Vulgar Opinions: Sabres @ Islanders (2-9-13) Stars and Black Holes

Winning streak!  I wish this team was capable of playing well as a whole and not needing either Miller or Vanek to literally drag them along night in and night out.

Stars:

1. Ryan Miller – What can you say?  You get outshot 43-15 and win, your goalie is the first star.
2. Thomas Vanek – Two points on a night when he probably could and should have had four.
3. Christian Ehrhoff – Team leading 25:25 of icetime, managed to make Leopold look not awful.

Unsung Hero:

• Alexander Sulzer -  You have to wonder if Alain Vigneault beats his young players.

Black Holes:

1. Drew Stafford – Maybe the only player that can make me pine for Leino.
2. Marcus Foligno – He seems to gravitate from being okay to being invisible.
3. Jordan Leopold - The first goal foul-up was probably as much Ehrhoff’s fault as it was his, but he needs to be a positive contributor.

Unseen Goat:

• Everyone else - Seriously, the shots were 43-15.

Leaderboard:

Awarding +3, +2, +1, +1, and minus the same for the stars and black holes:

1. Thomas Vanek (+23)
2. Jason Pominville (+11)
3. Christian Ehrhoff (+5)
4. Ryan Miller (+4)
5. Steve Ott (+3)
6. Mike Weber (+2)
7. Robyn Regehr (+2)
8. Tyler Ennis (+1)
9. Mikhail Grigorenko (0)
10. Matt Ellis (0)
11. Ville Leino (0)
12. Cody McCormick (0)
13. T.J. Brennan (-1)
14. Andrej Sekera (-1)
15. Alexander Sulzer (-1)
16. Marcus Foligno (-2)
17. Jochen Hecht (-2)
18. John Scott (-3)
19. Patrick Kaleta (-3)
20. Jhonas Enroth (-3)
21. Nathan Gerbe (-5)
22. Drew Stafford (-7)
23. Cody Hodgson (-8)
24. Jordan Leopold (-9)
25. Tyler Myers (-16)