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Josh Gorges did not green light a trade to Buffalo in order to play on an NHL doormat team.
Gorges puts his body on the line every shift for his teammates and he always busts his ass. He's a terrific role model for all of the young forwards and D on the Buffalo roster and in the pipeline in Rochester.
All Gorges asks of his teammates is that they all do their own jobs and compete every shift. The Sabre are now 2-8 after losing 4-0 in Toronto on Tuesday night.
Deservingly so, Gorges ripped his new teammates for their laissez-faire, half-assed efforts in most of the games this season.
Gorges sounded off during his postgame radio interview. His team's effort and lack thereof have Gorges hot under the collar.
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No. Offense.
No. Shots.
No. Compete.
No. Win.
No. Wonder.
4-0 Leafs.
Buffalo landed only 10, count 'em 10 shots on Jonathon Bernier.
That's a franchise record low shots on goal count for a Buffalo team. After 10 games the Sabres are 2-8.
The Leafs barraged Neuvirth with 37 shots. Four of those shots found the back of the net.
What an embarrassment. This is the NHL, boys. You get paid to fire the frozen black thing at the enemy goalie.
This is not trademark Ted Nolan hockey.
All due repsect to the Leafs, that wasn't the 1976 Montreal Canadiens that faced off against the Sabres at the ACC. That was the same disappointing Leafs team that had lost 4 of 5 games on home ice prior to Buffalo.
This loss renders Saturday's gutsy win in San Jose as obsolete.
Goaltending is not the problem in Buffalo. Their D is an EZ Pass lane and the forwards refuse to shoot the puck.
Don't look now, but here comes another trio of tough games against Boston, Pittsburgh, and Detroit.
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Toronto Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf injured his knee on a freak play late in the second period of Tuesday night's game against the Buffalo Sabres.
Sabres winger Marcus Foligno tripped Nazem Kadri who fell into Phaneuf like a bowling 7-10 split. Kadri's body weight forced Phaneuf's knee to hyper extend. Phaneuf hobbled to the bench and then to the Leafs room.
Luckily for Phaneuf, his knee was not badly injured and he returned to the game in the third period.
Moments later, Tyler Bozak scored the power play goal to give the Leafs the 1-0 lead.
The Kessle and JVR would add goals early in the third period to give the Leafs a commanding 3-0 lead.
Jake Gardiner's goal made it 4-0.
The Sabres looked like a road weary group in the second half of the game.
The Sabres PP failed on its two opportunities bringing their failure rate to 0-32 on the season.
The Sabres landed their ninth shot, their first of the third period, on Jonathon Bernier at 14:03 mark of the final period. Eight shots in the first 44 minutes of play? Disgusting.
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Once again, Buffalo's best player was Zemgus Girgensons who hammered 8 hits and flexed his muscles on the penalty kill. No Sabres player works and competes harder than Girgensons. All Zemgus does is spill his guts on the ice for his teammates every shift of every game.
Too bad many of his teammates don't reciprocate with a similar effort.
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I got to see Connor McDavid's brilliance up close and personal last week in Buffalo. The kid put on an offensive clinic in Erie's 8-4 win over Niagara. McDavid pulled many tricks out of his bag and he delighted the 11,000+ fans in attendance.
One trick that he didn't reveal was:
His exploding puck trick.
Former Sabres D and current Erie Otters assistant coach Jay McKee tweeted this image early Tuesday afternoon.
McKee witnessed McDavid shattering a puck off the cross bar at Otters practice.
The way things are going in Buffalo these days, McDavid will be disintegrating pucks off the pipes in Sabres practices next season.
NHL goalies beware.
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