With just over a minute to go, Lindy Ruff pulled keeper Ryan Miller for the extra skater but didn’t use his time out.
From my seat on the couch, it looked to me like Tampa was reeling. To Harry Neal and Rick Jeanneret, he was making the wrong call. To my conscious, I hoped it was over so my friend could come over, but I knew better and told my roommate Andy, "They're gonna tie it. Book it." His response, "no way, they're too sloppy."
Just over 40 seconds later, Drew Stafford proved me wrong, scoring from an almost impossible angle. Thus causing Tampa goalie Mike Smith to destroy his water bottle lumberjack style with his goaltender stick.
5 minutes of overtime passed with the Sabres dominating the first half, Tampa getting the better of the latter stages.
In the shootout, the goaltenders were infallible, well at least one was throughout its entirety.
7 rounds into the shootout, after Martin St. Louis had failed on his shot, the Sabres called upon 19 year old defenseman Tyler Myers to try his luck against Mike Smith.
He came in quick from the right side, deked a little, then slammed on the breaks and shifted right, with Smith sprawled trying to protect the left side of the net, Myers pulled his stick back and wrapped it around the keeper, tripping as he placed the biscuit in the back of the net for the winner.
Harry Neal exclaimed, “Any doubts that this kid would stay with the big club are gone! He's staying for sure!" as the Sabres rushed to encircle and congratulate the rookie for his winner.
Rick Jeanneret added, “They need to jump to hit him on the head. That’s why they tackled him. He's too tall to pat on the head!"
At this point, the Sabres would be making a major franchise mistake and an even bigger disservice to the kid if they sent him down. It would be along the same lines as the "Joba Rules" enforced by baseball's New York Yankees.
Myers, even in his worst game, looked no worse than most NHL regulars.
He has without question earned his spot on the Sabres top 6 and should be treated as such.
Lookout out Tavares, you have MAJOR competition for the Calder.
On Wednesday night, the entire Devils’ fan base will see what I'm talking about.
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Showing posts with label Tyler Myers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tyler Myers. Show all posts
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Game 7: Chasing the Keepers
Earlier tonight, I posted that the Sabres would be in store for a challenge if the Panthers started Scott Clemmensen. Well, I was half right, as the Panthers started Clemmer, but I was way off with his performance and the problems facing the Sabres.
A mere 1 minute and 56 seconds into the game, the Sabres had a 2-0 lead and Clemmensen had himself an early exit.
Mike Grier got things started as he broke in on an odd-man rush and beat Clemmensen 5 hole for his 2nd of the season, just 1 minute 11 seconds into the game.
Jason Pominville sealed Clemmer's fate with a powerplay goal a mere 45 seconds later.
Clemmensen's line: 3 shots faced, 1 save, .333 save percentage.
Enter Tomas Vokoun who started off just as shaky as Clemmensen, surrendering a goal to Matt Ellis for his first, the team's 3rd, and the game wasn't even 5 minutes old at this point.
Buffalo would add another from Tyler Myers, his second, before Florida would respond with their first.
Steve Reinprecht would get Florida's only first period marker, but just over 2 minutes later, on a great never-give-up type of play, Thomas Vanek crashed the net hard while the puck was still loose and registered his 4th.
Buffalo held a 5-1 edge at the end of the first period, and they never looked back.
Stealing a line from the on-line soccer game hattrick.org, "at this point with a safe lead, the Sabres decided to focus on their defensive aspects of the game."
While the Panthers held a decisive edge in the shots on goal department, the Sabres' lead never looked in doubt.
Going back to Myers really quick, he looked quite impressive, including his shot from the point which narrowly missed Derek Roy's stick and deflected off of Vokoun's catching glove and into the net. He certainly rebounded from a shaky performance against the Thrashers on Saturday night.
Sabres 5 - Panthers 2
5-1-1, 11 points
Next up: Saturday night @ Tampa Bay, 730.
A mere 1 minute and 56 seconds into the game, the Sabres had a 2-0 lead and Clemmensen had himself an early exit.
Mike Grier got things started as he broke in on an odd-man rush and beat Clemmensen 5 hole for his 2nd of the season, just 1 minute 11 seconds into the game.
