***************POST GAME SUMMARY*******************
In he Buffalo room,
Captain Craig Rivet on hopping on the road team early, then holding on for the two points:
"We definitely caught them off guard a little at the beginning. We got some quick goals and you know andy Murray, he's gonna make those guy s play 60 minutes of hockey. They pretty much played 55 and they lost the game". Thats the fine line in the game these days. You take a couple minutes off and it affects the outcome of the game
Rivet on on his locker neighbour, Hank Tallinder scoring the key goal in the third that restored Buffalo's two goal lead:
"I was telling Hank this morning that I thought he should change his stick. Obviously, after tonight , I think he's gonna keep it!"
In the STL room:
I spoke with rookie Alex Pietrangelo about his very near future with the Blues.
Will they keep him for the duration of the season, or, will they send him back to the OHL Niagara Ice Dogs?
" There's a lot of options and I like that. My goal is to play here (with the Blues) the whole year. Thats what I really want to do. We'll play one more game and find out!"
Regarding a chance to play on Team Canada's U-20 WJC Team:
"That would be really good experience, but, I'll play well here and see where it goes. It would be great to play for Canada".
I asked Alex about his Buffalo "homecoming".
" A bunch of the Ice Dogs came down and that was cool. My coaches and GM were here. probably 20 or so family or friends made it, too. Buffalo's not far from my home so..... it was great. I didn't pay for the tickets either, which was nice!"
Local boy, Lee Stempniak scored himself a goal and added an assist in his hometown. Not his first trip back to the 716, however, it was special for him:
"Its nice. its a great feeling to see my parents. I don't get to see them as much as I'd like. Aunts, uncles, cousins, they all stick around to watch me because they like it. Its nice to come home and catch up with friends"
I asked Stemper who had more folks in the house, Pietrangelo or Stempniak?
" I don't know. I'd like for him to have more since this was his first game back. I've been back before. Its nice that his family can come down because its so close to their home".Stempniak told me that he's extremely proud that Buffalo was recently awarded the 2011 World Junior Championships. He feels honoured to know that the rest of the world is finally recognizing Buffalo and WNY for the great hockey hotbed that it is and always has been.
" Its long overdue. I think the fans here at sabres games are great. Thy ar really knowledgeable and passionate. the local peoople in Buffalo love thir hockey. every rink here is packed and its probably even moreso now than when I was playing. Its great for Buffalo and great exposure for the city. The World Juniors will be great hockey for the fans".
Stempniak says that Buffalo staggered the Blues early and the clock became their enemy as they tried to mount their comeback:
"Buffalo are a great team and they put us right on our heels in the first five minutes. I think we slowly but surely fought ourselves back into the game and we finished better than we started. Its tough to make a comeback from three goals down against a talented team like Buffalo. Too little too late".
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Tim Connolly was jacked up by Keith Tkachuk and he did not return to the game. The postgame word was that #19 is suffering from the obligatory "upper body bruise"....... more to come on this!
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1st Period Action:
* Peters and Koci battle to a draw. Nice effort by Peters to escape getting pounded with his sweater up over his head.
Both men sit 5 for bad intentions.
Then, Toni Lydman head-mans a pass to Paul Gaustad, whick clunks Goose's skate blade and serves as a back-pass to a a streaking Adam Mair. Mairsie leaned into a 3 wood and beat Legace glove side.
1-0 Buffalo.
At 7:17, Jochen Hecht was allowed to walk down the wall--- he feeds a sweet backhand saucer pass to Tim Connolly who was parked in the blue. TC bunts it home.
2-0 Buffalo.
Andy Murray calls a timeout to settle things down at 12:43.
@ 5:18 Jason Pominville beats Legace from in close. Assists to Connolly and Hecht.
3-0 Buffalo.
**** Legace after giving up 3 goals on 4 shots; Chris Mason takes the net*******
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@ 14:07 Perron scores from an odd angle. Berglund and Stemper get the assists.
3-1 Buffalo.
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I give Petey the nod over Janssen in their throw down. Petey landed more face shots, hence, 76 wins.
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Show of hands.... who thinks Buffalo got all loosey goosey once the score went to 3-0?
I don't like the way they ended the period. Kind of a laissez faire approach- something we've seen on more than one occassion in the first 15 games.
When you have a last place team down three goals, and they've only won one game on the road, its time to snap their wind pipe. So, what is Buffalo waiting for?
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2nd Period:
Sabres won 76% of 1st period faceoffs (16-5).
Andy McDonalds and Brad Boyes were -3 each.
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@ 1;48, Sabres return to the PP. Pietrangelo sits. Jay McKee and the Blues kill it off successfully.
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@ 3:37, Patrick Bergland scores onn a knucklepuck as Rivet and Mair stood helplessly by. Looks like it was knocked out of the air.
Flub shot or no, Buffalo look very passive in their own end. Tkachuk had body position on Rivet in the blue if there was a rebound.
3-2 Buffalo.
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@ 8:17, Chris Mason makes the save of the night on NHL goal scoring leader Thomas Vanek.
HDTV picked up loose change at the STL blueline and he was off to the races, with a Dman trailing him. TV fakes the slapper, dekes forehand to backhand and attemptsto beat Mason blocker low. The goalie makes the initial save with his right pas--- the rebound falls to TV as he carries below the goalline where he fires a quickie into Mason's body.
Play under review.
No goal.
****
@ 11:06 the Peters-Mair-Goose line ignites some needed energy by applying the Full Nelson to the Koci line. Peters wipes out Koci in front of the scorer's bench with a 100 mph
charge-- problem is that Peters barely scraped Koci and he ate the wall. With Petey on his back, Mair, Goose, and Rivet threw lumber at Koci in an attempt to get him to drop.
