The Lockout was less stressful than this

Well honestly......I miss Lindy Ruff. The Sabres have dropped both games post Ruff with new head coach Ron Rolston not doing anything different as Ruff if you thought that it couldn't get any worse after the Jets game last Tuesday night.....it did. The Sabres lost to the Maple leafs 3-1 which was again a effortless game for the Sabres who have been showing no effort this season and honestly, Darcy Regier needs to make some serious changes and I mean now. The Sabres should have kept rookie Grigorenko down in Juniors as he clearly has not been used at all this season wasting a year on his rookie contract. The Sabres then came back home looking to start fresh against a struggling Islanders team and got absolutely stomped. As you can see my attitude toward this team is like most fans......very very mad. The defense before the season to me was our strong spot but it has been absolutely awful and other than Vanek this year I have been not impressed with everybody else. Miller was clearly just as upset as us against the Islanders when at the end of the game he dropped the gloves and attacked a Islander forward who hit him in front of the net. I just don't know what this team can do to turn this around, honestly I already think this is a lost cause. The Sabres take on the Lighting Tuesday night and if the same performance as last game occurs, the city of Buffalo will be up in arms.

Era ends in Buffalo. Sabres fire Lindy Ruff

Surprised but not surprised was the thoughts of most Sabres fans. The Sabres have been on the downhill since their Eastern Conference finals appearances and finally the Sabres front office came to their senses and fired head coach Lindy Ruff. Darcy Regier in a emotional press conference said at the end the decision was his and not owner Terry Pegula's. Lindy Ruff was the longest tenured coach in the NHL from 1997-2013 but the Sabres have only made the playoffs 6 of the last 10  years and Ruff's philosophy was not getting to the players anymore, they just weren't buying in anymore. The Sabres stand at 6-10-1 right now so clearly change had to be made but I don't think anyone believed that this day would actually come where Darcy Regier who said as long as he is GM Ruff will be his head coach finally ended a 14 year era in Buffalo. Ron Rolston the head coach for the Rochester Americans will take over as intern head coach for the rest of the year while Darcy looks for his future head coach. Many names have come up perhaps the biggest one is hall of fame goaltender Patrick Roy who coached Sabres rookie Mikhal Grigerenko in juniors where Grigerenko scored 40 goals. Lindy Ruff made his mark on the Sabres brining them to 4 eastern conference finals appearances as well as one Stanley Cup in 1999 where the famous "No Goal" ended the Sabres cup dreams. The Sabres have not won a playoff series since 2007 so the decision was obvious but watching the Sabres growing up as always been listening to Rick Jeanneret and seeing Lindy behind the bench so it will be different to see someone else there but this change was needed and could get the stale taste out of the players mouth and attempt to make a run at the playoffs.

Sabres fall to Flyers on Hockey Day in America

The Sabres took on the Penguins Sunday at noon and it was the most hard working tough fought full 60 minute game I have seen from the Sabres in a while, but the outcome was again the same as it has been for most of this early season....a loss. The Sabres early on looked dreadful giving up 2 goals in the first 2 minutes. The Penguins just got off rolling and the Sabres were not ready to go. They did fight back though later in the first Christian Ehroff fired a rocket shot towards the net and off a juicy rebound Cody Hodgson put it in. The second period was probably the best for the Sabres all year with a ton of chances and Ryan Miller playing lights out like he did all game totaling 31 saves. Another great play by Christian Ehroff off another rocket wrist shot went to the net looking to go wide but Vanek was in the right place in front of the net re directing the puck into the net to tie up the game. The goal put Vanek at 12 which is the most in the league as well as points. Ehroff looked great the whole game finishing with 2 key assists. The third period was just as exciting as the second and in the tied game, the Sabres struck first. Nathan Gerbe made an amazing play skating fast towards the net but then stopping throwing the puck on net which was tipped by Hecht directing the puck to Steve Ott who snapped the shot into the net to put the Sabres up 3-2 with about 14 minutes to go. As the year has gone when the Sabres score it seems not to last very long as the same in this case. 2 minutes later the Sabres couldn't seem to get the puck out of their zone which bit them when Pascal Dupuis took a slap shot which Miller had no chance of seeing or stopping tying the game at 3. The game continued to have their chances including Marcus Foligno storming to the net as well as Ennis who took a close shot that deflected off Fleury's pad then shot again by Foligno who got attacked in front of the net after the play. Who would strike first in this high offensive game well with about 3 minutes left the same problems as before kept hurting the Sabres which was penalty killing when we were not short handed. Paul Martin from the point caught the puck taking a wild shot past Miller who was being screened by about  3 skaters going top shelf to put the Penguins up 4-3 with 3 minutes left and they kept the lead to win the game. The Sabres are now 6-9-1 standing at 13 points 11th in the east, these struggles are not seeming to be fixed but the Sabres are playing with more effort and toughness which eventually will lead to Ws. The Sabres next take on the Winnipeg Jets in Winnipeg Tuesday night. The high flying offense of the Jets will need to be slowed down by the Sabres defense and take less time in your own zone and more in the offensive zone in order for the Sabres to win this game.

