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Buffalo Sabres vs Colorado Avalanche: Sabres Look For First Win Streak of February

By Adam DeRose

Feb 7, 2017; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres left wing Evander Kane (9) celebrates his game winning goal against the San Jose Sharks with center Jack Eichel (15) and left wing Tyler Ennis (63) during the overtime period at KeyBank Center. Sabres beat the Sharks 5-4 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 7, 2017; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres left wing Evander Kane (9) celebrates his game winning goal against the San Jose Sharks with center Jack Eichel (15) and left wing Tyler Ennis (63) during the overtime period at KeyBank Center. Sabres beat the Sharks 5-4 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Buffalo Sabres are looking to string together their first winning streak of the month, as well as make up ground in the standings.  Is the worst-team in the NHL the recipe for success?

Tonight Ryan O’Reilly and the Buffalo Sabres host Prima Donna Mikhail Grigorenko and the Colorado Avalanche. The game is sure to be a yawn-fest—especially during the 2nd Period for the Sabres—because we have two bottom dwellers facing off against each other. The Avalanche is the league’s worst team, with 32 points. However, Buffalo has climbed to 22nd Place and has 58 points.

I feel that the Sabres will show up to play tonight, especially Ryan O’Reilly. It seems as if players always put their best skate forward when they play their former team. With that being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mikhail Grigorenko plays with a chip on his shoulder, too.

All season long, the Sabres have been notorious for taking the 2nd Period off, which results in them paying catch up during the 3rd Period. I have done some brainstorming to figure out a quick remedy to fix this problem, especially because Coach Dan can’t figure it out.

  • My first idea was to have the game broken up into two halves, both consisting of 30 minutes of play. I quickly realized this was a bad idea and here’s why: during the 2nd Half, the team may look up at the jumbotron and see “2nd” and think they are in the “2nd Period” which would result in then not playing for the latter half of the game.
  • My second idea, which I think is better, would be to break the game down into four quarters just like football. When the players are on the bench and see that they are in the “2nd Quarter”, we would only have to put up with 15 minutes of bad hockey. During the “3rd Quarter” they players might think they are in the “3rd Period”, so hopefully they would show back up to play. When the scoreboard says they are in the “4th Quarter”, hopefully the Sabres will think they are in “Overtime” and try to win the game. The Sabres have played pretty well in Overtime this season.

I’m reaching at anything to get the players motivated and play a full 60  minutes. Maybe they need a coaching or player personnel change. Hopefully when they are off next week for 5 days, they do some sort of team building exercise, soul searching, or group counseling to bring them back as a team so they play better and reach the playoffs…we can only hope.

I dropped Grandpa Ziggy a line this morning, like I do each day. I gave him an update on his great grandchildren—Little Ziggy and Annabelle—and told him the Sabres play at 7:30pm. He said, “Well thank you for informing me about the Sabres game. Hopefully the Bums can get on the band wagon towards the playoffs.” He added that he would be watching the game from warm and sunny North Carolina, not cold and snowy Buffalo.

Next: Sabres Can Take A Look At Barrie, Landeskog

Game Time Challenge:

  1. Will Justin Bailey extend his goal streak to two games?
  2. Will Mikhail Grigorenko be boo-ed by the Buffalo fans every time he touches the puck?
  3. Will Ryan O’Reilly show up his former team?
  4. Will the dead last Avalanche beat the inconsistent Sabres?
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