Scared little kids…

After last night’s game against Carolina Ryan Miller was quoted as saying, “I don’t understand the second period, we played like scared little kids”. Among other comments Miller expressed his frustration further by pointing out the two goals scored against him in the second were plays that should never have happened and without being blunt basically saying his defense let him down. Ill jump on Miller’s support wagon and say they absolutely let him down. Twice on broken plays Carolina scored and Miller felt like both times the plays could’ve been prevented and or finished off with some more effort to minimize the scoring chance.

The Sabres jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period then it all went to hell in the second and the Sabres seemed to be game planning on the ice during the second period as if nobody was on the same page. Without a doubt things will happen and teams will score bad goals or get a good bounce or weird deflection and get goals they don’t deserve, but they all show up on the scoreboard at the end of the night. The Sabres were losing 3-2 and were playing as if they had the lead playing the equivalent to a prevent defense in the NFL. I know I was bewildered as a fan so I can imagine what Lindy Ruff or some of the players must have been thinking especially Miller who was watching odd man rushes come at him like wildfire. I’ll be the first to admit he has let in some bad goals lately but I also believe a lesser goalie would be letting in alot more goals in these past few games. The third period was better in large part to players like Miller speaking out in the second intermission and showing his anger and displeasure about how his team was playing. The team responded by tieing the game at 3 and sending it into overtime. The goal Carolina scored in overtime was sort of a bad goal but I believe Miller was mentally pre-occupied after just having to stop a 3 man breakaway shot right before the game winning goal. After the big save and the action was heading the other way you could see Miller look down at the ice and shake his head and we can only guess his thoughts, but we all know he didn’t have much time to ponder many thoughts before Carolina was again storming back towards him with his defenseman almost leading the way. I say that because on several trips down into the Sabres end I noticed defenseman not even making Carolina players alter their direction or shots and making little contact with them in the open ice. I for one cannot wait to get Kaleta back on the ice for that reason alone.

To top it all off I read the Ottawa Senators have traded a 2nd round pick for Cullen from the same Carolina team. Sure it’s not a block buster but it’s a trade the Sabres could have easily made and it’s to the team who just closed a 13 point deficit in the division and seems to beat the Sabres at will. This is a well thought out trade that will help the Senators come playoff time in the locker room and add some maturity to their lineup. It really adds up and makes me scratch my head that the Sabres are not even going to attempt any deals and that they feel this is the team to make a cup run apparently. Then I read the star player refer to the team as scared little kids and I think the Cullen trade is right up Buffalo’s alley as far as a playoff run or adding maturity is concerned. I’m not upset over not getting Cullen Im upset another trade was done in the Eastern Conference to improve teams the Sabres are going to have to deal with late in the season and playoffs. I believe in the philosophy of getting young players and grooming them into better players and having them play well together for a long time but I also feel theres times you need a key addition to add something missing or lacking… such as a mature kick in the ass when you blow a 13 point division lead in 2 weeks.

San Jose comes to town and part of me is thinking what terrible timing for a good quick skating team to play Buffalo but another part of me is hoping they step up and get a good solid win and gain some sort of mental confidence going into the Olympic break. I guess Im looking for a lot more effort from the team knowing the majority of them will have 2 weeks off and some acknowledgement they have been playing with a lack of effort lately. I prefer to see 60 minutes of medium effort hockey then 20 minutes of alot of effort then 20 minutes of cluelessness and 20 minutes of mad scrambling just to salvage a point. Slow and steady wins the race not sprinting to the front and puking the last lap which is what the Sabres have done the first half of this season. To the Sabres and many fellow fans I say….GAME ON SABRES…show us what you got against San Jose and to Darcy Regier I say…GET A CLUE.