Commentary
In a bumpy road to win, Miller is rock solid
Ryan Miller knew long before the season began that not all of them would be pretty. The Sabres would have nights when their legs would become heavy and their game would flat-line for reasons not entirely clear. It's bound to happen over the course of an 82-game schedule in the NHL.
For most of Friday night, the Sabres weren't the Sabres. They were the Sabres from last season. Their effort was satisfactory but not particularly overwhelming like it had been during their 7-1-1 start. It was if they lost their mojo after two victories in Florida and another in New Jersey.
Maybe it was the flu bug that infiltrated their team. Gone was their crisp passing and steady defense, replaced by sloppy plays and breakdowns in their own zone. They took turns making little mistakes that turned into scoring chances for the lowly Maple Leafs.
Toast-of-the-town Tyler Myers had a particularly off night with the puck, looking unsteady and uncertain and very much like a rookie in his first game since finding out he's staying with the big club. He was out of sorts before taking two penalties in the third period Friday.
Everybody was guilty of something against the Leafs, yet the Sabres left HSBC Arena with a 3-2 victory in overtime.
One reason: Ryan Miller.
He allowed two goals, neither of which were his fault. He was screened on Ian White's shot from the point in the first period and helpless when Mikhail Grabovski deflected a high shot between his legs with 37.3 seconds remaining in regulation. By then, the Sabres were fortunate the Leafs weren't halfway to Toronto with the win.
An off night for Buffalo? Probably. Their performance was forgotten by the time they boarded the charter for Long Island, the two points tucked away along with an 8-1-1 record in their first 10 games this season.
It's in games such as the one Friday, when things aren't going precisely as planned, that Miller needs to come through. It seemed fitting the night before Halloween that the one player who dressed for the occasion was wearing the mask. Miller was the stabilizing force, the rock Buffalo needed to grab two points that weren't necessarily earned.
"He sensed we were going to need him," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "He knew that we've got some guys who were under the weather. He knew it was going to have to be his night. He grabbed the bull by the horns and did his thing. It was great to see. And he did for a solid 60 minutes."
The Leafs peppered him with 16 shots in the third period while the Sabres scrambled around in survival mode against a team that should have given them little problem. West Seneca native Lee Stempniak is going to have nightmares about Miller after getting stopped on a breakaway in the second period and a one-timer in the third.
He stopped Matt Stajan on what looked like a sure goal. He dived across the crease and distracted Alexei Ponikarovsky just enough for the winger to hit the post when virtually every inch of the net was open. Somewhere, Leafs General Manager Brian Burke and coach Ron Wilson, also known as the GM and coach of Team USA, had to be smiling.
Miller has talked incessantly about his desire to become an elite goalie, and he has been inching toward that goal. Something always seemed to interfere, whether it was immaturity early in his career or injuries or inconsistency. Now, at age 29, in his seventh NHL season, he appears to have reached his prime.
In some ways, his greatness has been taken for granted even though he's the only No. 1 goalie without a regulation loss, and a 1.64 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage.
Craig Rivet is the captain, but this is Miller's team. He's their voice of reason, their biggest leader at the most important position. The Sabres were fortunate to have him Friday night, when he covered up an ugly performance with his finest hour. It was a thing of beauty.
"He's the stability back there. He's the guy," Rivet said. "Every guy on this team has said the same thing 50 times already this year: When he's on his game, we're going to be a really hard team to beat. He gives us our confidence, and he's playing fantastic hockey for us right now."
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