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Onus On Jhonas, The Twins |
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Jhonas Enroth stood tall and earned a dramatic 2-1 victory against the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center on Saturday. The win gave the Sabres their first three game winning streak of the season. Ted Nolan's team appears to have righted its many wrongs in terms of its compete level and its overall discipline and adherence to the structured game. They now have beaten Toronto, San Jose, and Washington back-to-back-to-back. Friday night's game vs. the NY Rangers was postponed due to the massive winter storm that dumped up to seven feet of snow on parts of the greater Buffalo area. That game will be made good on February 20.
The team is now 3-0 ever since Hall of Fame play by play man Rick Jeanneret has returned to the microphone to call the first period of games.
Finally. At long last. There is light at the end of the tunnel for the Sabres.
With former Caps tendy Michal Neuvirth in the shop for repairs after a collision with Justin Braun of San Jose and teammate Tyler Ennis on Tuesday night, Enroth proved yet again that he is capable of playing the #1 goalie role for his Sabres. Though his 3-8-1 record (3.40 GAA, .908 save %) don't reflect it, Enroth has played exceptionally well for the Sabres this season. If only his team were able to prevent D-zone breakdowns that have led to chances. Enroth has allowed 40 goals against in his 12 starts. If only the Sabres could score more goals for him in his starts.
On Saturday night in Washington, Enroth authored his best performance of the season against a superb team.
Were it not for the acrobatic dexterity of Jhonas Enroth, who made 43 saves on a season-high 44 Washington shots. This game would have been a blow out in Ovechkin’s favor.
“Any home loss is tough, any loss is,” said Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby after the "lowly" Buffalo Sabres beat him on Saturday night.
“It doesn’t matter to us if they’re at the top or at the bottom.
“We believe we can beat any team in this league and honestly any team in this league can play well on any given night. I don’t think you can say a game against Buffalo is a ‘gimme’ and it showed tonight.”
Holtby stopped 24 of 26 shots. Holtby has registered a 1.67 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage in his last six games (11/7-11/22).
Jhonas needed to be brilliant in order to silence the offensive personalities of Ovi, Backstrom, Burakowsky, Green, Alzner. Niskanen, and the Caps attack. Jhonas was better than brilliant.
Enroth made a strong impression early on in the game and maintained his poise and control throughout. In his postgame interview on MSG, Jhonas said that he entered the game in a different state of mind, one with less pressure being applied to himself.
"I thought everyone played really well and battled hard," Enroth said. "I think we stuck to the game plan. Everyone was playing on all cylinders, and it wasn't a perfect game, but we found a way to win."
Matt Moulson scored his third goal of the season and Torrey Mitchell lit the lamp for the Sabres, who have scored 12 goals in their past three games. The 12 goals are proof that the early season lumber slumber (see 5 shutouts) is a thing of the past.
Enroth’s heroics were not lost on Moulson.
"We have some stuff that we still need to clean up, [Enroth] made some big stops, and that's what the goalie is there for, make some big stops when you need it. He played great."
Matt Niskanen scored for Washington, which lost in regulation for the third time in five games.
"I think we did a little bit of a better job getting pucks towards the net, that's when you start to get bounces," Moulson said. "I got a fortunate bounce, [but] we've got to keep getting pucks to the net."
On Thanksgiving eve, the Sabres host the Winnipeg Jets looking for their first four-game winning streak since March 2012.
Its as if this team's fortunes changed for the better when Nolan decided to play Rasmus Ristolainen with Nikita Zadorov in the third period of the 6-1 blowout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins two weeks ago. The 2013 first rounders have been absolutely outstanding playing together as a D pair for the past five games. What makes their stellar play all the more remarkable is that veteran Josh Gorges has been out of the lineup nursing an injury since the second period of the Minnesota loss. Since then, Nolan has not been shy about beefing up the TOI and the responsibilities of his new #1 D pairing in Ristolainen and Zadorov. Risto is averaging 19:05 TOI while Zadorov is averaging 16:53. In 21 games played, Risto has landed 30 hits and has blocked 25 shots. How about Risto rocking Mike Green with a teeth rattler on Saturday night. In his 10 games played in Buffalo, Zadorov has dished out 20 hits and has 7 blocks.
