Bleeding Blue and Gold

The NHL Winter Classic - In Pictures

2008-01-26T12:59:00.000-05:00

Well, better late than never!

On January 1st, I was lucky enough to attend the first ever NHL Winter Classic, a game that pitted the Buffalo Sabres versus the Pittsburgh Penguins in an outdoor hockey game at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.

As a Sabres season ticket holder, I was one of the fortunate ones who got tickets included with the rest of my seats for the year and I must say, this was a day I looked forward to right from the moment it was announced.

It lived up to every expectation. It was one of the coolest sports events I've ever had the pleasure of attending.

It was very important to me to get the whole experience, including tailgating before the game. My wife didn't really understand this concept, instead just wanting to go for the game itself so she gracefully stepped aside and I brought one of my buddies to the game. We joined up with a couple other friends who have season tickets right beside me and a few others to make the early morning trip across the border to the US.

The NHL set up a fan festival area just outside the stadium, with all of the things you'd see at an All-Star game, only this time everything was setup outside in the elements. It was a relatively balmy winter day by Buffalo standards, with temperatures hovering around the freezing mark but the snow falling made it seem almost 'snow globe'-like in appearance. Really cool!

As you can see, it was almost circus-like in appearance, with various strange characters all around in Sabres and Penguins gear.

They had a band playing in the festival area to entertain fans as they took everything in.

The facepainting booths were just as packed as the memorabilia stands, as fans bought up everything and anything that said "NHL Winter Classic" on it. I was really looking forward to getting one of the replica Sabres jerseys but unfortunately, they weren't selling the EXACT replicas onsite, with the drawstrings at the neck that I wanted. The fact that costs were so outrageous for everything meant I went home empty handed. Hell, T-Shirts were $40.00 each! You have to be kidding me! Didn't seem to matter...fans grabbed EVERYTHING they could!

There were road hockey games breaking out all over the parking lot as tailgaters were partying it up in fine fashion. The atmosphere hours before the game was electric. Just awesome stuff!

That's Matt Troyan, Deron and Rick enjoying a cool beverage a couple hours before game time.

Some were having such a great time that they didn't want to deal with walking all the way to the washroom. Here we find a few gals crouching and doing their business with a car door standing in for a bathroom stall. And the girl pointing at me to not take a picture of this classic moment? PRICELESS!

We're in the stadium baby! With bag pipers leading the way, the players make the long walk to the rink for the pregame warmup. They built a little mini rink right beside the main one with young kids clad in Sabres and Penguins gear tapping their sticks on the ice in approval for their heroes. Cool touch!

The players skate around in warmups as the snow starts to fly!

The players officially make their way to the ice to start the game, as fireworks go off all around them and the capacity crowd of over 71,000 roars their approval!

The Sabres regular anthem singer Doug Allen sings the Canadian National Anthem, a tradition in Buffalo due to the huge support they get from fans on our side of the border. Check out all the snow coming down! Almost blizzard-like!

Next up is the Sabres occasional special guest, Irish tenor Ronan Tynan, who belts out his stirring rendition of God Bless America. Incredibly, some fans complained after the game that the American anthem wasn't sung. Regardless, Tynan tore the house down, as usual.

Topping it all off was a earth-shattering flyover by four Blackhawk choppers, bringing the crowd to its feet.

The fireworks go off, signalling the beginning of the game as the crowd goes wild!

Frank, Rick and Deron approve of all the festivities during a stoppage in play in the second period.

The league pulled out all the stops in this one, bringing in Juno-award winning, Canadian alt-rocker Sam Roberts and his band for a three-song performance in the second intermission. American fans all around can be heard asking "who the hell is Sam Roberts?" HILARIOUS! Here, Sam is belting out the classic "Bridge to Nowhere".

The snow stops for a brief moment as Buffalo's Tim Connolly and Pittsburgh superstar Sidney Crosby line up for the third period puck drop.

The game would go into overtime tied at one and while Buffalo had countless chances to score in the extra frame on a powerplay, they ultimately couldn't put one away.

That meant a shootout!

Ales Kotalik scored on Buffalo's first attempt but Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang would follow him with a beauty of his own to knot things at one. That brought Crosby to the forefront and you just knew what was going to happen next...

He skated in deked to his forehand and was able to barely shovel the puck past Ryan Miller to give Pittsburgh the 2-1 win and send NHL commissioner Gary Bettman into washroom to pleasure himself as he can't believe his good fortune that the league's brightest star ended the game with the winning goal as the snow came tumbling down. A perfect end for the NHL and fans of the game - hell, even a Sabres fan like myself couldn't get too down after this great contest.

In a moment I just knew was coming but appreciated nonetheless, the players all group at center ice and salute the 71,000+ in attendance for braving the snowy conditions and truly making the game a spectacular event.

The score was irrelevant on this day. What a great day for hockey, one that I will not soon forget.

Sabres Disappoint in Sloppy Opening Night Loss

2007-10-06T12:12:00.000-04:00

New York Islanders newcomer Mike Comrie, who patrolled the third line for Ottawa last year, looked like a world-beater last night in his first official game with his new club.

Comrie scored twice and added two assists while linemates Bill Guerin and Ruslan Fedotenko chipped in with six points of their own to lead the Islanders to a convincing 6-4 win over the Sabres on Friday night.

Josef Vasicek, Fedotenko, Chris Campoli and Trent Hunter scored singles for the Islanders. Comrie, Guerin (3a), Fedotenko (1g 2a), and Bruno Gervais (2a) contributed multipoint games for New York.

Buffalo got goals from Jaroslav Spacek, Derek Roy, Drew Stafford and Thomas Vanek. Spacek (1g 1a) had a multipoint game for the Sabres.

The first period was a wild, wide-open affair, with both teams exchanging opportunities throughout. Buffalo opened the scoring just one second after a powerplay expired, as Spacek's point shot hit a stick in front of goaltender Rick DiPietro and deflected in.

The Isles would even things at one on a delayed penalty call to Drew Stafford. With DiPietro on the bench for an extra attacker, Vasicek took a great cross-ice feed from Gervais and wired a one-timer past a sliding Ryan Miller for his first goal in an Islanders uniform.

Buffalo would respond three minutes later on a great, heads-up play from Maxim Afinogenov. The speedy Russian winger broke into the New York zone, stopped and fed a perfect feed across the ice to a streaking Roy, who popped a quick shot past DiPietro for his first of the season and the 2-1 lead.

The Islanders would soon take advantage of two Buffalo penalties called within three seconds of each other. With Stafford and Tim Connolly in the box, Fedotenko scooped up a Guerin rebound and roofed a quick snap shot to tie things at 2.

Seconds later, on the same powerplay, Campoli smartly pinched in from the point and must have put on his invisible suit, because not one Sabres defender decided to mark him. Fedotenko saw him, however, and his feed was easily deposited into the net past a startled Miller for a 3-2 Islander advantage.

Not long thereafter, I was in the middle of criticizing Drew Stafford's extremely lackluster period when he decided to put a couple sick moves on an Islanders defenseman and DiPietro, eventually scoring to make it 3-3.

I enjoy a healthy dose of humble pie once in a while!

Shots in the first favoured Buffalo 12-10.

The Islanders would retake the lead a little over seven minutes into the second on yet another defensive breakdown. Comrie was all alone to Miller's left as Henrik Tallinder and Jochen Hecht were both out of position and he easily poked home a Fedotenko pass for the 4-3 lead.

The Sabres would once again even the scoring within a minute. Nathan Paetsch fed a gorgeous pass from the Buffalo defensive zone right onto the stick of Vanek down at the Islanders blueline. He separated himself from the defenders and took a WICKED slapshot from pointblank range on DiPietro. The rocket went right into the top of the net for his first of the year and the 4-4 tie.

Wow! Great pass and what a finish by Vanek!

New York would take the lead again on a bit of a bad bounce. Guerin flipped a puck out of the Islanders zone and it took a weird carom off the boards at the center line and bounced into the middle of the ice. Comrie had a head of steam and was able to poke the puck past Toni Lydman and race in all alone on Miller, who seemed like he was a bit out of position. Comrie must of read the scouting report on Miller, as his shot was roofed over the goaltender's shoulder for his second of the night and the 5-4 lead, one they would take to the intermission.

The Rangers held a 23-21 advantage in shots.

The Islanders played a very disciplined third and would strike for the only goal of the period on the powerplay. Hunter pounced on a loose puck in front of Miller and made no mistake for his first of the year to put the game away for good, as Buffalo seemed to run out of gas in the final frame.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Tim Connolly-Jason Pominville

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Maxim Afinogenov

Daniel Paille-Paul Gaustad-Drew Stafford

Michael Ryan-Adam Mair-Andrew Peters

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Brian Campbell-Jaroslav Spacek

Dmitri Kalinin-Nathan Paetsch

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Jocelyn Thibault (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

None

INJURIES:

LW Ales Kotalik (knee); D Teppo Numminen (heart surgery)

NEW YORK ISLANDERS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Ruslan Fedotenko-Mike Comrie-Bill Guerin

Andy Hilbert-Josef Vasicek-Miroslav Satan

Jon Sim-Mike Sillinger-Trent Hunter

Sean Bergenheim-Richard Park-Darryl Bootland

DEFENSEMEN:

Marc-Andre Bergeron-Andy Sutton

Bruno Gervais-Chris Campoli

Radek Martinek-Brendan Witt

GOALTENDERS:

Rick DiPietro; Wade Dubielewicz

SCRATCHES:

LW Chris Simon (suspended); D Aaron Johnson; D Freddie Meyer

INJURIES:

C Shawn Bates (abdomen)

THE GOOD -

The scoring is still there, even without Briere and Drury.

The new top line of Vanek/Roy/Afinogenov had a lot of jump and showed a great deal of creativity. There were giveaways aplenty, sure, but I'd never want them to change their creative ways so I can take the good with the bad. Vanek looks A LOT faster this year than ever before and showed great hustle in the first period to break up an offensive chance.

Connolly didn't get hurt.

I'm struggling to find other positives. Paille looked decent but he just picks up right where predecessors Mike Grier and Vaclav Varada have left off...hands of stone! Imagine a shootout where the only Buffalo shooters could be Paille and Mike Ryan in a constant loop...they could take a hundred shots and still never score! Kidding...but barely.

Comrie may have had his best game as an NHL'er. Dating Hillary Duff agrees with him. He looked dangerous all night. I also like Campoli's offensive game but he's a bit sloppy on the backend from the looks of things, kind of like a poor man's Brian Campbell.

That new scoreboard is incredible...almost TOO incredible! I wanted to watch the play on the ice but the crystal clear, high-def feed on the scoreboard kept distracting me. And the thing is HUGE! Sweet deal, Mr. Golisano! Oh yeah, no in-game announcer a la Nicholas Picholas in this one and to be honest, it's not needed in Buffalo. Game presentation was great.

THE BAD -

The special teams. Atrocious. I don't understand how the penalty killing can continue to stink as much as it has for OVER A YEAR now. There is too much talent here but the four (or three) guys on the ice didn't seem to have a PLAN on the ice. There were holes everywhere on the penalty kill and the defenders just seemed transfixed with the puck. COVER AN AREA GENTLEMEN!

Stafford, the goal aside, was really off his game last night, taking poor penalties including the one that didn't officially get called due to Vasicek scoring on the delay. He's was a non-factor on the boards, usually his strength. I expect him to bounce back but it might take a bit of time due to having new linemates.

Defensive zone coverage was horrific, something I covered in the special teams point up above. All six guys on defense have to take the blame, although Kalinin and Spacek weren't THAT bad.

Jochen Hecht looked a step behind as well, not a good first impression for the captain in October.

Not the start we were looking for but there's no need to worry. Buffalo just needs to get in synch on the backend and they'll be fine. I have trouble even saying anything about Miller in this one. He let in six goals and never made a 'big save' but almost every goal was because of a defensive breakdown of some kind. Free pass on this one, rockstar!

The same two teams go at it again tonight, this time on Long Island. Game time is 7:00pm.

NY ISLANDERS 6, BUFFALO 4:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Game Summary - NHL.com
Official Event Summary - NHL.com

Gameday Preview: New York Islanders at Buffalo Sabres

2007-10-05T01:12:00.001-04:00

The Buffalo Sabres open up their 2007-08 campaign at home against the New York Islanders.

These teams have developed a little rivalry over the past year, first after the Isles added Ted Nolan as their head coach and then when the teams battled in a close opening round playoff series last year.

The Islanders are a much weaker team on paper than they were at the end of last season, losing many of their stalwart players, notably Jason Blake and Alexei Yashin. You can bet the bank, however, that the team's work ethic will be one thing that doesn't suffer under Nolan's watch.

Buffalo will begin life without their former co-captains, who both were big contributors to their new teams in action on Thursday night. Chris Drury scored once and added two assists in a Rangers victory over Florida while Daniel Briere scored two goals of his own in a Philadelphia win over Calgary.

The Sabres will look to a healthy Tim Connolly and sophomore Drew Stafford to help pick up some of the slack. It will also be fascinating to watch the continued development of third year winger Thomas Vanek and his pivot, Derek Roy, who stormed through the preseason with the NHL's best point total.

I expect to see Max Afinogenov riding shotgun on that line while Connolly lines up with Jochen Hecht on one side and Jason Pominville on the other.

I will be at the game in the Bleeding Blue and Gold season tickets and I expect that we'll see a nice banner raising ceremony of some kind in the pregame. If you recall, the Sabres were President's Trophy winners last year for the first time in franchise history, awarded to the team with the league's highest point total. Buffalo also won the Northeast Division crown so look for two spanking new banners overhead tomorrow night.

Hecht Named Captain for October; Neale Takes Over for Lorentz in Booth

2007-10-02T21:53:00.000-04:00

Lindy Ruff announced today that the club would be bringing back a rotating captaincy for the 2007-08 season after the offseason departures of co-captains Daniel Briere and Chris Drury.

Jochen Hecht was selected by his teammates as captain for the month of October, quite the honour for the unassuming German-born winger. Ruff will likely announce the assistants sometime in the next day or so.

I like the idea of going back to the rotating captaincy but I'm not as big a believer in Hecht's leadership abilities as his teammates. But hey...if they're for it, it's okay by me at the end of the day.

In other interesting news, 70-year old Harry Neale was officially announced as the Sabres new colour commentator for both radio and television broadcasts for the next three years, replacing the retired Jim Lorentz.

Neale, who is famous for his role on Hockey Night in Canada opposite Bob Cole, will retain his position on the flagship CBC program for the coming season, thereby missing about 12 Saturday night Sabres games. He has been let out of his contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs for their regional games and will be leaving the CBC after the year ends, meaning he will be working full-time for the Sabres in 08/09.

Mike Robitaille will man the booth in the games Neale can't make, including Saturday night's road game against the Islanders.

Sabres fans overall seem to be up in arms over this signing but I'm actually quite satisfied with it. Neale, while past his prime, is still a very smooth operator and will be a perfect partner for the excitable Rick Jeanneret.

And stealing him from the Leafs and the CBC is quite a coup. At the very least, noted nighthawk Jeanneret will have a capable drinking partner on the road...

Sabres Shake off Rust in Preseason Opening Loss

2007-09-21T23:55:00.000-04:00

The Buffalo Sabres opened their preseason schedule with a 4-1 loss to the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night at HSBC Arena.

Gilbert Brule scored twice for the Jackets, with Kris Russell and Rick Nash scoring singles. Brule (2g), Duvie Westcott (2a) and Jason Chimera (2a) notched multipoint games for Columbus. Steve Mason turned aside 20 of 21 Buffalo shots in the win.

Clarke MacArthur scored the only Buffalo goal, with Michael Funk and Dylan Hunter picking up assists. Jocelyn Thibault made his Sabres debut, turning aside 18 of 22 shots.

I was at the game but it's only preseason so instead of my normal, long-winded review of the game, we'll just take a look at the line combos used by Lindy Ruff and a good/bad analysis of what transpired.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Philippe Gogulla-Jochen Hecht-Jason Pominville

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Drew Stafford

Clarke MacArthur-Marek Zagrapan-Mark Mancari

Andrew Peters-Dylan Hunter-Patrick Kaleta

DEFENSEMEN:

Jaroslav Spacek-Toni Lydman

Michael Funk-Brian Campbell

Andrej Sekera-Nathan Paetsch

GOALTENDERS:

Jocelyn Thibault; Adam Dennis (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

None Officially

INJURIES:

D Teppo Numminen (heart surgery)

THE GOOD -

Thomas Vanek actually nailed someone in the open ice and knocked him flat on his back! An open ice hit! He also used his size in the third period to hit a player off the puck in the defensive zone. However, other than one great move late in the game, he wasn't a factor offensively.

I thought Marek Zagrapan and Mark Mancari played quite well. Zagrapan still needs to work on his skating and strength but he didn't seem to shy away from contact and showed nice stickhandling ability. Mancari had one TREMENDOUS shift where he blocked one shot in front and still got back out to the point to nail the defenseman when the puck was moved to the line. He looked comfortable on the point on the powerplay as well.

I also liked what little we saw of Dylan Hunter, who even got time killing a 5-on-3.

Campbell skated beautifully out there and Funk looks to be much improved from last year - his reach will help him get to the big leagues eventually.

THE BAD -

Other than the first shift of the game, I didn't really like the Hecht/Gogulla/Pominville line. Hecht wasn't great offensively last year and seems to have hit a wall in that aspect of his game. You know how there are guys who shoot first and pass second or vice versa? Well, Gogulla is a pass first, PASS SECOND type of player and he continually passed up (no pun intended) multiple scoring opportunities in favour of dishing off the puck. He will need to get more selfish.

Stafford got injured in the game but it doesn't look serious. Even when he was playing, he looked a bit slow out there. It's early though.

I didn't like MacArthur's game tonight, the goal aside obviously. A few too many giveaways and he didn't fit with Vanek and Roy on the powerplay.

Lydman, Spacek, Sekera and Paetsch all looked like they were having trouble communicating with each other. Poor Sekera got pummelled in his 'fight'...I felt sorry for the kid, who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The special teams picked up right where they left off last year. The powerplay was ineffective and the penalty killing stunk up the joint, with every goal against either coming while shorthanded or just after the Sabres regained full strength. Not a good omen but again, it's only preseason.

Thibault was just okay. I certainly feel better with him in net instead of Conklin.

I don't have anything to say about C-Bus in this one, as I was concentrating fully on the Sabres and their youngsters. I really like Westcott and Tollefsen on defense though.

Expect to see at least 5-10 of the scratched players in the lineup for the return matchup on Sunday afternoon as the Sabres slowly get everyone involved in game action.

The puck drops at 5:00pm on Sunday in Columbus.

COLUMBUS 4, BUFFALO 1:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Hockey is Back!

2007-09-13T19:02:00.001-04:00

And so am I!

The Sabres started rolling into town today for their annual physicals and training camp officially starts tomorrow.

There are some spots up for grabs, especially up the middle with the much-discussed departures of the team's co-captains, #23 and #48. Expect guys like Clarke MacArthur and Daniel Paille to step up in camp and earn roster spots before the season begins.

There also may be room for sophomore pro Andrej Sekera now that it's been determined that veteran Teppo Numminen will require a third heart surgery in the weeks ahead. Barring a free agent signing (Danny Markov is available), Sekera and Michael Funk would likely be in the best position to earn the seventh defenseman slot, with Nathan Paetsch moving into the lineup as Numminen's replacement.

And yes, I'm back too.

I must admit I got a bit burnt out last year during the playoffs. I'm not a writer - I'm a fan of the Buffalo Sabres and to be honest, I wanted to just sit back and enjoy the playoffs, rather than grind out articles on why the team was losing.

It just hurt too much last spring.

Expect regular content in the days and weeks ahead as the team prepares for the coming season. I renewed my season tickets, of course, and will once again fork out the cash for Center Ice so I watch every game I don't see in person.

It looks like it will be another exciting year to be a Sabres fan. The much-talked about outdoor game in Ralph Wilson Stadium looks to be a go and will be officially announced on Monday next week. I certainly can't wait for that one!

Opening night against the Islanders should provide a raucous atmosphere, as the club will likely raise a couple fresh new banners at the arena that night:

2006/07 Northeast Division Champion
2006/07 President's Trophy Winner

Very cool.

Thanks to all the readers of Bleeding Blue and Gold for your patience while I've been away.

The Captains Are Gone

2007-07-01T20:52:00.000-04:00

The first day of free agency is in the books and with it come the losses of both Chris Drury and Daniel Briere.

Briere was the first to leave, signing an unbelievable 8 year, $52 million deal with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Drury signed about an hour ago with the New York Rangers, settling on a five year deal for a little over $35 million.

I suppose I could go off on Buffalo's refusal to renegotiate contracts during the season but what good is that going to do now. Plus, others have already done a fine job covering that issue over the past few weeks.

Darcy Regier is going to have to overpay to retain the services of a guy like Dainius Zubrus to center the third line, as Tim Connolly and Derek Roy (when he gets resigned) will likely man the top two pivot positions. Paul Gaustad just isn't a good enough offensive player to work in the #3 slot.

Perhaps the Sabres make a stab at former captain Michael Peca. I'm not sure.

What I do know is that the chemistry of this team has changed substantially over the past 8 hours and I don't like what I see so far. Veteran leadership is severely lacking and Regier will have to be working the phones with fervor if he is to nab one of the few remaining gems in free agency.

It's a sad day for Sabres fans.

The Dream Dies for Another Year; Offseason Begins in Earnest

2007-06-05T11:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess it just wasn't meant to be for the Buffalo Sabres in 2007.

The Ottawa Senators thoroughly dismantled the high-flying swordsmen in five games, with Daniel Alfredsson, ironically enough, notching the winner in overtime in Buffalo.

Bleeding Blue and Gold will have a 2006/07 Report Card up in the next couple weeks, with a player-by-player rundown of everyone in the organization.

The offseason has begun and saw two more prospects get signed: Marc-Andre Gragnani, a defenseman in the QMJHL and Phillipe Gogulla, a German left winger were both signed before the June 1st deadline. They both received three-year entry level deals and will both likely come to training camp in the Autumn.

Next on the Sabres agenda is getting general manager Darcy Regier and head coach Lindy Ruff resigned and I expect an announcement shortly in that regard.

We will also get into some draft discussion, a favourite topic here at Bleeding Blue and Gold headquarters.

How about this for a starting point for discussion...

What do you think about approaching the Chicago Blackhawks with an offer of Maxim Afinogenov and Dmitri Kalinin, along with Philly's second round pick for the first pick in this year's draft, along with Brent Seabrook or Duncan Keith.

That would enable the Sabres to pick the highly-touted Patrick Kane with the #1 pick, a Buffalo native and high scoring forward for the OHL's London Knights. The Sabres would then have enough cap space to go out and possibly keep Drury AND Briere...

Just food for thought.

I Still Believe...

2007-05-14T11:23:00.000-04:00

I'm back.

Where have I been for the last three weeks or so, you may ask?

Just being a fan, I guess. Things have been busy at work but that's just an excuse. I just haven't felt like writing lately. Our friends at BfloBlog and Sabre Rattling continue to do a great job following the team and I've been enjoying their daily contributions, which certainly rival anything put out by the Buffalo News.

And exceed any of the pessimistic drivel put forth by Bucky Gleason.

Well, my absence here has come to an end and with it, hopefully the Sabres can bust out of their slumber and make a series of it with the powerful Ottawa Senators.

I actually wasn't at the game on Saturday night, as I disappointingly had to sell my tickets in order to make a Mothers Day dinner commitment. I did watch the game at home on my PVR and just felt empty after Joe Corvo's shot from the point bounced in past Ryan Miller.

My first feeling was this: the hockey season is just too long - you invest so much in your team, watching them dominate the league for seven months only to have one bad week and see it all go to pot.

It's become a long shot but if there is anything I've learned through the last two glorious years watching this team, it's to never give up on them, as they never give up on themselves.

Just in this playoff alone, they've come back TWICE from deficits and tied games with less than ten seconds remaining. They won three games in Ottawa during the playoffs last year and there is no reason to believe they can't do it again.

I will say one thing - this Ottawa team is NOTHING like last year's version. The top line of Spezza, Heatley and Alfredsson has dominated the Sabres like no line this year, both in the regular season and here in the playoffs. Anton Volchenkov has elevated his game to star status on the strength of his performance in this series. Mike Fisher is Mike Peca in his prime and would look great on any team's roster.

But they can be beaten. Ray Emery, while solid, hasn't improved his tendency to give up big rebounds. Guys like Peter Schaffer and Mike Comrie haven't had much of an impact.

But everything else is clicking for the Sens right now, especially their special teams.

I will say this: if the Sabres don't start scoring with the man advantage, an achillies heel all season long after the departure of assistant coach Scott Arniel, the swordsmen don't have a chance to come back. Plain and simply, they need to win the special teams battle tonight if they have a shot at winning.

But I still believe. I'm with this team all the way, win or lose.

Let's go Buffalo!

Calls Continue to Go Buffalo's Way; Take Commanding Lead in Series

2007-04-18T23:54:00.000-04:00

Chris Drury scored two goals for the second time in four games and the Sabres got a huge assist from the video replay system in a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders in Uniondale on Wednesday night.

Buffalo now leads the series three games to one and can wrap things up at home on Friday night.

Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville scored singles for Buffalo. Ryan Miller made 24 saves to pick up the win.

Jason Blake and Mike Sillinger scored for the Islanders and Rick DiPietro turned aside 27 of 31 Buffalo shots.

For the second consecutive game, the home side came out very strong and this time, were able to capitalize first. With Thomas Vanek in the box, Blake finally was able to get the proverbial monkey off his back when he was able to convert a Tom Poti pass for his first of the playoffs and the 1-0 Islanders lead.

Vanek was essentially forced to take the penalty due to one of many blunders on the night by Dmitri Kalinin but he was able to make up for it shortly thereafter. Teppo Numminen threw a shot on goal that Vanek tipped but DiPietro made the save. However, the rebound came right back out into the slot and Vanek was able to knock it out of mid-air past the Islanders goaltender for his second goal in as many games to tie things at one.

Buffalo would take their first lead less than two minutes later. Great work by Dainius Zubrus along the backboards was rewarded when his pass through the crease found Drury. He fought off a check from Brendan Witt and poked it home for his third of the series and the 2-1 lead.

Numminen would take a pretty ugly boarding penalty late in the period, sending Blake crashing head-first into the boards. Can't really blame Teppo too much, as Blake was spinning around but it was definitely still a penalty and New York took advantage with another last minute goal.

The very quiet Viktor Kozlov made a nice pass in the slot to an unmarked Sillinger, who had evaded Pominville and stroked it home to knot things at two.

Shots favoured New York 12-11 after one but Buffalo would start the second period on the powerplay after Richard Park was called for interference at the 20:00 mark.

It didn't take long for Buffalo to take the lead back. Brian Campbell's point shot deflected off Daniel Briere in front of the net and kind of sat between an Isles defender's legs. Drury pounced on the puck and put it past the sprawled DiPietro for his second of the night and the 3-2 lead.

The Sabres controlled play for the most part in the period and DiPietro kept his team in the game despite the fact the Isles were outshot 15-7 in the middle frame.

Buffalo really tightened up their system in the third, rarely sending more than one player in. The Isles had nice puck pressure for most of the period and really had a dominating shift late in the game from the dormant Yashin/Satan/Kozlov line that looked like it resulted in a goal.

