There's not enough lipstick in Buffalo to pretty-up the pig that was the Sabres and their collective embarrassing performance in Montreal. I won't even try to find the silver lining. There isn't one.
The Sabres were a mess in Montreal.
They didn't get their first shot on Carey Pricel 10:39 of the first period.
The Sabres deserved to be scored on by Rene Bourque with eight ticks remaining on the P1 clock.
The Sabres would answer the bell for round two, however, their play was inconsistent and sloppy. too many mistakes led to a 4-0 Habs lead. They would only muster 12 shots on price in period two. They'd end the game with a flurry and 28 shots overall.
The Sabres played 40 minutes. The Habs played 60.
They went from beating down a behemoth in Boston to getting smoked by a so-so Montreal squad in back to back games.
I don't understand how a team cann look so great one game and then look so bad the next. Its perplexing me.
This loss is not to be laid at the feet of Ryan Miller. he did what he could. His teammates looked slow and generally disinterested in playing a competitive game against a team that ahead of them in the division standings. No push back like they exhibited in Boston. No fire and passion. Just an unacceptable effort all the way around.
Each and every period on the Buffalo bench deserves blame for their most lop-sided loss of the season.
The forwards got caught deep again and again and again for like the umpteenth time this week. They did it against Toronto, Boston and Montreal and the result was leaving Ryan Miller and Jhonas Enroth to have to content with odd-man rushes against. Puck battles lost all over the ice. Soft D zone coverage. Yada yada yada.
The D were pathetic. All of them. Sekera gets spared the wrath because he had a legitimate injury that knocked him out of the game. Video review doesn't seem to be working for this group. They keep leaving men alone in the slot. They keep leaving their man to run around in their own end. They keep looking at each other with their palms in the air after a goal against is allowed.
The goaltenders were tested and were less than their best.
The coaches had no answers.
Tyler Myers answered my biggest question after the game:
How come that Sabres looked so great in their 7-4 comeback win in Boston on Thursday night, and then they looked so lame on Saturday afternoon in Montreal?
“We got way to high after a good win in Boston and you know, ots something that we’re going to have to learn from. Ya know, we can take from it tonight, and come back tomorrow and win a hockey game”
I don't want to go off on a rant here, however...........
What the Hell business does Myers have getting too "high" after his putrid performance in Boston? Being on the ice for three of their goals and then praying for Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek to bail everyone out makes a team "too high"?! How does that work? Myers is -6 in the past three games (-3 vs. MTL, -1 vs. BOS, -2 vs. TOR) and he's "too high'? Please. Spare me the cliches Myers. After hisi Montreal collapse, Myers needed to step to the mics and cameras and admit that he hasn't been good enough. He hasn't been involved in games mentally and physically. He's lost in all three zones. He pinches at the wrong time and gets caught. He's slow on the back check. He's standing around in his end.
Myers was dreadful against Toronto. He was a train wreck against Boston (don't get me started on the first Marchand goal of my head will explode) and for his encore he was down right inept against Montreal.
For the second game in a row, Myers was on the ice for the majority of the opponent's goals against. Myers ended the Montreal Massacre with 16:56 in TOI. He registered zero hits, zero blocked shots, had zero shots on goal, and was credited with one giveaway.
This is the line score of the number one D-man? He only has four shots on goal in his past five games. *Palm slap to my forehead*.
After the game, Myers was asked where his confidence level is right now after his three horrendous performances this week.
“How’s it look?? You guys can tell”.
How's it look??!
It looks like Myers is an 18 year old rookie who has never laced up his skates in the NHL. He's a skating turnover machine who is over thinking his game right now. He's not physical, nor is he engaged in the process. He's a shell of his former self. If he's lacking confidence, why is he even on the ice?
Myers offered this solution to his crisis in confidence:
“Hard work. I think sometimes when you are focused on not making mistakes, it ends up with you do. So, I think I just need to get my head around playing my game the way I know I can and you know, it’s a tough time right now. I just have to work through it”.
Work? You call what you are doing work, Ty?
That's an insult to hard work.
In his post game presser, Ruff said of Myers;
"We could have backed off his ice time, but with the injury to Sekera. We had no choice (than to play Myers), he's made some poor decisions that have really hurt us. I think he's in the category where he makes them and it hurts our team".
Listen, I'm a Tyler Myers believer. Always have been, always will be. I feel that it is in his best interest to take a seat in the press box for a game or two. Ruff sat him down last season and he bounced back with flying colors. He needs to sit and watch the game from another vantage point. I honestly feel like his two months that he played in Klagenfurt, Austria during the lockout really hurt his game.The NHL rink is 200 by 85. He played on the 200 by 100 in Europe and it appears to me that his reaction time is a beat or two too slow as a result of having what seems like an eternity of time and space. That, and it appears to me that his conditioning needs work. A lot of work. When he injured his ankle in Austria, he was forced to sit out a whack of games. In 17 games in Austria, Myers was -7. That stat doesn't sit right with me as I was expecting him to up his game to a never-before-seen level while playing with Sam Gagner on the big ice, in a less physically demanding hockey league.
Was Lindy Ruff surprised at how awfully his team played in Montreal?
"Yeah, I am surprised. We left our heads in Boston. ya know, we come out and take three penalties in the first period and let them get some momentum in their own building and we know that they have been making their living off of their power play"
"If Ryan doesn't play the way he did in the first, it was outta hand as it was, it could have been even more out of hand"
"Its a collective effort. You can't point fingers at anybody, it a collective effort".
"I think you get paid for the way you are playing and we got paid at the end (of the first period when Montreal scored with 8 seconds remaining in the period)', Ruff said that his team started to play for keeps after twenty minutes, but by then it was too late.
**
Ruff said that Sekera's injury will be re-evaluated in Buffalo on Sunday. Ruff said preliminary prognosis is "bruise". Doesn't look like a long term injury.
***
PK Subban added a spark and a dimension to the Habs lineup that they have been missing for the first six games of this season. Subban added an energy and a positive vibe to his team. He also took a run from behind on Big John Scott. No penalty on the play. Something tells me that Subban will be having to defend that not so nice hit from behind when the habs travel to Buffalo on Thursday. Coincidently, Jordan Leopold was penalized fo rthe same type of hit from behind against montreal.
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