Props to Thomas Vanek. He's been named NHL Player Of The Week for the week of 1/26/13.
On Friday, the NHL named Vanek their third star for the month of January.
This guy is on fire!
Vanek begins the third full week of the NHL season on top of the League scoring race with 19 points -- 10 of them in Buffalo's four games last week.
Vanek will be the first to tell you big deal, individual honors don't mean much when the team is loing.
He scored a goal and assietd on two others in th e4-3 loss to Florida on Super Bowl Sunday. He scored on a sick lob-wedge over Carey price in the 6-1 loss in Montreal on Saturday. The five point (3G, 2A) explosion in Boston last Thursday night was his second five-point game this season.
Lindy Ruff held an optional skate this morning at First Niagara Center before the team jets off to Kanata.
Afterwards, the coach talked about the injured Sabres.
Pominville, Hodgson, Ott, Hecht, and Ehrhoff didn’t skate. Lindy Ruff said that two of the five Sabres are “doubtful” for Tuesday night’s game in Ottawa. Ruff would not divulge the two players. We’ll have to see which Sabres skip the game day skate tomorrow in Kanata.
According to John Vogl of the Buffalo News, Ruff said that winger Pat Kaleta is “progressing”, and that he may skate on his own tomorrow. Kaltea suffered a neck injury when he was hit from behind by Toronto’s Mike Brown last Tuesday night. The robust winger spent the night in hospital and was released the next morning.
Ruff said that injured winger/centre, Ville Leino, is trying a new treatment procedure for his ailing hip. There is no immediate time table for Leino’s return.
Thomas Vanek nailed it. Again. It seems like these days that Vanek is the only Sabres who exhibits any form of consistency on a game to game basis. With Vanek, we’ve grown accustomed to knowing what we’re going to get from him. The same can’t be said about many of the other guys on the Buffalo roster.
When a team loses six out of seven games (1-5-1) at the beginning of a grueling 48 games in 97 nights season, the natural question to ask is ‘Why”?
The Sabres have the talent and the skill to match-up against every team in the NHL. They seem to be unable to close the show, and to put opponents away. Playing with the lead is a good thing for most teams. Not the Sabres.
On Sunday, Vanek got the Super Bowl party started early in the first period. The Sabres kept their foot on the accelerator for the first forty minutes, then ran out of petrol in the third period. On Saturday in Montreal, the same cast of characters slept through the first thirty minutes in Montreal, then found their urgency after the game had become a laugher. On Sunday, they led 3-1 before they fell asleep and lost to the last-place Florida Panthers 4-3. It took nearly 10 minutes for the Sabres to land a shot on Jose Theodore in the third period on Sunday. The Panthers entered Sunday’s game with a atrocious -11 goals differential and a shoddy D corps that featured all of its D-men being miunus players. Yet, the Sabres could not penetrate their soft D in order to get pucks to the net. Vanek said that his team mates played like they were trailing 3-1 when in actuality they were winning 3-1. Mikhail Grigorenko chunked a puck off the post that would have made the game 4-1. Tyler Ennis couldn’t bury a breakaway rush that would have turned out the lights and sent Theodore and his Cats home. No such puck luck. The Sabres were not smart with their puck management, forcing countless pucks into dangerous areas. Mistakes led to turnovers, like the Parros goal, and before you knew it, the puck was behind Ryan Miller. Stupidity kills.
Thanks, sabres.com
Vanek earned the right to steamed after the home loss to Florida. He had every right to be. He gives his team a goal and two assists and they couldn’t parlay it into a win. He did his part. He's been their best player dating back to last season. Vanek has points in each of the eight games he’s appeared in this season. Dating back to last season, Vanek has recorded 28 points (10 goals,18 assists) in his last 18 games. However, his teammates haven't been doing their collective job. I believe Vanek when he says that he gladly trade his 2013 points ( 8 goals and 11 assists) for more wins. What good are individual awards and accolades when the team is struggling so badly? It’s not in Vanek’s DNA to gloat or to pump his own tires. He’s a team-first guy. Always has been. Always will be. He’s pissed off. He hates losing. He’s not getting any younger. He wants to win a Stanley Cup before his brilliant career is over. You wonder if and when his team mates are going to be inspired by his virtuoso performances. Are they content to sit around and watch Vanek bear the majority of the burden of creating offense for this team? If so, it’s time to make a trade to shake up this team. All 12 forwards, and all 6 D should be shouldering the load equally right now. Have you seen the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks play this season? If not, order NHL Centre Ice and watch in amazement how these teams are so poised, productive and balanced. They get goal scoring from all four lines. Their D are responsible. Their goaltending is spot-on. That’s why they are winning so many games. They are complete teams.
Who are these Buffalo Sabres? Dropping consecutive games to Florida and Montreal after a dominating, statement win in Boston on Thursday night. It doesn’t add up.
When you subtract Vanek-Hodgson-Pominville from the equation, it becomes a scary proposition because Lindy Ruff cannot find the secondary and tertiary scoring that his team so desperately needs right now. Vanek is hotter than a Roman candle right now. You can’t count on him to stay his incredibly productive for the entire 48 game season. Hodgson and Pominville will cool off at some point, too.
Did you kno wthat 26-19-29 have combined for 18 goals and 23 assists this season? Too bad the ten other Buffalo forwards have only scored 5 goals and 13 assists.
What will Ruff do then?
Ruff and his coaches have a rare practice day today. They better come up with answers to the questions that plague their team. They play three teams that are ahead of them in the Eastern standings this week in Ottawa, Montreal, and the NY Islanders.
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