Game 1

Wow, pretty depressing game. The Sabres were outshot 34-20 and lost the game on mistakes. Each of the Sens' first 3 goals came on mistakes by Buffalo. You had the shorthanded goal, the mistake by Numminen in clearing the puck to a wide-open Senator, and some other mistake I can't put my finger on right now. Essentially, 5-on-5, the Sabres won this game, but unfortunately, that doesn't count for jack squat.

Danny Briere's apparent shortened ice time is deceiving. The main reason he had less ice time than normal was mainly due to the excessive amount of penalty kills the Sabres had to endure. Although, I wouldn't completely dismiss the possibility that Ruff did it on purpose.

I think Ruff's move that took Pomer off the first line was dumb. The fourth line with Connolly, Mair, and Kotalik was fine. There was no reason to break it up. Now, Pomer is even less of a factor as he could be (how do you improve production moving to a line with players you haven't played with all year?). Also, Briere's production has gone down since the move (note that Briere pretty much had a point per game before the move). If anyone wants to point fingers at either Pomer or Briere, point it at Ruff for breaking them up; Pomer had a 30+ goal season MAINLY due to being on the same line as Briere.

Game 2 should be interesting.