After a minute of dominating the Drury line, Yashin brought the puck out front and hacked away at it. Miller obviously had the puck under his legs but Witt, who was in the crease, pushed Miller into the net and the puck with him. The crowd went bananas but the referee waved the goal off immediately.

Toronto called down to say the play was under review and I must admit I thought it would eventually count. The puck was in the net before the whistle blew, that much is certain but the referee's ruling stood: NO GOAL!

Needless to say, the crowd didn't agree and for the second consecutive night, beer bottles rained down from the classy fans at Nassau Coliseum.

It's amazing that the Sabres have had big calls go their way for two consecutive games - we're just not used to being recipients of those types of breaks. However, in this case, it was correctly determined that the goaltender was pushed into the net by the opposition and rules 78.5 & 69.6 (I'm serious!) state that once a goaltender makes a save, they can't be pushed into the net after making the save.

Just to further drive a stake into the Islanders hearts, Pominville stripped an Isles defender of the puck and rifled a wrist shot past DiPietro to break his own mini-slump and give the Sabres the 4-2 win.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Dainius Zubrus-Chris Drury-Drew Stafford

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Maxim Afinogenov

Adam Mair-Tim Connolly-Ales Kotalik

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Jaroslav Spacek-Brian Campbell

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Ty Conklin (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

RW Andrew Peters; D Nathan Paetsch; LW Daniel Paille

INJURIES:

C Paul Gaustad (ankle)

NEW YORK ISLANDERS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Viktor Kozlov-Alexei Yashin-Miroslav Satan

Jason Blake-Randy Robitaille-Arron Asham

Ryan Smyth-Mike Sillinger-Trent Hunter

Richard Zednik-Andy Hilbert-Richard Park

DEFENSEMEN:

Brendan Witt-Sean Hill

Chris Campoli-Bruno Gervais

Tom Poti-Marc-Andre Bergeron

GOALTENDERS:

Rick DiPietro; Wade Dubielewicz (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

LW Chris Simon (suspended); G Mike Dunham

INJURIES:

G Rick DiPietro (concussion); D Joel Bouchard (hamstring); D Radek Martinek (broken leg); D Freddy Meyer (broken finger); C Shawn Bates (hernia)

THE GOOD -

When has Buffalo ever been this fortunate with breaks? I can't remember...

Captain Clutch comes through again. The poor guy can't beat Sillinger on a faceoff to save his life but he certainly keeps coming through with big goals, scoring his 13th career playoff winner. Zubrus and Stafford were great all night too. Gosh, Zubrus is pretty damn awesome, I must admit.

Miller made one of the more unbelievable saves I can ever remember in the first period on Kozlov...I still don't know how that stayed out of the net.

Lydman was a rock. EIGHT blocked shots!!!

DiPietro kept his team in the game once again. I certainly like his competitiveness.

THE BAD -

Kalinin had just a terrible first period. He lost the puck early in the first, something that's happened quite a bit recently with him, and that forced Vanek into the penalty that resulted in the first Islanders goal. He did play better as the game wore on but the inconsistency remains.

Maxim Afinogenov did absolutely nothing out there again and was a detriment to the team. Poor decision making, lost battles - he's unfortunately living down to his reputation as a non-performer in the playoffs.

I hope that last minute goal by Pominville wakes him up because he's also been a complete non-factor. It was a great goal and he earned it on that shift - hopefully he can build off it.

I wasn't a fan of Kotalik tonight either - he got pushed off the puck a lot tonight, something that rarely happens when he's motivated.

I thought Yashin was better tonight and he was reunited with Kozlov and Satan but those guys just aren't producing. Who decided that it was a good idea to give Yashin the captaincy? Goodness gracious...

This Sabres team is very fortunate to be heading home with a 3-1 series lead. They had the Robitaille trip from game three go their way and tonight, it was the no-goal review.

They will have everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them on Friday night and will need to come out strong on Friday night in front of the home crowd if they're to end the series in five.

Should be a good one and I'll be in attendance in the Bleeding Blue and Gold season seats in Section 321.

BUFFALO 4, NY ISLANDERS 2:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Buffalo Takes 2-1 Series Lead Over Isles

2007-04-18T01:43:00.000-04:00

The Buffalo Sabres got goals from Adam Mair, Thomas Vanek and Daniel Briere in a 3-2 victory over the hometown New York Islanders on Monday night. The Sabres lead the best of seven, Eastern Conference quarterfinal two games to one.

I had other important commitments on Monday which meant I had to tape the game instead of watching it live so I'll defer to my friends over at BfloBlog and Sabre Rattling for the recaps and analysis of the game.

I did fast forward through the game tonight but don't have much to add to the converation. I liked Miller's game, especially in the first two periods when the Isles held the majority of the play. He was very composed, especially in light of the head hunting that went on in the first.

I got a bit freaked out when Connolly took a huge hit along the boards but he got up and seemed no worse for wear. He's still getting his conditioning back but you can tell he's starting to get more comfortable by the game. I have a feeling he'll play a big part in whatever success the Sabres have this spring.

I'll be watching tomorrow night so I'll have comments and my normal recap up after the game.

DiPietro Stellar in Return as Isles Even Series

2007-04-15T14:13:00.000-04:00

Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro proved many of his detractors wrong in a spectacular performance against Buffalo, making 32 saves in a 3-2 win to even the Eastern Conference quarterfinal at one game apiece.

Trent Hunter, Bruno Gervais and Marc-Andre Bergeron scored for the Islanders. Defenseman Tom Poti picked up two assists for a multipoint game.

Toni Lydman and Dmitri Kalinin replied for the Sabres. Ryan Miller turned aside 27 shots in the loss.

It was apparent right from the get-go that this game would be a bit different than game one, as the visitors really took the play to the home team. They were rewarded early with the first goal, as a Mike Sillinger pass was redirected past Miller off Hunter's leg for the 1-0 lead.

New York would take a 2-0 lead a little over the halfway mark of the first period while the teams were playing four-on-four. Miroslav Satan cleanly won a faceoff against Daniel Briere and Gervais fired a shot that eluded Buffalo's Thomas Vanek and went past Miller.

Vanek would later get a great chance as he deked around a couple Islanders and went in all alone on DiPietro. Vanek's deke was perfect but the goaltender made an enormous save on Vanek's backhander to keep the Sabres off the scoresheet.

The Sabres were getting outshot by a wide margin at this point and finally crept to within one just after a powerplay ended. Vanek did a great job bringing the puck to the slot from the halfwall. With two players on his back, he shoveled a feed to Lydman just above the faceoff circles and his wrist shot went past the screened DiPietro to make the score 2-1.

The Sabres buzzed around the net until the horn sounded to give them a bit of momentum heading into the second. Shots after one favoured New York by a 16-10 margin.

Buffalo had a number of fantastic chances in the second period, many coming during five-on-five play but there were also a couple of decent powerplays. However, the Islanders and DiPietro especially were solid enough to keep the swordsmen off the board.

Buffalo outshot the Isles 14-7 in the middle frame.

It didn't take long for Buffalo to knot the score in the third. The Sabres had a flurry of chances in the Islander zone a little over two minutes in, with DiPietro making at least three stops in tight. Finally, Kalinin was able to poke the puck past the New York goaltender to make it 2-2 and bring the crowd to its feet.

Buffalo's momentum took a hit during consecutive penalties to Briere, for a blatant trip that almost took Richard Park's knee out and later to Max Afinogenov, who got nabbed for hooking. That call wasn't taken well by Sabres fans, as the victim Satan was holding Afinogenov's stickblade in his hand the whole time.

However, Max's stick shouldn't have been there in the first place.

The Isles would capitalize for the second time on the powerplay, as Bergeron's point blast went past Chris Drury and through Miller for the 3-2 lead.

Buffalo had numerous chances to tie the game, none better than Brian Campbell, who walked right in on DiPietro but seemed a bit undecided as far as where to go with the puck. He ended up deciding on the five-hole but the goaltender closed his pads on it, much to Campbell's frustration. He fumed all the way to the Sabres bench.

Buffalo had one last flurry with about twenty seconds remaining but couldn't put the puck past DiPietro, tying the series at one as the team's head to Long Island for games three and four.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Ales Kotalik-Chris Drury-Dainius Zubrus

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Maxim Afinogenov

Adam Mair-Tim Connolly-Drew Stafford

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Jaroslav Spacek-Brian Campbell

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Ty Conklin (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

RW Andrew Peters; D Nathan Paetsch; LW Daniel Paille

INJURIES:

C Paul Gaustad (ankle)

NEW YORK ISLANDERS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Viktor Kozlov-Alexei Yashin-Miroslav Satan

Jason Blake-Randy Robitaille-Arron Asham

Ryan Smyth-Mike Sillinger-Trent Hunter

Richard Zednik-Andy Hilbert-Richard Park

DEFENSEMEN:

Brendan Witt-Sean Hill

Chris Campoli-Bruno Gervais

Tom Poti-Marc-Andre Bergeron

GOALTENDERS:

Rick DiPietro; Wade Dubielewicz (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

LW Chris Simon (suspended); G Mike Dunham

INJURIES:

D Joel Bouchard (hamstring); D Radek Martinek (broken leg); D Freddy Meyer (broken finger); C Shawn Bates (hernia)

THE GOOD -

It all begins with Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro. I'll freely admit that I didn't think he'd be up to speed after missing the last few weeks with the concussion. He looked a bit rusty early but settled down and made a number of superlative stops, especially the ones on Vanek and Campbell. He was a rock.

Zubrus continues to play at a very high level and is quickly becoming a fan favourite.

I really liked Vanek's determination out there. His work ethic is at an all-time high and he will soon get on the scoreboard if he keeps it up.

Stafford played with a lot of heart and was rewarded with a promotion to the Drury line.

Bergeron continues to play at a high level for New York and hasn't hurt them defensively yet.

THE BAD -

The Sabres didn't match the intensity of the Islanders early and it cost them big time. This is the playoffs boys!

Roy is such an enigma out there. His line was easily the best of the night but he ruined a few great shifts with boneheaded giveaways. I can't believe he was only credited officially with one giveaway...he can thank the scorekeepers on that one.

The Sabres inexplicably won over 50% of the draws but EVERY SINGLE BIG DRAW was lost. I couldn't BELIEVE when I saw the final tally there. Every time they needed a win, they'd fail - Drury especially had a rough night but Briere losing to Satan on the second goal was a killer.

Where is Daniel Briere? He's got two helpers in the series but he's been a complete non-factor, shying away from contact and playing like he's really injured. That line is literally losing every battle on the boards, very much unlike them, especially with Hecht on the line. They have to be better - bigtime.

Plain and simple, Ryan Miller has to be better. I'm not saying he was bad but he got outplayed by the opposing keeper in this contest and that was the difference.

Well, we officially have a series here.

I'm not going to get too upset though. Buffalo was the better team for the last two periods but they'll have to do a better job with their dump-ins to foil DiPietro, who along with Martin Brodeur is the top puckhandler amongst goaltenders in the entire league.

It will also be important to get more traffic in front of the keeper to get him off his game.

Game three goes Monday night in Long Island.

NY ISLANDERS 3, BUFFALO 2:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Ooh, Ah...Sabres on the Warpath; Win Game One

2007-04-13T00:21:00.000-04:00

The Buffalo Sabres played almost a flawless playoff opener, stifling the Islander offense in a convincing 4-1 victory on Thursday night at HSBC Arena.

Brian Campbell and Chris Drury both scored twice for Buffalo and Ryan Miller turned aside 20 of 21 shots for the win. Campbell (2g 1a), Dainius Zubrus (3a) and Drury (2g) notched multipoint games.

Arron Asham scored the only goal for New York. Wade Dubielewicz made 31 saves in the loss and did a good job keeping the Islanders in the game through the first two periods.

The crowd was amped but it wasn't to the degree that it was to start the playoffs last year against Philadelphia. Perhaps playing a team where there isn't a recent rivalry is part of the problem but it took a bit longer to break out the "Let's Go Buffalo" chant (with about 9 minutes to puck drop) than last year.

Buffalo controlled play for the most part early and got on the board first about nine minutes in.

Adam Mair absorbed a hit and was able to shovel the puck to Tim Connolly in the neutral zone. The slick center, making his 2006/07 home debut, turned on the jets and stormed into the Islander zone. His great vision enabled him to spot Campbell, who was joining the rush late and his one-time slapper found the bottom corner of the net to give the Sabres the 1-0 lead.

The period would end that way, with the Sabres holding the Islanders to a single shot while taking 11 of their own.

New York tied the game a little over six minutes into the second period. Buffalo was coming off a fantastic shift from the Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek and Max Afinogenov line but Roy got caught taking too long of a shift. He gave the puck away in the Islander zone and they took off on a two-on-one. With Roy desperately trying to catch up, Jason Blake's pass eluded an outstretched Teppo Numminen and Asham one-timed a shot past Miller to make it 1-1.

Buffalo would respond about four minutes later on the powerplay, which was humming all night. Campbell took a Zubrus pass from the half wall and tried a hard pass to Daniel Briere in front of the net. I believe it hit an Islander defenseman and kind of sat there in the slot, where Drury was able to pounce on it and shovel it into the open cage for the 2-1 lead.

Buffalo held a commanding 22-10 lead in shots through two periods.

The Sabres started the third with the man advantage after a late second period holding penalty to Randy Robitaille. They wouldn't convert officially but scored only four seconds after Robitaille left the box.

Zubrus got the puck on the right wall and fed an absolutely GORGEOUS cross-ice pass to Drury. He one-timed the hard pass right past Dubielewicz for his second of the night to bring the crowd to its feet.

The Sabres did a great job killing off a couple penalties in the middle of the period and would once again get a man advantage of their own around the 15 minute mark.

The swordsmen would strike again. Briere fed a pass back to Campbell at the point and his howitzer eluded the screened Islander goaltender for his second of the contest to put the game out of reach.

The Isles got a bit fiesty at the end of the game but it was too little, too late as the Sabres took a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Ales Kotalik-Chris Drury-Dainius Zubrus

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Maxim Afinogenov

Adam Mair-Tim Connolly-Drew Stafford

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Jaroslav Spacek-Brian Campbell

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Ty Conklin (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

RW Andrew Peters; D Nathan Paetsch; LW Daniel Paille

INJURIES:

C Paul Gaustad (ankle)

NEW YORK ISLANDERS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Viktor Kozlov-Alexei Yashin-Miroslav Satan

Jason Blake-Randy Robitaille-Arron Asham

Ryan Smyth-Mike Sillinger-Trent Hunter

Richard Zednik-Andy Hilbert-Richard Park

DEFENSEMEN:

Brendan Witt-Sean Hill

Chris Campoli-Bruno Gervais

Tom Poti-Marc-Andre Bergeron

GOALTENDERS:

Wade Dubielewicz; Mike Dunham (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

LW Chris Simon (suspended)

INJURIES:

G Rick DiPietro (concussion); D Joel Bouchard (hamstring); D Radek Martinek (broken leg); D Freddy Meyer (broken finger); C Shawn Bates (hernia)

THE GOOD -

Really nice defensive effort from the team. They showed a lot of patience and didn't press when the Isles were checking tight.

The special teams, always a huge key in the playoffs, were superlative on both sides. The calming effect Connolly brings to the powerplay was quite evident.

Geez, was Zubrus UNBELIEVABLE or what?!? Just a hoss on the puck and his strength along the boards is incredible.

I liked Vanek and Afinogenov out there tonight as they caused a lot of havoc out there, even if they didn't hit the scoresheet.

Campbell bounced back from a few bad giveaways early to have a solid game. Tallinder and Lydman were both fantastic.

Miller wasn't tested much but was great positionally and looked extremely focused.

I thought Dubielewicz played a sound game after looking a bit shaky early in the contest.

THE BAD -

I don't have much. I didn't like Briere's game tonight and he's really been off lately. He shied away from contact on numerous occasions but his linemates both played well.

Roy's giveaway was not one of his finer moments. He played pretty well otherwise.

Miro Satan was non-existent out there. Yashin wasn't much better.

A really solid start to the playoffs for the business-like Sabres. They may have to face Rick DiPietro when the teams eventually return to the Island for game three, as he's been cleared to play by team doctors.

I think it may end up hurting the team in the process, however, as Dubie wasn't the reason the team lost tonight.

Game two is at the HSBC Arena on Saturday night, with puck drop at 7:38pm. Once again, I'll be there and I plan on bringing my camera that night. Hopefully, I can take a bunch of shots all over the arena to give you a bit of the playoff atmosphere on your computer screen.

BUFFALO 4, NY ISLANDERS 1:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

The Winner

2007-04-10T12:25:00.000-04:00

Sports Illustrated isn't exactly known for its love of hockey but they have put together one of the most thorough and entertaining articles I've ever read on the sport.

Oh yeah...it's about the Sabres' own Chris Drury!

Grab a soda and get comfortable, as the article is TEN PAGES long! Check it out right here.

Just great stuff.

Connolly Possibly a Go This Afternoon!

2007-04-07T12:05:00.000-04:00

I'm going to abstain from my usual, long-winded preview today.

There is only one thing I'm interested in today and that is the very possible and long-awaited return of center Tim Connolly.

This kid was turning into a superstar before our own eyes near the end of the regular season in 2006 and elevated his game further in the playoffs, almost singlehandedly carrying the team to victory in Game One versus the Senators.

Everything was taken away from him again after taking a huge hit from Peter Schaefer and suffering another devastating concussion.

He battled all the way back only to suffer a stress fracture below his knee when trying to regain his conditioning, knocking him out another six weeks.

Now, he's finally ready.

After going through 'battle drills' in practice yesterday, coach Lindy Ruff said the team would confer this morning to determine whether or not to put Connolly in the lineup. It would mean sending Drew Stafford down to the minors for the last two regular season games in order to stay below the league-imposed salary cap and rumours abound that the Sabres have in fact done that.

Expect to see the slick centerman play a few shifts on the fourth line and get the opportunity to quarterback the powerplay. I won't be surprised if Ruff puts him out on the penalty kill as well.

I haven't been this excited all year!

Oh yeah, if any Washington player even THINKS about hitting Connolly, I'm driving all the way down to DC to take care of business myself!

Vanek Continues to Shine in 4-2 Win over Bruins

2007-04-07T11:01:00.000-04:00

Sabres winger Thomas Vanek is getting hot just in time for the postseason.

Vanek scored twice and assisted on another in Buffalo's 4-2 win over Boston on Thursday night in the team's final home game of the regular season.

Ales Kotalik and Derek Roy scored the other Buffalo goals. Roy (1g 1a) joined Vanek with a multipoint game. Ryan Miller made 20 saves to earn his franchise-record 39th victory on the season.

The Bruins came out the hungrier team and would take the lead about four minutes in on Maxim Afinogenov's first shift.

Four Sabres got caught deep in Boston's zone as the Bruins broke out on a two-on-one. Phil Kessel took the puck to the net and was stopped by Miller but the puck sat in the crease for the trailer, defenseman Andrew Ference, who swatted it home for his 3rd of the year and the 1-0 lead.

Boston would strike again on the powerplay about ten minutes later. A Patrice Bergeron one-timer from the left circle got past Miller but the referees waived the goal off, saying it hit the crossbar and bounced out. The league reviewed the play and rightfully determined that the puck indeed did go in, giving Bergeron 22 goals and Boston a 2-0 lead.

Buffalo started to skate and check with a little more authority after that goal and would get to within one only 21 seconds later. Ales Kotalik took a Dainius Zubrus pass and caught goaltender Hannu Toivonen sleeping with a harmless wrister, giving Big Al 16 goals on the year.

The Sabres would tie the game before the period ended on one of Vanek's patented wraparounds. He took a puck that was heading behind the net to the right and brought it back the other way, stuffing it in past Toivonen for his team-leading 41st of the year and the 2-2 tie.

Shots after one favoured Boston 12-8.

The second period was a cautious affair, as Buffalo tightened things up a bit defensively. Toivonen and Miller both made great stops in the period, none better than Miller's absolute robbery of a Ference chance right on the doorstep.

In the end, the period produced no goals and Boston continued to hold a slight 17-16 advantage in shots.

You could see the momentum shifting late in the second and that continued into the third period.

Buffalo would take their first lead of the game about four minutes into the third. They were at the end of a penalty kill when Roy sprung Vanek along the side boards. The young Austrian used a burst of speed to get position on Bruins defenseman Dennis Wideman (a former Sabres prospect) as he sped into the zone. Vanek faked a slapper, used his body as a shield then deked goaltender Toivonen before depositing the puck between his legs.

Just another astounding goal from this star in the making.

Toivonen continued to hold his team in the game while the Sabres came at him in droves. The swordsmen would get rewarded again late in the game on a powerplay.

The returning Afinogenov, who displayed his remarkable stickhandling and speed all night, made a gorgeous cross-ice feed to Vanek, who was all alone in front of Toivonen. Instead of putting the puck in himself for his first career hattrick, he waited for the goaltender to commit then passed up the chance to Roy, who had the wide open net for his 19th of the year and the 4-2 lead.

Now THAT is unselfish!

Another two goal deficit washed away, the tenth time the team has come back from two goals down this season.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Ales Kotalik-Chris Drury-Dainius Zubrus

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Drew Stafford

Daniel Paille-Adam Mair-Maxim Afinogenov

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Jaroslav Spacek-Brian Campbell

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Ty Conklin (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

RW Andrew Peters; C Clarke MacArthur; D Nathan Paetsch

INJURIES:

C Paul Gaustad (ankle); C Tim Connolly: (stress fracture)

BOSTON BRUINS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Marco Sturm-Marc Savard-Patrice Bergeron

Petr Tenkrat-Phil Kessel-Brandon Bochenski

Stanislav Chistov-Jeremy Reich-Shean Donovan

Petr Kalus-Jeff Hoggan

DEFENSEMEN:

Zdeno Chara-Dennis Wideman

Andrew Ference-Aaron Ward

Andrew Alberts-Bobby Allen

Jason York

GOALTENDERS:

Hannu Toivonen; Tim Thomas (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

RW Chuck Kobasew; RW Mark Mowers; G Joey MacDonald

INJURIES:

RW Glen Murray (groin); C Alex Zhamnov (ankle); P.J. Axelsson (broken wrist)

THE GOOD -

What more needs to be said about Vanek? He just flat-out dominated every shift he was on the ice. I just pray he brings this intensity to the playoffs.

I thought Miller was very solid. He stopped a couple breaks during in the first couple periods but the defense stiffened in front of him in the third.

Alright...Zubrus has finally won me over. He's practically impossible to take the puck off along the boards and he has shown some nice creativity with Kotalik and Drury. I still would like to see him shoot more.

The fourth line of Mair/Paille/Afinogenov/Stafford was buzzing around all night. Lots of energy. Now, if we could just buy poor Paille a set of hands for the playoffs...

Dmitri Kalinin has really cleaned things up over the past ten games or so and has been the team's best defenseman. That really bodes well for the postseason.

On the other side, there wasn't much to cheer for other than Toivonen, who was very solid outside the Kotalik goal.

I talk about it when it's bad so it's only fair to talk about it when it is good: the refereeing was solid. They may have called TOO MUCH but they didn't have the whistles in their pocket like other recent games.

THE BAD -

The team was very sloppy to start the contest. They will need to start quicker in the playoffs. You can't continue to come back from two-goal deficits every game.

Briere wasn't his usual self in this game.

Teppo continues to look like he's lost a step. It would be nice to get him a day off on Sunday against Philly to recharge his batteries.

The Bruins have just mailed it in. There was no urgency or physicality from them all night.

Another nice comeback and yet another game where we see growth from the Austrian beast.

Buffalo has locked up home ice in the conference and will now set their sites on the President's Trophy, which is theirs with one win in the last two.

BUFFALO 4, BOSTON 2:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Gameday Preview: Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres

2007-04-05T13:58:00.000-04:00

SEASON SERIES: Buffalo leads 5-0-2
2005-2006 SEASON SERIES: Buffalo went 7-1-0
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Buffalo is 97-102-31 (59-40-16 in Buffalo)

LAST GAME: February 17, 2007 in Buffalo

Boston’s Petr Tenkrat scored the only shootout goal and goaltender Tim Thomas stopped eight Buffalo attempts in a 4-3 shootout win over the Sabres. Marco Sturm, Shean Donovan and Marc Savard scored for the winners while Drew Stafford, Chris Drury and Daniel Briere replied for Buffalo.

Buffalo Sabres –

OVERALL RECORD: 51-21-7 109 pts
STANDINGS: 1st Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 7-2-1
GOALS FOR: 299 (1st)
GOALS AGAINST: 236 (13th)
POWERPLAY: 17.6% (T-14th)
PENALTY KILLING: 81.1% (21st)
GOAL LEADERS: Thomas Vanek - 40; Chris Drury – 37; Jason Pominville - 33
ASSIST LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 63; Brian Campbell & Derek Roy - 41
POINT LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 95; Thomas Vanek - 79; Chris Drury & Jason Pominville - 67
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Thomas Vanek +42; Derek Roy +32; Brian Campbell +26
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Adam Mair – 126; Andrew Peters – 125; Paul Gaustad - 74
GOALTENDERS: Ryan Miller 38-16-6 2.79gaa .910sp; Ty Conklin 3-4-2 3.27gaa .879sp
INJURIES: Paul Gaustad (severed tendon) is Out; Tim Connolly (stress fracture) is Doubtful; Clarke MacArthur (illness) is Questionable; Maxim Afinogenov (broken wrist) is Probable; Thomas Vanek (back spasms) is Probable;

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#55 Jochen Hecht - #48 Daniel Briere - #29 Jason Pominville

#12 Ales Kotalik - #23 Chris Drury - #15 Dainius Zubrus

#26 Thomas Vanek - #9 Derek Roy - #21 Drew Stafford

#20 Daniel Paille - #22 Adam Mair - #61 Maxim Afinogenov

DEFENSE

#10 Henrik Tallinder - #5 Toni Lydman

#45 Dmitri Kalinin - #27 Teppo Numminen

#51 Brian Campbell - #6 Jaroslav Spacek

GOAL

#30 Ryan Miller

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#35 Ty Conklin; RW#76 Andrew Peters; D#38 Nathan Paetsch; C#41 Clarke MacArthur; C#19 Tim Connolly (IR); C#28 Paul Gaustad (IR)

Boston Bruins –

OVERALL RECORD: 35-39-6 76 pts
STANDINGS: 13th Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 1-8-1
GOALS FOR: 214 (23rd)
GOALS AGAINST: 279 (28th)
POWERPLAY: 17.2% (T-19th)
PENALTY KILLING: 81.7% (18th)
GOAL LEADERS: Glen Murray - 28; Marco Sturm – 26; Marc Savard - 22
ASSIST LEADERS: Marc Savard - 71; Patrice Bergeron – 46; Zdeno Chara - 31
POINT LEADERS: Marc Savard - 93; Patrice Bergeron - 67; Glen Murray - 45
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Andrew Ference & Mark Stuart +7; Brandon Bochenski +3
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Andrew Alberts – 122; Zdeno Chara – 98; Andrew Ference - 97
GOALTENDERS: Tim Thomas 30-28-4 3.09gaa .906sp; Hannu Toivonen 3-8-1 4.24gaa .874sp
INJURIES: Glen Murray (groin) is Out; P.J. Axelsson (broken wrist) is Out; Alex Zhamnov (ankle) is Out; Chuck Kobasew (concussion) is Questionable

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#16 Marco Sturm - #91 Marc Savard - #37 Patrice Bergeron

#17 Petr Tenkrat - #81 Phil Kessel - #10 Brandon Bochenski

#22 Shean Donovan - #47 Petr Kalus - #18 Mark Mowers

#13 Stanislav Chistov - #53 Jeremy Reich - #32 Jeff Hoggan

DEFENSE

#33 Zdeno Chara - #6 Dennis Wideman

#38 Bobby Allen - #41 Andrew Alberts

#21 Andrew Ference - #44 Aaron Ward

GOAL

#54 Hannu Toivonen

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#30 Tim Thomas; RW#12 Chuck Kobasew; D#25 Jason York; G#31 Joey MacDonald; RW#27 Glen Murray; C Alexei Zhamnov; LW#11 P.J. Axelsson

The Buffalo Sabres will welcome back slick winger Maxim Afinogenov to the lineup as they host the Boston Bruins in the last regular season home game of the year.

