Winnipeg gets their team back.

It was officially announced today that the Atlanta Thrashers were moving to Winnipeg to give them back another NHL team for a second shot. This also made the count of Canadian teams go up to seven. It's a great day for Winnipeggers but an extremely sad one for the Thrashers fans who made an effort to try and save their beloved team down south. It's really a shame that the NHL wasn't able to do more for them. Personally, I have family members who live down in Georgia and while they were Sabres fans, they were also Thrashers fans. My uncle and I especially spoke about what was going on with the Thrashers and having an NHL team in town meant he could see the Sabres twice a year. Now that is no longer the case.

It's amazing how these events unfolded so quickly. Only about two weeks ago was it mentioned that Atlanta could possibly move up to Winnipeg. Phoenix had been in a ton of danger for maybe three years prior to that and when they were told they would stay in Phoenix for another year, the NHL looked elsewhere. I had a feeling in my gut that the Thrashers or Panthers should be moved over the Coyotes to Winnipeg, mainly because I thought moving them back to where they have previously been was just stupid. I'm sure it would have been an entirely awesome experience for Shane Doan though. Regardless, this deal going down in only about two weeks was really crazy and you have to wonder how Gary Bettman feels about all of this. I'm sure Winnipeggers don't care in the slightest, they're just glad that they have a team back.

The thing that confuses me the most is this unnamed Winnipeg team playing in the Southeast division for next season only so that they can get used to the change. Considering that they are more North than the Wild and they're playing for the East is strange to me. I'm sort of looking forward to seeing them twice next year but I just wonder how much those ticket prices are going to be. Also, which team from the West will make a move to the East? Columbus, Nashville, and Detroit are up for talks. I would personally love to see Nashville in the East to create a bit more competition. I don't like Detroit but Columbus' time zone is Eastern. It would be easier to add that onto the Eastern Conference. I guess that will be all decided within the next coming season.

Congratulations again on this, Winnipeg fans. Also, congratulations to Canada on their seventh team. You finally got it.

Postgame: 10-21-10.

There is nothing more refreshing than seeing the boys finally get a win over a team that they should beat night in and night out. It was even better to see that they took advantage of a team that just got back from their west coast adventure. We as Sabres fans know how that goes when the boys get back home...yeesh. Those this year might be different since they don't even know how to win at home. AWESOME.

Tyler Ennis started off the scoring by getting a shot past Chris Mason. Now, the shot would have been a totally easy save if Mason hadn't dropped down early. It was definitely a weak goal but nice to see that the Sabres got on the board first. Tyler Myers added one on the power play in the second period and that was his first goal. Cody McCormick got his second of the season just a few minutes after that, and then in the third period, Thomas Vanek FINALLY ripped a shot from about twenty feet out and it went right passed Mason. He looked up to the ceiling after he scored, you could tell he was happy something finally went in. Maybe this now means that he can be on a streak.

I think that overall, the boys played well yesterday. There were a few times where I was questioning their skating ability because it just looked like the game was slow. Or maybe it was just Atlanta. Seriously, they along with the Blue Jackets got a record for the lowest attendance at a hockey game in the NHL (I think) yesterday. My one brother suggested we fly to Atlanta and sit near the glass because no one clearly had tickets to that game. I bet being a fan of someone other than the Thrashers and going to see your team for cheap is very nice. I would adore that. Not the weather, but being that close every night. I have family that lives down there that are fans of both the Sabres and Thrashers but I think they only go when the Sabres come to town. Totally understandable. My uncle keeps me updated on in game stuff that they do and he says he can't stand it.

The Sabres are playing the Senators tomorrow, and I'm actually looking forward to this game. I'll be at work and maybe I'll be able to listen to it on the radio, so I can hear if the first game was just a fluke or that they might actually be able to compete against this team. Remember boys, the Senators are not that much better than you. Don't let them continually get to your heads. You've got this.

Go Sabres.

Does this mean Raffi Torres will get a hat trick?

