The Perils of Losing the Winter/Heritage Classic

There have been two outdoor games in the history of the NHL.  The first was in 2003 featuring the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens.  The second, obviously, was last year’s Winter Classic.  What happens to teams that lose the outdoor game. 

The Edmonton Oilers lost the Heritage Classic on home ice 4-3 to the Canadiens.  They then turned around and lost their next four games of the season and missed the playoffs that season.  They finished 9th in the conference with a total of 89 points.  The Montreal Canadiens on the other hand won three of their next four and made the playoffs in 7th place with 93 points.

The Buffalo Sabres lost the Winter Classic on home ice in a shootout.  They then lost their next six games on their way to a total of a 10 game losing streak.  As we all know, they missed the playoffs finishing 10th in the conference with 90 points.  The Pittsburgh Penguins won four straight and won the Atlantic Division on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals.

I think there are two major notes about the outdoor game.  The home team has a major weight on their shoulder that they have to win the game and then they ultimately succumb to the pressure and lose.  The second is that a team can gain a lot of confidence and momentum after winning the outdoor game.  Playing on the national stage and winning gives a team enough confidence and they then parlay that into a playoff experience. 

So what does this mean for this year’s Winter Classic.  The Red Wings should beat the Blackhawks because they are a veteran team and they should be able to handle the exposure and pressure of playing on the big stage.  If history rings true as well, it would mean that the Red Wings should make the playoffs while the Blackhawks will miss it again. 

Gaustad Close to Being Ready

The Buffalo News is reporting that Paul Gaustad could possibly play tommorrow.  Gaustad has missed the past five games and was centering a line with Ales Kotalik and Adam Mair today in practice.

While Gaustad doesn’t bring a lot to the scoresheet, he does bring the toughness this teams doesn’t show.  With Mair and Gaustad, they bring a good grinding fourth line that does its job. Gaustad can be a defensive liabilty at times and doesn’t score all that often, but can put up the dukes when needed. 

Can the Sabres Pick up the Pace

Two games after the holiday break, the Sabres sit in eighth place in the conference tied with the Carolina Hurricanes and three points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Here is the Sabres schedule in the next month:

December 29th – vs. Washington

January 1st – at Toronto

January 3rd – at Boston

January 6th – vs. Ottawa

January 9th – vs. Rangers

January 10th – at Detroit

January 14th – at Chicago

January 15th – at Dallas

January 17th – vs. Carolina

January 19th – at Florida

January 21st – at Tampa Bay

January 27th – at Edmonton

January 28th – at Calgary

January 31st – at Phoenix

In the month of January, the Sabres play 10 of 14 on the road.  The first thing that stands out is the long road trip at the end of January.  The Sabres have not fared so well on the road this season, with an underwhelming record of 7-6-3.  They have two road trips,  the first being a three game road trip to the Midwest to play Detroit, Chicago, and Dallas.  The second comes at the end of the month with a Florida road trip followed by a West Coast swing.  The Sabres have allowed 43 goals and scored 46 away from home.  While that is not great, it is better than the 54 scored/59 allowed split they have at home.  This road trip could give the Sabres a chance to get away from the hype and expectations at home.  It could also give them a chance to get back to basics that they really need to do if they are going to stay in the playoff hunt. 

Using the Pythagorean expectation formula, the Sabres’ opponents winning percentage is barely over .500.  Therefore, the Sabres are expected to win about half of the games in the month of January.  This should get them a record of 7-5-2, due to the fact that about 14% of the games the Sabres have played this season have been overtime losses.  7-5-2 is a total of 16 points.  The Sabres only play the top three seeds of the conference and none of the rest of the top eight this month.  Therefore, making ground on the teams above them in the January could be difficult.   However, they play the 9-13 seeds though.  This means they need to win just to be able to separate themselves from the rest of the pack on the bottom. 

The Sabres lost their chance to make the playoffs last season in the month of January.  They lost their first seven games in the month, completing what was a 10 game losing streak.  They never were able to recover from the losing and eventually became the ninth seed in the conference.  This year the Sabres need to gain some momentum on the road and build a string of wins to make up some ground. 

