Maxim-um Pounding!
Can anything stop the Buffalo Sabres? Not even mother nature! After a surprising weather front dumped over a foot of snow on the Western New York community, the Sabres responded by dumping 16 goals in the net against the Rangers and Flyers! Right now the Sabres look like they are playing against high school teams. I'm not even close to exaggerating. Last night, in what was their sixth consecutive victory, the Buffalo Sabres embarrassed the Philadelphia Flyers 9-1 (the score got so high that in an effort to not run the score up, Coach Lindy Ruff mandated that his forwards only score on headers).
Flyers goaltender Robert Esche who was left in net to fend for himself, actually kept his team in the game for the first period, making a couple of beautiful saves, including a Maxim Afinogenov shot from the door step. The wheels came flying off in the second, and he was eventually pounded for the 9 goals on the 37 shots he faced (I actually can't remember a goalie being left in after being lit up like that since Patty Roy was with the Habs....who coincidentally demanded a trade from Montreal following the game). While the entire Sabres lineup chipped in, team scoring leader from last year, Maxim Afinogenov continues his crusade this season, and contributed a goal and four assists in the game. His goal exemplified why the Flyers are falling apart right now, as he skated the entire team, including splitting the defensemen and finished by walking in on Esche untouched and completely pantsing him.
The Flyers who have won only one game so far, have a lot of work to do. Their power play sucks. They can't set it up, and can barely gain the zone (granted they were playing the Sabres who are just on top of their game right now, but the Flyers stats on special teams were dreadful prior to this game). The new 'slimmed down' Derian Hatcher should keep on slimming, because his 12 pounds of lost weight did little to help him keep up with the speed of the Sabres forward corps. Much work to do in Philly.
Quick Shave:
Vive le Habs! Everyonce in a while NHL Center Ice tosses us the French broadcast of the Montreal Canadiens games, and last night was just such an evening. It's very cool listening to the game in another language and really only takes a minute to adjust before you understand what they are saying. The Habs and Flames provided a barn burner last night, which saw the Canadiens win 5-4. The Calgary Flames did find some scoring in the game, but once again fell short. What I find odd is that when the game is tight and the Flames can't buy a goal, Kipprusoff shuts the door on their opponents, but when they do light the lamp, Kipprusoff is average at best. I think their is a mathematical formula for that (similiar to the equation which compares Pierre MacGuire's anger to the size of his mini-sin bin between the benches on Hockey Night in Canada). The Phoenix Coyotes made thier second appearance in the win column last night.....they beat the St. Louis Blues....yeah. The Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers traded home and home wins by identical scores this week.
Game of the Night:
New Jersey at Pittsburgh 7:30 PM
Malkin returns tonight! Come on, you have to watch this game! The much travelled son of the Penguins makes his NHL debut this evening against the New Jersey Devils. As my boy Stache said the other day, its up to Marty Brodeur to break in another young Penguin superstar. Good Luck Marty! Enjoy the games!
Your friend on ice,
Captain Bosh
Comments
Awesome drawings, dude. Awesome.
Since you probably wrote this before the game finished, allow me to chip in this morning and say that not only did the Sharks beat the previously undefeated Stars, but they shut them out 2-0 to boot. Nabokov got his second SO of the year and Michalek and Bell had the goals. Credit San Jose's defense as the Stars outshot them 32-23 (14-4 in the 2nd. Damn!). I have a feeling these two teams are going to bash heads all season long...
Saw most of the Sabres game and here's what I don't get: haven't teams figured them out yet? It ain't like Buffalo's sneaking up on anyone this year. Their speed shouldn't come as a surprise at this point. And yet they just blew past the Sabres at every step. I don't think the Flyers, nor Esche, are out and out awful but yeah...they've got a ways to go. Seems all the talk is about their defense, but I've yet to see the Forsberg who can dominate a game by himself and I'm still of the opinion that this team will turn when/if he does. At any rate, Canes come in to Buffalo on Friday. Woo hoo!
Have I said before how much I miss having Centre Ice? Even with all the biased hometeam announcers, it's still the greatest thing of all time. Guess I'll listen to the Pens game on the internet and see Malkin in action for the first time next Tuesday on VS.
Posted by: Stache | October 18, 2006 07:03 AM
Pierre Mc-Scare-The-Shit-Out-Of-You is an NBC announcer and is not a part of HNIC (Gott se Danke)
They don't cover away Penguins games, 'Stache? Huh...FSN Detroit covers the entire wings season, including away games. We even get the golden voice of Mickey Redman for home games and Larry Murphy for away games.
I think it would be:
KIPPtalent=(1/FLAMESscore)NHLg
with KIPPtalent being the skill level of Kippersof that day, FLAMEscore being the number of goals that the flames have scored, and NHLg being the base talent level of a goalie who's made it to the NHL.
Interestingly, when the flames have scored no goals, then
KIPPtalent= (NHLg/0).
Therefore, when the Flames haven't scored a goal, KIPPtalent is infinite. Which might explain a lot.
I know, I know...I'm a dork.
Posted by: jeff | October 18, 2006 08:38 AM
Thanks for the recap Stache, and the kudos on the art. I had pretty much finished the article before the 3rd period started in San Jose. I was fearing another Nabokov collapse again (i have him in one of my leagues), but his save in the third off of Sydor (i think) was nothing short of DiPietro-esque (that is very sarcastic!
Jeff thanks for the equations!! That is hilarious. I saw MacGuire on TSN the other night, I'm almost certain of it, but I was flipping channels between 8 games so I could be mistaken. Regardless, he looked more angry than ever!
Sucks that you can't catch the Malkin debut Stache....you need to address that cable network issue soon. I'll do my best to bring you solid coverage.
Posted by: Captain Bosh | October 18, 2006 09:04 AM
Very nice job with the equation, agreed.
Bosh this is probably of no concern to you, but I noticed yahoo has streamed live games every now and then this season. I watched the shootout between the Leafs and Devils last week right here on this very computer. It was a Toronto feed, and I'm assuming TSN since I saw Tie Domi's battered mug amongst the analysts in the post-game wrap up. So for those reading who might also be S.O.L. with the Center Ice package like me and live hundreds of miles away from their favorite team like me, check yahoo. The video quality of the stream was excellent, as well.
Posted by: Stache | October 18, 2006 11:17 AM
Do you normally listen on NHL.com? Or do you have XM radio?
Posted by: Captain Bosh | October 18, 2006 11:49 AM
Or maybe through the Pens website?
I haven't checked the other teams, but the Wings stream a radio broadcast live on their site.
Huh. I thought HNIC was a CBC thing...does TSN have a channel? I've never seen him on HNIC when I've watched it this year, anyways.
Posted by: jeff | October 18, 2006 03:37 PM
OH SNAP. Flyers waived Baumgartner, Petr Nedved, and Dimitrakos today! DANG. Guess Bobby Clarke didn't take the 9-1 loss too easily. Have to imagine that at least one these dudes will get snatched up by another team, right? Maybe not with all the cap issues clubs have to deal with. Anyway:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2630827&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines
And yep, the Pens' website will stream a radio broadcast (with Mike Lange announcing, I believe) of the game. Haven't listened to one yet this year, but have in the past. Would much rather see it than hear it, but hockey's kind of fun to listen to on the radio. Like hearing the announcers really get to do their thing.
Posted by: Stache | October 18, 2006 04:27 PM
Nedved is really no surprise. When I heard he was relegated to 4th line duty, I knew his days were numbered. I never classified him as a 'hard working' forward and that is the mainstay of a checker. Nedved might be done after this.
Posted by: Captain Bosh | October 18, 2006 04:44 PM