The road back to the Eastern Conference playoff race will be long and hard but hey, the Buffalo Sabres have to start somewhere, no?
Returning from the All-Star break after a full week off, the Sabres did something they hadn’t previously done since November 11—won consecutive games. Buffalo played a good game in Montreal for nearly 60 minutes and were rewarded for it, defeating the Canadiens 3-1 after giving up the game’s first goal.
Their recent 12-game road losing streak is slowly, very slowly starting to appear in the rearview mirror. We’ll see how real this team is Wednesday night when they return home to host the New York Rangers.
Ville Leino and Paul Gaustad scored for Buffalo at Montreal while Pat Kaleta added an empty netter. Ryan Miller made 27 saves in net for the Sabres.
We’ll have much more on this game tomorrow.
If stealing were a crime in high school hoops, the McKinley Macks would be facing some hard time after Tuesday evening.
“Stealing one” in a close game against a rival may sound like a giant cliché, but it’s exactly why the Macks walked off their home court victorious and still undefeated in league play.
With an offense that couldn’t seem to connect on an outside shot from anywhere on the floor, McKinley, ranked sixth among large schools, relied on their asphyxiating full court press defense to get the job done against Riverside.
By the time the final horn sounded, the Macks forced a mind-blogging 37 steals en route to a 63-52 victory and opening a two-game lead at the top of the Yale Cup.
Continue reading ‘McKinley Steals One Against Riverside’
Now that the NHL All-Star break is over, the Buffalo Sabres are finally close to healthy. Tyler Ennis is slated to return to the line-up tonight against the Montreal Canadiens, and center Paul Gaustad has a chance to return this evening as well. If Gaustad does, the Sabres will have the same line-up they had in Europe when they ran roughshod over Anaheim and Los Angeles in back to back games to begin the 2011-12 campaign.
Things of course were much different then. The team was completely healthy except for Jochen Hecht, who didn’t seem to be missed much. Luke Adam appeared poised to have a monster year after netting two goals and two assists in the first two games. Part of that was because the youngster played between Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville. For a brief stretch Adam was the number one center this team desperately needed – young, big, and skilled.
Yes, things were much different then.
Continue reading ‘Healthy Sabres Need To Give Adam Another Chance’
♦ The Buffalo Bills are pretty much going to a 4-3 base in 2012, which doesn’t differ as much as you think from last year. The biggest change moving forward is that Nick Barnett is no longer the middle linebacker. Instead, he’ll move over to the weak side with second-year pro Kelvin Sheppard taking over inside. Who plays on the strong side in the 4-3 remains to be seen. On paper Shawne Merriman appears to be the favorite, yet I’m not even convinced he’ll be on the roster next season.
♦ Former UB Defensive Coordinator William Inge was recently hired by the Bills as an assistant defensive line coach and while thrilled for him personally, I was a bit bothered by head coach Chan Gailey’s comments about the move on Monday. I’m paraphrasing here, but regarding Inge getting the job Gailey alluded to Inge quite possibly growing into a great coach someday. Call me crazy, but shouldn’t the Bills be focused on hires that are great coaches now after 12 straight seasons of no playoffs? It’s that kind of mega -patient mentality within the organization that drives me nuts. Again, this is no knock on Inge at all.
Continue reading ‘Moran’s Musings: 4-3 Defense, Sabres & Tavares’
We’ve been running a pair of series at Buffalo Sports Daily, highlighting the five biggest bright spots… and dark clouds on the 2011 Buffalo Bills season. We kicked off the dark cloud portions with number five the Bills reality check in the Whiteout game and moved on with the poor decision of banking on Shawne Merriman. Today we reach the third-darkest cloud on the season—the rise and fall of starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.
The Bills concluded one of the more irritating campaigns in franchise history and no one was more front and center than quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Among those genuinely in early consideration for NFL Most Valuable Player through seven weeks, Fitzpatrick received a colossal contract extension in late October and almost without delay suffered through an atrocious second half that had fans and critics alike once again questioning the aptitude of the organization’s decision makers.
Things undoubtedly began promising for the heavily bearded gunslinger. He threw seven touchdown passes and just one interception as Buffalo started the season with a pair of wins against AFC West foes Kansas City and Oakland.
Continue reading ‘2011 Bills Darkest Clouds- No. 3: Fitz Falters’
The Buffalo Sabres resume their quest to finally have a winning streak tonight, Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News writes.
Tyler Ennis returns for the Sabres tonight.
The Buffalo Bills will now turn to a 4-3 as their base defense, although a lot of what you see schematically remains the same as last year.
Bills.com ranks Stevie Johnson’s performance against the New York Jets as one of the team’s 10 best of the season.
Continue reading ‘The Daily Links – January 31, 2012′
If the Buffalo Sabres are going to make any kind of second half of the season push, particularly on the road, there’s probably no better place to start than Montreal. To say the Sabres have stunk on the road may be an understatement, but that hasn’t been the case when they visit the Canadiens. In fact, Buffalo returns from the All-Star break tonight in search of their fifth consecutive victory in Montreal.
Unfortunately the slumping Sabres haven’t had the same success against the rest of the league. Buffalo endured a 12-game road losing streak that saw them get outscored 51-18 before finally earning two points in New Jersey via a shootout in their last game before the break.
The slide has caused Buffalo to fall all the way to a tie for last in the Eastern Conference with Carolina and the New York Islanders with just 45 points.
However, nothing cures a losing feeling like a hot streak. As bad as the Sabres been, they are only 10 points out of eighth place in the conference and a playoff spot. A long road, sure–but not insurmountable.
Of course, the way this team has played they’ll be smart to not look past Montreal since Buffalo hasn’t been on a winning streak since November. The team gets closer to full health tonight with the return of Tyler Ennis, who’s been out since mid-December with an ankle injury. Only Paul Gaustad and Brayden McNabb, who started the season in Rochester remain out of the lineup.
