Originally posted by: realEZE
Originally posted by: SampSon
So kudos to the Sens for making it to the finals. Shame on the fans for being such classless fools.
Hey SampSon,
****** you, eh!
Seriously though, Ottawa is a funny hockey market...
Sens fans are used to being outnumbered in their own building by loud obnoxious Leafs and Habs fans... It's just a natural response that has developed, mostly due to immaturity and frustration.
I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying, give us another change to win your hard-earned US dollars
I drove 5-6 hours one-way and spend a good $2,000 for the time there, and that was just me, not including my other two friends. I simply won't be going back to Ottawa for a long time. I've been to a dozen cities for hockey games, fully decked out in my gear, in towns that have had worse situations than the Sens fans. I've never experienced anything like that and hope I never have to again. Usually I can at least make a hockey friend or two over the series, the sens fans were having nothing to do with that. All in all, the shittiest group of fans ever and that even includes the Philadelphia flyers fans (which is saying A LOT).
As I said before, I could analyze every game, period and player in the sabres v sens series and write a multi-page article on it. I don't need to because I summed it up in one sentence a few posts ago. But I'll humor some of your points.
If Emery received the kind of pressure Miller did, the Sabres would be in the finals right now or damn close to it. Sure Miller kept them in there, but that's what a franchise goalie is supposed to do. When you look at the stats they make sense. When the Sabres took the shots they are supposed to, the game was within one goal and went into OT. Since the Sabres really didn't show up to play for most of the series and kept the games "close", I would be nervous as a Sens fan.
Ruff juggled lines a lot as he always has. When you have the depth Buffalo does you're afforded that luxury. There is no possible way to put all your eggs in one basket with Buffalo's skill guys, unless you have 2-3 baskets (lines). Now Ottawa on the otherhand has that problem. You shutdown their top line and they are in trouble. Sure in the playoffs the other lesser known guys need to come through, but that doesn't always happen.
I was AT every-single-game of that series and I watched them closely and read/watched all the coverage after they were done. Ottawa should have blown them out with the way Buffalo was playing, but they didn't. In the end the only thing that really, truely matters is the score.
Buffalo didn't show up, got outplayed and wasn't built to have a grind out playoff team. Though none of them ever gave up. Drury is by far the most clutch player in the NHL, and he put that on display this playoff run. Briere came through here and there, but simply isn't big or strong enough to play a grind out hockey game. The Sabres blue liners arn't big or strong enough to stifle large forwards and Buffalos forwards arn't large enough to go to the boards and dominate physically for puck control. I'm sure the past two series of islanders and rangers trying to hit buffalo into oblivion didn't help much either.
Sabres weren't built enough to go all the way, they relied on skill and speed. They lost. Though if I was an Ottawa fan I wouldn't be jumping for joy with the way they played in that series. I would also be praying to whatever god possible that Emery doesn't face any decent shots with a guy ready for the rebound.
In the end the Sens outplayed and won. The Sabres will be back next year with a core group of skill that still surpasses most out there.