I just got back from the Sabres’ defeat at the HSBC Arena tonight. It was, of course, upsetting. I thought that, if we lost, the game would be close. After all, that’s the way the Sabres have been playing in the playoffs this year. I was wrong. They sucked.

At some point in the game, I realized what happened to the Sabres that suffered humiliating deafeats against teams like Ottawa and Carolina throughout the year. The team never went anywhere. Tonight’s Buffalo Sabres was the same Buffalo Sabres that lost to Ottawa and Carolina during the year and that defeated them during the postseason. The team has played this way all during the playoffs. What happened tonight was that the Sabres did not get their chances in the net. This is also what happened in game two of this series. In that game, Buffalo would have won had two of their very good chances gone in. Both chances were mere inches away from becoming goals (Wesley’s save and Roy’s breakaway shot to the skate of Cam Ward).

The same thing happened tonight. Buffalo had their chances. Did they go in? No, and they lost. Buffalo had some breakaway chances and one-timers; had these chances been carried out better, the Sabres would have won.

Every game has had many similarities (not counting Buffalo’s last three wins in the Philadelphia series). In all those games, Buffalo did not dominate the other team. They won because a few of their timely chances went in the net. The same was true of the first and third games of this series. When Buffalo could not get their chances, as in the second and fourth games of the series, they lost. The only games the Sabres dominated were three of their wins in Philadelphia. They still won in Ottawa and two games against Carolina, but only because they got a few of their chances in.

Another similarity is Buffalo’s lack of chances after setting up in the offensive zone. Tonight was no different. Buffalo had the play set up in Carolina’s zone several times. However, they did not score any of those times, just like in the rest of the playoffs. Tonight the reason was that every shot that was not blocked hit the boards. The only way Buffalo has been able to score was on odd-man rushes or one-on-ones. Tonight they had those chances, but they didn’t go in, so Buffalo lost.

As a side note, if anyone wants to blame tonight’s loss on goaltending, don’t. I’ll assume the first goal was deflected and I know the second and final goals went off of Sabres players. The third goal was the result of a rebound that did not go to the funnel. Instead, the rebound went about a foot away from Miller’s right leg. Afterward, the Carolina player skated in and put the rebound in the net before Miller could get to it. This player should have never been allowed to skate right to the net untouched. This loss was not Miller’s fault.

I no longer think the Sabres will win the cup. If they do, then I’ll know that the Stanley Cup champion does not have to be a great team. However, all the champion has to do is get their chances in, even if they are outplayed the rest of the time. If the Sabres win the cup, the champion will fit that description. If Carolina wins, I still don’t think the champion will be that good of a team.

If a team from the Western Conference wins, then I won’t know what to think, because I don’t know anything about the teams from the west.