Lindy Knew It.
December 6, 2009 at 2:44 pm | In Buffalo Sabres, David Steckel, Jason Pominville, Lars Nicklas Backstrom, Lindy Ruff, Losing Sucks, Mike Green, Philadelphia Flyers, Ryan Miller, Twins Named Lundqvist, Washington Capitals, Winning Is Totally Awesome | 1 CommentJudging from the article in today’s paper, it would seem as though Lindy had a pretty good idea that the Sabres would not win the game last night. Well, at least he didn’t get his hopes up or anything.
I did not pay the closest attention to the game, but from what I did see, the Sabres looked disinterested and lazy. Bad Sabres. BAD. Go sit in the corner in timeout. Pommer finally tried to get something going with a minute left, but it wasn’t enough. Whatevs. I’m just disappointed that Ryan can give up two goals and the Sabres lose. I guess we don’t have quite as much offense as we thought. Or we used it up against the Canadiens.
The Capitals, on the other hand, had offense galore last night. Again, I didn’t see too much, but the first time I flipped to that game it was 3-1 and I saw them make it 4-1, the second time I flipped over it was 7-1, and the last time I checked it was 8-2. Welcome back, Laviolette! I know everyone’s saying that Bylsma lost his first game coaching the Penguins, btu wasn’t that in the shootout? The Flyers completely rolled over and died. Michael had two goals and two assists, Lars had five (FIVE!!!) points, they went 4-8 on the power play (against a team that’s supposed to be good on the penalty kill. Oops), and David Steckel FINALLY scored his first goal. David, it was about effing time.
It amuses me how the Caps have scored 14 goals over the two games that Alex has been suspended. The Sabres better watch out Wednesday night. Playing Washington and Chicago in a row and then going to play the Rangers again on the second night of a back-to-back is actually going to be a really good test for them. I look forward to seeing how they play.
I saw the YouTube video of Carcillo punching Matt Bradley. It was awful. What a douchebag. Poor Brads. I hope that didn’t upset his pregnant wife too much. (She hasn’t had the baby yet, has she?)
I will be missing most of the games tomorrow night, but then I get to see both of my teams in person on Wednesday!! Yay!!
Stupid, Stupid Ottawa
November 21, 2009 at 10:42 pm | In Alex Ovechkin, Buffalo Sabres, Jason Pominville, Losing Sucks, Ottawa Senators, Patrick Lalime, Semyon Varlamov, That was absolutely terrible., Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals | Leave a CommentGames against Ottawa always end badly. It does not matter who’s in net for the Sabres. It doesn’t matter what kind of streak both of the teams are on. When the Sabres meet the Senators, things get ugly.
When Patrick Lalime is in net, it’s just worse.
I can’t remember which goal it was (they all started to blur together), but there was NO ONE screening Lala and he let the puck fly on in over his glove. It was awful. It was terrible. I’m probably going to wake up in a cold sweat at three in the morning because of it. Oh, Lala. I love you, I do. I just wish you didn’t suck. Sometimes it’s not you. There are rare occasions when it’s the asshats in front of you. But sometimes it is you, and that makes me sad.
I switched over to the Caps game because the Sabres were making me angry. When I checked back a few minutes later, it was 5-3. ?? I guess I missed a Pommer goal. That’s a bummer. I do love when Papa Jason scores.
I hate Ottawa.
The Capitals also played tonight, against the Leafs. Alex scored first and everyone was happy in the land, then they all forgot to play the rest of the game except Varly. He kept them alive and he’s the only reason they made it to the shootout.
Why does Bruce put Fehr out in shootouts? It’s painfully obvious he’s got some sort of shootout jinx.
The Caps play Monday night, but the Sabres don’t play again until Wednesday, when they play…………the CAPITALS!!! WOOO!!! I’m so excited, I’m almost forgetting about how mad I am at them.
But I’m still mad. 5-3 to Ottawa is bad stuff, guys. Pull it together before Wednesday night.
To Recap:
November 3, 2009 at 10:27 pm | In Alex Ovechkin, Bobbleheads, Buffalo Sabres, Jason Pominville, New York Islanders, Randomness, Washington Capitals, What Is Up With All These Injuries? | Leave a CommentPommer’s baby’s name is Jayden John. The only way this could be cuter is if little Jayden popped out wearing a beanie with a propeller on the top holding a lollipop.
The Sabres better kick some Islander butt tomorrow night, because while I saw nothing of the last time the two teams played each other, it sounds like it wasn’t pretty.
Usually I don’t mind posting on my phone, but tonight the lack of bullets bothers me. Stupid computer hogs in my family.
