--poor passing?...check
--34 shots against?...check
--inept powerplay?...check
--primo shot against on the powerplay?...check
--a boatload of turnovers?...check
--late penalty against?...check
--predictablility...check
Just another night.
This could be a blog that has "Whiner Line" written all over it. But, we're not going to go there.
This isn't the 2011-12 season with a Sabres team heavy on veterans with playoff aspirations.
The team Buffalo iced last night was young. Real young. Three teenagers and a total of five rookies, were playing against the Detroit Red Wings, one of the best organization in all of sports. On the road no less.
Buffalo's youngins had a severe case of the jitters early on last night, but eventually settled down enough to make it close in a 2-1 loss at The Joe.
Zemgus Girgensons, all of 19 years old, had the lone goal for the Sabres while three other rookies--19-yr. old Mikhail Grigorenko, Mark Pysyk and Brian Flynn--were on the ice when he scored it.
Rasmus Ristolainen, the Sabres 18-yr. old rookie defenseman, had a rough go early on but began to settle down as the game went along.
It's only the first game of the season, but some trends we've been seeing for years reared their ugly heads.
Like the powerplay.
The Sabres haven't had a powerplay finish much higher than respectable since 2007. There's no sense of urgency, no compete and poor passing.
Last night they went 0-7 including two 5-on-3's, one for 1:31 the other for :52.
Granted, not much attention was paid to special teams this preseason and they have a new coach in charge of it--Teppo Numminen.
Still, a performance like that is inexcusable, especially from a first powerplay unit that featured veterans Thomas Vanek and Christian Ehrhoff as well as Tyler Myers, Tyler Ennis and Cody Hodgson.
One can understand having problems with plays, but there's no excuses for lack of compete.
“I blame it on execution of our power play," said co-captain Steve Ott, "and that’s our veteran guys. We know that we’re going to have to lead the team, especially the power-play guys."
We've been hearing a variation on that theme for years.
 |
| Christian Ehrhoff (l) skates towards a a group of rookies to help celebrate Zemgus Girgensons' (#28) first NHL goal. Also in the group, Brian Flynn (second from left,) Mark Pysyk and Mikhail Grigorenko (r). (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) |
Numminen has his work cut out for him.
That being said, some individual performances from the youngins were pretty strong.
In addition to Girgensons goal, 21 yr. old d-man Mark Pysyk had a good game and showed some really strong puck-moving ability as he took the puck from his own end and weaved through a bevy of Wings to get the puck deep in their end.
Grigorenko had an inconsistent game, but his skill level--which was on display at times--is off the hook.
Other notes: Hank Tallinder looked every bit of 33-yrs. old, Drew Stafford still hasn't gotten "it," Ennis was a water bug, without any points, Ryan Miller kept the team in the game (as usual,) Vanek hit a post (a recurring theme lately) and Myers is still struggling albeit not as much as the last two seasons.
The Sabres have a brutal stretch to open the season.
On Friday Ottawa comes to town then they travel to Pittsburgh for a back-to-back.
Tuesday it's a home date vs. Tampa, an offensive powerhouse, Thursday vs. a much improved Columbus Blue Jackets team.
On Saturday, Oct 12, travel to Chicago to face the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
It's "into the fire" for the youngins. Which is a good thing.
Zemgus Girgensons' first goal:
No comments:
Post a Comment