It Ain't the Officials Fault
Rarely can one actually blame the officials for a loss in the NHL. I say rarely because I am sure that back in nineteen-tickity-two there was once an official from Montreal who tackled a Toronto player and prevented a goal in game eleven of the Stanley Cup, and there’s some bitter Leaf fan out there who can tell me all about it.
However.
There were two calls tonight that made it harder to win tonight’s game. The first came immediately after the Sabres scored to tie the game at one. A brutal non-call on a trip-interference-slew foot on Bernier led to the second Washington goal that shifted the momentum back to the Caps. The second was the non-call on what appeared to be a goal to this biased Buffalo fan late in the third period.
All of that is no excuse for the Sabres loss tonight. Five breakaways? Hell, we should be happy that Miller only gave up one goal, and that was to the best goal-scorer in hockey. And the third Caps goal? Pffft. It was a bad giveaway, but Miller should have had it.
The Sabres also had tons of chances tonight. How many whiffs or broken sticks can happen from point-blank range in one game? Well, rewind the DVR and count. At the end of the night, Washington took better advantage of their chances and buried them. The Sabres (and their fans) are left to make excuses.
I don’t think Lindy Ruff will allow them to make excuses. He rarely does. But I said previously that we needed four points in these back-to-back games to get back in the race.
I’m not feeling too well tonight.
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About the Authors
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Kevin
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Chris
I am a born and raised Buffalo fan since my birth in Niagara Falls in 1977. For reference, my first communion gift from my parents was a replica Sabres Home White Mike Ramsey jersey. I still have that jersey. After stints at Georgetown and the U.S. Army, I have settled in DC where my Sabres, Bills and Hoyas passion runs unabated (I have season tickets to all 3). I believe that while supporting my franchises is good, I believe supporting them with data and statistics is better. -
dave in Rocha
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Mark
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twoeightnine
I live in a van.
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Amen.
Well written and to the point. I’m not in bad shape tonight though. We played well, and we have a chance to get hot in the coming weeks. Win the games we should win and stay with those tough teams and I think we have a good shot.
aw c’mon it’s always more fun to blame others for our misgivings…. party pooper…
I’m missing watching the boys play, forgot to set the DVR through easter…
So can we all agree that Peters seems to be the deciding factor as of late? (haha).
On a second topic, can Toronto rule that the whistle should have been blown to stop play while reviewing a play, or do they only decide if the puck was in or not?
On the TSN feed, the consensus was it wasn’t a trip on Washington’s second goal, and that referee “was in the act of blowing the whistle” before it crossed the line, and therefore was not a goal.
Interference? Bernier was carrying the puck!
No, Bernier was muscled off the puck, plain and simple. AO didn’t kick out the man’s skate from beneath him. Defenseman make this play all the time except the players are usually along the boards. AO put his body and left forearm right into Bernier’s waist and leaned into him. If AO had used only his arm and not the body it may have been holding.
It was most unfortunate that Bernier’s stick put the puck back inside the blue line and bad luck that Kozlov was right there to get it.
The whistle clearly sounded as the puck was still touching the red line…. it was so close that I don’t think they could overturn it… but then again a game should never come down to what-ifs if you are supposed to win them.
I have a man-crush on AO…. I don’t care what h did to Briere way back when… he simply is one ferocious player.
That said I thought he mauled Bernier but again… it shouldn’t matter… good teams win those games…. or aren’t in the position where a loss effects them so much…
Something is still incredibly wrong with Stafford. He won’t get too physical with puck carriers or chase down a loose puck that he could lose.
One other thing… is something up with the Hong Kong Center Ice? I seem to see so many players completely losing an edge and so many pucks bouncing and spinning. I haven’t seen this much in other games… not even at the Way Out in the Everglades Arena.
Oh, and here is the missing letter from my previous post: e.
Buffalo rinks have the shittiest ice (soft and slow) I’ve ever played on. I can’t imagine HSBC would be any different.
Hahah, “in the act of blowing the whistle,” I forgot they were saying that on CSN last night. By the way, CSN isn’t that much better than Vs. and we all know that isn’t saying much. Took them forever to actually show the replay of that no goal. One of the best lines came from the announcers discussing the Monday night Bruins Caps game …”and the goalies were..porous??” And this was after the Vs. announcers used “perforated” and “vacuous” on Tuesday. The NHL must have distributed a vocabulary list this week.
I didnt watch the game, so I have no opinion. But as a buffalo sports fan, this is one story out of nowhere.
