Miller steals the show!
There’s a new Dominator in town
By Rick Anderson
There have been dominant performances by Buffalo goalies since the birth of
the franchise. Everyone remembers distinctly the stellar performances by Dominik
Hasek when he used to stonewall the opposition when his team barely had an
offense. Then there were such big game goalies like Tom Barrasso, Bob Sauve, Don
Edwards and Roger Crozier. All had their moments in the sun. Sabres finally get their feet moving The Rangers roared out and dominated play in the first two periods in Game 2,
scoring two powerplay goals to take a 2-1 lead. Just like in game 2 against the Islanders in the first round, the Sabres came
out flat. Friday night against the Rangers, the Sabres played one of their
sloppiest games in a couple years. If it weren’t for the great goaltending of
Miller, the Rangers would have blown out the Sabres before the Sabres could find
their legs. In the first period, Buffalo only had 4 shots on goal. One of their shots
went in for a powerplay goal when Brian Campbell scored from the point. The
Rangers, meanwhile, kept containing the Sabres, keeping them out of the neutral
zone. All told, the Sabres had just 9 shots on goal in two periods. Such horrible passing by the Sabres has not been seen in ages by Sabres fans.
Maxim Afinogenov is working his way up into the pressbox with his play. He must
have given away the puck 10 times in the game. Daniel Briere has been a
non-entity so fare in the entire post season save his one goal against the
Islanders. In the third period, the Sabres finally decided to play hockey. Chris Drury
once again proved that he needs to be signed by the Sabres immediately if they
don’t want him entertaining offers from other teams in June. Drury used his
baseball skills in "bunting" a long shot by Campbell past Henrik
Lundqvist, notching up the game at 2. Then came one of the most exciting plays of the playoffs so far. Campbell
took the puck into the Rangers zone, outskated a defenseman behind the net, got
the puck to Drew Stafford to the right of Lundqvist. Stafford then performed
magic when he somehow made a behind-the-back pass to Vanek through a defenseman’s
legs. Vanek pounced on the perfect pass and ripped it over Lundqvist glove. Vanek was not surprised by the picture perfect pass, that was could
classified as "Ice Jordan" style similar to what Air (Michael) Jordan
used to do on the basketball court. "I expected him to do that," Vanek admitted. "He's the type of
player who's smart enough to do that, to see me there." Ruff makes big moves Lindy Ruff seeing how pathetic the Sabres were playing, knew he had to make
moves to spark his stymied offense. He not only made moves, he sparked some
energy of his own to the game, especially after the final horn. Ruff saw some
shabby officiating and made it known to the refs after the game. Ruff doesn't care if he could be facing a big fine and a possible suspension.
he won't sit still when he sees his co-captain getting punched in the face by
Sean Avery, not once but twice. And to add salt to the injury, to have the refs
give Briere a penalty instead of Avery getting sent to the box. That sent Ruff
over the top. He vehemently argued with the refs after the game, not only for
the punch in the face/Briere penalty, but for a blow offsides call that could
have allowed the Devils to score. Zubrus is one man WRECKING MACHINE! Zubrus made two bone crushing hits on Jaromir Jagr and Sean Avery that got
the fans to stand up. Another time, he fought off two defenders behind the
boards and kept possession of the puck to set up a great scoring opportunity.
Near the end of the game, he sent little pest Avery flying to the delight of the
fans. Earlier, Zubrus made a clean open ice check on Jagr that sent the Rangers
star tumbling to the ice. "It’s a tough body coming at you all the time," described Jason
Pominville. "He’s a horse down low and he’s finishing checks and
everybody’s trying to feed off of him. He’s someone the team can follow that
way." While Avery has gotten away with some cheap hits and a couple punches to
Briere’s face, Zubrus is delivering text book checks that would have Scott
Stevens envious. "It’s not really a goal to get under somebody’s skin," said
Zubrus about how he’s frustrating the Blue Shirts and former teammate Jagr.
"The goal is just to play hard, not to give them too much freedom and too
much space because they’re some of the top players in the league. They can
create things if you let them. Whether you’re under their skin or not, we’re
happy that we won two games." Ruff wants the Sabres to feed off Zubrus’ energy and his Mac truck hits. "He was just a bear down low," Ruff described his game. "There
was the one shift the whole crowd got behind him. They couldn’t take it away
from him. He leads in that direction for him. He does a great job for us. That
size, with Gaustad out of the lineup, is important size for us and important
leadership for us." Zubrus may not be scoring goals like he has in the past, but he’s making up
for it with his physical presence. The Sabres hope more big time hits are in the
future for Zubrus.
HOME
SEASON'S RESULTS
SABRE TALK MESSAGE BOARD
NEWSROOM
99 PLAYOFFS
April 28, 2007
Ryan Miller comes out to make a sprawling save with Rangers left winger Sean Avery on the doorstep during the third period action. Miller was the top star in Sabres 3-2 win.
[AP Photo/Don Heupel]
None of those elite Sabres goalies ever had a better game than Ryan Miller had
Friday night in Game 2 against the Rangers. Miller withstood a barrage of 33
shots on goal in helping the Sabres be able to stage yet another third period
comeback, beating the Blue Shirts 3-2. It was a performance for the ages.
In the first two periods, the Sabres probably played their worst hockey yet in
the post season. They only mustered 4 shots on goal in the first period and
totaled just 9 after 2. Down only 2-1 going into the third period, the Sabres
had to thank Mr. Miller for saving their collective butts.
There aren't words in the English language to describe the horrendous play of
the Sabres in the first two periods. And, equally, there are no words to
describe the heroic and stellar play by Ryan Miller in holding down the fort
while the team in front of here was stumbling, bumbling, fumbling.
The Sabres not only couldn't find their skating legs in the two periods, their
passes were probably the worst seen at HSBC Arena in years. Add to the dilemma
the fact that Maxim Afinogenov is struggling like a fish out of water, and the
Rangers had glorious opportunities to blow the Sabres away. Only the man between
the pipes prevented that from happening.
Miller allowed two goals in the two periods, but he was screened on both plays.
Outside of that, it was a perfect night for Miller. He played a full 60 minutes,
while his teammates got away with a 20-minute work effort.
Ruff also made the big decision after two inept periods of play by his team to
go to 3 lines instead of 4. Sitting were Afinogenof, who must have coughed up
the puck 10 times in the game, along with Adam Mair and Tim Connolly. Putting
Drew Stafford on the line with Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek proved to be downright
ingenious when Stafford made a behind the back, between the defenseman's legs to
set up Vanek for the winning goal. It was a highlight reel play that may help
spark the team into the next round.
While there are no words to describe the great play of Ryan Miller and the
terrible play by his teammates for 2 periods, the handle of 'One Man Wrecking
Machine' fits quite well around Danius Zubrus' shoulders. Zubrus was devastating
the Rangers with his barbaric hits Friday night. Since Zubrus’s arrival upon
the scene at the trade deadline, he has slowly molded his style of play to fit
that of the Sabres. The past two games against the Rangers have demonstrated his
worth to the team.
THE PLAYERS
STATISTICS
SCHEDULE
PROSPECTS
LIVE GAME RADIO
HISTORY
TEAM INFO
PHOTO GALLERY
MULTIMEDIA
SABRES POLL
TROPHY CASE
LINKS
THE STAFF
E-MAIL SABRESWORD
Copyright © 2004 Sabres Central, all rights reserved