Paul Gait Named Knighthawk Coach

Now there are two.  Paul Gait was named the Knighthawks coach today after coach Paul Suggate resigned from the team on Wednesday. 

This could actually work for the Knighthawks because of the relationship of the Gait brothers.  Gary Gait was a coach for the Colorado Mammoth when they won the title against the Bandits in 2006.  Now Paul Gait has the chance to match his brother in Championship coaching wins, while coaching his brother. 

For the this season of the Knighthawks, it probably will still be ugly.  A new coach coming trying to adapt a to a system or implement his own two weeks before the season starts can cause issues.  With a rough start in a tough Eastern Conference, a slow start could kill their playoff chances for the second year in a row. 

Merry Christmas Everyone

I figured while I was working today, I would check in and say Merry Christmas.  And wonder why are you reading this post to begin with. 

Knighthawks Coach Resigns Two Weeks Before Season Starts

Knighthawks coach, Paul Suggate, has resigned from the head coaching position.  This is two weeks before the Knighthawks start the season. 

In losing their two top scorers and their head coach just before the season starts, the Knighthawks are heading into a tailspin and fast.  It will be interesting to see how the Knighthawks react to start the season.  With all the change and a new coach only having two weeks to install a game plan and for the players to learn it, it could be very very ugly.  The schedule for the Knighthawks is not going to be very forgiving either:  Home vs. Philly, Away at Buffalo, Away at San Jose.  This team could very quickly go down 0-3 in a very competitive Eastern Conference.   It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

The Glory of the Schedule

Heading into tonight’s game against the Penguins got me thinking about something.  Is there a real reason as to why the schedulers lump certain sets of teams together?  The Sabres have played the Penguins four times in the last seven weeks.  They have also played the Devils three times in the last seven weeks. This will be the last game of season against the Penguins and we won’t play the Devils again until April 4th.

On the flip side, the Sabres haven’t the Hurricanes at all this season.  They played Toronto once, the Rangers once, the Capitals once, and Philly once.  It really makes no sense to not be able to spread out the games and for us to wait and see certain teams.  Also, it really is not fair for teams like ourselves to have a certain advantage that we could have over other teams with situations like the Devils.  The Sabres have played three games against the Devils at the advantage of not having to play against Brodeur.  This won’t be the case with other teams in the Eastern Conference. 

Game time to finish the series against the Pens is 7pm at the Bank.  Game is on Versus tonight.

Sabres/Canadiens Preview

The Sabres travel to Montreal tonight winners of five of their last seven.  The Sabres beat the Kings last night 5-0 behind the strong play of Ryan Miller and the weak play of the Kings goaltenders.  The Canadiens beat the Flyers on Thursday night and have that critical extra day of rest.

For the Sabres, it would not surprise me to see Patrick Lalime in net tonight.  With the back to back games this weekend and the Penguins coming back to town on Monday, this would not be a bad option.  For the Canadiens, it will be Jaroslav Halek in net.  Carey Price has been battling a lower body injury that has been kept him out of the last six games.  The Canadiens are battling injuries as well also missing Andrej Kostitsyn who was injured in the Flyers game.  For the Sabres, would not be surprised to see Kaleta out for this game due to the concussion that he suffered on the sucker punch last night.

The Sabres seem to up their game for a tougher opponent and nothing is going to be tougher than the Montreal Canadiens tonight.  I would not be surprised though to see this team lay an egg tonight.  Game time is 7 pm at the Bell Center. 

Beating the Kings didn’t Show How Good the Sabres Were…

but really how bad the Kings are.  The Sabres pulled out a 5-0 victory against the Kings on Friday night.  This puts them at 3-0 in the third jerseys this season.  Screw the schedule they are on and just make them the home jersey this season.  Jason LaBarbera allowed 4 goals on 15 shots before he was pulled for Jonathan Quick. 

The Sabres had a total of 23 shots on goal and put 5 of those in the net while Ryan Miller was pretty dang good stopping all 40 shots he faced from the Kings on route to his third shutout of the season. 

