Source : Montrealgazette.com
Ryan Miller picked a fine time to show his face in Montreal, didn’t he?
Canadiens fans, and everyone else, saw nothing of the Buffalo goaltender the last time the Sabres were in town — all of four nights earlier.
Miller had headed for the storm cellar when gusts of controversy swirled around his public spanking last Sunday of teammate Patrick Kaleta, the latter having complained about being scratched for that night’s game in Washington.
The lips of Miller were hermetically sealed last Tuesday, not a word uttered to reporters before and after Buffalo’s 3-2 Bell Centre overtime victory in which he’d sit as backup to Jhonas Enroth.
But the 32-year-old was his usual profound self Saturday night, his 38-save performance having dealt the Canadiens their second home-ice loss to the Sabres in four nights.
Miller had plenty of help, his teammates blocking a ridiculous 31 shots, a bruising eight — one less than the Habs’ total — by defenceman Mike Weber alone.
But the Sabres netminder was stellar on what got through to him, beaten only by Michael Ryder’s power-play deflection of an Andrei Markov snapshot 8:17 into a third period that saw the Habs take 16 shots, another dozen blocked.
The Canadiens now head into a crucial three-game week having lost a match they should have won. The Habs earned only a single point in two games against a Sabres squad that has been lifeless for much of the season and chose last week to begin rising from the coroner’s slab to fight for playoff breath.
Miller improved his 40-game career record against the Habs to 25-9-0-6 with three shutouts — very nearly a fourth — and a .924 save percentage.
The victory was the third straight for the Sabres, who headed to Florida only two points out of a playoff spot.
This was Miller’s first win in regulation time since March 2, that game the 12th of 14 consecutive he played. In six appearances since that victory over New Jersey, Miller had won one and lost two in shootouts and absorbed three regulation losses.
“It’s been a little bit of a tough go the last few weeks,” he admitted after Saturday’s game. “I need to start collecting myself and give the guys the chance to get these kind of wins.
“A couple games I was definitely trying to do too much, so I tried to settle it down. I’m trying to be a little more cognizant of where I should be positionally, where I should start from, and have trust in the guys around me and my ability to make the right play without having to overextend myself.”
Miller laughed at a question about a goalie’s reset button to get his game back on the rails.
“I wish,” he said. “If anybody’s ever done something that has more than one moving part … a golf swing seems to be the one way to describe it to people. You get one thing going one way, it could be two or three, and you start thinking about the one, the two, the three, when you shouldn’t be thinking about anything.
“I’ve just tried to simplify, start from a good place in the net just try to get in the flow of the game. I think (his struggle) was more mental than anything, trying to do too much, be a little too aggressive.”
Sabres backup Enroth relegated Miller to a rare backup role here last
Tuesday, the Sabres surrendering a 2-0 lead that night before winning
in overtime.
But interim coach Ron Ralston tapped Miller for the return game following the latter’s 34-save shootout victory in Toronto on Thursday.
“We wanted to try to keep him fresher physically and mentally,” said Ralston, who now boasts a perfect 2-0 record coaching in the Bell Centre.
“For Ryan, this is much like our team — gaining confidence. When you lose that, it takes some positive things to get it back and tonight was a good step for him.”
It wasn’t long after the national anthems that the crowd was all over the Sabres goalie, their familiar singsong “Mil-ler! Mil-ler!” chant raining down on him.
The volume grew early in the game when a long-distance neutral-zone flip by the Canadiens’ P.K. Subban almost handcuffed the goalie on a short hop.
“You’ve seen it happen in this rink before, (Carolina’s Cam) Ward had it happen to him this year,”
Miller said, speaking of Max Pacioretty’s mid-rink lob for a goal.
“They have pretty good ice here, but there’s something about those bouncers. I’m just happy (Subban) kept it on that side of the net. If it’s dead centre, maybe I’m shifted over a little bit and it has a little more of a chance to go in.
“But the crowd likes to have fun with it,” he said with a laugh. “It wasn’t as close … it was a pretty big bounce to the left.”
