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.

Apparently some Sabres fans think this video clip shows a goal that was never counted or reviewed…

I think I can’t really tell without an overhead shot. Either way, they need to get over it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4gzMCzNCCA[/youtube]

If there’s desperate hockey to be played, then tonight will be a fabulous time to start doing so. One thing I hope to see from Buffalo’s powerplay is a shift from quarterbacking the play from the half-wall to behind the net. I’d rather see it down low behind the net where Briere or Connelly can exploit their puck handling abilities forcing Ottawa to pressure there instead of the face-off circle which gives them a higher chance of clearing the zone. We know Buffalo’s point men have done a terrible job keeping the puck in the zone and sometimes just giving the puck away for breakaways. I think if we move the play down low and draw traffic towards Emery, we’ll open up the high slot area for higher percentage shots and at the same time reduce the chances for Ottawa to clear the zone.

It’s almost like I need to prepare myself for the possibility of getting eliminated by Ottawa. I think a lot of Buffalo fans have done the same throughout history, trying to soften the blow before the big knockout. I hate sounding cynical but the first 2 games of the series hasn’t given me much to stand on. Everyone knew the importance of game 2 but at this point game 3 will be the biggest game this entire season. The more and more I watch the Senators the more they remind of me how the Sabres played at the beginning of the season. Fast, fluid, and confident, almost a mirror reflection of the October Sabres.

One player that stands out to me is Ottawa’s Alfredsson. Last year in the playoffs he was non-existent but now he’s having a huge impact seemingly skating circles around Buffalo’s defense. Here I figured containing Jagr a much larger accomplishment but I guess it goes to show how well Alfredsson is playing right now.

One consistency I’ve been seeing from the Sabres going to back to the Islander series is their poor board play. Last night after the 1st period they seem to lose the desperation in their forecheck that they had at the start of the game. The one thing that has irritated me is the hesitation to go after puck on a dump-in. A hungry team will go in after the puck and worry about their bodies later. They look like they’re timing any body contact to coincide with the ensuing puck battle. Get to the puck first and take the hit. It doesn’t matter if you lose control of the puck because anytime you touch the puck first , you control and dictate play. The way things have gone has allowed Ottawa’s defense time to make an outlet pass because they’re not having to worry about throwing a body check. How many 3 on 2 rushes did Ottawa have last night compared to Buffalo? It looked a lot.

My thoughts on game 1 between Buffalo and Ottawa:

I noticed a lot of one-hand-on-the-stick lunges for pucks by the Sabres during Thursday’s game. To me that typically signifies your last ditch effort for the puck because your skates aren’t moving and the other guy is going to get there first. I remember back in youth hockey when at the end of practice you’re given a chance to scrimmage. Usually by then you’re tired from doing drills and it only takes a few hard strides for you to feel the burn. Scrimmage becomes a very poor display of any defense, lots of turnovers, and oh yeah, the one-hand-on-the-stick lunge.

I was listening to local sports radio here and heard tones of the Sabres powerplay not being a big factor so far in the playoffs as the scoring percentage is dismal and they’ve managed to get this far. Far enough – But if you’re getting outplayed and your given powerplay advantages throughout the game, you HAVE to capitalize. It is the only chance you have to stay in it when you decide that you don’t feel like skating. I saw it pretty simple the other night. The Sabres went for high risk, high reward passes and got burned instead of conceding to the low risk, low reward passes or dump-ins which would require them to out-skate, out-hit, and out-muscle the Sens.