One major concern coming from this game is the status of Patrick Kaleta.  After taking a questionable run at a Kings player, Kings defenseman Denis Gauthier took a cheap shot and punched an unaware Kaleta in the face.  Kaleta left the game with a concussion and the punch will most likely be reviewed by the league.  A Sabres fan had to see this coming though.  Kaleta has a banging style of play which at times is on the edge of being dirty.  In this play, Kaleta appears to leave his feet when he missed his check and apparently Gauthier took offense to that.  Kaleta was turned to watch the play and that is when Gauthier took the punch.  It is very reminiscent of the incident that occurred in Nashville two years ago with Scott Nichol and Jaroslav Spacek. 

Sabres take on the Canadiens tonight in Montreal.  

Game 31: Sabres/Devils Preview

The Sabres are coming off a hard fought win against the Devils in New Jersey on Saturday in which they played for a full 6o minutes and was able to put home the win 4-2.

The Devils are coming off a bad shootout loss to Jason Blake and the Maple Leafs last night in Toronto. Scott Clemmensen was in net for the Devils facing 27 shots and stopping 25. Clemmensen should be in net for the Devils again tonight. This really makes sense for the Devils because of the fact that the Sabres have beaten Weekes already twice this season. Weekes career line against Buffalo is 1-8 with a 4.07 GAA and .872 SV%.

For the Sabres, Patrick Kaleta will return tonight from his neck injury. He is going to replace Nathan Gerbe who suffered an UPI against the Devils on Saturday. Along with Gerbe, Rivet will be out of this game with his shoulder injury. He will be evaluated on a two-week basis to make sure it heals properly and that he will be ready for game action. Rivet is a gamer, he played with the shoulder injury for the past three games before shutting it down. Considering how weak the blue line has been the past few games, Sekera in most part, a healthy Rivet will be needed.

Game time is 7pm at the Bank.

Can the Devils recover from the Spin-a-rama?

The Devils head into Buffalo tonight after losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night in a shootout.  To make matters worse, they lost to a spin-a-rama by Jason Blake.  Watch the mastery:

Jersey Bill Of Rights

No this is not something that has to do with New Jersey, though ironically they are the next opponent. This has to do with the Pittsburgh Post Gazettes Hockey Jersey Bill of Rights.

This is probably the perfect list that I won't actually list here because a lot of the headings won't make sense unless you actually read the article. But this list does need to exist because a lot of these things that happen are absolutely ridiculous. It really makes no sense to wear a jersey to a game of a team that isn't actually playing in the game. Plus it serves as a what not to do for the rookie jersey shopper.

Hat tip to Puck Daddy for the link.

Sabres Practice Update

John Vogl of the News has updated us on the status of the Sabres' practice today. He finished off with this little nugget:

Defenseman Teppo Numminen skipped today's practice for a routine checkup on his heart, which had a valve replaced last year.

Nothing makes me laugh more than routine checkup on the heart. Can we please give this guy a break at some point of the season? Or just run him into the ground, either way.

The Knighthawks lose Scott Evans for Season

Not only have the Knighthawks lost John Grant Jr. for the season but they announced yesterday that they have also lost Scott Evans for the season as well. Evans will be out for the season with an ACL injury.

This hurts the Knighthawks in the way that their first and second ranked goal scorers are going to be on the bench for the 2009 season. Of the 197 goals that the Knighthawks scored, 91 were scored by Grant and Evans. That accounts for 46% of the total goals scored. With the signing of Gait, it may help in the scoring department, but after being out of the league and not playing full time for the past three years how much production can you get out Gait.

In what is going to be a competitive Eastern Conference, the Knighthawks just might miss the playoffs again.

News Reporting Rivet Out for At Least Two Weeks

Mike Harrington at the Buffalo News is reporting that Craig Rivet will be out for at least two weeks with an injured shoulder that he injured during the Montreal game on the 29th.

Paestch should be able to fill in for a while but don't be surprised to see Weber called up from Portland because at some point Numminen will need a break. He has played in every game so far this season and at the age of 43 he deserves a game off every once in a while.

Have the Sabres Learned From Last Year's Mistakes

At roughly this time last year, the Sabres had just come off a home and home sweep against the hated Flyers. They were rooted in fifth place in the Conference and the whole area was riding high with the Winter Classic coming to town. The Sabres were 19-14-1 at this point in the season last year. The wheels came off the bus after that. The Sabres went on a 10 game winless streak and could never recover to make the playoffs.

