The Sabres laid a huge rotten egg on the ice of HSBC Arena against the Sens. They saved what was probably their worst game of the season to open this crucial series. This was a complete team effort. As has been the case for most of the post season, there was no passion, no heart, no desperation, no execution. It was an absolutely an embarrassing performance by at team that prides itself as being the top team in the NHL.

There were many goats and no shows to chose from in this debacle. Let's start with Dimitri Kalinin who must have had his worst game as a pro. He gave the puck away so many times that the Senators named him their first star last night. One resulted in a breakaway goal. Others led to huge scoring chances for the Sens.

The Sabres came out of the gate smoking. When they got their first powerplay, they put some intense pressure on Senators goalie Ray Emery. However, when Tim Connolly failed to control the puck at the point, and the Sens had their first of 3 breakaways on the Sabres shorthanded in the first period. The trend of coughing up the puck came more often than Sabres shots on goal, which they only managed 20.

''We put the puck in some (harmful) places, and we put some people in some pretty dangerous situations with the way we handled the puck," said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff.

Briere disappears

Daniel Briere was a ball full of energy during last season's playoffs. He was the man who came through in the clutch, along with the other Sabre co-captain, Chris Drury. This postseason, Briere is nowhere to be found. Sure he has a couple of powerplay goals and had 3 assists in the last game against the Rangers. But this certainly isn't the Danny Briere that the team is counting on to get them through to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Briere was completely blanked on Thursday night against the Senators. Not only didn't he score, but he didn't have one shot on goal. After the game, Briere didn’t show up for the post game interviews. To add to the mystery of Briere's disappearance is the fact that Briere's ice time is going way down and he won't talk about it. He directs all questions to Lindy Ruff. Ruff has given 4 different reasons for the reduction in ice time, being coy and elusive in his answers.

"At this time of the year there’s no sense to waste energy being frustrated about your ice time," Briere told reporters on Friday. "I don’t really want to discuss that, like I said. It’s Lindy’s decision. You talk with Lindy about that. I’m not going to complain about it. I have nothing to say about that. He’s in charge, he’s the boss, and whatever he believes is going to make us win, I’m with him."

Briere finally talked about his game, or lack of it, on Friday.

"It was one of those games," Briere admitted . "I barely touched the puck. I'm in control when things are happening for me, but the puck wasn't coming around except for maybe two or three shifts. I couldn't find the puck.

"I'm not happy with my game, but I've got to move on. I can't waste any more energy on it. I wasted enough going through it over and over."

Briere and Drury are both unrestricted free agents after the season concludes. The Sabres have said they will try to keep both, but the asking price may be too high to do that. Considering the postseason performance of both this year, Drury is the favorite to get the Sabres most attention this summer. If there were a choice of which free-agent co-captain to keep after the season, Chris Drury is the obvious choice. Briere is not worth the money he is commanding, in the likelihood of $7 million a year. He certainly hasn't been a clutch playoff performer like Drury.

Briere is as good as gone, even if he picks up his game the rest of the playoffs.

Powerplay in reverse

The Sabres powerplay is going backwards. In 5 powerplay opportunities the Sabres had a total of 1 shot on goal. ONE SHOT!!! The Senators had more shots total on the Sabres powerplays in the first one they killed off, which resulted in a shorthanded goal by the Sens. The Sabres powerplay has been atrocious throughout the playoffs, and it is only getting worse.

Ruff must shoulder the blame

Lindy Ruff has gotten all the accolades for being the top coach in the NHL, but a coach must be able to get the team inspired for every game. It is even more important in the playoffs that a coach's team doesn't show up and play an uninspired, lackadaisical game. Ruff has not been able to get a full 60 minutes out of the Sabres the entire postseason. There have been short spirts where the Sabres play with the desperation needed to pull out a game, but it is unacceptable to not play the full 60 minutes that way.

Thursday night's opening of the Eastern Conference Finals was an outright disgrace and Ruff must shoulder the blame for the horrible performance. He needs to get the most out of his team, like Ted Nolan used to when he coached here and now with the Islanders. The Islanders were able to play at 110%, play over their heads. The Sabres played, at most, 7 minutes of respectable hockey against the Sens, and even that wasn't the inspired play that fans have grown accustomed to.

"We have to go out there and play like a team that has been challenged, the way we have every time we've been challenged,"Ruff said. "You don't want to see the guys go out there scared and afraid to make mistakes. We're a team that's usually aggressive on the forechecking, and that's where I want to see our team get back to."

If the Sabres are to prevent the Senators from taking a 2-0 lead in the series going back to Ottawa, Ruff must get the Sabres playing up to their potential and beyond. The horrific performance Thursday night must be a one-time thing, or this will be a very short series.

"It's done by now," Ruff said during Friday’s news conference. "We got up early. We got it done while it was still foggy. The fog has lifted now. A lot of it comes down to execution. We went over it. Our players understand it. We weren't very good with the puck."

"It's going to come down to execution under fire, and we've been pretty good under fire, for the most part."

The Sabres already have their backs against the wall in the ECF and only one game has been played thus far. If the Sabres lose their second straight at home, it will be a huge hole to climb out of, especially considering they will play their next two in Ottawa. The Sens are almost unbeatable at home and going there down 0-2 and hoping to come back would be Mission Impossible for the Sabres.

The good news is that the Senators have a record of 0-8 in game 2 of the playoffs after taking game 1. Also, in the Sabres first two series, the Rangers and Islanders came back and played a stronger series after being dominated in the first game. The Sabres hope that will be their case in this series.

It is Do Or Die for the Sabres tonight. They better find the intensity, desire, heart and desperation that they displayed last year at this time if they hope to go more than 4 games in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Giveaways, takeaways. Just ask the old professor Marv Levy about that subject. He could write a thesis on giveaways-takeaways and still teach a class on it. Not giving the puck over to the opposition is as important in hockey as keeping possession of the football is important in the NFL.

The Sabres learned a hard lesson Thursday against the Senators. Until they started coughing the puck up like a hot potato in Game 1, the Sabres had the momentum. Three breakaways on two Sabres powerplays put the Sabres on their heels the rest of the game.
A similar performance by the Sabres Saturday night will all but doom the Sabres to the second straight year of losing the conference finals.

As in Chris Daughtry's hit song, "It's not the time to breakdown."

After hockey games, they always select the three stars. We’re presenting a different twist on that, the three Slugs...

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