With all of the “All-Time Top-Whatever” lists circulating at the close of the decade, I can’t help but feel the pull of making one of my own. I did, however wish to go in a different direction than most. Not many people understand what makes the Sabres history so special to the people of Buffalo. As the fourth decade of Buffalo Sabres Hockey comes to a close, let’s look at the Top 5 moments that shaped Sabres history.
With the NHL Winter Classic coming up, and having just finished building my own backyard rink, it’s time to air something that has been on my mind for a while.
Where will Buffalo’s place be in Winter Classic history?
Of course, the obvious answer is the location of the first installment of the annual event. But I want to look beyond that. I think that Buffalo should be viewed as the Hockeytown that started it all.
The City of Buffalo simply doesn’t get enough credit for being the great hockey city that it is. The original Winter Classic set an NHL attendance record at 71,217 for a single game.
If you click here for the highlights from the game, you’ll notice that at most times, the crowd noise is drowning out the announcers. You know, the announcers who have a direct audio feed to your TV? You could barely hear them. There is also this article from cbssports.com detailing just one tailgating party.
Let’s look at the TV numbers from both Classic games thus far. The 2008 Classic in Buffalo did a 2.6 national rating on NBC. More specifically, the game had a 38.1 rating in the Buffalo market, compared to a 17.7 in Pittsburgh, both of which led all markets.
The 2009 Winter Classic had a 2.9 overnight rating, with an 11.8 in Chicago and a 10.5 in Detroit to lead all markets. Buffalo was third with a 10.1 rating for a game that had no effect on the Sabres place in the playoff race, nor any kind of rivalry. The only tie to Buffalo was the fact that Patrick Kane was playing in the game.
These days, Buffalo is becoming more and more of an afterthought in the event. This is despite the fact that if it weren’t for the huge success at Ralph Wilson Stadium, the NHL Winter Classic would not be putting ice on Fenway Park as we speak. And no, the Buffalo Bills did NOT play in the first Classic, regardless of what Sports Illustrated reports .
Read more Buffalo Sabres news on BleacherReport.com
The Sabres did it again. Despite coming into Monday night on a four-game winning streak, they did it again. Despite having beaten teams ranging from the East-leading Washington Capitals to the Montreal Canadiens, they did it again. Despite scoring 12 goals on the win streak, they did it again.
The Buffalo Sabres were beaten by the Ottawa Senators. Again.
This marks the second loss this season for the Sabres against the team from Ottawa. The Senators are the only team that has a perfect record against Buffalo this season. Every other team that the Sabres have played more than once, they have won at least one of those games.
So what is it about Ottawa that mystifies this Sabres team? How have they managed to outscore the Sabres this season 7-3? It’s not like Ottawa is the spectacular offensive machine they were in 2007, when they beat the Sabres in that crushing Conference Final series.
And even if they were, Ryan Miller (and give credit to the defense, too) shut down the top-scoring Washington Capitals team just last week. Miller has been downright brilliant this year against great offenses. And yet Ottawa has brought him down to just average.
Whatever it is, coach Lindy Ruff had better figure it out when April and May roll around. The Sabres lost to the Senators in 2008-09 as well, and it hurt them in the playoff race.
Read more Buffalo Sabres news on BleacherReport.com
Who is this guy and what have they done with the real Patrick Kaleta? Three goals in the last two games…with no time in the hot box! It took No. 36 26 games to get to three goals and now he’s a scoring machine.
November was busy month for Kaleta being sent away for 37 minutes. He’s up to 11 PIM midway through December but hasn’t committed a crime in the past two games. That isn’t necessarily unheard of, but couple that with scoring three goals! In fact five of the past twelve goals have come from the third line. Not too shabby!
While Buffalo certainly isn’t breaking any scoring records this season thus far, they are tied for second best in goals allowed. Miller is a badass, we all know this, but this also could show dividends are paying off from offseason defensive moves.
Either way, whoever is scoring or not, wins are wins and points are points. The Sabres need all they can get with a beautiful four-game week; their second four-game week in a row dammitall! At Ottawa Wednesday then home vs Toronto and Pittsburgh Friday and Saturday respectively.
Read more Buffalo Sabres news on BleacherReport.com
The chants were loud and raucous. “USA! USA! USA!” rang throughout the sold-out HSBC Arena. The fans had good reason to cheer.
Ryan Miller had held the red-hot Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin scoreless into the third period. Miller had just dived across the mouth of his net to make a spectacular glove save on a shot from the Caps’ Brendan Morrison.
The crowd, which had been appreciative of Millers play all night, leaped to its feet. That is when the chanting started.
The city of Buffalo has seen good goaltending before (See: Hasek, Dominic). When a Buffalo crowd shows its appreciation in that manner, it is not to be taken lightly.
Miller’s statistics tend to bear this out. Through 25 games, Miller has a league-leading 1.82 goals-against average. He’s stacked up 17 wins against just 6 losses.
He has carried his team through bad offensive nights. He has made the extra save when he had to.
He has kept the Sabres in games when they maybe should have been long gone. And he’s done all of it with a humble we’ll-take-it-as-it-comes attitude.
“It took everybody to put an emphasis on getting back. We picked up sticks a lot, and Ovechkin had to really go to the outside a lot. He likes to create and make space for himself, but he had somebody right down his back. That makes it frustrating, and it makes it tough,” Miller said following the shutout.
Simply put, Ryan Miller is the man for the job. He’s humble. He’s effective. He wins games against the best in the world.
And he fires up a crowd.
“USA! USA! USA!”
Read more Buffalo Sabres news on BleacherReport.com
The Buffalo Sabres are in need of a legitimate #1 center and Vincent Lecavalier would be a great fit.