This year the Sabres are 15-12-3 and holding the eighth place in the conference. They don't have the distraction of the Winter Classic that sent them into the tailspin last year, hear that Chicago? But have they learned from their mistakes last year to overcome what happened and not send themselves into a tailspin. This team is another year older than they were last year and have much better leadership than they did last year. That is not a knock on Spacek, but a stable captain in Rivet has made this team much better. This team needs to focus heading into the second half of the season and be able to overcome the issues that plagued them last year. January and February are going to be more difficult because the level of opponent will be greater.

If this team can learn from its mistakes they should be able to make the playoffs. They at least have the talent to do that.

Sabres Take the Back End for the First Time This Season

The Sabres win the second game of a back to back series for the first time last night, beating the Devils 4-2. It was the battle of the backups with Lalime in net for the Sabres and Kevin Weekes in net for the Devils. Thomas Vanek was the player of the game again, as he has been all season for the Sabres, scoring his 23rd and 24th on the season.

Lalime played a much better game than he had during his last five game streak. This might have been a saving grace for him because he may have found the bench at some point had he continued to play this badly. Andrej Sekera is one player on the other hand who should find some time on the bench just because he has been playing so bad as of late. He is a -10 on the season and has been making his fair share of mistakes on the season. The only saving grace for him is that the injuries on the blue line to Rivet who will probably miss a few weeks is keeping him the lineup. Mike Weber is a good hockey player but I don't see them calling him up to let Sekera sit in the penalty box.

Drew Stafford also redeemed himself by hitting the wide open net he missed on Friday night. Stafford has been a streaky player this season, missing at least three wide open nets but making some spectacular plays to find the back of the net. After having a terrible sophomore season, Stafford is starting to show that he is a marginal player at best. Come the trade deadline, if he could be packaged to get value out of Max, I wouldn't be so heartbroken to see him go.

Sabres play again against the Devils on Wednesday night here in Buffalo. This will be the third game against the Devils in a month and a half. They won't meet again until April 4th.

The Shamrox "Suspend" Operations for 2009 Season and Resulting

The Chicago Shamrox announced Friday that they have "suspended" operations for the 2009 season. This means that the NLL will again have 12 teams this season, 6 in the East and 6 in the West. The players for the Shamrox have been dispersed with goaltender Anthony Cosmo being taken first overall to the Boston Blazers. I'll have more later on the Bandits selections.

With the dispersal draft, the players that were drafted are permanent. This has occured due to the fact that the Shamrox have not said that they will be coming back next season like the Sting had alluded to last year. Therefore, we may have 12 teams again next season.

The Shamrox have been looking for a new buyer for this team because current ownership had stated that it was just too hard for them to run the team from afar. Unless this team actually plays at the United Center as opposed to the Sears Center, any team that is in Chicago is not going to work. Unlike the Titans in NY, who are having arena issues with MSG, the Shamrox need a more central location rather than the outskirt arena that the Sears Center provides.

Sabres Can't Capitalize Against Leafs

They can't be the Laffs if they actually win the game.

The Sabres played a good first period and a half and then let the game slip away from them at the end of the game. Ian White's game winner in the third period set off what was another disappointing effort by the Sabres. There were too many chances that the Sabres passed up including a wide open net that Stafford missed to give the game away.

Toni Lydman scored the Sabres only goal of the game in the first period. Hometown boy Lee Stempniak played his first game in Buffalo as a Maple Leaf. He had an assist and was a plus 2 in the game. Next game for the Sabres is tonight against the Devils. The last game against the Devils was a hard fought 2-0 win. Times have changed though with the Devils playing much better and the Sabres struggling. The Devils beat the Rangers last night 8-5 at MSG.

Tavares Signs New Three Year

The Bandits announced yesterday that Tavares has signed a new three year deal. This will take Tavares through the year 2011. He will be 43 when the contract finishes.

Tavares has been a staple for the Bandits since starting with the team in 1992. He is the all time leading scorer for the NLL and still has the scoring touch with 87 points on the season. That led the Bandits.

Honestly, it just wont be the same when Tavares finally puts the stick away. Since he will most likely end his career as a Bandit, he will probably continue with the organization in some fashion after lacrosse.