Tim Connolly will likely not dress tonight but there is a good chance he'll make his long-awaited 2006/07 debut on the weekend.

The Bruins are just riding out the rest of the year, having gone 1-8-1 in their last ten games. They will start the ineffective Hannu Toivonen again tonight in sort of a dress rehearsal for next season.

Expect a solid game from the Sabres in front of a partisan and raucous home crowd before the holidays.

Sabres Unleash Vaunted Offense in Stunning Comeback Victory

2007-03-24T14:37:00.000-04:00

You wouldn't have believed it unless you saw it with your own two eyes.

The desperate Toronto Maple Leafs were playing an absolutely perfect road game. They were dominating on the scoreboard and on the ice in every imaginable way. Their physical play was superb and they were outhustling a faster Sabres club throughout the first 45 minutes of the game.

Someone then decided to turn the Sabres offensive switch to the 'On' position and the game did a complete '180'.

The effects were stunning. Four unanswered goals by the Sabres in a 8:45 span midway through the third period vaulted the Sabres from a 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 victory, damaging Toronto's playoff aspirations for this season.

Thomas Vanek scored twice for Buffalo and was sensational all night, as he also setup Drew Stafford's winning goal with less than six minutes remaining. Daniel Briere and Jason Pominville scored the other Sabres goals. Vanek (2g 1a), Pominville (1g 2a), Briere (1g 1a) and Derek Roy (2a) notched multipoint games. Ryan Miller was phenomenal for a guy who let in four goals, singlehandedly keeping the Sabres in the game in the first period and making a spectacular stop late in the game on Mats Sundin to keep his club in the lead. He made 40 saves in the contest.

Boyd Devereaux scored two goals for Toronto, with Bryan McCabe and Matt Stajan scoring singles. Devereaux (2g) and Stajan (1g 1a) had multipoint efforts for Toronto. Andrew Raycroft didn't get much help from his porous defense late in the onslaught but couldn't make the big save his team needed at the end. He made 29 saves in the game.

There was a HUGE contingent of Leafs fans in the arena, probably more than I've ever seen in all my years going to games in Buffalo. It made for a wonderful atmosphere. They were quieted early when Buffalo got on the board first.

With Alex Ponikarovsky in the box for hooking, Vanek was able to deflect a Dmitri Kalinin shot past Raycroft for his 36th goal of the year and the 1-0 lead.

Toronto came back in waves at the Sabres, physically dominating on the boards and statistically on the shot clock. Ryan Miller was forced to stop a couple breaks, including one on Stajan to keep the swordsmen in front.

But even Miller's heroics weren't enough when the Buds got a two-man advantage after a marginal hooking call to Dainius Zubrus. McCabe took a soft pass from the returning Tomas Kaberle and rifled his trademark howitzer past Miller for his 12th of the year to tie things at one.

Buffalo couldn't be more fortunate to be in a tie game after the first, as the Leafs outshot them by an incredible 21-9. Sometimes, the amount of shots aren't indicative of how a team is controlling play - in this case, it was spot on. The Leafs deserved a better fate.

Toronto's dominance continued into the second and they would strike a little over four minutes into the second to take the lead. Good work down low by Alex Steen enabled him to find Stajan through a couple Sabres defenders. Parked just outside the crease, Stajan deftly tipped Steen's pass into the net past Miller for his 10th of the year and his 2nd in 32 games to give the Leafs a 2-1 advantage.

The rest of the period saw mostly neutral zone play and tighter defense. The ice looked to be in bad shape and Buffalo just couldn't get one bounce to go their way. Tape-to-tape passes saw the puck jump off sticks and it was simply tough to watch for Sabres fans.

Shots after two favoured the Leafs by a large margin, 29-15.

The Sabres came out with a GREAT shift to start the third and it looked like momentum might be changing. However, an absolutely boneheaded giveaway by Brian Campbell allowed the Leafs to storm into the zone 2-on-1. Stajan found Devereaux in the slot and he wired the puck past Miller for the 3-1 lead.

Put on those goat horns, Soupy.

If that wasn't bad enough, Devereaux would strike again on his next shift. A bit of a lazy play from Kalinin behind the net saw the puck get past him and over to Campbell on the other side. He attempted to fire it back around the net but it hit the referee and bounced right in front to Devereaux, who waited for Miller to go down before depositing it into the top of the net for his second of the night and 6th of the year.

Needless to say, Leafs fans were jubilant.

The tide was about to change.

Pavel Kubina got nailed for tripping and after a prolonged shift inside the Leafs zone, Buffalo would capitalize. Vanek took the puck just outside the zone, blazed in and wired a slapshot just inside the post for his second of the game and 37th of the year. No celebration at all from Vanek, who was ALL business on this night.

It's almost like he decided to take the team on his back and carry them to victory himself. On his next shift, he showed that he DOES in fact have great speed, as he stormed past a couple Leafs defenders, put his sick stick move on Ian White and forced the defenseman to haul him down, drawing a penalty.

The momentum was changing quickly.

Buffalo didn't score on the powerplay but pulled to within one just after White came out of the box. A Campbell point shot was redirected on the way to Raycroft and after getting three hacks at the rebound, Briere was finally able to swat it home for his 31st of the year to make the score 4-3.

Buffalo would tie the game four minutes later. After a bit of a scramble in the neutral zone, Briere found Pominville streaking up the middle of the ice. He easily skated past White and Hal Gill and stormed in on Raycroft, firing a perfect wrist shot into the top of the net for his 32nd of the year.

The now delirious Sabres fans weren't even seated when the Sabres took the lead in stunning fashion. The possessed Vanek took off with the puck down the left flank on a 3-on-2. He stopped and fed a perfect, cross-ice pass right onto Stafford's stick and all he had to do was redirect it past the beleaguered Raycroft for his 12th of the year and the 5-4 lead.

Wow.

Buffalo continued to swarm and easily could have had two more goals. Zubrus especially was stung all night by the puck jumping off his stick at inopportune moments.

Late in the game, the Leafs pulled the goaltender and had a number of chances to tie. Zubrus made an incredible sacrifice to block one point shot and Miller made an enormous stop on Sundin with only seconds remaining to send the Leaf faithful home in tears.

One of the most incredible collapses/comebacks I've ever witnessed in person. Buffalo really had no right to leave with two points but that's hockey for you.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Michael Ryan-Chris Drury-Dainius Zubrus

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Drew Stafford

Adam Mair-Clarke MacArthur-Andrew Peters

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Brian Campbell

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Jaroslav Spacek-Nathan Paetsch

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Ty Conklin (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

None

INJURIES:

D Toni Lydman (upper body); C Paul Gaustad (ankle); RW Maxim Afinogenov (wrist); LW Daniel Paille (broken finger); RW Ales Kotalik (MCL Sprain); RW Andrew Peters (upper body); C Tim Connolly: Long-term IR (post-concussion syndrome)

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Alex Ponikarovsky-Mats Sundin-Nik Antropov

Chad Kilger-Kyle Wellwood-Darcy Tucker

Boyd Devereaux-Matt Stajan-Alex Steen

Bates Battaglia-Yanic Perreault-Jeff O'Neill

DEFENSEMEN:

Bryan McCabe-Ian White

Tomas Kaberle-Pavel Kubina

Carlo Colaiacovo-Hal Gill

GOALTENDERS:

Andrew Raycroft; J.S. Aubin (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

D Wade Belak; D Andy Wozniewski; W John Pohl; C Travis Green

INJURIES:

C Michael Peca (leg); C Kris Newbury (concussion)

THE GOOD -

One of the most fantastic comebacks I've witnessed in quite some time. The offense is truly spectacular at its best.

Vanek was a man possessed tonight. Probably one of his best games ever and maybe one of those games that people will look back on in time as the game where he started to show leadership ability. The rush he made to draw the penalty in the third period took my breath away. He showed Afinogenov-like speed on that rush and you could see everyone coming out of their seat to watch him. Just a great performance by Vanek.

Ryan Miller was about as sensational as you can be for a guy who let in four. His stellar play in the first was the only reason the team didn't give up eight on the night.

The Briere/Hecht/Pominville line played with determination in the second half of the game. Derek Roy was also very good on the night.

The Leafs gameplan was excellent. They truly feel that they can dominate the Sabres physically and have said as much in the press, which perhaps isn't the smartest thing to do. However, they prove what they say on the ice - you could see the Sabres defensemen were hesitating when collecting pucks in their zone. They KNEW they were going to get hit, and hit hard. It effected their performance.

For a guy who was supposedly slumping badly, Matt Stajan was tremendous. Easily the best player on the Leafs side last night. Steen and Devereaux were excellent too.

Zubrus giving up his body at the end of the game on a HUGE shotblock. He's quite the enigma thus far in his Sabres tenure. The puck follows this guy around all night and he's VERY noticeable throughout the game. However, he's still gripping the stick tight as evidenced by the puck constantly getting away from him. Still, the effort is there and he's bringing a lot more physicality than I expected.

THE BAD -

The first 45 minutes were tough to watch. Buffalo, for a team with superior speed, were allowing the Leafs to take the play to them all night.

The defense had a very rough night. Campbell and Paetsch especially were guilty of bad turnovers and not locking up their men in the crease.

Chris Drury continues to struggle since his return. Mike Ryan skates like the wind but he's very weak on the puck and never wins a battle on the boards. Sometimes, plus/minus stats don't tell the whole story but his game-worst -3 last night was indicative of his performance. He needs to be better.

The refereeing was absolutely atrocious last night. The calls they made weren't bad but they missed a number of calls on both sides, including a couple of plays that should have sent the Leafs to the powerplay. They also missed at least two BLATANT offsides during the game. Inexcusable.

Raycroft can't really be blamed for the result but the guy just doesn't seem capable of making the one, big save when it's needed. That being said, the Leafs defense was softer than butter in the third and looked very slow when Buffalo finally turned on the jets.

The big guns on the Leafs at forward (Sundin, Tucker, Ponikarovsky) were completely ineffective last night. Not what a team desperate for a playoff spot needs.

Well, what can you say that hasn't been said ad nauseum. This team is scary when they get rolling.

They had no right to earn two points and the Leafs must be shaking their heads. How can they come away from a game that they dominate and not even pick up a single point? Crazy game, hockey is...

Both teams are back at it tonight in Toronto. I'll be watching Hockey Night in Canada in high-def goodness. Can't wait!

BUFFALO 5, TORONTO 4:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Home-and-Home Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Buffalo Sabres

2007-03-23T13:52:00.001-04:00

SEASON SERIES: Buffalo leads 4-2-0
2005-2006 SEASON SERIES: Buffalo went 6-1-1
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Buffalo is 80-52-18 (48-22-6 in Buffalo)

LAST GAME: March 3, 2007 in Toronto

The Sabres beat the Leafs despite missing eight regulars due to injury, including Daniel Briere, who came down with the flu before the game. Toni Lydman, Drew Stafford and Nathan Paetsch scored for the Sabres while Nik Antropov scored the only Toronto marker. Ryan Miller turned aside 26 shots for the victory.

Buffalo Sabres –

OVERALL RECORD: 47-19-7 101 pts
STANDINGS: 1st Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 5-3-2
GOALS FOR: 276 (1st)
GOALS AGAINST: 216 (13th)
POWERPLAY: 17.5% (T-15th)
PENALTY KILLING: 81.0% (22nd)
GOAL LEADERS: Chris Drury and Thomas Vanek - 35; Jason Pominville - 31
ASSIST LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 57; Brian Campbell - 40; Derek Roy - 37
POINT LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 87; Thomas Vanek - 71; Chris Drury - 67
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Thomas Vanek +40; Derek Roy +30; Brian Campbell +26
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Andrew Peters - 125; Adam Mair - 122; Paul Gaustad - 74
GOALTENDERS: Ryan Miller 34-15-6 2.74gaa .911sp; Ty Conklin 3-3-2 3.30gaa .883sp
INJURIES: Tim Connolly (post-concussion syndrome) is Out; Paul Gaustad (severed tendon) is Out; Maxim Afinogenov (broken wrist) is Out; Toni Lydman (upper body) is Out; Ales Kotalik (MCL tear) is Out; Daniel Paille (broken finger) is Out;

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#55 Jochen Hecht - #48 Daniel Briere - #29 Jason Pominville

#26 Thomas Vanek - #9 Derek Roy - #21 Drew Stafford

#37 Michael Ryan - #15 Dainius Zubrus - #22 Adam Mair

#76 Andrew Peters - #41 Clarke MacArthur - #36 Patrick Kaleta

DEFENSE

#10 Henrik Tallinder - #5 Toni Lydman

#45 Dmitri Kalinin - #27 Teppo Numminen

#51 Brian Campbell - #38 Nathan Paetsch

GOAL

#30 Ryan Miller

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#35 Ty Conklin; RW#61 Maxim Afinogenov; D#6 Jaroslav Spacek; RW#12 Ales Kotalik; LW#20 Daniel Paille; C#23 Chris Drury; C#19 Tim Connolly (IR); C#28 Paul Gaustad (IR)

Toronto Maple Leafs –

OVERALL RECORD: 35-28-10 80 pts
STANDINGS: 11th Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 5-4-1
GOALS FOR: 224 (12th)
GOALS AGAINST: 236 (25th)
POWERPLAY: 17.5% (T-15th)
PENALTY KILLING: 78.8% (27th)
GOAL LEADERS: Mats Sundin - 27; Darcy Tucker – 22; Two Tied with 20
ASSIST LEADERS: Tomas Kaberle and Mats Sundin - 40; Bryan McCabe - 39
POINT LEADERS: Mats Sundin - 67; Bryan McCabe - 50; Tomas Kaberle - 49
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Nik Antropov, Bates Battaglia and Alex Ponikarovsky +9
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Wade Belak – 110; Bryan McCabe - 107; Hal Gill - 83
GOALTENDERS: Andrew Raycroft 33-22-8 2.93gaa .896sp; J.S. Aubin 2-5-2 3.42gaa .882sp
INJURIES: Tomas Kaberle (concussion) is Questionable; Kris Newbury (concussion) is Out; Michael Peca (leg) is Out; John Pohl (back) is Probable

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#23 Alex Ponikarovsky - #13 Mats Sundin - #80 Nik Antropov

#33 Bates Battaglia - #42 Kyle Wellwood - #16 Darcy Tucker

#22 Boyd Devereaux - #14 Matt Stajan - #10 Alex Steen

#18 Chad Kilger - #94 Yanic Perreault - #92 Jeff O'Neill

DEFENSE

#15 Tomas Kaberle - #24 Bryan McCabe

#31 Pavel Kubina - #7 Ian White

#8 Carlo Colaiacovo - #25 Hal Gill

GOAL

#1 Andrew Raycroft

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#30 J.S. Aubin; D#3 Wade Belak; C#39 Travis Green; D#56 Andy Wozniewski; C#21 John Pohl; C#27 Michael Peca; C#54 Kris Newbury

The desperate Toronto Maple Leafs come to town in a bid to move back into post-season contention.

The Leafs are coming off a spirited 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils and will welcome back their top defenseman, Tomas Kaberle, for tonight's contest.

Kaberle missed a number of games after taking a cheap shot from Devils goon Cam Janssen. He suffered a concussion and tweaked his neck after crashing into the boards but will be back in uniform tonight. He will likely need to shake the rust from his game and won't be as effective as usual. For a point of reference, see the falloff in Chris Drury's game since his return from a similar injury.

There will likely be no changes to the Buffalo lineup that won in Washington the other night. Ryan Miller is expected to go in goal for the Sabres tonight but don't be surprised if Ty Conklin gets the call on Saturday.

I'll be at the game tonight and it should be a spirited affair.

EDIT (SATURDAY MARCH 24TH - 2:35PM):
For some reason, this preview didn't 'take' Friday afternoon. Sorry about that. Thought I'd still post it. Review of the game from last night coming up...

Sabres Outclass Caps

2007-03-22T21:36:00.000-04:00

The Buffalo Sabres ended a three game home losing streak and in the process, broke out of a powerplay slump in a decisive 5-2 victory over Washington on Wednesday night at HSBC Arena.

Drew Stafford scored twice, including one of the highlight-reel variety to lead the swordsmen. Derek Roy, Clarke MacArthur and Daniel Briere notched singles. Stafford (2g), Dainius Zubrus (2a) and Thomas Vanek (2a) contributed multipoint games.

Ryan Miller was solid, stopping 24 of 26 Washington shots directed his way.

Brian Pothier and Donald Brashear were the Capitals goalscorers. Olaf Kolzig was left out to dry most of the night and looked a bit ticked, to say the least. He was a bit off his game as a result and turned aside 26 of 31 Buffalo shots.

Washington actually did a fine job neutralizing the Sabres in the first period, especially on a four-minute penalty kill. Derek Roy got cut open by Shaone Morrisonn's stick around the five minute mark but Buffalo's woeful powerplay wasn't quite ready to break out, only recording a couple measly shots on goal during the extended advantage.

Late in the period, Andrew Peters stupidly tried to pick a fight with Donald Brashear. For the second game in a row, Peters dropped his gloves too soon, earning an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. However, Brashear eventually consented to the tussle and the slaughter was on. The Donald showed his incredible strength in rag-dolling Peters all over the place, knocking him down three times just with brute force. Brashear eventually put him down for good to earn the knockdown win and possibly give the Caps some momentum.

Lucky for Buffalo and Peters, that wasn't the case.

The period ended scoreless and the Sabres had a slight 11-8 advantage in shots.

The second period started with Buffalo on the powerplay after a late first period penalty to Boyd Gordon. They finally took advantage on one of those crazy bounces that you occasionally need to break slumps. Vanek corralled the puck on the left hashmark and found Kalinin at the point. His shot went high over the net but bounced right in front on Roy's stick and he swatted a backhander past Kolzig for his 16th of the year and third in three games for the 1-0 lead.

Kalinin's shot actually damaged the glass behind the net, causing a lengthy delay.

Buffalo would go up by two around the halfway mark of the period. Great work by Zubrus saw him take the puck away on a forecheck at the Washington blueline. He found Adam Mair storming in and he quickly fed MacArthur. From the high slot, his wrist shot somehow went through Kolzig for his 3rd of the year.

The Caps would get back to within a goal when a Pothier slapshot from the point deflected in off Spacek for his 3rd of the season.

The Sabres had a chance to regain momentum two minutes later after Milan Jurcina was flagged for hooking. It didn't take long for the Sabres to regain their two goal advantage. Off the ensuing draw, Briere scooped up the puck behind the net, swung around and deposited his 30th of the season past Kolzig, making him the fourth player to acheive the feat on Buffalo this year. Zubrus picked up his second assist of the game on the play.

Shots after two favoured Buffalo 20-18.

The Sabres just completely took over in the third period, dominating on the forecheck and showing their superior speed and ability in each zone.

Halfway through the period, Vanek led a charge up ice. He found Paetsch coming late and his slapshot was steered aside by Kolzig. However, Vanek scooped up the rebound and his shot rebounded off the side of the net right to Stafford, who deposited it for his 10th of the year.

Stafford struck again a little over four minutes later and you won't find many prettier than this one. Vanek did a great job harassing the quiet on the night Ovechkin and he gave the puck up at the Sabres blueline to Stafford. He stormed in on Steve Eminger and threw an outside-in move on him that sent him tumbling to the ice like a bantam player. To top it off, Stafford's snap shot deflected in off the crossbar for his second of the night and the 5-1 Buffalo lead.

What a beauty!

The Caps would get a late goal from Brashear but it was a convincing victory nonetheless for the Sabres.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Michael Ryan-Chris Drury-Dainius Zubrus

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Drew Stafford

Adam Mair-Clarke MacArthur-Andrew Peters

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Brian Campbell

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Jaroslav Spacek-Nathan Paetsch

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Ty Conklin (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

None

INJURIES:

WASHINGTON CAPITALS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Alexander Ovechkin-Jiri Novotny-Alexandre Giroux

Alexander Semin-Kris Beech-Tomas Fleischmann

Chris Clark-Brooks Laich-Boyd Gordon

Ben Clymer-Matt Bradley-Donald Brashear

DEFENSEMEN:

Brian Pothier-Jeff Schultz

Milan Jurcina-Shaone Morrisonn

Mike Green-Steve Eminger

GOALTENDERS:

Olaf Kolzig; Brent Johnson (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

D Bryan Muir

INJURIES:

D John Erskine (thumb); Eric Fehr (back); Lawrence Nycholat (illness); Matt Pettinger (thumb); Brian Sutherby (hand)

THE GOOD -

Drew Freakin Stafford is just a hoss! This kid is the real deal and has seen the last of Rochester if you ask me. What a pleasant problem to have for Regier, who has an embarrassment of riches on the forward ranks when everyone is healthy.

Vanek and Roy also deserve mention for fine games alongside Stafford. Oh yeah - Vanek is now a +40 on the year! Good gracious!

Dainius Zubrus easily played his finest game as a Sabre. He was double shifted often and responded with a great effort.

Brian Campbell just thrives with extra icetime. He's back to being the dominant defenseman we loved early in the year. What a hit on Ovechkin - wait a sec...that was Ovechkin trying to hit Campbell coming out of his spin-o-rama right? Didn't work out so well for the young Russian star, who looked out of his element last night.

The special teams played well last night. The powerplay got the ugly goal they needed then good work on the boards resulted in another goal by Briere.

Adam Mair played one of his better games in ages last night as well.

Brashear showing class by not over-celebrating his goal when they were down three late in the game. Semin looked dangerous all night.

THE BAD -

Andrew Peters getting throttled by Brashear and once again dropping his mitts too soon. Geez...

Teppo didn't play BAD but he needs a rest. Big time.

I'm still not convinced that Chris Drury is at 100%. He's turning the puck over more than usual and just hasn't been sharp with his passes since returning from the concussion.

Jiri Novotny was ineffective in his return to Buffalo.

The Washington backcheck. Or lack thereof. Poor Olaf Kolzig deserves better.

Really solid win for Buffalo as they hop in front of the Nashville Predators and reclaim the #1 position in the NHL.

Next up, a huge home-and-home series with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are battling for their life to try to slip into the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference and a playoff date with the Sabres.

I'll have a preview up early Friday morning. Yes indeed...I'm back! :)

I'll be at the game tomorrow night and try to fend off as many of the blue and white faithful as possible. Should be a raucous affair!

BUFFALO 5, WASHINGTON 2:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

The Home Stretch

2007-03-20T23:20:00.000-04:00

The Sabres are back at home after taking six out of a possible eight points on their recent four-game road trip.

The injured are starting to heal. Jaro Spacek returned to the lineup on Sunday afternoon against the Thrashers. Ales Kotalik will likely be back in action by Friday night in the start of a home-and-home with the Maple Leafs. Even Tim Connolly was back skating again yesterday. He'll go again tomorrow and Friday and the plan is to have him start working with his teammates on Monday next week.

There is hope that he'll be able to suit up for games before April 1st. Now that is good news, especially for the once-again ailing powerplay.

The Sabres went '0' for the trip and they seriously look awful with the man advantage. There just doesn't look like there's a plan right now and it's gotten very frustrating to watch as the team just continues to throw out the same guys at the same time, for the most part.

The '#1 Powerplay Line', and I say that loosely, is Briere, Drury and usually Hecht. When was the last time this unit scored a powerplay goal? It seems like ages.

The problem with this line is that no one seems willing to put their butt in front of the goaltender. Drury and Briere work the left side, with one on the half boards and the other stationed down low. Hecht kind of skates around the right circle but rarely will take the punishment in front, surprising for a guy who is so strong on the boards. Shots from the point are almost meaningless when there isn't a screen.

Case in point. How many goals have Sabres defensemen scored on the powerplay this year? Take a guess...

If you said TWO, you win a Bleeding Blue and Gold T-Shirt, subject to availability*.

Soupy has one and Spacek has one...that's it. Point of reference - Montreal's Sheldon Souray has 17.

That's not good folks.

The Roy, Vanek and Stafford line really should get more icetime on the powerplay, as Vanek, while soft on the boards, seems willing to withstand the punishment in front for the team. Problem is, this is the line that is DRAWING all the penalties right now and they are usually too gassed to immediately take another shift to start the powerplay.

The answer?

They have to break up Drury and Briere. It's just not working this year. Put Zubrus on one of the units instead of Hecht and get him to plant his butt in front of the net. Zubrus hasn't exactly set the world on fire scoring-wise in Buffalo but he has shown the ability to protect the puck and play with a bit of an edge.

The penalty killing is a whole other blog entry and is in just as bad a shape as the powerplay.

I can only say this. Regardless of how good Buffalo is in five-on-five situations, they will be easily disposed of in the playoffs if they don't turn things around on special teams. It's just THAT important, come playoff time.

*WE ARE CURRENTLY OUT OF BLEEDING BLUE AND GOLD T-SHIRTS*:)

Sabres Losing Streak Hits Four

2007-03-14T18:44:00.000-04:00

The Buffalo Sabres lost a 5-4 shootout decision to the Pittsburgh Penguins last night at the Mellon Arena, their fourth consecutive defeat.

Sidney Crosby scored the deciding goal in the shootout to send most of the fans home happy, as there was a strong contingent of Sabres fans in the building.

Crosby, Ryan Malone, Maxime Talbot and Sergei Gonchar scored for the Pens in regulation. Crosby (1g 2a), Ryan Whitney (3a) and Gonchar (1g 1a) all struck for multipoint games.

Jason Pominville, Dmitri Kalinin, Daniel Briere and Chris Drury scored for the Sabres, with Drury's goal coming with only seven seconds left in regulation. Briere (1g 2a), Jochen Hecht (3a), Pominville (1g 1a) and Drury (1g 1a) had multipoint games for Buffalo.

Marc-Andre Fleury wasn't great but good enough in this contest, stopping 15 of 19 shots to earn the win.

Ryan Miller continues to struggle a bit and may need a night off in the week ahead.

I wasn't able to see any of the New Jersey game on Saturday and only caught the last five minutes of regulation yesterday, along with the extra periods so it's hard for me to have definitive analysis after catching so little of the action.

You can check out NHL.com's recap of the game or check out our friends at Bfloblog for their interpretation.

I just want to thank my readers for their patience while I'm in the midst of finishing some 'real job' projects. This site should be back to normal, with full previews and recaps, by the weekend.