It sounds as though the Sabres are recovering from their bout with the swine. That’s always a good thing.
Alex is still hurt and I am still greatly distressed about this. Were they serious when they said two weeks? TWO WEEKS??! Holy hockey gods, that is INSANELY LONG.
His interview from today warmed my heart.
Here’s Mini Alex. He also suffered an upper body injury. (Um, the picture is at the bottom of the post. Sorry. That would be my phone’s fault.)
I’m scared for the Caps to play the Devils tomorrow. It’s going to be a bloodbath.
I’m also scared that Saturday night was the start of a downward spiral. When did the Sabres fall apart last year? Was it because of the Islanders??
Happy Things/Sad Things/Lame Things
November 2, 2009 at 3:56 pm | In Alex Ovechkin, Happy!!, Jason Pominville, Lindy Ruff, Randomness, This Irks Me, What Is Up With All These Injuries? | Leave a CommentHappy: Pommer’s a daddy!! Aww, congratulations, Jason! (By the way, this child will most likely be the cutest child to ever walk the face of the Earth.) (I also happen to love the way Lindy phrased it. You’re too cute, Mr. Ruff.) I know I give you a hard time, but I still love you lots and lots and I’m so happy for you. My friend and I would like to offer our babysitting services, in exchange for tickets. We provide excellent child care and we’d be willing to teach your baby both French and English. Think about it. Talk it over with the missus. Get back to me.
Sad: Alex is still hurt. It’s awful. I’m distraught. I don’t want him to rush back because I don’t want him to play hurt and get even more hurt and have that affect him later on, but I shudder to think of a Caps team that doesn’t include him. In addition to having no defense, half of their offense would be missing too. Yikes.
Lame: We’re in the swimming unit in gym. As an ex-swimmer, I happen to have a very good stroke. We were swimming freestyle widths today and I don’t need to take a breath for those. My gym teacher discovered this, became irate, and docked participation points. This has nothing to do with hockey, but I was flabbergasted at how livid she was. She took off points in the swimming unit because I know how to swim. WhatEVER, crazy lady.
Hurray For New TVs!!
October 30, 2009 at 3:48 pm | In Buffalo Sabres, Derek Roy, Drew Stafford, Jason Pominville, Lindy Ruff, Olympics, Paul Gaustad, Players, Randomness, Ryan Miller, Tim Connolly, Tim Connolly must be made of toothpicks and chewing gum, Tyler Myers, Washington Capitals, What Is Up With All These Injuries? | Leave a CommentAs I’m sure you inferred from the title of this post, we got a new TV. It’s big and beautiful and I am salivating at the thought of watching hockey tonight. Both of my teams are playing really bad teams, so I’m sure both the Caps and Sabres will lose. It’s bound to happen at some point.
Everyone’s feeling the love for Ryan Miller (as am I), and rightly so. The dude’s been on fire lately. He’s going to be pretty BAMF for Team USA in February. I’m choosing not to think about what will happen after the Olympics, when he’s too tired to even make it to the crease. We’ll get there eventually.
(And just for the record, no one believes my theory that Lindy keeps playing Ryan to exhaust him in an attempt to sabotage Team USA. Yes, I know Lindy doesn’t like backups and trusts Lala about as far as he can throw him, but still. He’s the coach of Team Canada. Ryan is the presumed starter for Team USA. It’s always possible.)
Jason is one of the several Sabres leading the team in scoring. I like this. It made me really, really sad last year when he sucked.
Poor, poor Goosie has the flu. I hope it’s not swine, Paul! Feel better soon and beware the pig!
Timmy sat out practice with “minor bumps and bruises” (according to The Buffalo News), which means he’ll be out for the next 6-8 weeks with an undisclosed upper-lower body injury.
Derek Roy needs to get on that whole “I haven’t scored a goal yet” thing stat. Not scoring goals is BAD, Royzie. You must fix this immediately, or else.
Happy birthday, Drew! I always thought it was fitting that he’s an almost-Halloween baby, since he’s kinda, well, out there….and reminds me of Halloween…uh…this sounded better in my head. I apologize.
I have absolutely no intention of watching the game tomorrow night. I will be trick-or-treating, because anyone who has an awesome costume and passes up on free candy is lame.
I’m afraid to wear my Caps jersey because last time I did, they were in the midst of that awful, painful losing streak. They’ve won six straight and I don’t want to jinx that, but like I said. I want to wear it. Bad.
I wish my stupid Lars t-shirt wasn’t backordered. The hockey gods seriously do not want me to own this shirt.
I’m really excited for the first game of the Tyler Myers era. I sincerely hope that his play over the first nine games had nothing to do with him having to impress the coaches and everything to do with how he normally plays. (Does that sentence even make any sense?) I don’t want him to be a fluke. I want to know that he’s actually a really talented player.
