|
Grading The Sabres In Detroit |
|
|
|
|
|
Welcome back to the NHL, Patrick Roy!
When the Avs hired the Hall Of Famer in June, he promised to do whatever it takes to restore the glory, honor, and pride to the Colorado Avalanche brand.
Boy, has he ever!
With the first pick in the NHL draft last June, Roy selected sniper, Nathan MacKinnon from the Memorial Cup champion Halifax Moosesheads. With that move, the Roy Era was off and running.
On Wednesday night, Anaheim Ducks D-man Ben Lovejoy appeared to have thrown a knee at the slippery and always dangerous MacKinnon. What it did is fire up Patrirck Roy to the point where his thermostat popped and his radiator over heated.
Here’s the hit in question:
And Roy’s epic reaction! Yes, that’s a Plexiglas wall that Roy nearly tore down with his bare hands! Corey Perry and Bruce Boudreau are lucky that Roy couldn’t successfully tear the wall down, otherwise he’d have fought them both. Crazy!
MacKinnon, the 18 year old wunderkind, didn’t look fazed by the drama in the postgame locker room:
After the game, Roy didn’t sugar-coat his feelings. Why would he? Why start now?
Thanks, Avalanche.nhl.com
Welcome back, Patrick. I’ve missed your passion level and your WWE-inspired temper tantrums!
Oh, by the way. The Avs won their season opener 6-1.
________________________________________________________________________
Bury your power play chances. Win the game. Go 0 for 5 with the one man advantage, your odds of winning will diminish considerably.
Go 0 for 2 with the two man advantage, you’ll lose the game.
That’s the trap that the Buffalo Sabres fell into on opening night in Detroit Rock City.
The Wings’ penalty killers flexed their muscles and blanked the Sabres on their seven man advantage opportunities. In the end, the Sabres PP unit could generate shots on Jimmy Howard because his killers kept the Sabres PP units off balance.
Two lightning fast goals, 36 seconds apart, were all the offense the Red Wings would need to get Buffalo feeling doubtful about their chanmce of winning, on the road at The Joe.
Grinder Mikael Samuelsson and future Hall Of Famer Pavel Datsyuk scored first-period goals, for which the Sabres had no answer until rookie Zemgus Girgensons potted his first NHL goal in his first NHL game at the 53 minute mark of the game. Nice to see Girgensons get rewarded for getting dirty in then trenches and on the walls. Samuelsson scored on a tip as Tyler Myers gave the Wing inside position to the net as he roared down the slot, and, Datsyuk on a patented backhand from the slot, as he was allowed to walk off the wall unabated by winger Drew Stafford.
In the end, special teams doomed Buffalo again, just like last season.
Their overall team D wilted as they allowed 32 shots on Miller. The Buffalo offense was ionly able to muster 20 shots on Jimmy Howard. The more you shoot, the more you score. Plain and simple.
All in all, I grade the Sabres’ opening night efforts as such:
Goaltending: Ryan Miller gets an A+. He was Buffalo’s best player in Detroit. He faced 34 shots. Far too many chances.
Forwards: Overall grade:B-
I like Vanek-Hodgson, however, I don’t like Drew Stafford on the tiop line. I know that he’s a substitute for the injured Marcus Foligno, but Stafford looked lost against Datsyuk and Zetterberg.
I liked Ott-Ennis-Leino together.
Except for their first shift of the game, I loved Girgensons-Grigorenko-Flynn together. Grigo was very confident. Girgo scored. Flynn hunted pucks.
I like McCormick-Kaleta together. I’d have rather seen Larsson play instead of Porter.
Defense: Overall grade: C.
Myers-Tallinder had a rough first 40 minutes. They left Vanek and Miller hanging on the Emmerton penalty shot. Back check, boys.
Ehrhoff-Pysyk were solid. Good puck movement.
Weber-Ristolainen were physical after the rookie settled in and got rid of his first period nerves.
Special Teams: Overall grade: D. Ohfer 7 ain't good enough.
Next up: Bobby Ryan, Jason Spezza and the Ottwa Senators on Friday night.
Join the Discussion:
»