Minnesota Outskates Buffalo in 5-1 Triumph

2007-03-09T23:58:00.000-05:00

Buffalo has now lost two consecutive home games, dropping a 3-2 decision to Colorado on Wednesday night then getting humbled 5-1 by the Minnesota Wild tonight.

Dominic Moore scored twice for the Wild, with Pavol Demitra, Keith Carney and Todd White adding singles. Brent Burns had two assists to join Moore with a multipoint game and unheralded third-string goaltender Josh Harding was terrific in stopping 35 of 36 Buffalo shots.

Michael Ryan scored the only Buffalo goal.

Minnesota opened the scoring about 5 minutes in. Moore was left all alone at the top of the circle and he wired a slapshot into the top of the net for his 7th of the year.

Moore would strike again later in the period. The Sabres got caught up ice after a long shift and Moore came off the bench to join the rush. Defenseman Martin Skoula made a great feed to Moore, who outhustled backchecker Drew Stafford and ripped another shot high past Miller for the 2-0 lead.

Buffalo outshot Minnesota 13-6 in the first but the play was relatively even, with the majority of the Sabres shots coming from long distance.

Buffalo came out pretty listless to start the second, surprisingly enough, and Minnesota started to control play in the neutral zone with their 1-2-2 trap. The Sabres were finally able to draw the first penalty of the game but were unsuccessful with the man advantage.

Seconds after the powerplay ended, Thomas Vanek, who was quite simply brutal all night, gave the puck away to Marian Gaborik and he was hauled down by Nathan Paetsch on a breakaway attempt.

The referee awarded Gaborik a penalty shot but Miller was able to keep the puck out, getting the crowd into the game for the first time all night.

The period would end scoreless and with Buffalo ahead in shots, 27-17. For some reason, the crowd booed the team off the ice even though they were only down two.

The collective air was let out of the arena early in the third when Demitra, from behind the net, banked the puck in past Miller off his back for his 22nd of the year and the 3-0 lead.

Minnesota just doesn't let teams come back from that far down.

Patrick Kaleta tried to get the crowd and his teammates into the game, picking a scrap with Minnesota's Stephane Veilleux.

It didn't help.

After Stafford failed to clear the puck, Carney scored from the point on a shot that looked like it deflected off a defender on its way past Miller for his 3rd of the year and a 4-0 lead. That chased Miller and the weird crowd started cheering derisively.

Very strange.

Poor Ty Conklin had to deal with the crowd now mock-cheering every routine save the rest of the way.

Buffalo finally got on the board when Mike Ryan stole the puck from a Wild defender, skated in and roofed a backhander for his 3rd of the year.

The Sabres would then get a five-on-three powerplay late in the game to give the fans some hope but Minnesota had other plans. Todd White was sprung on a partial breakaway and he just exploded past Daniel Briere and Jason Pominville, who were playing the point. White beat Conklin high for his 12th of the year to put the game away.

A bleak performance, to say the least.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Michael Ryan-Chris Drury-Dainius Zubrus

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Drew Stafford

Patrick Kaleta-Clarke MacArthur-Adam Mair

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Brian Campbell-Nathan Paetsch

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Ty Conklin

SCRATCHES:

None

INJURIES:

D Jaroslav Spacek (hand); C Paul Gaustad (ankle); RW Maxim Afinogenov (wrist); LW Daniel Paille (broken finger); RW Ales Kotalik (MCL Sprain); RW Andrew Peters (upper body); C Tim Connolly: Long-term IR (post-concussion syndrome)

MINNESOTA WILD LINES -
FORWARDS:

Pavol Demitra-Dominic Moore-Marian Gaborik

Brian Rolston-Todd White-Pierre-Marc Bouchard

Adam Hall-Mikko Koivu-Mark Parrish

Stephane Veilleux-Wyatt Smith-Branko Radivojevic

DEFENSEMEN:

Kim Johnsson-Nick Schultz

Martin Skoula-Petteri Nummelin

Brent Burns-Keith Carney

GOALTENDERS:

Josh Harding; Manny Fernandez

SCRATCHES:

G Niklas Backstrom; D Kurtis Foster; C Wes Walz; RW Matt Foy

INJURIES:

LW Derek Boogaard (back)

THE GOOD -

No one got hurt.

That's pretty much it.

Alright. Can I find any positives? Nathan Paetsch continues to hustle and show the most physicality out of all the Sabres defenders. Briere looked dangerous most of the night and had an incredible 10 shots on goal. Campbell was hitting people out there too.

Marian Gaborik just flat out can fly. He has to be one of the fastest guys in the league. When the Wild get a lead, he can float high in the zone and just pounce on chances in the neutral zone with that speed. He had a number of partial breaks tonight and had nine shots on goal. Dominic Moore was also very good tonight - much better than I ever remember him being.

I'll be honest. I know very little about Harding but he was very solid in goal for Minnesota and showed excellent positioning and poise.

Slam the Wild all you want about their trap but they work it to perfection. I can't think of one single odd-man rush for Buffalo all night. And boy oh boy, Minnesota can skate.

THE BAD -

I love the guy but Vanek was brutal tonight. That's two duds in a row for big Tom. He got benched for a shift or two in the second after his ugly giveaway to Gaborik, one of three he was credited with on the evening.

Alright Mr. Zubrus. You've had a chance to get used to your teammates. Anytime you'd like to hit one of them with a tape-to-tape pass, it would be appreciated! Yes, he's moving around a lot from line to line but he's really gripping the stick tight. His game looks eerily similar to Ales Kotalik, mostly in the way he works the boards down low with one hand on his stick and his body shielding the puck. I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing...I'll give him some more time...

Buffalo's passing was off all night, with countless pucks in the feet and behind players. Their heads just weren't in it tonight.

The fans were pretty brutal both nights this week and I was part of both crowds so I guess I fail too. Jeering your star goaltender? Not cool kids. The team has 93 points for goodness sakes! They are playing with six regulars out...take a deep breath...it's just a bad couple games...

Two duds in a row and they now look forward to hosting another trapping team in the New Jersey Devils, who were likely chilling out at the Tragically Hip concert tonight while the Sabres went to slaughter.

Ryan Miller will evidently be in goal once again for the Sabres.

Sorry I've been sporadic with my posting lately. Real life sometimes gets in the way of a blogger...plus I have some side projects I'm working on that are non-Sabres related. That stuff should be complete by the middle of next week so my attention will return to the Sabres in full force.

Oh yeah, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Paul Stastny of the Colorado Avalanche and his fine performance on Wednesday night. Boy, is that kid something else! 17 game point streak as a rookie, the longest in NHL history for a first year player and the longest by ANYONE this year. He has the poise of a veteran and has obviously inherited his father's vision and talent.

He'd get my vote for the Calder Trophy over Malkin if the season ended today.

MINNESOTA 5, BUFFALO 1:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Sabres Defeat Leafs 3-1 in Relative Snoozefest

2007-03-04T03:28:00.000-05:00

Buffalo defeated the Maple Leafs in Toronto for the second time in five days, winning 3-1 on Saturday night.

Toni Lydman, Drew Stafford and Nathan Paetsch, with his first NHL goal, scored for the Sabres. Ryan Miller stopped 26 of 27 Toronto shots to pick up his 32nd win of the year.

Nik Antropov scored the only goal for Toronto. J.S. Aubin, starting a game for the first time since December (!) took the loss.

The first period was a cautious affair, with little intensity or much in the way of chances. Toronto outshot Buffalo 6-5 in the scoreless frame.

Things opened up in the second period and as always, that favours the boys in blue and gold.

The Sabres opened the scoring about five minutes in, as a Lydman slapshot from the point went past Leafs defenseman Ian White and through Aubin for his 2nd of the year and the 1-0 lead. The goal was originally given to newcomer Dainius Zubrus but you could see him saying "I didn't touch it" from the bench and the goal was rightfully given to Lydman. Mark Mancari picked up his first NHL point with an assist on the goal.

Late in the period, Toronto captain Mats Sundin took an interference call in the Leafs zone and the Sabres made him pay in almost immediate fashion. Right off the ensuing draw, Brian Campbell noticed Stafford behind the net calling for the puck. The slick defenseman made a gorgeous pass to the rookie, who deftly redirected the puck past Aubin for his 6th of the year and the 2-0 lead. Great awareness by Campbell there.

Buffalo outshot Toronto 15-11 in the high-flying period and was successful in luring the Leafs out of their element.

Toronto played a much better third period and took the play to Buffalo for the most part. However, the fantastic transition and counter-attack of the Sabres was apparent on their third goal.

Briere took the puck into the Toronto zone on a two-on-two but found Paetsch streaking in up the middle of the ice. Briere found the defenseman who wristed a shot that deflected off Aubin's glove and went in behind him for his first career NHL goal and the 3-0 lead.

At this point, I'm thinking "just hold them off for the shutout" but as so often happens with Buffalo, they give up a late goal.

This time is was Nik Antropov, who worked a nice give-and-go with Sundin and roofed the puck past Miller for his 12th of the year to draw the Leafs to within two.

A late double-minor to Thomas Vanek for clipping Toronto defenseman Bryan McCabe made things interesting but the Sabres were able to hold off their opponents to earn another victory and once again jump ahead of Nashville for first place overall.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Drew Stafford

Michael Ryan-Dainius Zubrus-Adam Mair

Patrick Kaleta-Clarke MacArthur-Mark Mancari

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Brian Campbell-Nathan Paetsch

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Ty Conklin (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

None

INJURIES:

C Chris Drury (concussion); D Jaroslav Spacek (hand); C Paul Gaustad (ankle); RW Maxim Afinogenov (wrist); LW Daniel Paille (broken finger); RW Ales Kotalik (MCL Sprain); RW Andrew Peters (upper body); C Tim Connolly: Long-term IR (post-concussion syndrome)

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Bates Battaglia-Mats Sundin-Nik Antropov

Alexander Steen-Matt Stajan-Jeff O'Neill

Chad Kilger-Travis Green-Darcy Tucker

Alexander Ponikarovsky-Yanic Perreault-John Pohl

DEFENSEMEN:

Ian White-Bryan McCabe

Hal Gill-Carlo Colaiacovo

Wade Belak-Andy Wozniewski

GOALTENDERS:

J.S. Aubin; Andrew Raycroft

SCRATCHES:

C Boyd Devereaux

INJURIES:

D Tomas Kaberle (neck); D Pavel Kubina (broken finger); C Kyle Wellwood (hernia); C Kris Newbury (concussion); Michael Peca (fractured tibia)

THE GOOD -

Ryan Miller was very solid and gave few rebound opportunities. Very much in-control all game.

The Buffalo-D was much better, generally speaking. The great chances were few and far between. Campbell, Kalinin and Paetsch were standouts.

Derek Roy was everywhere again tonight and continues to ride a hot streak. No points tonight but he created chances and played great defensively. He singlehandedly prevented a goal when he lifted the stick of John Pohl on a powerplay opportunity right in front of the net.

Jochen Hecht continues to play at a high level these days, which is saying something since Briere, his centerman, has been lost lately while suffering from the aftereffects of the flu.

Toronto got solid games from Ian White and Carlo Colaiacovo in this game. I also (surprisingly) liked Hal Gill as well. He played the body well and his solid positioning all game masked his lack of speed.

THE BAD -

Faceoffs were ugly. Zubrus got killed in the circle, losing 13 of 17 draws. He still needs a couple more practices to get used to the system as well, as a few of his passes were way off the mark in this contest.

Vanek wasn't a factor tonight and was saddled with four giveaways.

Briere was invisible again for most of the game. The three days off before the Avalanche game couldn't come at a better time.

Teppo Numminen looked tired tonight and lost a number of down-low battles. Another guy that needs some R&R and I hope Lindy thinks of giving him a night or two off down the stretch when Jaro Spacek comes back, especially when the team is playing back-to-back games. The team needs him refreshed for the playoffs.

Tucker wasn't bad, but a non-factor in his first game back. He looked to be battling fatigue right from the start, not surprisingly. Sundin, usually a Sabres killer, wasn't noticeable until the third period.

This game goes to show that Buffalo can win games in a variety of ways. They weren't at their high-scoring best on this night but the outcome of the game was really never in doubt.

Buffalo has a few days to rest before hitting the ice in three home games in four nights, including back-to-back home games next weekend, something that hasn't happened in quite awhile.

Chris Drury is expected to return to the lineup on Wednesday night against his former club, the Colorado Avalanche, who are surprisingly way out of the playoff race at this juncture.

BUFFALO 3, TORONTO 1:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Firewagon Hockey Continues as Sabres Steamroll Habs

2007-03-03T13:58:00.000-05:00

The Buffalo Sabres stormed out of the gate last night with two quick goals and it was just the start of a back-and-forth affair with division rival Montreal.

In the end, the hometown Sabres pulled away with an 8-5 victory over the Habs. Michael Ryan scored his first two NHL goals for Buffalo and Thomas Vanek also added two to give him a team-leading 34 on the season. Also scoring for the Sabres were Dmitri Kalinin, Teppo Numminen, Derek Roy and Drew Stafford.

Roy tied a career-high with four points (1g 3a) while Numminen (1g 2a), Jochen Hecht (3a), Vanek (2g), Ryan (2g), Stafford (1g 1a), Toni Lydman (2a), Brian Campbell (2a) and Jason Pominville (2a) all earned multipoint games. Ryan Miller wasn't at his best but made some solid saves to pick up his 31st win of the season.

Tomas Plekanec scored twice for Montreal, with Michael Ryder, Mark Streit and Radek Bonk notching singles. David Aebischer was left all alone most of the night and turned aside 21 Buffalo shots.

Buffalo came out with guns ablazing early, with Thomas Vanek getting denied on a shot from in close in the first minute. The next shift saw Buffalo get on the board, as a Pominville pass hit a pinching Kalinin right on the tape and he deposited it past Aebsicher for his 5th of the year and the 1-0 lead.

Buffalo would strike again 20 seconds later. Good work by Adam Mair along the right boards culminated in a fine feed to Ryan right in the crease and he redirected the puck home for his first career NHL goal and the 2-0 lead.

Unbelievably, seconds later Vanek stripped the puck from a Canadiens defender at the blueline and skated in on a two-on-zero rush with Roy. Vanek fumbled the puck but still almost scored on Aebischer, who was playing the pass. An incensed Guy Carbonneau, Montreal's head coach, immediately called a timeout to cool things down.

And it worked, as the scoring in the period ended with Buffalo up 2-0 and the shots even at nine apiece.

The second period started out promisingly for Buffalo when Habs defenseman Andrei Markov was sent off for hooking. Just as the penalty ended, a Numminen point blast was redirected past Aebischer for the 3-0 lead. It looked as if Vanek tipped it home from my vantage point in the arena but it must have hit a Habs defender instead. Regardless, Teppo's 2nd of the year and a three goal lead.

Montreal finally got on the board around the seven minute mark with the Sabres killing off a Patrick Kaleta penalty. There was another delayed penalty being called on Lydman when Ryder got the puck beside the net and roofed a shot from a bad angle past Miller for his 22nd of the year to draw the Habs to within two.

The back-and-forth nature of the game went into full effect immediately following that goal. With the Sabres now killing off Lydman's penalty, Hecht stormed out of the Buffalo zone past the turtle-like Sheldon Souray and went in on a two-on-one with Ryan. Hecht's perfect saucer pass flew over the defender's stick right to Ryan who easily redirected it home for his second of the night and the 4-1 lead.

Montreal's deadly powerplay still had time, however, and would score with one second left in Lydman's penalty. This time, it was a gorgeous three-way tick-tac-toe pass play that culminated with Bonk putting a quick shot home for his 11th of the year.

Montreal would pull to within one on the next shift. Campbell made an ugly gaffe to give the puck away in the Buffalo zone and to make matters worse, a Mike Komisarek shot deflected off Campbell in front and went right onto the stick of Streit, who wristed the puck past Miller for his 8th of the year and bring new life to Montreal.

Late in the period, Buffalo went to the powerplay and would convert when Roy took the puck at the top of the circle and wired a slapshot into the top corner for his 13th of the year and the 5-3 lead.

The craziness continued, as Montreal stormed into the Buffalo zone immediately after the faceoff on a two-on-one rush. Plekanec took a Kostitsyn pass and kind of duffed a shot that fooled Miller for his 15th of the year to once again pull the Habs within one.

Just a nutty period with strange bounces all over. Shots after two were dead-even at 23 apiece.

The Sabres would regain the two goal advantage about seven minutes into the third. Vanek took the puck from behind the net and swooped around on a wraparound attempt. With Aebischer going the other way, Vanek was able to deposit the puck into the net for his 33rd of the year and the 6-4 lead.

Montreal wouldn't go away and would again pull to within one on another powerplay. A Francis Bouillon shot from the point hit the backboards and bounced right to Plekanec, who one-timed the puck past an out-of-position Miller for his second of the night.

This time, it was the Sabres who answered quickly. On the next shift, Campbell took the puck at the point and made a beautiful, heads-up play to Stafford on his off-wing. The rookie took the pass in his skates, shovelled it to his stick and beat the flailing Aebischer for his 5th of the year to give Buffalo an insurmountable 7-5 lead.

Vanek would ice the game in the dying seconds with an empty netter, taking a vicious slash from Souray in the process to take the team lead in goals from the injured Chris Drury.

What a strange but entertaining hockey game!

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Drew Stafford

Michael Ryan-Dainius Zubrus-Adam Mair

Andrew Peters-Clarke MacArthur-Patrick Kaleta

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Brian Campbell-Nathan Paetsch

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Ty Conklin (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

None

INJURIES:

C Chris Drury (concussion); D Jaroslav Spacek (hand); C Paul Gaustad (ankle); RW Maxim Afinogenov (wrist); LW Daniel Paille (broken finger); RW Ales Kotalik (MCL Sprain); C Tim Connolly: Long-term IR (post-concussion syndrome)

MONTREAL CANADIENS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Sergei Samsonov-Saku Koivu-Michael Ryder

Andrei Kostitsyn-Tomas Plekanec-Alex Kovalev

Guillaume Latendresse-Radek Bonk-Mike Johnson

Steve Begin-Maxim Lapierre-Mark Streit

DEFENSEMEN:

Andrei Markov-Mike Komisarek

Sheldon Souray-Josh Gorges

Francis Bouillon-Mathieu Dandenault

GOALTENDERS:

David Aebischer; Jaroslav Halak

SCRATCHES:

D Janne Niinimaa; RW Garth Murray; G Michael Leighton

INJURIES:

LW Chris Higgins (flu); LW Alexander Perezhogin (head); G Cristobal Huet (hamstring)

THE GOOD -

Michael Ryan had really been gripping the stick tight since arriving in Buffalo and finally, his hands caught up to his legs. He was good along the boards tonight as well and his skating is a huge asset. I'm still not sold on him long-term but he was excellent tonight.

Dainius Zubrus didn't hit the scoresheet but looked solid in his Buffalo debut. He was excellent on faceoffs, winning 12 of 19 and used his size and reach effectively. I loved his comments in the post-game, talking about how 'fast' things were and how he's not used to 'seeing a defenseman's back in the offensive zone', a reference to Kalinin's pinch in the first period.

Paetsch continues to bring the awesome from the back end. Kalinin and Numminen both had very, very good games as well.

Boy, Jochen Hecht has really stepped up his game and leadership in Drury's absence. His skating and passing was big-time on the mark last night.

I continue to love everything the 'DDT' line of Derek, Drew and Thomas brings night after night. Vanek could have scored five goals easily tonight and it's amazing the chances that kid is generating. What a beast he's becoming! Oh yeah, +38 (!!!) on the year now! Wow! Roy was at his creative best once again and is on a tear of his own.

Great crowd again tonight, with a lot of back and forth between Habs and Sabres fans in our section. Lots of fun!

THE BAD -

Lots of sloppy play. This game shouldn't have been as close as it was. Campbell made a couple ugly mistakes and really took a verbal beating from Lindy Ruff after the Streit goal. Henrik Tallinder wasn't great either, making a couple bad giveaways of his own. Flu bug must still be affecting him.

Speaking of the flu, Danny Briere should have just stayed in bed last night. He was taking shifts that were entirely too long, especially on the powerplay. He obviously isn't 100% either.

Another Sabre goes down to injury, this time enforcer Andrew Peters to an 'upper body injury'. Expect Mark Mancari to get recalled for tonight's game against Toronto.

How can Montreal in their right mind give an 'A' to Alex Kovalev?? The guy just shows up when he wants to. Is that leadership? He was a non-factor again tonight but is that surprising? The guy only has 13 goals this year...what a waste of talent. Let's not even TALK about Samsonov, who is even more confounding that Kovalev.

Aebischer was brutal in goal. He didn't have much help but his positioning all night was way off.

Boy do the Buffalo Sabres ever give bang for your buck!

No rest for the wicked, as Buffalo heads back to Toronto for the second time in five nights to play the Maple Leafs. Toronto will be missing Tomas Kaberle, who got knocked unconscious after taking a late hit from New Jersey goon Cam Janssen.

Where have we heard that before? When will the madness stop?

BUFFALO 8, MONTREAL 5:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Gameday Preview: Montreal Canadiens at Buffalo Sabres

2007-03-02T16:34:00.000-05:00

SEASON SERIES: Montreal leads 3-1-2
2005-2006 SEASON SERIES: Buffalo went 5-2-1
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Buffalo is 95-91-32 (56-32-20 in Buffalo)

LAST GAME: January 21, 2007 in Montreal

Michael Ryder scored with less than three minutes remaining to give Montreal a 4-3 win after blowing a three-goal lead earlier in the game. Guillaume Latendresse, Saku Koivu and Francis Bouillon also scored for the Canadiens and Cristobal Huet turned aside 24 shots for the win. Daniel Briere scored twice for Buffalo and Derek Roy scored a single. Martin Biron took the loss in goal for Buffalo.

Buffalo Sabres –

OVERALL RECORD: 42-16-5 89 pts
STANDINGS: 1st Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 7-2-1
GOALS FOR: 240 (1st)
GOALS AGAINST: 183 (13th)
POWERPLAY: 18.2% (T-12th)
PENALTY KILLING: 81.6% (T-17th)
GOAL LEADERS: Chris Drury - 33; Thomas Vanek - 32; Daniel Briere - 27
ASSIST LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 50; Maxim Afinogenov - 34; Derek Roy - 32
POINT LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 77; Thomas Vanek - 62; Two Tied with 57
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Thomas Vanek +35; Derek Roy +24; Jason Pominville +22
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Adam Mair - 118; Andrew Peters – 106; Paul Gaustad - 74
GOALTENDERS: Ryan Miller 30-12-4 2.66gaa .914sp; Ty Conklin 2-3-2 3.30gaa .871sp
INJURIES: Tim Connolly (post-concussion syndrome) is Out; Paul Gaustad (severed tendon) is Out; Maxim Afinogenov (broken wrist) is Out; Jaroslav Spacek (broken hand) is Out; Ales Kotalik (MCL tear) is Out; Daniel Paille (broken finger) is Out; Chris Drury (concussion) is Out; Henrik Tallinder (flu) is Probable; Daniel Briere (flu) is Probable

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#55 Jochen Hecht - #48 Daniel Briere - #29 Jason Pominville

#26 Thomas Vanek - #9 Derek Roy - #21 Drew Stafford

#37 Michael Ryan - #15 Dainius Zubrus - #22 Adam Mair

#76 Andrew Peters - #41 Clarke MacArthur - #36 Patrick Kaleta

DEFENSE

#10 Henrik Tallinder - #5 Toni Lydman

#45 Dmitri Kalinin - #27 Teppo Numminen

#51 Brian Campbell - #38 Nathan Paetsch

GOAL

#30 Ryan Miller

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#35 Ty Conklin; RW#61 Maxim Afinogenov; D#6 Jaroslav Spacek; RW#12 Ales Kotalik; LW#20 Daniel Paille; C#23 Chris Drury; C#19 Tim Connolly (IR); C#28 Paul Gaustad (IR)

Montreal Canadiens –

OVERALL RECORD: 33-27-6 72 pts
STANDINGS: 8th Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 4-6-0
GOALS FOR: 191 (T-15th)
GOALS AGAINST: 200 (T-18th)
POWERPLAY: 23.0% (T-1st)
PENALTY KILLING: 82.8% (T-14th)
GOAL LEADERS: Sheldon Souray - 22; Michael Ryder – 21; Saku Koivu - 18
ASSIST LEADERS: Saku Koivu - 39; Andrei Markov - 33; Sheldon Souray - 31
POINT LEADERS: Saku Koivu - 57; Sheldon Souray - 53; Michael Ryder - 44
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Mike Johnson +13; Alexander Perezhogin +11; Tomas Plekanec +8
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Sheldon Souray – 117; Mike Komisarek - 78; Alex Kovalev - 70
GOALTENDERS: Cristobal Huet 19-15-3 2.74gaa .918sp; David Aebischer 11-10-3 2.98gaa .908sp; Jaroslav Halak 3-2-0 3.17gaa .885sp
INJURIES: Cristobal Huet (groin) is Out; Chris Higgins (flu) is Probable; Alexander Perezhogin (head) is Probable

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#21 Chris Higgins - #11 Saku Koivu - #73 Michael Ryder

#84 Guillaume Latendresse - #35 Tomas Plekanec - #27 Alex Kovalev

#42 Alexander Perezhogin - #14 Radek Bonk - #20 Mike Johnson

#15 Sergei Samsonov - #40 Maxim Lapierre - #22 Steve Begin

DEFENSE

#8 Mike Komisarek - #44 Sheldon Souray

#79 Andrei Markov - #51 Francis Bouillon

#32 Mark Streit - #25 Mathieu Dandenault

GOAL

#41 Jaroslav Halak

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#30 David Aebischer; D#6 Janne Niinimaa; D#26 Josh Gorges; RW#46 Andrei Kostitsyn; C#57 Garth Murray; G#39 Cristobal Huet (IR)

The Montreal Canadiens come to town desperate for a win to keep pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The club is coming off a lethargic shutout loss to the Rangers a couple days back and is in danger of getting passed by Toronto in the standings and falling out of a playoff spot.

The up-and-down Habs have fed off their special teams all year, although their penalty killing prowess has taken a huge hit over the past month or so. The powerplay is still tops in the league, with Sheldon Souray's rocket launcher from the point the main weapon.

The Canadiens were pretty quiet at the deadline, moving defenseman Craig Rivet for a first round pick but keeping most of the core intact. Strange that a reeling team fighting for a playoff spot wouldn't make a move to improve their team but Bob Gainey must feel that the lineup is good enough as it stands right now.

Cristobal Huet is on the Injured Reserve list and won't play tonight. Rookie Jaroslav Halak is the likely starter in goal.

The Sabres will get Daniel Briere back after he missed the Toronto game due to the flu. The bug is going through the team and hit Henrik Tallinder but he will supposedly suit up tonight.

We will also see the debut of newcomer Dainius Zubrus, who is scheduled to center a line with Adam Mair and Michael Ryan. Mark Mancari was sent back to Rochester with Briere and Zubrus getting into the lineup.

Ryan Miller will get the nod in goal.

I'll be at the game tonight and will have a recap up sometime after midnight.

