Thank you Jesus.

The Canes won a game. Albeit, they blew two three goal leads. And allowed two goals in less than 20 seconds. And even though more than halfway through the second they were up 4-1, twenty minutes later it was tied. And it took them until a shootout to win.

But a win is a win, and this one was WELL NEEDED. Because let's face it- fifteen games would've been unacceptable. I'd still like to think that they won solely because of Rachel's birthday. That's why Brandon Sutter scored, anyway, and without his goal it's a 4-3 loss. Just sayin'.

Also, the Sabres swept a back-to-back. Against Calgary and Philly, nevertheless! Friday's game was tough, a real back-and-forth battle. Calgary struck first, with Langkow getting a goal just over a minute in. At that point I feared the worst, but Miller (as he usually is 85% of the time) was on his game and was solid from then out. Roy even got a goal. ON THE POWER PLAY. What are the odds? We took it all the way to the shootout at 1-1, and then Pominville and Roy scored in the shootout and Miller stopped three of four shooters and laid the boom on Rene Bourque, settling the score at 2-1.

Much to the chagrin of a certain blogger who shall remain unnamed, the Sabres decided not to go to Lalime for the second game of the back-to-back. Now, I'm all for the backup goalie- with the exception of the Sabres' last two- but seriously, I don't think Lalime would've fared good at all. With the way the Flyers play, and the way they played last time we played them (and yeah, I know Miller was in net), we needed to ride that hot game by Miller on Friday into Hotladephia. It was a risk that paid off handsomely. Drew "Sicktastic City" Stafford was out with a hip flexor, so the Sabres called up Tyler Ennis. And that move also paid off, since Tennis The Menace scored his 1st NHL goal in the second to give us a 2-0 lead. Miller played sicktastic himself, gaining the first star of the game and making some saves that brought severe levels of thrash in the process. Goose even scored, which pretty much spelled to me EPIC WIN even though we gave up another goal on OUR PP, and we won 3-2. All in all, a wonderful weekend.

We play the Panthers, Bruins, and Sens this weekend. Hopefully we can pick it up and get four points at the least (I'd like six, but I'll settle for four).

Also, while reading the blog of the blogger who shall remain unnamed, she mentions this quote-

"...you must have forgotten that this is the Buffalo Sabres. We don't use our back ups until someone gets hurt, and THEN you play them and THEN you yell at them for being rusty."

Last I checked- and I could be wrong here, as I have before- Marty Brodeur has been doing that for a large amount of years. Miikka Kiprusoff too, as well as most goaltenders who are completely awesome without having long streaks of sucktitude.

Part of being a backup goaltender is that you can come into a situation where your starter either needs a rest or is not faring so well and you can hold the fort down. Lalime was a pretty good starter, sure, but his time is gone. She usually ALWAYS uses the excuse that he was the best goaltender in Sens history (which is not saying much when your goaltenders include Tom Barrasso in his twilight, Ron Tugnutt, Damian Rhodes, and Don Beaupre). That's grand, but what happened AFTER he left Ottawa?

(Key note- this blogger in question has also told me that stats are useless. Okay, sure. They just keep track of things like goals, assists, goals against, and WINS just for kicks. Stats are sometimes useless, but definitely not when you see these!)

4-18-8 for St. Louis. Sent to the AHL where he finished 6-6-1 for Peoria.
4-6-1 for Chicago in 06-07. Played also in the AHL for Norfolk, 3-1-0.
16-12-2 for Chicago in 07-08, which is why I didn't mind us picking him up at first, but then again I hadn't seen his previous stats.
5-13-3 last season in Buffalo.

That makes him, in the NHL the last four years, 29-49-14. Take away Chicago in 07-08 and he's 13-37-12. That is unacceptable for a backup either way. But yeah, we should start him in an important game against the hated Flyers. Good luck explaining that one when we get absolutely effing hammered to oblivion.

And I'm done.

LET'S GO HOCKEY!