some thanx need to go out...
to fate... for having drew stafford go down to injury and captain craig rivet go down to illness...in wishing no ill will towards any player (including anyone from the ottawa senators, toronto maple leafs and philadelphia flyers) the down-time for these two players seemed to help the team in two areas...
firstly, "la core" of top-six forwards was shaken up for more than just a shift, period or game...as has been mentioned before, the top-six were all of the same ilk--generally speaking, soft-but-skilled and lacking heart...stafford was the embodiment of that...you just can't have two-thirds of your top-six (stafford and tim connolly) wussing out and failing to put it on the line...in addition, thomas vanek was flustered in his attempt to bust through a wall this season, his frustration leading to bouts of coasting, and that's half of your top-six...
stafford going down allowed for young-gun tyler ennis to reclaim a spot next to derek roy on the top-line with vanek taking the other wing...ennis, who has danny gare-like qualities, had been plying his trade in the bottom-six because there was no room at the top...how did ennis respond?...by schooling jean-sebastian giguere for the game-winning/sabres winless streak ending goal:
since that line has been together, the sabres have gone 4-0-1, all games going past regulation moving the team from the bottom of the eastern conference to 10th place...ennis (3 goals, +4,) roy (2 goals, 6 assists +7) and vanek (2 goals, 4 assists +5) combined for 7 goals and 10 assists and are a whopping +16...they also came through in the clutch...ennis vs. toronto (see above,) roy got the game-winning shoot-out goal vs. new jersey and thomas vanek gave the "how-do-you-do" to the capitals in ot on the espn #1 highlight:
then followed it up by harassing vancouver canucks defenseman dan hamhuis into a giveaway that leads to tyler myers' game-winner in overtime:
on the back end, the embattled, oft-injured, recently benched and food poisoned/flu-bit craig rivet has been out of the line-up since the toronto game...kind of a good thing too...
this is nothing against him and his style of play, but with both him and shaone morrison in the line-up, that's two heavy-chevy's in an increasingly faster nhl...his abscence wouldn't be that prevalent vs. the nj devils or the ny rangers (one win and one ot loss,) but the washington capitals and vancouver canucks represented porsche's in the nhl...the defense for the sabres became much more mobile and as a result the team was able to skate with both teams...the result?...the sabres get their first home win of the season vs. the caps in overtime and follow that up with an end-to-end speed-rush-duel victory in overtime vs. the canucks...
other factors in the alignment of the stars for the sabres:
- jason pomminville getting back into game-shape after his bout with a concussion and stabalized an inept pk
- jhonas enroth holding the fort while ryan miller went down, especially vs. toronto in the shoot-out (see above)...his numbers weren't anything to speak of, but the team seemed to "find it's legs" while playing in front of the rookie net-minder and he came up big when it was necessary...
- matt ellis gets the call from portland to add some size and grit on the fourth line and plays really well
all-in-all, the sabres are out of the cellar, next stop, .500 hockey...
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