Dainius Zubrus Joins Sabres at Deadline

2007-03-01T21:49:00.000-05:00

Darcy Regier traded Jiri Novotny and Buffalo's first round pick in the upcoming draft to Washington for Dainius Zubrus and Timo Helbling.

The star attraction for Buffalo in this deal is obviously the 28-year old Zubrus, a strapping 6'4" 224lb RW/C who had 20 goals and 32 assists in 60 games this year for the Capitals. He played frequently with superstar Alexander Ovechkin.

The Lithuanian-born Zubrus, who has played internationally for both his country and the former USSR, has scored 134 goals and added 218 assists in 670 career NHL games for Washington, Montreal and Philadelphia.

I expect Zubrus to eventually play on a line with Maxim Afinogenov, as the two are pals off the ice.

The 25-year old Helbling was picked up as a depth defenseman by Regier. He played sparingly in Washington this year and only has 11 NHL games to his credit, nine of which were played in Tampa. He's picked up 1 assist.

He played 49 games for the Hershey Bears of the AHL, scoring once and adding 16 assists along with 106 penalty minutes. The native of the Czech Republic was assigned to the Rochester Americans after the trade.

It was likely difficult to let go of Novotny, a former first round pick who finally blossomed last season in the AHL. However, I think the ceiling for Novotny was close to being reached - he just doesn't have the hands to become a scorer in the big league and Buffalo's unbelievable depth at center meant he was expendable.

Novotny leaves having compiled 8 goals and 8 assists in 64 career NHL games.

In a separate deal, Regier picked up another depth defenseman in Mikko Lehtonen. The Finnish national was picked up from the Nashville Predators for a fourth round pick in the upcoming draft.

Lehtonen came over to North America this season and dressed for 15 games in Nashville, scoring once and adding two assists. He played the majority of the season in Milwaukee for the AHL's Admirals, scoring 4 goals and adding 8 assists in 35 games. He will likely be the first guy called up if a defenseman goes down.

So, what do we make of these deals?

Essentially, Buffalo traded Biron, Novotny, a 5th and a 1st for Zubrus, Helbling, Conklin and a 2nd.

Good value for Biron in my opinion and overpayment for Zubrus but it just goes to show what a seller's market it was.

In the end, the question you have to ask yourself is: are the Buffalo Sabres a better club after the trades?

The answer is yes.

It hurts losing Biron but the fact of the matter is that if Miller goes down to injury, it wouldn't matter if it was Biron or Conklin in net - the team wouldn't be able to rely on either of them to carry the way.

The team didn't need to make a deal for a top-six defenseman because they already have SEVEN of them with the startling emergence of Nathan Paetsch over the past two months.

Zubrus over Novotny is a huge upgrade, even though I believe Ovechkin's presence had a lot to do with his inflated numbers this year.

And I must say I love Zubrus' attitude - the guy just wants to fit in.

Derek Roy offered him his #9 jersey and Zubrus was incredilous, shooting him down instantaneously. He seems very intelligent and eager to get a shot in the playoffs.

This team is ready for the stretch run.

Martin Biron Traded to Flyers

2007-02-27T13:19:00.000-05:00

The Sabres dressing room has lost a bit of its soul, as Martin Biron was traded earlier this morning to Philadelphia for a second round draft pick.

Immediately following that deal, the Sabres announced that they picked up Ty Conklin from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a fifth round pick.

This is obviously a precursor to a bigger deal for Regier, or at least he intends it to be but we'll have to wait it out to see what he has up his sleeve.

Biron leaves the Sabres having played his entire career with the franchise. He played in 300 NHL games and compiled a record of 134-115-25 with a 2.53gaa and a .909sp.

Good luck to Marty and his family. He will be truly missed.

Conklin has played 11 games for Columbus this season and has gone 2-3-2 with a 3.30gaa and a .871sp. Over the course of his career, he's played 71 NHL games with a 29-22-7 record, a 2.60gaa and a .901sp.

I'm at work but I'll keep my eye open for further deals and post them here.

EDIT: 1:57PM
I'm hearing conflicting reports on what Buffalo received in the Biron deal. TSN is reporting it as a second rounder while WGR is saying it's the first rounder picked up by Philly in the Forsberg/Nashville trade.

No analysis until after the deadline. Anything different would be pretty premature in my opinion.

The Rematch: Buffalo Sabres at Ottawa Senators

2007-02-24T11:47:00.000-05:00

SEASON SERIES: Ottawa leads 4-2-1
2005-2006 SEASON SERIES: Buffalo went 3-5-0
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Buffalo is 43-26-10 (18-15-7 in Ottawa)

LAST GAME: February 22, 2007 in Buffalo

Drew Stafford scored the only shootout goal to lead the Sabres to a thrilling 6-5 victory over the Senators in a game highlighted by a pier-six brawl. Three players, including both starting goaltenders, got game misconducts for their part in the battle and a head injury to Chris Drury at the hands of Chris Neil triggered the melee.

Buffalo Sabres –

OVERALL RECORD: 41-15-5 87 pts
STANDINGS: 1st Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 8-1-1
GOALS FOR: 229 (1st)
GOALS AGAINST: 176 (13th)
POWERPLAY: 18.3% (T-10th)
PENALTY KILLING: 81.5% (19th)
GOAL LEADERS: Chris Drury - 33; Thomas Vanek - 31; Daniel Briere - 27
ASSIST LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 48; Maxim Afinogenov - 34; Derek Roy - 31
POINT LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 75; Thomas Vanek - 58; Two Tied with 57
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Thomas Vanek +33; Derek Roy +19; Jason Pominville +18
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Adam Mair - 111; Andrew Peters – 99; Paul Gaustad - 74
GOALTENDERS: Ryan Miller 29-11-4 2.68gaa .913sp; Martin Biron 12-4-1 2.89gaa .903sp
INJURIES: Tim Connolly (post-concussion syndrome) is Out; Paul Gaustad (severed tendon) is Out; Jiri Novotny (high ankle sprain) is Out; Maxim Afinogenov (broken wrist) is Out; Jaroslav Spacek (broken hand) is Out; Ales Kotalik (MCL tear) is Out; Daniel Paille (broken finger) is Out; Chris Drury (concussion) is Out

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#55 Jochen Hecht - #48 Daniel Briere - #29 Jason Pominville

#26 Thomas Vanek - #9 Derek Roy - #21 Drew Stafford

#37 Michael Ryan - #41 Clarke MacArthur - #25 Mark Mancari

#76 Andrew Peters - #22 Adam Mair - #36 Patrick Kaleta

DEFENSE

#10 Henrik Tallinder - #5 Toni Lydman

#45 Dmitri Kalinin - #27 Teppo Numminen

#51 Brian Campbell - #38 Nathan Paetsch

GOAL

#30 Ryan Miller

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#43 Martin Biron; C#13 Jiri Novotny; RW#61 Maxim Afinogenov; D#6 Jaroslav Spacek; RW#12 Ales Kotalik; LW#20 Daniel Paille; C#23 Chris Drury; C#19 Tim Connolly (IR); C#28 Paul Gaustad (IR)

Ottawa Senators –

OVERALL RECORD: 35-22-4 74 pts
STANDINGS: 5th Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 6-2-2
GOALS FOR: 209 (4th)
GOALS AGAINST: 166 (10th)
POWERPLAY: 17.6% (T-16th)
PENALTY KILLING: 83.5% (10th)
GOAL LEADERS: Dany Heatley - 35; Jason Spezza – 23; Daniel Alfredsson - 21
ASSIST LEADERS: Dany Heatley - 41; Daniel Alfredsson - 40; Jason Spezza - 35
POINT LEADERS: Dany Heatley - 76; Daniel Alfredsson - 63; Jason Spezza - 58
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Tom Preissing +33; Daniel Alfredsson +26; Two Tied at +22
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Chris Neil – 129; Brian McGratton - 95; Andrej Meszaros - 78
GOALTENDERS: Ray Emery 24-13-2 2.45gaa .921sp; Martin Gerber 11-9-2 2.92gaa .903sp
INJURIES: None

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#25 Chris Neil - #19 Jason Spezza - #15 Dany Heatley

#27 Peter Schaefer - #12 Mike Fisher - #11 Daniel Alfredsson

#89 Mike Comrie - #22 Chris Kelly - #20 Antoine Vermette

#5 Christoph Schubert - #37 Dean McAmmond - #16 Brian McGratton

DEFENSE

#6 Wade Redden - #14 Andrej Meszaros

#4 Chris Phillips - #24 Anton Volchenkov

#42 Tom Preissing - #7 Joe Corvo

GOAL

#1 Ray Emery

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#29 Martin Gerber; RW#44 Patrick Eaves

The game played on Thursday night between Buffalo and Ottawa has been the talk of hockey for the last two days. Needless to say, the eyes of league and fans everywhere will be on the rematch tonight in Ottawa.

Colin Campbell and the league surprisingly haven't levied any fines or suspensions for what happened in Buffalo the other night but have reportedly warned both teams that they will crack down hard if any funny business goes down in tonight's contest.

There are sore feelings on both sides right now and while these types of over-hyped matchups end up being just that, I do expect that there will be some spill-over tonight. At the very least, expect a heavyweight tilt between enforcers Andrew Peters and Brian McGratton, who will be dressed for the first time in 10 games.

The Sabres are completely and utterly decimated by injury right now. Captain Chris Drury will be out for an indefinite period after suffering a 20-stitch gash on his head the other night, making it seven wounded Sabres in the last six games. Eight starters are currently on the shelf with three of them injured at the hands of Ottawa Senators.

Mark Mancari will see action in his first NHL game tonight and may even play on the third line. I really have no idea what Buffalo will do with their lines tonight. Adam Mair has been playing right wing alongside Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek and may suit up there again tonight in a 'protector' role but the Sabres are very thin at center so he might suit up there too.

Ryan Miller will start in goal for Buffalo tonight while 'Sugar' Ray Emery will man the pipes once again for Ottawa.

Even with all these injuries, the Sabres have taken an incredible 17 of the last 20 points available to them, going 8-1-1 in their last ten appearances.

They will be in tough tonight, playing against a completely healthy and determined Senators squad.

EDIT: 12:46pm
I just got word that Lindy Ruff was fined $10,000 for his actions Thurday night, something that's likely tied to the two instigator penalties.

Drury Hurt; Mark Mancari Gets First Recall

2007-02-24T11:38:00.000-05:00

Buffalo Sabres captain Chris Drury is suffering from concussion-like symptoms and will be out indefinitely after Thursday night's encounter against Chris Neil and the Ottawa Senators.

The pickings are getting slim in Rochester with all the injuries in Buffalo but winger/defenseman Mark Mancari was recalled and will suit up in his first NHL game tonight in the rematch in Kanata.

Mancari has 16 goals and 18 assists in 41 games so far this year in Rochester. He carries a +8 rating and also has 34 penalty minutes to his credit.

The Sabres only have TWO more forwards left in Rochester after all the recent callups and both are first-year pros: Dylan Hunter and Marek Zagrapan.

Sabres Deliver Inspired Performance on 'Fight Night in Buffalo'

2007-02-23T01:33:00.000-05:00

Hopefully I'll have my voice back by tomorrow!

Drew Stafford scored the only shootout goal to give the Buffalo Sabres a thrilling 6-5 win over their arch nemesis, the Ottawa Senators.

Highlighting the game was a good, old-fashioned donnybrook after Buffalo captain Chris Drury got split open after a controversial hit from Ottawa's Chris Neil. Three players were ejected, including both starting goaltenders.

Ottawa took the play to Buffalo in the early goings, jumping out to a 10-4 shot advantage by the halfway mark of the period. They would hit the scoresheet first on the powerplay, when captain Daniel Alfredsson jumped on a rebound beside the net and casually roofed the puck into the net for his 21st of the season.

The Sens would strike again less than two minutes later. Dany Heatley dashed down his off wing and fired a gorgeous wrist shot over Martin Biron's shoulder for his 34th goal of the year and the 2-0 lead.

Buffalo would finally start to play with a bit of emotion and were rewarded late in the period with their first goal of the night. Drury jumped on a loose puck in front of Emery and wristed one top shelf for his 33rd goal of the year to bring the Sabres to within one at the end of one. Michael Ryan picked up an assist on the play, his first NHL point. Shots in the period favoured Ottawa 14-10.

Buffalo's hustle earned them a couple powerplays and they would convert on a Mike Comrie tripping call. Jason Pominville's slapshot from the point was beautifully redirected into the net by Thomas Vanek for his 30th goal of the campaign to even things at two.

Seconds later on the same shift, Vanek intercepted a puck near the Sens blueline, cut through two defenders and deked Emery on the way to his second goal in 39 seconds to give the Sabres the lead. Gorgeous goal by the super soph Vanek.

Cue the ugliness...

Drury got off a shot in the Ottawa zone and ended up getting blindsided by a Chris Neil check. Drury evidently hit his head on the ice (after his helmet became dislodged) and started bleeding profusely. Rookie Drew Stafford stepped up and challenged the tough Senators forward, earning both five minutes for fighting.

No other penalty was called on Neil.

Drury looked extremely dazed and there was a lot of blood on the ice but he ended up skating off under his own power. Lindy Ruff and the rest of the Sabres bench was INCENSED! Just livid!

The next shift sees Spezza and Heatley out for Ottawa while Ruff counters with rookie callup Patrick Kaleta, Adam Mair and Andrew Peters. Mair didn't even try to win the faceoff, as both he and Peters essentially tried to find a dance partner. Not getting the response they wanted, Peters and Mair took matters into their own hands and started throwing fists at anyone in white and the brawl was on!

The main event was Martin Biron versus Ray Emery...I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that Emery does some boxing on the side during his summer training sessions and you can tell he was pretty comfortable with the matchup, as he had a huge smile on his face as they both prepared for battle.

Not surprisingly, Emery basically killed Biron, pummelling him with a bunch of shots but much to his credit, he layed off him after he put him down to the ice. However, Peters wasn't going to let him get away with just the one fight, as he was all "pick on someone your own size Ray!", while Emery was "no problem, Meatball!"

Haha...that's what Emery called Peters in the postgame interviews...true story!

So Peters and Emery now go at it and unbelievably, not one Senators player comes to his aid. I know Emery can take care of himself but he has battled wrist problems this year and he's a freaking goaltender! Either way, Peters got a couple good shots in while Emery just held on.

Now it was Sens coach Bryan Murray who was incensed, as he was up on the glass pointing and swearing at Ruff by this point.

Needless to say, the crowd was EATING THIS UP!

It took about ten minutes for the refs to make sense of the mess and in the end, Peters, Biron and Emery were all sent to the showers while Kaleta and Mair also received misconducts. Oh yeah, instigators for both Peters and Mair and TWO fighting majors for Emery!!!

That added up to a six minute powerplay for Ottawa, four minutes of which were two men up.

They didn't score during the five on three but did convert late in the five on four penalty. Heatley took a nice cross-ice feed from Spezza and one-timed a shot past Ryan Miller to tie things at 3.

Buffalo had only 8 forwards at this point and had to move Nathan Paetsch up to wing just to keep three lines going.

The Sabres would regain the lead late in the period on a play that looked offside from my standpoint in the arena. The Buffalo-born Kaleta, playing his first NHL game and with the crowd behind him all game, made a nice feed to Clarke MacArthur in the slot. His quick wrist shot was stopped by Martin Gerber but he almost looked like he thought the play would be whistled dead.

It wasn't...and MacArthur jumped on his own rebound and shovelled it in for his first NHL goal while Kaleta picked up his first NHL point on the play. Shots after two favoured Ottawa 27-20.

Buffalo would take a two goal lead early in the third. Daniel Briere, quiet most of the night, made a nice feed to a pinching Dmitri Kalinin. He fired a slapshot that was stopped by Gerber but got his own rebound, waited for the goaltender to go down and wristed a shot into the top of the net for his fourth of the year. Nice patience from the much-maligned Kalinin.

Ottawa wasn't through, however.

Spezza scored his 23rd of the year three minutes later, tipping home a Wade Redden point shot to pull the Sens to within one. Then Mike Fisher scored two minutes later from the side boards on a shot Miller would love to have back to even things at 5 and eventually send the game to overtime.

In the extra session, Briere took a careless hooking call to give Ottawa a 4-on-3 powerplay for the last minute and a half. However, Buffalo's penalty killers were up to the task and held off the Ottawa charge to send the game to a shootout.

Inexplicably, Ottawa used the following shooters: Antoine Vermette, Dean McAmmond, Mike Comrie and Mike Fisher. None of them scored...

Where were the triplets? Very strange...

Buffalo sent out Briere, Vanek and Pominville and all three were stopped. But Drew Stafford's backhander would beat Gerber to end this unbelievably thrilling contest and send the partisan crowd home happy.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Michael Ryan-Chris Drury-Drew Stafford

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Adam Mair

Andrew Peters-Clarke MacArthur-Patrick Kaleta

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Brian Campbell-Nathan Paetsch

GOALTENDERS:

Martin Biron; Ryan Miller

SCRATCHES:

None

INJURIES:

D Jaroslav Spacek (hand); C Paul Gaustad (ankle); RW Maxim Afinogenov (wrist); LW Daniel Paille (broken finger); C Jiri Novotny (high ankle sprain); RW Ales Kotalik (MCL Sprain); C Tim Connolly: Long-term IR (post-concussion syndrome)

OTTAWA SENATORS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Dany Heatley-Jason Spezza-Chris Neil

Mike Comrie-Chris Kelly-Antoine Vermette

Christoph Schubert-Dean McAmmond-Chris Neil

Christoph Schubert-Dean McCammond-Patrick Eaves

DEFENSEMEN:

Wade Redden-Andrej Meszaros

Chris Phillips-Anton Volchenkov

Joe Corvo-Tom Preissing

GOALTENDERS:

Ray Emery; Martin Gerber

SCRATCHES:

RW Brian McGratton; RW Denis Hamel

INJURIES:

None

THE GOOD -

The way the team responded to the Drury injury was...words can't describe it. Talk about a gutsy effort! You could sense the joy in every single one of them after Miller made that final save on Fisher...just a huge win!

Drew Stafford became a MAN tonight! Stood up to Neil after the Drury injury, had two assists in regulation and then scores a gorgeous goal in the shootout to win the game.

Nathan Paetsch continues to shine in every situation. In fact, I loved almost all the defensemen tonight. Kalinin played his best game in some time, as did Numminen. Campbell looked good too.

Vanek is just a beast in front of the net and has hands like a surgeon. He just might score fifty one day...

Heatley was fantastic for Ottawa tonight...boy oh boy does he ever cause fits for the Sabres. Alfy looked dangerous all night too.

Loudest crowd of the year in Buffalo...with all that went on, I'd hope so!

THE BAD -

Another player goes down to injury. Thankfully, it looked worse than it probably is, according to Ruff in the postgame press conference. He indicated that Drury wanted to return to the game but the team decided to err on the side of caution. He still might miss a couple games but it shouldn't be a long-term thing.

There isn't much to complain about after a performance like this. If I had a gun pointed to my head, I'd call out Derek Roy again for his immaturity. ANOTHER diving penalty?!? Geez Derek, quit this crap!

Tallinder looked a bit shaky out there at times, which is surprising for him. Briere didn't do much tonight.

Murray in his post-game presser basically saying that Ottawa was seeking revenge in the return matchup on Saturday night. There's a good chance that Peters will get suspended for his shenanegans tonight which would leave the Sabres without a legit tough guy to counter Brian McGratton, who WILL be dressed for that game.

What a hockey game! Easily the game of the year so far!

Another player down to injury and maybe another one due to suspension. All I can say is that Rochester will be hard pressed to ice a full team this weekend!

BUFFALO 6, OTTAWA 5 (SO):
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Gameday Preview: Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres

2007-02-17T17:00:00.000-05:00

SEASON SERIES: Buffalo leads 5-0-1
2005-2006 SEASON SERIES: Buffalo went 7-1-0
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Buffalo is 97-102-30 (59-41-14 in Buffalo)

LAST GAME: February 1, 2007 in Boston

Chris Drury scored twice and Martin Biron turned aside 33 shots in a 3-1 Buffalo victory as they swept a home-and-home series. Jason Pominville scored the other Buffalo goal while Marco Sturm was the only Bruin to hit the scoresheet.

Buffalo Sabres –

OVERALL RECORD: 39-15-4 82 pts
STANDINGS: 1st Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 6-4-0
GOALS FOR: 214 (1st)
GOALS AGAINST: 164 (T-12th)
POWERPLAY: 17.0% (T-17th)
PENALTY KILLING: 81.7% (20th)
GOAL LEADERS: Chris Drury - 30; Thomas Vanek - 29; Daniel Briere - 25
ASSIST LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 44; Maxim Afinogenov - 34; Derek Roy - 28
POINT LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 69; Maxim Afinogenov - 57; Thomas Vanek - 56
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Thomas Vanek +30; Jason Pominville +21; Derek Roy +20
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Adam Mair - 89; Andrew Peters – 75; Paul Gaustad - 74
GOALTENDERS: Ryan Miller 27-11-3 2.64gaa .913sp; Martin Biron 12-4-1 2.84gaa .904sp
INJURIES: Tim Connolly (post-concussion syndrome) is Out; Paul Gaustad (severed tendon) is Out; Jiri Novotny (high ankle sprain) is Out; Maxim Afinogenov (broken wrist) is Out; Jaroslav Spacek (broken hand) is Out

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#55 Jochen Hecht - #48 Daniel Briere - #29 Jason Pominville

#20 Daniel Paille - #23 Chris Drury - #12 Ales Kotalik

#26 Thomas Vanek - #9 Derek Roy - #21 Drew Stafford

#22 Adam Mair - #41 Clarke MacArthur - #76 Andrew Peters

DEFENSE

#10 Henrik Tallinder - #5 Toni Lydman

#45 Dmitri Kalinin - #27 Teppo Numminen

#51 Brian Campbell - #38 Nathan Paetsch

GOAL

#30 Ryan Miller

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#43 Martin Biron; C#13 Jiri Novotny; RW#61 Maxim Afinogenov; D#6 Jaroslav Spacek; C#19 Tim Connolly (IR); C#28 Paul Gaustad (IR)

Boston Bruins –

OVERALL RECORD: 26-26-4 56 pts
STANDINGS: 12th Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 4-6-0
GOALS FOR: 157 (T-23rd)
GOALS AGAINST: 206 (29th)
POWERPLAY: 19.4% (T-7th)
PENALTY KILLING: 82.1% (18th)
GOAL LEADERS: Glen Murray - 27; Patrice Bergeron & Marc Savard – 18
ASSIST LEADERS: Marc Savard - 53; Patrice Bergeron - 36; Zdeno Chara - 27
POINT LEADERS: Marc Savard - 71; Patrice Bergeron - 54; Glen Murray - 44
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Andrew Ference +7; David Krejci & Nate Thompson E
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Andrew Alberts – 105; Paul Mara - 84; Zdeno Chara - 74
GOALTENDERS: Tim Thomas 23-18-3 3.16gaa .905sp; Hannu Toivonen 3-7-1 4.33gaa .869sp; Brian Finley 0-1-0 3.05gaa .909sp; Philippe Sauve 0-0-0 5.85gaa .826sp
INJURIES: Chuck Kobasew (elbow) is Out; Patrice Bergeron (lower body) is Doubtful;

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#16 Marco Sturm - #91 Marc Savard - #27 Glen Murray

#11 P.J. Axelsson - #81 Phil Kessel - #10 Brandon Bochenski

#17 Petr Tenkrat - #26 Brad Boyes - #13 Stanislav Chistov

#22 Shean Donovan - #53 Jeremy Reich - #18 Mark Mowers

DEFENSE

#23 Paul Mara - #33 Zdeno Chara

#21 Andrew Ference - #41 Andrew Alberts

#38 Bobby Allen - #25 Jason York

GOAL

#30 Tim Thomas

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#54 Hannu Toivonen; D#45 Mark Stuart; C#37 Patrice Bergeron; RW#12 Chuck Kobasew

Buffalo continues their successful homestand against divisional rival Boston tonight down at HSBC Arena.

The Bruins continue to stumble in their attempts to get into the playoff picture in the East and will likely be on the outside looking in come April.

They made a big move last week, trading future unrestricted free agent Brad Stuart to Calgary, along with former Sabre Wayne Primeau (or 'Captain Hook' as my Bruins-loving buddy calls him) for defenseman Andrew Ference and the injured Chuck Kobasew.

Not exactly a move that will help a team looking to make a run this year.

The Bruins continue to have tremendous difficulty scoring at even strength this year, as the club is an unsightly -55 overall on the season. That's second only to the woeful Philadelphia Flyers (sounds good saying that!).

Their special teams, especially their powerplay, continue to be above average.

Buffalo looks to win their fifth straight overall and eighth straight at home tonight but will be without two more key regulars in Jiri Novotny and Max Afinogenov.

Drew Stafford and Clarke MacArthur were called up from Rochester yesterday and will suit up tonight. Stafford especially will be given every chance to shine in the coming weeks, as it's expected that he will lineup alongside Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek on one of the scoring lines.

I expect to see Ryan Miller in goal for Buffalo tonight. Tim Thomas mans the pipes for Boston.

Is There a Doctor in the House?

2007-02-17T12:49:00.000-05:00

Better now than in the playoffs, Sabres fans.

We've seen four Buffalo starters go down with various ailments over the past three games. First, gritty forward Paul Gaustad took a skate to his ankle against the Senators a week and a half ago and found out a couple days later that his season was over. Severed tendon and four months of downtime.

Then, defenseman Jaroslav Spacek broke a bone in his hand last Saturday night against Calgary. It was his fourth shift back after missing time due to a tweaked knee. He's out for at least another couple weeks.

On Thursday night, two more players went down. Stalwart winger Maxim Afinogenov broke a bone in his wrist after falling in the second period. The fiesty Russian came back for one shift, scored a goal and was done. He's out for six weeks.

In the third period, it was Jiri Novotny's turn as he missed a check and went flying into the boards, reinjuring his ankle. He's out indefinitely.

Interestingly enough, I strongly feel that the Gaustad injury is the biggest blow to the team's hopes this year. Mostly due to the fact that he is out for the entire playoff run - he's one of the only bangers on the team that can actually skate a regular shift. Adam Mair, I'm sorry, doesn't count. He used up all his goals in the preseason and he just looks lost this year in every offensive situation.

My hope is that Drew Stafford is ready to take his game to the next level. He has good size and is strong along the boards. He will likely get the assignment to play alongside Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek while Afinogenov recovers.

The loss of Max hurts but isn't going to kill the team. His game has dropped off noticeably over the past couple of weeks - you can see the selfishness coming back a bit, although having Vanek back on his line the other day seemed to calm him down somewhat. You can't replace Afinogenov's skill and speed but he will be back around the first of April, just in time to prove his naysayers wrong about his playoff performances.

Bruins/Sabres preview on the way...

The Slacker Returns

2007-02-15T10:32:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the prolonged absence.

I used the four day break to work on some other projects but I'll be back later today with a preview of tonight's game against the Oilers and some quick thoughts on the Calgary/Buffalo matchup from Saturday night.

