Buffalo Sabres at Tampa Bay Lightning: Peanut Gallery Post Game Thoughts
By Adam DeRose
The Buffalo Sabres closed out the first half of their 2016-17 season in Tampa Bay last night much liked they opened it. Adam recaps!
Moments after my Peanut Gallery Pregame Chatter article was posted, Grandpa Ziggy emailed me back about his thoughts and comments about tonight’s game, “Sabres are in Florida. (Tampa Bay) are a strong team. Well, let’s hope for the best.”
I’m not a fan of the “late” games. If puck drop isn’t at 7pm, then I consider it a late game. Even though I am 32, I must be officially “old.” With 2 kids under 2, I struggle to stay awake until 10pm. The few Sabres games that start later—7:30, 8:30, 9, 10, and 10:30pm—I’m asleep before the game ends. However, this evening, I did not mind that that game started a half hour late. You see, even though it is January 12th, our Christmas tree and decorations are still up! Dinner with the kids normally starts around 6ish, and sometimes runs into 7pm. Then it’s time to get the kids ready for bed, which means I normally miss the first part of the 1st Period. Since puck drop was at 7:30 tonight, I had some extra time. Dinner ended quicker than expected, so the whole family rolled up the sleeves, and started packing away the Christmas stuff!
By 7:35pm, most of the Christmas decorations were put away and I was ready for some hockey! Tonight, I had a pair of hockey watching buddies, my son Little Ziggy and black lab Teppo Numminen.
Little Ziggy only lasted through the 1st Period. We caught Matt Moulson’s awesome goal! However, the three of us felt as if the refs boned Buffalo by giving Tampa a 5-on-3 power play. Needless to say, Tampa capitalized on their gift from the refs.
It was past 8pm by the halfway point in the 1st Period, translation: it was well past Little Ziggy’s bedtime! So the three of us went upstairs to the little dude’s room to get him ready for bed. I put the game on the radio so the Zigster could fall asleep to the game in his crib.
After the Zigster tapped out, my other hockey buddy—Belle—tapped in, though she was already snoozing when she was wheeled in on her portable bassinette.
The 2nd Period was forgettable…until our boy Marcus Foligno got into a fight with Henrik Hedman after the 2nd Period horn. Marcus started off great! Throwing a few round house clocks, but he let up, which let Hedman back into the brawl. After Marcus’ sweater got pulled over, the zebras ended the fight. I was hopeful that Marcus was going to bring the energy into the locker room and ignite his sleeping team…
I liked that Evander & Co. finally showed up midway during the 3rd Period to pull within 1 goal, 3-2…by the way, can someone finally tell Evander to finally shave that nut tickler on his chin? As men, we definitely know one thing: whether or not we can or cannot grow facial hair. I like Evander, but it looks like he has a few short and curlies on his chinny chin chin.
Next: Rasmus Ristolainen Snubbed Twice By NHL
Even though Grandpa Ziggy and I hoped for the best, we did not get the Buffalo Sabres best effort. The Sabres have proven, yet again, that you cannot win games when you only play 20 minutes.