Live from Sabres-Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH -- Welcome to Mellon Arena, where we have the Pittsburgh Penguins hosting the Hamilton, er, Buffalo Sabres. Just another hint to relax. As a story in The News will point out tomorrow, Jim Kelley never said the Sabres are in danger of moving. They are just up for sale, which has been true for sometime.

Anyway, we have some of the biggest stars facing off tonight. The Pens' combo of Evgeni Malkin (43 points) and Sidney Crosby (40) lead the NHL in scoring. Meanwhile, the Sabres have Thomas Vanek, who has almost literally been a one-man gang. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Vanek has the highest percentage of his team's goals in the league. He has 19 of Buffalo's 68 goals, or 27.9 percent.

The Sabres will need more than Vanek to beat the Penguins.

FIRST PERIOD

7:39 p.m.: Game on. And if it gets boring (unlikely, but you never know), feel free to get a tour of Derek Roy's house and my early morning Florida appearance (I only say that because it clearly follows a late night) with the folks from Panthers.com. I miss Fort Lauderdale.

7:47 p.m.: We already have the best (and worst) hit of the night: Andrej Sekera tries to slap the puck down the ice on a penalty kill, and he BLASTS Jason Pominville with the puck. Big "ooooo" from the sold-out Mellon Arena crowd.

7:51 p.m.: Vanek forces Brooks Orpik to take a penalty. For a story on the former East Amherst resident's health issues, click here.

7:57 p.m.: I can see why some think Malkin is better than Crosby. He just passed the puck to himself through his legs to get by Toni Lydman, then Ruslan Fedotenko buried the cross-ice pass to make it 1-0 with 10:23 left.

7:59 p.m.: That didn't take long. Derek Roy picks up Pittsburgh turnover, uses Nathan Gerbe as decoy on two-on-one and scores with 8:53 left. Gerbe is at team-high plus-3 this season.

8:08 p.m.: Petr Sykora goes around net, gives puck to Malkin, who feeds Fedotenko for his second of the night. 2-1 with 4:22 left.

Fun game so far, but the last time I was in here was Game Six of the Stanley Cup finals, so a bit of a letdown compared to Nicklas Lidstrom carrying the Cup in front of me.

8:17 p.m.: End of one, 2-1 Pittsburgh.

SECOND PERIOD

8:35 p.m.: Game on. Pens have a five-on-three for 1:22.

8:38 p.m.: Crosby's turn. Spots Kris Letang for one-timer to make it 3-1 1:31 in.

8:45 p.m.: Sabres' turn. Adam Mair throws puck at net, Dany Sabourin loses rebound, and Ales Kotalik pokes it home with 13:20 to go.

8:52 p.m.: Vanek interference, and bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. Five-on-three for two full minutes for Penguins with 10:46 left.

8:54 p.m.: Killed it.

9:05 p.m.: An "ugly" goal. Puck gets tipped to net, Paul Gaustad takes whack in the crease and Daniel Paille swoops in to knock it home.

9:14 p.m.: End of two, tied at 3.

THIRD PERIOD

9:32 p.m.: Game on.

9:39 p.m.: Vanek gets his 20th (!) to give Sabres a 4-3 lead with 13:38 left. Last season, Vanek didn't score his 10th goal until Dec. 15 and didn't reach 20 goals until Feb. 12.

9:59 p.m.: Sabres still hold one-goal lead with 4:35 left after killing another penalty. Penalty killers are the First Star, so far.

POSTGAME

The Sabres win, 4-3, to run winning streak to two games. They close road trip 2-1.

Lydman on Malkin-Crosby: "As long as we win, they can have all the highlights they want. We'll take the two points."

---John Vogl

Comments

[jan]

Nice effort by all parts of the team last night-- if they keep up this kind of effort, the'll have a shot at making the playoffs. I can't stand watching games on the Pens Network--- oops, Versus. I agree, they sing the praises of any other team but the Sabres. I hit the mute button when the games are on. Morning Joe, I agree with you on the Pens getting a lot of calls favoring Crybaby Crosby and company.

[Don H]

It was fun to watch them beat the Pens, the favorite team of Versus, Their announcers couldn't stop praising Crosby and Malkin. The Sabres won because everyone gave 100%+ and Miller made some great saves. The Sabres need those efforts every game to be a playoff contender.

[EM]

Too much babying on Sid the Kid. I loved it when the Pens are beaten esp. by the Sabres. Hope this will go on now that all lines are scoring. Or maybe they will become lazy again because they will play just against the worst team like before.

[Morning Joe]

Sean, I've been critical of individual players. Not the team itself, nor its coaching staff. The players I criticize regularly are not among the ones I praised in my previous post.

