• I haven’t seen much of Brian Elliott but I didn’t think he looked very good this game. I’m leaning towards just calling him a goaltender on a huge hot streak rather than a great goaltender playing at the level we should expect from him in the future.

• Sekera might be the best skater on the Sabres. He can look graceful out on the ice in a way that no other Sabres player can except for perhaps Connolly. Then again, sometimes he looks dreadful and can make you want to throw your phone into the television screen. He just looks like a young defensemen should – one that’s still adjusting to the NHL level. But he’s promising and I have no doubt he’ll eventually figure it out. That last goal, by the way, was not Sekera’s fault.

• It was Tim Kennedy’s. Alfredsson was his man and Kennedy was not in the right position. Honestly, the Sabres can live with that. He’s a young player too. The Sabres shouldn’t lose a game like this because a young player like Kennedy failed to tie up his man. They’re a better team than the Senators and this game shouldn’t have come down to that moment.

• The Sabres had the Senators on the ropes in the first period and failed to score. That’s what cost them the game. People can try to rationalize that period by saying things like they just didn’t get the bounces. Bull shit. The Sabres didn’t execute. When a football team loses a close game after missing a couple wide-open, long touchdown passes because either they were dropped or overthrown, what’s usually said after? Assuming the players we’re talking about are talented, the failure is always attributed to execution. The Sabres might have played better than the Senators in the first period by a wide margin but it doesn’t matter because the scoreboard says otherwise.

• I actually blame Adam Mair and Matt Ellis. The penalties they took in the first period were brutal. The Sabres had momentum, were pressing, and then it was taken away because they had to kill two stupid penalties. Mair and Ellis are not players that are ever relied upon to directly effect the outcome of games. They don’t score regularly and they are not defensive specialists. Their role is to set the pace, provide energy, and wear down opponents. Minor penalties are not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things but at those moments, they really hurt the Sabres. And for them to come from Mair and Ellis is not something I was not happy to see.

• I wasn’t upset that Phillips bumped into Miller. Phillips has a right to that puck too and Miller jumped right out in front of him. I liked seeing Myers get angry about it. It showed everyone that he considers himself a real part of this team. I didn’t like seeing Vanek, who was in a very nonthreatening scoring position, get unecessarily pushed from behind into the boards by Ruutu. When you do things like that, don’t expect justice from the referee in the form of a retaliation penalty if you happen to get punched in the face by the player you nearly injured.

Someone who writes a great deal on passion, and does it well, is Hugh MacLeod. He draws cartoons like this one . He also writes a sweet blog. I was reading his latest post this morning and, as so often the case with MacLeod’s work, I felt as though it was written for me like he somehow knew the circumstances that surround my life and the things I care about. One of the things I care deeply about is the Sabres, particularly the Buffalo kind.

It’s tough to put a lot of stock into one game in particular, but last nights game against Ottawa seemed extra significant. The subplots were more important to me than the statistical outcome. I really wanted to see how they would play. The Senators are very confident team when they play against the Sabres. You would be misinformed if before the game you thought that the Senators were not going to play hard and play well. I assumed on this night that the Sentors would push the Sabres to their competitive limits given the past few games these teams have played against one another. Instead this was just another game that gets filed into the poor-effort bin.

When I watch a Sabres game like the one played Saturday night, I wonder if hockey is a job or a passion for some of these players. I wouldn’t blame them if it was just a job. They get paid a lot and retire young. But as a fan, I want my team to have more players for whom hockey is a passion. I don’t want to drop names because this is totally speculative but I’m sure you can think of a few.

Like I said, I don’t hold anything against someone for not having a passion for something like hockey but still wanting to make it their job. All I care about is success. I want the Sabres to be successful. After last night, I question how much passion some of the players have for hockey and because of that, I question the level of success this team can reach.

Before the game started, I posted the following comment on the Sabres-Senators pregame post on the prestigious WNY sports blog, The Goose’s Roost:

Ugh… I still hate Ottawa even though Bryan Murray is no longer coaching and Ray Emery is now getting himself out of position with a different team.

I hate the Sens now mostly because of their fans. Their passion is so genuinely hopeful not obnoxious or alcohol fueled like those of Montreal and Toronto. I realize how subjective that statement is but I really think they’re like us in more ways than we would like to admit.

When the Sens beat the Sabres, it gets me so angry because of the obvious history but also because the fans believe in them so completely. Why do they love them so much when the Sens are so obviously flawed!? The Sabres can never seem to overcome that during games in Ottawa.

And I HATE that inferno horn that goes off when they score at home. I feel like stabbing myself in the leg with a salad fork every time I hear it.

With that said, GO SABRES! I think they’ll win.

They lost. Honestly, I’m not a good enough writer to be able to adequately explain my hatred for the Senators. Another day, another time, perhaps. The Senators hater-ade that runs in my blood, I guess, has something to do with the fans. Mostly though, I was just being stupid and emotional. That’s what I was thinking about a few hours before the game, though.

