It is ironic to me that Sunday morning The Buffalo News ran a column by Bucky Gleason praising the run the Sabres have went on since January 1 as they have turned their playoff fortunes around. After a mind-boggling OTL to the Nashville Predators Jerry Sullivan is up to his usual tricks.

I read Sullivan’s column, he isn’t all that far off base. The Sabres were bad in the important moments of the game today. Sequences like that make you question if this roster is capable of making a playoff run. I have wondered that for the entire season. Last year I thought 5-7 would be a fitting seed for a Sabres team that was robbed of the postseason in 08-09 by Ryan Miller’s high ankle sprain (Scott Gomez is a d-bag). But, Miller channeled Dominik Hasek last year and helped to vault this team to a division title.  Being overworked helped lead to a first round defeat at the hands of the Bruins.

This season the Sabres have fallen into the pace that I have pegged them for in the last few seasons. A finish that could put them anywhere from fifth place to tenth, depending on the point spread.

My problem is that Jerry Sullivan, who seems to only show up to Sabres games when it is convenient for him (being award-winning and all) always makes sure to shoot down the entire organization, if possible. Today he only targeted the players and he wasn’t off base. They played solid trap hockey for 18 minutes before Andrej Sekera reverted to his Eurotrash form and helped give the Preds some life. In no time at all Miller got beat with a questionable deflected bouncer that tied it up. When the dust settled the Sabres had gifted away one point.It was a classic example of a team assuming a finish and not driving to complete the task that they had so easily in hand.

I will say it again, Sullivan makes good points in his piece. This roster is simply not built to win in the playoffs. They probably aren’t well suited to make a run for the postseason when trailing by so many points. There are too many soft players and not enough guys who will punch you in the mouth and kick you while you’re down to win The Cup on this team. When management brings in those types of guys, losses like today won’t happen.

I want to try to stay on point here. The fact of the matter is that Sullivan attempts to demolish whatever faith is left in the people following this team. Maybe he is depressed because he works in a city that doesn’t really care about basketball and could give a rats ass about MLB. Still, rather than writing a critical, yet subjective column. He aimed to bring everyone to his miserable level. I guess you get that way when you’re overweight and root for Mizzou.

One of the most legendary players in Sabres history passed away today. According to The Buffalo News he died of a heart attack while driving this morning.

The Sabres organization and the Buffalo sports scene as a whole lost a great piece of their history today.

Just as the six-game home stand a few weeks back was supposed to define the Sabres’ season, the recent seven-game road swing was tabbed to do the same. I just love living in the present, don’t you?

Unlike the wasteful string of home games, the Sabres ran up a 4-2-1 record and vaulted into a playoff spot. While I never take too much stock in games in hand, they still have a few on the teams they are battling with in the race. Last night’s loss to Toronto cast a pall over the previous success because it was one of those “four point games”. Had Buffalo won, they would have taken a two point lead over the Rangers (albeit a brief lead),  a four point lead over Carolina and effectively eliminated the Buds from any playoff contention. With the loss Buffalo dropped to eighth after New York’s shootout win and the Leafs are still within striking distance. Continue reading →

The Sabres dropped a big point last night to Carolina in OT. However, in a losing scenario, last night’s result was the best case.

Looking back at the loss the most glaring issue was the play of Ryan Miller. His performance certainly wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good either. The second goal rests squarely on his shoulders -he admitted as much in his post game presser – and the overtime goal is just one that needs to be stopped.

I don’t want to discount the fact that the Sabres didn’t get a single bounce. Thomas Vanek had one roll along the goal line and Tyler Ennis was probably inches from sliding one inside the pipe after beating Ward. Not to mention Drew Stafford and Brad Boyes missed golden opportunities. Add to this list the first Canes goal. A wacky bounce and miraculous catch and drop led to a crazy goal mouth scramble. Not something you see very often in a game.

The silver lining is the loser point and the fact that they didn’t lose any ground to eighth place. Carolina vaulted the Rangers and the Blueshirts now sit in eighth with 70 points. The Sabres have three games in hand on New York and gain another this evening.

I don’t see Buffalo escaping Philly with a point tomorrow but it will be key to win on Sunday. If the Sabres take three out of four points this weekend it will have been a very successful run.

Well, the Sabres only made one move on deadline day. In fact, it was their only trade of the season.

They brought in Brad Boyes from St. Louis for a second-round pick. A good trade for the Sabres. They acquired a good-sized winger who has a scoring touch. Boyes also has another year on his contract which will allow the Sabres to use him as a building block for next season, and even beyond. Continue reading →