Friday, March 21, 2008

Ugh.

I'm tired, my ankle is swollen like a balloon, and I just popped a painkiller which means I'll be out soon so I'm going to keep this short and simple. Here's why the Sabres lost this game:

- The powerplay was embarrassing. Almost eleven minutes of PP time in one period and we managed six shots on goal. Note to Ales Kotalik: I don't care how hard your shot is, if there's a guy standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, it's probably not getting through.

- A couple of really undisciplined penalties, particularly Max Afinogenov's stupid, stupid hook on Jason Blake after the play was over which led to a Toronto PP goal. Nice work, Max!

- Vesa Toskala outplayed Ryan Miller by a country mile. Not even close. Ryan made some big stops but not when the team really needed them. I try to be careful about putting all the weight of a loss on one player, even the goalie, but he has to be great if the Sabres are going to get to the postseason.

On top of being kind of ugly, this game was really boring. At least entertain me with your badness!

How is it possible to love and hate a group of men I've never met in my life so much? Is this healthy?

More tomorrow at some point. If you need more right now, read the previous post if you haven't already in which I tell you why it might be good for these guys to miss the playoffs. (I know, it still sucks. Missing the playoffs, not the post. I think.)

7 comments:

Margee said...

In fairness, Toskala, has some penance-making to do for that goal scored from 90 miles away.

Heather B. said...

Margee, we kept yelling for someone to shoot it from our blueline but they weren't listening. It would've been as effective as any of the shots they did take.

S.A.M. said...

aww sorry 'bout your ankle, hope you're feeling better soon!

It was a tough game. It's like the effort was there but the skill was missing? Or something. the power play was sad, and Kotalik was killing me! (see my post about that)

And Toskala.. was that the same guy who allowed a shot from centerice the other night? Whatt?

Anne said...

How is it possible to love and hate a group of men I've never met in my life so much? Is this healthy?

I can't even muster this much feeling for guys I do know, how can I make this kind of emotional commitment to one man or group of men? Who knows? But sports fans have been doing it for years, haha.

That game sounded painful, I suppose I'm glad I missed it.

ElmaGolf said...

Hi Heather - hope you're feeling better after the daze of pills wears off. Hopefully the Habs will provide some medicine tonight vs. the Bruins.

Personally, I blame Harrington for the loss last night. You don't use "Laffs" in your articles until AFTER you win.

Anyway, been busy today debunking Sabres Edge non-sense. Tom wrote an analogy of Drury / Briere being the equivalent of the Patriots just letting Brady / Moss walk away. Bean again used a loss as an opportunity to spew that Quinn ruined the Sabres in 1997 and 2007. And then there's the usual "I must work the Sabres" posts.

If we could develop a technology to "harness" moronic energy, we'd never need to buy another drop of oil again. We have an infinite supply right here in Buffalo.

Heather B. said...

Elma, I'm totally fine blaming Harrington :-D

I'm telling you, I hate those "You must be/be related to/be in love with/have been drugged by Larry Quinn!" comments more than anything else. It's a stupid thing to get upset about but I don't know, that one gets under my skin for some reason. I saw you were handling the Patriots thing very well and decided I was going to take a break from Sabres Edge this weekend... and then left a comment three pages long. I have no will power!

ElmaGolf said...

Heather - thanks for the back-up over on the Edge! I say the same thing about ignoring the oversimplifications, but I always get dragged back in.

Have a great Sunday!