I’m writing an article for the school paper on the swine flu and I’m interviewing my dad for it. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but after his brief appearance on Channel 2 Monday afternoon, he keeps telling me I have to call public relations to get an interview with him. I plan on hiding the remote right before the Sabres game starts and blackmailing him into giving me some quotes on how the oink-oink can affect a high school environment.
Go Sabres/Caps! Woo!
Wee!
October 28, 2009 at 9:52 pm | In Atlanta Thrashers, Buffalo Sabres, Chris Butler, Clarke MacArthur, Happy!!, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jason Pominville, Jose Theodore, Mike Grier, New Jersey Devils, Players, Ryan Miller, Thought-provoking Stuff, Tim Kennedy, Tyler Myers, Washington Capitals, Winning Is Totally Awesome | Leave a CommentI know that this was exactly how Buffalo started out last year and I know it’ll all start going downhill soon enough (probably around the time Ryan gets completely exhausted at the Olympics), but for now, I’m completely enjoying the Sabres’ success. They’re winning, and they’re beating good teams. This is fun.
Marty Brodeur has not looked good this season. At all. I’m ecstatic that Timmy got his first NHL goal (AAAHHH!!! TIMMY!!! I LOOOOOOOOVE YOU!!), but Marty did not look good at all.
Ryan Miller will soon hurt himself/get too cranky to play well/get exhausted by the Olympics as I mentioned above, but for now, I’m thoroughly enjoying his awesomeness. Ryan, you’re not so bad when you’re playing well.
We ended up getting the Devils feed for the game which was annoying in that I couldn’t hear Rick and Harry, but was cool in that I could hear what other announcers (namely, Doc) think about the Sabres. I agree, boys. Chris Butler was a wonderful find.
I can’t believe Clarke MacArthur already has five goals. This is redonk. He’s got to stop scoring at some point. It’s not like he could get thirty.
I’m pretty sure Pommer got his third of the season in February last year.
Mike Grier and Timmy K playing together continues to amaze me. I love the two of them. They’re so good together. Their chemistry is spectacular.
Lots of NHLers have been struck with swine (or at least are coming clean about when they had it) today. I hope none of the Sabres catch it. And I hope Quintin Laing doesn’t get any of my beloveds in Washington sick.
Tonight was Tyler Myers’s ninth game, but there wasn’t seriously any drama surrounding it, was there? There’s no way they can send him back to juniors. No. Way. I will jump off a bridge or something drastic and (only slightly) unnecessary like that.
Tomorrow night the Caps play the Ilya-less Thrashers. It will be in HD, which makes me happy. I’m sad Ilya got hurt, and in a contract year, no less, but his absence makes the Caps’ job a bit easier. I would love for them to continue this sick-nasty winning streak they’ve got going.
Speaking of contract years, I’ve been feeling rather warm and fuzzy towards one Jose Theodore as of late. It’s not secret around here that he and I never really got along very well (scroll down to the earlier ones), so this fondness is a new territory for me. I don’t think he’s the same goalie that won a Hart trophy a few years back, but he’s been the better goalie for the Capitals to this point in the season. I just hope that IF the Caps re-sign him, he doesn’t start sucking again. I really hate when players only play well in contract years.
If/when Buffalo loses to Toronto, I will cry. I’m just letting you all know.
Tyler!!
October 16, 2009 at 10:28 pm | In Buffalo Sabres, Happy!!, Jason Pominville, Other Teams' Back-up Goalies Kind of Suck, Ryan Miller, Tyler Myers, Winning Is Totally Awesome | Leave a CommentI may not have been home when it happened, but I made sure to check the replays. Tyler Myers scored his first NHL goal!! Yay!! Hurray!!! Go Tyler!! There’s no way you’ll be sent back to juniors now!
I only saw the third period, but from what I hear, the first period was great and the second period sucked ass. It irks me that the Sabres gave up that awful goal right after Kaleta’s, but as Mike pointed out, a win is a win is a win. The Sabres beat the Islanders. They were supposed to. They got two points. That’s what matters.
I know it’s way too early in the season to say anything and I know that the Sabres started out strong last season, but they actually do look really good this year Maybe they played a crappy period against a crappy team, but they still won and put up six goals. This is the second game in a row, and the best part about tonight is that the scoring was really spread out. I’m a huge fan of secondary scoring. After what happened to the Caps in the playoffs last year, the two most important things for a team to have are secondary scoring and defense. Tyler Myers is taking care of defense, and at least tonight, we had pretty good secondary scoring.
