Sabres take 2-1 lead in opening round

The Buffalo Sabres squeaked by the Islanders last night in a nail biter 3-2 on the island. On paper the Sabres dominated the Islanders in the third period in which neither team scored and the Isles manufactured only 2 shots. This doesn't tell the tale that the Islanders had some scoring chances but missed the net entirely a couple times.

Furthermore, questionable reffing seemed to add to the Sabres victory. A called goal was under review for quite a few minutes and on many telecasts there was no irrefutable evidence to suggest the puck clearly crossed the goal line. It stood, the sabres went up 3-1, gave up a weak goal at the end of the 2nd and that was that. With under 3 minutes to go a couple no-calls went the Sabres way while a weak tripping call was made giving the 'bres the powerplay with 94 seconds left sealing the game for the road team.

Calling out the fans for throwing shit on the ice is hypocritical because it happens in every venue in sports. Sabres fans would be crying nonstop if the same injustice occurred in the bank arena. The Sabres did earn the victory out skating the Isles much of the 3rd period but a few lapses and non"clutch" shooting from the Isles did however contribute. Something that is troubling at least to me is the idea of laying back with a 1 goal lead with the power play with less than 10 minutes to go. Maybe the power play just sucks, only time it worked was a 5 on 3 for a full 2 minutes, or something just needs to be changed, who knows.

The game being as close as it was is a bit troubling, maybe the Islanders are under rated or it is just playoff hockey, but it seems like most prognosticators gave the Isles 0 chance of winning even a game in this series. Are the Sabres just complacent, or are they not as good as we thought? It is tough to tell, but by the way they are playing it seems a stretch to say this team is winning the cup this year. Four series, 16 wins, and all the other factors at play effect this, but where is the fire power, who is going to spark this team? Anything is possible, we'll see...

Hot
Ruff
Mair
Kotalik (Although he is -3 and zero points)

Cold
Hecht
Spacek ($9+ million contract?
Yashin