Jason Pominville sealed Clemmer's fate with a powerplay goal a mere 45 seconds later.
Clemmensen's line: 3 shots faced, 1 save, .333 save percentage.
Enter Tomas Vokoun who started off just as shaky as Clemmensen, surrendering a goal to Matt Ellis for his first, the team's 3rd, and the game wasn't even 5 minutes old at this point.
Buffalo would add another from Tyler Myers, his second, before Florida would respond with their first.
Steve Reinprecht would get Florida's only first period marker, but just over 2 minutes later, on a great never-give-up type of play, Thomas Vanek crashed the net hard while the puck was still loose and registered his 4th.
Buffalo held a 5-1 edge at the end of the first period, and they never looked back.
Stealing a line from the on-line soccer game hattrick.org, "at this point with a safe lead, the Sabres decided to focus on their defensive aspects of the game."
While the Panthers held a decisive edge in the shots on goal department, the Sabres' lead never looked in doubt.
Going back to Myers really quick, he looked quite impressive, including his shot from the point which narrowly missed Derek Roy's stick and deflected off of Vokoun's catching glove and into the net. He certainly rebounded from a shaky performance against the Thrashers on Saturday night.
Sabres 5 - Panthers 2
Running Tally of Sabres Chasers
1.) Chris Osgood - 10/13
2.) Dwayne Roloson - 10/16
3.) Scott Clemmensen - 10/21
5-1-1, 11 points
Next up: Saturday night @ Tampa Bay, 730.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Sabres Game 5: Deja Vu?
For the second game in a row, the buffalo Sabres netted 6 goals. And, for the second straight time, they chased the starting goalie for the opposing team.
Their first victim was Chris Osgood, last night Dwayne Roloson. both were sent shamefully to the bench in the 2nd period, but Roloson allowed only 4 goals to Osgood’s 5 before losing their coach's favor.
While the 4 goals are an obvious way to see the goalie didn't bring their ‘A’ game, the first goal allowed was a great harbinger.
Tyler Myers' shot midway through the first period seemed pretty harmless. It was a backhander from the high slot with not a lot on it, but it almost seemed to catch Rolie off guard. Normally though, when a goalie gets caught off guard, it’s on a hard shot. Myer's was a fluttering wrister that snuck right through Roloson's 5-hole for the rookie's first career goal.
4 goals later, Roloson found himself sitting on the bench, being lifted in favor of former Sabre Martin Biron.
Biron, who entered to a rousing ovation, had a lot of success while facing his former club, and he gave he Isles a chance to get back into it.
John Taveres netted his third of the season while on the powerplay just under 4 minutes after Biron entering the game in the 2nd period.
The Isles were given another opprotunity to cut into the Sabres' lead when Henrik Tallinder took a holding call about 3 minutes into the 3rd period. However, the Sabres were able to kill off the opprotunity, and were able to turn that momentum into their 5th goal of the night.
Andy Sutton would answer less than a minute later, but that would be the final Islander goal of the night.
Jason Pominville added further insurance with his first goal of the season at the 15:52 mark of the period as Buffalo cruised to a 6-3 victory.
4-0-1, 8 points
Next up: Saturday vs. Atlanta, 7:30
Their first victim was Chris Osgood, last night Dwayne Roloson. both were sent shamefully to the bench in the 2nd period, but Roloson allowed only 4 goals to Osgood’s 5 before losing their coach's favor.
While the 4 goals are an obvious way to see the goalie didn't bring their ‘A’ game, the first goal allowed was a great harbinger.
Tyler Myers' shot midway through the first period seemed pretty harmless. It was a backhander from the high slot with not a lot on it, but it almost seemed to catch Rolie off guard. Normally though, when a goalie gets caught off guard, it’s on a hard shot. Myer's was a fluttering wrister that snuck right through Roloson's 5-hole for the rookie's first career goal.
4 goals later, Roloson found himself sitting on the bench, being lifted in favor of former Sabre Martin Biron.
Biron, who entered to a rousing ovation, had a lot of success while facing his former club, and he gave he Isles a chance to get back into it.
John Taveres netted his third of the season while on the powerplay just under 4 minutes after Biron entering the game in the 2nd period.
