The Sabres led by a desperate spirited effort and a marvelous game by Ryan Miller beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 to bring the series back to Buffalo. The Game was highlighted by the fastest goal in Sabres playoff history when Derek Roy and Chris Drury capitalized on an Andrei Meszaros turnover to score 9 seconds into the game.
The Senators played hard but, for the first time in the series, looked mortal. The Sabres penalty killing was sensational killing off consecutive penalties in the third to preserve the lead and win. Of course, most of the success in the third was due to some world class goaltending by Ryan Miller. On the other end of the ice Ray Emery looked shaky despite only giving up 3 goals. He fought the puck all night and Chris Drury's eventual game winner was an extremely week goal.
The Senators also exhibited a lack of discipline that they had not shown the entire series which cost them when Buffalo scored their second goal with a two-man advantage. also, the senators by, Versus Television's count, shot wide on 17 scoring chances in the game. It was an uncharacteristic effort by this Ottawa team.
In any event the Sabres have a pulse and that is all we can ask now. The Senators best close this series out Saturday afternoon in Buffalo or things might start to get scary.
News and Notes:
Danius Zubrus did not play at all in the second or third period in Game 5. He is apparently suffering from an injury but it has not yet been disclosed. There were pictures of him being given smelling salts on the bench which would lead me to believe he has a concussion-type injury.
Dmitri Kalinin played only 4:31 in the game. He was effectively benched for periods two and three. The Sabres basically went with 4 defenseman as Jaro Spacek's ice time was also significantly limited, though it increased as the game wore on.
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17 May 2007
Miller Makes The Save and The Sabres Live to Fight Again
Goal scored by Patrick S. Law at 9:11 AM
Tape colour: Buffalo Sabres, Chris Drury, game 5, Ottawa Senators, playoffs
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All Rights Reserved. The content of this blog is the sole opinion of these bloggers and does not represent an opinion of any kind of a professional NHL hockey team mentioned.
5 fanatics have replied:
....well....now everyone is concocting the comeback scenarios. it's ok, it's natural (i keep telling myself).
but i disagree with a bit of Lindy's coaching - 4 defensemen in the 3rd period was an enormous risk, and speaking of which...why play Campbell 30 minutes and Spacek only 8? just...wow. Campbell is no hero in his own zone, at least not that much more than Spacek, if at all. I don't understand Lindy's complete unwillingness to rely on Spock.
Saturday at 2. i hate the afternoon games. although i suppose it'll save my stomach from churning all afternoon. :-)
I tend to agree with you on Spacek.
What mystifies me is Kalinin. If he is playing that poorly why not put Paetsch in. He helped jump start the PP earlier and is pretty physical.
The flame is flickering but if they win game 5 then it will get crazy.
There has been a perceptible change in feel around the team. That being said I thought Ottwaw played hard enough to win last night, they just did some foolish things.
agreed on Paetsch - i wrote as much this morning:
Is this a one-time thing or has Ruff's faith [in Kalinin] been completely shattered? If so, he'd be better off not dressing Kalinin and calling up Nathan Paetsch. Skating five (or less...see Spacek below...) defencemen in a playoff game isn't advisable for the team's long-term health - especially if they cannot lose another game.
Man, if anything, Dmitri Kalinin and Jaroslav Spacek are quality defencemen with good shots.
I don't understand at all, Kalinin is basically anchoring the blue-line on the PP and Spacek is Spacek.
Tony Lydman has shown me what a marvelous d-man he is, but come on, Spacek and Kalinin are good too.
Paestch can be an option, but if anyone's gonna go, I think it'll be Spacek, I never thought that Lindy liked him anyway, either him or Kalinin.
Lindy...you ok?
First Drury playing net, then benching Kalinin and Spacek for the entired 3rd!
I suspect more with Spacek that it is the tough love approach. As for Kalinin, when he is on, he is great. He seems to lose confidence quickly though and just falls to pieces and Lindy just cant trust him.
Unfortunately, unless Buffalo comes back I think the Kalinin experiment might be over in Buffalo.
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