Gameday Preview: Calgary Flames at Buffalo Sabres

2007-02-10T12:56:00.000-05:00

SEASON SERIES: First Game in 2006-07
2005-2006 SEASON SERIES: Calgary won 1-0-0
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Buffalo is 30-20-7 (19-7-2 in Buffalo)

LAST GAME: January 21, 2006 in Calgary

A controversial goal by Robyn Regehr early in the second period propelled the Flames to a 4-1 win over the Sabres. Darren McCarty, Kristian Huselius and Shean Donovan also scored for Calgary while Maxim Afinogenov replied for Buffalo. Miikka Kiprusoff earned the win while Martin Biron took the loss.

Buffalo Sabres –

OVERALL RECORD: 37-15-4 78 pts
STANDINGS: 1st Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 6-4-0
GOALS FOR: 209 (1st)
GOALS AGAINST: 161 (T-12th)
POWERPLAY: 17.3% (T-15th)
PENALTY KILLING: 82.0% (18th)
GOAL LEADERS: Chris Drury - 30; Thomas Vanek - 28; Two Tied with 23
ASSIST LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 44; Maxim Afinogenov - 34; Derek Roy - 27
POINT LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 67; Maxim Afinogenov - 56; Thomas Vanek - 54
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Thomas Vanek +28; Jason Pominville +20; Derek Roy +19
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Adam Mair - 89; Paul Gaustad 74; Andrew Peters – 70
GOALTENDERS: Ryan Miller 25-11-4 2.71gaa .912sp; Martin Biron 12-4-1 2.84gaa .904sp
INJURIES: Tim Connolly (post-concussion syndrome) is Out; Paul Gaustad (ankle) is Out; Jaroslav Spacek (knee) is Probable

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#55 Jochen Hecht - #48 Daniel Briere - #29 Jason Pominville

#20 Daniel Paille - #23 Chris Drury - #12 Ales Kotalik

#26 Thomas Vanek - #9 Derek Roy - #61 Maxim Afinogenov

#38 Nathan Paetsch - #13 Jiri Novotny - #22 Adam Mair

DEFENSE

#10 Henrik Tallinder - #5 Toni Lydman

#45 Dmitri Kalinin - #27 Teppo Numminen

#51 Brian Campbell - #6 Jaroslav Spacek

GOAL

#30 Ryan Miller

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#43 Martin Biron; C#28 Paul Gaustad; RW#76 Andrew Peters; C#19 Tim Connolly (IR)

Calgary Flames –

OVERALL RECORD: 29-18-7 65 pts
STANDINGS: 3rd Western Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 5-2-3
GOALS FOR: 168 (14th)
GOALS AGAINST: 138 (5th)
POWERPLAY: 16.8% (T-17th)
PENALTY KILLING: 80.4% (23rd)
GOAL LEADERS: Kristian Huselius & Jarome Iginla - 24; Daymond Langkow - 22
ASSIST LEADERS: Alex Tanguay - 35; Jarome Iginla - 34; Daymond Langkow - 33
POINT LEADERS: Jarome Iginla - 58; Daymond Langkow - 55; Two Tied with 50
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Roman Hamrlik +23; Daymond Langkow +22; Robyn Regehr +21
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Dion Phaneuf – 73; Andrew Ference - 66; Darren McCarty - 58
GOALTENDERS: Miikka Kiprusoff 27-16-6 2.26gaa .923sp; Jamie McLennan 2-2-1 3.32gaa .904sp
INJURIES: Chuck Kobasew (elbow) is Out; Darren McCarty (hip) is Out; Richie Regehr (Concussion) is Out; Rhett Warrener (arm) is Questionable

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#40 Alex Tanguay - #24 Craig Conroy - #12 Jarome Iginla

#20 Kristian Huselius - #22 Daymond Langkow - #58 David Moss

#26 Marcus Nilson - #18 Matthew Lombardi - #10 Tony Amonte

#16 Jeff Friesen - #11 Stephane Yelle - #17 Eric Godard

DEFENSE

#3 Dion Phaneuf - #4 Roman Hamrlik

#7 Andrei Zyuzin - #26 Robyn Regehr

#5 Mark Giordano - #24 21 Andrew Ference

GOAL

#34 Miikka Kiprusoff

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#29 Jamie McLennan; D#44 Rhett Warrener; C#15 Byron Ritchie; RW#19 Chuck Kobasew; RW#25 Darren McCarty; D#49 Richie Regehr

The Buffalo Sabres continue their season-high six game homestand tonight as they welcome the Northwest Division-leading Calgary Flames to the HSBC Arena for the first time since November 2001.

Calgary is coming off a tough 2-1 loss to Columbus on Thursday night and have struggled on the road all season, winning only 7 of 19 contests away from home.

The hottest Flame right now is unheralded Kristian Huselius, who has an NHL-season high 14 game point streak going. He is playing with the rejuvenated Daymond Langkow on Calgary's second line and both have helped take some pressure off stalwart captain Jarome Iginla, who continues to play at a high level.

The key player for the Flames, however, is their goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. He had a rare night off on Thursday as he gave way to seldom-used Jamie McLennan but will be refreshed and ready to go tonight in Buffalo. The Sabres have to get some traffic in front of the stalwart Finnish-born Kiprusoff, as he stops almost everything he sees.

The Sabres are starting to get back to the hard-forechecking team we saw earlier in the season and will need to put a lot of pressure on Calgary's excellent defense again tonight if they're to have a chance at victory. Special teams will also play a role - both clubs have struggled with their powerplay and penalty killing this year and it will likely be a big factor.

Both clubs are excellent in five-on-five situations.

Paul Gaustad will miss the game tonight after getting sliced with a skate blade against the Senators on Wednesday. Nathan Paetsch will likely move up to play left wing on the fourth line with the return of Jaroslav Spacek to the lineup.

That means that Daniel Paille will be the most likely candidate to play alongside Chris Drury and Ales Kotalik.

Ryan Miller is expected to get the call in goal for Buffalo.

I will be at the game tonight and I've been looking forward to it all week. I'll be in the Bleeding Blue and Gold season seats with a bunch of buddies, a few of whom are big Flames fans. I don't expect to have a voice left after tonight!

For info from a Flames fan perspective, visit Battle of Alberta, the wonderfully-named Five Hole Fanatics or Red Mile: The Calgary Flames Blog.

Vanek's Pair Leads Buffalo Over Nemesis

2007-02-10T11:55:00.000-05:00

Thomas Vanek scored two goals, including one with four minutes remaining in regulation, to send the Buffalo Sabres to a rare 3-2 win over arch nemesis Ottawa.

Maxim Afinogenov scored the other Buffalo goal. Martin Biron got the start in goal and was excellent, making 28 saves to pick up the win.

Dean McCammond and Peter Schaefer scored for Ottawa. Ray Emery took the loss but was often outstanding in a 34 save performance.

There was nothing to write home about in the first period for either team. Countless turnovers and offside calls completely ruined the flow of play and Buffalo was fortunate that the well-rested Senators couldn't take advantage of their sloppy and lethargic play.

The scoreless first ended with the Sabres holding a 15-8 shot advantage - most of the shots coming from long distance. Vanek had the best chance in the period when he stole the puck from behind the Sens net and circled in front all alone. However, Emery made a nice save to keep the game scoreless.

Buffalo would get on the board first a little past the halfway point of the game. Sens defenseman Anton Volchenkov had a complete brainfart and tried to pass the puck to his defense partner in the Ottawa zone. It was easily intercepted by a forechecking Vanek and he stormed in all alone on Emery. Vanek's momentum into the zone caught Emery out of position high in the crease and he was able to shovel the puck into the net easily for his 27th of the year and the 1-0 lead.

The Sens would reply less than a minute later. Joe Corvo stomed down the right wing and fired a slap shot that Biron couldn't smother. The rebound popped out to McCammond, who had eluded the Sabres backchecker and calmly knocked the puck in for his 6th of the year.

Buffalo would regain their advantage late in the period. Derek Roy forced a turnover in the Sabres zone and charged up ice down the left side. With defenseman Nathan Paetsch charging to the net, Roy's cross-ice feed to Afinogenov was one-timed off the goal post and into the net, giving Max his 22nd of the year. It was his first goal in nine games and gave the Sabres the 2-1 lead heading into the third period. Shots after two favoured Buffalo, 26-19.

The third period saw a bit of controversy. With Paul Gaustad in the box for hooking, a Teppo Numminen backhand clearance left the ice surface and he was sent off for delay of game. However, replays showed that Teppo's clearing play bounced off the boards and out, meaning the play was clean.

Unfortunately, the play stood as called and Ottawa would tie the game on the resulting powerplay. Schaefer was able to knock in a loose puck in the crease for his ninth of the year to knot things at two.

What could easily have knocked the Sabres off their game turned into a rallying point for the team. They competed hard during the last ten minutes and were rewarded with the winning goal on a powerplay of their own.

A fantastic shift by Vanek saw him get a great chance in front of the net, only to have it blocked by Volchenkov. The puck came back to Ales Kotalik at the point and his shot was redirected on the way to the net right to the stick of Vanek, who easily poked it into the yawning cage for his second of the game and the 3-2 lead.

Ottawa would take a late penalty to diminish their chances of a late comeback and the Sabres held on after a brief flurry for the win.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Paul Gaustad-Chris Drury-Ales Kotalik

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Maxim Afinogenov

Daniel Paille-Jiri Novotny-Adam Mair

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Brian Campbell-Nathan Paetsch

GOALTENDERS:

Martin Biron; Ryan Miller (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

RW Andrew Peters

INJURIES:

D Jaroslav Spacek (knee); C Tim Connolly: Long-term IR (post-concussion syndrome)

OTTAWA SENATORS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Dany Heatley-Chris Kelly-Daniel Alfredsson

Peter Schaefer-Jason Spezza-Mike Fisher

Antoine Vermette-Mike Comrie-Chris Neil

Christoph Schubert-Dean McCammond-Patrick Eaves

DEFENSEMEN:

Wade Redden-Andrej Meszaros

Chris Phillips-Anton Volchenkov

Joe Corvo-Tom Preissing

GOALTENDERS:

Ray Emery; Martin Gerber (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

RW Brian McGratton; RW Denis Hamel

INJURIES:

None

THE GOOD -

The Vanek from earlier in the season looks to be coming back. Excellent hustle all night and he continues to be deadly in front of the net.

I can't say enough about the continued improvement from Paetsch. He's been a revelation.

Biron, the big rebound aside, was excellent again for Buffalo and really should see action at least one out of every three games from here on out.

The whole Drury/Kotalik/Gaustad line was excellent and forechecking like mad. Kotalik had five shots and four hits to lead the way.

Buffalo did a great job negating Heatley and Alfredsson, who combined for only six shots all night.

Emery was outstanding for the Senators once again. His positional play and lateral movement looks to be much improved from last year.

Ottawa's fourth line of Schubert, McCammond and Eaves were the best threesome on the evening.

THE BAD -

I don't know if it could possibly be right but Buffalo was credited with an unbelievable 33 GIVEAWAYS!!! Yikes! Toni Lydman was the biggest culprit with six turnovers. Derek Roy has got to clean up his act as well - he was awful in the first period but bounced back in the last two periods.

Soupy continues to look like a shell of the player we saw in November. Snap out of it Brian!

The Briere line did absolutely nothing out there on this night.

Ottawa's weird line combinations. Putting Fisher on the wing? Chris Kelly on the first line? Comrie playing a checking role? Did Bryan Murray let his grandchild come up with line combos? Strange...

Volchenkov's blunder...the definition of ugly.

What a great confidence booster for the Sabres, who played the night before in a shootout and still were able to outhustle the Senators for most of the evening.

The only bad news for Buffalo is the fact that Paul Gaustad left the game early in the third with a cut above his ankle from another skate. He took a bunch of stitches and won't be ready to go for the Calgary game.

Jaroslav Spacek is due back in time for the Saturday contest.

BUFFALO 3, OTTAWA 2:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Buffalo Heads into Homestand on a Winning Note

2007-02-06T22:54:00.000-05:00

Daniel Briere scored two goals in regulation and one in a shootout to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-3 win against the Southeast Division-leading Atlanta Thrashers.

Thomas Vanek scored the other Buffalo goal in regulation and Ales Kotalik's wrist shot in the shootout sealed the victory. Nathan Paetsch (2a) joined Briere with a multipoint game, his first in the NHL.

Ryan Miller made 27 saves to pick up his 25th win of the year.

Ilya Kovalchuk, Jon Sim and Scott Mellanby scored for Atlanta. Kari Lehtonen took the loss despite making 25 saves.

Buffalo was the better club early in this contest, winning most of the battles in the corners and generally outskating their opponents in all three zones. They were able to draw a penalty around the seven minute mark and would capitalize on their first powerplay of the game.

Briere got the puck behind the net and fed it back to the point. Paetsch's shot deflected towards Briere and he smartly punched the puck out of the air with his fist. Then, in one motion, he swatted the puck into the net before it hit the ground from behind the goal line.

Great hand-eye coordination for Briere's 22nd of the year.

It took less than forty seconds for Atlanta to tie it up. Kovalchuk found some space at the bottom of the circle and was able to wrist a Steve Rucchin pass into the net past Miller on his low blocker side for his 31st of the year. Sloppy work by the Sabres fourth line on the play, something that was too common with these three all night.

Buffalo outshot Atlanta 14-10 in the first.

Atlanta took their first lead of the game on a shot Miller would love to have back. Both teams were changing as the Thrashers gained possession inside their own zone. Andy Sutton alertly looped a high clearing pass into the Sabres zone and the tenacious Sim tracked the puck down and threw a quick wrist shot from the side boards that caught Miller by surprise, beating him blocker side once again for his 14th of the year.

Atlanta got into some penalty trouble, with Lehtonen getting a high-sticking penalty and then Sutton was boxed for hooking. Buffalo would tie the game on the Sutton powerplay.

Teppo Numminen fed a smart pass from the neutral zone to Vanek, who was storming in down the right flank. He got a step on the Thrashers defenseman and fired a perfect wrist shot into the top left corner of the net for his career-high 26th goal to knot things at two.

Greg de Vries would take another hooking penalty a minute later, nullifying a Sabres breakaway but Buffalo's suddenly deadly powerplay would make him pay.

Great work by Paetsch on the side boards won the puck from two Thrashers defenders who had cheated toward him. He fired a cross-ice pass to an unmarked Briere who took the pass than snapped it over Lehtonen's shoulder for his second of the game and the 3-2 lead.

Shots after two favoured Buffalo 22-20.

The third period saw a lot of neutral zone play but Buffalo got nailed for a couple penalties of their own. Vanek got hit with an extremely marginal hooking penalty, something that reeked of a make-up call and Atlanta quickly capitalized.

Marian Hossa, pretty quiet all night, was able to get a pass from down low through the crease to Mellanby, who deftly swatted the puck out of mid-air past Miller for his 10th of the year to tie the game at three.

Atlanta would pour it on late in the third and also in the subsequent overtime period but Buffalo and Miller were able to hold them off, sending the game to a shootout.

Slava Kozlov went first for Atlanta and his attempted backhander was stopped by Miller. Briere went next for Buffalo and he pulled his backhand move out, fooling Lehtonen top-shelf to give the Sabres the one goal advantage.

Hossa went next for Atlanta and his wrist shot was easily put aside by Miller, giving Buffalo the chance to end things with their next shooter.

Up stepped Kotalik and he skated in down the left side, made a little move to his forehand and beat the out-of-position Lehtonen with a quick wrist shot to seal the win.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Paul Gaustad-Chris Drury-Ales Kotalik

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Maxim Afinogenov

Daniel Paille-Jiri Novotny-Adam Mair

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Brian Campbell-Nathan Paetsch

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Martin Biron (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

RW Andrew Peters

INJURIES:

D Jaroslav Spacek (knee); C Tim Connolly: Long-term IR (post-concussion syndrome)

ATLANTA THRASHERS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Slava Kozlov-Niko Kapanen-Marian Hossa

Ilya Kovalchuk-Steve Rucchin-Jon Sim

Brad Larsen-Bobby Holik-Scott Mellanby

Jim Slater-Glen Metropolit-Darren Haydar

DEFENSEMEN:

Andy Sutton-Niclas Havelid

Garnet Exelby-Greg de Vries

Steve McCarthy-Shane Hnidy

GOALTENDERS:

Kari Lehtonen; Johan Hedberg (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

RW Eric Boulton; D Vitaly Vishnevski; D Braydon Coburn

INJURIES:

RW J.P. Vigier (groin)

THE GOOD -

I thought the Sabres did a good job cycling the puck tonight, for the most part, and controlled play in the Atlanta zone. A pretty workmanlike effort, relatively speaking.

Briere continues to run very hot these days. All three goals he scored tonight were beauties.

I liked Vanek's game tonight. He had some decent jump and didn't turn the puck over one time all night. Great shot too...I wish he would use it more.

Tallinder and Lydman were horses tonight, each playing almost 30 minutes. I saw a couple mistakes from both but their overall solid play made up for them.

Nathan Paetsch continues to improve on a nightly basis and was excellent again tonight. He's been fantastic on the powerplay and was rewarded with his first ever multipoint game in the NHL. I don't see how Lindy Ruff can keep him out of the lineup, even with Spacek's impending return.

Kovalchuk was dangerous all night for Atlanta. I also liked the steady play from Andy Sutton. Their fourth line played with a lot of energy - Slater has great wheels.

THE BAD -

The Sabres fourth line was pretty bad tonight. They had one good shift in the third period with Pominville in Mair's place but Dan Paille looked like he was playing with a hot potato. He kept missing the puck on the cycle and eventually the Thrashers were able to gain control. The rookie didn't look his best tonight.

What is wrong with Brian Campbell?? He is reverting back to his 2003 form and that is not a pleasant site. He only played 14 minutes tonight and he will be fighting with Kalinin to stay out of the press box. Kalinin was a BIT better tonight but is still battling with confidence issues.

What is wrong with Max Afinogenov?? He is reverting back to his 2003 form and that is not a pleasant site. Where have I heard that before? Seriously, Max is getting that tunnel-vision thing again where he skates around aimlessly with the puck and refuses to use his teammates. He had at least two opportunities to feed an uncovered Vanek but either didn't see him or had more grandiose plans. Start using your linemates Max!

Miller continues to let in one really bad goal a night. He's got to play himself out of this funk.

Hossa was very average on this night, something that always seems to be the case against Buffalo for some reason. Holik continues to be a huge bust wherever he goes. Decent checker but he makes entirely too much money for what he brings to the table.

Nice win against a solid Atlanta team. Now, the team has to race home to face a well-rested Ottawa Senators team. I expect Martin Biron to get the call in net for Buffalo.

There is a chance Jaro Spacek plays as well...who will Lindy sit?

Hopefully, the Sabres still have something left in the tank.

For more from the Thrashers fan perspective, visit Do The Thrashers Have Large Talons? and ThrashersBlog.

BUFFALO 4, ATLANTA 3 (SO):
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Gameday Preview: Buffalo Sabres at Atlanta Thrashers

2007-02-06T17:25:00.000-05:00

SEASON SERIES: Buffalo leads 1-0-1
2005-2006 SEASON SERIES: Buffalo went 2-2-0
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Buffalo is 12-12-2 (4-7-1 in Atlanta)

LAST GAME: December 30, 2006 in Buffalo

Thomas Vanek scored two late goals and added an assist in a 4-1 Sabres win over the Thrashers. Daniel Briere and Jason Pominville also scored for Buffalo while Glen Metropolit replied for Atlanta. Ryan Miller picked up the win for the Sabres.

Buffalo Sabres –

OVERALL RECORD: 35-15-4 74 pts
STANDINGS: 1st Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 4-5-1
GOALS FOR: 202 (1st)
GOALS AGAINST: 156 (14th)
POWERPLAY: 16.5% (20th)
PENALTY KILLING: 82.1% (17th)
GOAL LEADERS: Chris Drury - 30; Thomas Vanek - 25; Jason Pominville - 23
ASSIST LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 44; Maxim Afinogenov - 34; Three Tied with 26
POINT LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 65; Maxim Afinogenov - 55; Chris Drury - 52
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Thomas Vanek +26; Jason Pominville +21; Jaroslav Spacek +18
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Adam Mair - 89; Paul Gaustad 72; Andrew Peters – 70
GOALTENDERS: Ryan Miller 24-11-4 2.71gaa .913sp; Martin Biron 11-4-1 2.90gaa .902sp
INJURIES: Tim Connolly (post-concussion syndrome) is Out; Jaroslav Spacek (knee) is Out

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#55 Jochen Hecht - #48 Daniel Briere - #29 Jason Pominville

#28 Paul Gaustad - #23 Chris Drury - #12 Ales Kotalik

#26 Thomas Vanek - #9 Derek Roy - #61 Maxim Afinogenov

#20 Daniel Paille - #13 Jiri Novotny - #22 Adam Mair

DEFENSE

#10 Henrik Tallinder - #5 Toni Lydman

#45 Dmitri Kalinin - #27 Teppo Numminen

#51 Brian Campbell - #38 Nathan Paetsch

GOAL

#30 Ryan Miller

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#43 Martin Biron; D#6 Jaroslav Spacek; RW#76 Andrew Peters; C#19 Tim Connolly (IR)

Atlanta Thrashers –

OVERALL RECORD: 29-18-8 66 pts
STANDINGS: 3rd Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 5-5-0
GOALS FOR: 169 (8th)
GOALS AGAINST: 170 (22nd)
POWERPLAY: 16.3% (T-22nd)
PENALTY KILLING: 79.0% (27th)
GOAL LEADERS: Marian Hossa - 31; Ilya Kovalchuk – 30; Slava Kozlov - 17
ASSIST LEADERS: Slava Kozlov - 36; Marian Hossa - 35; Ilya Kovalchuk - 26
POINT LEADERS: Marian Hossa - 66; Ilya Kovalchuk - 56; Slava Kozlov - 53
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Glen Metropolit +11; Jim Slater +8; Three Tied at +6
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Scott Mellanby – 57; Greg de Vries - 56; Bobby Holik - 54
GOALTENDERS: Kari Lehtonen 24-15-7 2.86gaa .909sp; Johan Hedberg 5-3-1 3.17gaa .881sp
INJURIES: J.P. Vigier (groin) is Out

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#13 Slava Kozlov - #39 Niko Kapanen - #18 Marian Hossa

#17 Ilya Kovalchuk - #20 Steve Rucchin - #14 Jon Sim

#29 Brad Larsen - #16 Bobby Holik - #19 Scott Mellanby

#23 Jim Slater - #9 Glen Metropolit - #38 Darren Haydar

DEFENSE

#25 Andy Sutton - #26 Niclas Havelid

#7 Greg de Vries - #2 Garnet Exelby

#5 Steve McCarthy - #34 Shane Hnidy

GOAL

#32 Kari Lehtonen

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#1 Johan Hedberg; D#3 Vitaly Vishnevski; D#4 Braydon Coburn; LW#36 Eric Boulton;

Two struggling divisional leaders face off tonight as the Atlanta Thrashers host the road-weary Buffalo Sabres at Philips Arena.

Atlanta's defensive play has suffered in recent weeks but the blueliners and especially goaltender Kari Lehtonen remain the key to the Thrashers chances in the postseason. He's a superb goaltending prospect.

The majority of Atlanta's scoring comes from three players, which makes the team easier to defend. Marian Hossa, Slava Kozlov and Ilya Kovalchuk will all see over 20 minutes of icetime tonight - Thrashers coach Bob Hartley has experimented with different line combinations this year as a means of spreading out the offense but nothing has really worked.

Their hold on the Southeast Division lead is slipping and they will be ready for Buffalo tonight.

Buffalo have played four of their last five games on the road and only have one win to show for it, a 3-1 win Thursday night against the Boston Bruins.

The Sabres will welcome Jiri Novotny back to the lineup after a six-game absence due to a high-ankle sprain. He will be slotted in as the fourth line center between Adam Mair and Daniel Paille. Andrew Peters is expected to sit this one out in favour of Paille.

Novotny's return means the Sabres can revert back to their regular lines that were successful earlier in the year. That means Thomas Vanek will be back with Derek Roy and Maxim Afinogenov, who've both looked lost without their regular left winger. Paul Gaustad will be moved up to play left wing with the team's leading goal scorer, Chris Drury and right winger Ales Kotalik.

Defenseman Jaroslav Spacek will sit this game out with his knee injury but he's taking part in practice and may be ready to return tomorrow night against the Ottawa Senators.

That means someone will have to sit - all I know is that Dmitri Kalinin better play his best game of the season tonight if he wants to keep his place in the lineup. Nathan Paetsch is outplaying him right now and deserves a spot on the blueline.

Ryan Miller, who has lost all three of his starts since the all-star break, is expected in net for Buffalo.

Sabres Blow Another Third Period Lead

2007-02-06T13:49:00.000-05:00

The New Jersey Devils scored three goals in the third period and held on late to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Saturday night.

John Madden, Jamie Langenbrunner and Zach Parise scored the New Jersey goals. Parise and Langenbrunner both added an assist in the win and were aided by Martin Brodeur's 15 saves.

Chris Drury scored his career-best tying 30th goal in the game and Teppo Numminen scored his first late in the contest to give Buffalo false hope.

Ryan Miller was solid in stopping 34 of 37 shots but his teammates weren't able to put enough pressure on the Devils in their own end to seal their demise.

Since I'm late with my recap, I'll refer you to Kevin's post at BfloBlog for his thoughts on the contest.

I'll be back around 6pm tonight with my preview of the Thrashers/Sabres contest taking place tonight at Philips Arena in Atlanta.

February 2007 Prospect Report - Goaltenders & Defensemen

2007-02-03T15:07:00.000-05:00

It's that time again!

We love prospects at Bleeding Blue and Gold so we continue our tradition of providing monthly updates on all of the youngsters and unsigned players in Buffalo's system, starting with goaltenders and defensemen.

Adam Berkhoel - G

AGE: 25
BIRTHPLACE: St. Paul, MN, USA
DRAFTED: Eighth Round (240th Overall) by Chicago in 2000
HOW ACQUIRED: Free Agent Signing on September 7, 2006
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Dayton Bombers (ECHL) 31GP 19-9-3 2.17gaa .913sp

Berkhoel leads the ECHL in goals against average for the third month in a row. His 19 wins rank second behind Jamie Hodson of Bakersfield. He went 5-4-2 during the month of January with Dayton. As I've said before, there is very little chance for Berkhoel to succeed in this organization with guys like Dennis and Enroth in his way.

Adam Dennis - G

AGE: 21
BIRTHPLACE: Toronto, ON, Canada
DRAFTED: Sixth Round (182nd Overall) by Buffalo in 2005
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Rochester Americans (AHL) 17GP 11-6-0 3.07gaa .904sp

Dennis continues to split time on the farm right now with Craig Anderson, one of Florida's prospects. Dennis went 2-2-0 in his four starts and his goals against dropped from 3.24 to 3.07. Dennis will continue his development in Rochester this year and may replace Martin Biron as backup for Ryan Miller in 2007/08.

Jhonas Enroth - G

AGE: 18
BIRTHPLACE: Stockholm, Sweden
DRAFTED: Second Round (46th Overall) by Buffalo in 2006
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Södertälje SK (Allsvenskan) 19GP 1.66gaa .936sp

Södertälje J20 (SuperElit) 3GP 1.33gaa .956sp

Team Sweden U20 (WJC) 3GP 2-1-0 2.91gaa .887sp

2006 second rounder Jhonas Enroth only saw action in three games for Södertälje SK in January, partially due to his commitments for the World Junior squad. He continues to play at a very high level but will likely stay in Sweden for at least one more year before Darcy Regier looks to get him under contract.

