Unfortunately, I had the opportunity to watch the vast majority of the second period of the Sabres' Thurs., January 19 game in Winnipeg against the Jets. Through a free website (will share it at the end of this piece, I sat down at my computer and witnessed the Sabres' only scoring play of the evening, a Drew Stafford goal from the wing on a nice feed from Nathan Gerbe in the fifth minute of the second period.
According to published reports (forgot the game was even scheduled; with MSG off the Time Warner lineup, just not as attuned to the team as I was before the new year) the Sabres came out skating in the first. Ryan Miller made an acrobatic save or two that kept the bleeding to a minimum. Winnipeg outshot the Sabres 19-10 in the first period, so Miller was busy, while allowing only one goal .
Team Letting Ryan Miller Down
Too bad Miller didn't have more help. Granted, he simply doesn't look as sharp as in year's past. Yet many of his teammates in 2011-12 have essentially let him and fellow goalie Jhonas Enroth down. Nobody on the Sabres seems capable of effectively subtracting an opponent from around the crease. Furthermore, would it have been too much trouble for Derek "Roysie" Roy to take a puck that may well have prevented the second Winnipeg goal (and the first of their two power play goals)? Since when has Roy been referred to as "Roysie" anyway?
The truly sad part about all of this is that this team, in many respects, has quit. Quit on themselves. Quit on Ruff and Ruff seems to have mailed it in as well. Sure, the Sabres training room has resembled a MASH unit, with an assortment of injuries that have rocked what was a promising team going into the regular season.
But as I have said before and will eventually repeat myself a thousand times, excuses don't win games. You don't have to look further from the First Niagara Center than down a few miles to Orchard Park. The Bills' brass recently employed a similar tactic in order to explain away yet another lost season.
Sabres Ownership: Pull the Trigger on Ruff!
So when does Sabres owner Terry Pegula and President Ted Black decide to pull the trigger on Ruff and General Manager Darcy Regier? Yes, Regier needs to go as well. In his 13th year, he's lucky to have lasted beyond his fifth. It is painfully clear that team chemistry, or the lack thereof, has evaporated. Besides, they can't even execute an efficient line change, as evidenced by last night's debacle, with Jochen Hecht having a hard time getting off the ice and leading to the Jets' second goal. A similar event occurred only a night earlier in Chicago.
Going into games on Friday, Jan. 20, the Sabres are only 4 points away from occupying the Eastern Conference cellar. Four points! If and when - it's looking more like when - they do achieve the dubious distinction of falling into last place, is that when Pegula pulls the lever? Or if the team's road loss streak reaches 15 games? Twenty games? What is it going to take to deliver a sorely needed wake up call?
By the way, here is that website to view games on the internet. It is free.
The picture is a little grainy but the feeds are live.
References
Harrington, M. (2012). Sabres remain in a deep freeze
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