I realize that Buffalo accepts crushing disappointment as a societal norm, like paralyzing snowfall totals and permanent wing sauce stains. But last night's third-period collapse against Ottawa — a 6-3 "definition of a joke" whose box score will be etched on the Sabres' tombstone for the '07-08 season — made Syracuse's choke in the NIT against UMass seem like a quaint, acceptable folly by comparison.

Buffalo's wasn't the only choke-job last night, but the Sabres were the only suffocating ninnies with a goalie who "looked like a shell-shocked turtle without protection."

Ryan Miller might be handy with a "Yo Momma" joke, but he played like absolute dog shit while the Senators stormed back from a 3-1 deficit with five unanswered goals in the third period. His slow reaction to Daniel Alfredsson's game-tying goal made it appear he had become unstuck in time. He gave up the game-winning goal to Anton Volchenkov, a noted offensive juggernaut who scored his first regular-season goal since Feb. 27, 2007.

Looking at their remaining schedule,and five points out of the playoffs, the Sabres are probably done. Is there still hope? Sure, according to the awesomely titled blog Hitler Loves You but I Never Will and its equally awesomely titled post, "Ryan Miller, I would still show you my boobs": "...Beautiful demi-gods of Buffalo, for the sake of your fans, please spend less time on Chippewa drinking Goose and Tonics at the Bayou and a little more time concentrating on what you were brought to our sad little city to do."

Get This Dude Some Gatorade. Nashville shut out the Blue Jackets, 3-0, to move within two points of the final Campbell Conference playoff spot. Goalie Dan Ellis was already one of the better stories of the season before the game; his legend grew last night, as he nearly passed out from dehydration in the second period and dropped 13 pounds during the game. That was certainly the medical miracle of the night...well, until Jordin Tootoo gave birth to a baby Jason Chimera.

I Miss Ties, For Games Between Teams I Hate. Good things happen for others when Sean Avery does something stupid. He was out of position for Danny Briere's game-tying goal in the third period, and then his idiotic, blind cross-ice pass in overtime sparked a Flyers' breakout that led to Mike Richards's game-winner, 2-1. Richards called it a "garbage goal," which is an insult to at least 600 of Dave Andreychuk's career tallies. Oh, and it gets better for the Rangers: The Daily News reports that the "upper body injury" for Scott Gomez might actually be torn cartilage in his rib cage. Which I'm sure sounds worse than it is. Here's a photo from last night's game I borrowed from Fleshbot:

In Other Life-Altering Action Last Night. Calgary had a huge comeback win over Vancouver, 3-2; much like Elisha Cuthbert, the Canucks were Phaneuf'd. The Flames move into first place over the Wild, and one of these teams is going to seriously fuck up the awesome potential Dallas/Anaheim first-rounder. ... The Devils got hosed in their 2-0 loss to Pittsburgh (who clinched a playoff spot) last night, as a goal was disallowed even though Arron Asham was pushed into Marc-Andre Fleury by a Penguins defenseman. That sent Brent Sutter into a stick-pounding tirade against the refs, because he knows as we know that the Devils couldn't score right now if their opponents played blindfolded with an empty net. ... Viktor Kozlov is second all-time in shootout scoring, which comes in handy when the Capitals needed the extra point they earned in a 3-2 win in Carolina last night but has the historical significance of being second all-time on "Dance Dance Revolution." Sixty-one goals for Ovechkin, making him first in Washington's single-season scoring and in the hearts of Russian blondes on the Internet. ... I'm beginning to believe we are in the final stages of "Operation: Cock-Tease" thanks to Boston. And Florida's now five points off the pace in the East after losing to Tampa, 3-1. The Panthers held a contest to name the Stephen Weiss/Nathan Horton/David Booth line; the winner was "Sunrise Express," which sounds like either a musical involving roller skates or a juice that makes you shit.

Puck Headlines

* They're already writing "Will Scott Niedermayer return next season?" stories. Sheesh. [Welcome to The OC Register, Bitch]

* Coming to a Canadian television near you: "The Don Cherry Story." There's really only one actor for this role, and her name is Cate Blanchett. [The Star]

* Fun with NHL press releases. I got my start in PR, but I got tired of coming home with bullshit on my breath. [The FanHouse]

* Finally, on this busy morning, don't forget to cast your vote in the KB's "Best NHL Hit of All-Time" finals. And with that, the NHL Closer officially endorses this Scotty Stevens Stanley Cup Finals classic:

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I don't care if it's officially the Amp Winter Classic 2008, everyone from Buffalo's been calling this the Ice Bowl since August, except for when the NHL is suing them to stop. So it's the Ice Bowl. And I had been waiting months for it to finally arrive.