Steve Christie retired as a Bill yesterday.
http://buffalobills.com/blog/index.jsp?post_id=3089
Trip or not, how was that play not called offsides? The puck clearly went out, and the goal scoreer never touched up?
Either way, we clearly should have lost this game.
hey – I didn’t make the Forbes list of rich folks, AGAIN!
I am however staying at a Holiday Inn and I am a fan of hockey team that this year has turned bipolar of sorts.
Oh well – there’s beer in the minibar.
it could be worse!
Sabres beat Philly (extra man on the ice) Roy scores
Capitals beat Bflo – (OV hooks the new guy) – caps score
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da – life goes on
Kevin2:
On the Bernier turnover, it was Bernier’s stick that put the the puck back into the offensive zone. The MSG team showed the rule on that one.
Well, here is the rule:
“If a player legally carries or passes the puck back into his own defending zone while a player of the opposing team is in such defending zone, the off-side shall be ignored and play permitted to continue.”
Doesn’t matter if it hit his stick last, he must carry or pass it in, neither of which he did in my opinion. What I saw wah Bernier getting hit and the puck being turned over back into the zone.
Sorry for the thread jack, but please know I do not have wireless at home and often check the live threads the next day to remind myself of the particulars of the game.
My observation: When there are no women on the thread (like last night), all you men seem to get sidetracked into crazy conversations about digestion issues or female TV food personalities or other such ridiculous topics. This observation leads me to wonder if you censor such talk when we females are around, or is it just that the Sabres have been so bad lately that they cannot keep your attention? I like to think of you all as polite and well educated hockeyminded men (yippee) but I fear the Sabres’ lackluster play of late is to blame. Thoughts?
lulu, I like to think I’m good for an obligatory ‘vag,’ ‘pussy,’ or ‘bitch’ comment regardless.. Of course, the sabres’ subpar play
makes it all the more likely..
In the attempt to post only pure, unadulterated thoughts without fear of offending anyone’s sensibilities (and therefore remove any need to censor our comments), maybe we should all be forced to post under the name “Pat,” “Shannon,” or “Kelly.”
Did I say polite? I meant to say pussy loving labia lickers, my bad.
And Trevor, I too am good for a few Vagina outbursts each game. I named Vanek ‘the Vagina’ a few years back and once at a game when he scored my best friend (also a oldschool female hockey chick) and I both jumped up and yelled Vagina really loud. It was hilarious and we became instant friends with the guys in front of us, though also received a few eye-roll stares from those surrounding us afflicted with tight ass syndrome.
Lulu… speaking only for myself, my three favorite things in the world are, in no particular order, hockey, food, and women. Since I was COMPLETELY bored with the game last night, I combined #’s 2 and 3 and talked about them instead. Plus I was seeking an answer to the pervasive hatred of Rachel Ray on Bfloblog.
“Did I say polite? I meant to say pussy loving labia lickers, my bad.”
Lulu – you are my kinda girl!
BOOBS!
Threadjack
Eagles cut Spikes
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/Story.asp?STORY_ID=15199
Mac got sent down – Jochen’s back ….
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3280250
Ok. did no one else notice that the Caps where WAY ofsides on their second goal? The “trip” is a complete non issue. The puck clearly comes a good 2 feet outside of the blueline, and 2 Washington players, oncluding the goal scorer never even came close to clearing the zone. The buffalo “no goal” i can understand, it was a very close call if the wistle came first, esp. since there is no sound in slow motion. But the off sides is very clear, so why are we getting distracted by a no call on a penalty?
Sweet. Jochen will help a ton. Jochen and Timmay in, Clarke, Kaleta/Paille? out. Must be Tallinder is not going to be ready, or we could have sent Sekera down instead. Or maybe Lindy plans on playing Sakera over Paetch or Pratt.
28 – see 13,15,16
I love Rachel Ray…she called me ’sweetie’ at Logan airport (and she was in the Starbucks line). Plus my wife learned to cook from that bitch.
Cuz I spend 15 days a month in Boston and 15 days in Buffalo I can state 2 truths: I am a snob and Buffalo will always be a second rate city…that I love dearly. This latest small dick cock off between Tommy Boy, Larry Quinn, Bucky, Campbell, Paul Hamilton and the Sabre faithful confirms it.
I personally would rather finish dead last in a big dick contest than second place in a small dick contest…too bad Sabre management thinks the opposite.
