Im starving, so this one will be relatively short.

We deserved the win, they didnt. Id say we outplayed them for nearly 75% of this game and should have at least had this one go to overtime. The 3rd goal, theres nothing you can do about it, perfect, (And might i add, beautiful) pass by Stafford, and Vanek buries that every time. Sure, it was a poor matchup for the Rangers, but thats what happens when you have such a deep team against any other in the NHL.

So why did we lose? 2 words. Marek Malik.

Malik actually wasnt horrible that 1 play non-withstanding. He made a few nice poke checks, and had some decent positioning, and pinched, and didnt pinch pretty well.

However that 1, horrible horrible horrible play just killed this team. As Bauer from the ECSF message board said:

When I saw that play by Malik and the goal, I knew we would lose. It deflated me as a fan and I am as rah rah as you will get. Professionals or not, that kills them.

I have played on teams when someone makes a mistake of that proportion and it just kills your mentality as a team. Especially when you are going against a Buffalo with a hot Miller as you state

That pretty much summarizes my opinion of the play.

Yes, Ryan Miller was outstanding, far better than I gave him credit for. However, to me, the play that lost us the game was the giveaway. Once I saw that, I knew we would lose. If the goal had been like the Buffalo 3rd goal, I would have said were still gonna win. Because thats just a great play, you tip your cap, and move on. However when you shoot yourself in the foot (or head in this case) like that, youre going to suffer for it.

Next year, if we can replace Malik with this guy:

And Rachunek with this guy:

We should be even harder to play against.

By the way, Isbister looked great out there, id just replace Hollweg with Ortmeyer and Ill be happy.

See you Sunday. No more predictions for me.

-Inferno

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Ok, so that was why I felt so confident that the Rangers could, and will be the Sabres. Did you see it? One word folks, CONTAINMENT. This is what I saw in the Sabres game that did not impress me, you can contain them, they try the same plays all the damn time. This 3-man give and go, the “pass-arounds”, and a number of set plays that dictate their pace to the game. As Sean Avery was saying, this can be contained with a man high. If you send 2 guys deep, and keep a 3rd up high, you can neutralize those plays, and still play an out-in offensive game. Now don’t get me wrong, even though I have the utmost confidence in this team (now), I still feel that this thing could go south if another c-word comes to play. That is complacency. Buffalo is phenomenal when you sit back and let them attack, the key is getting the puck down low with the 2-man forecheck, and attack them with point shots with the men up high.

It’s doable. You are seeing why.

-Inferno

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Even though the Rangers are getting their chances, and even held a short lead in this game, I am not talking about their performance. I am talking about the reffing difference between Game 1, and Game 2. This game is being called much much poorer in my personal opinion. They are “letting them play”, but by doing so are certainly letting some pretty blatant stuff go, on both sides. Though I feel this is favoring the Sabres a bit more, because they have gotten away with at least 3 ridiculously blatant hooks on Jaromir Jagr that have gone uncalled.

I dont care how you call these games, but a modicum of consistency is not too much to ask for is it?

-Inferno

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