Senators vs. Sabres: Round 3, Game 1

Senators 5, Sabres 2

PRESIDENT’S 2 CENTS: And the game-breaker for the curtain-raising of the super-hyped series between the NHL’s highest-scoring squads is—uh, nope, not Drury, not Heatley, nope not Briere—it’s freakin’ Saprykin! Oleg finally pops his first of the playoffs after stepping in admirably since Patrick Eaves went down during the opening round. A heck of a pass by Dean McAmmond found him open for a tip in front of Ryan Miller “Lite,” who didn’t have “Time” to see it (pardon these overused pun pokes at his name, but you know I had to do it just once). Like his efforts this whole postseason, he’s gotten an Oleg (ok one more pun) up on the competition tonight by simply working hard and making the most of his opportunities, including some time in the second spent playing with Heatley and Spezza. He had a slick feed to Heatley which almost resulted in a goal, then followed up the momentum by drawing a cross-check from Jochen Hecht. All in all, good to see Oleg rewarded … Speaking of rewards, up until his nifty goal in which he made three Sens look like pylons, Sabres shut-down D-man Toni Lydman had had a pretty good effort. He was blocking shots all night and making smart defensive plays, including one particular play where he blindly backhanded an attempted airborne pass, and another where he angled Alfie away from a slot pass. Unfortunately, however, he was a little lazy in his attempt to get back and stop Dean McAmmond from potting the empty-netter at the end …

… Another hard worker tonight was Mike Fisher, tonight’s Sens x-factor for the purposes of providing secondary scoring for the Cash Line-buoyed Sens of late. How about a short-hander 4:32 into the game to suck the life out of a rowdy HSBC Arena? Methinks that’ll certainly send a message. Nine faceoffs won, three hits, and two takeaways cemented another solid day at the office for Employee No. 12 … Speaking of the office, I wonder how many Buffalo office workers were among the 5,000-plus revellers outside the arena and will claim to their colleagues they got on TV? And that fog? Maybe caused by 5,000-plus pairs of lungs’ worth of hot air. Passionate hot air, mind you – Buffalo’s a great hockey town …

Tom Preissing had a good laugh as he took a seat in the box for a penalty that wasn’t really his (should’ve been Corvo’s), for a second-period hooking penalty that wasn’t really a penalty … Speaking of which, that Comrie cross-checking call in the first was more like a playoff double-love tap. C’mon zebras, call consistently … Sabres defenceman Paul Gaustad showed heart in coming back to the game after blocking a shot in the first, and still had more shots on goal than most of Buffalo’s big guns …

… Interesting how Bryan Murray had Spezza and Fisher, both centres, on the ice for an offensive-zone draw with 8.4 seconds left in the first. Answer came a moment later when Spezza was tossed from the circle and Fisher came in to take the draw. Just a little scenario where a good, veteran coach is always thinking strategy, and in this case, backup strategy … Two priceless expressions tonight: firstly, Ryan Miller throwing his arms in the air as if to say “what the hell” after the first Ottawa goal, and secondly, a CBC close-up of Alfie on the bench focussing hard, eyes wide open. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, all through his steely determination … Buffalo’s first goal was the combined result of finally getting a break after five or six close but unlucky bounces, as well as Ray Emery’s problem getting some rebounds under control. However, he showed tonight he can handle “traffic” in front, right Lindy? Careful about getting nudged on the roads, coach …

… Bob Cole Line of the Night: “That was a bang-bang play,” he said, referring to a few checks. Don’t know why, but it’s just funny coming from Mr. Cole … And of course, the Don Cherry Suit Rating: Seven out of 10. The black stripes-on-dark Grape purple actually looked half-decent, as did the light-purple tie. However Grapes, you gotta wear a different-coloured flower than white to start getting bonus marks … Thomas Vanek had a helper on the Afinogenov goal, but it seemed he didn’t get any more chances until his shot from the right wing in the third. A 42-goal scorer has gotta step it up, as do fellow stars Daniel Briere and Ales Kotalik, who were respectively a minus-2 and minus-3 … Chris Neil, Mike Fisher, and Anton Volchenkov were throwing checks all night, but it was Fisher’s inadvertent check on the A-Train that was among the biggest (and most amusing) … Tonight was the anniversary of Bobby Orr’s famous OT Cup winner in 1970. Thirty-seven years later, Bobby’s still a legend, and that hilarious new home renovation commercial has made him an unassuming comedic legend as well … Last but not least: loved U2’s “Elevation” as the choice for opening jingle accompanying the short display of Sens highlights to start the night off. Only seven wins to go until the Sens are high, higher than the sun …