Sabres Set the Table for Holiday Feast

Tyler Ennis and Marc-Andre Gragnani
celebrate Ennis's game-winning goal in overtime.
(Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)

Last night's Game Five set the table perfectly for Sunday's Easter affair in Buffalo.  21-year-old left-winger Tyler Ennis opened the scoring and closed the scoring in helping the Sabres head back to Buffalo with a 3-2 series lead.  "All I know, is I wanted to score the winner," Ennis said.  "I just wanted to be the guy who ended it."  Only 5:31 into the first overtime period, Ennis grabbed the rebound from Mike Weber's point shot and stuffed it in the back of the net sending the Flyers and their fans home with worried faces after Game Five.  It was the second time this series that the Sabres forced Flyers coach Peter Laviolette to pull his starting goalie after falling behind by three goals.  This now marks the first time in Sabres' playoff history that they have faced three different goaltenders in the same series.  Makes me wonder who the Flyers will go with tomorrow.  I guess it's a mystery for now but I'm thinking they will go back to Brian Boucher.

Ryan Miller earned his third win this series by making 36 saves on 39 shots.  His shutout streak ended at 91:28 but he is playing great in this series overall.  He may have given up three goals, but he’s posting a .933 save percentage and a 2.18 goals against.  "Those are stats that should be enough to win you a series. No way you can blame him if the Sabres don’t advance," wrote 3rd Man In.  The Sabres led the face-off category 36 to 29 mainly due to Paul Gaustad being back in top face-off form.  He won 17 of his 24 face-offs taken good for 70.8%.  The Sabres went five for five on the penalty kill and are now 24 of 26 in the series (92.3%).  The penalty kill has been a major reason the Sabres are seeing success.  Especially in this series where the referees are happy to blow the whistle.  The power play has not been too bad either.  Marc-Andre Gragnani's first career playoff goal came on the power play making the Sabres 4 of 22 (18.2%) with the man advantage over the series.  Gragnani's goal was also his fifth point of the playoffs which leads the Sabres.  One thing I thought was great about the goal was the patience by the Sabres' shooters during the four on three power play.  They took their time in passing the puck around the point waiting for the perfect opportunity to send it flying towards the net.  That patience paid off when it put the Sabres up 3-0 with five minutes remaining in the first.  I'm sure there were thousands of Sabres fans screaming at their television sets during that power play for the Sabres to "SHOOT THE PUCK," like there always is.  But what those fans (I apologize if you were one of them) need to realize is that yes, the players already know that.  They are not just passing the puck back and forth to each other to kill off their own power play.  They are waiting for the perfect shooting lane to open up before they shoot.  What's the point on shooting it right away each time only to have it blocked by the opposition and tossed back down the ice?  The people that constantly scream for the players to "SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT" on the power play need to realize what is going on before they scream and shout like they are smarter than the players on the ice.

I thought this quote from Ryan Miller was particularly interesting.  "I think we did a good job of settling down (before the overtime period), and what we talked about was just how much fun is it going to be to win and who wants to go out and do it.  It wasn't a long conversation.  There is some nervous energy there.  The main consensus in the room was, 'Let's just go out, let's try for it.'"  Ryan said that when asked what it was like in the Sabres dressing room before they took the ice for the overtime period.  I think some people would agree with me when I say that I could never imagine the emotion in the Sabres' dressing room before overtime.  I figured the last thing they'd be doing was smiling and talking about how fun it would be to win.  I love that Miller mentioned their attitude the way he did.

Game Six is slated for a 3:00pm EDT start in Buffalo on Easter Sunday.  The Sabres will have the chance to win the series and move onto the Conference Semifinals in front of the home crowd and a national audience as the game will be nationally televised on NBC.  It has been reported that the Flyers will be without Jeff Carter and Chris Pronger for the remainder of the series.  That is big news for the Sabres but they most likely have lost a star as well.  After assisting on Gragnani's goal in the first period, Jason Pominville left the game after appearing to have a skate slice the back of his leg in a collision in the corner.  He logged 4:29 of ice-time in Game Five and will miss Game Six.  Jordan Leopold left the game in the first and missed the entire second, but he returned late in the third.  Hopefully he is back at 100% for tomorrow.  Lindy Ruff said today that Derek Roy could return within days.  Look for him to play in Game Seven if it's needed or most likely in Round Two.  I hope everyone can find a happy balance between Sabres hockey and family time tomorrow.  Happy Easter to all.