Miller gets hot after team goes cold at finish
Ryan Miller’s postgame meeting with reporters lasted just 76 seconds Sunday. He was willing to say more but the media didn’t need to fire any more questions his way because it was plainly clear how the Sabres’ goaltender felt after the 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh.
Miller dropped three expletives during the chat and the frustration was pretty understandable as the Sabres maintained their dubious streak of not winning back-to-back home games this season.
Paul Martin’s winning goal with 2:04 left, a flutterball from the point that Miller never found thanks to a Christian Ehrhoff screen, wasn’t the only play that bothered Miller.
He was equally perturbed by Pascal Dupuis’ tying goal at 7:06 of the third, which came a few seconds after a Jason Pominville giveaway at the Buffalo blue line. It also came less than two minutes after Steve Ott had given the Sabres their only lead.
“It’s just a [bleep] way to lose,” Miller said. “I don’t understand. Your guard has to be up at all times. They get right back in the game. And a broken play to seal it for them. Just preventable and not what we need to be doing right now.”
Miller entered the game on quite a hot streak over his last four games with a 2.00 goals-against average and .944 save percentage, as he had stopped 136 of 144 shots. But the Penguins are his personal Kryptonite.