I flew into Buffalo with Ritch from American Hockey Fan. After the requisite dinner of pizza and wings, we met up with birthday boy 289, at his hotel downtown.

The hotel, and greater downtown Buffalo, was decked out in signs welcoming fans and media to the Ice Bowl. Buffalo was clearly doing its best, "Look at us, we're a big time city and worthy of your attention" act. Like when you're in sixth grade and your family is kind of poor, but you've invited all the coolest kids over for a party, so you do your best to hide all the clutter and make the threadbare furniture look nice and dance around the question of why there's a rusted car just sitting in the backyard. Right, guys? You all know what I'm talking about, right? Okay, just me.

Even though I grew up there, I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of spending New Year's in Buffalo, so I tried to get myself invited to some NHL parties. I figured that if the NHL was forcing their employees to spend New Year's Eve in Buffalo, they'd throw them a pretty great party. I was wrong.

My top secret network of NHL sources (one guy) told me there would be a small media reception hosted by the NHL at a bar downtown. It was mostly empty when we showed up.

We thought we might be at the wrong place, so I asked the bartender, "Is the NHL party here?" "I don't know," he said, "There are a lot of Penguins fans." He was right, there were about 60 or so Pens fans in the bar and someone must have told them it was a formal event because their dress code was Pittsburgh Black Tie: Steelers and Penguins jerseys and black jeans. It looked like Steely McBeam's wedding. (Take that, poorly named mascot!)

The Penguins fans felt the need to remind everyone who they were there to see by chanting "Let's Go Pens" every 10 minutes or so. Even the countdown to New Year's somehow turned into a goddamn Penguins chant. You'd think people from Pittsburgh wouldn't be so eager to announce it, but then again I'm from Buffalo and I advertise that fact like a John Mellencamp commercial, so what the hell do I know? At any rate, the Pens fans were a mostly friendly bunch, despite the fact the bar didn't serve Yuengling or Iron City Beer. Ritch, 289, and I had planned to make it an early night so we could get up in the morning, but once we met up with an NHL guy and started buying 289 birthday shots, those plans went out the window.

We made it home around 4 a.m., but not before Ritch found a hotel room party consisting of nine dudes and a bottle of whiskey and 289 worked his Shortsville, NY charms on an unsuspecting lady from Pittsburgh.

I woke up four hours later and called 289 at his hotel. "Rise and shine," I yelled into the phone. "It's Ice Bowl day!" We met 289 at his hotel and headed over to the stadium.

Not to get all literary-referencey on you, but if you've read Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," you have a good idea of what tailgating in the parking lots around The Ralph is like. Everything is cold and gray, the pavement is cracked and blistered, and there are marauding bands of lunatics who may attack without warning. In short, it's glorious.

289 and I both noticed that the day's tailgating was much more subdued than at the average Bills game. The trashcan fires were kept mostly under control and Pens fans were able to walk around with only minimal taunting. Ritch even wore a Patriots hat the entire day and only got called a cocksucker about half a dozen times. At a Bills game that would get you pelted with rocks.

We met up with some tailgaters from Bfloblog.com and ate beef on wecks and some "cheesy potatoes" that the chef promised "would bind us up for a week" as if it were a selling point. He was right. I had two servings and about an hour later I felt like I had a stomach full of brick mortar.

At about 12:30 we made our way into the stadium. You could feel the jittery anticipation in the crowd as we waited to get patted down for, according to a sign, aerosol cans and hidden beers. (N.B. They never check below your torso, so if you've got a hollowed-out false leg, you can sneak in all the spray paint and Labatt Blue you want.) Once inside, I embarrassed 289 and Ritch by practically running to our seats due to my excitement. The weather was perfect. Right around 32 degrees with just enough snow to remind you you're in Buffalo without affecting visibility.

Seeing the rink set up in the middle of the field and 70,000 plus fans at a hockey game for the first time was pretty incredible. We were sitting in the endzone, right behind a small rink they constructed for kids to play a pickup hockey game on before the game. The kids were dressed in opposing Sabres and Penguins jerseys, and whenever the Penguins team scored, the crowd, to their credit, booed those traitorous 10 year olds.

