This feels a lot better

by Anne

Wheee!

Between Friday and Tuesday the Pens, Canucks, Kings and Sabres played eight games. In those games those four teams went a combined 0-8-0. WHAT? That's terrible. I was not too happy. Eight straight games of FAIL.

Tonight, my two favorite teams (Canucks, you'd better get your act together to try to reclaim this title from the Kings) played two splendid games.

Clearly, I saw the Sabres game, but I did not see the Kings game because they are in the midst of an East coast trip and their game was also at 7:00.

First my beloved Sabres won somewhat of a snoozer against Edmonton at HSBC Arena tonight.

Steve Montador scored his first as a Sabre and the line of Stafford - Connolly - Vanek, known (by me only) as the Should line (because it SHOULD work) contributed the first goal from Staffy and then provided some stifling offensive zone pressure to set up the Full Monty's goal. Yoyo added the empty netter to seal the 3-1 win.

The Sabres powerful is godawful terrible. Good LORD. They were 0 for 7 against the Bruins the other night and tonight they went 0 for 4. Maybe practice the power play in practice lots and lots? Thanks.

Clarke MacArthur accidentally pulverized Liam Reddox into the boards with only a few minutes left in the third period which drew a five minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. I didn't see the hit but me may be suspended. Dang. Although maybe Mairsy will play? Grier had a strained groin and if he misses time, Mair will definitely be back. Maybe Paetsch will be in at forward? I hope Grizz doesn't get suspended. I think it's clear that he had no intention of hitting him hard from behind; Maybe taking the body to knock him off the puck, but he seems to lose his footing at the last second.

Still scary, regardless of intent.

That five minute penalty was interesting. For the first two minutes of it, the crowd was holding its collective breath, as if we were willing the puck to stay out of the net. Then as the PKers started to really control the situation, a loud "Let's go Buff-a-lo!" chant energized the Arena and the penalty was killed and met by a standing ovation from the crowd.

Hey Should line.

Good job

Cookies for you.

Well, maybe not you, Tommy. You took lotsa penalties.

Next game IGGY COMES TO BUFFALO!

:) :) :)

Also on tap, and experienced by me via boxscore checks and LAKings.com highlights, was the Kings 5-2 win over the flailing Carolina Hurricanes. Tonight's loss brings the Butter Snaps losing streak to 13 games. I believe they are 0-10-3 in their last 13. Yeesh.

Erik Ersberg made his second start of the season and got his first win.  Anze Kopi-star had two assists upping his league-leading points total to 30 (14+16). Oh snap.

Randy Jones, the Kings 7th defenseman recently acquired from Philly, played in his first game as a King and recorded the game winning goal and an assist. Woo!

This line is also foxy.

This line contributed six points tonight (2+4)

Well done, boys.

I love you.

Lots.

Both teams are off tomorrow and then both teams play Friday. Then, of course, both teams play Saturday. Yeesh, schedulers!

Pie for everyone!

by Anne

Last night Danny Paille scored his first goal of the season and it was spiffy:

Then, if you were fortunate enough to peruse the front page of NHL.com, this is what you saw:

:')

I miss Pie

Too bad he beat the Pens. Oh well.

The Canucks played an atrocious game last night. Andrew Raycroft let a goal in on the first shot he saw and it didn't get much better after that. The Blues ended the first period up 4-0 on thirteen shots. Luongo came in for periods two and three even though those goals were garbage and Raycroft had no help. One of them was banked into the net by a Canuck. Just terrible. They lost 6-1. Henrik Sedin scored the only goal for Vancouver.

The Sabres play the Oilers tonight at HSBC Arena. The last time the Sabres went to Edmonton they put up a 10-2 victory. Here's hoping the Oilers do not return the favor and that the Sabres can get their act together. Puck drops at 7:00! See ya there!

We Ordered the "Warm" Weather for the Coyotes

by Anne

My first class was canceled and now that I've recovered from the trade deadline, I'm gearing up for tonight's game and this "heat wave." Its 54 degrees here which to Buffalonians in March is really like 70. Wooooo!!

The Coyotes are in town tonight and -lookie there- we've already played them once this season and we won 2-0. Yay!

Oddly enough, one of the only two trades we made on deadline day was with the Coyotes for back up goalie Mikael Tellqvist who will continue to watch from the bench. Lalime will get the start coming off a great performance the other night. Its been said many times that consistent playing time is the best way for a goalie to put up wins so Lalime definitely should get the start tonight. Lindy likes to put in goalies against their former teams so sorry Telly, even though we're playing your former team of 2 days ago, gotta use the hot goalie.

I'm eagerly anticipating where Moore will fit into this line up. Lindy said he might bump Royzie to the wing which sounds like a fine idea to me. If Moore continues to dominate the faceoff dot as he has thusfar this season, I'm ok with that. We're only winning faceoffs at just over 47% of the time on the season. Can't wait to read the practice notes.

