The Haves and the Habs not
Janne Niinimaa predicted a win tonight. Chris Drury and the Buffalo Sabres gave him one. Niinimaa's prediction that the Sabres undefeated streak would end in Montreal last night fell apart when Buffalo continued to show why they have dominated so far through speed, stingy defense, and great goaltending.
Chirs Drury's NHL leading 10th goal, a short-handed tally, gave the Sabres a 2-0 lead and they never looked back, finishing off the Montreal Canadiens 4-1. Goaltender Ryan Miller stopped all but one of the 28 shots he faced and is tied for the NHL lead with 6 wins, but is the only keeper in that group not in the Loss column. The Buffalo Sabres have now started the season 9-0 and are just one victory away from tying the record for undefeated starts with 10 set by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1994. The Buffalo Sabres carry their win streak to Long Island where they will face the Islanders on Thursday night.
Not surprisingly, the Sabres players are topping the NHL leader board. The top three scorers in the NHL are Maxim Afinogenov(5 goals, 9 assists) and Chris Drury(10 goals, 4 assists) with 14 points, and Thomas Vanek(6 goals, 7 assists) with 13 points. Captain Daniel Briere has 12 points (2 goals, 10 assists).
Quick Shave:
Vesa Toskala of the San Jose Sharks is making a strong bid that he should be the number one keeper. The Sharks have been platooning (I love that term) goalies Vesa Toskala and Evgeni Nabokov since the season's start, and Toskala has yet to yield a loss for his team. Last night he shut out the Columbus Blue Jackets enroute to a 3-0 victory. Atlanta Thrashers star forward Ilya Kovalchuk has bounced back from a slow start and is starting to put the puck in the net. Kovalchuk was the latest player to join the NHL Hat Trick club as his three scores helped his team to a 6-3 victory over the Florida Panthers. The Colorado Avalanche rebounded from a rough showing in Montreal Saturday night and the L.A. Kings payed the price. Milan Hejduk scored 2 goals, and Peter Budaj, in relief of the recently shelled Jose Theodore backstopped the Avs to a 6-1 victory, making 27 saves in the match. Joe Sakic had two assists and is one point away from joining the 1,500 club.
Game of the Night:
New Jersey at Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Ottawa at Toronto 7:30 PM
I'm a little torn here. The Penguins are just so much fun to watch, and Malkin so far has answered the hype, scoring 3 goals in his first 3 games. Martin Broduer will be looking to return to form after being yanked Saturday night against the Senators. Speaking of the Senators, was their goal outburst Saturday a fluke, or a return to normalcy? I guess we'll find out agains the Maple Leafs tonight. Canadian broadcasts are the best.
Your friend on ice,
Captain Bosh
Comments
You know what must be nice? Mrs. Stache has Ryan Miller AND Vesa Toskala on her fantasy team. She's murderlizing us with those two!
Not unlike the Sabres are murderlizing the league. Huet takes some of the blame for the loss last night (that first goal was a killer) but Niinima has to shoulder some of it as well. If you're going to make a prediction like that then YOU personally have to go out there and at least give it YOUR personal best. Seriously, did this guy do a damn thing to contribute for the Habs last night? I didn't notice him at all and could say the same for Alexi Kovalev, save for a few penalties he took. Kovey is an enigma wrapped in a pilot's license and aviator shades. I don't get that guy's inconsistency.
The question now is who is going to be the team that first beats these Sabres? My answer is it will be the team that can pound them physically and not get burned doing it. The Canadiens did this for a while last night and it generated some chances, but the physical pressure has to be sustained against Buffalo. I've seen the Islanders twice and thought they looked bland and unimpressive - and yet they got points in both games, one of which was a win against the Canes. I don't know how they're doing it so it might as well be them to take down the Sabres.
Phoenix is officially the worst team in hockey. I don't care if Philly has fewer points, the Coyotes are a sad sack of a club right now. Poor Gretz.
And what's going on with the Jackets? They're slipping like the elderly on a wet tile floor. Too much talent on that team for this kind of start; Gallant better get it together or Ken Hitchcock might start looking really tempting as a replacement...
Watch the Pens!
Posted by: Stache | October 24, 2006 07:46 AM
I told you this over email Stache....
The only team that can beat the Sabres.....is the Sabres.
Posted by: Captain Bosh | October 24, 2006 10:19 AM
Honestly, I'm not even convinced the Sabres could beat themselves the way they're playing right now.
But when do they play the Coyotes?
Also, check your stats there Cap'n. Looks like Hossa sneaked into the scoring lead last night. Ten goals and five assists. At least it's not Kovalchuk, though I have a feeling he'll be there before too long. I hate that dude.
Posted by: Stache | October 24, 2006 02:42 PM
Sorry about the stat mixup guys....but if you read the fine print, I only promise 20% accuracy.....therefore my margin of error is....well pretty big! It's hard to say how many Labatt's I had prior to the article also.....which could mean that Nedved could very well be a leading scorer next week. So....
Jeff, we need a mathematical equation for the number of Labatt Blues it will take to make Nedved the leading NHL scorer, and have Stache buy it as fact. GO!
Posted by: Captain Bosh | October 24, 2006 11:38 PM
I will NEVER buy Nedved as the leading score of the Dragons, much less the NHL.
Never!! Equations be damned!
Posted by: Stache | October 25, 2006 07:13 AM