Ron Rolston now knows how Lindy Ruff had been feeling about the undisciplined play of his team.
Rolston was dumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Rolston's debut as coach of the Sabres was undermined by one of his former pupils, James Van Riemsdyk.
JVR played for Rolston with the U.S. National Team Development Program.
He scored twice on Ryan Miller as the Maple Leafs beat the Sabres 3-1 in Rolston's first game since replacing Lindy Ruff.
Van Riemsdyk, an offseason acquisition by former general manager Brian Burke, leads the Maple Leafs with 11 goals.
The Sabres are now 10-5-1 in the first game after a coaching change.
The Sabres didn't bury their chances. The Leafs did.
Here Ehrhoff gets caught on the pinch and Sulzer gets turned inside out by the Kessel-JVR 2-on-1 breakaway.
Thanks, Leafs TV
The Sabres didn't score on their PP. The Leafs did. Twice.
Here. Tyler Myers lost coverage on JVR because he was too bust xcecking the net-front forward to the ice. Myers was torched for the PPG in the process.
Thanks, Leafs TV
The Sabres continue to commit mistakes at the offensive blue line and they turn over pucks like they are getting pad to do it. Crappy entries. Inconsistent recoveries.
Hodgson, Foligno, and Vanek missed on prime scoring chances on Scrivens. Ott's goal was wiped off due to a questionable goal tender interference penalty.
In the end, the Sabres waste ANOTHER out-of-this-world Ryan Miller goal tending clinic.
The Sabres fall nine points below the Leafs in the division standings.
***
The good news:
Ryan Miller made 32 saves. Miller was the best player on the ice for Buffalo.
Sabres won 57% of draws.
Sabres registered 37 hits, 9 by NHL hits leader Steve Ott.
The bad news:
The Sabres had 14 missed shots, 5 by Vanek.
The Leafs blocked 20 Sabres shots.
*****
Big John Scott better learn to defend against body blows....
Thanks, hockey-fightsfc.com
I like Ron Rolston more now today than I did yesterday. Rolston met the media after today's skate in Toronto. After the brief pleasantries were shushed aside, Rolston performed a brief, yet thorough autopsy on the ice cold stiff that is the first 17 games of the Buffalo Sabres season. What he discovered after a his video session is that not all Sabres players have been selling out and giving all they have for each and every second of their 3-35 second shifts.
Rolston:
"From what I saw, it was more of just a lot of shortcuts, a lot of shortcuts, a lot of rest in shifts, the things that you just have to eliminate if you’re going to be a good hockey team,"
BUSTED!
Rolston is bang on. There have been far too many fly-bys and wide circles being performed by a few of the forwards and several of the D inside of shifts in games all season long.
What does Rolston mean by "shortcuts"? I could edit together a video of all of the mistakes and show it to you, but that would take all day and night.
* Coasting instead of skating balls-out to loose pucks.
* D men choosing to pinch at the wrong time, then half-ass back checking the play that goes back the other way.
* Stick checking an opponent while flat-footed instead of moving one's feet to cut-off an opponent.
* Gliding in pursuit of an enemy puck carrier.
* Cheating the system by throwing pucks up the middle of the ice rather than bang them off the glass, wide and out of harm's way.
Gavin Rossdale said it best:
"Its the little things that kill".
Its truer than ever in Buffalo. The team is 6-10-1 right now because players aren't playing the game the right way. They are cheating their teammates. The little things are killing the Sabres.
"Most importantly, it’s just getting back to that. It’s getting back to work and getting back to eliminating shortcuts from your game because there’s not a whole lot of time."
Rolston's thought process is an easy one: eliminate most or all "shortcuts" and bad habits, and the team will be back on its winning ways. Sounds simple, eh? Do the little things, be accountable and responsibile, and the team will win.
Unfortunately, its easier said than done.
All 12 forwards and 6 D-men will be on high alert starting tonight. The eyes in the sky don't lie. If a forward or D dares to take the path of least resistance with a puck, the new coach will document it on video and alert the player to the plan of correction.
Lindy Ruff tried to clean up and smooth out the rough spots by presenting the mistakes and the immediate solutions to his former players. However, they tuned him out and persistently committed the same sins.
Something tells me that Rolston won't yell and scream about the dumb mistakes. Instead, he'll take ice time away from the frequent offenders.
Newly minted Sabres head coach Ron Rolston ran his team threw its first game day skate under his tutelage today in Toronto.
Afterwards, the new coach went one on one with sabres.com
Thanks, sabres.com
***
Talk about accountability. Thomas Vanek says he shook Lindy Ruff's hand and apologized that he didn't perform better for him.
Vanek is not the reason that Ruff was fired. I respect Vanek for stepping up the way he did.
Too bad not all of his teammates are not as honest and forthcoming. Vanek is the leading scorer in the NHL and he has busted his back for the team this season. If only all of his teammates followed his lead.
Thanks, sabres.com
***
Marcus Foligno spoke about his admiration for Lindy Ruff and described his former/new head coach, Ron Rolston:
Thanks, sabres.com
***
Former Flyers and current Leaf power forward, James van Riemsdyk, played for Ron Rolston in the United States National Team Development Program. JVR gave props to Rolston after the Leafs skated this morning.
"I'm a big believer in him as a coach....I think he made me into the player that I am today. He took me from someone who kind of had a lot of raw abilities and helped mold me into some of the skills I've been able to develop over the years. I can't say enough good things about him."
JVR says that Rolston is a great motivator and that he allows players to play to their strengths. He allows skill players to use their skills, which will play well to the strenths of Sabres Vanek, Pominville, Stafford, Ennis, Hodgson, Foligno, Grigorenko and others.
Thanks, Leafs TV
***
Mikhail Grigorenko is scratched tonight. His third straight scratch of the season.
The kid told me Tuesday night that he was surprised to learn on Tuesday that he would be scratched against Winnipeg. He also told me that he thought he would be playing in Toronto. Why wouldn't he play, right? Regier kept him after his five game try-out and talked about his development at the professional level. Why send him back to the Quebec Remparts? The kid is NHL ready.
New coach same old crap. Tonight will be his 4th scratch of the season.
There better be a trade in the offing, otherwise, this team is just wasting Grigorenko's development time in Buffalo. He can power skate with the skating instructor and lift weights all he wants, but he can't earn real NHL experience sitting in the press box eating chocolate cookies with dorks like me. The kid needs to play in a series of NHL games.
More on this rant later...
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New head coach Ron Rolston reports that Jordan Leopold has an upper body injury and he will not play tonight
Leafs head coach, Randy Carlyle, is looking urging his team to play at a high emotion level tonight against Buffalo.
Colton Orr will not play for the Leafs.
I'm looking forward ta Pat Kaleta-Mike Brown reunion. You'll recall that Brown hammered Kaleta by behind in a game earlier this season.
Kaleta suffered a neck injury and spent the night in hospital after the Brown hot from behind.
***
In Toronto on Wednesday night, Jason Pominville, Drew Stafford, Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller were asked to comment on the firing of the only NHL coach that they've ever played for.
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