Star of the night: Miller’s time is Game 1 in shutout Buffalo victory
Of the four shutouts through the first eight opening games of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs, Buffalo’s Ryan Miller had to work the hardest in terms of volume of shots.
For stopping all 35 offerings Philadelphia sent his way last night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Sabres, Miller is TheBruinsBlog.net’s Star of the Night.
Columnist Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News appreciated Miller’s efforts. After the 1-0 Sabres win he wrote:
He had talked about wrapping himself in his own little world without any distractions that come with the playoffs, and he certainly looked like he was in a comfy cocoon Thursday against the Flyers. He was calm. He was confident. He was Miller at his best from beginning to end.
The only edge the Sabres probably have in this series is in the goal. If Miller continues with his super-human play, Buffalo might make short work of the Flyers.
Honorable mention: Brian Gionta (two goals) and Scott Gomez (two assists) of Montreal; Ryan Clowe (three assists) and Joe Pavelski (game-winning overtime goal) of San Jose.
Last night’s scores
Montreal 2, Boston 0
Buffalo 1, Philadelphia 0
San Jose 3, Los Angeles 2 (OT)
Tonight’s games
Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh, 7
NY Rangers at Washington, 7:30
Chicago at Vancouver, 10
Nashville at Anaheim, 10:30
only 5 shots in the third….wow, funny how CJ thought we dominated…leadership and accountability are still the problem in Boston
It’s called the rope-a-dope. It’s worked before. In fact it worked so well we only got 5 shots in the third. Must have been tired.
RD – good points, and in regards to strategy the Bruins are going to have to create more traffic in front of Price and carry the puck in instead of letting him handle dump-ins (Price is excellent at that, Thomas is a nightmare handling the puck outside of the crease) – and i’m sure the Habs aren’t going to keep the “going into a shell” position they took from 2nd period on last night all series.
It was just one game guys.
Remember Halak getting pulled from a game in Washington? Remember him coming back to save something like 147 of 150 shots?
This was just game one. Thomas let in 2 goals, no big deal.
I’m a big habs fan but there’s no way in hell I’m going to get a big head over the first game.
Anyone want Boston to goon it up in the second game? I don’t really see any other strategies being discussed.
Marchand had two great chances that Price yawned at. He eats twenty goal scorers for breakfast. Timmy on the other hand looked shaky. I’d take Price or Miller any day. Size and skill.
Hey AK,
( highly suspect name by the way, almost as suspect as the bleu blanc and rouge poms poms you own…admit it, you do own them )
You may be right about the series, but make no mistake – the Hab’s have ZERO chance to go anywhere even if they get by the B’s – now go call 911 because I think PK Subban was induced into a dive last night
Habs in 5or6…
uh, I hate Montreal as well but you have to at least recognize Carey Price – he outplayed Thomas by a mile last night and Thomas is highly over-rated, super soft 2nd goal last night. Now that I think of it, when was the last time Tim Thomas stole a playoff game??? Oh yeah I remember, NEVER