JayS - Paille made a feed pass to (wow, can’t think of the name), which was inches away from mair pounding home the rebound. He had an impact, he just isn’t as flashy as Maxim, so he doesn’t stand out as much.
Bottom-line, the Sabres have not committed to this series yet. They need to develop and maintain a strong forecheck, and they really need to stop being so careless with their passes.
Also, stop shooting low, or into the chest area of Henrix. I saw a perfect oportunity for Kotalik to blast a shot, he shot it DIRECTLY into the chest of Henrik, despite having all 4 corners open. You don’t get rebounds much from chest shots, and it wasn’t a screened shot. It was a wasted opportunity.
They did skate more and harder tonite, but they continued to be careless with the puck. You don’t win a NHL playoff series with careless giveaways in your own zone, and the neutral zone. There were times when I could swear you could see frustration from Miller.
And it has nothing to do with the ice, because I didn’t see the same issue from the Rangers.
The Rangers are playing a trap style defense, and the Sabres have not adjusted to it. They aren’t going back to the fundamentals of slamming into the corners and winning the individual battles. Look at the goal by Kotalik. It was a goal scored after a battle down low, and the Sabres won the forecheck, and hey, look, it’s a goal.
I didn’t see any determination, desperation, and drive until the last 6 or so minutes of the game.
Anyone remember post-season last year when guys would dive in front of shots and sacrifice themselves to breakup plays? I’ve hardly seen ANY of that this postseason.
PS - Our PP absolutely blows. We can’t keep it in the zone for shit.
And before my opinion is discounted, I have been following the Sabres for many years, and this past season I watched at least 40-50 of the games this season between skiing and work. Just didn’t post on NYspeed about them, because you’ll notice a massive lapse in my posting thru the winter.