It’s really impressive that Pominville has played in 256 straight games. Congrats on the 100th career goal, Pommer!
True story: I had a panic attack when Ryan Miller was not getting up.
A buttload of my family is rolling into town late tonight for my grandfather’s 90th birthday celebration, so I don’t know how much of the game tomorrow night I’ll be able to watch. This upsets me as it’s the Thrashers, and more importantly, Ilya, Zachity Zach, and Evander. So, Sabres, have fun with my third-favorite loves, but don’t have too much fun if I’m not watching!
A Post Previewing the 2009-2010 Buffalo Sabres
September 26, 2009 at 12:00 pm | In Buffalo Sabres, Chris Butler, Dan Paille, Derek Roy, Frostee Does Predictions!, Henrik Tallinder, Jason Pominville, Jochen Hecht, Mike Grier, Nathan Gerbe, Patrick Kaleta, Paul Gaustad, Players, Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek, Thought-provoking Stuff, Tim Connolly, Tim Connolly must be made of toothpicks and chewing gum, Tim Kennedy | Leave a CommentSo. The time has come to prepare a post previewing the Sabres. Where to begin? The Sabres were a mess last season, to be perfectly honest. Playoffs two years in a row, then no playoffs two years in a row, then they beat the Red Wings and the Caps in the preseason. Yes, I know we lost Drury and Briere, but seriously, dudes? Get over it. They weren’t the only players on this team.
The thing with these Sabres is that I can never decide if any of them have individual talents, or games like that 10-2 win over Edmonton are just a complete fluke. Yes, Thomas Vanek is good at putting the puck in the net. Yes, Tim Connolly is fabulous when he’s not lying in a hospital bed in a full body cast. Ryan Miller is frustratingly inconsistent, but when he’s on, good grief, is he on. Patrick Kaleta isn’t half-bad at throwing hits. Sir Christopher has a bright future ahead of him.
But I’m not sure if these Sabres are good enough to take the next step. Yes, if Gomez hadn’t taken out Miller we probably would have made the playoffs. But after seeing how the other teams played in the postseason, there’s an excellent chance that the Sabres would have been slaughtered in the first round. It would have painful, and it would have been ugly.
Darcy promised big changes this summer, so he let my Caveman go and signed Steve Montador in his place, and he brought back Mike Grier. Woo. Way to go, Darcy. Grier will (hopefully) be able to keep the whiny brats on this team in line, but that’s about it. He also signed about 27 enforcers and “gritty” players, so, you know, watch out, league. (I actually have a theory that Darcy watched Slapshot one too many times before free agency started and he wanted to be like the Chiefs and just beat up every team. If it’s old time hockey we’re going to be putting up with, I at least want a Killer.)
One thing Darcy didn’t do that we were all expecting was dump some of our dead weight. Yes, Max is gone, but we still have Hank and Jochen. Man, did those two frustrate me last season.
You know who else frustrated me? Jason Pominville. Jason effing Pominville. He was all cute and adorable and point-producing two years ago and then last season he completely sucked. It was awful.
Thomas Vanek was on track for fifty goals last season (remember when I was all freaked out that he would score more goals than Alex? Heh.) and then he broke his jaw. He’s definitely our best goal-scorer and I’d appreciate it if he could keep that up this year. I’m also counting on Derek Roy to be our best point-producer. Come on, Royzie. Do it for Kyle.
I’d really like some of the Portland kids to get a chance up here, but I’m not sure if that’ll happen or not since we don’t exactly have loads of roster space to give away. Gerbe and Kennedy might be ready to make the jump, but it really depends on who plays well in training camp and who else undergoes surgery right before the start of the season. Adam Mair.
Another concern is the Olympic Break. Yes, it will give some of our guys a chance to rest up, but not Ryan Miller. It became rather apparent two seasons ago that our fragile little goalie can’t handle playing a long season. The Olympics are kind of intense, and they’re going to exhaust him if he ends up being named the starting goalie.
I’m not going to make any predictions about this team, because I honestly don’t know where they’ll end up in the conference. What I do know is that they really are quite similar to the team we saw last year, and that team didn’t do a whole heck of a lot. Out of the playoffs is out of the playoffs, no matter what place you’re in.
Just a few personal letters to some of the players:
Dear Paul,
You just keep doing what you’re doing.
With Love,
Frostee
Dear Timmy,
Don’t break.
With Love,
Frostee
Dear Jason,
Come back.
With Love,
Frostee
Dear Jochen,
We gave you that contract extension because we believed in you, but you were kind of awful last season. Let’s just put the past in the past and move on. You can play better than you did. I believe in you.
