No effort in third straight game

I understand that Boston has a decent team this year, and that not every game can be won, but after three straight bad losses, something is just fundementally wrong with this team. After losing to the Bruins 7-4 the team has now allowed 18 goals against in their past three games for an average of six goals against per game. There is no way to win like that. In fact Buffalo has lost five of their last six games, allowing an average of 4.7 goals against per game.

When you score four goals in the first period you should not lose, especially if you have a two goal lead. Even as Boston caught up, Buffalo should have been able to continue to take advantage of the Bruin's mistakes, but instead they just gave up. As soon as Boston was up 5-4 most of the Sabres stopped skating hard despite there still being half of a game left to play.

Mair and Peters both hurt the team by taking some bad penalties. Over the last weekend they were two of our best guys, but now they are even hurting us. The refs really were trying to hurt the team as they called a number of rediculous trips that never should have been penalties. Also there was the diving call on Gaustad. Paul Gaustad does not take dives. He simply does not. If it was Roy I'd give it the benefit of the doubt, but to call that a dive on Gaustad is just insane.

Miller looked really bad this game, and finished the first period with a .571 save percentage. Lalime on the other hand looked good, alowing nothing past him in over 18 minutes of play. He should have gotten in the game much sooner, as some of the goals that Miller had allowed against in this game were really bad, and completly his fault.

The Hecht, Pominville Vanek line actually played well in this game and finished with a combined for three goals, four assists, and a plus two rating. Rivet also had a good game plus two with an assist for a team that was all around bad. One line can not carry a team though, and the others need to play hard as well.

Chara had a good game for Boston, putting in two powerplay goals from the blueline. The Sabres should know better than to let his blasts get through. Marc Savard also had a good game getting four assists, including both of Chara's goals and getting himself a goal as well.

Official Three Stars

Marc Savard

Zdeno Chara

David Krejci

My Three Stars

Chuck Kobasew (two goals, plus three)

Thomas Vanek (two goals, one assist)

Marc Savard (one goal, three assists)

Bruins Steal one from the Sabres

The Sabres came out and played well against the Boston Bruins. Buffalo was able to outshoot their opponents 45-21, yet still managed to lose 4-1. Boston even had Alex Auld in goal, yet he played really well.

This is the second game that the Bruins have won against Buffalo dispite getting massivly outshot. Milan Lucic lead Boston in shots with four, yet six different Sabres (one third of the team) had four or more shots on net in the game, and Pominville even had eight, yet not a single one went in. Without Tim Thomas in net, the Bruins goaltending was not supposed to be this good.

Granted the Sabres made some pretty big mistakes to allow some of those goals, yet there is no reason to lose, when you have more than twice as many shots on net as the other team.

For the second straight game, Peters has been in the lineup instaed of Paille. While I can understand playing Ryan or even MacArthur in favour of Paille, Peters hasn't really been doing all that much. Peters was only on the ice for 1:32 all game on just two shifts. Against San Jose, he played for only 1:31 in the game. Last year the Sabres strength came in playing all four lines, that hasn't been happening lately.

Official Three Stars

Alex Auld

Marc Savard

Paul Gaustad

My Three Stars

Alex Auld (.978 save percenage)

Marc Savard (one goal, one assist)

Milan Lucic (two points, plus two)

After giving up Three soft goals the Sabres lose in OT

The Sabres came in to Boston and proved themselves to be the better team, then Miller gave up three easy goals, and Buffalo was only able to come away with one point. Although it took the Sabres a while to score the offence looked good all night, and actually outshot the Bruins 30-24 despite having fewer powerplay opportunities.

The Sabres were lead by new Captain Lydman and Afinogenov throughout the game, who both gave huge efforts throughout the night. Afinogenov got the first goal after a nice set up by Vanek and Gaustad, but was constantly the source of the Sabres push throughout the game. Lydman on the other hand lead the push on the defensive end, playing up to the expectations that come with being the team captain. Lydman had a number of big blocks including one that came off his face, but that sacrifice saved an otherwise certain goal. Lydman had to leave the game to get stitched up, but came back to play in the third.

The Sabres real problem in the game was in goal. Although Miller didn't have much of a chance on the first goal all the rest of the goals came on shots that Miller really should have had. It's kindof hard to win a game when you give up three easy ones like that.

Part of the reason the Sabres were able to pick up a point in the game was their special teams play. Boston scored a nice goal early on their first power play, but Buffalo killed off the other four later in the game (thanks to mainly to Paille and Lydman, although not to Pominville who missed what should have been an easy short handed goal). On the other side of things the Sabres were two for three with the man advantage, which is clearly where they need to be. Next game is Friday night against Florida.

Official Three Stars

Marc Savard

Marco Sturm

Glen Metropolit

My Three Stars

Marc Savard (a goal and an assist and by far the best player on the Bruins)

Maxim Afinogenov (goal and Buffalo's best on the night)

Glen Metropolit (a goal and an assist at the most important times in the game)