Nice game for the Sabres. Goaltending, as usual, was the difference. That has been discussed about ad nauseam , so I’ll leave that alone. Here are my thoughts.
- Vanek looked good tonight. He was moving his feet when he had the puck which was nice to see. My issue with Vanek lately have mostly been directed at how easily he seems to be checked. He wasn’t easily checked tonight. I didn’t like the play he made early in the second period when he passed instead of shot when he was right in front of the net. There’s always too much chaos in front of the net to try and make an extra pass. Vanek does that a little too much. Just get the freakin’ shot off, man!
- One thing I’ve been meaning to address but have never had the chance to do so yet, are face-offs. I cannot stand when two centers get set in the circle and the linesmen just waits, waits, waits, and finally one center gets faked out, drops to a knee or swipes with his stick and then gets kicked out of the face-off. How many time did Kennedy get kicked out of the face-off circle this game? There needs to be a set pace. Line up, make sure people are set, and drop the thing.
- Toronto is a good checking team and got the Sabres running around in their own end for a good chunk of this game. The Sabres’ defensemen can’t hold up against that type of pressure but they shouldn’t have to, either. When the Leafs created pressure it was because the forwards were turning the puck over near their own blue line and along the boards.
- Matt Ellis is a solid role player when he’s on a line with Pat Kaleta and Paul Gaustad, two players with some NHL level offensive talent to speak of. When you line Ellis up with Mair and Paetsch, it’s a different story. That is barely an NHL line. With Gaustad out for as long as he is, I think it would be smart to bring in a guy like Mancari to play with Ellis and Kaleta. Paetsch gives you nothing and the Sabres are clearly not committed to Mair. At least with Mancari, you can give that line a regular shift in the game.