Game 8: Drew to the Rescue, Myers Seals It

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.