Fans, Where Is Your Confidence? Part Two

Players and fans stand during the National Anthems
prior to Game Three at HSBC Arena.
(Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

First off, I would like to thank every fan in attendance at HSBC Arena last night.  The countless "Let's go Buff-a-lo" chants are what this team needs right now, so let's keep it up.  Support, encouragement and reinforcement.  For those of you at home, I don't know if you could hear it or not through the broadcast but man was last night's crowd really into the game.  What this team does not need is people bashing every aspect of their game and saying they are not putting forth their full effort.  C'mon Sabre Nation... now is not the time to ridicule your team.  The Sabres work ethic is the least of their problems right now.  Howard Simon of WGR550 mentioned this topic on his morning show today.  What if the truth is that Philadelphia is in fact the "better" team?  The Sabres have been playing a very physical game, especially in last night's Game Three where they out-hit the Flyers 26 to 14 after being barely out-hit in Games One and Two.  Howard also compared Ryan Miller to that of a snow-blower.  If you have a snow-blower and there is no snow, do you need it?  Do you depend on it?  Does your neighbor who doesn't own a snow-blower but rather a shovel laugh at you?  This is what it's like for Philly and Buffalo.  The Sabres have a snow-blower and the Flyers have shovels.  Miller is not the problem for Buffalo.  Although what the heck was he doing on Danny Briere's goal last night?  We need to picture the Sabres' defensive unit as a seven-man effort.  That is the six defensemen and Miller.  As it lies now, Howard said in his opinion, one man named Ryan Miller, is doing about 60% percent of the defensive work.  Isn't something wrong with that number?  Shouldn't it be a bit more balanced where Miller has let's say 15-20% of the workload?  There is no official way to calculate a number like that but I think you all can see where Howard Simon is coming from and understand why I am bringing this up for you all to read.  It seems like the Sabres' troubles are stemming from the defense.

Now let's take a gander at the offense.  I think it is safe to say that the Sabres have been underachieving during five on five situations so far this season.  Not counting the empty netter last night, the Sabres are being outscored 6 to 4 in five on five situations.  Last night the top line was virtually non-existent.  On the other hand, Tyler Ennis and Brad Boyes seemed like they played their best games of the series so far.  While Ennis didn't find the back of the net, he had five shots with some of those generating quality scoring chances on the rebounds.  His shot on the five on three power-play hit Brian Boucher in the mask.  An inch or two to either side and that one's in the net.  Nathan Gerbe amazed me again with that brilliant goal towards the end of the second period (game highlights here).  This youngster is something special.  But what if that goal doesn't go in?  Boucher should have had that in his glove as he just missed.  Crazy how it took a somewhat lucky goal from Gerbe to only have the Sabres lose by one (ruling the empty netter out). But don't get me wrong, that goal was a showcase of Gerbe's skill.  Patrick Kaleta was only on the ice for five shifts (2:26 in time) before leaving with an upper-body injury.  Lindy Ruff of course won't comment on the extent of the injury but WGR550's Paul Hamilton reported just a little bit ago that Kaleta is at practice with a cage on.  So it must be something to do with his face or head.  Was Kaleta out of control with his roughing penalty early on that allowed Philadelphia to take the lead on the power-play?  I certainly think so.  That intensity is desired but please keep it under control, especially when every referee in the league already sees you as a rough player.  Paul Hamilton also reported from the team's practice today that Tyler Ennis, Mike Grier, Andrej Sekera and Shoane Morrisonn were not present.

With the Game Three win, the Flyers have taken back their home-ice advantage.  After Game Three, Drew Stafford said his team needs to "swallow it and get ready for the next one."  The Buffalo Sabres have never won a playoff series after being down 2-1.  However, as the lower seed, being down 2-1 through three games is not bad at all.  In Buffalo vs. Philadelphia post-season match-ups all-time, the game one winner has won every series - so one of those streaks is coming to an end this time around.  The Sabres may have stolen one game this post-season, but they need to steal the series to impress the rest of the league.  The Philadelphia Flyers still need to win two more games so keep your heads high people.  This thing is far from over. Buffalo needs to take three of the final four games to advance to the second round.  A win in Game Four is crucial and the Sabres will definitely feel the energy from the crowd.  Puck-drop is set for 7:30pm EDT at HSBC Arena tomorrow.

P.S. Part One of this post can be found here, that is if you really needed to know.