Gotta love the effort being put forth by Enroth, Ristolainen, and Zadorov right now.
***
I was cutting back and forth between the Sabres-Caps and Red Wings-Maple Leafs games on Saturday night.
Frankly, I didn't like what I saw of the Red Wings in a grudge match game against a mentally fragile Maple Leafs team who had been bludgeoned 6-2 to Buffalo and 9-2 by Smashville earlier in the week before it beat Tampa 4-1 on Thursday night.
The Wings blew a great opportunity to lay a beat down on the Leafs, in their building, in front of their fans who are hating on them right now, on Hockey Night In Canada, by jumping on them early and owning the puck the rest of the night, however, they didn't play with their trademark killer instinct and they lost a key divisional game. I was not impressed at all by the effort that the Wings showed against the Leafs.
Something tells me that Ken Holland and Mike Babcock were not happy about it either.
The 4-1 loss to the Leafs dropped the Wings to 10-5-5, good for sixth place in the East. The Wings are now 4-3-3 in their past ten games.
I couldn't help but notice that the Detroit blue line continues to struggle with U.S. Thanksgiving right around the corner. In year's past, the Wings have been at their best when their D had been consistently hitting the forwards on the fly with crisp 7 foot breakout passes while exiting their zone. Granted, Nik Lidstrom was a one man breakout clinic and he has been retired for a few years now. Its hard to replace a first ballot Hall of Famer in one fell swoop. It takes time to find "the next one". Unfortunately for Ken Holland, he doesn't have another defender like Lidstrom in Detroit or in Grand Rapids.
Holland and his scouts have been "snow banking" (Scotty Bowman term for scouting) in an effort to find the missing link to their blue line issues. They are searching for that dynamic right handed D-man that will assist them in transitioning out of their zone with one pass, on the tape. They need shot blocking in the worst way because Howard is seeing too many shots that lead to rebounds that lead to scoring chances against. Holland won't rest until he finds his man.
Stefan Kronwall is averaging 24:21 TOI and is playing a max level right now. He leads the Wings with 30 blocked shots. What more can Babcock demand from his #1 D?
Danny DeKeyser is averaging 20:40 TOI and has been suspect at times this season. Babcock needs more D-zone poise and better offensive output from DeKeyser than he is giving right now. He has 29 blocked shots, however, has more to offer. He can play grittier. So why isn't he?
Jonathon Ericsson is averaging 19:55 TOI and is co-leader on team with Kronwall with just 24 hits. Also has only 15 blocked shots.
Kyle Quincey has 22 hits and 21 blocked shots. Is he giving all that he can?
Brendan Smith 18 hits, 19 blocked shots. Has morfe to give, right?
Jakub Kindl has only 9 hits and 16 blocked shots in 16 games played. He needs to give more if the Wings are going to be successful.
Xavier Ouellet has only played in two games since his recall for Grand Rapids. Babcock can't expect miracles from the youngster. I expect Ouellet to stay and play in Detroit. I also expect Holland to find a trade partner that will land him his difference-making D man. Tyler Myers of the Sabres has ben a target of Holland's since last March. He would be wise to make a deal for Myers now before Anaheim, Edmonton, or Philly snatch him up. Myers can help the Wings to stabilize their D. Myers is averaging 24:35 TOI, has 44 blocks and 26 hits in his 21 games played. His ceiling is high. He's a 24 year old who has 6 years of NHL experience under his belt. Problem being, Holland doesn't want to trade Anthony Mantha and/or Ouellet to Buffalo in order to secure the skilled big man.
Babs needs his vets to lead the way, which they are not doing right now.
The Red Wings have scored 55 goals while allowing 49 against. Their +6 goal differential is going to come back and bite them if Holland doesn't address it now. Jimmy Howard has played very well for the Wings in the first 20 games of the season and he has held his team in games. What happens if/when he gets injured again like he did last season? Then what?
Kronwall:
Thanks, Red wings TV
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