I'll be quite unhappy if this stuff with Moore's visa isn't worked out yet.

Those FREAKIN' Los Angeles Kings WON last night. I was so annoyed at them. They were down 3-0 in the 2nd, I did some homework, came back and it was 3-2. Then it was 4-2 until over halfway through the 3rd so I went to bed. Imagine my shock when I discovered this morning that Michal Handzus had completed the hat trick he started in the 6-goal 2nd period by scoring the Kings' 3rd goal and then the winner in over time.

If they had lost last night I basically would've put a nail in the coffin of their playoff hopes. Their chances are still pretty slim but they're not 100% out of it yet, just mostly out of it. They'll more than likely be at the golf course when the playoffs start in April.

To recap Michal Handzus' night:

He went from this.

To this:



and this:


Woo! First star!

Also I want to be friends with whoever writes the headlines for the top stories on LAKings.com. Here's a screen capture of the headline about last night's win over Dallas:

Quoi?
I'm Ron Burgundy?

Oh and to those who blew a gasket over Tellqvist wearing #32. Calm the -bleep- down. Yes #32 was Rayzor's number and its been sentimentally retired in the hearts of fans. However, it does not hang from the rafters at HSBC Arena so Telly can use it if he wants. However the rumblings that I heard about Moore possibly wearing 23... that's a different story. Too soon? He'll be wearing 17.

I peeked in on the Oilers game to see how Big Czech Al was doing and it wasn't so hot to start things off. He was on the TOP line that was on the ice when Jason Spezza set a Senators record of fastest goal to start a game at :12. Al finished the game a -2 with two shots on goal, just over 18:00 of ice time and two hits. Al Kotalik on the top line? Ehhhhh... I'm not so sure about that, Craig MacTavish. But that's why the fans have been calling for Coach MacT to be fired this season.

Hey Al!

I love 7:30 start times on Fridays because I get to avoid most of the traffic when I head downtown. Good stuff. Have a great Friday everyone!

S-eye of Relief

by Anne

Phew! Some good news!

WCB Ethan Moreau, captain of the Edmonton Oilers, took a nasty blow to the eye via a high stick in the dying seconds of the Oilers' game v. the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.

Fortunately, after the swelling went down they were able to fully explore the damage and its *just* a bruised retina and scratched cornea. No surgery required and so far it appears there won't be any permanent damage. However, a visor likely would've prevented even this relatively minor injury.

Hooray! The poor boy has had so many injuries over the last few seasons, hopefully this won't turn into anything more serious later on.

Drunk on Goals

by Anne

10-2?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!

This was my favorite game ever. Shouldn't this count for like two wins?!

So to recap the scoring: Staffy 3 - Edmonton Oilers 2

Stafford, Roy and Vanek all had 3 points tonight. Timmy scores a shortie and a power play goal and adds an assist. That back pass by Connolly to Staffy for his hat trick was a thing of beauty. Oh Timmy, there are so many things I could say about your skill to injury ratio, but I'm too happy.

Derek Roy somehow managed to turn a turnover into a goal for Jochen Hecht. He lost the puck to Cole, took it back, passed it to Pommer, and Hecht put it in the net. Another classic Jochen "If I can't score a goal like that..." goal.

We're always whining about our lack of offensive production from the blue line and then Paetsch has two points (1+1), Spacek scored on a huge shot from the point and Rivet had two assists. Thank you, boys, we'll take some more of that any time you want to dish it out.

Gragnani was fine I imagine, I basically forgot he was there so I'll assume he did a fine job. He had at least one shot towards the net, so there's that.

Staffy brought the pigeon to his post-game interview with Gene Principe. Oh Staffy. Loves. He's such an unaffected person. Like, even though he clearly makes like $900,000 a season, he probably still gets his haircut at Supercuts and wears clothes until they fall apart.

Why can't we win these games against Eastern Conference teams? Whatevs, I don't care who these kinds of games are against, just as long as they're 10-2 wins in our favor.

My Sabres score text message was so full it couldn't fit the season goal totals in because there were so many players names to cram in.

Remember when this game was almost blacked out? You could've still watched it online, but I can't even imagine the outrage if this game hadn't been aired on MSG.

Thrilling love indeed.

Iggy and the Flames tomorrow!!

ETA: I forgot!! Nasher had a hat trick and the Blue Jackets beat the Red Wings. To recap: Rick Nash 3 - Detroit Red Wings 2.

On the Road Again

by Anne

I'm pretty sure I was asleep before midnight last night which is a feat I have not accomplished in quite some time. This morning I slept until noon. That's lots of sleep. Fortunately my first class isn't until 2:00 which kind of stinks/ kind of doesn't. I don't really enjoy not starting my day until the mid-afternoon. Fortunately, I'm finished at 4:30 leaving plenty o' time to eat dinner and get pumped before the Sabres take on the Oilers tonight.

