Sabres Bruins Preview

Ugh the Bruins. Its too early for the Bruins. Thank god they only have to play them 5 more times. No one plays a more boring brand of hockey then the Boston Bruins. Hey if you want to get fans back in Boston, make them play a fun style of game. Not sit back and wait for turnovers type of hockey.

Well they come into HSBC Arena off a shootout loss, one of a 30 for the Bruins this year, so they will probably be tired. They are 2-1-2 on the year already. Thats a pretty good indication of what the Bruins will be this year. They won't be great, but they won't be bad, they have enough talent and decent goaltending, but they won't be one of the elite teams in the league. They can be beat any night. They do have two 5 goal scorers already, in Kessel and Savard, but their lineup is pretty average after that. Michael Ryder isn't someone your scared of, neither is Krejci or Bergeron. Its a hard working lineup, thats led by Chara on the Blueline and a bunch of other grinders like Wideman, Aaron Ward and Brad Stuart. Tim Thomas is pretty good and having a decent year, but Manny Fernandez might get a go tonight, and he isn't having the best year with a 3.02 GAA and a .878 sv %. Thats Thibault numbers right there. But I'm not spending time on the Bruins because I hate them. So lets talk about the Sabres.

Well the Sabres are off to a fast start. They aren't relaying on scoring to bail them out, but defense. I think the Atlanta game showed if they are lazy, they will get scored on. Thats why I look to tonight for the Sabres to return to form. Their team GAA is 1.36 thats Detroit like. I think people realize that the Detroit style of game is what will be successful in the NHL. Tight defense with some offensive power. The Sabres have the offensive power, led by Vanek, Pominville and Kotalik. This is when their forwards are banged up, imagine when they can roll four lines with some scoring touch.

The Sabres can't start slow again, they have to come out strong and play smart. If they want to be the team they want to be. I'm sure Lindy has told them what they have to do. They can just look to last year and see he's right. They played wild and loose and had success, because they had so much offensive power to dig themselves out. But eventually that catches up to you. Now they have a good amount of talent, but they have to play two way hockey to win. There is a reason Vanek is doing what he's doing, he wants it. No one can stop him when he's motivated. He can be a 50 goal scorer and be one of the elites in the league. Soon that contract will look like a deal.

Hey he's been in the league as long as Sidney Crosby.

Goals

Crosby 100 in 220 games

Vanek 111 in 250 games

(and yes I know Crosby has 109 more assists then Vanek)

But that shows hes one of the elite goal scorers in the league, not in Ovechkin terrority. But Vanek wasn't the best player on his team. Now he's the best player on the Sabres. He wasn't given the ice time early on. Its time for Sabre fans to realize how good of a player the Sabres have on their hands, and for a very long time.

Tonight, I hope the beat the bruins by 5 goals. Probably more like 3 to 1. Boston is really going to play tight tonight.