After a rousing rendition of O Canada and God Bless America, replete with giant flags (I'm a sucker for giant flags!), the game got underway. The Penguins sucked the fun out of the game pretty quickly by scoring just 21 seconds in. A frightening thought suddenly occurred to us. After months of anticipation, what if the Sabres just got blown out? I'd gotten used to seeing horrendous on-field performances at Ralph Wilson by the Bills, but I was hoping I'd be spared seeing one by my hockey team. Luckily, the Sabres buckled down after the early goal and the Penguins went into a defensive shell. Things got back to normal.

After some questionable calls (meaning against my team) in the first period, the refs put their whistles away for the rest of the game, which was good, because every time there was a stoppage in play the zambonis came out for ten minutes while fans were subjected to rock blocks of Supertramp. Speaking of musical disappointments, how can you have a hockey game at an NFL stadium and NOT play "The Good Old Hockey Game" OR that Souljah Boy song about ejaculating on sleeping women that everyone seems to like so much? Oversights like that are what's keeping the NHL a second-tier professional sport in this country.

The Sabres scored early in the second period to even things up, and that would be it for the scoring. I'm sure the NHL wasn't thrilled that their marquee event would feature just two regulation goals, but having old Sidney Duckface Crosby win it in a shootout probably went a long way to assuaging their frustration.

There were a lot of nice touches, which, considering the NHL's track record, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by. They trucked in snow to place all around the outside of the boards, which furthered the whole pond hockey theme. Bringing in the Sabres' organist to play traditional hockey songs was great, too. Ditto for having flags from every NHL team on the poles that ring the top of the stadium. Nicely done, NHL.

Leading up to the game, a lot of people were asking why the NHL doesn't do this more often. After seeing the game in person, I think I've found a couple of reasons. Remember that Simpsons episode when Mexico plays Portugal and everyone in Springfield gets really excited leading up to the game and then after a minute in it's just really kind of boring and confusing?

That's sort of how the game was after that quick goal. After the initial excitement and novelty of the spectacle wore off, I realized it's really hard to watch hockey from 45 yards away, especially when you can't see all the way over the glass. Once I trained myself to look up at the giant scoreboard when the puck gets to where the boards obstructed my view, it became much easier to follow, but still not ideal.

The game on the ice was just so-so. All the ice-fixing delays to took away from the flow of the game, and the snow on the ice slowed the puck down and made breakout passes difficult, which cut down on scoring chances. There also seemed to be a fair amount of clutching and grabbing as they game went on. The refs must have figured, "If I call a penalty, that means a stoppage, which means more Supertramp, which means I'll be out in this freezing cold even longer. Fuck it, unless they slash each other across the face, I'm not calling anything."

There were a couple of other quirks in the game. The teams switched goals in the middle of the third period and overtime to ensure no team had an advantage due to the wind, which actually made a lot of sense since all the goals were scored on the same end.

At the end of the game, both teams came together at center ice to salute the fans. Even though the Rangers have cheapened this gesture by doing it every game, it was still a great moment. We stayed for a good 10 minutes after the final horn to cheer the players as they left the field and just to take in the atmosphere. There's talk of making this an annual event, but I don't think it will happen. It seems like a ton of work, and there are so many things that can go wrong. Luckily, for this game, everything came together.

(Photos by the great 289.)

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I always figured my first Gawker Media gig would have been as a guest blogger with Fleshbot's Marital Aid Test Kitchen, until Leitch asked me to tackle the NHL Closer. Which is fine, because I really don't know my way around a kitchen — or a French tickler, for that matter. I'd urge you to check out my "Happy Pucking New Year, 2007" awards column on The Fourth Period so you'll know what you're in for over the next few weeks. And as we begin dissecting the NHL's "Winter Classic," make sure you show some love to the Melt Your Face Off Knucklehead Collective that expertly NHL Closed for the last month and read their Classic live blog, too.

The Most Anonymously Awesome Thing To Hit Ralph Wilson Stadium Since Steve Tasker. A steady cascade of snow. A football stadium filled to the gills with puckheads. Inventive camerawork from NBC, and a blessing from that paragon of sports virtue, Robert Costas, who authored a verbal valentine to "Slap Shot" between the first and second periods. A tightly-played overtime game, and a game-winning shootout goal by Sidney Crosby to give the Penguins a 2-1 win over Buffalo. The Winter Classic came together so well for the NHL, you'd think it was scripted; which would be silly, because we all know the NHL only scripts playoff games and draft lotteries.

