South Buffalo rinkrat, Timmy Kennedy, will make his NHL deebut tonight in front of friends and family in Buffalo. The Old First Ward will make their prescence felt early and often!
Kennedy has been recalled from Portland, where he has 22 assists and 5 goals.
Kennedy, a winger by trade, has been playiing centre in Portland at the behest of the Sabres. The thinking is that Kennedy has a similar skill set to Tim Connolly as he can skate, shoot, stickhandle in a phone booth and he can pass the puck with creativity and great accuracy. Its likely that Connolly will have a new area code other tha "716" on July 1 and Kennedy represents the future.
Perhaps Lindy has had it up to here with Jochen Hecht's act, and maybe 55 will sit tonight. Hecht lost 11 of 17 faceoffs in Washington. Go back and watch how brutal Hecht was on the Jurcina goal. He lost the faceoff and gave up on the puck. Brutal effort from a team leader and former Captain.
Kennedy has never centred in the pros, however, can he be as bad as Hecht has been? Maybe he plays the wall with Mac at the pivot and Staff on the other wing....
Lindy wants to add some cayenne pepper to spice things up. Kennedy will get the home fans up on their feet with plays like this:
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Thomas Vanek showed intestinal fortitude last night when he laid down in front of one of AO's 19 shots. HDTV was dinged by the lazerbeam, however, returned from the clinic to score his 25th goal of the season.
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Sabre prospect Tyler Ennis had himself one Hell of a game Friday night in Canada's WJC game vs. the Czechs.
Ennis collected a goal and two assists and there were streches of action that he owned the puck in the Czech zone.
I love Pierre Maguire's comment: " I would by Medicine Hat Tigers season tickets just to watch Tyler Ennis play!!"
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Ryan Miller will start for Buffalo against the Islanders.
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Seemed like a harmless play, right?
Alexander The Great takes off through the neutral zone with Toni Lydman all over him like a cheap Botany 500 Leisure suit. Lydman hands the fire starter over to his D partner, Hank Tallinder at the Buffalo blueline. So far, so good, right. Lydman's watching Ovie like a hawk and he does his job by backchecking through the neutral zone and on into his end. It gets dicey for Chainsaw and Toni when the transfer happens. The gap that Lydman had reduced on Ovie was now widened out by a foot or two just as Tallinder picked up the puck carrier. turn out the lights, the party is ova!Sensing that the puck had been velcroed to Ovechkin's twig the whole game, isn't ready for what's about to happen to him. Ovechkin is just playing possum with the Buffalo D, the same way that Al Capone used to torment the FBI. The only guy not "in" on the Ovechkin Caper is Tallinder. Ovechkin drops a cross-over step on the two beleaguered Buffalo dmen--- a thing of beauty! Hank whiffs on the impending inside-ou move, and the rest is internet legend! Smile, Hank, You've been posterized.
Like the frat boy at the kegger who decides he's going head first into the women's dorm showers, Ovechin brahma bulls his way to the blue ice with nary a care in the world. at 6'2 and 225, Ovechkin wants to punish opposing players with his hands, his feet, his elbows, and his shoulders.
Too bad the Buffalo D forgot to seperate the man from the puck. They instead took the path of least resistance and tried to stick check #8. What are they new? Didn't they get the memo? Ovechkin is like the outlaw Josie Wales. You better finish him before he blasts you between the eyes,
Denying time and space is an art form in today's NHL. The winning teams have D men who like to pound their opposition when they have the puck on their stick. The Phaneufs, The Prongers, The Lidstroms, and the Blakes of the world finish the body so that the hands lose ccontact with the puck.
Buffalo need to adopt a similar philosophy.
Alex Ovechkin is a straight up Gangsta!
That, ladies and gentlemen, is what seperates the good players from Alexander The Great.
All due respect to Chainsaw and Hank, they were in position for a moment, however, they did not use their bodies to blast Ovechkin off the puck. He was begging for the contact, and when it did not come to him, he posterized both Buffalo D and Patty Lalime.
Take a look at the greatness at work.
PS- I love Caps play by play man, Joe Beninati! I want to be just like him when I grow up!
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