If Derek plays tonight, he will have a huge game. When I came in this morning and turned on my adding machine, the number 9 appeared! Okay, I must have bumped the 9 key, but still!!
Monday we're going to see if he can accidentally punch in 26.
In a season when a couple of my favorites have fallen hard (Spinorama on outta here, Soupy! Dipsy-doodle your way to a new city, Timmy!), I'm a little relieved to report that I've really missed having Derek Roy in the line-up the last few games. He hasn't had a very good season and he can be completely exasperating - we have a very intense love/hate relationship - but dang, when I love him, I love him. It sure looks like he took Lindy's words about certain players needing to step up to heart because he had a great game. He was buzzing everywhere, he was involved in a handful of the goals and I admit it, I'm totally tickled at the goalie - I think it was Kari Lehtonen at that point - shooting the puck at him. Hee. Even though he was kind of tripped into the crease, I do think little Roy-Z is at his best when he's bugging other people. I'm a little disappointed that his hat-trick was awarded after the game though. I hate when that happens! Here's a hat from me to you, Roy-Z! You were my first star of the game.
Other observations:
- Despite the fact that he keeps hitting crossbars, I think Thomas Vanek looked pretty good tonight. He was going to the net more often than not and made some really nice passes to the front of the net. I fully expect the message board denizens to pick everything he did apart to pieces and fault him for not earning $70 million in one game but for tonight, they should really give it a rest.
- That was one of the most complete games they've played all season. They'd start to cool off just for a couple of minutes and I'd start getting a little worried but they always pulled it together quickly. The Sabres definitely got some bounces but they also worked really hard for sixty minutes. It's a cliche that you create your own bounces but it's a cliche because it's true.
- I try to not let the girlie side of me come out here too often because I don't want to be accused of being a puckbunny - seriously, try it and see what happens - but that backhand by Smokin' Jochen Hecht was seriously sexy. You can keep your showy slapshots, backhands make me swoon. (Of course, I also have a terrible, terrible slapshot so maybe I'm just pretending to not be impressed with them. I do, however, have a pretty good backhand if I do say so myself. Yo-Yo and I are hockey soul mates because I'd be all about ugly goals, I think.)
- I admit, I tend to kind of ignore it when Henrik Tallinder isn't playing well - he's my favorite player so that earns him a little slack - but he really has looked a ton better the last handful or so of games, even in some of the losses. Good job, Hank. It's nice to be able to actually say, "Hey, my guy is playing really well!" instead of just closing my eyes and pretending I'm not seeing you.
- If I were nice, I wouldn't point out that a clean giveaway by Brian "Six Million Dollar Man" Campbell led directly to the Thrashers only goal. But hey, if you guys want to give him that much money... Okay, seriously, it's just as likely that was Ryan Miller's fault. I mean, the poor guy had a FOUR GOAL LEAD. He was probably panicky and confused. And hey, atleast we didn't have to hold our breaths waiting for the last second goal to ruin the potential shutout.
- Two gorgeous passes from Dmitri Kalinin. Oh, geez. That pass/shot over to Vanek on the side of the net was so, so nice.
- Loved the mic'd up segment when Adam Mair hollers for a piece of gum and somebody brought out a little tupperware dish full of sticks of gum. I don't know, for some reason that little dish cracked me up. I can't believe they chew gum while skating and getting knocked around though. Seems dangerous.
- Nice to see some bumping and scrapping from a lot of different guys. I'm a little disappointed that we didn't get full-blown fights out of Hecht and Toni Lydman though. They're not very good fighters and it doesn't happen very often but I love the way they go from mild-mannered to total flip out and they didn't quite get there tonight. And geez, Jason Pominville got nailed by Eric Boulton. I think I heard him whimpering from my living room.
- All in all, a much needed victory for both the team and the fans, I think. Part of my brain is whispering that it doesn't mean anything until we string a bunch of wins together but the other half of my brain is telling that half to shut up. For tonight, I'm happy. At the very least, it was nice to see some smiles on the bench again.
12 comments:
How fun was that when MSG was showing them all smiling and laughing on the bench? Talk about a nice change.
I don't think I realized how miserable they've been looking until I saw them laughing. So sweet!
Nice work with the adding machine, Mark!
Meg, that was great. Kate and I were hanging out over at IPB and Kate was enjoying the lingering shots of Goose while I was tickled at a shot of Hank and Yo-Yo grinning at each other. It was definitely nice to see. I mean, even Lindy was smiling!
I would copy a text message I sent to a friend after Campbell's oopsie-daisy, but the language is not for mixed company.
Also, I agree with your take on Vanek. I think he had a decent game aside from the penalty and a post here and there. (Hard angle on that post, but I agree it should have been in)
While Roy seems to be able to perform in spurts with other players, Stafford and Vanek seem destined to play together. When those two and Roy are on, Lindy can't put a better line together.
It's just the "off" part that bothers us...
The Sabres were actually on TV here tonight! Huzzah! I watched Monk though...
The Sabres were actually on TV here tonight! Huzzah! I watched Monk though...
Oh, yeah, I forgot you guys sometimes got Atlanta games. Or do you get all of them? Geez, Monk? You could've watched it one of the other 100 times it'll be on this week. This was the best game the Sabres have played since Christmas! I can't believe we're related!
RJ:
It's just the "off" part that bothers us...
Yeah, no kidding. They are great when they're all on though.
I'm seriously going off my rocker about this whole Campbell thing. I'm worried for my sanity. I need to not think about him at all for a few days. But I feel like there's not even room for debate here. I can't even SEE the other side. See, I'm totally losing it.
You're right that Vanek had a tough angle on the one crossbar. I didn't really mean to imply that it should've gone in. Just more of a general, "Geez, he's hitting a lot of crossbars" observation.
I'm sure you'll be totally shocked to learn that I agree with you about Yo-Yo's backhander. I just watched the highlights, and it is swoon-worthy, indeed.
I am so pissed that I missed all the smiley bench shots, though! Why don't they have a highlight package of that? That's a very important part of the game!
That was just a great game all around! And Pie was playing great too! Love him=)
Now if we just take this game momentum into tonights game and the rest we should do much better.
And to top it off Stafford was named First Star on nhl.com. Here's hoping they can keep it up tonight.
I've been pretty hard on your boy Hank this year, but the last few games he looks like the Tallinder of 05-06 again. He's skating the puck out of the zone with confidence, no one is beating him one on one and he's blocking shots. Nice job!
And speaking of closing your eyes when your favorite sucks, it was so nice to be excited to be a Drew Stafford fan again tonight. That's the Drew I remember! Not necessarily the goals, but being a dominant power forward. Yay!
The trick with the adding machine is that I can't do it on purpose. I guess I'll just have one of my co workers "accidentally" shove me across my desk.
Did any of you see the post game interview where Miller said he predicted at lunch with Timmy and Max that it would be nice if the team won 7-1 or something like that?
What impressed me the most was that last night was a total team effort. It wasn't just one or two guys shouldering the entire load the entire night. 14 players showed up on the score sheet by my count, the special teams were clicking, and the physicality was there.
Kate and I were hanging out over at IPB and Kate was enjoying the lingering shots of Goose while I was tickled at a shot of Hank and Yo-Yo grinning at each other.
Hee . . . yeah, I read the comments on IPB this morning and it sounded like great fun to watch live. I wasn't home for the game, but it sure was nice to come home to that on the TiVo. :D
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