Holy Vanek!

Hey, we won! I admit that I wasn't feeling too good about our chances tonight. Saturday night. Back-to-back. Not the team's favorite conditions to play under, for some reason. It wasn't reassuring either that the Devils scored 8 goals last night compared to Buffalo's 1. But all of that garbage means nothing because we won!

Just some quick thoughts:

- Good for Patty Lalime getting another one in his W column. Looking at his stats, people can get down on him but I am confident in having him as our backup goalie.

- I was also very glad to see Stafford scoring on a wide open net! Atta boy, Staff. Seriously, last night was painful seeing those two wide open nets that he missed. Yikes. I'm sure it felt damn good for him to get that one tonight.

- This is probably the matronly part of me coming out, but poor little Gerbe. When those two Devils sandwiched him on the ice I couldn't help but feel bad for the little guy. He's what, 4'11? Cut the dude some slack.

- I just have to say something about Nathan Paetsch. I started thinking about this after he took that elbow to the face. He practices with the team, travels with the team, just to end up in the press box the majority of the time. The only time he gets the nod is if one of his fellow teammates is injured. It's got to be sort of a tough life, you know? I mean, in retrospect, he's in the NHL. How many hockey players can say that? But still. I just remember last season he was always taking a lot of hits and I believe he had a few hits to the head that resulted in a concussion. And then tonight he gets an elbow to the face. But you know as soon as Rivet is ready it'll be back up in the press box for Paetsch. That's just the nature of the game. But he'll keep trying. He'll keep practicing with the team and he'll keep traveling with them. It's not that I pity him, because I don't. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I respect him. I salute you, Nathan.

Now onto the real story. Thomas Vanek. How fitting is it that he scored our 10,000th goal in history? He just does so much for our team. I loved his hustle tonight and he's so great at backchecking. OH and not to mention that he's leading the league in goals...no biggie. You just gotta love him right now. Keep on keepin' on, Thomas.

Oh and one more thing. Has anyone noticed that Ryan Miller has been growing some scruff? He looks good. I'm liking the facial hair. He looks good when he's all clean shaven too, but I've always had a thing for dudes who know how to sport good facial hair. Which is why it was so awesome when Ryan had long hair and his playoff beard. Dude looked like Jesus. And really, is there anything cooler than your goalie looking like Jesus? Nothing that I can think of on the top of my head. So I've noticed that he hasn't shaved the past few days and when they showed him on the bench it looked like he was sporting a little bit of a beard. I'm sure he'll shave it soon. But for the time being, Ryan, you're looking mad earthy boo. Loves it.