WHAT KIND OF MAN DOESN'T WATCH THE NHL PLAYOFFS?!!!

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE UNCONVERTED

The NHL playoffs are here, and once again I remain amazed that more red-blooded American sports fans aren’t watching. Simply put, where else are you going to see the skill and artistry of the fastest sport crash headfirst into the violence of UFC? Have you seen footage from the Ottawa-Pens series? Heads were cracked, my little friends!

I have long mocked those who worship hoops. I remain stunned that anyone can get behind a sport that awards two free throws just because someone nudged a player while they were shooting. That’s softness wrapped up in a whimper. Speaking of whimpering softies; with NBA teams tanking it flagrantly down the stretch in the hopes of helping their lottery slot in the draft, the case for hockey has never been stronger.

Tell you what -- if you like football, simply pick one NHL playoff team to follow and give me a pledge that you’ll watch three playoff games. Once you see the level of passion and action, I dare you to walk away.

Of course, if you’re reading this on Nickbakay.com, then I suspect you’re more rabid than I am about the greatest sport on earth, so since I’m preaching to the choir, how about...

THERE I SAID IT: BUFFALO SABRE PLAYOFF EDITION

I’m an unmitigated homer, and the fact is this Sabre team is the best thing that’s happened to Buffalo sports fans since the K-Gun offence. We’re one win away from sitting the Islanders on the couch next to Sanjaya, but it’s been a good series – better than the pundits expected, thanks to the kind of gritty playoff energy any self-respecting Buffalo hockey fan had to expect from a Ted Nolan coached squad.

It’s great to see Nolan back behind an NHL bench, and it’s even more delightful to see him bench Alexi Yashin, the worst seven million-dollar a year investment since Katie Couric jumped networks.

Also of note: Ted clearly has the green light to crack the whip on his prima Donna’s out on the Island, a luxury he most assuredly did not have back in the days when he coached Dominik Hasek in Buffalo, who most likely sunk the biggest daggers in Nolan’s back as the coach of the year was run out of town. I kept thinking of that relationship as I heard Nolan press conference praise Rick DiPietro’s winning attitude. This is a team on the rise, and Nolan is the man to finally mop up the mess Mike Millbury dumped this once-great franchise in.

While I doff my cap to the change of team culture, one player who is getting a lot of love from everyone except yours truly is Mike Sillinger. I know, I know -- he’s the kind of guy that I’d probably love if he were on my team, but two moments really irked me as cheap stuff – his double-cross check of Derek Roy, and when he ran Connelly into the boards. I wouldn’t mind if I saw him ramming anyone half-his size, but he seems to exclusively point his stick as the small or the recently concussed. He’s a cheap shot guy. To the extent I almost can’t believe Lindy hasn’t deployed Andrews Peters on a search and destroy shift. I met Derek briefly when I was back in my hometown for the Sabre’s and Blades fund raiser, and he is a tiny fellow. Tough as nails, brilliantly talented, but tiny. Sillinger’s cheap shots on him reminded me of how much I loathed Chris Chelios when he used to beat the crap out of Paul Karya. It’s just not what I expect from the best. And I remain shocked that neither of those bully’s ever seem to get called out on the physical carpet by the strong, willing and able.

Either way, the truth is we won’t have Sillinger to kick around much longer. Buffalo is a much better road team – it’s been true all season long, so I had the utmost confidence they’d sweep both games on the island. Conversely, I suspect it might take two more games back at HSBC for the Sabres to close this one out. They seem to push, press, and play a little tighter in the name of trying to please the locals.

THINGS TO WATCH FOR THE REST OF THE WAY:

Thomas Vanek is playing like a man who took last years playoff benching the right way – really personally! The kid’s been on fire all year, and that goal he scored in game 4 was magic.

Kotalik has to start scoring or else we can get the big body stuff from a healthy Gausted.

I’m glad Pomminville scored that impressive, solo-effort clincher in game four, because for the first time all season, I was starting to miss the player he supplanted: Mr. J.P. Dumont, who, if you haven’t been watching, is the single best thing going for Nashville in the post season.

Speaking of Nashville every time they cut to a shot of Barry Trotts on the bench, my lovely wife Robin never fails to make with an Edgar G. Robinson voice and says “I’m a frog, see?!”

Zubris is a guy I’d love to see the Sabre’s keep next year. He has proven to be a great pick-up at the deadline. Big, physical, fast – that’s what you want come postseason. Which brings me to…

DRURY VS. BRIERE

I swear to you I have notes to back up the fact that I was feeling this way long before Drury hunkered down into playoff mode and wasted no time filling a basket full of difference-making plays… the same kind of plays Danny Briere has yet to contribute. I know Briere sat out a practice or two, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he’s dinged up, because he has been invisible compared to the level of play one expects from a 5 million dollar man in the playoffs.

The Sabres won’t be able to keep both captains, and with that in mind, providing both players want to return, I say Drury is the call. As for the gap Briere would leave, isn’t that exactly the spot you expect maxim Afinegenov to fill? Double down with a healthy Chris Connelly, and we will survive. It’s a terrible, tough call – Briere is electric when he’s flying, but Drury is heart and soul, the leader, the grit, the magic – lock him down.

BUT IN THE MEANTIME…

Far be it from me to tell Lindy how to mix up his lines, but in watching how the Sabre’s speed leaves the Isles flat-footed and flummoxed, just once I want to see Buffalo send out a line of Briere, Afinegenov, and Derek Roy. I honestly believe they might score three goals per shift.

Sabres vs. Tampa Bay? Wow – the NHL’s answer to Arena football.
Sabres vs. Ottowa? That’ll be a war.
Sabres vs. Rangers? A cakewalk. There I said it.

Either way, we’ve got some interesting things awaiting us down the road here.
I just hope none of the games end up on the VS. Network, because when they feature Sabre games my DirecTV blacks out my MSG feed and I have to try and sync Rick Jeanerette up on my computer – marone!

I guess that’s the definition of a classy problem – go Sabres!