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LUCIC AND KOBASEW SINK SABRES |
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Former Vancouver Giant star, Milan Lucic, ran around and hit the Sabres like they owed him money.Maybe the Steve Ott and Sean Avery debacle in Bosoton last saturday night served to wake the sleeping Giant.
Lucic was credited with eight solid body blows, however, it seemed to me like he landed more than that. He alone neutralized Buffalo everytime he touched the ice Saturday night. Buffalo had no answer for the physicality that the B's threw at them. Especially the forwards. Peters sat the game out. Paille was scratched. Kaleta was not a dominant force. There was not a transcendant performance from a Sabre forward in the "jam and sandpaper" department in Boston.
Credit Toni Lydman for his 6 hits and Craig Rivet for his 3.
The B's out-hit Buffalo 26-20. Lucic made it seem like a wider margin than that.
Midway through the first period, the Bruins woke up from their slumber and they took over a game that was their's for the taking. The Bruins had slow feet early on, and that allowed Pommer and Connolly work their give an go magic on Fernandez. After that, Claude Julien tapped Lucic to go out and change the tempo of his team's game. Thats exactly what the second year pro did. Lucic was a beast in all three zones. He used his body to separate men from pucks, he won key wall battles, and he played with the type of feriocity that a team needs when pursuing four points from a division opponent.
Equally as beastly was Julien's Trap.
Trailing by two goals in the third period, the Sabres were relegated to having to skate through five guys lined up at their own blue line. Good luck with that.
With Spacho screening Miller, former Sabre draft pick Dennis Wideman sniped Miller upper tank, under the left cross bar. Miller never saw the puck. Then, Chuck Kobasew, he of the fractured ankle that kept him off the ice for 12 games, took a routine shot that deftly kissed off Teppo's boot and found the back of the net. Kobasew looked like he'd never missed a beat in just his second game of the season.
It was one of those notes for the Sabres.
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Don't look now, but, there is a log jam at the top of the Eastern standings. The Sabres have given back the cushion in points that they have earned in the season's first three weeks.
The Bruins are now in second place in the East. They jumped up from #4 to #2 with the win over Buffalo.
The Sabres and B's each have identical 8-3-3 records, and, 19 points.
The Rangers have 23 and lead the East. Carolina are in third with 18 points. Montreal and Pittsburgh have 18 as well. NJ, Washington, and Toronto all have 16 points.
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