Ratings be damned, this should be an annual event, even if ESPN doesn't believe it should count in the standings. If for no other reason than the coverage of the game presented an arena sport on an epic scale and created a niche for hockey on a day when more than a few sports fans are glued to the tube. Send the game to Pittsburgh, Chicago, Penn State, New York, Toronto, Fenway, Lambeau — and yeah, Detroit too, even if those pussies want to play under a dome.

Mistakes Were Made: Was it perfect? Hell no, unless you're some kind of sadist who enjoys hearing Mike Emrick and Ed Olczyk nervously fill time during endless ice repairs like an opening act waiting for Amy Winehouse to finally show up. As much as the Winter Classic warmed my hockey heart, I am a New Jersey native, a place where cynicism is a required course for preschoolers; so here's what sucked about the Winter Classic:

* Hearing how players handle bad ice: Interesting. Hearing about the science, characteristics and history of bad ice: Fucking tedious. The fact that the frequent stoppages to plug holes and Zamboni the sheet produced multiple conversations about Iceology 101 showed a lack of preparedness by the NBC team to fill time effectively. I'm not watching hockey to hear about the minutia of ice refurbishment, just like I'm not watching golf to hear about the nuances of Kentucky Bluegrass, Featherbed Bent and Northern California Sensemilia.

* The players' entrance featured pyrotechnics. And nothing says "Winter Classic" like giant WWE-style pillars of flame, right?

* Over the boards behind one of the goals was a snowy vista. Over the boards behind the other goal? A brown mess of overlapping plywood that made it look like either the NHL ran out of construction funds or that the largest septic tank in Buffalo had exploded at the 30 yard-line of Ralph Wilson Stadium. I know they probably served a purpose, but when you're striving for telegenic aesthetics, you really shouldn't allow a pile of stillborn beer-pong tables to enter the camera frame all that often.

* When Mike Milbury compared Sidney Crosby to Bobby Orr between the second and third periods, I pictured Phil Esposito waking up from his afternoon nap screaming like an air raid siren. By the way, if you were playing that drinking game during the Winter Classic where you take a shot every time Sidney Crosby received a glowing tribute from the announcers, paramedics would have been attempting to revive you from toxic shock by the middle of the second.

* Finally: How in the name of Andrea Kremer does NBC have 71,217 fans show up to a football stadium in order to sit in the snow on a national holiday and watch a regular season hockey game ... and not interview a single one of them on the air about it?

Dear Ottawa: We Have Your Ass. Signed, Washington. The Washington Capitals continued Mission: It Really Was All Glen Hanlon's Fault with a 6-3 victory (minus Tom Poti and Alex Semin for most of the game) against the Ottawa Senators, whom they've beaten thrice this season by a combined score of 18-10. Might be time to remove the fork from the Caps; at five points out of an Eastern Conference playoff spot, they're not done after all.

Nine Times? I was all set to make some lame "football score" joke about the Kings defeating the Blackhawks 9-2 last night, and then I remembered that Los Angeles actually doesn't have an NFL team right now. So I'll simply say that Ladislav Nagy (3 G, 2 A) and Alexander Frolov (2 G, 3 A) had five-point nights, David Koci found a way to amass 25 minutes in penalties including two 10-minute misconducts, and Brian Urlacher had a safety. (Yeah, still lame.) The Understatement of 2008 candidate from Kings coach Marc Crawford after the win: "No disrespect intended with this comment, but their goaltending wasn't great tonight."

(Photo via Getty Images. And more extensive, on-site report of the Buffalo-Pittsburgh game coming later today.)

It's 1 p.m. on New Year's Day, and you're just emerging from your Drink Away '07! coma-hangover (combover?) The TV roars to life, and you're presented with two ways to spend your early afternoon. On ABC there's the Capital One Bowl, featuring Shanoff's Hard-On against App State's Wake. You could sit back and watch some almost slightly above-average college football at its finest, or you could flip to NBC...

...for the AMP NHL Winter Classic! It's sponsored by AMP! It's not every day PepsiCo affixes its 8th-best selling beverage's name to a nationally televised outdoor game of puck! I'm sure Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s going to be there -nay- PLAYING in the game! Yeah, that's it! He'll be in net for the Pittsburgh Penguins as they take on the Buffalo Sabres at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Take that, Tony Stewart!