Sabres win a wild one against the Bruins

The Sabres came into first niagara center knowing that a win was desperately needed against the Bruins to hang in the standings. The Sabres did exactly that but it was far from easy. The Sabres struck first in the first period when Tyler Ennis found Drew Stafford in front of the net with a rocket to score his first goal. That was Stafford's first of the year and he needed that. Miller played solid in net all game but the second period was probably the worst period of the season when the Sabres just sat back in their zone almost the entire period giving up 2 goals to go down 2-1 heading into the third period. The Stafford, Foligno, Ennis line played great in the game with Ennis notching 2 points as well as Stafford and Foligno had an assist on the Stafford goal. Earlier in the year Lindy Ruff seperated the 3 as they were not playing as electric as they were in the end of the previous season but boy have they got going. The third period was completely different then the first two as the Sabres came out fast and got a lot of chances. Tyler Myers tied the game up with a great goal off a Hecht shot rebound and Myers put it in to tie it up. Myers had a very good game with 2 points and a plus 2. He played punishing defense including a huge hit on former Sabre Daniel Paille. This is the type of play the Sabres are going to need to see from Myers if they want to have any chance of getting in the playoffs. Christian Ehroff then put in the game winning goal with 11 minutes to go off a great rush ran by Stafford who shot the puck on net bouncing off the goalie back to the middle of the zone where Ehroff took a great off balance wrist shot to put it in. As bad as the Sabres defense has been this year Ehroff has been the one bright spot. He has 8 points this year with 2 goals and 6 assists. The Bruins just couldn't seem to get it going in the third period only shotting the puck on net 3 times. Cody Hodgson then put the game away when Tyler Myers made a great play getting through the defenders throwing the puck on net where Hodgson deflected the shot to put the game on ice. Hodgson has really played well this year with 6 goals and 7 assists, he is really forming into that #1 Center the Sabre have been looking for since Briere and Drury left. The Sabres may not be winning all that many games this year but they really know how to take care of the Bruins who's only two regular season losses are against the Sabres. Sabres take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Hockey day in America Sunday on NBC and this game will be just as important as the Bruins one.

Sabres shut out of Ottawa 2-0

The fans are saying those two big words again that seem to have come up every year lately with the Sabres struggles, "Fire Ruff". The Sabres got shut out 2-0 against the Senators falling to 0-2 on the year against the Sens and 5-8-1 on the year with 11 points which puts them 3 points out of a playoff spot. Another tough outing for the Defense and the Offense which just cannot seem to find scoring outside the Vanek, Pominville, Hodgson line. The first period actually wasn't bad for the Sabres getting a lot of scoring chances but just could not capitilize on Anderson who is playing the best goalie of anybody in the league. Drew Stafford had 2 wide open opportunities to score but fanned on both. Stafford as 0 goals this year and 5 assists which is making fans dissapointed  and angry at the same time. Everyone knows the skill is there and hes been in the right spot but finishing has been his issue this year and is why he has not put one behind the goaltender this year. The Defense did not look all too bad but again too many little mistakes and too much time being spent in their own zone. Miller had another strong performance but the inability to generate offense in the past 3 games is why his strong outings of come up short. The problem to me as well as most fans is Lindy Ruff. He is not fixing the mistakes that keep on occurring game in and game out. His problem is adjustments, switching up the first line is a must as they need to balance out the scoring or else these losses will keep on coming. Tyler Ennis has 5 goals this year the most out of anyone else not on the second line. Behind him is defensman Alex Sulzer with 3. I have been watching rookie center Mikhail Grigerenko very closely this year, he has made a lot of chances with non play makers like Steve Ott and Jochen Hecht but again Ruff is not putting him with high offensive talent and is the reason why he has 1 goal and 2 assists. His ice time has been down lately but yet everytime he is out there he finds great chances to score and thats the problem. Those chances are not becoming goals unless it is MR. Thomas Vanek. If Lindy Ruff does not make adjustments soon and get some Ws for the Sabres, the fans will be calling for a new coach but with Darcy Regeir as GM, it just won't happen.

Sabres defeat Islanders 3-2 thanks to over 40 saves for Ryan Miller

The Sabres played yet another very sloppy game in New York Saturday when they stole a victory against the Islanders 3-2. Thomas Vanek again continued his MVP type performance so far this season notching another goal and a assist. He now has 11 goals and 12 assists on the year putting him first in the NHL in goals and points. Cody Hodgson had another impressive performance putting up 2 assists which puts him at 12 points on the year. When the Sabres made the trade for Hodgson last year sending Kassian to Vancouver as well as Gragnaini for Alex Sulzer I was a bit skeptical on how fast they gave up on Kassian but now that I am watching how well Hodgson has played with Vanek and Pominville, its worked out for both the Sabres and Canucks. Alex Sulzer scored the go ahead game winning goal 7 minutes into the 3rd period when he sniped a shot from the point from a pass from Steve Ott as rookie center Mikhail Grigorenko was perfectly screening goaltender Evgeni Nabakov to put the puck in. The Sabres were totally dominated in shots as the Islanders had 45 shots on goal compared to the Sabres whopping 15 but the difference was Ryan Miller. Miller was outstanding saving 43 shots including two clutch saves on a breakaway from Tavares and an amazing save on a penalty shot with about 4 minutes left in the third period. The Sabres defense was again terrible, Tyler Myers was a healthy scratch and in place of him was Andre Sekera who played pretty well but everyone else was again sloppy. Ehroff had a great goal to put the Sabres up 2-1 but was bad in his own zone causing the penalty shot for tripping as well as a couple penalties. Alex Sulzer played great in the offense zone scoring his third of the year but even he was outmatched physically in the defensive zone. The Sabres have their work cut out for them but for now they will take the 2 points and move on to take on the Boston Bruins Sunday night at First Niagara Center in Buffalo. The Sabres currently stand at 10th in the east with 11 points and a win tonight could put them right back into the playoffs.