The Avalanche are hosting the Sabres tonight, and I’m kicking this ITCS old-school style, with a running recap of the game.
I’m watching the Sabres feed tonight even though Rick Jeanneret is on vacation. Seriously, WTF? As an added bonus, it looks like the color guy, Harry Neale, is off as well. Actually, I’m looking forward to the one-man booth – I think color guys in general talk WAY too much (and not just hockey).
Already I’m impressed, as they are using the Scorpions "Rock You Like a Hurricane" coming back from the break. The Altitude song (whatever it is) isn’t terrible, but it sure does get annoying hearing it 72,000 times a night.
First Period
19:14 Game on. Avalanche have some shots, Budaj almost lets in a goal. Jordan Leopold, of course. And I’m wrong about the one-man booth. Harry Neale has arrived. Must have been in the john.
17:42 Oh crap, Lindy Ruff has 499 career wins.
17:17 Good news, hearing Wilson’s name a lot. Bad news – I think the Sabres guy is just calling every Avalanche defensemen Wilson.
16:54 PP for the Avalanche. Hide. The. Kittens.
16:14 Porter on the first line PP? Here kitty kitty,
15:46 A Jonas Holos sighting! And on the PP no less?
14:55 "Wilson" (aka Matt Hunwick) just gave up a bad breakaway.
13:34 Am I missing something? I don’t think I’ve seen Stastny out all game.
12:21 Yep, I’m seeing Galiardi, Yip and Jones. No Stastny. Why wasn’t I informed?
11:25 I was hoping for a 1-man booth. I get 3. Rob Ray is "behind the bench" doing his Tony Siragusa impression. Not impressed.
10:52 There’s a guy behind the Sabres bench wearing some sort of Grateful Dead style Sabres t-shirt. I’m not sure there are words to describe how disturbing I find that. Oh wait, I think there are: holy fuck that’s disturbing. Avs are on the PP again after Paul Gaustad mugs Phillipe Dupuis for no good reason.
5:44 Winnik scores! Just when the game was starting to lull, Galiardi hits Winnik with a home run pass and Winnik buries it to put the Avs up 1-0. When you get a chance, you have to check this one out, because Winnik actually starts the play BEHIND Galiardi. Galiardi knocks down the puck in front of Budaj and Winnik takes off immediately. By the time Galiardi gets control of the puck, Winnik is past the red line. Awesome, awesome play. (Nice pass from Galiardi too as he floated it over the head of the defenseman).
5:16 4-minute power play for Buffalo. O’Byrne for high sticking. And for fuck’s sake, I can’t even type that before the stupid Avalanche penalty kill gives up a goal. Glorioski.
4:00 I’m no longer angry. O’Reilly scores a shorty. He goes in on the forecheck against Sekera (the same guy who got beat for goal #1). The Sabres are changing and Sekera is all alone and coughs it up to Winnik, who finds O’Reilly alone in front. Tough break for Sekera, as it wasn’t really his fault. Plus, I think he did it all for the glory of love.
2:37 After all, he is a man who will fight for your honor.
2:10 (You can keep reading, because those are the only two lyrics from that song that I know)
2nd period
17:36 Sabres are on the PP again. Leopold will make me nervous until this game is over.
15:39 I’m pretty sure Kevin Shattenkirk hasn’t scored since I anointed him as this year’s Calder winner. Very sorry.
14:17 Duchene gets tripped. If not, he was going to be all alone. Good penalty to take.
10:20 Avs are all over the Sabres right now. Which probably means the Sabres will be tying it up soon. Negative Nancy is my name.
6:55 Budaj makes a big save on a Leopold redirection. And then Liles goes after Steve Montador for the old "extra swipe at the puck after the whistle" thing. Liles rocks. That’s all.
5:09 Winnik called for "tackling" (Harry Neale’s term). We call it holding. Anyway, Sabres are on the man ad again.
4:20 Drew Stafford throws a temper tantrum and gets called for unsportsmanlike conduct. Ha ha. He got slashed and then slammed his stick to the ice and spouts off some f-bombs as well. Simmer down now. PP over.
1:42 Budaj solid tonight. As I have that tought, Dean Sylvester says the Budaj is giving up some big rebounds and Harry Neale says he may have some rust on him. Screw you both.
1:09 Montador blatantly cross checks Galiardi in the back. No call. Maybe Galiardi should slam his stick to the ice?
1.3 Sabres get a whistle in the Colorado zone and Lindy Ruff pulls Miller to try to get a late goal. Smart play. Didn’t work though.
3rd Period
The Avalanche are up 2-1, but I’m a little worried. The Sabres haven’t played very well tonight but the Avs haven’t really stepped up their game to put this away. Buffalo just needs one break to turn this around. Ugh. Stupid foreshadowing.
16:44 Holos just picked the pocket of Montador. Nice play.
16:24 Some Adam guy just missed a check on Dupuis and flying into the Buffalo bench. 9.2 from the Romanian judges.
15:29 And Pomminville gets the inevitable tying goal. I hate being right.
14:31 And Montador scores. Fuckety Fuck. That was an ugly, ugly, ugly goal. On review, Budaj may have been screened, but that doesn’t matter at this point. Ugh. Sacco calls a timeout to try to rally the team.
13:58 well, that worked. Duchene ties it up. All of a sudden, we’ve got a game.
12:31 And Leopold is hurt – took a puck off the foot. The joke here would be obvious, but I don’t have the heart.
11:38 All of a sudden, this game is crazy wild. Both teams have found another gear. Or, they’ve found a gear, I should say, as most of this game has been played in neutral.
10:30 O’Byrne going off for a cross check. Snatch has taken some dumb, dumb penalties lately – and at key points of the game.
8:31 Leopold is in the dressing room. Big break for us, and the Avs kill off the penalty.
7:24 Leopold is back. Spoiler alert? I sure hope not.
6:49 Wow, Adam Foote gets a penalty for interference. That appeared to be a very favorable call for the Sabres.
6:01 That, by the way, is our Mountain Subaru Understatement of the Game. Mountain Subaru. Come buy one today.
5:33 Scary moment – close play where the Sabres almost score, but it ends up hitting the stick of a Buffalo player just before it goes all the way over the line. It gets reviewed, but no-goal is called. Have I mentioned I HATE that refs explain the non-goal? Just signal. We can figure out that the puck didn’t cross the line if you signal no goal, okay?
Whew. Frantic final 10 minutes. Knotted up at 3 at the end of regulation. O’Byrne and McCormick meet up at the end of the game to compare prefixes, but nothing comes of it.
Overtime
5:00 Shattenkirk on the ice. Haven’t heard his name in a little while. Yes, trying to force this a bit.
4:45 Flash takes the puck off the faceoff and undress Myers on the way to the net. Not literally, of course.
4:38 And he does it again. Can we have that Calder award back please?
4:15 Awesome. Hejduk called for tripping. Not very happy right now.
2:28 The Avs’ turn. Ennis clips Wilson with a high stick. Okay, boys, win it for the kttens? 3 on 3 for a few seconds until Hejduk comes back though. Very odd to watch.
1:05 great chance by Shattenkirk on a redirect but Miller made a big save
42.9 GAME OVER. Fleischmann and Jones go in two on one and convert. Looks like Myers got caught trying to pressure the Avs’ defenseman back at the red line. Big goal, big win! Bang Bang, Bangity Bang.