The Winter Classic is going to be COLD! Tune in to see hockey players getting cold! The goalies quite possibly could end up wearing ski masks underneath their goalie masks! Who does that? And while there's nothing like the plunging temperatures of a January sporting event in Buffalo, analysts are predicting that most players will choose to huddle around the Pens' Sidney Crosby, who brings light, warmth and salvation to the world. As for Buffalo, Ryan Miller has agreed to take some time off from touring with Guster to freeze between the pipes for the home team.

But wait, there's more!

Prior to the opening face-off, the Buffalo Sabres alumni will play both the local fire and police department teams, although not at the same time. Meanwhile, arson and robbery will run rampant throughout upstate New York. This will be a marked change from last year's Heritage Classic, where Edmonton and Montreal's alumni squads played each other. This idea was scrapped this time around, largely because Gary Roberts was having emotional heartburn about which game to play in. (Hey-oh!) Also, count on some intermission entertainment (we hear they've booked the Goo Goo Dolls to play BOTH of them!), and at least 73 references from the announcers about Mystery, Alaska. Hey, it's more fun to quote that movie than pronounce Maxim Afinogenov when it's 4 degrees in the booth.

Meanwhile in Orlando, Tim Tebow has just rushed for a touchdown late in the 4th quarter, giving the Gators a 10-6 lead. Yawn.

Melt Your Face-Off will be no doubt live-blogging the event, and if you're lucky, we'll throw down with, yes 74! references from Mystery, Alaska! It's the NHL on NBC, people! The Coolest Game on Earth!

In Buffalo's 8-1 victory over Carolina, eleven different Sabres accumulated points, namely because the AP lede uncovered a vital piece of info: "The Buffalo Sabres' game plan on Saturday night was to shoot on net." That's the kind of radical thinking we need in today's sport.

Goals Are Good, Right? And if you think Buffalo's offensive strategy was innovative, check out what the Avalanche's Ryan Smyth conjured up against the Kings: "Ryan Smyth found a simple solution to his offensive drought. He went to the net and got the desired results." If this "going to the net" thing catches on in the league, We might get some snazzy lacrosse-style scores for years to come. After L.A. scored the first two goals, Colorado came back to score five more for a final score of — you're so smart! — 5-2.

Bonk's Adventure. It's a good ol' shootout from the great state of Tennessee. These "shooting things out" might help Montreal if they're ever going to secede from Canada, but for now, Nashville reigns supreme in shootouts with a 5 -4 victory. Former Canadien Radek Bonk burned his former team with a goal in said shootout.

Do-Nothing Congress. The Ottawa Senators sure had a nice start, didn't they? At least they have beautiful memories, because the 5-2 home loss to the modestly hot Rangers puts their losing streak at six and their Eastern Conference lead down to two points. Old Man Shanahan scored goals 635 and 636 in the victory.

You know it's a good sign when they play a hockey game and people are pissed they didn't get tickets. Pittsburgh fans and Bills fans are angry because ticket priority was given, strangely, to Toronto Blue Jays season ticket holders over them. We don't understand that either, but, jeez, 72,000 people to see a hockey game on New Years Day? We would not have expected that.

The Winter Classic - 42,000 Tickets Sold in 25 Minutes [Buffalo Sabres TV Ratings]
Winter Classic / Ice Bowl: The Questions Continue [American Hockey Fan]

As you might expect, hockey fans are aghast — an excellent roundup of outrage can be found here — though those in Buffalo weren't switched, allowing their long-suffering fans to witness the end of their season. It was such an odd decision — previewing a horse race? — that some smell legitimate malfeasance. Regardless ... if you needed any more proof why we don't feel so horrible about not covering the NHL as fiercely as we cover other sports ... this is probably it.

NBC Dumps Out Of Hockey For The Preakness [Off Wing Opinion]
Bettman's Latest Debacle By Design [Out Of Left Field]
NBC Gives Sens' Win The Shaft [James Mirtle]

Well, at this point, it's clear they're not even going to make it to that point, losing 1-0 to Ottawa last night to fall behind 3-0. It's not a happy time in Buffalo.

I'm sure we'll all be able to talk about what appeared to be a flat Buffalo Sabres team that took the ice tonight. The effort certainly seemed to be sporadic, and the power play continued to be awful. When you watch hockey on a regular basis, you come to realize that all those bounces that go to the winning team may seem lucky, but it's usually the result of out-working the opponent. Ottawa ended up with most of the loose pucks on their sticks tonight. Enough said.

Well, actually, some aren't even handling it that well.

