Sabres Need No Further Direction Than I-90

Well, SABRES NATION, here we go, 6 hours down the I-90 once again. The New Jersey Devils defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning today, 3-2, to clinch the series. Martin Brodeur finally played the way he did in the entire regular season. Brad Richards, the third of the Lightning's three man attack, scored two goals in an attempt to singlehandedly force a game 7. Unfortunately, he did not accomplish his goal. Leaving the East matchups as:

#1 Buffalo Sabres vs. #6 New York Rangers
#2 New Jersey Devils vs #4 Ottawa Senators

The Sabres overall play in the Islanders series, unfortunately, was poor. Starting right from the draw, the Sabres underachieved through every game from game 2 on. I can excuse Chris Drury's poor faceoff performance this series, because it was against one of the top drawmen in the league, in Mike Sillinger. Besides that, the Sabres did hold a slight edge in faceoffs, led by the less-than-good at draws Daniel Briere and Derek Roy.

The Sabres coasted a lot, we saw that by allowing a team like the Islanders keep games close. Outside of game one, the Sabres never flexed their muscles, built on leads, or made the Islanders sorry they made the playoffs. Game one was all Sabres from taking the body from Ryan Smyth, to not letting the defense up and to keep scoring.

Best players of the series:

#3a - Adam Mair. This fourth line agitator strung together five marvelous performances to score a goal and two assists- and if I could, I'd give him an extra assist for WRECKING Richard Zednik to start the play that ended with his goal.

#3b - Dmitri Kalinin, right. Kalinin, other than one hiccough of a giveaway, played excellent shut down hockey. Both him and his partner Teppo Numminen earned a +4 rating for the series.

#2 - Danius Zubrus. Zubrus had a tenacious series, scoring 5 assists. Every one of his points were good, quality setups. He was a machine along the boards and a force to be reckoned with whenever he was on the ice.

#1 - Who else? Captain Clutch. Chris Drury scored 4 goals and an assist, two of his goals were game winners. He owned the slot the entire series and helped his team through their murky play. He is a playoff player; look for much of the same against the 'other' NY team.


Ghosts:

#3 - Henrik Tallinder/Toni Lydman. I put them on the same slot because I swear, they are one and the same player. When one plays like crap, the other usually does. When one's hot, they're the best pairing in the league. They were NOT HOT this series. Calling Mr. Lydman and Mr. Tallinder, Mr. Lydman and Mr. Tallinder. SABRES NATION would like you to WAKE UP!

#2 - Daniel Briere. I don't care, puck bunnies and teenie boppers, that he scored five points. He made TWO good plays this entire series. This entire season we've been enjoying Briere playing well and controlling the puck. Skating with the puck into the zone...but keeping control. He had multiple giveaways, and three of his points were only due to the fact he was the second to last person to touch the puck. E.G. on Kalinin's goal, everyone on the ice was swatting at the puck in front of DiPietro, and Briere's shot bounced to Kalinin, who scored. Not a point Briere really earned.

#1 - 60 minutes of effort. Too many five minute lapses. Or, in the case of game 5, one twenty minute lapse. We nearly allowed the Islanders to tie the game...after building TWO three goal leads. Unacceptable. A team like the Sabres should be going for the jugular, not being nice and trying to make the other team look better.

What do you think? Post your opinions in a comment! Ask any questions you may have about the series, or any other series in the Quarterfinals.