as published at SportsGrumblings.com
Hockey is defined as a sport - an athletic competition with participants in direct opposition to each other. This definition is incomplete, as incomplete as deriving the whys and hows of a game from the what of the simple final score. In hockey, the player is not only battling the opposition, they are battling themselves. No other sport turns as dramatically and drastically on a whim, a seemingly innocuous play, a bounce or whistle. And if "the tide" seems to be sweeping against you, in creeps a tendency to freeze - to overthink. And if you let your mind beat you, you will lose.
This Buffalo-Ottawa series has been a strange one, and one that is not fully told by looking at the final scores. Last week in a series preview I wrote:
…With a skilled and aggressive Ottawa defence, the Buffalo coaching staff simply must redefine their [team’s] approach on the power play or they will lose this series…
Little could I know how right that would be, as an 0-16 powerplay through three games is the single-biggest reason for Buffalo being on the verge of yet another heartbreaking end to a season. Nobody on either side of the fence could have predicted either team being up 3-0 at this point in the series, yet here sits Ottawa – one game away from their first trip to the Stanley Cup finals in the modern era, and with four tries to get it right. Taking it game-by-game:
Game 1: 5-2 Ottawa. Seemingly Senators domination, yes? Not so. The game's first two goals were scored by Ottawa on special teams before Buffalo stormed back to tie it, somewhat dominating the game at even-strength. The tie-breaking goal occurred midway through the third period, with two very late goals added on to pad the score. An early breakthrough on the powerplay for Buffalo could have easily changed the outcome, both by preventing the early Mike Fisher shorthanded goal and contributing just one of their own.
Game 2: 4-3 Ottawa, 2OT. By definition, this was the slimmest of victories and that with more than 40 minutes of extra time to decide it. A controversial disallowed goal for Thomas Vanek in the first angered Sabres' fans, as did a non-call on captain Daniel Alfredsson yet a last-second goal by Buffalo (assisted by a similar non-call on Brian Campbell) perhaps made the game appear closer than play indicated. After a dominant first period by Buffalo, the Senators took over the game for the second and third periods before the semi-miraculous Daniel Briere goal.
Game 3: 1-0 Ottawa. Again, a squeaker...on paper. Yet this time, the score lies again - to this viewer it was one of the most lopsided one-goal games in memory. And as faulty as memory can be, I also never recall seeing a power-play as anemic and pathetic as Buffalo's was in this game. It was not just the six powerplays without a tally (weak as that is) - it was the stunning path to such a number.
I defy someone to find a game where a team - at any level of hockey - had so little ability to even approach setting up a simple power play. The Sabres tried dumping the puck in…tried carrying it in…there was no success with either method. Normally reliable players such as Chris Drury played with obvious distress (zero shots on the night). Tim Connolly – whose late-season return many thought would revive a dull Buffalo powerplay- didn't exhibit his usual confidence with the puck, and turnovers were once again the meme for the talented Sabres. And although credit must be given to the Senators, the fault lies with Buffalo. For such an explosive team they had a poor powerplay all season, and it became worse in the postseason. Yet nothing could indicate the impending level of ineptitude shown over the past three games, culminating in Monday night's travesty.
In the end it really must come down to the mental game. The talent is there, in abundance. Even the lowest-of-the-low of the hockey world can set up a power play more than once or twice in nearly 12 minutes of 5-on-4 play. Call it the heavy weight of national expectations, or the burden of a title-starved region who once again will be teased with the promise of ultimate glory - bring out every phantom excuse - some or all may apply.
But unlike last season, this year the Buffalo Sabres don't have an on-ice excuse. They're fully healthy. They're loaded. They had home-ice advantage after ending with the best record in the regular season. What they don't appear to have is confidence, and in the truly dynamic sport of hockey if you lose your confidence - especially to a team every bit as talented as yours - you will have lost everything.
