The Battle of the Goaltenders |
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The Sabres and Senators have had their share of bad blood this season. As you
may remember, these two teams had a huge brawl, sparked by Chris Neil's ugly
hit on Buffalo co-captain Chris Drury. Remember people asked, "What would
it be like if these two teams met in the playoffs?" Well, that is about to become reality, as number-one seeded Buffalo takes on Ottawa in the Eastern Conference Finals. This almost seems like a perfect matchup, as both teams are trying to get revenge for that brawl. This is a series that boasts the two top offensive teams in the Eastern Conference, and some of the best D. Last year, the teams met in the second-round, where Buffalo took care of Ottawa in five games. Now, Buffalo is the top-seed, and the Sens are the "underdog" although they are not playing like it. "I think the series may be unpredictable at times," said Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff. "I think this series can go a number of directions." What are we waiting for?! Let's get started! -------------------- For the Sabres, the key for them is to stop Ottawa's big line, which is possibly the best line in the game as of now. The "big line" consists of Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley. Buffalo had some trouble containing the New York Rangers' Jarimor Jagr and Michael Nylander, as they racked up nine points in six games. The trio of Alfredsson, Spezza, and Heatley is tougher to contain. They had a field day against the New Jersey Devils, with the three of them combining for 23 points in their five-game series. The Sabres D men that have to handle them - the underrated pair of Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder. The Sabres will have a whole lot of trouble if they cannot rope Ottawa's big line in a keep them from getting loose. Hey, we gotta talk about the Buffalo offense too! Although Buffalo's offense is less explosive, they are within the top 5 offenses in the league. The Sabres offense is led by the line of Drury, Daunius Zubrus and Jochen Hecth. Also at center is All-Star Game MVP Daniel Briere. Thomas Vanek, one of the Sabres four 30+ goal scorers this season, is also on that Sabres offense, and can go off like a bull in a china shop at any moment. The D pairing that is going to face Buffalo's top line is Anton Volchenkov and Chris Phillips. These guys have been brilliant this postseason, as they have shut down the Devils' main offensive unit (Patrik Elias, Scott Gomez, and Brian Gionta), and keeping the Pittsburgh Penguins big three (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jordan Staal) in tact in the first round. Now, we move onto the key matchup in this series - goaltenders Ryan Miller and Ray Emery. Miller has been great so far for Buffalo, holding 2.07 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage while having an awesome 8-3 record in the 2007 playoffs. It's hard to really compare these two goalies, because they have been playing about the same. Miller has been terrific. Emery has been terrific. Although there was one instance when Emery overslept and got in a crash on his way to Game 5 against New Jersey. But, even with that, he was great. This series will be a battle of the goaltenders if everything goes right. This has to come down to the goalies, because who's going to stop the high-powered offenses? For Buffalo to win this series, their defense, no matter who's up against the big line, has to play great. I do not think they will be able to do that, that's why I'm picking Ottawa to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals in seven games. This has a great chance to become one of the NHL's greatest series. |