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Friday the 29th of March 2024 09:20:40 AM

May 6, 2006

Stumble It!Five Down, Eleven to Go

Filed under: Sports — Eric Ptak @ 3:35 pm

Can you say, what a game? The game last night was all about two very evenly matched teams duking it out. During the regular season, the only difference in the standings was the fact that Ottawa had 3 more loser points than Buffalo. Ottawa won the season series 5-3, but if you take out those games, the Sabres had the better record against the rest of the league.

It was an incredibly exciting game. tied at two after one. Tied at four after two. Tied at six after three, with three goals scored in the last two minutes of regulation play. And then, for the Sabres to win after only 18 seconds of overtime . . . it was absolutely insane.

I was at the gym on the elliptical while I was watching it. Every time the Sabres scored, I was throwing my clenched fists into the air, and shouting “Yes!” among other things. People were looking at me weird, but I didn’t care. Hell, there were only about seven other members there, and one of them was behind me on a stationary bike cheering, too. I had endorphins pumping, the game was fun to watch, I was really feeling good. It was better than sitting at the bar watching it. It was almost better than sex. Well, maybe not that good, but it was damn close.

All day, I was telling people that I thought the game would go to OT, and I was right. Then, after regulation, I was revving up to 250 RPM, and the thought came into my head that we were going to win very early in overtime. It was one of those premonitions that I get, where I just know it’s right and that’s what’s going to happen. My t-shirt and shorts were soaked in sweat, and my brain was starting to experience the tingling feeling that I get after I’ve exercised for quite a while and burned about 850-900 calories in about an hour. Maybe that put me into an altered state of consciousness which allowed me to sense the future. I don’t know . But boy, was I right on that precognition. 18 seconds right.

Granted, the defense for both teams was suspect. “Duh!!!” What do you expect in a game where there were 13 goals scored? Miller had the edge on Emery, with an 81% to 69% save percentage. Buffalo was out-shot in a 3-2 ratio, but scored one more goal than Ottawa. Buffalo had 10 players with points in last night’s game, and Ottawa had 13 players involved in scoring. The Sabres had 2 short-handed goals to the Senator’s none, but the Sens had a 2-1 edge in power-play goals.

Nevertheless, statistics are bullshit, because the only one that matters is “Scoreboard”. Now Ottawa has to think about this loss for two days. It’s going to stick in the back of their minds for the rest of the series, and if the Sabres keep the game as close as this game was yesterday, the Sabres have a real shot at winning another before coming home for a potential sweep. That would really mess with the Senator’s heads, and perhaps represent another post-season meltdown.

After the game, the first thing I thought of is that the Sabres need only eleven more wins, out of a potential 20 games. That’s a 55% win percentage, and they had a 63% win percentage in the regular season. Eleven more wins. That’s it.

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