The Hype-Machine Is Starting To Get Cranked Up

The 2011 version of the Big Bad Boston Bruins comes rolling into the F'N Center tonight.

The spoked B's are red-hot having won nine in a row and they're looking to make it 10 vs. a team that they smoked less than two weeks ago.

We all remember the game, we all remember the Milan Lucic hit on Ryan Miller. We also remember how the Sabres reacted, or more precisely, failed to react. Every team in the NHL knows that the Sabres can be thrown off of their game. They know that they can get inside of Miller's head, and the collective Sabres head, with some old-school intimidation.

In defense of Lindy Ruffs club, they're not total pantie-waists. They've managed, on a few occasions, to stand up for themselves to various degrees. But the epic fail in the first Bruins/Sabres meeting furthers the point that the Sabres are merely a soft-but-skilled team lacking the proper amount of testosterone to be anything more than a pretender.

So how do the Sabres approach this game?

Quite the quandary for Ruff. He does not have the tools with which to pull off a UFC-style grudge match. The closest thing he has to an enforcer would be Cody McCormick, and he's out with an injury as is another no-nonsense guy, Mike Weber.

There's mention of Paul Gaustad. He, like the team, shows up on occasion to drop the gloves and basically take one for the team. He was disappointed with his own reaction to the events that occurred previously and surely would like to show that he actually has a set.

With all due respect to "Goose," I'm not sure that he has enough internal fury to look at Lucic with shear hatred and embark on a "knock-down-drag 'em-out" with one of the toughest customers in the league. Being infuriated and fighting Lucic would probably mean a sound ass-kicking for Gaustad, but fans would give him props for the effort.

Patrick Kaleta might engage. But, Lucic would like nothing more than to put a severe beating on a player like Kaleta who's universally hated outside of Buffalo for his style of play.

Let's face it, the Sabres can't even come close to matching what Lucic, Shawn Thorton, Adam McQuaid and even Zdeno Chara bring to the cage-match.

So if you can't beat them down, what's the next approach?

How about trying to play your game? How about going for the two points playing an up-tempo game in attack-mode?

That could work. But the Sabres would need to show that they can beat a hot goalie. And Tim Thomas is red-hot with three shutouts in his last five starts.

Even so. Let's say the Sabres do manage to pot a few goals early. There's always the original premise of the Lucic hit:  the Sabres can be thrown off of their game with some brute physicality.

To say the Bruins are a tough team would be putting it mildly. And not only that, they are the king of the hill, the defending Stanley Cup Champions. They have all the tools to repeat and the confidence that goes along with being champion.

The Sabres, on the other hand, have 13 playoff games to their resume' in the last four years.

It's a daunting task in front of the Sabres, so maybe it would be best if they forget the hype, forget about the token fight to start the game, and just lay the body on the B's when the opportunity arises.

Physicality has a way of bringing out a fire within that normally lays dormant in passive play. It also has a way of getting the adrenaline pumping which is a good thing on both ends of the ice.

A player that has gotten little print in this whole thing, Robyn Regehr, put it this way, "There's certain things that happen spontaneously and so be it. It happens when you're playing a good hard physical aggressive game. I don't think there's going to be any sort of premeditated stuff."

Regehr is not a fighter, per se, but he's never backed down from fisticuffs. And although he doesn't have a letter stitched to his jersey in Buffalo, he is a leader and will do what's necessary for the team.





Even though the hype-machine will be cranking, and the call will be for Buffalo to go old-school and show their manhood, in the end the Sabres need to score one more goal than the Bruins.

After all, that's what it comes down to. It's a four-point game for the division lead tonight, and a victory against a red-hot division rival can only be a good thing.

Eventually, the opportunity for redemption will reveal itself. Whether it's tonight or in any of the remaining games between the clubs the rest of the season.

One can only hope that when the opportunity arises, the team will show it has the courage to stand up for themselves and their teammates. They're not going to wipe the collective smirk off of the Bruins face tonight, but a hard-fought win will at least garner them some respect and give a boost to their confidence.