A Bitter Taste - Toronto 1 - 3 Buffalo

It might have been nice if we could have taken the momentum gained from bitch-slapping New Jersey into this game with the Buffaslugs, but much like in our earlier waxing, Ryan Miller was all but impenetratable (I believe he was the game's first star, saving 26 of the 27 shots we had). It would also have been nice if Darcy Tucker's return could have been a little more successful, but that ties in with Miller being outstanding for the Slugs. Then again, the chances are that with missing part of our top defensive pairing and a number of other players coupled with the 6-1 defeat on Tuesday, few would have expected us to come out of the game with any points. to start with.

Unfortunately, all this was clouded by the continuation of the Janssen situation. I opined that we might not see him suspended at all for his hit, and that Colim Campbell mishandling the case would lead to repercussions throughout the game, but I was proven wrong when the league handed down a three-game suspension on Janssen. While the length is satisfactory, there's another problem that takes precedent - sure, Janssen's out for the next three games, but as Tucker pointed out Janssen rarely plays any significant time for the Devils. His estimate of "two minutes a game" is probably a bit conservative, but I'd be surprised if his average TOI is more than five minutes. Anyway, Janssen is part of the Devils' fourth line, which means that through his three-game suspension they will be without a fourth-line winger.

What the fuck kind of a punishment is that?

Janssen's fined about $7,000 , which would be a stiff fine for a person in a normal line of work, but I'm guessing hockey players don't feel the sting quite as much because of the size of their contracts, and also misses three games. The Devils lose someone who barely plays for them anyway for three games. Toronto, on the other hand, lose Kaberle, a star player, for an undefined length of time at a point in the season when it is absolutely critical to have your team firing on all cylinders. Look at that state of affairs and tell me that's not messed up. The Devils get to sit back and laugh; our burden just grows. If you want to see the incident in glorious Youtubeavision, Ninja of Raking Leafs (http://rakingleafs.blogspot.com/) was nice enough to provide three seperate videos of it.

Erik.