3RD PERIOD:
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2ND PERIOD:
Vanek is back and he's fully engaged. I predict he'll score Buffalo's next goal. vanek pick-pocketed Spacho Man as the habs hitthe Buffalo blue line with a four on two breakaway. Excellent back check and strip by Vanek!
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Buffalo are doing a solid, consistent job of forechecking the slower, less mobile Montreal D like Hamrlik and Gill.
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Tyler Myers and Hank Tallinder are actively involved in the rush. Good to see 57 and 10 creating options ofr the forwards.
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Vanek suffered an injury with seven minutes remaining in the first period. I have not seen him since.
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Ryan Miller's glove hand should be registered with the FBI and CIA as a weapon of mass destruction.
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1-0 SABRES
Tim Connolly extends his six game point streak.Pommer threaded a saucer pass to Connolly--- 19 drove the net, got a shot and deposited the loose change behind Price. He now has five goals in his last six games.
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Ottawa defeated the hapless Flyers, 7-4 in Kanata earlier today. Kovalev cha-chings four goals. Whats next for the Flyers? They've already fired one coach this season. Will Laviolette get turfed, too?
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I like the Sabres energy level and attention to detail in the first twenty minutes.
The forwards were quick to come back to help out in the Buffalo zone.
Montreal had chances, but Miller thwarted their advances.
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1ST PERIOD:
Lindy Ruff's loafer to the ass of his team seems to be paying immediate dividends. The Sabres have answered the bell here in the first period with a decidedly better effort. The forwards are winning pucks and forcing the play in the neutral zone.
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Tim Kennedy takes a cross checking penalty early on. The Montreal PP is #1 in the NHL.
They scored 11 PPGs on their last 22 attempts ion their recently concluded seven game roadie.
Plekanec sneaks in behing the Buffalo D and gets a glorious scoring chance; Miller makes the save on the backhand attempt.
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Once again, Miller is Buffalo's best penalty killer.
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If the Sabres, namely Pommer and Connolly, know whats good for them, they had better answer the bell IMMEDIATELY in the first period on Sunday in Montreal. 29 and 19 were called out by their names, after the Thrashers game in Buffalo on Friday night. Their coach did not like their decisions with and without the puck. He said that they were not moving their feet and making plays for their linemates. Ruff was not happy. Can you blame him? two team leaders going through the motions on a first place club? Do you see Tyler Myers, Mike Grier, Tim Kennedy, and Matt Ellis giving less than their best? Last Wednesday in Buffalo, Patty Lalime was summoned to stop the madness after his Sabres mates had betrayed REyan Miller in what can be described as Buffalo's worst first 38 minutes of hockey of the season. Miller was hooked from his crease after he fell down 3-0 to Marc Andre Fleury, and suddenly, the light bulb illuminated. Friday night in Buffalo, they were awokened from their New Year's slumber after falling behind 3-0 to the Thrashers. Sure, they won the game, 4-3, however, Lindy Ruff was quite perturbed after the game and promised to get the lead out of his team's collective patoot for future games. Ruff noted taht he's be talking to his players in Montreal about their less than stellar starts in recent games. digging out of a 3-0 ditch is admirable. However, the point the coach is selling his team is that their individual crappy driving in blizzard-like conditions is what caused their car to veer off abruptly into the ravine.
The problem with the Sabres is that they are too reliant on the acrobatics and ten bell saves of their team MVP. Ryan Miller. He has their backs when he's bailing them out of turnovers and busted playes with his brillinat saves, however, he's looking for reciprocity. The forwards have to come back and help out in the D zone. Its not an option, its a mandate. The D have to clear bodies and play the tight gap on such All World performers as Crosby and Kovalchuk. Miller is giving his team the first and second save. Its the responsibility of the other 18 skaters to clean up the loose pucks and silly mistakes before Miller is forced to pull their car out of the ditch.
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The Sabres skated inside the Concodria University ice house on Saturday. There will not be a game day skate on Sunday due to the uniqueness for the 3pm puck drop,
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Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn will be game time decisions for the Habs, as will Pat Kaleta's good friend, Paul Mara.
