Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Nearly St. Patrick's Day

Tonight's Sabres opener went like this on MSG-TV:
IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR...
ONE EYE ON YOUR OPPONENT...AND THE OTHER EYE ON THE OUT-OF-TOWN SCOREBOARD. JUST AN EVEN DOZEN GAMES LEFT FOR THE SABRES TO MAKE THEIR MOVE. AND TONIGHT THE ROAD DOESN'T GET ANY EASIER.

A DEPLETED DEFENSE FACES ONE OF THE MOST POTENT OFFENSES IN THE LEAGUE.
CAN BUFFALO DIG DEEP TO STAY IN THE RACE?
(RYAN MILLER interview clip: "Stage is set...I guess we'll find out")
PENGUINS...SABRES...NEXT ON MSG!

I'm sorry to report Pittsburgh prevailed 7-3. Not much has changed in the playoff hunt since I last blogged ten days ago: The Sabres are in ninth place right now, 3 points back of Philadelphia, who hold down the eighth and final playoff spot. As of right now, Buffalo is 4 points behind Philly and the final playoff spot. Sabres fans can give a BIG thank you to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who beat Philadelphia tonight, 3-2. Even bigger was yesterday's comeback for the Leafs against the Flyers, winning 4-3 in overtime. Toronto was down 3-0 before their "miracle on ice."

As St. Patrick's Day approaches in five days, here are some more Pats that have left a mark in the NHL:
Pat Hughes (50 games with the Sabres in '85/'86 among his 573 career games)
Pat Falloon (575 NHL games)
Pat Verbeek (1, 424 NHL games)
Pat Boutette (a former Maple Leaf and Penguin)
Pat Hickey (another former Maple Leaf and New York Ranger)
Pat Conacher
Pat Flatley

The following 3 all played for the Washington Capitals at some point.
Pat Peake
Pat Elynuik
Pat Riggin
My voiceover friend, Gary Kriebel, is known as Gustafsson at the On Frozen Blog site. It is focused on the Washington Capitals, who are just one point behind the Sabres and also shooting for the playoffs. Any other Pats you can think of Gary? Or YOU reading this blog? The Sabres will try to help both our playoff dreams by beating Carolina Friday night - and I'm confident the Caps can beat Atlanta too:)

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:06 am

    Thanks for the mentions of both sites. Looks like there may be a battle between Washington and Buffalo in trying to grab that 8th spot.

    I may scraping the bottom of the barrel here, but here are a few other Caps Pats:

    Patrick Boileau (a whopping 7 games over 3 years, 96-97 to 01-02)
    Patrice Lefebvre (3 games in 98-99)
    Dick Patrick (Capitals President, grandson of Lester Patrick)
    Craig Patrick (75 games from 76-77 to 78-79, cousin of Dick Patrick)
    Pat Ribble (98 games from 79-80 to 81-82)

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  2. Nice additions Gary - except Lefebvre:) You are eliminated on this round of "Jeapordy." There are 2 other Patrices currently in the NHL I didn't count as Patricks: Bergeron in Boston and Brisebois in Montreal.

    I also see Pat Ribble's middle initial is W for Wayne...would have been funny if it was a D:)
    Basketball Pats will be blogged about VERY soon.
    Best, Ralph

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