5:55pm: Things are quiet here right now, however, the arena will be full in twenty minutes or less.
This will not be a run-n-gun affair tonight. Look for Renney's Rangers to trap the Sabres early and often.
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The Penguins are in a world of hurt right now as streaky sniper Ruslan Fedetenko will be lost for the next 4-6 weeks with a broken hand. Fedetenko and with Miro Satan have been riding with Sid The Kid for most of the season, however, Satan has been banished to the fourth line, and Ray Shero is looking for a playmaker for his frustrated captain.
I'm told that the Pens will inquire about Max Afinogenov this weekend.
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Chris Butler drew the short straw tonight and he will sit. Lindy has 8 healthy D, however, he is keeping Butler with the big team. Butler will travel with Buffalo to detroit after tonight's game.
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I had a conversation with an NHL executive earlier tonight who tells me "don't expect many blockbuster trades before the trade deadline".
His reason.
"The cap. Many teams are at or near it, and there won't be a lot of big names moving".
I asked him about Kovalchuk in Atlanta.
"I didn't say "any". I said "many"-- deals that is".
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Peters will sit to make room for #19.
The fourth line is Paille-Connolly-MacArthur
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7:29pm: The home crowd gives Chris Drury the Bronx Cheer after Jay Moran announced his name over the PA.
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1st Period:
Observations:
*Craig Rivet has committed three turnovers early in this game-- two against the Rangers' fourth line.
* Ryan Miller has been solid through the first 8:35 of this game. He's square to the shooters and he's moving well post to post. The glove has been solid, too. He was Buffalo's best PKer with Teppo in the can. Great kill.
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@ 9:51 of the period, Connolly used his stick to poke check the puck off the Ranger puck carrier at the scorer's table. TC quickly finds MacArthur as he hits the ranger blueline. Connolly instinctive takes off for the blue ice, just like his coach has been preaching. Mac checks up on the right halfwall and throws a dart at Valiquette, which misses Connolly and Paille by an inch. The good news is the Connolly was dumped on his keester in the Ranger crease. He hooped up and skated to the bench with hestitation. good to see TC drive the blue with no fear.
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I'm very impressed with the compete level of the Ellis-Goose-Pommer. Every shift, lots of jam and jump. Simple, north/south effortr and they are winning puclks on the wall and in the corners.
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1-0 Rangers
@ 19:24, Pat Kaleta's best friend, Paul Mara, throws a harmless wrister from the point. The Sabres had five men packed in low in front of Miller. The puck found Derek Roy's glove, changed directions, and found the top of the net.
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After 20:
All in all, a decent period for the Sabres, save the late goal. Not Miller's fault as it kissed Roy's mitt and found the back of the net.
Sabre forwards are responsible with the puck. Their breakout is clean and they are getting good entries into the Rangers zone. They need to work on their zone time in the Ranger end. More pucks deep and more blue shirts in front of Valiquette in the second period.
Rivet and his D mates have to settle down in their end. Their first pass is being pressured and jumped by the Ranger forecheck.
9-9 hits.
14-7, Rangers shots on goal.
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2nd Period:
The Sabres look dopey to me as the period gets going here.
They are spending way too much time in their end watching Gomez, Dubinsky and the Rangers work the puck.
No flow. They better start moving their feet.
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@9:58 mark, Buffalo gets its first shot of the period on Valiquette. 8 shots on goal through 30 minutes is unaaceptable. The Rangers are a flat team and they have been struggling, having lost 6-3 to Montreal the other night.
Needless tro say, the home fans showered their team with sarcasm and scorn when the whistle blew after the save.
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Detroit will eat Buffalo alive tomorrow night if we see a repeat performance of the first 30 minutes of this game.
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@12:18 Goose sits two for tripping.....
Miller AGAIN is keeping his team in this game. Big save on Girardi's point shot through traffic.
25-8 shots on goal to this point!
The official scorer just gave Buffalo a belated Christmas gift-- their 9th shot on goal.. No way Valiquette was in his blue when Matt Ellis shot the puck from the faceoff circle.
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1-1:
Derek Roy is rewarded from driving to the net. HDTV blew down the leftwing wall, hit Stafford with the cross-ice pass--- Staff hits Roy driving--- Valiquette amkes the first save. Roy pounds in the rebound. Roy's 15th.
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The home crowd is louder now than they've been for the past two hours. Nice to hear cheers instead of jeers!
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AFTER 40:
The Sabre D and forwards can thank Ryan Miller for bailing them out in the second period.
14-6 shots???!!
28-13 after 40 ain't gonna get it done. Lindy will likely demand more from his leaders in the room. These are two pints that the Sabtres cannot afford to giveaway.
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3rd Period:
Chris Drury is a -1with one shot on goal; he's 4 for 10 on faceoffs.
41-55-29 start up front for Buffalo and apply decent pressure. No sustained zone time.
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@ 3:11 Michal Roszival was wiped out by Goose in front of Roy Ray's roost... he left the ice after the collsion and ran to the NYR room.....
The Sabres must take advantage of the fact that Roszival is off the ice. He skated 16:51 through two periods....
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@ 10:43, still no Roszival. Is it a coincidence that the Sabres have controlled play ever since the injury to one of the top Dmen in white?
Buffalo are getting pucks deep and they are firing from all angles.
They are outshooting NYR 10-4 thus far in the period.
A goal would be nice....
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@9:40, Toni Lydman blows a brain fart by throwing his weak, soft back pass up the wall only to have it picked off and thrown back at ERyan Miller.
STUPID TURNOVER!
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