I really love the first week after trade deadline day for many different reasons. Usually it seems the new guys have a ton of pressure on them and fans of a team wonder 'what can this guy do? Is he going to perform well or poorly? What can he do for this team?' Some of the new guys can go right out there and score goal or maybe even two. Steve Bernier did that his first game playing for Buffalo. Scott Walker scored twice last night for the Capitals. Even Clarke scored for Atlanta last night against the Islanders (with Max getting an assist no doubt!). I'm not expecting Raffi to score a goal, but I want to see his presence on the ice. I want to see him make a hit or two; get a little chippy. If he can do any of those things, I will be extremely happy.

What this team needs is someone to give them a little spark, and Raffi seems to be the guy to do it, if anything. Hopefully his physical game will cause other guys to want to go and do the same thing. The Sabres need to get back into the groove that helped them win games in the beginning of the season. I hope Raffi Torres can be the one that helps bring that swagger back.

Trade Deadline Day recap (extra late)

Considering I had a lot to do yesterday, I wasn't able to make a post about what the Sabres did on Trade Deadline Day! I freaked out on Twitter about how the Sabres were probably going to do nothing except move maybe a draft pick or two since it was narrowing down to the last hour of the deadline but they made a couple of moves. Addition by subtraction so to speak.

So let's welcome Raffi Torres to the team! He was drafted by the New York Islanders and played for them while also playing for the Oilers and the Blue Jackets. From what I've heard, he's a power forward - he can score some clutch goals but tends to get physical too. He's a little bit better than Goose with the goal wise, but I think physical wise they're around the same. He's the leading goal scorer on the team now...yeah, I said that. Time to step it up Thomas!

Leaving were Nathan Paetsch and Clarke MacArthur. Patches went to Columbus while Clarke went to Atlanta. I'm going to miss the both of them - Patches for always being there when we needed him at defense or at forward and Clarke for his awesome fro. It's just too bad things didn't work out here. I wish them the absolute best with the rest of their careers.

The Epic Adventures of Tamara and Shelby: Thomas Vanek and Maxim Afinogenov are best friends.

Tamara and I made our fourth trip together to the HSBC Arena to watch the Sabres take on the Thrashers. We specifically wanted to go to see Max make his first trip back to Buffalove and successfully got some pretty decent seats (even though the guys behind us were total assholes). Ironically, the game that was being shown on the Jumbotron before the game started was from about a decade ago, and Max was just a baby Sabre then. Those were the good ol' days.

To have my title of the post make sense, when we went to the practice in the morning, Tamara and I were waiting for Max to come out of the tunnel for the Thrashers. As soon as we saw the long, straggly hair we knew it was him. Thomas skated right over and gave him a little handshake and they spoke for a bit. I've heard stories of them being really close, and I'm sure he was really sad when Max left town so it was nice to see them converse and such during practice.

I sported Tamara's Lydman jersey as she wore her Lalime jersey. It was weird to have someone else's jersey on other than Vanek or Pominville, but also a nice change. I need more variety in my life with these guys.

The guy on the poster was Derek Roy last night so we passed up on buying it. I don't want him staring at me in my room, noooo thanks. We unsuccessfully found Drew Stafford's portrait AGAIN in the arena and we have no idea where he is now. We've look everywhere.

Now, I was working on four hours of sleep in the past two days because we had gone to see Paranormal Activity at 12:30 on Saturday morning. We didn't get back to my brother's house until two something and then didn't fall asleep until after three. I had a dentist appointment at eight so I didn't get much sleep at all. The Sabres weren't helping me as they quickly fell to 2-0 in the first period. Clarkie getting a goal certainly woke me up, and the fact he is now leading the team in goals. I would say I didn't see it coming but Thomas is out, so when he gets back, I'm sure he'll get the lead again in goals.

I have no remorse in saying that I cheered for Max last night after he scored. I was so sick of most of the arena booing when he had the puck, and I feel like him putting it in the net was justice. Yeah, he pissed me off a lot the past two years but who hasn't on this team at least once a season? Derek Roy just pisses me off 24/7. Max is going to do well in Atlanta with the Russians there, so I think it's going to be a good fit for him.