Alex Biega - D

AGE: 18
BIRTHPLACE: Montreal, PQ, Quebec
DRAFTED: Fifth Round (147th Overall) by Buffalo in 2006
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Harvard Crimson (ECAC) 21GP 4g 9a 13pts -3 24pim

Biega played six games with Harvard in January, notching 3 assists. He went +1 in those games and also compiled 8 penalty minutes. Biega is tied for fourth in scoring for the Crimson as a freshman.

Vyacheslav Buravchikov - D

AGE: 19
BIRTHPLACE: Moscow, Russia
DRAFTED: Sixth Round (191st Overall) by Buffalo in 2005
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Ak Bars Kazan (RSL) 32GP 0g 1a 1pt +2 18pim

Team Russia U20 (WJC) 6GP 2g 2a 4pts +1 2pim

Buravchikov finally got his first point of the year in the very low-scoring Russian Super League, notching an assist along with four penalty minutes in seven games with Ak Bars Kazan. Don't let the low point total fool you: Buravchikov is a highly-touted offensive defenseman. My Russian source says the whole idea of him being committed to the Army in Russia "is a lie" to keep him in Russia. Darcy Regier, are you reading this? This is an important player to get signed for Buffalo's future, in my opinion.

Chris Butler - D

AGE: 20
BIRTHPLACE: St. Louis, MO, USA
DRAFTED: Fourth Round (96th Overall) by Buffalo in 2005
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Denver Pioneers (WCHA) 30GP 8g 13a 21pts +7 34pim

Butler's status within the organization continues to grow. He played nine games for the Pioneers in January, scoring two goals and adding three assists along with a +2 rating. He also picked up 16 penalty minutes in the month. He still leads Pioneers defensemen in scoring and is fifth overall on the club. Look for him to be rewarded with a contract either this summer or next.

Mike Card - D

AGE: 20
BIRTHPLACE: Penticton, BC, Canada
DRAFTED: Eighth Round (241st Overall) by Buffalo in 2005
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Buffalo Sabres (NHL) 4GP 0g 0a 0pts +0 0pim

Rochester Americans (AHL) 36GP 1g 7a 8pts +5 34pim

Card's game continues to evolve with Rochester and he was rewarded with his first professional goal. In eight January games with the Amerks, he picked up a goal and 3 assists and went +2, easily his best month in the pros. He also picked up four penalty minutes. However, word from my Rochester sources is that his physical play is non-existent and that he may be too soft for the NHL.

Denis Denisov - D

AGE: 25
BIRTHPLACE: Kalinin, Russia
DRAFTED: Fifth Round (149th Overall) by Buffalo in 2000
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Avangard Omsk (RSL) 43GP 2g 8a 10pts +7 28pim

The recently-turned 25 year old played nine games in January and picked up two assists and two penalty minutes. I don't expect to see him play in the National Hockey League, as he's a marginal prospect at this juncture.

Denis Ezhov - D

AGE: 21
BIRTHPLACE: Togliatti, Russia
DRAFTED: Fourth Round (114th Overall) by Buffalo in 2003
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Traktor Chelyabinsk (RSL) 44GP 1g 5a 6pts +4 65pim

This gritty Russian is having his best professional season with Traktor of the Russian Super League. He played nine games in January, notching two assists while going +1. He also picked up 6 minutes in penalties. Another marginal prospect for the Sabres.

Michael Funk - D

AGE: 20
BIRTHPLACE: Abbotsford, BC, Canada
DRAFTED: Second Round (43rd Overall) by Buffalo in 2004
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Buffalo Sabres (NHL) 5GP 0g 2a 2pts +2 0pim

Rochester Americans (AHL) 27GP 2g 4a 6pts +5 20pim

Funk hasn't played since January 4th, when he strained his groin muscle. He should be back sometime in the next week. Buffalo is likely pleased with the progress of his game but he has likely been passed on the depth chart by fellow Amerk Andrej Sekera.

Matt Generous - D

AGE: 21
BIRTHPLACE: Methuen, MA, USA
DRAFTED: Seventh Round (208th Overall) by Buffalo in 2005
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

St. Lawrence (ECAC) 24GP 3g 4a 7pts +5 18pim

Generous had a nice month in January, playing seven games, scoring two goals and adding an assist. He also was a superb +6 during the month while adding four penalty minutes. He's still a long way from getting a pro contract.

Marc-Andre Gragnani - D

AGE: 19
BIRTHPLACE: Montreal, PQ, Canada
DRAFTED: Third Round (87th Overall) by Buffalo in 2005
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

PEI Rocket (QMJHL) 47GP 13g 37a 50pts +8 48pim

Gragnani had a relatively slow month in January on the scoresheet. He played 12 games, scoring one goal and adding five assists. He also was a -4, picking up 14 penalty minutes. He's currently fifth in scoring for the Rocket and the top defenseman. He is still tied for fourth in scoring for defensemen in the QMJHL.

Thomas Morrow - D

AGE: 23
BIRTHPLACE: St. Paul, MN, USA
DRAFTED: Fifth Round (150th Overall) by Buffalo in 2003
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Boston Terriers (HE) 21GP 1g 0a 1pt +7 16pim

The towering Morrow has been a healthy scratch on occasion for the Terriers and went pointless in three games in January. He is just not a good enough skater for today's NHL and is unlikely to play professional hockey.

Dennis Persson - D

AGE: 18
BIRTHPLACE: Nyköping, Sweden
DRAFTED: First Round (24th Overall) by Buffalo in 2006
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Djurgårdens IF (Elitserien) 8GP 0g 0a 0pts 2pim

Djurgårdens IF J20 (J20 SuperElit) 6GP 1g 2a 3pts 4pim

Almtuna IS (Allsvenskan) 3GP 0g 0a 0pts 2pim

Nyköping (Allsvenskan) 29GP 4g 4a 8pts 38pim

Persson played 7 games last month with Tier-II Nyköping, going without a point while picking up 10 minutes in penalties. He is a top prospect for the Sabres and will likely be a leader for Sweden at next year's World Junior Championship.

Andrej Sekera - D

AGE: 20
BIRTHPLACE: Bojnice, Slovakia
DRAFTED: Third Round (71st Overall) by Buffalo in 2004
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Buffalo Sabres (NHL) 2GP 0g 0a 0pts +1 2pim

Rochester Americans (AHL) 30GP 3g 11a 14pts +12 24pim

Sekera continues to improve his defensive game at the professional level. He played ten games in January, scoring once and adding two assists. However, he went an impressive +10 during that stretch while adding six penalty minutes. Sekera is the first guy who'd be called up if the Sabres were in need of a defenseman.

Pavel Voroshnin - D

AGE: 22
BIRTHPLACE: Chelyabinsk, Russia
DRAFTED: Sixth Round (172nd Overall) by Buffalo in 2003
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of February 2, 2007

Lada Togliatti (RSL) 3GP 0g 0a 0pts +0 2pim

Khimik Moskovskaja Oblast (RSL) 1GP 0g 0a 0pts +0 0pim

Voroshnin continues to be a scratch for most of the 2006-07 season due to Khimik having a stacked team. He finally played his first game for them in January and didn't hit the scoresheet. He isn't really a prospect and I don't expect to see him offered a contract.

Mike Weber - D

AGE: 19
BIRTHPLACE: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
DRAFTED: Second Round (57th Overall) by Buffalo in 2006
2006-07 STATISTICS: As of January 3, 2007

Windsor Spitfires (OHL) 30GP 3g 16a 19pts -11 86pim

Barrie Colts (OHL) 13GP 1g 3a 4pts +5 30pim

The 19 year old Weber played in 13 games in January with his new team, the Barrie Colts. He scored one goal and added three assists while going +5 with 30 penalty minutes. Weber projects as a tough, defensive defenseman and I won't be surprised if he gets a contract offer in the summer.

Gameday Preview: Buffalo Sabres at New Jersey Devils

2007-02-03T13:51:00.000-05:00

SEASON SERIES: Buffalo leads 1-0-0
2005-2006 SEASON SERIES: Buffalo went 1-3-0
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Buffalo is 27-35-12 (13-20-5 in New Jersey)

LAST GAME: December 12, 2006 in New Jersey

Daniel Briere had three assists as the Sabres held on for a rare 3-2 win in East Rutherford. Jason Pominville, Jochen Hecht and Maxim Afinogenov scored for the Sabres while Erik Rasmussen and Brian Gionta scored last minute goals for the Devils. Ryan Miller picked up the win while Martin Brodeur was saddled with the loss.

Buffalo Sabres –

OVERALL RECORD: 35-14-4 74 pts
STANDINGS: 1st Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 4-5-1
GOALS FOR: 200 (1st)
GOALS AGAINST: 153 (T-15th)
POWERPLAY: 16.7% (T-18th)
PENALTY KILLING: 81.6% (18th)
GOAL LEADERS: Chris Drury - 29; Thomas Vanek - 25; Jason Pominville - 23
ASSIST LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 44; Maxim Afinogenov - 34; Three Tied with 26
POINT LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 65; Maxim Afinogenov - 55; Two Tied with 51
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Thomas Vanek +25; Jason Pominville +21; Derek Roy +19
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Adam Mair - 87; Paul Gaustad 72; Andrew Peters – 70
GOALTENDERS: Ryan Miller 24-10-4 2.70gaa .912sp; Martin Biron 11-4-1 2.90gaa .902sp
INJURIES: Tim Connolly (post-concussion syndrome) is Out; Jaroslav Spacek (knee) is Out; Jiri Novotny (high ankle sprain) is Questionable

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#55 Jochen Hecht - #48 Daniel Briere - #29 Jason Pominville

#26 Thomas Vanek - #23 Chris Drury - #12 Ales Kotalik

#20 Daniel Paille - #9 Derek Roy - #61 Maxim Afinogenov

#13 Jiri Novotny - #28 Paul Gaustad - #22 Adam Mair

DEFENSE

#10 Henrik Tallinder - #5 Toni Lydman

#45 Dmitri Kalinin - #27 Teppo Numminen

#51 Brian Campbell - #38 Nathan Paetsch

GOAL

#30 Ryan Miller

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#43 Martin Biron; D#6 Jaroslav Spacek; RW#76 Andrew Peters; C#19 Tim Connolly (IR)

New Jersey Devils –

OVERALL RECORD: 31-15-6 68 pts
STANDINGS: 2nd Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 6-2-2
GOALS FOR: 140 (T-23rd)
GOALS AGAINST: 125 (2nd)
POWERPLAY: 18.4% (10th)
PENALTY KILLING: 84.4% (8th)
GOAL LEADERS: Brian Gionta - 24; Zach Parise – 19; Patrik Elias - 18
ASSIST LEADERS: Scott Gomez & Brian Rafalski - 32; Patrik Elias - 31
POINT LEADERS: Patrik Elias - 49; Brian Gionta - 42; Scott Gomez - 41
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Scott Gomez +6; Brian Rafalski & Travis Zajac +5
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Cam Janssen – 65; Michael Rupp - 60; Colin White - 51
GOALTENDERS: Martin Brodeur 31-14-5 2.08gaa .926sp; Scott Clemmensen 0-1-1 3.60gaa .878sp
INJURIES: Alexander Mogilny (hip) is Out; Richard Matvichuk (back) is Out; Alex Brooks (foot) is Out

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#26 Patrik Elias - #23 Scott Gomez - #14 Brian Gionta

#19 Travis Zajac - #9 Zach Parise - #15 Jamie Langenbrunner

#20 Jay Pandolfo - #11 John Madden - #18 Sergei Brylin

#10 Erik Rasmussen - #22 Rodney Pelley - #17 Michael Rupp

DEFENSE

#5 Colin White - #28 Brian Rafalski

#7 Paul Martin - #29 Johnny Oduya

#21 Brad Lukowich - #2 David Hale

GOAL

#30 Martin Brodeur

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#40 Scott Clemmensen; C#12 Jim Dowd; RW#89 Alexander Mogilny (IR); D#24 Richard Matvichuk; D#8 Alex Brooks

Buffalo looks to extend their current two-game winning streak against the conference's second best club in East Rutherford tonight.

The New Jersey Devils are currently six points back of the Sabres in the fight for first place in the East.

As always, the team is led by their Hall-of-Fame bound goaltender, workhorse Martin Brodeur. Brodeur's backup, Scott Clemmensen, has only seen action in THREE GAMES this year and will once again watch from the bench. Brodeur has won 31 times already this season and holds a stingy 2.06 goals against average in addition to a .926 save percentage. New Jersey is second in the entire league in goals allowed.

Their offence, however, isn't scoring much. Their 140 goals is tied for 23rd in the league but they have two very solid scoring lines. Patrik Elias has bounced back from a horrific start that saw him with a minus rating in the double digits through twenty games. He's teaming effectively with super sniper Brian Gionta and smooth passing pivot Scott Gomez.

Secondary offense is being provided by sophomore centre Zach Parise, whose game has improved tremendously this season. Travis Zajac also looks to be a keeper.

The Devils are notorious for their trapping style of play and it will be in full effect tonight. Watch for the superb checking line of John Madden, Jay Pandolfo and Sergei Brylin to see a lot of ice time against the Briere line tonight.

Buffalo will have to face the Devils without Jaroslav Spacek, who tweaked his knee early in the Thursday game against the Bruins. Nathan Paetsch will drop back to the blueline in his place alongside Brian Campbell.

Jiri Novotny may be ready to return from his high-ankle sprain that has caused him to miss the last five games. If he can't go, Andrew Peters will likely suit up on the left side of the fourth line.

After a two-game break, it is expected that Ryan Miller will be back in goal for Buffalo.

The Sabres will have to show a lot of patience tonight if they are to come out on top. They will have to also win the special teams battle, something that will prove to be difficult against New Jersey's units, both of which are rated in the top-10 in the league.

Buffalo Takes Two from Boston

2007-02-03T12:45:00.000-05:00

The Buffalo Sabres held off a much more determined Boston Bruins squad in the second of a home-and-home, winning 3-1 on Thursday night.

The red-hot Chris Drury scored twice and Jason Pominville added a single marker. Daniel Briere continued his torrid pace, setting up two goals for another multipoint evening.

Martin Biron got his second straight start in goal and didn't disappoint, stopping 33 of 34 Boston shots for his 11th win of the year.

Marco Sturm scored the only Bruins goal. Tim Thomas took the loss for the struggling Bruins.

Boston came out of the gates with fire in their eyes and hit pretty much everything that moved. That intensity enabled them to get on the scoreboard first.

Briere won a faceoff clean back to Dmitri Kalinin behind the Sabres net. He ended up catching Glen Murray's stick and tripped, allowing the Bruins forechecker to get the puck in front to Sturm, who slipped it past Biron for his 13th of the season and the 1-0 lead. Marc Savard somehow got an assist on this play even though he lost the draw clean and Kalinin had clear control - homer stat guys!

The first period ended with the Sabres holding a 12-8 advantage in shots but Thomas, while looking a bit shaky, was able to keep the puck out of the Boston net.

Buffalo was a bit more determined to start the second and scored on a slightly controversial play. Drury took the puck from the right side around behind the net. As he circled around, linemate Paul Gaustad picked off two Bruins checkers, allowing Drury to move to the front of the net unmarked and wrist a bullet into the top corner to tie the game at one. No penalty was called, obviously, and the Bruins unbelievably biased announcers went nuts, a theme of the evening on NESN.

Lady-luck continued to smile on Buffalo around the midpoint of the period. With Paul Mara in the box for holding, Drury got the puck down low and attempted a cross-crease feed to Brian Campbell, who was streaking in from the point. However, the puck hit defenseman Brad Stuart's skate and deflected in past a sprawling Thomas to give the Sabres their first lead. The goal was Drury's 29th of the season, one less than his career-high set last season.

Boston tried to get some momentum in the form of a fight and it was two very unlikley combatants who went at it. Brad Boyes, mired in a HUGE slump that has seen him go pointless in his last 16 GAMES, along with a tidy -16 mark in that time frame, picked a fight with Toni Lydman of all people. Boyes fed him with a series of rights, with Toni coming out the more worse for wear with a bunch of lacerations from his visor hitting his face. Boyes also needed attention for cuts to his hand from the visor.

Fun light-weight tilt that gave the Bruins a bit of life. However, Marty Biron was often sensational, making 14 saves in the period to keep the Bruins off the board.

Buffalo would score again about six minutes into the third. Jochen Hecht won a battle on the side boards, drawing two Bruins to him in the process. He found Pominville at the top of the circle unmarked and he wired an off-balance slap shot into the top corner on Thomas' blocker side for his 23rd of the season.

Great play by Pominville to first get into space and then adjust to the pass that was well in front of him.

Any attempts at a Boston comeback were nullified by three late hooking calls. They were able to pull Thomas late but Biron again was able to fend them off to seal the victory.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Thomas Vanek-Chris Drury-Ales Kotalik

Daniel Paille-Derek Roy-Maxim Afinogenov

Nathan Paetsch-Paul Gaustad-Adam Mair

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Brian Campbell-Jaroslav Spacek

GOALTENDERS:

Martin Biron; Ryan Miller (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

RW Andrew Peters

INJURIES:

C Jiri Novotny (high ankle sprain); C Tim Connolly: Long-term IR (post-concussion syndrome)

BOSTON BRUINS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Marco Sturm-Marc Savard-Glen Murray

P.J. Axelsson-Patrice Bergeron-Phil Kessel

Petr Tenkrat-Brad Boyes-Stanislav Chistov

Shean Donovan-Wayne Primeau-Mark Mowers

DEFENSEMEN:

Paul Mara-Zdeno Chara

Brad Stuart-Andrew Alberts

Jason York-Bobby Allen

GOALTENDERS:

Tim Thomas; Hannu Toivonen (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

RW Jeff Hoggan

INJURIES:

C David Krejci (concussion)

THE GOOD -

Chris Drury was pretty much everywhere tonight. His skating and overall competiveness was top-notch.

The improving special teams units, especially the penalty kill. Again, the presence of Henrik Tallinder brings such a calming effect to the team.

Marty Biron was fantastic in goal. Buffalo is so lucky to have a guy with his ability and personality on the team.

Lydman got rocked in the fight against Boyes but that only seemed to bring his game up a notch - four big hits and two more blocks for Lydman.

The Bruins as a whole showed some grit and intensity, a marked improvement from the previous game.

THE BAD -

Thomas Vanek played a horrible first period and was benched for all but two shifts in the second. Too many cute blind passes that kept getting intercepted, although the crazy scorekeeper only credited him with one giveaway. Vanek has to keep it simple, especially when he's near the opposing blueline trying to make a play.

Max Afinogenov has also reverted back to being selfish with the puck. I don't know if it's because he's without Vanek on the left side, a guy who seemingly has started gelling with Afinogenov or if it's because Paille hasn't really been able to fit in on the line yet. Regardless, too much dipsy-doodling from Max in the past couple games.

Jaro Spacek went down with an injury early in the game and didn't return. He will miss Saturday's game against New Jersey with a tweaked knee.

I'm not going to dispute Zdeno Chara's skill level, which is remarkable for a man his size. However, I'm not sold on his leadership abilities and question the choice of making him captain.

Timely scoring, excellent bounces, good intensity and great goaltending.

Easy game when you have all those ingredients.

BUFFALO 3, BOSTON 1:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Kind of Off Topic: A Sad Day - NHL EHM Shelved For Good

2007-01-31T23:46:00.000-05:00

I've had a lot of hobbies over the years.

One of the coolest has been my affiliation with Sports Interactive, the English gaming company behind the Championship Manager and Football Manager PC soccer titles, literally one of the biggest selling computer games in Europe and the World.

I have been one of the Head Researchers for their fantastic hockey game entitled NHL Eastside Hockey Manager ever since they hired the Finnish developer of the game, Risto Remes about four years ago. I helped Mr. Remes build the database before that time, when the game was a freeware sensation on the net back in the early part of 2001.

It's been a true labour of love for all of us over the years: the developers, the researchers and the testers. It's been a paid position ever since Sports Interactive hired Riz and they brought me on board as well, but I would have done it for nothing.

I enjoyed the work that much. It wasn't too time consuming, maybe an hour or two a night a few days a week but hell - I was working on a COMPUTER GAME!

I wrote a blog post back in October 2005 about my involvement with the company, how I came aboard the project six years ago, and the other great perks of the 'job'. The original post can be found right here but I'll cut and paste it here as well:

WRITTEN ON OCTOBER 27, 2005 -
I've been busy the last week or so with my research for Eastside Hockey Manager, a computer game for the PC developed by a British gaming company called Sports Interactive.

You've never heard of it? Well, I'm not surprised. The genre this game falls under certainly isn't popular in North America but it's always interested me...

Back in my youth, there was a game for early PC's called Hockey League Simulator. This was essentially a 'Management' game where you are the coach and general manager of an NHL team. You make the signings and trades, set the lines and then simulate the game to see how everything turned out.

No joysticks...no playing out the games...just a simulation.

I loved it! I was probably about 14 years old or so. My buddy Brandon and I would work on rosters for hours upon hours, changing player attributes, updating rookies, etc. I always had an affinity for stats and this game was right up my alley.

It got even better when the second version of the game came out. Hockey League Simulator II worked in conjunction with another popular game at the time, Wayne Gretzky's Hockey. WGH offered the graphics and visual gameplay - you could import all the rosters and stats from HLSII into Gretzky to get the complete hockey game experience. You could now watch your players perform on the ice and actually PLAY with them too! Of course, we even put ourselves into the game, which was something just not available with other games back in the 80's.

I was in geek heaven! Boy did we ever play that game a lot! Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a market for HLSII and the game never got remade.

Fast forward to 2001. I get a call from my buddy Deron, who was doing some internet searches on hockey games (we were interested in designing a game like HLSII ourselves) and found this freeware game called Eastside Hockey Manager. It was essentially a work-in-progress by a hockey-mad Finnish university student named Risto Remes. Since it was just a 'spare time project' for the guy, he made a crude website and put it online for free while he developed it in his spare time.

He had quite the little cult following of guys like me who craved a real management game. He had expanded on the theme of HLSII by including the farm teams of the NHL clubs and also included career play. This meant that you could actually draft players every year and continue to manage until the year 2450 if you so desired. He also brought depth to the experience by having attributes for player's personality - each player would perform differently not only because of differing skill levels but also because they now were rated on their determination, work ethic and leadership abilities.

I was shocked that a 19-year old had come up with all this stuff. Deron was equally amazed - this is the game WE wanted to make!!!

Well, we abandoned thought of doing something ourselves and dove into the game. Deron quickly became disinterested, as he has become more of a joystick jockey in his old age ;) However, I loved how immersive the game was and worked on taking my Buffalo Sabres to the promised land.

I noticed something that could be added though. All of the players were in the game but instead of having actual staff members like the coaches and scouts, it just had generic names in there. So I made my own staff file for the game, going through all 60 AHL and NHL teams in order to add more realism to the experience. I put the file online on the message boards for the other users to download and the response was very positive.

I was rewarded a couple days later when Risto made my staff file an official part of his game. I was listed in the game credits as one of the contributors.

I was in the gaming industry!!!

Well not really! Keep in mind that this was a FREE game, online for anyone to download at no charge. Riz, as he's affectionately known, finished the game about six months later and actually garnered positive reviews from many important gaming publications and websites, who'd heard the positive word of mouth and gone to the site to check out this labour of love.

When asked if he'd be working on a follow-up version, Riz said that he was going to have to concentrate on school and getting an actual paying job. But he did leave a tantalizing nugget of info in his last paragraph, saying something to the effect of "Stay tuned...there's something baking in the oven right now."

That something was the biggest gaming company in England - Sports Interactive. They were the developers of the popular Championship Manager, a soccer management simulation for the PC. One of the bigwigs at SI caught wind of this Finnish whippersnapper and his hockey game and began patrolling the Eastside message boards, offering encouragement. Riz was thrilled, as he based a lot of his game on the components already in the Championship Manager series.

They obviously saw a lot of potential in him and ended up hiring him in late 2002 to develop a professional version of Eastside for sale in the retail market! Riz had gone big time! I emailed him my congratulations and told him I looked forward to buying his game when it hit the shelves.

I joined the Sports Interactive message boards to keep myself abreast of any news on the new game. They reported that the new version of Eastside would include not only the NHL, but leagues from all across the world.

This truly was going to be an immense project!

I was shocked a couple months later when Riz personally emailed me, asking if I'd like to become a Head Researcher for the NHL. It would be a paid position with the company; not a lot of money, mind you, but some money nonetheless. Plus, perks like free versions of all the games the company makes.

I would have done it for nothing! Okay...maybe just the free game!

So here we are! It's now October 2005 and we just released the second version of the retail game to North America earlier this month. I've become 'online friends' with many of the other researchers from across the globe and also got the privilege of meeting up with Riz and Miles Jacobsen, the Managing Partner of Sports Interactive for dinner and drinks last year. They were in Toronto to do some radio and newspaper interviews for the game so I went up to the big city to meet with them.

I highly recommend the game to any hockey nut who's always secretly wanted to run a franchise or who thinks he can do a better job than the current G.M. It truly has been a spectacular experience for me to be involved with such passionate people and to work on a project that brings so much enjoyment to hockey fans.

And damn...it's kind of cool to say I'm part of the development team for a computer game!

Go to the Sports Interactive website to check it out! It's available through online download and it's also available in stores now!

Unfortunately, there won't be another game in the series due to lackluster sales, specifically in the Scandanavian countries. The reason for the lack of success is upsetting.

Here is the email I received from Sports Interactive's Managing Director, Miles Jacobson:

Well, there's good news, bad news, then some good news again. So....

The first bit of good news, is that we are happy to announce and make available the final patch for Eastside Hockey Manager 2007. This includes lots of little improvements and bug fixes, and you can find the patch here. We hope that this will increase the longevity and enjoyability (ooh, new made up word) for the release of the game.

Now onto the bad news. As you know, the last Eastside release was via digital download. At the time, people complained about this as a distribution method, but it was the only one open to us - the first version of Eastside did very well in Scandinavia, pretty well in Europe and just about OK in the US & Canada. The second also did just about OK in the US and Canada, just about OK in Europe, but despite great review scores and decent pre-orders, the sales in Scandinavia, that had pretty much kept the game going, dropped heavily, from our analysis of the situation, mainly due to the game getting hacked before release, and pirated. Because of this, a retail release wasn't worthwhile with the pre-orders that we were going to get from retail, so we thought we'd go digi download, and encourage people to buy that way, whilst having a lower break even point due to retail not taking their cut.

So the game came out to glowing reviews, and decent online pre-orders, and we sat and waited to see the numbers going up and up. The forums were full of people constructively criticising, and praising (just the way we like it) and we were all pretty buoyant. We had more licenses than any other hockey game in history, it was the best Hockey management game in the history of gaming ever, and Riz and his team had done an amazing job. So, despite Hockey being a bit less popular post the hiatus of the sport in the US in 2004, we still couldn't fail, right?

Wrong. The orders came in a drizzle, rather than a flood. We scratched our heads trying to work out what had gone wrong. And then someone pointed out that the game was being pirated, and was available as a torrent from lots of different pirating sites. Then sat there and watched as the claimed amount of downloads on those sites went up and up, as sales stayed static.

