A New Sabres Team Tonight ( But the Refs still stink!)

Wow, the first period might have been the Sabres' best in 4 months. It appears Ruff has just decided to turn them loose. I have been especially impressed with the way Briere has responded. He is playing aggressive and tough. He will score tonight. Someone appears to have re-energized Teppo as well. It was the best period he has played all year.

As for the referee's, in the arena and in Toronto, not a good start. The real problem I have is that the league allowed the exact same goal to count for Jason Pominville in the Islander series. This is the type of inconsistency that just hurts the game.

Furthermore, I am a firm believer that if you can't make a decision in 3 minutes then the call on the ice was probably good.

As for the Senators, the call for interference on Chris Phillips was awful. Pominville simply missed the pass. It is a good sign for Ottawa that they got out of the period only down one. Someone, though, should put out an APB for Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley. What a terrible effort they put out, especially on Vanek's goal. Ray Emery is really fighting it tonight and has let out some enormous rebounds. He must play better.

See you after two.