Sabre Rattle: Playoffs 2007 #1

The B is back, again, and this time, like most times, maybe for good.......Not THAT is commitment...2007 style! Often, when I make my ways back to writing, I am prone to wander in my thoughts as I write out my thoughts of the past times. One discipline that helps cure this obvious disability of my own is to write about my Buffalo Sabres. It allows my many trains of thought to keep on track. Alas, with all trains, there are derailments. Maybe that is what I truly am.........hmm.....but that would be drifting....Sabres Sabres Sabres.

I am late to the keys but feel assured that the B has considered this first round match up to be of ease and one that should be done on Friday night or at the very latest, Sunday. The victor, of course, will be the Sabres. I would be remiss if I were not mention my admiration of Rick Dipeitro and his work in Game two to allow for this series to go further than it really should. What a goaltending performance. The man inspired this oldening fool and I played a gem between the pipes the very next day. Other Sabre fans hung themselves. I went out and played better because of the spectacle I witnessed the night before...by the opposition. Very rare indeed and not something I see repeating itself but who knows. A goalie can steal a game but has never really stolen a series......or have they?...hmmm........

The year was 1993......Patrick Roy.............He stole the Cup, they say. He won every series by himself....and this was the second time. He would go on to win a third later with Colorado. But did he really win the Cup or was it his team. These eyes never witnessed and I can assure you this brain aint about to take someone else's account of it as any kind of truth. Dominik Hasek was supposedly the difference for the Sabres when they went to the Cup in 1999 and yet he "stole" more than one game in that whole damn run...These eyes saw that shit and when I hear about how he did something special then I just chuckle and disagree.....He got them to the playoffs..That could never be debated. The Sabres would be outshot by silly counts all through the year. 45-20....40-15......and yet win, somehow.....or by the grace of the Dominator who was the best regular season goalie that has ever been (check the stats ...nobody even close) But he didn't win nothing in the playoffs...when it mattered most. He has a ring on his finger from the Wings but even that wasn't described as him....and neither would this year but it sure would be something for the oldening folks....a 40 year old 'tender and a 44 year old deman....WOW!

So could a goalie steal what is truly the other team's righteous rewards?.......mmmm....probably not. Again, a game, yes, a series? I doubt. The pegs are all in place to prove me wrong. The Islanders are a sad sack squad of middlings who are playing a team blessed with talents moons above that of their opposition. The Sabres are hungry and battle tested. There can be no excuse save for a goalie. Yet, I aint even buying that one for the game just passed let alone a series. Rick Dipeitro made saves not seen before. The one he made on Vanek was absolute robbery and the police should have stepped in right away. Still, the Sabres played like crap for the first 15 minutes of the game and were forced to play catch-up the rest of the way. Cure?....Don't play like a shit for 15 minutes and dominate a team that has no right winning a game off of you. Complacency is for losers. History shows as such. The complacent loser hardly ever recover from such unmaskings. So don't do it, again.

Wipe 'em out. Start tonight. First period. First shift. First shot.

Too much vs Too little. Despite my recent foray into the art of Goaltending, I don't give it that much credit. The team will win or the team will lose.......A goalie never could win a series.......but if the Islanders are somehow moving on.......well...uh.............................naw....No dialing up dreams on my Sabre account. This is the year........THIS IS THE YEAR!

Ready my Jersey Mama, Stanley is coming home!

B