A Valiant Effort



Paul Gaustad knew what needed to be done. Or felt that he needed to challenge Milan Lucic. And he did on their first shift. And he took a pretty good beating. Good thing it was real early, Lucic wasn't warmed up yet, “It was my first shift, you know,’’ he said. “It’s kinda tough to get angry.’’



The girls' reaction in the second row says it all.
Everyone knew what Gaustad was in for
tangling with Milan Lucic, but it didn't matter.
The effort was appreciated
througout Buffalo.



Gaustad earned some respect, though. As did the Sabres even though they eventually dropped a 4-3 decision to Boston in a shootout.

After the game, Lucic was asked about Gaustad and the fight, "It was straight to the point," he said. Teammate Chara gave props to Goose, "You have to give Gaustad credit," Chara said. "He's a stand-up guy and he did a good job for his team. So did Looch."

Gaustad and the team earned back the respect of their fans as well. The 18,690 in attendance and those of us watching loved it, even though they knew the outcome of the Goose/Looch fight. As John Vogl of the Buffalo News put it, "What mattered was their team was back from the land of kittens and custard."

Goose also came in mid-way through the first to pound Brad Marchand into the boards after Marchand nailed Nathan Gerbe with a check. The B's descended upon Goose and Corey Tropp like a pack of wolves with fists flying. Amongst the Bruins on the ice were some pretty tough customers like Adam McQuaid and Johnny Boychuk.





Out of the melee' came Zdeno Chara and Robyn Regehr. Regehr, who's not the greatest fighter took some lumps from the 6'9" Chara, but managed to sneak in a punch or two himself.

Regehr has always been well respected throughout the league, and it's a good thing he was out there.

The Sabres as a team acquitted themselves very well in what turned out to be an old-school, Adams Division-type rumble for a period and a half. The played some pretty inspired hockey and they didn't back down despite the fact that they were clearly outnumbered in the manly-man category.

For as small as he is,
Nathan Gerbe's heart can
fill the entire F'N Center.

Gerbe, the shortest player in the ice, had eight hits on the game, which isn't all that surprising considering that's the game he plays, "That's fun to play, I'll tell you that much," said the Sabres forward. "Those games are awesome. It's fun to play. It's fun to compete."

That attitude, along with Gaustad manning up early, got their blood pumping to the point where they lead the game by two goals twice, 2-0 and 3-1, but just couldn't bury the defending Stanley Cup Champions with that third one.

Nor could they protect a one-goal lead in the third. Nor could they score in overtime or the shootout.

But all-in-all they played one of their best games of the season, especially in the first period.

For all the purported skill Darcy Regier was supposed to have stocked the team with, they're still not quite as skilled as he believes them to be.

Thomas Vanek scored on a wicked wrist shot to put the Sabres up 2-0. He's got mad skills, although he'd love to have the shot that Chara blocked back. Maybe put some air under it.

Christian Ehrhoff showed why the Sabres went after him. His game-opening goal was a blast from the point through a thick screen in front of Tim Thomas.

Other than that, lack of finish still seems to haunt this team.

The Bruins are a tough match-up for the Sabres. The B's beat them the first time with intimidation and the second time with just a little more skill and finish.

It's not an egregious mismatch, by any stretch, but a tweak or two may be in order if they want to match up with the champs.

The Sabres should in no way hang their heads after their defeat. They gave it all they had, and now need to find it within themselves to sustain that level of play they showed in the first period and a half throughout an entire game.

Although Brad Marchand got leveled
by Thomas Vanek on this play,
he got up and scored seconds later.
The mark of a champion.

There's no better team than the Boston Bruins to emulate now. They had their Lucic/Ryan Miller moment when Marc Savard was nailed by Matt Cooke and there was no response. Eventually they did with Shawn Thorton going after Cooke. And from then on they built themselves into a Stanley Cup Champion.

It's a long way to Tipperary, and these two games with the Bruins showed just how far the Sabres need to go. The team has some really solid pieces, strong goaltending and some skill up-front. They proved last night, as they've proven on more than one occasion before, that they can play a physical game.

They just need a piece or two to be able to come out on top in an Adams Division-type rumble.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jochen Hecht made his debut last night and showed his savvy. He had Mike Grier-like moments last night where he somehow got in on Thomas only to be denied.

Sabres d-man TJ Brennan
celebrates his first goal in
his first NHL game.

TJ Brennan got thrown into the fire and played a real strong game. He was strong on the puck in his own end and moved the puck out of trouble on a number of occasions. His goal, in his first NHL game, was a combination of savvy and skill as he jumped into an opening and buried his shot from the slot.

~~~~~~~~~~

From bostonherald.com:

If Lucic-Miller was the big story of the previous Bruins-Sabres meeting in Boston, Brad Marchand’s interactions with Sabres forward Derek Roy was an interesting sub-plot. Throughout that game, Marchand pestered Roy with little shoves and hooks before and after the whistle, and non-stop trash talk.



“He does a good job at it,” said Roy. “There are only a few guys in the league who can do what he does.


“It doesn’t bother me. People have being doing that stuff to me since was a kid. You’re used to it and you just shrug it off. You can’t worry about what he’s doing on the ice, just what you’re trying to do.”

It should be interesting to note that with the Sabres up 3-2 early in the third period, Roy was called for hooking behind the Buffalo net. Zdeno Chara scored on the ensuing powerplay to tie up the game.