12 to Remember: Buffalo vs Montreal 10/6/06

Okay, sorry about the horrible delays in getting this game diary up. It's been a hectic and busy week. Also, I think I got a little too into diarizing this time, and this one's about twice as long as the last one. Ooops. Anyway:

Tonight, Kevin and his dimples are standing in front of the three Sabres sweaters and a white Habs sweater as he tells us all some important things about the game we’re about to watch. I don’t know, something about coming back from two goal deficits. But I pay attention to this bit: Rick Jeanneret and Jim Lorentz are going to be calling this game, thank God! And then Kevin utters one of my favorite sounds in the world. Honestly, Kevin Sylvester saying “MSG” is a reason to love hockey in and of itself. I’ll have to keep that in mind for when I’m desperate later.

First Period
--As RJ introduces the goaltenders, it appears this game is coming to us from a very dark place. I don’t know if it’s the arena lighting or the MSG broadcast, but it looks like Miller and Huet are stuck in the Batcave.
19:51 Nine seconds in, and Roy wastes no time in going offside. Still, the fact that later in the season (spoiler!) Roy has scored a goal by this point in the game makes it hard to pick on him here. By the way, he’s playing on Drury’s line with Kotalik. Really effin’ weird.
18:30 And Pominville seems to be playing with Novotny and Vanek. Even effin’ weirder.
18:25 Miller makes a great stop while moving laterally. I’m sure he made some good saves in the opener against Carolina, but for some reason this seems like the first one of the season.
17:23 Gaustad gets a great stuff-in chance, but Huet stands tall. Gaustad is centering Mair and Peters, so at least that hasn’t changed.
16:37 Wow. Roy does some actual, good skating from the blueline and gets an actual, good backhand shot. Am I going to have to stop yelling at him?
16:07 Kotalik tries to send it into the zone, through a defenseman parked at the blueline. I passed high school physics, so I’m unsurprised to see it doesn’t work.
15:39 Everyone’s disappointed when a potentially great break by Roy doesn’t work out. I don’t know what they were expecting, there. And I don’t even mean that as a dig at Roy, because he almost got a good shot away, but the guy’s tiny and he had two defenders right in his face. He’s not Sid Crosby, people.
15:15 Vanek is called for offsides. Clearly he sucks, and any GM who wants to offer him money is an idiot. Just sayin’.
--A replay of that Roy chance shows that he actually did chip the puck and Huet had to make the save with his shoulder. Way to make me eat my words, Derek.
14:49 Afinogenov loses the puck after some nifty skating, and his linemates, Hecht and Briere, have to get back quick. If you listen closely you can hear them sighing and saying, “Just give us Jason already!”
13:18 Peters levels a huge check on Begin, and gets called for something or other. I don’t know exactly what, but there was clearly something illegal about that hit, so I’m okay with whatever the call was. Hilariously, as Begin is helped off the ice, we see Lindy Ruff making a subtle facial expression which does nothing to hide his inner monologue of “Wuss.”
--Jim goes on about how the Buffalo penalty kill was effective against Carolina, only letting in one power play goal. Glad to know I’m not the only one eating words tonight.
13:00 Sure enough, Ryder scores eighteen seconds in. Miller made a good initial stop, but gives up an uncharacteristically sloppy rebound, and can’t make the second save. Peters is shown coming out of the box and giving an “Uh, sorry guys,” sort of shrug.
12:46 Miller plays it cool on a quick Koivu chance.
11:47 Lorentz starts talking about what a fast defensive pairing Spacek and Campbell are, stating that they’re probably the best in the league in that regard. It appears Jim is on an all-words diet. In other news, this game is coming to us from the Batcave library. Seriously. I flat out refuse to believe that the building is this dark and this quiet. I blame MSG.
9:06 Holy cow, but that was some beautiful skating by Hecht. With one fluid movement, he fools a Habs D-man and feeds a brilliant pass right into the crease. Unfortunately, he’s somehow ended up on the fourth line and Mair sends it wide of the net. Seriously, though, that was an incredible play.
8:40 Roy steals the puck away nicely in the neutral zone, and then feeds it across ice to Kotalik, who… promptly mishandles it. Just when I lose one scapegoat, I find another!
8:20 Drury sends a pass back to the point to (guess who?) Kotalik, who (guess what?) lets the puck get by him and across the line. He’s really taking to this scapegoat thing.
8:14 RJ is livid that there was no penalty called as Roy gets grabbed at the line. Just because he’s playing well doesn’t mean I can’t rib him for being a diver, right? Because that joke is right there for the taking. Oh well: insert diver comment here.
6:49 Tallinder steals the puck right in the slot after some really great forechecking, but his shot hits the post. Vanek is right there, with Huet completely out of the play, but somehow the puck stays out of the net. I’m going to say it’s all Vanek’s fault for the benefit of any GMs who might be reading. Remember: he sucks, and isn’t worth a dime!
4:36 Spacek just took two shots in a 20-second span. That’s about a third of his tally for the season, right there.
4:20 And then he makes a smart defensive play and comes out on top in a one-on-one situation. C’mon, I need to be able to pick on someone tonight!
2:50 Mair gets another perfect feed in front of the net, this time from Roy, and manages to screw this one up, too.
2:29 As Mair takes his time getting up off the ice after being tripped along the boards, I do my best impression of Lindy Ruff’s “Wuss” face.
2:13 Roy and Afinogenov work some magic together and get a goal! Of course, the play was bogusly whistled dead so it won't count, but still: magic. Apparently for Huet, having no idea where the puck is counts as freezing it, and he gets a whistle while the puck is loose underneath him. Judging by the close-ups we get of the crowd, Lindy, and Max, incredulity is the word of the day, and I don’t blame them. This was an egregious call. But given the outcome of the game, I’m not going to get too pissed off about it.
1:43 Lindy didn’t learn from that last display of chemistry, and Afinogenov is back with Hecht and Briere. Wake up already, Lindy.
0:23 Kotalik squeezes as much suckage out of this period as possible and blasts a pristine pass from Drury about a mile over the net. He then goes on to lose a battle at the boards. Kotalik, this is just not your night.

