Penguins 5 Sabres 4: Sidney Crosby Tricks Sabres to Giveaway Victory
by David Oleksy on Feb 1, 2010 10:29 PM EST
in Game Recaps
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PrintThere is so much to say about the game tonight, I don't know where I should start. I could start with the Penguins fast start, the Sabres coming back and taking control of the game, The Penguins coming back to win the game, the poor play of Ryan Miller or the HEROICS of Sidney Crosby. Let's start right in the beginning.
How many times do the Sabres have to be burned before they realize they can't take so many chances?
There is no doubt in my mind this team will never learn when they should pinch and when they shouldn't. The first Penguins goal was scored in the first minute of the game and it came on a 2-on-1. I would love to give credit to Penguins for earning that 2-on-1 opportunity but it was direct result of an awful play in the offensive zone by craig Rivet. Rivet pinched in despite three forwards already being pinned in deep, when he couldn't retrieve the puck it was quickly turned into an odd man rush and the result was a quick 1-0 lead for the Penguins.
The Sabres deserve some credit for taking advantage of an early power play and gaining some momentum that led to a 2-1 lead. They added to that lead on a pretty tic-tac-toe play from MacArthur, Grier and Kennedy with Kennedy burying the goal.
That is when the wheels came off for the Sabres and Ryan Miller. Chris Butler took a hooking penalty near the midway point of the game and the Penguins followed the Sabres power play blue print and scored one of their own with the man advantage. It was a pretty passing play that resulted in the first goal of the night for Crosby.
With the Sabres ahead 3-2, Miller had five minutes of play that he would like to forget. Jordan Staal scored and Crosby added two more, including a goal that was basically handed to him by Miller. Miller tried to clear the puck but put it right on the stick of Crosby and Crosby won't miss an open net. Miller dove back and got his glove on it but it ricocheted towards the net and over the goal line.
The third period was a struggle for the Sabres who didn't get any offense going until they scored a power play goal to cut the score to 5-4 in the final three minutes of the game. They had another power play opportunity and pulled Miller for a 6-on-4 but Fluery made a couple of nice saves for the victory.
Corsi Ratings | Event Summary | PensBurgh
Final Thoughts
- I love how Crosby gets all the hype when one of his goals should have been stopped by Miller and the other was a wide open net after Miller gave the puck away. There is no doubt that he is an incredible player, we don't need to give him more credit than he deserves.
- I know most of you could care less about the giveaway stats but I thought it was interesting the Sabres had well over 20 in a 2-1 win over the Bruins last week and they had only 2 (Miller credited with 0) in the 5-4 loss tonight. I'm sure those stats are accurate {sarcasm}
- Steve Montador and Toni Lydman were both a minus-2 but I don't think they were the Sabres worst blueliners tonight. Rivet and Butler looked awful IMO despite finishing even.
- Should we start using our Tim Connolly jokes for Patrick Kaleta? He is taking over the reigns as the player who can't stay healthy.
- I was pleased with the play of the top two offensive lines for the Sabres tonight. They were dominant at times. If I had to single out players I would say that Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek and Jochen Hecht all had strong games tonight.
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| jkatt | 1 |
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Comments
From a Pens Fan.
I want to start off saying that Tyler Meyers looks a lot more comfortable on the ice than some of our young defense men, who have been in the NHL for at least two seasons. He’s something special,so enjoy him.
Us Pens fans haven’t truly gotten to see Miller at his best yet. You know that feeling you get when you get shut out by the Devils and you say “Man, that was really frustrating, but damn that Marty’s awesome”? We haven’t gotten there yet, but that might be coming soon.
Last note: The puck doesn’t gravitate to your stick when the opposition’s at their weakest by chance, and it’s no coincidence when you have 37 goals not even 3/4 of the way through the season.
871
We haven’t gotten there yet, but that might be coming soon
Well, for our sake, I hope that game where Miller wows you guys comes soon.
He’s something special,so enjoy him
Yeah, we’re pretty excited about Tyler Myers.
The puck doesn’t gravitate to your stick when the opposition’s at their weakest by chance, and it’s no coincidence when you have 37 goals not even 3/4 of the way through the season.
I don’t think DO was criticizing Sidney, though I’m sure you’re used to that. I have to agree about the chances though, Crosby was damn impressive.
Actually...
…the only goal of Crosby’s that was truly impressive was the third one where he managed to get the puck through Lydman (who was in decent position) and Miller. That was just an incredibly placed shot.