Now, I know the Senators are a different team from when the rivalry was most fierce, but it honestly doesn’t matter. For some inexplicable reason, the Senators always seem to reveal and attack the Sabres greatest vulnerabilities in the same way that close contacts can force us to confront our own personal skeletons. The Senators know the Sabres. They know how to break the Sabres down.

The Senators, like the Sabres, have lost a lot of the prominent figures from those post-lockout teams. That’s not what this entry is supposed to be about though. Like always, the Senators exposed the Sabres for what they really are. I’ve been hinting at some of the Sabres weaknesses the past couple of weeks, but now they’re plainly out in the open like a scab that’s been peeled back.

The biggest problem with this Sabres team is obviously with the play of some of the more prominent forwards while playing even-strength. Derek Roy and Tim Connolly are the exceptions, in my opinion. They’ve both been positively contributing for quite a while.

To be a good scorer in the NHL you need to be able to either do one of two things: (1) get defenders out of position while you have possession of the puck or (2) be able to take advantage of scoring chances when defenders are out of position. It’s honestly that simple (OK, maybe not but work with me). Roy and Connolly are able to do both. Unfortunately, the other forwards that the Sabres are depending upon to score haven’t been doing enough of the former.

Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek need to start skating and creating open spaces for themselves and for others. They’re both good at scoring goals. It’s not enough though to just be good at finishing. When the puck goes to either of those two, at a nonthreatening scoring position, I expect that it will be taken away shortly, and they’re supposed to be two of our most dependable scorers. MacArthur is still trying to find his way as a featured scorer on this team and he’s been struggling lately, too. MacArthur, like Pominville and Vanek have been hard to notice. The Sabres need them to be difference makers.

These problems are especially prevalent when the Sabres are playing at even-strength. Ask yourself this: how often can you remember the Sabres scoring lines applying serious offensive zone pressure during even-strength situations? Roy and Connolly can’t do it all by themselves. Frankly, players like Vanek, Pominville, and MacArthur are just too easy to check. It’s not that they’re irresponsible with the puck, either. They’ve just not been creating enough chances. How often do those players ever set up a scoring opportunity, never mind a goal.

If Drew Stafford is given an opening to generate a scoring opportunity when he has the puck, he will take advantage and turn it into a genuine scoring chance. He’s able to take advantage of a weak defender. There’s something to be said of that. It’s better than what Vanek, Pominville and MacArthur have been able to do lately but the Sabres need all four of them to create scoring opportunities out of nothing but hard work and smart puck movement. I want to see them get defenders out of position whether by protecting the puck better or by using a clever deke or by making a smart pass. They all need to be better.

Let me just say this about the checking lines, too. They’ve generated a ton of opportunities, pinned opponents in their own zone, and scored more frequently than as to be expected. As far as the third and forth line forward lines go, the Sabres might have two of the best in the league. They fill their role and then some.

I don’t spend time looking at statistics often. It’s in my nature though for me to wonder when I notice something if it can be quantified. Saturday evening I couldn’t help but complain how inefficient the Sabres are at generating chances and scoring goals while playing on even strength. Sure enough, the Sabres have scored the second fewest even-strength goals in the entire league. The scoring lines are to blame for that low ranking, one-hundred-percent.

All that being said, Tom Renney, head coach of the New York Rangers since the start of the 2003-2004 season, was fired Monday. I don’t have much sympathy for the Rangers. They’ve struggled lately and it has everything to do with the irresponsible free agent signings they’ve made. The Rangers, are like the Dallas Cowboys of the NHL. They throw money at under achieving, veteran players, with no regard for team chemistry. It’s almost an impossible situation to coach in.

Perhaps it was the fact that Sean Avery made his bones as a New York Ranger. Or maybe it was the comments Tom Renney made during the ’07 playoff series between the Sabres and Rangers. But somewhere along the line I started to hate Tom Renney – just as I did for Ken Hitchcock when he was with the Dallas Stars and then later with the Philadelphia Flyers – just as I did for Bryan Murray with the Ottawa Senators. I loved hating those teams and more specifically those coaches. More than that though, I was always tickled pink to see them fail especially at the hands of the Sabres. But I never wanted to see any of them get canned.

I hate how there doesn’t seem to be any loyalties between organizations and coaches anymore. Why is it that when a team is successful, the players and the management that brought in the players are praised. But when players under perform or when the talent level is low, the coaches are always blamed for the teams lack of success. The NHL is a league where rosters change dramatically from year to year. It seems that one bad year is enough to get just about any coach in the league fired.

You can’t tell me that the Penguins are better off without Michel Therrien, who led them to the Stanley Cup finals last year. Or that the Canadians and Devils don’t regret firing Claude Julien who has won with every team he’s coached and currently is the bench-boss for one of the leagues most prolific teams, the Boston Bruins.

