Rangers at Sabres Notes (Friday Jan. 9 game)
By Ray Calder HockeyObserver.com
Some notes bullet point style from the Rangers /Sabres contest Friday ;
- Attendance was nowhere near capacity despite what the Sabres are saying . For a Friday night game with Chris Drury back in town there were plenty of empty seats .
- Ryan Miller was absolutely brilliant in the Sabres net and despite the high shot total - he did a good job of not allowing a lot of rebounds and second opportunities.
- I thought the best Sabres defender was Andrej Sekera . He showed confidence carrying the puck, and was more of a steadying influence back there on what would seem like a tough night for the Buffalo blueliners with the Rangers getting 44 shots.
- Nice to see Tim Connolly back for the Sabres and he had a prominent role and flashed some of his elite puck skills . He was shifted all over the place on different lines and finished with better than 15 minutes of ice after missing two months .
- Drew Stafford is playing much harder than he was the last time I saw him . He had one assist, but was certainly one of the Sabres better players on the night .
- If you're just looking at offensive numbers then Scott Gomez doesn't do enough to justify his price tag . If you're familiar with some of the nuances of the game then you'd appreciate his backchecking ability as well as the manner in which he often takes charge in his own end and becomes the guy to gather the puck and bring it to safety .
- Youngsters Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky had very good games for the visitors . Callahan in particular was very involved all night, and while he's not the most gifted offensive player , he plays a high tempo style where he's going to get his share of opportunities just out of being in the right place when the opposition makes a mistake. He'll hit you to the whistle, but is rarely guilty of dumb penalties .
- Rangers backup Stephen Valiquette had a very good game as well but was bested by Ryan Miller in the shootout . Most of Valiquette's action came in the third period when the Sabres really kept the balance of play in the Ranger end . Valiquette gave the Rangers all they could have expected on a night when they wanted to rest Henrik Lundqvist for Saturday in Ottawa.