This wasn’t Miller’s prettiest game; more than once, it appeared he was wearing rubber equipment, rebounds caroming out to Canadiens shooters. But only Ryder’s tip would elude him, setting up an entertaining final 11 minutes.
“The puck was coming so slow and I saw a rightie there,” Miller said of Ryder, parked in front. “I know a tip’s an option, but it’s coming so slow he’s probably going to grab it and try to go around me, so I’m going to block just in case. If I’m just thinking tip, I’m probably going to block it.”
So now the Canadiens head to Pittsburgh and Boston this week for two enormously important games against teams they’re chasing before returning home for Saturday’s date against the Rangers.
At week’s end, Bell Centre fans will be heckling New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist or Mathieu Garon with their acid serenade.
The Sabres’ Miller has heard the derisive chant of his name for years. So much, in fact, that he’s come to accept it as a compliment.
“If (fans) weren’t a little bit worried about you, they wouldn’t be so hard on you,” he said. “I love the crowd here, it’s fun to go somewhere that they appreciate hockey so much.
“I feel that, even if you’re on the other team, if you make a nice play, they appreciate it. They don’t like it but they appreciate it, so that’s always fun. The energy here is great. It’s probably one of my favourite places to play.”
The last Miller’s name was heard in the Bell Centre on Saturday came as fans streamed to the exits. It was a single baritone, that of arena voice Michel Lacroix, who announced the Sabres goalie and Canadiens nemesis as the game’s first star.
But interim coach Ron Ralston tapped Miller for the return game following the latter’s 34-save shootout victory in Toronto on Thursday.
“We wanted to try to keep him fresher physically and mentally,” said Ralston, who now boasts a perfect 2-0 record coaching in the Bell Centre.
“For Ryan, this is much like our team — gaining confidence. When you lose that, it takes some positive things to get it back and tonight was a good step for him.”
It wasn’t long after the national anthems that the crowd was all over the Sabres goalie, their familiar singsong “Mil-ler! Mil-ler!” chant raining down on him.
The volume grew early in the game when a long-distance neutral-zone flip by the Canadiens’ P.K. Subban almost handcuffed the goalie on a short hop.
“You’ve seen it happen in this rink before, (Carolina’s Cam) Ward had it happen to him this year,”
Miller said, speaking of Max Pacioretty’s mid-rink lob for a goal.
“They have pretty good ice here, but there’s something about those bouncers. I’m just happy (Subban) kept it on that side of the net. If it’s dead centre, maybe I’m shifted over a little bit and it has a little more of a chance to go in.
“But the crowd likes to have fun with it,” he said with a laugh. “It wasn’t as close … it was a pretty big bounce to the left.”
This wasn’t Miller’s prettiest game; more than once, it appeared he was wearing rubber equipment, rebounds caroming out to Canadiens shooters. But only Ryder’s tip would elude him, setting up an entertaining final 11 minutes.
“The puck was coming so slow and I saw a rightie there,” Miller said of Ryder, parked in front. “I know a tip’s an option, but it’s coming so slow he’s probably going to grab it and try to go around me, so I’m going to block just in case. If I’m just thinking tip, I’m probably going to block it.”
So now the Canadiens head to Pittsburgh and Boston this week for two enormously important games against teams they’re chasing before returning home for Saturday’s date against the Rangers.
At week’s end, Bell Centre fans will be heckling New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist or Mathieu Garon with their acid serenade.
The Sabres’ Miller has heard the derisive chant of his name for years. So much, in fact, that he’s come to accept it as a compliment.
“If (fans) weren’t a little bit worried about you, they wouldn’t be so hard on you,” he said. “I love the crowd here, it’s fun to go somewhere that they appreciate hockey so much.
“I feel that, even if you’re on the other team, if you make a nice play, they appreciate it. They don’t like it but they appreciate it, so that’s always fun. The energy here is great. It’s probably one of my favourite places to play.”
The last Miller’s name was heard in the Bell Centre on Saturday came as fans streamed to the exits. It was a single baritone, that of arena voice Michel Lacroix, who announced the Sabres goalie and Canadiens nemesis as the game’s first star.
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