Tamara and I are currently two for four with games that we've gone to where the Sabres have won, but it's okay. This was their first regulation loss of the season and they have a few days to rest until the road trip next week in Florida. If they can play like they did against Detroit down there, then they'll be sure wins.

...If the Sabres can dominate Detroit, why couldn't they do that against Atlanta ever?

Kudos to you, Kari.

With the help of some of his great timing saves, Kari Lethonen's team snagged the win tonight in the shootout. A short-handed goal and a goal with about three seconds left was the difference. Also, going 1-4 in the shootout while Buffalo went 0-4 helped too.

The Sabres did get a point tonight but...God help them if they wish to make the playoffs. Especially on Tuesday or whenever they face Ottawa.

Tell me - how dangerously close is Daniel Paille getting a skate to his face in this picture?

Now, maybe it's the angle of how the photo was taken, but it really looks like if Danny was a few inches closer to Colby's skate, his lip would at least be cut by the blade. The hit looked bad when I saw it live but I didn't know it could be potentially dangerous like that. Okay, that's dumb, because Colby could've broken his neck or something. Did anyone else notice how bad the ice looked? Guys were falling everywhere, and it didn't help that the refs were very inconsistent last night with calling their penalties. There was a lot they let go, and then they called the stupid ones.

So, I thought that maybe the Sabres would blowout Atlanta because of their two previous encounters with them here at home. A 6-0 victory, and then a 10-1 victory. I did not expect a back and forth game that resulted in the Thrashers winning it in overtime, ugh. I partially agree with Roby about how the Sabres should've won this game because Atlanta had played the evening before, but at the same time, the Sabres had three days off too. There are a few teams out there when they haven't played in forever, look awful. For example, check out Washington when they played the Sabres last Saturday. I believe they had an entire week off before coming here, and they looked uneager to play period. I'm not trying to make excuses for the team, because a couple of the goals the Thrashers scored could've been easily saved/blocked/whatever.

The first goal for the Thrashers was 'Ehhhhh' from my viewpoint. I didn't actually see what happened, and I don't feel like checking out the highlights to hear that goalpost again, so I'll stick with my 'Ehhhh' reaction. The General brought the Sabres to a tie with his little swat at the puck that was pretty much already going into the net. I love that he jumps into the glass when he celebrates. Very Ovie-esque there.
The Sabres took their first lead of the game on a 5-on-3 power play that resulted in Kotalik taking a pass from Roy, and taking a slapshot. Vanek was a partial screen in front of the net, but I don't think he was completely in Hedberg's way. Anyways, that was 2-1.
If I'm not mistaken, it was 2-1 going into the second period, and the Sabres were making a line change (right?) when Little came flying down the center of the ice. Lydman made a diving play which would've resulted in a penalty, but Miller flopped down on his side for some reason and the puck slid underneath him for a goal. 2-2.
It didn't stop there. After having multiple scoring chances in the first period alone, Maxim Afinogenov finally got that monkey off his back with a wrist shot that slid underneath Hedberg. Harry Neale mentioned Finny would probably score last night, and it's awesome to see that he did. He looked so excited after scoring. 3-2.
A little later in the period, the Sabres were in the zone in which looked to be a harmless play. I think Kozlov shot the puck at Miller, and it rebounded off of his glove a little to the left and Little (ha, look at what I did there) took his shot from the rebound. Rivet was standing right there and didn't appear to make any sort of move to me to try and block the shot. Miller was totally out of position on that play, too. 3-3.
The Sabres had gotten a power play soon afterwards, and capitalized on it. Tim Connolly took a shot from the point, and I could've sworn that the puck went right between Vanek and some other guy that was next to him and that's why Hedberg couldn't see it. I was surprised they gave the goal to Vanek (but inside, oh was I giddy), but a goal is a goal, right? In his post game interview, Paul Hamilton asked if he knew where it hit him to go in and he said 'Either my pants, or my side, I have no idea.' 4-3.
Into the third period now, and the Sabres had to kill off another penalty. Craig Rivet received a hooking penalty, so he strutted off to the box. Now, this goal is by far the one I am most disgusted with. You had Spacek, Sekera, Pominville, AND Roy surrounding that puck like a fat kid with cake (yeah, I went there) and they still didn't get it out. And then White scored. I swear, I think my head was going to explode I was so angry. There are times when you're like 'GET IT OUT OF THERE.' and then someone stumbles, and it only goes like, two feet. That's my reaction to them not getting it out. 4-4

