The "Official Playoff" Sens @ Sabres game 5 - Gameday thread!

[Mitchy moo]

GO SABRES!!

Senators seek to send top-seeded Sabres packing

Matchup
	W-L-OTL	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF
OTT	48-25-9	25-13-3	23-12-6	19-10-3	44-20-8
BUF	53-22-7	28-10-3	25-12-4	18-11-3	47-19-6
· Complete Standings

Team Stat Comparison
45	Goals	42
29	Goals Against	36
14	Power Play Goals	10
8	Power Play Goals Allowed	14
2	Shorthanded Goals	0
0	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	1
178	Penalty Minutes	154
13	Average Penalty Minutes	10

Goalie Breakdown
	GOALIE	GP	W	TGA	GAA	SO	SV	SV%
	Ray Emery	14	11	29	1.97	3	323	.918
	Ryan Miller	15	9	35	2.19	0	429	.925

Team Stat Leaders
G	Daniel Alfredsson 9	Chris Drury 8
A	Dany Heatley 13	Daniel Briere 10
PTS	Dany Heatley 18	Daniel Briere 13
PIM	Chris Phillips 20	Daniel Briere 16
SOG	Daniel Alfredsson 52	Daniel Briere 45

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Disappointed in letting the Sabres off the hook once, Ray Emery and the Ottawa Senators arrived in Buffalo on Friday confident they won't let that happen again.
"Not to take anything away from them, they had their backs against the wall and performed," the Senators goaltender said. "But we still believe we control our own destiny. And if we play our game, we're a very tough team to beat, and we'll win more often than not."
The Senators, with a 3-1 lead on the Sabres in the Eastern Conference finals, will get their second crack at clinching their first Stanley Cup finals berth in Game 5 at Buffalo on Saturday afternoon.
Rather than being down following a 3-2 loss on Wednesday, the Senators sounded more resolved to end this best-of-seven series.
"It's not pressure. We're excited," Emery said. "We've been playing well. We're in the present, we don't care what we did in the past."
The Sabres, meanwhile, are hoping to draw upon whatever good feelings they've generated after finally figuring out a way to beat their division rivals.
"We've heard a lot of rumors that it was over," Sabres co-captain Daniel Briere said. "I think we gained a lot of confidence in Game 4, realizing we can still make plays, can still win games. We still believe."
In an attempt to continue nurturing his team's confidence, coach Lindy Ruff made sure to remind everyone that the top-seeded Sabres -- a team that led the NHL in the regular season with 53 wins and 308 goals -- didn't get this far by chance.
"We're not an 8th seed that snuck into the playoffs," Ruff said. "We're a team that went out and had a very good season. We won 10 games in a row. We've put together real good streaks, and we have to put one together again."
Trouble is, the Sabres haven't played like the superior team.
The Senators are 11-3 this postseason, and have yet to lose two in a series after needing five games to dispatch both Pittsburgh and New Jersey in the first two rounds.
Against Buffalo, Ottawa holds the edge in goals (12-8) shots (131-94) and resilience. Ottawa rallied from a two-goal deficit to pull out a 4-3 double-overtime win in Game 2, and nearly overcame a three-goal deficit on Wednesday.
"We've got a great chance to end it and that's what we want to do," Senators defenseman Wade Redden said. "Last game, I don't think we had that same energy, but they certainly did. We'll be better tomorrow for sure."
The Sabres would be done by now if not for Ryan Miller's stellar goaltending. Miller stopped 31 shots to prevent a blowout in a 1-0 loss in Game 3 and stopped another 31 to prevent a Senators sweep on Wednesday.
"They thought they had us in a down-and-out situation, but now they find us having a little more life than they were probably hoping for," Miller said. "I think we have a lot of hockey left to play in us. We'll have to wait to see where it leads us."
Miller played a key role in shutting out the Senators' top line of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza, which didn't register a point for the first time this postseason.
"Well, he was good, but I don't think he was unbelievable," Spezza said of Miller. "I don't think he stole the game. We missed the net a lot on some quality chances."
The Senators say they might have been caught looking ahead in Game 4.
The Sabres believe their struggles are the result of playing under the weight of high expectations -- pegged as Cup contenders since September.
That burden isn't there, now.
"We're not looking at it as if, 'We lose, we're done.' We don't want to play scared," Briere said. "We want to go out there and still have fun and play loose."
The Sabres are attempting to bounce back from two home losses, and avoid losing three home games in a series for the fourth time in franchise playoff history, and first since losing a six-game series to Washington in the 1998 East finals.
The Sabres will likely have one lineup change, with right wing Dainius Zubrus -- among the Sabres best defensive forwards this postseason -- unlikely to play with what's being described as a lower-body injury.

thx to: ESPN

[Michael82]

:oldskool:

[CuseJetsFan83]

lets go buff-a-lo!