The Isles were given another opprotunity to cut into the Sabres' lead when Henrik Tallinder took a holding call about 3 minutes into the 3rd period. However, the Sabres were able to kill off the opprotunity, and were able to turn that momentum into their 5th goal of the night.
Andy Sutton would answer less than a minute later, but that would be the final Islander goal of the night.
Jason Pominville added further insurance with his first goal of the season at the 15:52 mark of the period as Buffalo cruised to a 6-3 victory.
4-0-1, 8 points
Next up: Saturday vs. Atlanta, 7:30
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sabres Game 4: Domination over Detroit
I had the privilege of attending my 3rd Sabres’ game this year tonight, and I cannot help but be impressed with the team they have put together on the ice this season. But more importantly, one player stuck out in my mind: 19 year-old Tyler Myers.
Having seats in the Red Wings shooting twice end gave me a chance to focus on Myers’ defensive abilities up close. At least 3 times during the first period, my friend and I turned to one another and commented about how unique of a rookie Myers is proving to be.
With the Wings pushing for the opening goal, Myers had a rebound bounce right on his stick, but rather than trying to dump the puck down the ice, or force a bad outlet pass, he chose to bank the puck off the closest boards where not only were there no Red Wings players, but close enough for a Sabres player get to it and start a breakout.
Moments later, Myers again took control of the puck in the defensive zone. This time, he again decided against forcing moving the puck and chose, instead, to corral the puck against Henrik Zetterberg. As Zetterberg went for the poke check, Myers pulled the puck in, backed up a little bit, then banked the puck off the boards to Paul Gaustad, who, again, led the breakout.
Later in the period, Myers helped set up the game’s first goal while on the power play. He took the faceoff feed from Drew Stafford, then moved the puck across the blueline to Jason Pominville. Pominville then fed Paul Gaustad who’s shot was kicked right to the stick of Stafford who beat Chris Osgood for the goal.
In the 2nd, Myers again showed his offensive abilities by going coast to coast on the Wings. The play began in his own zone where he gathered the puck, then with the help of a pick from Mark Ellis, broke into the neutral zone and made a nice move around the Wings’ forwards. He entered the attacking zone having only Jonathan Ericsson to beat before getting to Osgood. He used his size and reach to elude the defender, then got a decent shot off on the keeper. His rebound was kicked into the low slot, where Pat Kaleta buried it between Osgood’s outstretched leg and the near post, a space of about 6 inches, for the go-ahead goal.
There is almost no doubt in my mind that the Sabres have something very special in Myers. Now that isn’t to take anything away from the rest of the squad, especially Ryan Miller, but Myers is one of those young players who you know in the future, you need to keep an eye on.
Miller played a phenomenal game tonight and was two lucky Detroit bounces away from getting the shutout. He made some critical saves including stopping Valtteri Filppula’s penalty shot in the 2nd period, and a number of glove and kick saves in the 3rd to preserve the multi-goal lead.
Within the next 5 games, the Sabres need to make a critical decision which could not only affect the effectiveness of their blueliners, but also the career of Tyler Myers. If he plays 10 NHL regular season games, his money will count against the cap and will have a year counted towards his entry level contract. The Sabres can either keep him on the team and continue to grow while helping the Sabres continue on their much improved season, or they can return him to his junior squad.
Manager Darcy Regier stated within the past few days that Myers needs to prove he can be an every day player, because if he does not, then there is no point in having him stay and be scratched while he can go back to juniors and play every day.
But based upon the effort of tonight (on special teams and his awareness on both offensive and defensive sides of the puck), his performance against Phoenix (where he registered a power play assist and still played a solid game even after taking a cheap shot from Shane Doan), and in the Toronto preseason game (where he showed toughness by not backing down from Jason Blake’s challenge. Granted there was about a foot in height difference between the two), there will be little doubt that Myers will remain with the squad this season.
If he stays, and continues to perform at this level which he has displayed, he will give New York Islanders’ John Tavares a run for his money in pursuit of the Calder Trophy.
As for the game, the Sabres routed the Wings 6-2 fueled by a 4 goal effort in the 2nd period. Kaleta had his first career multi-point game, Thomas Vanek had a 2 goal night, and Derek Roy had 3 assists.
