Alexander Ovechkin did his part, scoring a hat trick to kill the upstart Panthers.
The Flyers applied blunt force trauma to the Rangers en route to a victory at MSG.
The Price-less Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge would be stymied by Roberto Luono in Couver.
A hat trick favours were performed for Derek Roy and the Sabres. Just beattthe road weray Canes and you leap frog from 7th place to fifth place. Just win at home against a team that was spanked in CBUS the night before. Just win.
Can't win if you don't care enough to compete.
What happened?
"That was the game of the season-- we lost the game of the season and we let two critical points slip away", Captain Craig Rivet told me after the 3-0 ho hummer at HSBC. Rivet has every right to be bitterly angry. How quicky the amber afterglow of the San Jose win has given way to the scarlet red of the hurricane symbol that was radiating from the faces of all players in the Buffalo room. Rivet raved on after the shootout win at home Friday night. Tonight, he was clearly agitated. His teammates picked the wrong time to snooze through an important game.
"We got out worked by a hungrier team".
Embarrasing effort akin to the Ottawa mess on Wednesday night. No passion, No jam. No flow. No work. No urgency. No excuses. Terrible performance in the most important game of the season.
"They came out hard-- we didn't get the start we wanted. We didn't get our feet moving. At times we got pucks deep and thats something we talked about. We got pucks deep but were not skating to get them back. It made it easy on them and hard on us".
Not moving your feet? Why the Hell not? Who knew that failure was an option.
This team picked the wrong night to play with such a cavalier attitude.
Pat Kaleta and Matt Ellis were the best Buffalo forwards. They played with the necessary levels of passion and purpose. The other ten forwards were a mess. Thye took 51 shots on the night. 15 hit the end walls, the glass, and the netting. The other 36 were thrown right at Cam Ward's red hot glove and his chest protector.
Captain Rivet bristled at the suggestion that his D mates will have to do more to help shoulder the load on nights like this one where the forwards are lifeless.
"You know what... defense is not just the six defense. defense is all about the team. as much as we're going to try to play solid defense amongst the six of us, its going to take all five guys on the ice to play good defense. Vice versa on the forward lines. Its not just the three guys, its all five".
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Derek Roy and Drew Stafford are clearly missing the magic that Thomas Vanek infuses in their line. They had a couple of chances to score on Cam Ward, however, they were of the one-and-done variety. Ward devoured rebounds like they were sponge candy.
Lindy Ruff used Gerbe, Paille and MacArthur with Roy and Stafford, however, there was no sparks. No sustained zone time or pressure. I asked Roy about the void that was created when 26 left the lineup with his broken jaw.
"Doesn't matter who's on the line. We have to do our job. I thought we did that tonight, we generated some chances but we just didn't score. We needed that one goal to get us going and we didn't get it".
By "WE", Roy is referring to himself and Staff. Like they are on most nights, 9 and 21 were engaged in the process of scoring. It seems like whe they make the scoresheet, the team wins, even without Vanek. What excuse can Al Kotalik use? Jochen Hecht? Clarke MacArthur? Jason Pominville? Tim Connolly? These forwards were woefully pitiful in Buffalo's game of the season. This is unacceptable. I'm getting sick of watching 12 and 55 stare at their skates and slam their sticks on the ice is disgust after they miss the net or fail to get a shot through. If I'm Lindy, I sit one or both this week. Kotalik is devaluing himself with his lethargy and lack of tenacity. The guy is 6'3 225 and he's playing like a guy who doesn't care right now. Good luck negotiating your new deal Al. On the LaRose goal, Kotalik was a spectator. He had a play on Staal at the blueline, however, he stopped skating, lazily passed his man off to Teppo, and then he gave up. Miller made the first save, however, LaRose was the trailer who pounded home the loose puck. No back pressure by Kotalik, no effort. His whiff became Miller's problem. I'd dsit Kotalik and put Paetsch in hs place. 12 is a otwo trick pony: one-timer and Shootouts. Big deal. when was the last time he tatooed an apposing player with a body check? How about Hecht?
Might the Sabres have given all they had on Friday night in their very emotional game vs. San Jose?
"No way. Not even a question. There was a lot of emotion in that game, but when you are an NHL player and a professional athlete you have to go out and work every night. I thought we wasted a lot of our energy in our own end and not in theirs....we weren't sharp. Our passes were off, our powerplay wasn't working well".
The Panthers, Rangers, and Canadiens are thanking Buffalo for leaving these critical two points on the table. These are the types of points that come back to bite teams in the ass in April. Either they propel teams into the 8 hole and leave they short of a playoff spot.
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