How's the view from that soapbox?

[Chad]

Michael, I wasn't going to say anything. Seriously. I know there will be nights where Miller plays terrible, others where he'll be great and even more where he'll be at various points in between. All I ask for is fairness from people, nothing more.

Re: Roy. He definitely seems to be heating up. I read a good article the other day that was of the opinion that Roy's start should be attributed, at least in part, to the fact he was putting way too much pressure on himself each night to prove he was good enough to play for Team Canada. By most accounts, he was a bubble player for Team Canada in 2010. That may or may not be true, but whatever it was it seems like he's hit his stride.

I think the most maddening part of the team, and the main thing that upsets a lot of the fans, is that we all know that they can be as good as they were tonight. It's not like they were playing way over their head tonight. We've seen this at other points of the season (vs Montreal, at NYR, vs Boston the night before T-giving, etc), just NOT CONSISTENTLY. It's an effort thing with these guys. When they want it badly, they look great. When they look disinterested, they're terrible and we wonder why they don't seem to care as much as we do. The Sabres just have to get the effort consistently and I think they're a playoff team (with even better days on the horizon). Effort takes no skill at all. Hopefully the Sabres bring the same intensity against Tampa and Toronto later this week.

We can play with the best. Now we just have to beat the worst more often.

[Sean]

Oh let me be a front runner too!!! This team is great, they are waking up, they know how to win now, they will win the cup, they are the greatest bunch of players ever assembled. You all make me sick. One night you want the whole team run out of town and the next you're right on the bandwagon. Typical Buffalo fans.

[michael]

OK, I'll admitt I've been very critical of this team well before the season began and especially of Miller, and even though I don't feel he deserved the huge contract he got I will confess that I thought he played great tonight. Yes Chad, I am admitting Miller looked great. The first 2 goals were definatly not soft Glen. Patrick Roy in his prime could not have stopped those. Horrible defense is to blame for those 2 goals, not Miller. I did not see the 3rd so I can't comment. This looked like a desperate team with something to prove. Roy played great, even though I'm not a huge fan and Gerbe is definatly talented. I still feel real strongly that they need a few more defensman. I can't stand turnover Tony Lydman and Numminan was a mistake right from the begining.

[Morning Joe]

You know, it pains me to say, and crow doesn't taste very good when you have to eat it, but Vanek is really impressive this year. Dare I say he looks like a real leader on this team. He's strong on the kill, and look who got the game-winner. Great job by him tonight. Also glad to see Roy stepping it up recently as well. And Miller played big tonight, along with the PK. Great team effort tonight.

Now, maybe it's the homer in me, but can the refs give the game to the Pens any more? Dubious at best calls most of the night. Anyone catch that cheap shot that Crosb... oh I'm sorry... Our Lord and Savior Sid the Kid threw at Hecht after the buzzer? Gutless punk. He'll get away with it to. Not to mention his pretty b!tch move chirping at the ref when he got tossed from the faceoff circle.

Keep it up Sabres. THIS IS HOW YOU WIN.

[Glen]

Well, no complaints tonight. Once Miller settled in, the game was ours! Great team effort!

[Glen]

It has been a very entertaining game so far! Gotta love Paulie putting the Pittsburgh player almost thru the wall! Really got to love the energy tonight!
Go SABRES!!!!

[Glen]

well, now that the rest of the team is waking up, we really have a great game now. The problem with Miller, as if you couldn't tell, I don't like him, is he sleeps thru portions of every game. He loses focus and allows soft goals. Hasek, never let a softy in, unless he was totally off his game, you don't see Broduer giving up garbage night after night. Ryan needs to stay focused for 60 minutes.

[Mat]

Chad, thanks for the heads up. I'll keep that in mind in the future:)

Don't get to watch many games living in NJ, but I'm pretty impressed with the effort tonight. The fact that they're tied with all the penalty trouble is remarkable. Good energy tonight.

[Chad]

Mat, Glen does this every game. It doesn't matter if God himself couldn't make the save, it's Miller's fault and the goal was "soft." Get used to it. They're a very vocal minority.

[Mat]

I hardly think either of the first two Pen goals were "soft" by any means. Most goalies would have been burned on both.

[Glen]

Well once again, same story for Miller, 2 soft goals, misplaying as all ways. Why, I have to wonder, is Lindy Ruff still going with that clown in goal? BENCH HIM FOR A FEW GAMES, REMIND HIM THAT THE GOAL JOB ISN'T HIS FOR FREE, HE NEEDS TO EARN IT! But the rest of the team is looking good. Loved Vanek's play on the power kill, resulted in another penalty, but he took time off the clock! showing leadership!!