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Notes to chaw on as the end draws nearer |
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To say it's been a strange season would be like saying Sidney Crosby is a pretty good hockey player. With five days to go in the 2014-15 regular season and the Buffalo Sabres off until Friday, there are many fans who are left to manically watch the scoreboard while squirming in "apocalyptic fear," as WGR's Howard Simon put it yesterday. As if the very essence of their existence and every strand of their being hangs in the balance of last place finish. Just the thought of a 30th place finish having that much weight in life is strange.
A colleague asked me if I'm on twitter, and I said no. Although a lack of a social media presence isn't helpful when it comes to professional exposure, I take in enough psychosis just browsing the comment sections throughout the interweb or listening to the reactions of Buffalo fans as well as personalities on GR. Twitter is in direct contrast the old adage, "Think before you speak," and often times tweets and comments, as well as calling in on talk radio, are end up being totally against a common refrain I'd been taught growing up, "If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all."
In one of the crudest, rudest and most inane things I'd heard all season, a caller from Williamsville was on GR's Howard Simon Show yesterday calling the way the Buffalo Sabres have been playing lately, "apocalyptic suicide," before taking a direct swipe at Sabres head coach Ted Nolan:
"When I sit and listen to this coach preach that I'm coming back with [the hot goalie]" said the caller huffing disgustedly, "I fell as if I'm being stabbed in the back by Ted Nolan. I just can't stand his message any more.
"I just want to spit in his face for it."
It's stuff like this that keeps me away from twitter and causes me to either turn off the radio or not even turn it on all. People have lost their minds over this whole finish in 30th thing. In fact it's words like that and actions like the Arizona game that make me want to cheer for a 29th place finish just so those fans caught up in their petty little world will have it collapse leaving them to face their true being.
But, alas, it's best to let things follow their natural course.
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Last night the Ottawa Senators came back from a three goal deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins. After a sluggish start that saw the Pens jump out to a lead just :10 seconds in, Ottawa pushed hard to tie the score late in the third then pounced on loose puck in the slot to end it in overtime. It was a three-point swing in the game and tightened the eastern conference wild card standings.
There probably won't be any rest for Pittsburgh the rest of the way as they're playing for their playoff lives and that bodes well for "Tank-nation" as the Pens will be headed to the First Niagara Center on Saturday with something to play for in the last game of the season. Should the Sabres win in Columbus on Friday and Arizona continue to lose, having the Penguins in a must-win situation will save a lot of lives.
One should note that the Ottawa Senators showed some strong character traits last night in their comeback win with the playoffs on the line and it should be noted that present Sabres GM Tim Murray was instrumental in building that team.
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There's been a ton of talk about Sabres forward Mikhail Grigorenko lately and how he's improved. Which he has. But it's been a very slow process, something that Sabres rink-side analyst Rob Ray mentioned yesterday on Hockey Hotline.
When asked about Grigorenko's play, Ray said, "it's slowly, slowly, slowly getting better."
Attention was drawn to the former first round pick after the Carolina game as he scored his second goal of the season and his first since January 6. Of note on that play, Grigorenko had been slow on the back check allowing a 'Canes player to walk in on net, but Anders Lindback made the save. In heading the other way, Grigorenko showed hesitation and mild confusion at the blueline before heading to the front of the net where he chipped a sand wedge past a goalie Cam Ward who looked better suited for the ECHL that night.
That being said, Grigorenko's been more engaged lately than he's ever been. Perhaps that weak goal was a karmic thing, "It felt good. A goal's a goal," he said after the game.
As has been the case with him all along, it's a confidence thing and ever so slowly, his confidence is building. "The last four or five games I've felt pretty confident," the soft-spoken Grigorenko said, "I've been creating chances and skating well, playing well defensively and finding chemistry with Marcus [Foligno] and Gio (Brian Gionta.)"
Grigorenko seems to be developing a thicker skin lately as well and even admitted that he's gotten better through the "tough love" he's been getting from the coaching staff. When I asked him about it he said, "With parents, you know, if you do something bad," he said with a chuckle, "they'll let you know.
"This organization wants me to succeed."
When I asked him if forward Johan Larsson had shown the way a bit via the struggles he'd faced before finding his game, Grigorenko mentioned that looking at his play gives one more confidence "because we both were in Rochester together and we've both been up and down all the time.
"When [Larsson] finally found [his] game and his scoring touch it was really nice to see. I'm just trying to learn some [things] from him. I can see that he's playing with a lot more confidence. If I get that confidence it will be much easier too."
Nothing's been easy since former GM Darcy Regier put him in the NHL at 18 yrs. old, but Grigorenko's slowly working his way through it. Where this all takes him is another story.
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Speaking of Larsson, he scored another goal against Carolina and had had the primary assist on Tyler Ennis' 20th goal of the season.
At one point earlier in the season, he looked like an AHL'er who might not be able to bring his game to the NHL level. Patience was the key in his case.
Throughout his career, it has taken Larsson time to adjust to the next level. When you look at his progression through the ranks there's minimal production initially followed by strong production as he figures out the game at that level. This year he seems to have passed through the NHL threshold. From November to February he had one goal and two assists in 20 games. From March to present he has five goals and eight assists in 17 games.
Larsson is on the top line, which helps, but he earned those stripes. Even though there was an exodus of forwards at the trade deadline, he was still bottom-six and worked his way up. WGR's Paul Hamilton at one point in the season pretty much wrote Larsson off, as his game wasn't translating to the NHL.
"That's the frustrating thing," said the Sabres' beat writer. "Many times in the AHL he was the team's best player, but when he'd get called up you'd ask, 'Where is that'? A lot of people don't want to be patient. They hear coaches say, 'Well, you've gotta be patient with young guys.'
"Here's [the example]," continued Hamilton, "After the trade deadline [Larsson] came up with a better attitude. Nolan got on him a little bit, told him the last time he was sent down that his attitude was unacceptable. Stop blaming the people around you and start looking at yourself. He came back up with a completely different attitude and you see the results."
Hamilton called Larsson, "Example-A." Who of Grigorenko or defenseman Nikita Zadorov will become Example-B?
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The Rochester Americans are in Cleveland tomorrow night to face off against the Lake Erie Monsters.
This Amerks season was shot weeks ago as the big club purged talent and filled the openings with Rochester's best players. Phil Varone, Grigorenko, Larsson, and Zac Dalpe all headed west on I-90 while head coach Chadd Cassidy was combing the ECHL and beer leagues to find players to fill the roster.
Tomorrow night, however, the team will bring in some of their own as the game will mark the professional debuts of two Sabres draft picks, F, Eric Cornel (2014, 44th overall) and D, Brycen Martin (2014, 74th.) Both second-rounders signed amateur tryout contracts and will play for Rochester the remaining six games. Neither of those ATO's will count against the NHL's team-limit of 50 pro contracts.
The Amerks may also get a new face as 2014 2nd-overall pick Sam Reinhart saw his season come to an end in the WHL.
Reinhart played nine games for the Sabres earlier this season so the team won't burn a year off of his entry-level deal by playing him one more game so look for him in Rochester sometime as early as tomorrow night.
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