For the umpteenth time in this frustrating, forgettable season, Buffalo Sabres fans serenaded Ryan Miller with Bronx cheers and passionate boos inside First Niagara Center on Friday night. I'm not going to lie. It was an ugly situation. Miller was the dart board for the verbal projectiles that were thrown at him by the gallery gods in his own building.
I've been in attendance for hundreds of home games during the Ryan Miller Era in Buffalo. Never before have I been a witness to such biting and caustic emotion that was directed the former Vezina trophy winning Miller.
The fans clearly were voicing their collective displeasure. The Rangers scored two quick goals off the skates of Sabres D men to get the blitzkrieg started. Then, the natives got more restless then ever before when Miller soft-served an early Christmas present to the tape of a shocked Ryane Clowe.
Miller agreed with the fans on his gaffe that ended up on Clowe's twig:
“It’s one of the worst mistakes I’ve made my whole time here, worst time,” the crestfallen goalie said after the game.
The Sabres retreated to their room looking for a solution to their first period melt down. They still had 40 minutes left in order to battle back into the game and to stave off playoff elimination. They came out of the intermission looking for a fast start and a quick goal.
Then, all Hell broke loose at the beginning of period two.
In the first thirty seconds of the second period, Miller gave the home fans a taste of their own medicine by motioning to them with his glove after he made a play on a routine dump-in. He fired the puck up the wall and gave them some glove love, as if to say "how'd ya like that?"
Then, Stralman chased Miller from his net by scoring scoring a harmless looking shot from the point/half-wall.
4-0 Rags.
Uh oh. The corwd let Miller know how they felt about his performance.
Rolston promptly hooked Miller and replaced him with Enroth. It was the second home game in a row that Miller was yanked from his net. Who can forget the 5-1 lambasting at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens?
I don't blame Miller for the first two goals against as they were banked in off the skated if Sabres' D Adam Pardy and Christian Ehrhoff. However, the third goal was all Miller's doing. he admitted as much after the game. The fourth one Miller surely would like to have back.
Four goals allowed. Two were Miller's fault.
In his post game presser, Miller acknowledged your boos and your displeasure.
“We haven’t lived up to any kind of expectation. It’s just been years and years of not getting it done. So if they (the fans) want change, if they’re pissed off, that’s fine.
It’s not like we haven’t been searching for a way to satisfy our needs that basically satisfy their needs."
“We just haven’t got a job done. You don’t win over Buffalo fans by losing hockey games and putting up mediocre seasons. The last three years have pretty much been that.”
The Sabres have now missed the playoffs four out of the past six seasons.
What now?
Will the booing end when the Sabres make the playoffs? Or, will Sabres fans always hold a grudge against Miller?
Its important to note that Miller isn't the only high-profile Sabres goalie to draw the ire of the Buffalo fans. Tom Barrasso left Buffalo to win two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins after years of being the scapegoat for Sabres losses. The Dominator had to leave Buffalo to win two Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings.
On Friday night on the losing locker room, Miller was reminded about how the Rangers loss was very similar to Patrick Roy's last game played in a Montreal Canadiens sweater. You'll recall that Roy was lit up like a Christmas tree and was left in the net by his coach as if to embarrass him. The Montreal fans were not very appreciative of the effort. The Habs would lose that game 12-1 and Roy would skate off the ice and ask him GM for a trade. Miller wasn't left in the net and he wasn't embarrassed by his coach.
Rolston lifted Miller from the net at the right time so as to avoid creating ill will.
Miller has one year left on his Buffalo contract. Nights like last night make me wonder if he wants to sign a long term extension in Buffalo, or, if he prefers to move to another team in search of the Stanley Cup championship that has eluded him for the first ten years of his career in Buffalo.
“It doesn’t mean I want to leave,” a dejected Miller said Friday night. “But if that’s what you’re getting at, the gu (Roy) won two Stanley Cups after (trade from Montreal), so hey, why not?”
Just sayin.
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