So I was at my girlfriend’s parents house this past Sunday for a family gathering and when word got ’round that the Sabres lost game 2, someone actually apologized to me for the loss. At that point I knew I had to seriously detach myself because apparently I reek of “fanboy-ism” to the Sabres. For game 3 I did just that. Although, deep down I wanted a win, actually, I just wanted a freaking goal. When you spend all season watching 90% of their games coming to terms with the end of it all is a bit rough. Now we just need to come down to reality and face the fact that from January on, this team was not a Stanley Cup team. They were just a .500 team that had the ability to explode with offensive firepower. There was a lack of consistency on defense and most prominently, a gradual decline in special teams play. Common sense says that you want to peak heading into the playoffs and not the opposite. I think fans as a whole knew this but felt that the character of the team would prevail and we would have a team that was capable of going all the way. Not so. They look dejected, tired, and confused…They look like the freaking Senators did last year when we beat them.
Even so, I’m still not convinced that they’re giving everything they have to give. You cannot tell me that over the past three games Ottawa has been so much better than Buffalo that we can’t even hang with the Sens. This is professional hockey. Every team is talented and in the playoffs it’s the team who wants it more. The Senators want it more.