I thought the best player on the ice last night was Jordan Staal.
"I could have conquered Europe, all of it, but I had women in my life." - King Henry II of England
After Miller gave up the fifth goal he looked really angry and seemed very focused because of it. We have to give him an off game here or there but I hope this doesn’t affect his confidence.
I really enjoyed watching Hecht play tonight. I haven’t seen such bursts of concerted effort like that from him very often. He was much of a beast out there as I think Jochen is capable of being.
I shall now wallow in despair because The Kaleta has become broken. At least this time it wasn’t because he was punched/elbowed by another player (like EVERY OTHER TIME he’s been injured). I guess there’s that.
Now The Kaleta won’t be able to “Accidentally” revenge elbow Jarkko Ruutu(die i hate you). I am still very angry about that, as you can probably tell. (Mair, you have free reign to do this and take the penalty and suspension. It’s not like we’d win anyway.)
Finally, i love you Adam Mair, and you’re playing great, but you are keeping Matt Ellis out of the lineup and that is not acceptable. I realize Ellis can’t score goals, but he is A+ at everything else.
I’d totally have won the Jared award if i didn’t boycott the third period.
Not even the Toronto Maple Leafs could kill my optimism
They added to that lead on a pretty tic-tac-toe play from MacArthur, Grier and Kennedy with Kennedy burying the goal.
That was a nice play.
Dont have much to say about this game. Should have got points out of it, but its an 82 game season and were playing the defending champs at their place… theres going to be games like that…
Get ready for Ottawa. We NEED a win, hopefully in regulation….
"Be a wuss at home! Be a man on Rumblings!" - Kurupt
Another case of the Sabres snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. What a disgusting final 10 minutes of the the second period. This team is not for real; they will be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs unless management can bring in some help both offensively and defensively. Again, Vanek has many, many chances and only manages one goal while Sid the Sissy gets three – admittedly, two were gifts from Miller.
I watched the game on Versus last night, although I have a great deal of respect for Lindy Ruff, I do believe that if he had pulled Miller after the Crosby’s first goal, the results would have been different. It was obvious from the first period that Miller’s concentration was off.
This team is not for real; they will be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs unless management can bring in some help both offensively and defensively
I understand the point you are trying to make but not past the first round? They won’t be playing a team as good as the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. They are not built well enough to win the Stanley Cup at this point but they are not quite as bad as you make them out to be. I think we forget they are in first place and have only 15 regulation losses and 22 total losses in 54 games. How many teams boast a record as good as the Sabres? Answer = not many.
D.O.
www.diebytheblade.com - An SB nation destination for Sabres fans everywhere
Agreed. plus you gotta remember this is an 82 game season… youre not going to be at the top of your game every night. The other team is trying to do the same exact thing we are… its not going to work out every night for us. It was a frustrating loss… but at the end of the day we’re still in first in our division. Gotta take it.
"Be a wuss at home! Be a man on Rumblings!" - Kurupt
vanek could have easily had his own hat-trick
i guess we should be grateful he buried one of the chances at least.
It is fairly obvious to me that this team is good but the talent drop off from the “elite” teams to us is pretty steep…as was evidenced last night in Pittsburgh. Hard work will only get you so far (unless you never make a mistake which is impossible to do) and at some point you need serious playmakers (a la Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin) to simply take over a game. Miller is amazing most nights however do I think he could stand on his head and only give up 2 goals or less for a possible 28 games is a bit unrealistic.
I really dont like our chances in a seven game series the Pens, Caps, or Devils. First round series win yes but beyond that unless MIller stands on his head or we get some serious offensive production from all of our lines we are in trouble because we arent going to be able to outscore the Pens or Caps and Marty B. always has our number.
Where else would you rather be than right here right now - Marv Levy
It is fairly obvious to me that this team is good but the talent drop off from the "elite" teams to us is pretty steep…as was evidenced last night in Pittsburgh.
Even though the Pens record has been abhorrent in the past two months after a hot start and Malkin has been sucking a$$… Crosby is the only playmaker and even though he was producing, they were losing. The Sabres play a complete game, yes it would be nice to have a “unstoppable” playmaker like Sid. Yet, Connolly hasn’t been too bad and Vanek seems to be heating up…
Fatang Fatang.
by NeverendingOptimism on Feb 2, 2010 7:54 PM EST reply actions
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