalie who's play should be considered a pleasant surprise.
"At any other time in Sabres history," wrote Vogl in the piece, "Lindback would be a triumphant feel-good story. Instead, he’ll enter the crease Friday against New Jersey or Saturday in Nashville with Blue and Gold backers begging for him to fail."
It's too bad that what was essentially a "feel-good" background piece by Vogl on the trials and tribulations of Lindback's NHL career got lost in a headline that came off as more about manufacturing negative sentiment. The fan base in Buffalo isn't even close to crucifying a goalie who's simply doing what he's wired to do. You can go back pages and pages and blog after blog and find very little hate directed towards Lindback. Hatred is being saved for, and directed at, head coach Ted Nolan.
Nolan, for his part, is doing what he's wired to do, coach to win. He does it with a style that's been successful for him in all of his stints behind the bench. But as fans see the dream of a top-two pick in this year's draft slowly fading, Nolan more than ever is becoming the supreme villain. He's been dragged through the mud all season by fans who use rumor an innuendo as a justification for disdain and outright hate. It's not right. And putting Lindback in front of the firing squad isn't right either.
In any other year Nolan would be applauded for the work he's done this season with a rag-tag bunch of mostly bottom-six players, a defense with an overabundance of depth defensemen and a carousel of starting goaltenders. And goalie coach Arturs Irbe would be looked at as a genius as he's gotten the most out of their netminders, including Lindback. But this is a different season. A lost season. Has been since December. And while Nolan's taken the heat for potentially failing at failing, the onus still remains firmly on him to protect his players. Probably moreso than ever right now.
That shot by Vogl was a ping off the goalpost harkening an impending onslaught that's sure to come the rest of the way and it's up to Nolan to continue to deflect attention away from his players on to himself. With personnel options limited and his work-ethic firmly in place, there's not much he can do, or even would do, to get his players to play poorly thus satisfying "Tank-nation." About all he can do to bring this thing home is essentially coach out of character and open things up for the remainder of the season.
There's absolutely no reason why this edition of the Buffalo Sabres at this point in the season shouldn't be playing an uptempo game trading chances left and right. They did so a bit last night. When the game opened up it proved to be fairly entertaining and "Tank-nation" got their loss ta boot.
All of Nolan's lessons that needed to be learned--like defensive responsibility, blocking shots and staying tight in the zone--should have already been learned by this group while individually if they haven't been able to figure it out, then they're probably not going to get it.
For those players who've been working hard all season, maybe it's time to reward them and let them have some fun. Allow the forwards more cheating towards the neutral zone while encouraging the defensemen to constantly join the rush. It's the Lindy Ruff, "new-NHL" style where everyone heads up ice leaving the goalie hung out to dry. It's an approach that's more entertaining for fans and more fun for the players. About the only ones who are not thrilled with games like that are goalies.
And we can see why without bringing up former Sabres goalie, Ryan Miller.
While under Ruff in Dallas, Lindback had a stat-line this season of 2-8-0 with a 3.71 gaa and a .875 sv%. The goalie he was traded for, Jhonas Enroth, presently has a line of 1-5-0 with a 3.35 gaa and a .873 sv% with the Stars. The counterpoint to those numbers is that Dallas is the second highest scoring team in the league at 3.06 goals/game.
Those are the types of numbers that can bring this thing home and in an entertaining fashion as well.
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