I've yet to find anyone who isn't happy that the NHL has changed to the new "everyone plays everyone" schedule. Its really fun to get to play Western Conference teams we wouldn't otherwise watch. We all know San Jose is the team to beat this year, but how often do Sabres fans sit down and turn on a Sharks game at 10:30? I'm assuming not with any regularity.

The Oilers would have been in the running for favorite Western Conference team this year, but they gave up all possibility of that happening when they traded Matt Greene this past summer along with Jarret Stoll to LA for Lubomir Visnovsky. The trade seems to have benefitted both teams, so I suppose I can live with it.

The Oilers feature WCB Captain Ethan Moreau on their roster. Cap'n Ethan was the Tim Connolly of the Edmonton Oilers for the past 2 seasons. In 2006-2007 he played only seven games after dislocating his shoulder and requiring surgery. In 2007-2008 he fractured his tibia in a pre-season game and missed the first 38 games of the season. He came back around now-ish last season only to leave again in February with a broken leg.

I, of course, did not know this all off the top of my head when I wrote this or when I selected him as my WCB. I had to research him because I was surprised to have never heard of the Captain of an NHL team before. Also, through some sort of elaborate series of trades, Ethan Moreau is the last remaining remnant of the Wayne Gretzky trade. I'm not exactly sure how, but there ya go. Moreau has only 18 points this season, 10 of them goals, but he scored three of those 10 in one game.

So there are 4 games remaining in this road trip. So far we are 1-1. I predict we go 1-2-1 in the remaining games. All the teams we're playing are playoff teams on home ice in the Western Conference. Not feeling too good about that. Of course, I hope I'm wrong and we go 4-0-0 in the remaining four games, but I'm not optimisitic about it.

Wooo! I'm not pumped about watching the other teams' feeds for the road trip, but I'd rather watch them with Oilers/Flames/Yotes/Ducks bias than not watch them at all.

I hope I don't see this tonight.
Well, if he were wearing a home jersey that is.

I think I might be sick. Marc-Andre Gragnani, a sometime forward is really the best we have on defense in Portland right now? Hell, how's Mike Kostka doing? I really have nothing against Gragnani but its just a little unnerving to see how far we've gone into the depth chart.

Kickoff at 9:00 pm.

Covered in Controversy

by Anne

I was all set to write about the ridiculous happenings over at Covered in Oil, but Puck Daddy has done a thorough recap of the situation.

Basically, Dave Berry, a writer for Covered in Oil, an Edmonton Oilers blog, was given a press pass to collect quotes post game and sit in the press box during a recent Oilers game, not for Covered in Oil, for another news outlet. To stave off boredom during an Oilers/Avalanche game, Dave began a live blog, only to be shut down before the third period by the team's PR brass for abusing his press pass. It sounds like a hot mess that the Oilers REALLY screwed up.

I'm not a big follower of the Oilers blogging, obviously, but after only sampling taste of what its like to have someone write to you pissed off, I can't imagine how angry and frustrated Dave and the rest of the Oilers blogosphere must be over this horribly mishandled situation. He's since stopped writing for the blog, not because he was told to, but because he's become, understandably, disenchanted with the whole thing.

Even from this North East Division couch, I wanted to throw my support behind Dave because we bloggers no matter how big (Covered in Oil) or small (Sabretooth's House) need to stick together.

Detention for you both

by Anne

I love that hockey's greatest scandal in recent years has not been drugs, hookers, dog fighting, gambling or the illegal sale of exotic birds and animals. It has, in fact, been a not-so-private tête-à-tête between Kevin Lowe of the Edmonton Oilers and Brian Burke of the Mightily Mighty Ducks of Anaheim... Mighty.

Burke threw the right hook of calling Edmonton a washed up team (just over a year after they were in the Cup final...) and Lowe countered with a kick to the money maker by comparing, um, the number of Stanley Cup rings each team has. Hockey fans all over... Edmonton (maybe) were a-twitter. What will happen next? Will Brian Burke start insulting Kevin Lowe's mother? Will we need Ryan Miller to intervene with a few more killer "yo mama" jokes? Will Kevin Lowe start trashing Anaheim's school system's shortcomings? Will Chris Pronger have to be the voice of reason. If so: HEAD FOR THE HILLS, ITS ALL OVER, THERE'S NO SAVING IT NOW, PRONGER IS INVOLVED. IT CAN ONLY GO BADLY FROM HERE ON OUT!

But wait! What's that! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a widely despised anti-Candian labor stoppage facilitator and NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman! Never fear, Papa Gary is here. Bettman swooped in with patented "hey hey hey, boys, if you can't say anything nice..." argument that has worked to keep these vicious attacks at bay for the last 18 hours or so.

The NHL, so full of drama and intrigue. Startling.