When the going gets tough, mouth off to the referees and get yourself an unsportsmanlike penalty that leads to a PPG against your struggling team. Get yourself benched for 40 minutes. Nice leadership. Great discipline, Ville.
Thanks, sabres.com
I commend Ron Rolston for benching Leino for his selfish tantrum. He put himself before the team and it was conduct unbecoming if a so called team leader.
Stick tap Rolston for benching Tyler Myers, too.
How the mighty have fallen.
*****
Unacceptable loss in Sunrise.
Its all over but the shouting right now. If they want to play the Pittsburgh Penguins in round one of the playoffs, the Sabres will need some divine intervention in their final 14 games. This forgettable 48 game lockout-shortened season is taking its toll on the most ardent, passionate Sabres fans.
The Sabres have not played with any type of consistency or urgency for the past three months. The natives of Pegulaville are getting restless.
The cut line for the eighth and final playoff spot will be 52-53 points. Coming into this game, the Sabres needed to go 12-3 or 11-4 in their final 15 games in order to grab the eighth and final playoff bid.
Their shootout loss in Sunrise is a kick in the groin. The Sabres will leave 3 of 4 points in the state of Florida after taking all 6 points from Monteal and Toronto last week
I cannot for the life of me figure out this maddening, enigmatic team.
If and when the Sabres miss the playoffs, please remember this stat:
The Sabres are 2-9-1 vs Southeast Division teams this season.
They can beat the Bruins, Canadiens, and Leafs, but they can't beat the cats, Bolts, Canes, and Caps?
I'm not sure what exactly Ville Leino said to the referee, but whatever it was, the ref wasn't amused. Leino was rung up for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at 19:20 if the first period with Buffalo trailing 1-0.
Leino's selfish penalty ended up hurting his team when Fleishmann scored the PPG just 43 seconds into the second period.
Ron Rolston benched Leino for the final 40 minutes of the game. The Finn skated 5:28 TOI and was -1.
The Cats staked out to a quick 2-0 lead after Fleischmann's PPG at the beginning of the second stanza. bad things, man. Bad things.
No on this night.
The Sabres shoved back and scored three unanswered goals. Gerbe, Sekera, and Stafford scored to give the Sabres the lead.
***
Reggie Sekera is in the starting lineup tonight, as is Big John Scott.
Thomas Vanek will sit this one out while he nurses his upper body muscle strain.
Mark Pysyk and Brian Flynn will be the healthy scratches for Buffalo.
Frankly, I'm disappointed that Rolston has chosen to park Pysyk in the press box. I was looking forward to watching Pysyk compete head to head with his former Amerk teammate, TJ Brennan, who was traded to Florida on 3/15 in order to Pysyk the chance tolay in Buffalo.
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