Showing posts with label Carey Price. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carey Price. Show all posts

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Sabres start season with a shootout win

The Buffalo Sabres got their 2008-2009 season off to a much better start then last year. Not only was it a win, but a win over one of the teams that is expected to end the season at the top of the eastern conference. Montreal played well, but Buffalo was the better team throughout the game, and deserved to win after earning more scoring opportunities then the Canadians did.

Buffalo's lone goal came from Thomas Vanek on a bit of a delayed shot. Vanek lead both teams with eight shots in the game. The Canadian's goal came from Robert Lang in his first regular season game with Montreal.

In the shootout Buffalo looked much better then they did last year. Kotalik started things off with his unstoppable backhand. Stafford then pulled the exact same move as Kotalik and also scored. If these two can score every shootout then the Sabres will be in a good position. Miller stopped both of the shots on his end, although Koivu never really got his shot off.

Still despite the win Buffalo still looked a bit sloppy with their passes at times, and definitely have plenty to improve on. The powerplay was awful. Tim Connolly was out of the game with an injury, but that's not really even news anymore. Buffalo's next game is Monday against the Islanders.

Official Three Stars
  • Thomas Vanek
  • Ryan Miller
  • Carey Price

  • My Three Stars
  • Ryan Miller (only one goal against, perfect in the shootout)
  • Thomas Vanek (eight shots and one goal)
  • Robert Lang (scored the only goal for Montreal)
  • Thursday, May 1, 2008

    Sharks hold on, Avery losses his spleen, Montreal is doomed

    The Sharks held on to their very slim chances, and got a win against Dallas, but are still down three games to one. Because the games have been close, they have a better chance at coming back than any of the other teams do. Still, that said it remains incredibly unlikely. Turco is good enough that he can win one of three pretty consistently.

    Unlike San Jose, Montreal is absolutely falling apart. In game four, they choose not to start rookie goaltender Caret Price, and instead went with Jaroslav Halak who has even less experience. The experiment obviously didn't work, and the Habs lost to the Flyers 4-2. Many still feel that it was a mistake to give up Huet, but if you are going to go with Price, you really need to commit 100% to him. Now Montreal's "goaltender of the future" is suddenly no longer wanted and the team is without any solid player in net at all. When Calgary pulled their starter in favour of Curtis Joseph it at least had the result of changing the pace of the game, and inserting a very experienced veteran. In Montreal, starting Halak over Price, does nothing to motivate the team, and gives you a goaltender with zero career playoff starts. Regardless there is no way that Montreal comes back from their current 3-1 hole, so it doesn't really matter what they try next game.

    Furthermore it is a tad bit depressing seeing former Sabres Biron and Briere, get the first and second stars in the past game. Marty has had a very good string of games in the playoffs, and Briere has actually put forth some effort in the post season this year for some unknown reason.

    Rangers forward Sean Avery is out for the rest of the season with a blown spleen. The New York Rangers only realistically have a single game remaining in their schedule, so it won't make much of a difference on the ice. He is expected to make a full recovery, but we can still hope that it won't happen. I'm not mean enough to hope that it's fatal, but if this ends his hockey career that would make me happy.

    Friday, April 4, 2008

    No surprise

    The Sabres lost to the Montreal Canadians (on the powerplay of course) 3-1. With this loss Buffalo is now mathematically out of the playoffs. Buffalo of course lost this game, the same way in which they have lost most of their games this season, which is by failing on the powerplay, and only really trying for ten minutes.

    The Sabres held their own, until the Canadians got a powerplay, on which the Canadians did what they do on 95% of their powerplays which is score a goal. The game completely fell apart after that. Kotalik finally did score a goal, but at that point it was far to late, and all it did was avoid the shutout.

    The final game of the season is Saturday, but it doesn't much matter at this point. Right now the Sabres need to resign Gaustad, and get Numminen and Connolly healthy (assuming of course that it possible).

    Official Three Stars
  • Bryan Smolinski
  • Carey Price
  • Steve Begin

  • My Three Stars
  • Bryan Smolinski (two goals)
  • Steve Begin (one assist, plus two, eight hits)
  • Carey Price (only allowed one goal against)
  •