Second Period
--Okay, Kevin. I’ll give you that Tom Golisano counts as a special guest. But a special guest analyst? Come on.
--B. Tom is up in the broadcast booth, and he and RJ wax sentimental about the capacity crowd in front of them, a welcome change from the pre-lockout bankruptcy days. Golisano refers to the expectations of this season’s Sabres as “scary.” After seeing the way it plays out, there’s really no better word to describe them. Especially seeing as how “too high” is two words.
19:06 After spending almost the whole first minute in the Montreal zone due to some great pressure from the Drury line (yes, that includes Kotalik), the defense looks frantic and Miller goes sprawling. It’s chaos, but the shot goes wide.
18:24 Miller makes a really sharp cross-crease save.
17:57 Lydman gets caught in the offensive zone (he made a huge unnecessary circle behind the net, only to lose the puck) and Hank faces a 2-1. Miller snags the Markov shot with his glove.
--Rick acknowledges that Golisano is in the booth, and says they will be talking to him, “when the opportunity presents itself.” This is why I love him. He knows you don’t go sacrificing calling the action just to do something silly like talk to the owner of the team.
17:20 Okay, now I know MSG is doing something to the sound, because it sounds like the organ is coming to us via walkie talkie from the moon.
16:57 The Habs are really testing Miller’s lateral movement tonight, as they force him to make another big save.
16:35 Kotalik is nailed along the boards, and RJ rambles a bit about how he’s checking the number on the sweater(73, Ryder), and storing it away for later. Yeah, Rick, I’m sure he’s writing that number down so he can go suck by him later.
16:27 Golisano says very endearingly “I watched about seven games… last night,” and gets a hearty chuckle from Jim and RJ. He then gets to his point of calling Jeanneret and Lorentz by far the best broadcasting team in the league. Amen. Man, I love this guy.
16:10 Higgins scores, and shows Golisano why you don’t go talking over the play. It’s now 2-0 Montreal. Wait, the Sabres win this, right?
14:25 Apparently, during the intermission Kotalik found Spacek in the dressing room and was like “Man, you’ve really got to try shooting the puck through solid objects,” because that’s exactly what he just did. And guess what? It still didn’t work.
14:02 Vanek just made a really great drop pass and almost managed to tie the game, but for salary-cap reasons, I’ll just pretend it didn’t happen. GMs: Never happened.
13:01 Holy shit. GMs, I can’t even pretend that that didn’t happen. It was just that good. Vanek does some gorgeous maneuvering around basically every Hab on the ice, and then makes a brilliant no-look behind-the-back pass from the goal line to the front of the net. That? Was delicious. Adorably, you can hear B. Tom yell “Alright!” as Novotny (Really? Him?) slams the puck into the wide open net. A crowd shot shows someone hoisting a sign, which reads, “We want the Cup, not the new logo!” Heh. There’s someone who’s doubly pissed about the outcome of the season.
11:48 Mair fakes his way neatly around two Montreal defenders, only to run out of room at the last second and topple on top of Huet. This guy really doesn’t get enough credit for his skating, because that was very nice.
--Coming out of commercial, we are “treated” to our first moment with Rob Ray between the benches. He tells us that some of the players including Lydman, Tallinder, Drury, Briere, Max, and Miller have bought boxes at HSBC and donated them to charities, bringing kids in to see the games. I never heard about this, and that’s really sweet of them, but seriously, Rayzor, you’re useless.
2:45 What the hell? We somehow ended up in the last three minutes of the period. Sneaky, MSG.
2:06 Miller finds himself eyebrow-to-crooked-eyebrow with Kovalev, but doesn’t panic and comes up with a huge save. RJ goes fittingly ballistic.
1:45 Sigh, Miller says “Hey, remember that great save I just made? Yeah, me neither,” as Koivu gets it by him right off the faceoff. Do the Sabres win this thing, or not?
1:13 Goddamn, but that was hilarious! Roy does some great skating with the puck, only to trip over his own feet at the blueline and send it out of the zone. That’s the second time in two games that Roy has fallen over completely unmolested, and it just keeps getting funnier and funnier! Even with MSG tampering with the sound, I think I can make out everyone in the building laughing.
0:00 If anything happened during the last minute and change, I didn’t see it, because I’m still dying from the Roy hijinks.