And, at this point, if you haven't shown up for the first 3 games guys, don't show up for the 4th. Save everyone a little time and money and let us get back to our lives. I think I'll be madder at them if they actually win game 4 at this point than if they lose it.

Sorry, Sabres fans. At least you still get to live in Buffalo.

Beyond Horrible [Sabres Report]
Senators 1, Sabres 0 [Bfloblog]

And here, you thought we were completely ignoring the NHL playoffs. To remind you: Canuck please!

The Eastern Conference Finals kick off tonight, with the Ottawa Senators facing the long-suffering but oh-so-close Buffalo Sabres. The gang at BfloBlog are awfully excited: "The anticipation for the game tonight probably could not be any greater. As I was sifting through the season history between these two teams, a very scary thought (for Ottawa) occurred to me: Ottawa has yet to play the Sabres team they will be facing tonight."

We will not pretend to have even close to the amount of expertise required to make a prediction on this series, but among the ESPN folks, the verdict is split. If you need to rev yourself up, we recommend the 10 reasons the NHL playoffs are better than the NBA playoffs. (Via Off Wing Opinion.) We don't necessarily agree, but it's a compelling case.

(Associated Press photo.)

The face-off between the hockey clubs from New York State's No. 1 and No. 2 cities set the stage Monday for a possible friendly wager between Mayors Byron W. Brown of Buffalo and Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City. But when Brown's office called to set one up, Bloomberg's office declined. "I hope Mayor Bloomberg's reluctance to wage a bet is not a sign of his lack of confidence in the Rangers' chances against the Sabres," Brown said.

No, we suspect that it's a sign of a lack of quality items for Bloomberg to include in the bet. So let us intercede. Buffalo can offer a case of chicken wings and a Chuck Schumer For President t-shirt. Bloomberg can then put up two of the following:

• A dozen Taco Bell rats.

• A pair of tickets to the Spider-Man musical.

• Don Imus microphone and used Levis.

• Coleman ice chest filled with black snow.

• "I'd Do Her" campaign button.

• Can of heat balm once used by Mookie Wilson.

Of course there's also the possibility that Buffalo has absolutely nothing that Bloomberg would want.

Hockey Frenzy Rachets Up To Next Level [The Buffalo News]

For those who like their NHL violence varied and wanton, we present Thursday's Ottawa at Buffalo matchup, which makes the Spanish Inquisition look like a tickle fight. The Sabres' 6-5 OT win featured 100 total penalty minutes, with eight penalties for fighting, four for hooking, two for instigating and one for goalie leaving the crease (our favorite). There was also this glorious excerpt from the penalty summary:

05:13 Phillips: Game Misconduct - 10 min.
05:13 Kaleta: Game Misconduct - 10 min.
05:13 Volchenkov: Fighting - 5 min.
05:13 Biron: Game Misconduct - 10 min.
05:13 Biron: Fighting - 5 min.
05:13 Biron: Goalie leaving crease. - 2 min.
05:13 Mair: Game Misconduct - 10 min.
05:13 Mair: Fighting - 5 min.
05:13 Mair: Instigator - 2 min.
05:13 Peters: Game Misconduct - 10 min.
05:13 Peters: Fighting - 5 min.
05:13 Peters: Instigator - 2 min.
05:13 Peters: Roughing - 2 min.
05:13 Emery: Game Misconduct - 10 min.
05:13 Emery: Goalie leaving crease. - 2 min.
05:13 Emery: Fighting - 5 min.
05:13 Emery: Fighting - 5 min.

Damn it, we went to the snack bar at 5:11! (The Sabres' Andrew Peters will serve his penalty time in mountainous regions of Alaska wrangling Kodiak bears).

And we'll say it again: If this had happened in the NBA, the league would be disbanded.

(Here's a blow-by-blow from BfloBlog)

Sabres Edge Senators In Fight-Filled Contest [MSNBC]
Senators-Sabres Brawl [YouTube]

Hockey hasn't seen a hit like that since Trent made little Wayne's head bleed. Just a straight-up shoulder to the jaw at full-speed. Ooompf. That looks like a man who's going to need help tying his shoes for a week or two.

I just don't believe that he's "fine." There's got to be at least a slight concussion. But it's the Stanley Cup Playoffs... a guy could have open-heart surgery after the first period, and insist on being back in the line-up for the third. And no coach is ever, ever, ever going to let on about an injury.

Game on, eh?

BRIAN CAMPBELL DESTROYS RJ UMBERGER OMFG I DIIIIIIIIEEEE!!!1 [YouTube]