With Love,
Frostee
Dear Mike,
Keep the little bastards in line.
With Love,
Frostee
Dear Sir Christopher,
I decided to make you my project this year, which means I love you even more and pay extra special attention to you. Not that there’s any pressure, I promise. I thought you were chivalrous and great player last year, and with even more time to grow and develop, you’ll get even better. Good luck, my young knight. May the force be with you.
With Love,
Frostee
Dear Danny,
Don’t forget your toothbrush on the road trips, sweetie!
With Love,
Frostee
That Game Actually Was Fun
April 4, 2009 at 9:56 am | In Alex Ovechkin, Atlanta Thrashers, Buffalo Sabres, Happy!!, Jaroslav Spacek, Jason Pominville, Lars Nicklas Backstrom, Maxim Afinogenov, Ryan Miller, Semyon Varlamov, Washington Capitals, Winning Is Totally Awesome | 2 CommentsSo, on the one hand, I’d really like to go down to the Sabres’ locker room and yell at those little bastards for going ahead and beating Washington after losing to Atlanta, because even though their playoff hopes are DEAD, they’re still only FOUR POINTS out of eight place and they’re probably even going to win tonight and then royally screw it up next week.
But on the other hand, all the back-and-forth and the penalties (well, the part of me that was wearing a Caps jersey found the penalties entertaining. Seriously, Buffalo??) and the goals were a lot of fun. I had a good time sitting there watching that game. And then Pommer ended it in overtime and there was a huge group hug over against the boards and Ryan Miller even skated down and it kind of looked like he was shouting, “Hey, guys, let me hug too!!!” and they were all so happy and even though they lost the Caps clinched the division.
So I really don’t know how I feel about it. I’ll see what happens tonight and Monday.
It makes me kind of sad that Simeon Varlamov got scored on in OT. He’s such a cutie-pie. He was a total badass when he got called up in December and I got excited because I thought the Caps would actually have a really good goalie going into the playoffs but then there were cap issues and he got hurt and we were stuck with Jose and then Jose looked good for a while and then Simeon got called up again. And he doesn’t know a word of English but the media insists on interviewing him, so Sergei Fedorov always has to translate for him.
The Nissan Shift Tracker was tracking Nicklas last night. Woo, Nicky!
It appeared to me as though Max actually scored his goal with his stick. Dear Readers, during the game last night I started getting this sinking feeling that on opening day next year, Max will be in a Sabres jersey. This really bugs me.
I really hate to be such a kill-joy, but while Washington’s power play is fantastic their 5-on-3 play isn’t so great. When they scored a two-man advantage goal against the Islanders on Wednesday, it was their first 5-on-3 goal in 56 games. So, unfortunately, it wasn’t so much that the Sabres were just insanely good at killing those last night but rather that Washington isn’t too good on them.
Dear NHL,
I know I’ve sent this letter before, but I’m sending it again. WHY DO YOU INSIST ON LEAVING ALEX ALL ALONE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE NET?!?! I tell you ALL THE TIME that he is VERY GOOD at scoring from there, but you refuse to listen to me. It’s your fault, teams of the NHL, that he scores on you from there because you always leave him alone. Do you even watch tape on him?
With Love,
Frostee
Even though Caveman took that dumb penalty after Royzie’s I still love him.
Ryan Miller getting extremely pissed off after Alex ran into him? Hilarious. Ryan Miller getting extremely pissed off after Alex ran into him and punching him in the face? Not so cool. Ryan, as my mother kindly pointed out, apparently Alex “isn’t that attractive to begin with,” so punching him in the face isn’t the best idea.
If Buffalo is going to try to make another – ugh – playoffs run, they’re going to have to work on discipline. Those penalties last night were not the best idea against the second best power play in the league.
Atlanta won!!! Their empty net goal was hilarious. One Thrasher (I can’t remember who) stole the puck from a Panther at center ice and shot it down just as Vokoun (I think?) was skating to the bench. He literally went, “Oh, crap, there’s the puck,” before leaping toward the net and throwing his stick. Unfortunately for Florida and fortunately for Atlanta, it was too late.
Devils won last night, but it was against Tampa Bay. I have no idea what the final score is going to be tonight, but I really do think the Sabres might win. If they do win, they’re going to collapse (again) next week. If they don’t win, well, they don’t win.
Jason. I…You…
April 3, 2009 at 9:52 pm | In Jason Pominville, Winning Is Totally Awesome | Leave a CommentJason Pominville scored the overtime winner. Then he didn’t mention The System in his interview. These are two things that never happen.
I found this game highly enjoyable, but I can’t believe Buffalo actually…won. And Jason Pominville won it for them.
Wow.
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