The Sabres can ill afford to have three surgically repaired guys getting re-injured in a bar fight with a fourth liner.
Thats all they need is to lose Goose again for punching a bucket, or Mair and Rivet for tweaking a knee in a battle.
Mair and Koci are rung up for unsportsmanlike conduct.
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Congratulations to Tim Connolly for blowing a 2 on 1 with Jason Pominville. TC saw the STL Dman commit to the belly flop to deny the saucer pass, so TC fires glove high, misses by a mile and hits the white netting 22 feet north of Chris Mason's net.
Hit the net!!!!
*****
Has anyone seen Max Afinogenov tonight? He skated 3 shifts for only 3:18 in the first period.
Likely the same ice time in the second period.
How can he look so great vs. Atlanta and so bad against Boston???
The time is now to make him happy. Trade him.
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3rd Period Action:
Max is still tethered to the pine.
You think trading him is easy? The guy is not exactly burning down the house offensively and he's not exactly Guy Carbonneau Jr. on the other side of the puck. Right now, no team wants a guy who makes north of 3 Large and is stuck in a quagmire. Even when he's on the ice, Lindy Ruff cannot find him linemates because of his improvisational, open mic, stream of consciousness style. The guy is an enigma wrapped in a paradox. It takes four guys to get him the rock and then it disappears.
61 is a lot like Jason Blake in Toronto. The guy had a 40 goal season-- two seasons ago on Long Island. JFJ inked him to an inflated $4 million contract and now he's a bust for Wilson and the Leafs. Who'd want Blake at that number? Who'd want Max?
After this season, he's no longer Buffalo's problem.
***
@ 3:34 Hank tanks home his first of the season from Paille and Mair.
The goal is only the thrid of the season by Buffalo Dmen. Teppo and Spacho each have one.
4-2 Buffalo.
****
@ 5:09, Andy McDonald interferes with Ryan Miller--- NO GOAL. Mc takes a seat.
*****
Local Boy, Lee Stempniak scores a key goal to get his team to back withing 1 goal. Nice feed from David Perron.
4-3 Buffalo.
***
Chris Mason makes the sick split save as Hecht saucers to MacArthur on the 2 on 1. Looked like a sure gola until Mason made the monster save!!!
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Max makes his return from Purgatory at the 9:00 mark of the period. With Barret Jackman in the box for delay of game, Lindy opens the dog house door and lets Max take a spin.
No big whoop as Blues kill it off.
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If you love hockey card collecting, then you're going to LOVE the 2008/2009 Buffalo Sabres Yearbook!
Kevin Snow, Sabres Manager of Publications and Hockey Information, just shared the brand new yearbook with me and I am impressed!
The design is an homage to circa 1970's hockey cards. Retro blue and gold artwork framing an action shot of Captain Craig Rivet clearing out Ryan Miller's crease. The classic crossed sword logo bedazzles the cover. Sweet!
I love the inscription that reads: " 25 picture Cards* 1 Glossy Book* No Stale Bubble Gum".
On the inside left page, each player is captured in an action photo, with his stats on the corresponding right page.
This is a great holiday gift for any Sabre fan on your list.
Get yours today at the Sabres Store for only $10.
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Andrew Peters is on the ice for warm-ups and he'll play tonight.
Drew Stafford and Pat Kaleta will sit this one out as Lindy is looking for muscle to counter Cam Janssen.
***
Alex Pietrangelo is an 18 year old man with a LOT of options. In the coming days, the former Niagara Ice Dog will learn whether he will stay in STL full time, or, if he'll be sent back to Niagara, or, if he'll report directly to Team Canada.
Tonight marks the King City native's 8th NHL game. He'll lose his Junior elligibility should he skate more than 9 games with the Blues. Larry Pleau could send the talented Dman back to Niagara, where he will skate his obligatory 27-30 minutes per game and be their #1 Dman.
Or, he can report directly to Team Canada's U-20 WJC camp. The tourney begins in Ottawa on Boxing Day, and coach Pat Quinn would love to have the 6'4 200 banger on his blueline as Team Canada looks to defend its Gold Medal.
With talented 18 year olds like Scheen, Stamkos, Doughty and the like already on NHL rosters, Team Canada will need to fortify its roster.
Pietrangelo's next 48-72 hours will be most interesting.
More on this later.
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Pietrangelo's Niagara coaches and GM made the jump over the ditch to see their young star play in Buffalo. They are sitting next to me on press row.
Runour has it that Alex has 25-30 family and friends in the house tonight.
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The Sabres have had three days to forget about the debacle in Boston on Saturday night.
They better be ready for this Blues Crew. Andy Murray's squad is 1-3-1 on the road this season. Throw that stat out the window. The Thrashers ended their road winless streak in Buffalo last Friday night.
The Blues have had their struggles lighting the lamp lately. We heard that about Tampa before they scorched the Sabres on home ice two weeks ago.
My point?
Listen to Chuck D and don't believe the hype.
As I scan the STL game notes and I see Andy McDonald leading his team with 16 points. Keith Tkachuk has 9 goals and Brad Boyes 8. Paul Kariya (out tonight) sports 13 assists.
Buffalo will have their hands full tonight.
The STL Powerplay presently ranks #2 in the NHL (27.1%). They are ranked #2 on the road with 6 goals in 23 attempts. Look for West Seneca's Lee Stempniak to eat up Paul Kariya's PP time tonight.
The Buffalo PK is humming at a 4th best 88.7% kill rate.
Better that the Sabres stay out of the hoosekow in an effort to avoid the drama.
You listenin, DRoy?
Just sayin.
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