Sabres Win Third Straight Against Lightning

After what was a dismal November, the Sabres had to come out and feast on what was going to be an easy December. They are doing just that. The Sabres came back from two down in the first to beat the Lightning 4-2. Thomas Vanek was the star of the show again with two goals, one on the power play. Drew Stafford started the scoring on the power play late in the first period and Pominville put in the empty netter to seal the game.

The Sabres have shown something in the last few games that they haven't shown before. Spunk. They have an energy that has been missing in their slump. When the Sabres play with that energy, they can outmatch anyone on the ice. That was shown last night. The Sabres play again Friday night against the Leafs. It will be the first matchup against the Leafs this season.

NHL Is Considering Singing at This Year's Winter Classics

Puck Daddy yesterday had a good interview with Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of Marketing for the NHL. In this part of the interview, they brought up the good point of honoring Wrigley with the singing tradition. As most of you probably know, during the seventh inning stretch at Wrigley, they sing Take Me Out To the Ballgame. The NHL sounds like they are going to replicate this tradition with some sort of song during some period.

The easiest way to do this would to start the singing at the end of the second period. It is roughly the two-thirds portion of the game which is about the seventh inning baseball game. The main question is what to sing. You can't sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, it would make no sense. You could sing The Hockey Song but that seems a little hokey. So I leave this question to you guys, what would you sing at Wrigley for the Winter Classic? Comments are always cool and if we get enough suggestions, I'll put them up to poll later this week.

NLL Franchise News

The NLL is an ever changing league with many small franchises either ready to collapse or to start up. We find this is always the case and apparent today.

The Chicago Shamrox have stated a deadline of Wednesday to find a buyer of the team or the team will fold. If the team folds, the schedule will obviously have to be revised and the players will be dispersed in a disperal draft. The dispersal draft could happen as soon as Friday with the order of the draft being the same as the order for the Sting dispersal draft. Goaltender Anthony Cosmo could most likely be the first pick.

In good news, the former Vancouver Ravens looks like it may resurrect after court issues are cleared up. As soon as court issues are cleared up, new owners could bring back the franchise with a start date as soon as the 2010 season.

Are the Sabres for Sale?

WGR is reporting today that the Sabres are possibly for sale and that there are a couple of interested parties but no names were released.

Does this concern me, sort of. I would like to see the Sabres stay in Buffalo just as I would like to see the Bills stay here as well. They were one of the main reasons why I stayed in the area. I won't hit the panic button until names are confirmed yet.

Hat tip to Shots off the Crossbar for the article.

EDIT: Just as I posted this, another article just popped up with Quinn's response:

"We are not in negotiations to sell the team and as we have stated in the past, we will never entertain discussions to move the team out of Buffalo, NY."

Can I take him for his word, most likely. I don't see any reason why the Sabres would move out of Buffalo.

Lack of Inspiration

This isn't necessarily a post about the Sabres but more of a post about me. For the last week, the way the Sabres have played haven't really gotten the creative juices flowing. The Sabres put together to rather uninspiring games against the Predators and the Panthers. But last night, the spark of Gerbe at least found something as they beat the Lightning 4-3.

By no means is Gerbe the answer for the problems that the Sabres are facing. Those are numerous. But it is inspiring to see a player that really has nothing to lose by playing terribly because it is his NHL debut, playing like his hair is on fire. Gerbe added a much needed kick in the pants that the Sabres showed against the Lightning. So much so that Hecht actually fought Lecavalier. Players played out of their element and played a much better game.

Hopefully the spark continues on tomorrow against the Penguins.

Sabres Call Up Gerbe for NHL Debut

In what is going to probably be another terrible game played by a terrible team, there is a bright spot. Nathan Gerbe will make his NHL debut in Tampa tonight. I'm very sorry that we may waste talent like Gerbe on a team like this.

Enjoy another loss to a crappy team. Can you tell I'm a little bitter.

Canes at 12-11-2, fire Laviolette

The Carolina Hurricanes have scheduled a press conference at 11:30 am today to presumably announce that they are firing head coach Peter Laviolette. Laviolette, the winningest American born coach, will be replaced by former Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice.