[LABillsFan]

You go Skooby,

GOS ABRES (The latin version)

[YardRat]

[shelby]

i still believe!
:oldskool::oldskool::oldskool::oldskool::oldskool:

[RedEyE]

Somethings that I'd like to see:

1) Stay out of the box. Sometimes penalties can't be avoided but Buffalo simply cannot afford to give the Senators any advantages. Player exhaustion was plainly evident during the last half of the 3rd in game 4.

2) Drive the puck in rather then slapping it down the boards. The Sabres have not been doing a great job of avoiding the defensive traps and have become excessively lazy beacuse of it. Keep the puck moving, spread the defense and keep it off the boards in Ottawa's zone as much as possible. The Senators play better defensively off the wall.

3) Hit the net. We need around 30 shots on goal just to stay in this game. No fancy ****, just basic, goalie crushing, puck slinging hockey. This team tries to finesse the puck agianst the Senators waaaay too much. Ottawa rarley bites on the pretty plays. Just blast Emery (preferably high) and hope the puck bounces our way.

4) Win more faceoffs. Ottawa has won a little over 60% of the faceoffs in this series so far. That's down right disgusting. I'm not saying that the Sabres need to win that much, but at least even th board on faceoffs and give your team more oppotunity to make a play.

5) Power Play: Better effort holding the puck at the point. All post season long I've watched the puck skip past the point as he fails to hold it in the zone again and again. this isn't because opposing teams have played the penaty kill better, it's because the Sabres are taking their eye off the puck, looking for the next play and whiffing on the zone hold. Better play at the point will create more scoring chances and put some well deserved pressure on Emery for a change.


Also, forecheck the **** out of that Alferedson line. Wear their asses out.

[Mitchy moo]

Somethings that I'd like to see:

1) Stay out of the box. Sometimes penalties can't be avoided but Buffalo simply cannot afford to give the Senators any advantages. Player exhaustion was plainly evident during the last half of the 3rd in game 4.

2) Drive the puck in rather then slapping it down the boards. The Sabres have not been doing a great job of avoiding the defensive traps and have become excessively lazy beacuse of it. Keep the puck moving, spread the defense and keep it off the boards in Ottawa's zone as much as possible. The Senators play better defensively off the wall.

3) Hit the net. We need around 30 shots on goal just to stay in this game. No fancy ****, just basic, goalie crushing, puck slinging hockey. This team tries to finesse the puck agianst the Senators waaaay too much. Ottawa rarley bites on the pretty plays. Just blast Emery (preferably high) and hope the puck bounces our way.

4) Win more faceoffs. Ottawa has won a little over 60% of the faceoffs in this series so far. That's down right disgusting. I'm not saying that the Sabres need to win that much, but at least even th board on faceoffs and give your team more oppotunity to make a play.

5) Power Play: Better effort holding the puck at the point. All post season long I've watched the puck skip past the point as he fails to hold it in the zone again and again. this isn't because opposing teams have played the penaty kill better, it's because the Sabres are taking their eye off the puck, looking for the next play and whiffing on the zone hold. Better play at the point will create more scoring chances and put some well deserved pressure on Emery for a change.


Also, forecheck the **** out of that Alferedson line. Wear their asses out.

wow, real nice RE.

[casdhf]

Drury needs to score twice.

[MTBillsFan]

Let's get some legislation done and kick the sens A$$

[Michael82]

LET'S GO BUFFALO!!! :oldskool:

[Meathead]

1) pp
b) ee

[Jan Reimers]

I've got my Sabres flag flying, my Afinogenov sweater on, and my victory vodka chilling.

Where would you rather be than right here, right now!

Go Sabres!

[shelby]

1) pp
b) ee

2)

[Meathead]

2)

mikey knows

[shelby]

Rumor has it Mikey can't find his sausage

Ah whatever...:oldskool:

[Meathead]

wow great comeback you win

1) power play
b) everything else

if they dont get a pp goal they will lose. they havent punished them for penalties yet and thats an advantage the sens will likely exploit, again, if they dont

[Bufftp]

Go Sabres Go :oldskool:

[YardRat]

:oldskool:

[kgun12]

Ok boys let's do something new, show the Sens and the rest of the NHL a

WHOLE 60 MINUTES!!!

That would be good SCARY GOOD!!!