NHL Playoffs

Double Minors – Game 1 vs. Philly

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The Sabres went into a loud building and stole a game one win from the Flyers tonight. Sabres fans can thank Paul Gaustad, Nathan Gerbe, Pat Kaleta, Chris Butler, Mike Weber and Tyler Myers. Oh, Ryan Miller was stellar as well.

Pat Kaletas third-period goal was all Buffalo needed

Buffalo got a few big boosts from areas they will need to count on in this series. A. Ryan Miller stole one for them. B. Their grinders (28, 42, 36) were a force and their most effective line. C. The penalty kill was awesome. Here are a few more thoughts from the game: Continue reading →

Who will Get the matchups?

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Playoff hockey is all about the match-ups. Which D-pair will face the top line and which center will take the important draws?

The Sabres – Flyers series offers a myriad of different matches that could produce some interesting situations.

The Flyers depth at forward makes them a difficult team to beat. Mike Richards centers a line that can match your top scorers while being a legitimate scoring threat. Danny Briere, Claude Giroux and the likes also are players who need to be watched closely.

The Sabres will likely counter with Paul Gaustad’s line and the pairing of Tyler Myers and Chris Butler/Andrej Sekera.

One question is if the Sabres have another line capable of checking the remaining scoring depth that the Flyers have. Continue reading →

Why the first round rules

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The Stanley Cup Playoffs is the best sports tournament in the entire world. Nothing can beat it, not the NCAA Tournament, the UEFA Champions League, nothing.

Hayden seems to appreciate the NHL Playoffs, so should you

Sixteen teams needing sixteen wins to hoist the greatest trophy known in sports. There isn’t even an argument regarding that point. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a two month journey that requires perfect timing, a lack of injuries and a few good bounces. Continue reading →

Sabres vs. Flyers breakdown

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The Sabres and Flyers get their series started tonight and many members of the media see this as one of the most even series of the entire first round. I’m not so confident in the Sabres ability to get past Philly. I certainly believe that they have the tools capable of pulling the upset. Of course, there is a reason the Philly was the second best team in the NHL for most of the season.

Why buffalo will win:

Ryan Miller. He has vastly improved his play from the beginning of the year. I feel that a great deal of that has to do with his workload and his health. He has played his best hockey since Jhonas Enroth has come up from Portland. If his extra rest has given him an edge then the Sabres will be in good shape. Continue reading →

2ITB first-round predictions

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After going just about o’fer on my regular season predictions, here is a look at who I think will advance in the first round of the NHL Playoffs.

East

1. Washington Capitals vs. 8. New York Rangers

This is an interesting series. If Ryan Callahan was healthy and the Rangers had better scoring depth they could really give the Caps a run. However, they don’t have those two things. The Rangers have Henrik Lundqvist and block a lot of shots. It ends there. The Caps play good defense and can score in bunches. Their goaltending is quite suspect but Alex Ovechkin has been heating up over the last half of the season. Plus, Jason Arnott and Scott Hannan were two fantastic acquisitions by George McPhee. Caps in five.

Continue reading →

Looking back at my conference predictions

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A prognosticator I am not. My mock NFL Draft senior year was about 15% correct. When I went about predicting the NHL’s playoff picture back in October, I didn’t have high hopes. Let us see how 2ITB did:

East

Prediction – 1. WAS, 2. PIT, 3. BOS, 4. NJD, 5. BUF, 6. OTT, 7. MTL, 8. PHI, 9. NYR, 10. CAR, 11. TOR, 12. TBL, 13. NYI, 14. ATL, 15. FLA

Actual – 1. WAS, 2. PHI, 3. BOS, 4. PIT, 5. TBL, 6. MTL, 7. BUF, 8. NYR, 9. CAR, 10. TOR, 11. NJD, 12. ATL, 13. OTT, 14. NYI, 15. FLA

So I was a bit off in the middle. Not too many people would have bet on that epic collapse by New Jersey and I, admittedly put far too much stock in Brian Elliott and Pascal Leclaire. Philadelphia overachieved (according to my original calculation) and I vastly underestimated Tampa Bay.

Washington was a pretty easy choice to make, as was keeping Atlanta, Florida and the Islanders at the bottom. Otherwise it was a hodgepodge of close calls and near misses.

West

Prediction – 1. LA, 2. VAN, 3. CHI, 4. SJ, 5. DET, 6. NSH, 7. ANA, 8. CGY, 9. COL, 10. PHX, 11. STL, 12. DAL, 13. MIN, 14. CBJ, 15. EDM

Actual – 1. VAN, 2. SJ, 3. DET, 4. ANA, 5. NSH, 6. PHX, 7. LA, 8. CHI, 9. DAL, 10. CGY, 11. STL, 12. MIN, 13. CBJ, 14. COL, 15. EDM

Since the West is such a crap shoot it would have been pretty hard to predict either way. I gave LA too much credit and it turns out the Hawks didn’t have close to enough depth to compete at the level they did last year.

My biggest oversight was with Colorado at nine, turns out they really stink. The Western playoff picture is extremely interesting this season, with the amount of parity out there it isn’t a stretch to say that any team can advance and any team could have finished two to four places higher.

Ryan Miller wants more from the fans. I agree

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In his comments to reporters today Ryan Miller came out and said he wants HSBC Arena to be louder for the playoffs. I think he is spot on in asking for more from the Sabres fans.

During far too many Sabres games this season, before and after Pegula Day, the Arena has been far too quiet. A great deal of blame can be saddled on the team for lackluster play (see, 3-0 vs. St. Louis) but the fans certainly don’t help the cause. Continue reading →

Hey Hurricanes fans

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To all the jackass Canes fan who complained about the Sabres and hate on our city. Enjoy your summer. Our team is going to play a few more playoff games.

Oh, and if you’re not down with that…

Sabres clinch over Flyers

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The Sabres certainly didn’t make it easy on themselves. They only needed to earn one point over their final two games, but they were against teams that wouldn’t give Buffalo a free pass.

Four minutes of really bad hockey looked like it might doom Buffalo last night, but Nathan Gerbe had a goal of the year candidate to tie the game in the third and Thomas Vanek put it away early in OT.

"Yo Stanly Cup Playoffs. Here come the Buffalo Sabres."

Due credit goes to the HSBC Arena crowd for a high-energy night with the only lull coming during the Flyers’ second period run and a slow-going first period. Otherwise that was as loud as I have heard HSBC this season. Between the stirring pre-game ceremony to the rousing ovation at the end of regulation, the place was rocking last night. Continue reading →

Time to do work

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Tonight could be the night. After December, fans were thinking a lottery pick was in the future. Now the Buffalo Sabres are one point away from the NHL Playoffs.

Thanks to a little help from the Thrashers – and a no-show by the Rangers – Buffalo has a magic number of one to clinch over New York or Carolina. The Thrashers could do Buffalo a huge favor tonight by putting away the Canes at Phillips Arena. Continue reading →