Vanek appeared to have scored in the third also to make it 5-4, but the goal turned out to be inconclusive. He did an awesome wraparound dipsie-doozle that sort of reminded me of his goal against the Islanders a few years ago. The puck ended up going under Hedberg's sweater, but according to video, there was no sign of the puck so it turned out to be inconclusive. Cue the shot of Vanek swearing his balls off about the fact it wasn't called a goal. Don't worry Thomas - we know it was a goal. The video replay lies. I still love you.

The game eventually went into overtime, and not even that many seconds in, Derek Roy gets a tripping penalty. Nice. Going.
4-on-3. Williams gets the puck after a juicy rebound from Miller, and Sekera or Spacek can't get it out. Backhand. Game. 4-5.

I blame pretty awful decisions on this loss. Also, um, refs? Holy hell inconsistency. What a load of bullshit. It's either you call every single penalty, or you don't. I realize you're human and make mistakes, but the mistakes you make sometimes are beyond ridiculous.

Also, I heard Vanek got the first star of the game...? You know I adore the guy with every fiber in my being, but he did NOT deserve the first star. No Sabre did, actually. The only Sabre worthy of a star tonight was Max in my opinion, because he finally got that monkey off his back and he had so many good scoring chances. Little and Williams should've gotten the others.

Here's to a better game tonight against those Bruins. A few bloggers are representing Sabres Nation over in Boston, so I hope that the boys give them a good sight to see!

"I'd rather drink a cup of Drain-O..."

I'll have decent thoughts of the Sabres/Thrashers game tomorrow after I get some much needed sleep. The only thing I have to say right now is that I don't know what's going on with Derek Roy, but I'm not liking it. What an incredibly stupid penalty to take in OT of all times. The whole game isn't his fault, but nice way to screw up our chances at the end there, buddy. I don't want you to become the Kotalik of last year where he would get stupid penalties at the wrong times.

History repeats itself. SABRES LOSE.

Ehhh, I don't feel like inserting a picture in this post. Shocking, I know.

Sabres lost today via the shootout. After being down 2-0 to the Thrashers, they rallied back in the second and third to send the game to overtime. Lalime kept them in the game until Vanek scored on the PP to cut the lead by half. Then Pominville scored late in the third to tie the game. Stafford was the lone scorer for Buffalo in the shootout, and Kozlov and Kovy scored for the Thrashers.
Quick summary:
- When Buffalo had their 10-game winning streak in the beginning of 06-07, Atlanta was the team that beat them first. In a shootout, no less. They did the same tonight. Atlanta, of ALL teams. Christ.
- I love Ilya Kovalchuk, but not when he scores against us.
- Patrick Lalime gets the first star from me tonight. He was excellent in net tonight, and if he didn't make all those spectacular saves, we would be going home with 0 points right now.
- 17-6 were the shots in the first period, I think? Atlanta shot more than us, HOLY HELL.
- Thomas Vanek was sick of the passing shit and took things into his own hands on his PP goal. That's how it's done, ladies.
- That 'Stupid Questions' thing was cute. I was hoping to see more players involved, but maybe that'll be in later installments.
- As much as I love Thomas Vanek and want to be his BFF, he is not very good in shootouts. Private to Lindy: Thomas is an amazing player that can do many things, but shootouts is not one of them. Oh, and I'm a wimp because when I found out Thomas had to score in order to keep the shootout going, and he didn't, I cried a little. I just felt really bad because he had all of that on his shoulders. ): He can't be a superhero every night...