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Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta played for Team USA at the Torino games in 2006. This time around, Brian Burke has decided to soldier in to Vancouver without the talented Montreal twosome. In their stead, Ryan Callahan and David Backes were greenlighted for action. The odds of Gionta making the team were slim to none as he missed 21 games with a broken foot. He's just now getting back into the regular swing of things after having to sit out seven weeks of NHL action. Gomez, on the other hand, is another matter in and of itself. In 39 games this season, Gomez has scored just 5 goals and he's assisted on only 22. He's a +2. He has scored just one PPG and has zero GWG to his credit. In a word, Gomez has been a dispointment thus far in Montreal. His $8 million salary makes him the object of the ire and venom of loyal Habs supporters. Brian Burke was not impressed enough by Gomez's body of work to forgive him for his sins of the this season. He's a thirty year old guy with a fat price tag that has not lived up to his jumbo sized contract. Despite his slow, unimpressive start, Gomez now has 9 points in 5 games for the suddenly sizzling Habs.
Gomez is stoic on the outside, however, it must be eating at him that Burke decided to go in another direction.
"It is what it is," Gomez said of not making the cut for Vancouver. "You get the call, you realize it, you move on and focus more on here. It wasn't meant to be. Congratulations to the guys who made it. You just wish them the best of luck and hope the U.S.A. brings the gold."
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The return of Gionta and Andrei Markov to the every night lineup has energized the Canadiens. They recently beat the Lightning and Panthers to punctuate a roadie that saw them win 6 of 7.
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Ryan Miller get get the crease for Buffalo while Jaro Halak will get the call for the Canadiens. Jack Martin is dancing with who brung him to seventh place in the East. He rode Halak in six of seven of the games on the recently concluded roadie. Carey Price has become the odd man out in Montreal.
The second place Sabres (54 points) will have their hands full gainst the seventh place Canadiens (45 points).
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The Sabres have been playing possum in recent games in the first period. They played dead for the first twenty minutes vs. Pittsburgh and Atlanta, found themselves in a collective 6-0 hole, then, they started playing Sabre hcokey to close the show in each game.
Lindy skated his troops in Montreal on Saturday morning. At the top of his "to do list":
* Get pucks on Halak early and often, The Habs at present are an NHL worst 30th as they have allowed 41 goals against in the first twenty minutes of play this season.
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Wondering what's the problem in Edmonton these days? The Oilers have been sleep walking through this dreadful season. They are a talented club that lack the ability to shake off advesrity. Pat Quinn and Tom Renney were imported to the City of Champions to create a culture of winning and accountability. Looks like Quinn has lost control of his team.
The owner of an upscale Calgary restaurant is furious, claiming that Edmonton Oilers players refused to cover the full cost of a nearly $17,000 tab during a New Year's Eve night out for team members.
Maurizio Terrigno of Osteria de Medici, the restaurant where former U.S. President George W. Bush dined when he was in Calgary last year, said the team and staff owed $16,796.39 but wanted a break on the bill and paid only $12,381.45.
Terrigno said about half of the bill was for alcohol totalling $8,248, including dozens of shots of tequila and bottles of expensive wine and $1,000 champagne.
Read the rest of this story here :
http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/nhl/article/745038--thirsty-oilers-stiffed-me-on-tab-restaurant-owner
The Oilers were throttled, 4-1, in San Jose Saturday night.
Good Times!
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Perhaps Darcy Regier can resolve to bury the hatchet with Kevin Lowe and the Edmonton Oilers in 2010. I sure would like to see Dustin Penner and Ladislav Smid in Blue and Gold before the NHL trade deadline.
Penner, the rugged winger has 19 goals and 20 assists in 41 games. He's a +11. He has 35 hits, 122 shots, and a Stanley Cup ring from the Anaheim Ducks. His $4.25 million tab is very affordable.
Smid has 1 goal and 8 assists to compliment his +11 rating. He'll only count $1.2 million against the cap.
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Before I skate....
i've been a loyal consumer off the Howard Stern show for over twenty years. I can't get enough of the King Of All Media and his hi jinx.
Howard's beefy and profane side kick, Artie Lange has been hospitalized. Lange's publicist has confirmed the not so shocking news. Lange has been battling depression and addiction in the recent past.
"We can confirm that Artie is in the hospital. Artie has chosen to keep all information on this matter between him and his doctor. There will be no further comment."
Stern returns live to the air on Howard 100 Monday morning at 6am EDT after a two week holiday vacation.
Thoughts and prayers to Artie.
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