Third Period
19:30 The first appearance of the Hecht-Briere-Pominville line! Let’s sit back and wait for the magic to happen.
19:09 And there it is! Pominville scores off of a faceoff after Hecht feeds him a short pass from the boards. Huet never sees Pommer’s screened one-timer.
18:25 And here’s the Vanek-Roy-Afinogenov line! Lindy’s really getting his shit together now!
16:58 Spacek just sold himself out to block a shot. Why does he refuse not to suck tonight? Does he not want me to hate him, or something?
16:16 While everyone else is finding their line soulmates, Drury is suffering through the second phase of the never-ending “Operation: Create Drury Line.” Tonight’s contestants are Kotalik to the left and Novotny to the right.
15:06 Spacek makes another smart defensive play! Man, I really need to let out these aggressions somewhere. Where’s Kotalik when you need him?
14:40 Soupy, Max, and Vanek connect to create a great chance. The fact that Vanek fails to score on his one-timer here totally cancels out that beautiful assist he made earlier, right, GMs? Right?
14:20 Hee! Bonk!
13:41 Goose takes a pass from Afinogenov and scrambles toward the net to try to score. Huet quickly spears his shot, but watching Gaustad’s legs flying every which way as they tried to pick up speed was totally worth it, anyway.
--Commercials: Finally! Vinyl siding that can withstand all of my rubber chicken abuses! Dang… too bad they’re based out of Jersey.
12:45 Kalinin just tried to pass it to Peters, who is down on the ice. Dude, Dmitri, he can’t even handle the puck standing up. What are you doing?
10:37 Briere’s new line of soulmates sustains about a full minute of pressure in Montreal’s zone, while Campbell does some great pinching at the blueline. If Spacek is out there, too, I don’t see him, as every other Buffalo player is working except him. C’mon! Don’t you want to let the puck go over the line, or something, Jaro? Instead, Soupy takes a penalty for “impeding” Souray. This does not bode well.
9:45 After some really horrendous penalty killing, Novotny gets an offensive chance and promptly interferes with Huet. Because a 5-on-3 is just what this PK needs to face right now.
9:23 Numminen doesn’t want the two-man advantage to ever end, so he hooks Samsonov to the point where I’m surprised stick and torso could be separated without surgery. For the second time in two games there are three Sabres in the box. One more and they can start a game of Euchre!
8:30 Even though Spacek is on the ice, it’s not his fault when Koivu scores (shocker). Montreal strings together some quick passing and no one really had a chance. The good news is that Campbell’s penalty had just expired, which means Novotny vacates the box and Buffalo is now down by only one man. The bad news is the Sabres are losing by two again. Will they hurry up and start winning, already? Gosh. In other bad news: Teppo is stuck playing Solitaire.
6:47 Samsonov pirouettes onto the ice, and Drury gets called for hooking. He’s justifiably pissed about the overlooked dive, and uncharacteristically loses his cool to slam his stick into the boards. He goes to frolic in the daisy fields of the Paradise Penalty Box all hot and bothered. Teppo spends the eight seconds of overlapping penalty time dealing a game of War.
6:01 Vanek makes a smart play (uh, GMs, I mean “gets a lucky bounce”) to steal the puck at the blueline, skates in on a breakaway only to get hauled down and have no penalty called. Somewhere in his daisy field, Drury is only getting more hot and bothered.
5:38 Goose takes the non-call as his cue to maul everyone within arms length in the corner and get away with it, which he does. Bless him.
5:06 As everyone and their grandmothers convene to decide what the stopped game clock should be re-set to, Drury asks Briere to fetch him another stick. Apparently Chris was so hot and bothered he didn’t even realize he broke his stick. Even when throwing tantrums he’s intensely focused!
4:44 The fans cheer their approval as the official who looked the other way on that Vanek break gets knocked down. Two seconds later they have even more to celebrate as Briere scores. After a faceoff inside the Buffalo blueline, Kalinin threads a brilliant pass to Briere, who splits the Montreal D and goes five-hole on Huet. That was just lovely.
4:20 After about a decade of being shorthanded, the Sabres are now headed to the power play. Prediction: They suck anyway.
3:40 First hilarious crowd-member moment of the season: As Briere holds the puck behind the net, some kid in an Afinogenov sweater near the bottom of the screen literally stands up and points to Pominville, who is open. Danny doesn’t take his advice, however, and he sits back down. HAH!
2:05 Roy somehow, someway manages to muscle a puck away from Bonk at the boards. This blows my mind. Roy… muscle? Does not compute.
0:31 Miller has been pulled, and we see a shot of him on the bench with his back to the ice. He can’t watch!
0:14 Afinogenov ties it! Honestly, does anyone celebrate better than Max? Even though he just tapped in a Vanek shot that was headed in anyway (GMs, I didn’t just say that), he acts like he just invented scoring. I love it. And this one’s going to ooooovertime!