NOTES: The Sabres in the second period out scored the Buffalo Bills' past weekend point total of 3...Following the game, Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff stated that Thomas Vanek would miss "weeks" after sustaining an upper body injury while scoring his 2nd goal...Next up for the Sabres are Tavares' Islanders on Friday night. Could this be a good way to see who is the better rookie?
Having seats in the Red Wings shooting twice end gave me a chance to focus on Myers’ defensive abilities up close. At least 3 times during the first period, my friend and I turned to one another and commented about how unique of a rookie Myers is proving to be.
With the Wings pushing for the opening goal, Myers had a rebound bounce right on his stick, but rather than trying to dump the puck down the ice, or force a bad outlet pass, he chose to bank the puck off the closest boards where not only were there no Red Wings players, but close enough for a Sabres player get to it and start a breakout.
Moments later, Myers again took control of the puck in the defensive zone. This time, he again decided against forcing moving the puck and chose, instead, to corral the puck against Henrik Zetterberg. As Zetterberg went for the poke check, Myers pulled the puck in, backed up a little bit, then banked the puck off the boards to Paul Gaustad, who, again, led the breakout.
Later in the period, Myers helped set up the game’s first goal while on the power play. He took the faceoff feed from Drew Stafford, then moved the puck across the blueline to Jason Pominville. Pominville then fed Paul Gaustad who’s shot was kicked right to the stick of Stafford who beat Chris Osgood for the goal.
In the 2nd, Myers again showed his offensive abilities by going coast to coast on the Wings. The play began in his own zone where he gathered the puck, then with the help of a pick from Mark Ellis, broke into the neutral zone and made a nice move around the Wings’ forwards. He entered the attacking zone having only Jonathan Ericsson to beat before getting to Osgood. He used his size and reach to elude the defender, then got a decent shot off on the keeper. His rebound was kicked into the low slot, where Pat Kaleta buried it between Osgood’s outstretched leg and the near post, a space of about 6 inches, for the go-ahead goal.
There is almost no doubt in my mind that the Sabres have something very special in Myers. Now that isn’t to take anything away from the rest of the squad, especially Ryan Miller, but Myers is one of those young players who you know in the future, you need to keep an eye on.
Miller played a phenomenal game tonight and was two lucky Detroit bounces away from getting the shutout. He made some critical saves including stopping Valtteri Filppula’s penalty shot in the 2nd period, and a number of glove and kick saves in the 3rd to preserve the multi-goal lead.
Within the next 5 games, the Sabres need to make a critical decision which could not only affect the effectiveness of their blueliners, but also the career of Tyler Myers. If he plays 10 NHL regular season games, his money will count against the cap and will have a year counted towards his entry level contract. The Sabres can either keep him on the team and continue to grow while helping the Sabres continue on their much improved season, or they can return him to his junior squad.
Manager Darcy Regier stated within the past few days that Myers needs to prove he can be an every day player, because if he does not, then there is no point in having him stay and be scratched while he can go back to juniors and play every day.
But based upon the effort of tonight (on special teams and his awareness on both offensive and defensive sides of the puck), his performance against Phoenix (where he registered a power play assist and still played a solid game even after taking a cheap shot from Shane Doan), and in the Toronto preseason game (where he showed toughness by not backing down from Jason Blake’s challenge. Granted there was about a foot in height difference between the two), there will be little doubt that Myers will remain with the squad this season.
If he stays, and continues to perform at this level which he has displayed, he will give New York Islanders’ John Tavares a run for his money in pursuit of the Calder Trophy.
As for the game, the Sabres routed the Wings 6-2 fueled by a 4 goal effort in the 2nd period. Kaleta had his first career multi-point game, Thomas Vanek had a 2 goal night, and Derek Roy had 3 assists.
NOTES: The Sabres in the second period out scored the Buffalo Bills' past weekend point total of 3...Following the game, Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff stated that Thomas Vanek would miss "weeks" after sustaining an upper body injury while scoring his 2nd goal...Next up for the Sabres are Tavares' Islanders on Friday night. Could this be a good way to see who is the better rookie?
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