Sabres outshoot Montreal; Janssen suspeneded

Buffalo outlasted Montreal last night, 8-5. The high scoring affair was definitely a fans' game - there were four instances where goals were scored thirty nine seconds apart or less.

Buffalo was flawless in the first and third, and performed as I thought they would. However, the second heralded crazy bounces and lucky breaks on both sides the led to Buffalo only leading 5-4 at the second intermission.

Buffalo started out on a tear, having five very quality scoring chances in the first five minutes. Habs coach Guy Carbonneau took the team timeout in the first five minutes of the game- the only time I have ever seen that. Buffalo played well behind Mike Ryan, right, and Thomas Vanek. I was pleasantly surprised with Dainius Zubrus' performance...really meshed pretty well for his first game.

Look for him to get his first goal tonight.

Another Dangerous Late Hit

On the last goal scored by Buffalo, Thomas Vanek was on a breakaway. There was an empty net so Vanek was just cruising in with Habs defenseman Sheldon Souray a stride behind. Souray hacked Vanek violently with his stick and wasn't penalized. Souray definitely hit hard enough to break an ankle, thankfully, he didn't. The NHL should take a look at this play specifically- there is nothing but intent to injure here. The video, here, is from a cellphone in HSBC and isn't really reliable, but you can see when Vanek was hacked.

That was bad sportsmanship, bad hockey showmanship, and should be disciplined. Unfortunately, that wasn't the worst of the night.

In a game where the Toronto Maple Leafs looked to improve their chances at making the playoffs, and at the same time the New Jersey Devils looked to solidify their chance to win home-ice through the playoffs.

The game was two to nothing New Jersey, and it looked like Martin Brodeur would get his 40th win, best in the NHL, until a late and very damaging hit turned the game around. No, it wasn't a hit that got the team fired up, it was a hit that gave an excellent defenseman a concussion of unknown strength. The player didn't have his head down, the player wasn't near the puck...so what happened?

This happened. Unspeakable.

I love hitting. I think taking it away is damaging the game (apparentlyly, so does the NHL, but they're going about it horribly). But, taking liberties like that on someone is just ridiculous. It seems like the last few weeks a team per week has had to scrape up their players with a spatula off the ice to get them in the locker room. That's crossing the line.

Chris Neil, (shown right hitting Tampa Bay's Cory Sarich) is KNOWN to be dirty and is QUOTED as saying "I hit to cause injuries", should have been suspended after the hit on Chris Drury. OK, he wasn't, life goes on. The next game against Buffalo, Patrick Kaleta (our hitter) puts a CLEAN hit on Chris Kelly (one that didn't even knock him over!) and Neil comes cross ice and cross checks the much smaller Kaleta to the chin (if you don't believe me, watch it here).

Again, Neil wasn't penalized for anything but the fight that ensued. Outrageous.

And then, my most hated player strikes once again. As a Carolina defenseman was touching up for icing, Neil blatently ran through him. Can't find the video on YouTube, dammit if it ruins my credibility. Anyways, on a sensless play, Neil broke the Carolina defender's arm. Guess what? No penalty.

Chris Neil suffered through his mother's death ealry in the 2005-06 season. He said "I'm fortunate that she was here to see me play the weekend before she died. She was so proud of the fact that she could get to see me play in the NHL.". Do you think your mother is proud that to go out to try to injure and maim other players, Chris Neil? Do you think your mother would be proud if you viciously ended a players' career and maybe they got long term brain damage for your hits? How can you explain that to their family and kids? To your own kids if you have them?

And that brings me to Cam Janssen(shown at right, hitting then-Panther Gary Roberts). He's not historically dirty, his penalties normally aren't dirty. Fighting majors, hooking, penalties like that aren't dirty. While his past has nothing to do with what happened last night, he certainly changed my opinion of him. The hit was excruciatingly late, timed at 2.1 seconds.

Not only was Kaberle watching the play, across the ice and thirty feet up towards the blueline, but his body wasn't even in position to take a hit. Janssen took a run at a player who was crouched over, skating backwards toward the bench, and felt that it was okay. In short, Janssen's hip crushed Kaberle's head, which sent him careening into the boards, only to smash the other side of his head with the same, if not more, force Janssen released into Kaberle.

Thank God his neck wasn't broken, it very easily could have been so. Something needs to be done about this. Buttman and Campbell won't do what's necessary. Take hitting away? NO. Some example needs to be set, and I hope NHL officials take the recent weeks as a catalyst for their stance on the issue, especially last night.

NEWS BREAK: Janssen was just suspended about an hour ago for three games. I don't think this is nearly enough of a punishment. I feel five game would have been the minimum. Hopefully, the Leafs will update us on Kaberle's condition shortly.

Buffalo at Toronto

Buffalo looks to continue to prove their Eastern conference dominance. After being thrashed by Buffalo's backups Tuesday by a score of 6-1, Toronto is looking for revenge.

Darcy Tucker, right, after being on the injury reserve for quite a while, makes his return tonight. In the past, Tucker has been problematic for Buffalo, both offensively producing and getting under our player's skin. Tucker leads the Maple Leaf's power play scoring, and could be a threat if Buffalo takes penalties like they did last night.

Ty Conklin may see his first Sabres action, after Ryan Miller's poor performance last night. But he does have until Wednesday to rest, so they may play him anyways. It's a game time decision. Buffalo should have no problem scoring goals on the pylon defense Toronto has, especially short their best defender Kaberle.

I say Buffalo beat Aubin often again and wins 5-2.