Sabres show life in empty Hot-lanta

Unhappy or grimacing? courtesy of sabres2010.tumblr.com

Do I believe what my eyes saw?

Yes everyone, I can actually tell you that last night’s game wasn’t a dream–  the Sabres actually won. I guess maybe our beloved Buffalo Sabres were just a little shy around crowds. All it took for the Sabres to win was to play in nearly empty building. Oh and the most shy of them all, Thomas Vanek, finally broke out of his shell and scored his first goal!

Alright, I’ll cut the blatant sarcasm. I really am happy that the Sabres won and I’m even happier to see Tyler Myers and Thomas Vanek show signs of life. I actually was getting genuinely bummed for Vanek after his goal was disallowed. After Vanek returned to the bench, the camera panned over to him and the expression on his face showed just how frustrated he was. Now, I know it is hard to figure out Vanek’s facial expression seeing as he looks like he is grimacing all of the time, but he truly did look upset.

As for the game, I really don’t have any negatives to talk about. Everyone seemed to play well– even ol’ Timmy Connolly. I have to admit, Atlanta did look a little flat, but who wouldn’t be flat if they knew that a city of 500,000 people didn’t care about you? That was actually depressing to watch and it makes me wonder why the NHL keeps teams in those types of markets.

I did want to point one thing out that was truly impressive and that was Tyler Ennis. Lindy Ruff looked like a genius by putting him out their with the wily veterans Niedermayer and Grier. Ennis is just a little guy and the physical and defensive play of both Grier and Niedermayer opened up a lot of room for Ennis to play his pure offensive style. To that I give Ruff one bravo!

Well, now that the skid is snapped, we can just cross our fingers, wear our lucky garments and hope they will continue to play well.