here is alittle bit of the reasoning behind some of my selections this evening, starting with the triple unit Selections:
San Jose Vs. Buffalo
The sharks have been playing decent hockey of late to include a 5-1 pounding of the Rangers last night. The win last night proved to be an emotional one for the entire team, but the one who was impacted the most was Graves who was given a special ceremony before the game by his former team. ``It was just this feeling in your heart that's hard to describe,'' Graves said of watching his hockey life flash before his eyes on a giant scoreboard screen. ``It felt great, and all the different emotions were there. It was very special to come back.''
The game had broader impact for the Sharks, who enjoyed their best performance of the season as they defeated a rebuilding Rangers outfit that played its third game in four nights.
The sharks also took advantage of a tired ranger team by playing very physical hockey. In addition to scoring, Stuart enjoyed an active and physical game in the defensive zone, as he responded to the offensive challenges of Eric Lindros and Theo Fleury and also irked enforcer Sandy McCarthy.
``I tried to start out physically, and for some reason they didn't like that,'' Stuart said. ``Guys started running after me. It seems some guys were preoccupied with that instead of other things, and that worked to our advantage.''
Coach Darryl Sutter said, ``One thing we know about Stuey. You're not going to intimidate him physically. Usually in those games, he gets better.''
Although this philosphy worked well against the Rangers last night, i think it could backfire tonight against the Sabres. The sharks now take on the role of the tired team, as they are on a current six game road trip, with tonight being game five out of the six. They play in back to back games tonight, and it will be the fifth game in eight days. The coach for the Sabres, Lindy Ruff agrees:
I think there's opportunities during the year where teams are playing back-to-back and they come into your building having played the night before," Ruff said. "The end of the trip always seems to be the toughest. It should be a good opportunity for us."
Other numbers that point towards the sabres, the visitor has won four straight in this series and over the last ten games is 8-0-2. Finally the ATS winner in the series has alternated wins in every game of this series dating back to '97 (7-0) and on deck tonight is buffalo.
I am backing the sabes on the money line to avoid the tie.
-130
JT
Sneaks
[This message has been edited by JT Sneaks (edited 10-23-2001).]
Sneaks
