NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ryan Miller didn't wait for his teammates to respond this time. He was throwing rights and lefts as soon as an opponent barreled him over — again.The goaltender's return to the Buffalo crease Saturday was an eventful one, and the 3-2 victory conjured memories of the game that put him out of the net. In Miller's first appearance since the infamous collision with Boston's Milan Lucic, he got run over again. This time, Nashville tough guy Jordin Tootoo crashed into Miller in the crease, a full-speed, head-on collision that sent Tootoo and Miller tumbling together to the other side of the net.
Before they stopped rolling, Miller was throwing a punch with his blocker-covered right hand. He then rained gloved lefts to the head of Tootoo. Just like the Boston game, Miller ended up without a mask.
"He's going to come hard to the net every time," said Miller, who made 32 saves. "I was ready for that one. I got my hands up and just got right in the mix after that. I've got to do the same thing. I can't sit back and let guys take advantage of me, either, so I just tried to get right in the pileup and do what I could do, which is not a whole lot but at least show I'm not going to take it."
Said Tootoo: "I was driving the net and I got a little shove from behind. That's the last thing I want to do is run the goalie over and put my team down. It is what it is, but I'm skating hard, I drop my shoulder in towards the net and clearly I tried to jump out of the way. There was no intent to charge at him."
Unlike the Boston contest, which became immortalized because the Sabres didn't respond to Lucic's smack to the face of the franchise, Miller had plenty of help from his teammates. Paul Gaustad, Matt Ellis and Corey Tropp rushed into the fray, with Gaustad also delivering punches to the prone Tootoo.
"It's one of those plays where you're almost in shock that it happened again," Ellis said. "Our response was good. Goose got in there, we all got in there. It was a five-man pack and we took care of business. Boston was a learning experience, and we took a few steps forward."
Tootoo got banished to the dressing room with a charging major and game misconduct. Gaustad, who suffered an upper-body injury during the scrum, earned a double-minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct. Miller got only an earful from the 17,113 fans in Bridgestone Arena, who repeatedly chanted, "Miller is a sissy."
"What happened in the game is a joke. It's a joke," furious Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "All it does is just prove the fact right that when I said it was open season, it appears it is open season. You get a guy that comes off a concussion, and you've got Jordin Tootoo, Jordin Tootoo, running over your goaltender?
"I want to see what the league wants to do with this one. It's a joke."
Along with showing his pugilism skills, Miller showed he can still play goalie. He made several spectacular saves, none better than a diving glove stop on Matt Halischuk early in the third period.
"I'm happy to be back, and I'm happy to get a win," Miller said. "It's been awhile since I've felt I've put together a game that I like to pride myself in. That was an important one for us to come back after a loss. It was important for me to go out there and play a solid game."
Miller, who had been out of the Sabres' lineup for nearly a month, actually had no desire to wait until Saturday night to take the ice. Following a team meeting in the morning, the Buffalo goaltender was one of only a handful of players to take part in an optional skate.
"I'm excited to play," Miller said. "I love to play hockey. I've been missing it for a while here."
It was clear the Sabres had been missing him, too. The slumping squad ended a two-game losing streak and improved to 2-4-1 in the last seven games. Luke Adam and Zack Kassian opened the scoring, and Tyler Ennis' first goal of the season gave the Sabres a 3-1 lead with 4:15 to play.
Diagnosed with whiplash and a concussion following the Lucic collision, the goalie had been sidelined since Nov. 12 before dressing as Jhonas Enroth's backup during Friday's 4-1 loss to Detroit.
The streak of watching instead of playing ended at nine games.
Along with being hurt, Miller had to deal with trade talk, questions about his teammates' commitment and whether he should cede the crease to Jhonas Enroth. It all happened during a personal 1-5 slide.
"I want to get back and definitely re-establish my game a little bit," Miller said.
"Not having a chance to dig out of it, I had to sit and think about it for like a month. There's a lot of things that fly around during that kind of time, and you can't really go out and do anything about it. You can't really make any statement on the ice about it, and that's usually how I've liked to react is just go out and play hockey, try and win some games with the guys.
"It's been hard to just sit there and wait for an opportunity. I feel healthy again, and I feel ready to go. I just want to get right back in the mix here."
Ruff was eager to give him the chance.
"Any team needs goaltending," Ruff said. "If you don't get it, you don't win. There's no secret. Ninety-five percent of the occasions your goalie has to be a difference maker. For a long period of time, Jhonas was. He's struggled a little bit. We need Ryan to step in and play well.
"Obviously, it's a great opportunity for him. He feels good. ... We need him to be our leader between the pipes."
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