Live from Logan…
I’m sure my wife Val will be happy and surprised to know that no women were on last night’s live thread, Lulu.
I don’t see how you can complain about the officiating after what happened with Roy the other night….
The officiating has been terrible all season. I see a lot of young inexperienced referees. Look, can anyone- ANYONE tell me why diving isn’t being called? I haven’t seen one. Is the rule off the books?
As a Ranger fan, i saw Avery get 2 in the past week alone, but I agree, its rarely called. Its just such a tough call to make!
I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Tallinder’s out the rest of the season. And Hecht’s return is huge – his absence is the primary reason our puck possession has largely been shit that past two weeks.
If you want to know how good he is, just think back to last year to the game when even Briere was out with the flu in addition to Drippy, Maxie Pad, Kotex, and about two other forwards. It was basically him and an Amerks supporting cast, and he put them all on his back and they actually won.
I think Ruff is stupid to bail on MacArthur so soon – he might as well get another 15 games in him with the big club in anticipation of next year. Ryan and Peters are going to be free agents next year, and God help us if they re-sign either.
That said, the one smart thing Cindy’s done lately is stick with Kaleta. He ought to be credited with a goal every time we score on a PP from a penalty he’s drawn.
Trevor – that’s right on the ball, over the past couple of seasons when Hecht has been ill or hurt this team has tanked.
Even when the balance of the team was generally healthy, his absence was very noticeable in their play.
If these guys (sabre management) had some gonads, Jochen would be the full time captain of this team instead of cheapening that leadership role by circulating the “C”
I love the Jochen, Pomminville, Connolly line.
Put Max with Roy and Vanek.
INVISI-bear, with Goose and Kotalik.
The rest of the crew is on audition each night for a spot on the 4th line.
Stafford, Mair, and The Kaleta! (sorry for slacking earlier) would get me fired up.
I don’t see how you can complain about the officiating after what happened with Roy the other night….
You mean the other night when Roy’s goal was worth 3 points? And no one caught the blown call until after the game? And the goal was scored a couple minutes after a blown call on another dirty hit by a Flyer?
Trevor. Methinks Calrke going down was just a matter of numbers. We would either need to add some one to injured reserve(Tallinder), waive someone (Peters), or send someone else down (Kaleta). Personally, I would rather have seen Kaleta go down, but I know I am in the minority on that one. This also leads to the conclusion that Hank is not going to be out for long, since they chose not to IR him.
“INVISI-bear, with Goose and Kotalik.
The rest of the crew is on audition each night for a spot on the 4th line.”
As a -8 forward with 2 goals in his last 42 games, I’m not sure why Guastad shouldn’t be auditioning as well.
Right on, K2 – guess I just would have rather seen them waive Peters. I know that’s wishful thinking.
At the same time, we know CMac’s got a spot with the club, so I suppose it’s good to know The Kaleta’s earned a spot – he about the only bright one on this team nowadays anyway.
Mark M – because if everyone got demoted for random stretches of shittiness, every single person on the team would be going to Roch for a week (in a world with no waiver rules, of course).
Everyone auditions for his spot every game in reality, but if there’s one guy on this team who can be counted on game in and game out, it’s Goose – numbers be damned.
Trevor,
I like Guastad, but I have to wonder if the love affair with him is unjust. This may be a case of perception vs. reality. He’s down in scoring – 2 goals in the last 42 as I said; he’s not as consistent in the faceoff circle (when he’s not getting kicked out) and has had two games in the last 6 where he posted a 23% FO% (Nash) and a 30% FO% (Wash); he holds the second worst +/- on the team at minus-8.
I’ll say again, I like Gaustad. But on a team that is searching for its identity and trying to find solutions to their problems, he’s certainly not beyond criticism. He’s one guy that can look in the mirror and ask himself how he can be better, because, obviously, he should be better.
I don’t disagree – I’m just saying his hustle is something we need more of. With that type of intrinsic work ethic, the self-motivation is sure to improve the hard stats eventually.
8-23 over the last three years without Jochen in the line-up or so I hear. So yeah, he definitely make a difference.
(That was as of a couple of games ago so you can add a couple more losses on that total now.)
But how many of those games were without Campbell, Heather? Huh, huh?
@289, you are so not funny, sir!
I seem to recall that a chief complaint among men (generically speaking) about watching a game with women in the room was that females tend to talk about things other than the game.
So, when women AREN’T around the GUYS talk about other stuff?
Who knew?
Not quite Becky. Boobs, booze and food are an integral part of all sports.