Let’s face it, Tim Connolly and Derek Roy are decent players but they are second or third line centers at best. Buffalo has not had a top line center since Daniel Briere, and he was not elite or even great.
Now I realize that Wayne Gretzky probably has a better chance of suiting up for the blue and gold than Vincent Lecavalier does, but lets play this scenario out a little bit.
It’s no secret that Tampa Bay wants to part with Lecavalier. He has a huge ten year contract that counts almost $8 million per year against the cap. Of course, the first thought that pops into your head when you see that is, “no way the Sabres pick that contract up.” I agree, but let’s dream together.
For starters, Lecavalier is 6’4″, 223 lbs. That is a Paul Gaustad with ten times more skill. Lecavalier has great size and great scoring ability. So far this year he has been average, but a change of scenery could work wonders.
The Sabres have started out pretty good this year, but do they have what it takes down the stretch and into the playoffs?
What Buffalo does have is the best goaltender in the NHL right now. Why waste the year Miller is having? Why not go out and significantly improve your team?
The biggest problem with bringing Lecavalier in is fitting his salary. The Sabres would need to move some bigger salaries and probably part with a prospect and/or pick. Tim Connolly or Derek Roy would probably be moved. Jason Pominville would also probably be leaving town along with Chris Butler.
I really don’t see any other players that Buffalo could or would want to move. So let’s package this thing up. Derek Roy, Jason Pominville and Butler or a first round pick.
I could live with that. I like Chris Butler, but with Tyler Myers emergence, he is more expendable. Also Connolly might be a more attractive player for Tampa Bay since his contract runs out sooner than Roy’s. Also, a three team trade would probably be necessary as well.
So just think about what the Sabres would look like. Our top line would be Thomas Vanek, Vincent Lecavalier, and Drew Stafford. I like that line.
Darcy Regier would probably be the last GM in the NHL to pull off a trade of this magnitude, but what if he did? What if Tom Golisano said go out and get Vincent Lecavalier?
Read more Buffalo Sabres news on BleacherReport.com
Sabretooth didn’t make the list, but as the mascot of the Buffalo Sabres, he’s seen many decent Buffalo players come and go. Keep in mind this is a highly opinionated piece on who I believe are the ten best Sabres of decade. Before you all wonder, Tyler Myers did not make this list. jasdfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
Whenever you shut out one of the best offenses in the league, you know you’ve done a good job on defense. And if you do that while allowing 35 shots, then you have to give some credit to the goalie.
Washington has gotten into the habit of pummeling every team they play with shot after shot. That’s how they win most of their games, they just keep pouring on the offensive pressure until they get a goal, and then they do it again.
However, it’s games like this that prove my theory that a solid goalie will beat any offense. That’s exactly how Buffalo shut out the Caps 3-0.
I would be a little more skeptical about the defense, except that this has been the story all year. Buffalo has continually run one of the best defensive systems in the NHL. Right now, they are ranked third in goals against per game behind New Jersey and Chicago.
A lot of that has to do with the solid goaltending of Ryan Miller, and a lot of it has to do with a solid defensive effort from the defenders themselves (and a little bit has to do with luck).
What we saw during the game against the Caps was a very simple strategy. We saw the Sabres run the same defensive system they’ve run the entire season. More importantly, we saw Ryan Miller at his best. This was one of those games where he showed why he’s one of the best goalies in the league.
However, there’s one other thing that the Sabres did. They scored goals. Their strategy was very simple. They tried to play defensively, keep the puck out of their own net, and only attack the Caps when the Capitals’ defense made a mistake.
Even when the Sabres were in the attacking zone, you could see that they still had three players in the high part of the zone. That way, they limited the effects of a turnover. They used the two players deep in the zone to create traffic in front of the net. That’s how they scored their first goal.
The second goal was scored off an even bigger defensive mistake. They left Nathan Gerbe unguarded next to the net. There wasn’t a single Caps player that could stop him. It was a power play goal, so the Sabres were playing a little bit more aggressively, and the Caps weren’t able to stop it.
The third goal was a mistake by Theodore. He wasn’t able to control the rebound that came back to Tallinder.
These three goals were more than enough to secure the game. However, you can never give enough credit to Miller for the way he played in this one.
Every time I see this team play, I’m amazed at how conservative their style is. They only take what’s given to them, and make sure they don’t give anything to the other team. They knew coming in to this game that they couldn’t give the Caps any opportunities.
For the most part, Buffalo did a great job of limiting the quality scoring chances, keeping the puck to the outside of the defending zone, and taking advantage of the Caps’ defensive mistakes. There were a few times where the Caps could have converted, but the Sabres were bailed out by Miller every time.
Once again, you can never give Miller enough credit for the way he played in this game, and you can never underestimate how much the Sabres rely on their defense.
Originally posted at Tips for Hockey
Read more Buffalo Sabres news on BleacherReport.com
The New York Rangers were going to need a stellar effort from veteran goaltender Henrik Lundqvist if their offense failed to show up in Buffalo on Saturday. It did, but the King was up to the task, stopping 36 of 37 shots to lead New York to a 2-1 road win.
The blue shirts had averaged just two goals per game during the course of a recent three-game losing streak. They’d stay true to that average on Sunday as only Chris Higging and Ryan Callahan were able to beat the red-hot Ryan Miller. But that would be all the Rangers would need as Lundqvist earned his first victory since Nov. 25.
The Sabres turned up the pressure in the third period, peppering 19 shots on goal. All but one were brushed aside; Jason Piminville was able to ruin Lundqvist’s shutout with :59 remaining in the game.
Read more Buffalo Sabres news on BleacherReport.com
