See You in September, Sabres

It could have been worse.

The one thing Buffalo Sabres fans can take solace in after last night’s elimination at the hands of the Boston Bruins is that it wasn’t as painful as it could have been: there was no overtime. There was no outrageous large-number-to-zero score. It wasn’t Game Seven. And the Sabres actually put up a pretty good fight.

It’s just that the “pretty good fight” came a little too late.

The Buffalo Sabres were eliminated from the playoffs Monday night

Even after those two third-period goals, there was still (at least among the group I was with) a feeling of resigned acceptance. We knew what was coming. The Sabres kept pulling themselves back into the game and giving fans a glimmer of hope, just like they won Game Five, put themselves back in the series, and made us all think, “It’s not over yet.” But even with that glimmer of hope, you could see it coming from a mile away.

Or, more accurately, you could see it coming when Steve Montador took that penalty in the first period that led to the Bruins first goal.

Before the game, my (oh-so-wise, all-knowing) boyfriend made a bold statement: Montador would be the reason we lost. “I’ve read this book before,” he said, “and I know how it ends.” That seemed to be his mantra for this series.

Montador wasn’t the reason the Sabres lost, but that power play goal certainly gave the Bruins some confidence. You could almost see the thought bubbles over the heads of the entire TD Garden crowd: “We finally scored first; we can do it. This one’s ours.”

Usually there’s anger after a loss. Or there’s bitterness, sadness, the feeling the refs screwed us over, that this player or that player could have played better — something, anything.

Instead, it was just quiet. And not the awkward, “Oh my God, I can’t believe they frickin’ blew it” kind of quiet there was after Game Four. This was that “Well…yeah, that’s that” sort of quiet.

Final Thoughts

• The Sabres power play went 0 for 19 in these six games. Their penalty kill allowed five goals in three games. There’s no denying that was, among other things, one of the reasons Boston won this series.
• I know I keep harping on how evenly-matched this series was, and how spectacular both Ryan Miller and Tuukka Rask are, but, really, could the final stats have been any closer? Miller had a 0.926 save percentage and 2.34 goals against average to Rask’s 0.927 and 2.18. Seriously, they’re both incredible, and if Miller doesn’t win the Vezina Trophy, I will be unable to fathom the reason.
• I know this is a Sabres blog and all, but this has to be said: Mark Recchi is a beast. An absolute beast. Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli made a great move getting him at the trade deadline last season.
• I would like to take a moment to thank Tyler Ennis and David Krejci for winning me $10 in an office playoff bet. This is a proud moment, and I feel rather vindicated.

Ryan Miller is a finalist for the NHL Foundation Player Award (Photo courtesy of mark6mauno/ Flikr)

Another Award for Miller?

Ryan Miller is up for another award, but this one’s more about his off-ice work.

Miller is one of three finalists for the NHL Foundation Player Award, which “gives $25,000 to a player’s charity that embodies the core values of the NHL — commitment, perseverance and teamwork — to enrich the lives of people in his community,” according to The Buffalo News. The money would go to Miller’s Steadfast Foundation.

Los Angeles’ Dustin Brown and Washington’s Mike Green are Miller’s competition. The winner will be announced at the NHL Awards on June 23 in Las Vegas.