The Islanders have a couple players that will cause a hassle for the Sabers, and the main player, without any doubt, is Ryan Smyth, right. Smyth led the 8th seed Oilers to the Stanley Cup Finals last year. Smyth will be in front of Ryan Miller all series and obstructing Miller's vision. The key to this is keeping him out of that area. Spacek, who is very familiar with Smyth, will be responsible for him when they're on the ice.
The Islanders love to hit. Their top three have nearly double the hits that the top three Sabres do. That, is due in large part to Coach Ted Nolan, who won the Jack Adams award for best coach nearly a decade ago with the Sabres. Nolan is big on grinding players and good, finished checks.
Buffalo solves this with good, quick, fluid, tape-to-tape passes. It will keep the bigger, slower Islanders on their toes, and will wear them down. Buffalo can not afford to stop skating hard against this team- they will come back. They nearly did a couple Fridays back from 5-1 to 6-4.
Dubliewicz lacks the side to side mobility he needs to keep up with the Sabres' excellent down low passing. He doesn't give a ton of rebounds, so look for the Sabres to really try to capitalize on first shot chances. He also hasn't been tested after too many shots, so who knows how he'll perform against an offense this potent.
Buffalo's biggest weakness is the same one they've had all season. Themselves. The Sabres cannot get complacent in the playoffs, things do NOT work out that well. Every team is fighting like there is no tomorrow- because there isn't. They need to skate hard for 60, if not more, minutes. Their new style of defense must continue, meaning the Sabres must backcheck as hard as they forecheck to help out Ryan Miller.
The X-factors of this game are two Buffalo players. Thomas Vanek, right, and . Vanek disappeared and was benched during the playoffs last year. Some argue his body burnt out; the college season is about half of the NHL's season. In his sophomore season, Vanek lost about 20 lbs and has played his best hockey in the past six weeks. Let's hope he hasn't peaked yet. He needs to remain a force in front of the net.
Not so obviously, the other X-factor for Buffalo is Brian Campbell. The All-Star defenseman has regained his prior form in the most recent games, but fell off considerably for a month or more. Campbell needs to play BIG.
The series unknown is Drew Stafford. It looks like he will be taken off the Roy/Vanek line for Maxim Afinogenov, opposite of what Ruff recently said. Stafford is not proven, and it will be interesting to see if he can pan out on a line without Roy and Vanek.
As well all remember from the heartbreak last year, things don't always go smooth in the playoffs. We're running down a dream to the Stanley Cup, and it's a battle- nearly 300 opponents (20 players per roster times 16 teams =320 players) will be in Buffalo's way. The question is, who's going to lay the boom this year to set the tone?
Overtime is crucial for the Sabres. In our history, we've won most of them, and most of the big ones, but sometimes we lose. It all started last year- the new NHL, the playoff run. The run highlighted by one phrase that brought us all together-- Do you believe? I sure do. I'm not going to forget 05-06's heart breaker, either. Nor the 98-99 improbable Cup run.
But this isn't either of these season. This is 2006-07, and it's time for the Sabres to make their battle.
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