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Post by Elite Sim News (ESN) on Apr 12, 2010 19:23:19 GMT -5
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Post by BuffaloGM on Apr 20, 2010 14:36:46 GMT -5
Sabres face elimination in Atlanta
The Buffalo Sabres came into their first round series against the Atlanta Thrashers as a cup favorite. So far in this series, they have looked anything but a cup favorite. The Thrashers have taken the first three games and can close things out in front of their home crowd tonight in game four.
"We can't think about anything other than tonight," said Buffalo captain Joe Thornton. "We certainly didn't show up in game one, but I thought we played much better the last couple games. You have to give the Thrashers credit for winning those games, but we have been making too many mistakes. We need to concentrate more on making the simple plays and our back check has to get much better. We haven't made life easy on Tomas (Vokoun) either. His numbers aren't ugly because he can't play the game. There's no reason to be giving up as many quality chances against as we have to this point the series. It's very simple for us. We have to win tonight. If we do, then we can think about winning on Thursday. If we don't, it doesn't matter. Tonight is all that matters and we need to play our best game of the season."
The Thrashers have certainly taken advantage of their opportunities. The Sabres have scored eleven goals in three games, yet find themselves down three games to none.
"We have been terrible defensively," said Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff. "We haven't made the plays in our zone and our transitional game has suffered because of that. The Thrashers certainly forecheck very well, but we need to make better decisions with the puck. We have shown we can be pretty effective in the attacking zone when we get there. We haven't been able to get out of our end without issue. We also need to take care of the front of the net better. We need to clean up some things but we need to stay aggressive in the offensive zone. Tonight is our focus. We are ready to go win a game tonight."
Tomas Vokoun will be back in net tonight for the Sabres. Vokoun, acquired to lead the Sabres on a deep playoff run, has yet to finish a game in the series. The .797 save percentage and 6.61 goals against average aren't pretty, but the veteran netminder will get the nod in game four.
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