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Enzomatic

March 12, 2012, 10:45 PM ET [58 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Crowd noise wasn't a problem inside First Niagara Center on Monday night.


Tyler Ennis scored two beauties, while Ryan Miller made 26 saves as the Sabres earned its season-best fifth consecutive home win.

The Sabres (33-29-8) also improved to 9-2-2 in their past 13 games. Miller is 9-1-1 in his last 11 starts. Look out Winnipeg! The Sabres are now in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, just two points behind Washington in the race for the final playoff spot. The Jets and Capitals were idle on Monday night.

Poor Andrei Markov. Before Saturday night's start in Vancouver, the former NHL All Star D had missed 140 games due to a jacked up ACL.

In his second game back to the lineup, Tyler Ennis toe-dragged him Sabres infamy.



Ennis possesses the hands of a jewel thief and he used them to perform larcent against Markov and Budaj. The goal had double meaning for the Sabtres as it tied teh game at one, and it gave Buffalo a reward for their previous 30 minutes of dominance over the Habs. Despite the 1-0 Montreal lead, the Sabres carried the play and owned the puck in the Montreal end for the first half of the game.

Ennis wasn't done yet. He scored his second goal of the game to give the Sabres the lead with the sweet sauce, that was intended to be a tap-in for Marcus Foligno, however, it found the back of the Montreal net. Puck luck...



Foligno, who has a goal and an assist in his last two games while playing with Ennis:

"Enzo is a great player. He's a play maker and he can finish. He just creates plays.. he's a waterbug out there! He's hard to hit and for a big guy like me, its my job to give him space. He's gonna finish plays and he's gonna create plays too, so you want to get the net for him as much as you can".



After the game, Markov tipped his bucket to Ennis and the Sabres.


thanks, canadiens.com


The Sabres are now 11-1-3 in games that Ennis records a point in this season.

They are also 38-9-7 in games when Ennis records a point in his Sabres career.

No way to control it, he's totally Enzomatic!


Here, The Gold Power Ranger, relived his fantastic game with Rob Ray:


thanks, sabres.com


The "other" Tyler ended all doubts of the Sabres winning when he ran the floor, beat the third man high (Eller) and scored the OT GWG.




Myers said after the game that Miller's comments calmed the troops down heading into the OT session.


Thanks, sabres.com


Ryan Miller wasn't happy when his team mates gave up the tying goal to Desharnais with 4.6 seconds remaining in regulation to force OT. Miller skated to the bench and proceeded to tear his mates a new ass in an attempt to get them to clear their heads and to go on the offensive to get the extra point for the OT win.

Miller's "speech" worked.





***


Honourable mention goes to Peter Budaj for his heroics in the loss. Budaj made a half dozen exceptional saves on point blank scoring chances to keep his team with one goal in a game that they easily could have lost by 3 or 4 goals had the goal tending have been weak.


thanks, canadiens.com



Here are the full highlights:





****

"I'm so excited right now", a beaming Marcus Foligno told me in the Buffalo room after the OT win over the Habs.

Foligno has three NHL games under his belt, two in the past three days, and he doesn't want this experience to end any time soon. The recent knee injury suffered by Matt Ellis will keep Foligno in Buffalo for a while, or so he hopes.

"Its only my third game, but, I just feel so comfortable in here (in the room). I helped out last game with a goal, and those are the kinds of things that build confidence. I just want to keep in rolling".

I also asked Marcus whether or not his experience playing at the World Juniors in Buffalo in 2011 has helped his transition to the NHL.

"It was huge for me, just the experience of playing in something that big, you go out there and play, and your not as nervous as you were the first game of that medal round. Its not a lot easier, but I'm a little more calm and I know what to expect a little bit more out there. I know what the boards are like and its the home atmosphere. I have a bit more experience in that area".


I told Marcus that the fans have tweeted me that they want him to dump #82 for #17, which was made available when MA Gragnani was traded to Vancouver on trade deadline day.

"I'm just a rookie, and I don't think they'll let me choose numbers yet. I'm happy just with wearing the (Sabres) jersey for now".

Nicely played.


You fans can tweet @BuffaloSabres and demand that Marcus be given the #17 that his proud father wore as the captain of the Sabres.

Speaking of Dad, Marcus told me.

"Yeah, he was watching with Larry (Playfair) and the family. He was actually planning to drive from Sudbury to Rochester to watch me there, but when I was called up for the Ottawa game, he went to stay with the Playfairs on Grand Island, so this worked out perfectly for him to see my first home game as a Sabre. He would not have missed this!"

To know that Folignos is to know that they are joined at the hip with the Playfairs. The two families are so close that its as if they are one huge clan. Marcus, Nick, their two sisters, and the Playfair kids are all close in age and they grew up together.

"Aunt Jean (Playfair) is so proud, and Larry, too. Its a great time for us all", Foligno told me with a proud smile.


****

I caught up with Derek Carubba in the Buffalo room after the win. All the otehr media types wanted him to recount his sweet pass to Tyler Myers on the winning goal. Me? i wanted to know where he's been hiding the huge hit that he laid on Habs pest, Erik Cole, in the first period. That hit served as an adrenaline booster for the crowd and his bench.

"You like that, eh? I bring that out every couple of years", Roy deadpanned as he took off his skates.

He plastered Cole with a good, clean, hard body check.

"He (Cole) wasn't too happy. I got the puck one time (after the hit) and he bee lined right at me and I was like "uh oh, he wants it back" and I moved it and he kept coming".

Roy earned himself the Carubba Collision of the game and the fans went nuts when the replay was shown on the jumbotron.

"On those plays, when its like a one on two, and he's coming, you know that the guy's probably gonna tight turn to the wall. I knew he was going to tight turn and I just came, and kept coming and he rolled off "Mysie" right to me, and there you go".

WHAMMO!







****

I had a fun chat with Enzo while he was peeling off his gear. No. The golden bucket was still on his head while he took his gear off.

I reminded the former Medicine Hat Tiger that his team is now 11-1-3 when he records a point in a game this season.

He wryly said, "I guess I gotta score more".

The team is now 38-9-7 in Ennis' short Sabres Career when he records a point in a game.

"I guess I gotta get 82 points", he quipped.

Its no coincidence that Ennis has found his swag now that he is playing his natural position: centre.

"I get to use the whole ice to create, not just the one their or so that you use when you are on a wing. I'm a centre".

Great move by Lindy Ruff to put the kid back on lead guitar. He's not a bass player. He's a wailer and he is thriving on the bigger stage, with the added responsibilities.

I asked Ennis what was up with Habs' agitator, Ryan White, who was caught free-handing the Sabre centre to the ice late in the third period, directly in front of the ref, then ramming 63's head to the ice. No penalty.

Ennis smiled and told me:

"I had a lot of battles of White, ya know, he was a Calgary Hitmen, I was a Medicine Hat Tiger... we know each other. He's a really good player and he played the same way in juniors where we had some good battles. Every time we played Calgary, it was a tough game. I wouldn't expect anything less than that from White".

I asked Ennis how he can and will avoid such a disruption in his game in the near future, considering the refs are not calling penalties in the third period of close games thiss eason.

"I just gotta move my little legs", he told me.


No way to control him. He's totally Enzomatic!


****

The Sabres will skate at 11:30 Tuesday morning in prepartaion for Ryan O'reilly and teh Colorado Avs.


Another practice will do Cody Hodgson a lot of good. He's only practiced once with the Sabres in the past two weeks.


He was bumped down to the fourth line Monday night and he can use some systems work in a structured practice.

The kid will be fine. Don't sweat it.


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