There’s no reason you shouldn’t be excited for Game 
seven on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Yes, the Sabres had a chance to finish off the Flyers Sunday afternoon in Buffalo, but blew yet a another two goal lead this season.
Flashback to December, when the Sabres were 10 points out of a playoff spot and struggling to string together wins. If you would have told me that the Sabres would meet the #2 seed in Game seven of round one, I would have taken it.
The Sabres have proved that they can compete with the Flyers, but each game in the series has been decided by one goal, with the exception of an empty-netter.
Listening to Barry Melrose speak on WGR550 helped my positive thinking for Game seven. The Sabres have Ryan Miller in net, the Flyers don’t. “I’ll take that matchup any day of the season,” Melrose said. I agree with him. That’s the best thing the Sabres have going for them.
What they don’t have going for them is the fact that they have rarely won a game this big. Buffalo are 1-5 in Game sevens, although that has nothing to do with this year’s team. That one win came in 1997 on home ice against Ottawa.
The last Game seven the Sabres played in was in Carolina, when the Sabres battled injuries and left it all on the ice in a loss. The team is giving it everything they have this series, with the exception of a few players who will remain unmentioned.
It is expected that Derek Roy will return, which should help boost the Sabres’ confidence.
The Sabres have scored a lot of weak goals in this series and the Flyers have won both games in which they made a goaltending change.
The way things have happened this series is what fans seem to be thinking about. The Sabres have blown leads in consecutive games, but should be appreciative that Miller stole two games.
Buffalo have won two games by scoring just one goal, they gave up a 3-0 lead and a 2-0 lead, and still managed to force game seven. They have also lost Andrej Sekera, Tim Connolly and Jason Pominville.
The Sabres were down 2-1 in this series and they managed to overcome that. Buffalo needs to continue winning the special teams battle and throw shots on Philly’s shaky goaltending squad.
I love how Tyler Myers has played this entire series. He is being a physical defenseman that this team needs and he looks scary to play against on the ice.
Looking at the hit on Connolly by Mike Richards, it deserved five minutes and a suspension. It didn’t look like Connolly’s head hit the boards, more of his shoulder. However, it seemed like the intent of Richards was to blatantly push Connolly into the boards.
“What a better place to win game seven then to go into Philly,” Lindy Ruff said.
Puck drop is at 7:30. Get ready!