All the coaching changes going on around the league only benefit the Sabres in the long term. It’s tough to say what will happen with teams immediately after a coaching change, but when it comes to player development, there will be a significant adjustment period when new coaches implement their new system. That’s just a fact.

As for Renney, I’m sad to see him go. Likewise the Sens and Flyer’s just aren’t the same after Hitch and Murray vacated their former positions. If nothing else, the personalities those guys brought to their teams was unique and worth the price of admission.

The Sabres have a defensive system in place where they try to mix young developing defenseman with cerebral older veterans. If you look back, you see it in every Sabres team since Lindy Ruff’s been coaching here. The Sabres prefer a quick skating, puck control type of defense. It works well if you have the right players. But the effectiveness of this defense is also directly dependent on the forwards and defenseman playing within the system.

That means that the players need to play with a lot of effort. The Sabres win when they play harder than other teams. That’s fine, I’m confident with Lindy Ruff’s ability to motivate his players but this is the National Hockey League, everyone is literally a professional. As an organization, you can’t expect your professional team to outwork every other professional team in order to win games.

There’s been a lot of talk around Western New York about lack of effort from the hometown team. Some say Lindy Ruff may have lost some of the players in the Sabres dressing room. I say BS. I think this defensive unit, and by extension, this team, is in a transitional period that is unlike any we’ve seen before from a Regier/Ruff team.

I noticed something in the Tuesday night Ottawa win that I haven’t seen from this team in a long time. Think back to when there was about seven minutes left in the third period and Ottawa was pushing for the tying goal. Ottawa was bringing pressure and the Sens’ forwards were swatting at Miller’s pads, trying to chip in an easy goal. The Sabres had been outplayed the entire third period. While Miller was trying to secure the puck, Craig Rivet absolutely bull-dozed two Ottawa players out of the crease, one with each arm. Rivet just overpowered the Senators with strength and aggression. It was the kind of aggression that leaves a memorable impression for opposing players. A scrum ensued and Rivet proceeded to announce to any opposing player within arms reach that he was not very pleased at the overall complacency and lack of respect Ottawa was showing his team. Now they know that if they want to take shots at Miller, there’s a tole that has to be paid and Craig Rivet will not forget to collect.

If there is one disturbing weakness that the Buffalo defensive unit has had over the years, it is their physical game. In particular, the physical play in front of their own net. In particular, the physical play in front of their own net during the playoffs. Sometimes you just need to have bigger and stronger guys on your team. There was no one bigger or stronger on the ice Tuesday night than Craig Rivet. He’ll always be there to test you, asking, do you really want it that bad because if you do, I’m going to punish you in the process.

It was a statement from a man still trying to earn his stripes on this team. But really, with further play like that, just hand this guy the keys. The Sabres saw it, the fans saw it, and you can bet that everyone wearing Ottawa jersey saw it. He’s already the captain and now we’re learning why. This is the guy that Jaroslav Spacek was supposed to be when they signed him in the ’06 summer and the guy that the Sabres have been missing on this team for years: a tough, gritty, passionate defenseman.

Any team worth discussing in this league has a clear and obvious advantage playing at home. Being consistently good at home is always part of the foundation with which every great team is built upon. And the best way to get victories at home is to create a dependable defensive unit.

Winning teams have identities on defense, often inspired by one or more standout players. Think about Detroit. Nick Lidstrom is a standout defenseman. He skates well, he’s smart with the puck and no one is better at positioning themselves in the defensive zone. That team and that defense, has an identity and it’s lead by Lidstrom.

Think about Chara in Boston or Phaneuf in Calgary and now Campbell in Chicago. Those teams win and are particularly successful at home with those guys dictating the tone of the game. Those players always have an effect on the outcome of their games.

Rivet will never be as dynamic of a player as the aforementioned. The guy’s 34 years old. But I like what he brings to the Sabres. He’s a difference maker and I wouldn’t mind seeing if the Sabres could pair up Mike Weber with Rivet in the future.

Sometimes I feel like the Sabres marquee players are sometimes afraid to battle with teams when they don’t have any competitive energy or physical support. A guy like Craig Rivet gives the Sabres both of those things.

Don’t believe me? Well, check out the following numbers. The Sabres record is 13-7-2 when Rivet is in the line-up this year. They are 7-8-3 when he’s not in the lineup. At home, the Sabres are 8-3-1 with Rivet in the line-up. The three losses came against Ottawa early in the season, Columbus when Lalime let in 4 goals on the first 8 shots he faced, and against Philadelphia later in November. With Rivet out of the line-up, at home, the Sabres are just 3-6-1.

After Rivet’s play, with 6:33 to play in the third, the Senators who up until that point had thrown 9 shots on net, managed only two more for the rest of the game.