It will come as no surprise to to this observer if Ryan Miller is traded away from Buffalo between now and the end of the month.
Miller appears to have reached his emotional tipping point with the tom foolery and high jinx that have become characteristic flaws of his Buffalo Sabres team. How much longer can Miller keep his composure after embarrassing losses?
Anaheim's demolition crew of Penner-Getzlaf-Perry took the wrecking ball to Miller and the Sabres on Friday night. It wasn't even a contest. Getzlaf scored his first NHL hat trick and added and assist, while Penner had a goal and three assists. Perry had two assists. The super trio scored ten points and was a combined +9 against the hapless Sabres. Ron Rolston tried to neutralize the Penner-Getzlaf-Perry with Marcus Foligno, Steve Ott and Corey Tropp. Bad idea. Ott was on the ice for Anaheim’s first four goals, while Tyler Myers and Henrik Tallinder were on the ice for for three of the first four Anaheim goals.
Miller's done a great job, in my opinion, of keeping his brave face on and staying positive after all of the losses this season. On Friday night, it looked and sounded to like Miller of fed up with all of the excuses for his team's poor starts to games and the insistence of the skill players to toe-drag opponents, rather than outwork them, line the Ducks did to them on Friday night.
"It was a disaster to be a part of", Miller said of the Buffalo performance, or the lack thereof in Anaheim.
Thanks, sabres.com
Miller's right. He has been a part of many disasters in his NHL career in Buffalo, none more than in the first 5 weeks of this season. The guy should get combat pay for constantly being under siege by sniper fire.
In 40 minutes of work in his back yard in Anaheim, Miller made 28 saves of 34 shots that he faced. The Ducks inflicted the heavy damage early going 2 for 4 on the PP. Miller would head to the showers early with a .824 save percentage for the night.
Rolston showed his team of under achievers who's the boss when he parked Matt Moulson, Cody Hodgson, and Tyler Ennis for the final 26:11 of the game. Rolston didn't pay the 26-19-63 line at all in the third period. The coach said afterwards that the trio wasn't fully engaged in the process of competing.
“We gotta work and we didn’t feel that the work was there,…
An even bigger disappointment was that Ron Rolston and his coaches had a full week to prepare for the Dicks after they dropped a six-pack on Jhonas Enroth and the Sabres in Buffalo last Saturday night. On Friday night, the Sabres looked timid and insure of themselves against the bigger, stronger, hungrier Ducks.
Not too long ago, the Buffalo penalty kill and solid goal tending would keep the Sabres in games when the pump action rifle offense wasn't scoring. Now, the Buffalo penalty kill units can be singled out as one of the key reasons the Sabres are losing games. The Sabres allowed 2 PPGs in LA on Thursday night and lost 2-0. The Ducks scored 2 PPGs in the first period on Friday night and that proved to be the kill shots applied to the Sabres.
There's going to be a lot of soul searching in the next few days. The Sabres, as presently constructed, are not a competitive hockey team on a game-in, game-out basis. The evidence is this California roadie, where the Sabres played like world beaters in the shootout win in San Jose. Then followed that game up with a loss in LA, only to be blitzed out of the rink in Anaheim. The Sabres scored 6 regulation or OT goals in 3 games in Cali. Their opponents scored 12. Miller and Enroth can only do so much to help give their teammates a chance to win games.
I think its time for Darcy Regier to have a serious heart to heart with Ryan Miller about the direction that the 3-15-1 Sabres are now heading in. Miller isn't a part of the problem. He's a part of the solution.I feel like its time to maximize the return by trading their #1 organizational asset. Parlay Miller into useful pieces like goal scorers who can help now, not three years for now, like Claude Giroux from the Flyers, Ryan Strome from the Islanders, or Ty Rattie from St. Louis. _______________________________________________________________________
While his Sabres teammates were getting pasted in Anaheim, Patrick Kaleta was making a great impression in his return to Rochester. Several Binghampton players took runs at the veteran agitator, but Kaleta played through it. His teammate Freddy Roy fought Senator Corey Cowick for taking a cheap shot on Kaleta by hitting him from behind. Surprisingly, there was no penalty called on the obvious rule violation. AHL refs prejudiced against Kaleta, too?
PK skated 18:55 in his season debut for the Amerks.
Amerks head coach Chadd Cassidy played Kaleta on a line with former Sabres linemate Matt Ellis and rookie center Tim Schaller. Kaleta also killed penalties with Phil Varone.
Casssidy liked what he saw of kaleta after one game in "The A".
"He has to get used to playing more minutes and playing with the puck," Cassidy told The D and C
Kaleta also crushed Bingo rookie D-man SDao with a clean, hard check. The youngster had no idea what hit him.
#Amerks Pat Kaleta on #BSens chirping: "If they get a high from chirping me, then I have the advantage because I'm already in their heads."
— Kevin Oklobzija (@kevinoDandC) November 9, 2013
The same two teams will play tonight in Bingo.
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