Overtime
4:15 Before anything exciting or interesting happens, my TiFaux apparently decides this game is over and cuts out. Oh well. Let’s just say nothing exciting or interesting happens for the rest of overtime and move on to the shootout via YouTube.

Shootout
--For some reason, the only video available is in French, but that’s okay. I’m cool with that. I’ll just assume everything they’re saying is of no consequence, anyway.
1st Shot: Briere tries to stuff it by Huet on the glove side, but couldn’t get him to over-commit quite enough.
2nd Shot: Miller stones Ryder stick side. The sound levels in this video are clearly back to normal, because the celebration of this save actually reaches decibel levels beyond my whisper-quiet dishwasher.
3rd Shot: Hah! “Maxim Afinogenov” sounds fantastic with a French accent! Max doesn’t bother with any nifty moves and instead sinks a wrister from just outside the crease. I don’t think Huet even moved.
4th Shot: Kovalev rings one off the crossbar.
5th Shot: GMs, look the other way. #26 (who?) pulls a similar move as Max, only this time Huet actually tries to save it and he still can’t. Sabres win it 5-4 in a shootout.
--To put a hilarious cap on the game, whatever French Canadian station this is decides to show the least interested guy in the entire building after the win. The whole crowd is going nuts, but we get to see this doofus in a striped polo and jeans, with his hands in his pockets Art-Garfunkel-style. It’s not even like he’s a disappointed Habs fan, it just looks like he wandered in looking for the Laguna Beach launch party, or something. That’s so great.

Tune in next week (sometime, I promise!): The Sabres are playing the New York Rangers, and I don’t want to ruin anything, but they don’t win in a shootout! Yay!