tick, tick, tick

The Sabres won game 4 last night. After going up 3-0 (ironically down 3-0), they hung on for a 3-2 win. And, yes, they barely hung on, but they hung on.

The Sabres have three games left on the schedule, albeit two of them "if necessary". Of the three left, two of them are at home.

It's one shift at a time, one period at a time. I know these guys are professional hockey players, but I'll make a curling analogy. When the team gets down early, it's easy to panic and go for it. But it's often smarter to play a simple game, and go for a deuce. Get 2, force to 1, get 2, and so on. Take your food off the panic button and play a simple game. It begins to frustrate the other team. That's why this post is called tick, tick, tick. This is the mindset of the players: Ottawa wants it over. The Sabres want it to never end. The extra day is murder for the Sens, and wonderful for the Sabres. Every extra day is a victory, even one on the schedule.

If on Saturday, the Sabres can get out of the gate fast, and score another goal in the first few minutes, the Sens will have to work hard to not get frustrated.

So, we'll see. Game 5 is three days away. That's three days for the press in Canada (mostly Toronto) to ask Ottawa how tight their necks feel. Will it matter? It might. It might not. But a win on Saturday will make it matter. Then the Toronto press will really wake up and begin asking the questions that Ottawa doesn't want asked, namely, "is this the same old Ottawa?"

We'll be downtown on Saturday, with Autumn, watching the game with the masses of people. It should be fun. Win or lose, we get a chance to celebrate a fun season.