Today is just a day of stupidity. The Avery situation first and now this. The Hurricanes have been looking for a reason to fire Laviolette for the last couple of years. This five game losing streak was reason enough. Laviolette should be picked up by a team soon seeing as he really is a good coach. Laviolette led the Hurricanes to the 2006 Stanley Cup, which is a sore subject around here.

Sean Avery Suspended Indefinitely for his Sloppy Seconds

Sean Avery was quickly suspended before the Calgary game last night because of a comment he made during the morning skate. Here it is:



Its a good way to stir up more emotions from the Flames because it was obviously directed at Dion Phaneuf. The league stepped in though and suspended Avery indefinitely for "content detrimental to the league." Good god boys, I think the man can backup his own comments and handle his own. Granted the league didnt want another Steve Moore situation to happen but I think that was a once in a lifetime incident. The referees could have policed the game and the situation could have been handled better than what it was. The only thing that this situation does is make the league look more like a second rate league. It gives the league a black eye and makes Avery look like a martyr.

Another Preseason, Another Bandit Player Out for Season

NLL Insider announced today that forward Brett Bucktooth is going to be out for the season after suffering a complete tear in the rotator cuff during summer ball. This is the second preseason that we have found that a player will be out for the season before he even starts to play. Last year it was Sean Greenhalgh that tore his ACL during training camp and was out for the season.

It will be interesting to see how Greenhalgh will fit into this squad after not playing with them all of last season. It wil be interesting to see how much Bucktooth will be missed this season as well. Bucktooth did not have a spectacular season last season, he only played in four regular season games. But he did a pretty good playoffs with 5 goals in three games.

Here is the article from NLL Insider.

Sabres Lose An Ugly Game

This game was far from entertaining and so much so that I quit watching it at the second period mark. So I missed all the goals in the game during the third period. From what I saw though, the Sabres were just skating to hit their spots and not so much trying to do much. They really had no energy and just tried not to lose the game. Which always loses games. Not much else to say on this one.

2009 Winter Classic Commercial

The NHL has released the 2009 Winter Classic commercial and it isn't half bad. It debuted last night on Football Night in America and should be running from now until Jan. 1st. The CBC will use the same commercial and it will start on December 15th.



Being a huge Harry Carey fan, I really like the look of the spot and the classic feel it has. The NHL may have something here.

Sabres/Predators Game Preview

The Sabres are finishing up a rough little stretch with four games in six days with tonight's game against the Nashville Predators. The Sabres need to finish off this stretch with a win against a fairly similar Nashville Predator team. Both teams are hovering around .500 at this point in the season and both are looking to start December off strong. The Sabres have won two of their last three but lost against the Canadiens on Saturday. The Predators have won 4 of their last 5, but lost to the Wild 6-2 on Saturday.

The Sabres have a fairly light and easy schedule coming up this month. Right now the Sabres expected winnining percentage is .470 which is close to their .478 they have right now. The month of December is going to be the easiest month for the Sabres. This means to make up any ground, they need to start putting together a streak.

Here are the stats for the game:

Buffalo

Stat Leaders
Goals - Vanek (18)
Assists - Roy, Spacek (11)
Points - Vanek (23)
Plus/Minus - Lydman (+3)
Penalty Minutes - Peters (64)
Shots - Vanek (94)

Special Teams
Power Play - 19.1% (13th in League)
Penalty Kill - 86.9% (3rd in League)

Goaltending
Miller: 10-5-2, 2.56 GAA, .910 SV%
Lalime: 1-4-1, 3.27 GAA, .885 SV%

Nashville

Stat Leaders
Goals - Arnott (12)
Assists - Dumont (18)
Points - Weber, Dumont (22)
Plus/Minus - Weber (+11)
Penalty Minutes - Tootoo (52)
Shots - Weber (82)

Special Teams
Power Play - 14.0% (25th in League)
Penalty Kill - 79.8% (24th in League)

Goaltending
Ellis: 8-10-2, 3.06 GAA, .893 SV%
Renna: 3-0-0, 3.53 GAA, .866 SV%

One other thing to remember this series by:



Last minute note, Kaleta and Afinogenov are going to be out while Peters and Kotalik will take their places.