A night for the books

"Tonight's game was more about the community." -Jason Pominville

We needed this. The Team needed this. The City needed this. The Community needed this.

For 2.5hrs we could try to forget about our pain and come together to find some comfort in being together and overcoming. Even if just for a few hours. So for that, I thank you Sabres. Thank you. For that little bit of time some of us were able to try to return to normalcy. It will take a long time. But we're strong and we're tough and we'll make it through this, together. That's why I feel this game was so much more than a hockey game.

-The moment of silence in the beginning was very powerful. I doubt it's ever been that quite, and hopefully it will never have to be again.

-It was crazy how on fire we came out of the gate. It's truly like they were playing for something else, something bigger.

-When I found out Paille was going to play I was hoping like hell he'd play his ass off, and he didn't disappoint.

-RJ, Neale, and Rayzor were in fine form tonight. They were full of one-liners. I love it.

-I totally thought Stafford scored that goal, but it went over the net. It was such a sweet play though! Man, he's playing wicked hockey right now...

-On San Jose's 3rd goal, Lydman gave up too fast. He was all over Boyle and then let up, and what do you know? Back of the net.

-That high stick penalty on Rivet was total BS. Thorton's own guy hit him! And I found it funny that he was pointing to the inside of his lip, saying it was bleeding and the ref totally rolled his eyes. That was awesome.

-How did 3 of our guys miss their checks on Pavelski's goal? Terrible.

OMG. Did you guys see how excited Rivet was when he scored? The entire building erupted!! The team went totally crazy. And I've never seen a bigger smile plastered on that guy's face. It was incredible. Take a look at his face in this pic. It seriously felt like... something. I can't even explain what. How much do you think that goal meant to him [even though he didn't end up scoring it, it went to Pommers]? This was his old team that dropped [traded] him this summer. The emotions were off the Richter scale. That combined with what he said early to the media about what he hoped this game could accomplish, how it wasn't about them. He wanted to give something and help somehow, and this is the only way he knows.

Several people commented on how after that tying goal with 3.9 seconds left it was the loudest the building has been since the playoffs- how it seemed like it was sort of a release for everyone, players included. And Ruff's response? "We needed a fairy tale ending." He said, "we needed to give the city something positive."

Kevin Sylvester's response- "Is there any question why the city loves that man? He knows the game meant little."

Damn it, that self-centered little dink scored another game-winner

There has been a lot of talk about TimBits 'round these parts lately. Trade him, or no? Will he stay healthy? Is he worth $3.5mil/yr? Can or will we sign him for next year? Guess what... none of that matters right now, cuz our TimBits is on fire! I'm one who is always on the wall about him. I don't necessarily like him a whole lot... I think most can agree he kinda seems like a slimy jackass, and, well, we all know about all of the STD's he must have by now. But that is so beyond anything that matters right now. Can anyone argue that when he's healthy, he's a top forward in the league? I know I can be biased, but seriously. He has 9 goals and 3 assists in his last 9 games alone. It's like no on can stop him. But I feel very hesitant about feeling this way, because I just know that he's 1 trip over the blueline away from permanent paralysis. It's a very stressful situation, this Timmy Connolly one...

Moving on to last night's game. I can honestly say it was very enjoyable to watch. Even though we killed Toronto last game, it was boring at times. Not last night. The game really could have gone either way at any point in time. I love those games. I get pissed when we lose them, but so excited when we win 'em.

Some observations:

-I lost all my notes [very pissed about that], but tried to remember what I had written down.

-I was very happy to get out of the 1st tied 0-0. It's times like these when you need your goalie to steal it for you until you can get in the game.

-PATCHES!!! Man, have I said lately how much I love this guy? I'm not riding any bandwagon here, I've loved him from the moment I first saw him play [I tend to love the underachieving ones... check my post from a week ago]. He's so disappointing at times. But right now, he's playing his heart out. He knows he's playing for a spot every night, and he's basically daring Lindy to take him out of the lineup. Right now, he deserves a spot over Paille [and possibly others such as Hecht, MacArthur, and obvs Peters]. This dude wants to play hockey. And it seems he'll do anything he can to keep it that way.

-Montreal's power play is sicknasty. All the time. I feel like they're on the verge of scoring every time. It freaks me out.

-That hit Begin on Kotalik was BS. People can disagree with me on this [I'm sure many will]. The hit itself was fine- no elbow, didn't leave his feet, no knee-to-knee contact. But Al had already gotten rid of the puck. And the NHL nowadays is making this big to-do about players being in a vulnerable position and getting taken advantage of. Could Al have been any more vulnerable? His back was to Begin, he just got rid of the puck, and was totally not expecting to get hit. Total crap.

-However, that being said... if they called the penalty then TimBits wouldn't have scored that goal. Komisarek had possession of it before he screwed up and banked it off the boards to TimBits and he buried it. So the whistle would have blown before the goal. So I guess it evens out in the end- as long as Al isn't hurt.

Here's Price's "Oh Shit" face after TimBit's goal:

-Who else got that "feeling" after the 2nd Montreal goal? You know what I'm talking about. The we're-up-and-playing-awesome-but-we're-about-to-give-the-lead-away-and-screw-it-all-up feeling. Good thing Miller was on his game. But I was scared to watch cuz I really thought they were going to manage to find a way to F it up.

-How hilarious was Harry Neale when that guy [I can't for the life of me remember who it was] had a breakaway and couldn't get his footing? Neale slowed it down and showed it a billion times, each time saying, oh he almost has it, oh wait no, oh wait trying to get up, oh no, oh wait, one more time, oh no. Poor guy, I actually felt bad for him for a split second. Just a second though.

-Have I ever mentioned how much I love Spacho interviews? His accent and his low voice is wicked awesome. He's so funny to listen to. And I like when Rivet gets interviewed too. I told my dad that he doesn't seem like a hockey player when he talks. Not his accent [or lack thereof], but just the way he speaks and his mannerisms. I can't quite put my finger on it, but he's just different. Either way, I like it.

-As a sidenote, I hope you all got the chance to see Roby talking to Playfair about how he knew it was time to hang up the skates. If you didn't get the chance to see it, here it is. This is the whole interview, but go to the 5:50min mark and you'll hear it. Great story.