Basically, the game did not bring in enough money to cover the development costs, let alone the license fees on top of that. So we've had to make the decision to stop development on the game for now - it doesn't mean that it'll never come back, but for the foreseeable future, there will not be another version of Eastside Hockey Manager.

The good news is that the amazing talented people on the Eastside team have all decided to stay with Sports Interactive. Riz, Ed & Phil are going to be working on Football Manager moving forward, and Graeme has joined our R&D department to work on developing a new idea forward, which we'll be announcing later in the year.

Thank you to all of you out there who supported the Eastside Hockey Manager project by buying the game, and especially those who helped with testing and research. And to those of you who pirated it, this is what happens when you steal. There are no excuses you can give that are valid for stealing - you have lead to the demise of a game that you enjoyed playing.

Miles Jacobson
Managing Director, Sports Interactive

What a kick in the teeth. The fact that the game is being cut off due to pirating is extremely upsetting.

The fact that we're unable to continue with the evolution of a game that received a 92% rating from the industry's top publication, PC Gamer, in February's issue makes it worse.

I've been lucky to meet and converse with other researchers from all across the globe. Alessandro in Torino, Italy; Vikke in Stockholm, Sweden; Riz, Phil, Marc, Graeme & Miles in London, England; Uros in Slovenia; Woody in Germany; Jeff from Texas; Jeff R. in Calgary; Kelsey from Winnipeg.

We all came together to make the game what it is today. The best hockey game on the market, bar none.

If you're at all interested in proving that you're a better GM than Darcy Regier, John Ferguson Jr. or whoever the guy is in charge of your favourite team, check out the FREE demo version of the game right here. You can play up to six months of game time with the demo and the amount of leagues to choose from is staggering. If you check it out, you won't be sorry.

It's been a great ride, one I'm sad to see end today.

Sabres Overwhelm Bruins to End Slide

2007-01-31T22:32:00.000-05:00

Daniel Briere scored his second hat trick of the season to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a thoroughly convincing 7-1 thrashing of the Boston Bruins last night.

Thomas Vanek, Chris Drury, Paul Gaustad and Jason Pominville also scored for the Sabres, who snapped a season-long three game losing streak. Briere (3g), Maxim Afinogenov (3a), Pominville (1g 1a), Vanek (1g 1a), Derek Roy (2a), Toni Lydman (2a) and Jochen Hecht (2a) all had multipoint games for Buffalo.

Martin Biron wasn't really tested but was strong in turning aside 25 of 26 Boston shots in his 10th victory of the year.

Glen Murray, on a 5-on-3 powerplay, scored the only Bruins goal. Hannu Toivonen was left to fend for himself for two periods and was humbled, allowing six goals on 23 shots. Tim Thomas fared better in the third, allowing only Briere's third of the game.

It was total domination from the opening drop, as the Sabres drew a penalty on the first shift due to great hustle from 'winger-for-a-day' Nathan Paetsch. The rookie was a force all night at both ends of the ice, something that I'll get back to later.

The Sabres wouldn't convert on that man advantage but the Bruins would continue to take penalties in the first five minutes, setting up a prolonged five-on-three situation.

Buffalo would convert, as Jason Pominville's low wrist shot was tipped into the top corner by Vanek for his 25th goal of the season and the 1-0 lead. Vanek has now matched his entire output from the 2005-06 season in his 52nd game.

The Sabres would score again on their FOURTH powerplay in the first eight minutes, a Marc Savard interference infraction. This time, it was Chris Drury tipping home a Paetsch shot from the point for his team-leading 27th and the 2-0 lead.

Buffalo continued to pour on the pressure but their aggressiveness cost them with about five minutes remaining in the opening frame. Vanek caught Toivonen's skate as he moved into the crease, drawing an interference penalty as a result. As the play was whistled dead, Adam Mair absolutely clocked Boston rookie David Krejci, who was making his NHL debut, knocking him unconscious.

It was dirty and Mair was given a charging minor to give the Bruins a full two-minute, two-man advantage.

Buffalo did a fine job killing the penalty but Boston would convert just as the infractions were to expire. Murray one-timed a soft feed from Savard through Biron for his 24th of the year to draw the Bruins to within a goal. Shots in the first favoured the Sabres, 11-6.

I was a bit worried that the late goal would lift Boston's spirits but that just wasn't the case. They came out even flatter in the second and Buffalo made them pay.

Five minutes into the period, Brian Campbell made a gorgeous pass from the Buffalo blueline right onto the tape of Briere, who was crossing the ice at the Boston line. He skated in all alone and put a phenomenal deke on Toivonen before depositing the puck past him for his 19th of the year and the 3-1 Sabres lead.

The rout was on a minute later. Great work behind the net by Roy enabled him to find Paul Gaustad storming in. From in-close, he was able to wrist a shot into the top of the net for his 9th of the year and the 4-1 lead.

A few minutes later, Gaustad got nailed for boarding when he threw Savard into the boards from behind. However, it was the Sabres who would take advantage.

Lydman, after stealing the puck near the Buffalo blueline, smartly realized that the Bruins were tired and joined Pominville on a 2-on-1 rush. Pominville's pass was immediately returned by Lydman, giving the sophomore winger the entire right side of the net to shoot at because of the slow-to-react Toivonen. The young sniper made no mistake, scoring his 22nd for the 5-1 lead.

The Sabres relentless forecheck continued late in the period and resulted in another goal. Vanek's dump-in was pursued by a hard-skating Afinogenov, who beat his check to the puck. He swooped around the net and found Briere, who from a poor angle was able to beat Toivonen for his second of the game and the 6-1 lead.

That goal gave Buffalo five 20-goal scorers through the first 52 games. As a point of reference, there are 19 teams without ONE 20-goal scorer!

Buffalo outshot the listless Bruins 12-7 in the middle frame.

The Sabres continued to press in the third but Boston got a little momentum after a huge collision between Brad Stuart and Paetsch, with the Bruins defenseman sending Nate to the ice in spectacular fashion. He was okay and the hit was immediately followed by a fight between former Sabres pivot Wayne Primeau and Mair.

It was the first bit of fight shown by the Beantowners all night.

The momentum shift was short-lived, as Briere scored his third minutes later. The puck came free in the Boston zone and the co-captain swooped in. From a very poor angle, Briere was able to wrist it past Thomas, who replaced Toivonen to start the third, in the only area available: the top of the net.

A true "goal-scorer's goal" for his second career trick, as the hats rained down at the arena for the last marker of the night.

A great sixty-minute performance by the Sabres.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Jochen Hecht-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Thomas Vanek-Chris Drury-Ales Kotalik

Daniel Paille-Derek Roy-Maxim Afinogenov

Nathan Paetsch-Paul Gaustad-Adam Mair

DEFENSEMEN:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Brian Campbell-Jaroslav Spacek

GOALTENDERS:

Martin Biron; Ryan Miller (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

RW Andrew Peters

INJURIES:

C Jiri Novotny (high ankle sprain); C Tim Connolly: Long-term IR (post-concussion syndrome)

BOSTON BRUINS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Patrice Bergeron-Marc Savard-Glen Murray

Marco Sturm-Phil Kessel-David Krejci

Petr Tenkrat-Brad Boyes-Mark Mowers

P.J. Axelsson-Wayne Primeau-Shean Donovan

DEFENSEMEN:

Paul Mara-Zdeno Chara

Brad Stuart-Andrew Alberts

Milan Jurcina-Bobby Allen

GOALTENDERS:

Hannu Toivonen; Tim Thomas

SCRATCHES:

RW Stanislav Chistov; RW Jeff Hoggan

INJURIES:

D Jason York (knee)

THE GOOD -

I cannot say enough about Nathan Paetsch's performance tonight. He was a revelation on the left side tonight. EVERY single time he was on the ice, he made an impact, whether it was forechecking, blocking shots with HIS HEAD (on a Chara shot no less!), or making plays. I was GIDDY whenever he was out there. Well done young man. He deserves to stay in the lineup over Novotny and Peters if he can keep that up.

The calming presence of Hank Tallinder was in full effect. He was a bit shaky with the puck at times but didn't make any mistakes. It's his effect on Toni Lydman, however, that is the biggest plus. Lydman was excellent all night, blocking a number of shots and jumping into the play offensively. The penalty killing was superb from both blueliners.

What can you say about Briere? Talk about on fire! He's got 11 points in his last six games and scored three different types of goals that only true superstars can come through on. It was a brilliant display.

Biron was very, very solid. He didn't have to do much but didn't give up any big rebounds. He'll start again in Boston tomorrow night.

It was a fantastic overall performance by Buffalo. The pressure was non-stop all night long.

Not much good on Boston's side. Credit is due to Andrew Alberts, who took a Brian Campbell flutter-ball right near his eye but returned ten minutes later with a visor and a bunch of stitches. The rest of the team can learn from his toughness and heart.

THE BAD -

I don't have much here. Maybe Derek Roy for his little temper tantrum that earned him an unsportsmanlike and a ten minute misconduct. He didn't get a call midway through the third and slammed his stick against the glass, breaking a partition. There was a five minute delay while the crew fixed up his mess and Derek had some time alone to think about it in the showers. Grow up Derek! You guys were leading by SIX!

I appreciate the fact that Mair is trying to be physical but he continues to play 'out of control'. The hit on Krejci was late and unnecessary. Lucky for him, Boston didn't have the heart to take him to task.

Speaking of which, did any Bruins show up to play last night? That was a disgraceful performance by a team that's in the playoff picture, albeit barely.

Toivonen was left out to dry all night but the kid doesn't help himself by letting in almost every shot that came his way. He has a tendency to go down too early and the Sabres looked like they had him scouted really well.

A simply fantastic performance by the Sabres. They will likely face a more motivated Bruins team on Thursday night back in Boston but with Tallinder back in the lineup, Buffalo looks like an entirely different team. They move to 15-1-1 with their top defenseman on the blueline.

BUFFALO 7, BOSTON 1:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Gameday Preview: Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres

2007-01-30T17:56:00.000-05:00

SEASON SERIES: Buffalo leads 3-0-1
2005-2006 SEASON SERIES: Buffalo went 7-1-0
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Buffalo is 95-102-30 (58-41-14 in Buffalo)

LAST GAME: January 17, 2007 in Boston

Daniel Paille scored two goals while Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, Brian Campbell and Maxim Afinogenov notched singles as the Sabres upended the Bruins 6-3. Phil Kessel notched his first two-goal game of his career in the loss. Glen Murray scored the other Boston goal.

Buffalo Sabres –

OVERALL RECORD: 33-14-4 70 pts
STANDINGS: 1st Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 4-5-1
GOALS FOR: 190 (1st)
GOALS AGAINST: 151 (16th)
POWERPLAY: 16.3% (20th)
PENALTY KILLING: 81.2% (21st)
GOAL LEADERS: Chris Drury - 26; Thomas Vanek - 24; Two Tied with 21
ASSIST LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 42; Maxim Afinogenov - 31; Two Tied with 25
POINT LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 60; Maxim Afinogenov - 52; Thomas Vanek - 49
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Thomas Vanek +24; Jason Pominville +18; Derek Roy +17
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Adam Mair - 80; Paul Gaustad & Andrew Peters – 70
GOALTENDERS: Ryan Miller 24-10-4 2.70gaa .912sp; Martin Biron 9-4-1 3.17gaa .892sp
INJURIES: Tim Connolly (post-concussion syndrome) is Out; Jiri Novotny (high ankle sprain) is Doubtful; Thomas Vanek (flu) is Probable

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#55 Jochen Hecht - #48 Daniel Briere - #29 Jason Pominville

#20 Daniel Paille - #23 Chris Drury - #12 Ales Kotalik

#26 Thomas Vanek - #9 Derek Roy - #61 Maxim Afinogenov

#38 Nathan Paetsch - #28 Paul Gaustad - #22 Adam Mair

DEFENSE

#10 Henrik Tallinder - #5 Toni Lydman

#45 Dmitri Kalinin - #27 Teppo Numminen

#51 Brian Campbell - #6 Jaroslav Spacek

GOAL

#43 Martin Biron

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#30 Ryan Miller; C#13 Jiri Novotny; RW#76 Andrew Peters; C#19 Tim Connolly (IR)

Boston Bruins –

OVERALL RECORD: 22-22-4 48 pts
STANDINGS: T-13th Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 3-6-1
GOALS FOR: 138 (22nd)
GOALS AGAINST: 179 (28th)
POWERPLAY: 19.4% (6th)
PENALTY KILLING: 81.4% (20th)
GOAL LEADERS: Glen Murray - 23; Marc Savard – 18; Patrice Bergeron - 16
ASSIST LEADERS: Marc Savard - 44; Patrice Bergeron - 32; Zdeno Chara - 23
POINT LEADERS: Marc Savard - 62; Patrice Bergeron - 48; Glen Murray - 39
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Bobby Allen +1; Nate Thompson E; Two Tied at -1
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Andrew Alberts – 94; Paul Mara - 80; Zdeno Chara - 70
GOALTENDERS: Tim Thomas 19-15-3 3.29gaa .901sp; Hannu Toivonen 3-6-1 4.06gaa .877sp; Brian Finley 0-1-0 3.05gaa .909sp; Philippe Sauve 0-0-0 5.85gaa .826sp
INJURIES: Jason York (knee) is Doubtful;

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#11 P.J. Axelsson - #91 Marc Savard - #27 Glen Murray

#16 Marco Sturm - #37 Patrice Bergeron - #13 Stanislav Chistov

#81 Phil Kessel - #26 Brad Boyes - #18 Mark Mowers

#22 Shean Donovan - #20 Wayne Primeau - #17 Petr Tenkrat

DEFENSE

#23 Paul Mara - #33 Zdeno Chara

#6 Brad Stuart - #41 Andrew Alberts

#38 Bobby Allen - #68 Milan Jurcina

GOAL

#54 Hannu Toivonen

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#30 Tim Thomas; RW#32 Jeff Hoggan; C#46 David Krejci

Buffalo will welcome stalwart defenseman Henrik Tallinder back to the lineup after an eleven game absence as the Sabres host another struggling Northeast Division foe in the Boston Bruins.

The beantowners are coming off a 6-1 drubbing at the hands of the New York Rangers last night and will be in a foul mood for sure.

Hannu Toivonen is expected to get the start in goal for Boston after regular starter Tim Thomas was yanked last night.

The Sabres have lost three straight for only the second time all season and have yet to go four games without a victory. Martin Biron will man the nets for Buffalo tonight in order to give Ryan Miller a much-needed mental break.

Buffalo will need to match the intensity of their opponents tonight, something that the team has struggled with all month. The Sabres are THE targets in the NHL right now and every team is using these matchups as measuring sticks to see where they're at, bringing their 'A' game into every contest.

30 or 40 minute performances aren't good enough at this point of the season, especially facing a team like the Bruins who are clawing for every point possible in their effort to get back into the playoff picture.

Nathan Paetsch will be dressing tonight as the seventh defenseman and may also play left wing alongside Paul Gaustad and Adam Mair. This is a distinct message to the other struggling defensemen in the lineup that their positions may not be safe - Paetsch has been playing his best hockey as a professional in the past couple weeks and doesn't deserve to sit.

I can't say the same for Dmitri Kalinin, who admittedly was a bit better than usual against the Isles the other night. He will need to play his best game tonight to stay in the lineup.

I expect a very good performance from the Sabres tonight. Almost game-time!

Sabres/Isles Quick Thoughts; Connolly's Condition Improving

2007-01-30T17:30:00.000-05:00

I guess I'm going through a little mid-season slump of my own...

Sorry for the delay between posts and the lack of a recap for the Sabres/Islanders game from Saturday night. I didn't get the chance to see the game live, instead taping it and watching it the next day. No motivation on the part of Buffalo in the third = no motivation from this writer to recap the proceedings.

For details, check out the NHL.com recap.

I'm fresh now, however, and excited about tonight's game against the Bruins.

There are some positives going into the tilt, most notably the fact that Henrik Tallinder will be returning to the lineup after an eleven-game absence with a high-ankle sprain. Buffalo's top defenseman will be welcomed back with open arms and his presence alone will reinforce the penalty killing unit, which has been playing a little better the past two games.

In other news, concussed center Tim Connolly skated hard at practice today for the first time since the hit by Peter Schaefer in last season's playoffs and initial reports are positive. The slick Connolly is still at least six weeks away from returning but this is a great first step.

His poise and puck handling skills are much needed on the Sabres inept powerplay and even if he can only fill that role for the playoffs, he'll likely be infinitely more valuable than Andrew Peters ever could be.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

Blue Jackets Swarm Sabres in Third in Upset Victory

2007-01-27T11:20:00.000-05:00

Rostislav Klesla and Dan Fritsche scored third period goals to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-2 upset win over the Eastern Conference leading Buffalo Sabres.

Rick Nash scored the other Jackets goal and unheralded Fredrik Norrena made 36 saves to earn the victory. Manny Malhotra and Jason Chimera both added two assists in the contest.

Chris Drury scored both Buffalo goals and now leads the team with 26 on the season. Surprisingly, both were powerplay markers. Daniel Briere assisted on both goals. Ryan Miller took the loss, turning aside 23 Columbus shots.

The first five minutes of the contest was all C-Bus, as they really forechecked hard and put a lot of pressure on the Sabres defense. Miller had to make a few impressive stops, none better than the one where he robbed Nash at the side of the net after a rebound ended up right on his stick.

Columbus took the lead a little past the halfway mark in the period. With Dmitri Kalinin in the box for hooking, the Sabres got caught out of position when both Jason Pominville and Derek Roy went after the Blue Jackets' Sergei Fedorov. He got the puck over to Nash in the slot and his attempted pass across to Anson Carter instead deflected off Teppo Numminen's skate and slid past Miller for his 14th of the year and the 1-0 lead.

Buffalo would tie things up on the powerplay a couple minutes later. Chris Drury took the puck in his familiar position down low, charged the net and roofed his trademark wrister into the top of the net for his 25th of the year.

Andrew Peters and Jody Shelley got into a scrap immediately following the the goal, with Peters winning by decision but the scoring was done for the period. A few late powerplays helped the Sabres outshoot Columbus 14-9 in the period.

With the Sabres already on the powerplay to start the second, defenseman and Blue Jackets captain Adam Foote took a selfish roughing penalty in the first minute to give the Sabres a two-man advantage. Lindy Ruff put five forwards on the ice and the team responded, as Briere's shot deflected right to Drury at the side of the net and he was able to bank it in off Norrena for the 2-1 lead.

The Sabres continued to press all period, winning most of the battles along the boards. Their penalty killing was also superb, keeping Columbus without a shot during two kills. However, Norrena held his own in the Blue Jackets cage and kept his team within one going into the third. Buffalo outshot Columbus 15-4 in the middle frame.

Ken Hitchcock's second intermission 'pep-talk' inspired the Jackets to come out skating in the third and they were rewarded about five minutes in with the tying goal. Brian Campbell got caught up ice after a pinch but Thomas Vanek did a good job hustling back to take the odd-man rush away. However, Campbell didn't pick up the trailer on the play in Klesla, who took Malhotra's pass in the slot and wristed a weak one past Miller, who went down a bit early for my liking on the play for his 7th of the year.

Columbus took their second lead of the game four minutes later. Chimera was able to find Fritsche all alone to Miller's right and he had an eternity to gather up the first rebound and backhand it past the Sabres goaltender for his 10th of the year. Toni Lydman should be ashamed that he didn't put Fritsche on his back there, just like C-Bus was doing all night to the Sabres forwards.

A number of late penalties killed any chances the Sabres had of coming back. Paul Gaustad took a holding call with two and a half minutes remaining then Jaroslav Spacek took a bad hooking penalty to put the Sabres down two men. They were able to get a couple late chances with Briere on the ice but Norrena made a nice save on Drury to give the Jackets the big upset victory.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Thomas Vanek-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Jochen Hecht-Chris Drury-Ales Kotalik

Daniel Paille-Derek Roy-Maxim Afinogenov

Adam Mair-Paul Gaustad-Andrew Peters

DEFENSEMEN:

Brian Campbell-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Nathan Paetsch-Jaroslav Spacek

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Martin Biron (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

None

INJURIES:

C Jiri Novotny (high ankle sprain); C Tim Connolly: Long-term IR (post-concussion syndrome); D Henrik Tallinder (high ankle sprain)

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Rick Nash-Sergei Fedorov-David Vyborny

Fredrik Modin-Alexander Svitov-Anson Carter

Jason Chimera-Dan Fritsche-Manny Malhotra

Jody Shelley-Gilbert Brule-Nikolai Zherdev

DEFENSEMEN:

Rostislav Klesla-Adam Foote

Ron Hainsey-Anders Eriksson

Ole-Kristian Tollefsen-Aaron Johnson

GOALTENDERS:

Fredrik Norrena; Ty Conklin (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

None

INJURIES:

G Pascal Leclaire (knee); D Bryan Berard (back); D Duvie Westcott (concussion)

THE GOOD -

The powerplay still needs work, especially on their entries but the Sabres scored twice.

The co-captains both played pretty well tonight. Briere had six shots and Drury had four.

Vanek also played a decent game and hustled all night at both ends. He had a number of good chances but was stung by Norrena.

Buffalo was credited with only two giveaways - did the stat guy fall asleep? Regardless, the Sabres did a much better job protecting the puck.

Derek Roy won 12 of 18 faceoffs, strange for the worst guy on the team in the circle. Drury was actually under 50%.

Norrena, a guy who I've heard very little about, was very solid and quite flamboyant, especially which his penchant for coming out of the net to play the puck. He was fun to watch.

Rick Nash looks like he's getting his skating legs back, as he was everywhere for Columbus on this night. I pray that Vanek can improve his skating a bit and use his size like Nash - if he did, he'd be one of the most dangerous players in the league.

I was also impressed by the nastiness displayed by Columbus defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen.

The building was absolutely FILLED with Buffalo fans. All night you could hear the 'Let's Go Sabres' chant. But that's also a problem...old school, 'good' Buffalo fans DON'T chant 'Let's go Sabres'...we chant "Let's go Buffalo". More on this down below...

THE BAD -

Ales Kotalik inconsistency and streakiness continues to confound, as he's back to gripping the stick tight and playing small. He got knocked all over the place last night and the puck kept jumping off his stick. He looked like a minor leaguer out there last night. Put him on the fourth line if you must to send him a message - he's an emotional guy and maybe he'll react positively.

Buffalo's soft play in their own zone and all over the ice for that matter. Columbus outhit and outhustled them in the first and third periods and the Sabres D especially looked weak. Lydman's lack of physical play cost Buffalo on the Fritsche's goal.

Campbell was absolutely invisible out there and his game continues to slowly regress. He didn't make the stat sheet in one category in almost twenty minutes of play. No shots, no hits, no blocks...nothing.

Adam Mair continues to struggle in all aspects of the game as he has all season. He hustles but the problem is that he is out of control almost all the time. He is so hell-bent on hitting his man that he constantly puts himself out of position and on offense, he either skates past the puck or has it jump over his stick. He needs to reign it in a bit...he's a liability out there almost every night and continues to take bad penalties.

Jochen Hecht looked very poor in his first game back from injury and may have returned too early. He's usually a force on the boards but I didn't even see him try to dig tonight.

I didn't like Adam Foote's game tonight, as he took a couple dumb penalties that you don't expect from a veteran like him.

Buffalo falls to 5-6-1 in the month of January as everyone in Buffalo starts to panic. It's not quite time for that but it's alarming to this writer that the team continues to get outhustled late in games - the Sabres were a great third period team early in the year and all of last year. Could it be a fitness thing?

The distinct lack of physical play is also a major concern and one that needs to be addressed before the playoffs. If it's not, you will be looking at a first round upset, plain and simple.

Since I didn't have time for a preview last night, I want to direct your attention to a couple of good Columbus blogs. First of all, you MUST check out Michael Turner's Army of the Ohio for his take on last night's game and the poor behaviour of all the Sabres fans that were in attendence.

Needless to say, as a Buffalo fan myself, I'm embarrassed and disappointed. Unfortunately, having already written about the 'football fans' that have invaded HSBC Arena this year, I'm not surprised by the poor behaviour of the travelling fans. But it's not acceptable.

All I can say, and Michael already knows this, is that not all Buffalo fans are like this. However, between the behaviour displayed in Raleigh last year during the Eastern Conference finals and now this, Sabres fans are getting a very bad reputation around the league for being boorish, inconsiderate and drunks.

Very upsetting.

Also check out End of the Bench for more insight from the Columbus fans perspective.

Buffalo has no time to feel sorry for themselves, as they got on a plane immediately following the game last night to travel to Long Island for tonight's game against the Islanders.

COLUMBUS 3, BUFFALO 2:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Briere Takes MVP Honours in All-Star Game

2007-01-24T23:40:00.000-05:00

The Eastern Conference All-Stars dropped a 12-9 decision to the West but Buffalo's Daniel Briere was given the tremendous honour of being named the game's Most Valuable Player. Briere scored once and added four assists for a game-high five points and also went +2 on the night.

This was a great showcase for Briere's skill and he becomes the first Buffalo Sabres player to be given this award in the history of the franchise. Congratulations!

Brian Campbell was held pointless in a little over 20 minutes of action while Ryan Miller allowed three goals on 12 shots.

Thankfully the big game was much more entertaining than the YoungGuns fiasco from Tuesday night. I won't go so far as to call that game a disgrace but it certainly qualifies as an embarrassment for the league. Players skating at quarter-speed, two-and-a-half minute shifts, guys sitting at the blue line waiting for breakaways...it wasn't even close to resembling hockey.

My ball hockey team can play faster than those guys did on Tuesday. The Buffalo News said it best with the line "there's more intensity at an optional morning skate".

It didn't help that the building was half empty but the play on that game put even the most hardcore fan to sleep. Thomas Vanek, by the way, had two assists in the game and the only player in the game without a point, you ask? Much heralded Evgeni Malkin, who's still likely camped out at the opposing blue line waiting for a breakaway pass.

The national media continues to fawn over the Sabres. Shawn Roarke from NHL.com wrote a nice piece on Campbell earlier today and Larry Wigge, also of NHL.com, followed it up with a story on Briere and his constant battle over his lack of size.

Wigge also wrote a piece on Miller the day before, so every Sabre in the big game got a feature. Nice!

EDIT - 9:12AM
Thanks to Tom for pointing out that Rick Martin won the MVP award back in 1977 here in Buffalo and a big thumbs down to me for not researching this further. I knew Martin scored the winner but I should have checked to see if he won the award. Bah!

Montreal Escapes with Win After Valiant Buffalo Comeback

2007-01-22T23:32:00.000-05:00

The Buffalo Sabres rallied from a 3-0 second period deficit to tie the game but a Michael Ryder goal with less than three minutes remaining gave the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win on Saturday night.

Guillaume Latendresse, Saku Koivu and Francis Bouillon scored the other Montreal goals. Cristobal Huet made 24 saves to earn the win.

Daniel Briere scored twice for the Sabres, with Derek Roy scoring once. Jason Pominville (2a) joined Briere (2g) with multipoint games for Buffalo. Martin Biron got the start and turned aside 27 of 31 Montreal shots.

Since I'm over two days late with the review, I'll just refer you to the NHL.com for their recap of the game.

Check out the Sabres page at HF Boards for the Good, Bad and Ugly analysis.

The Sabres head into the allstar break with a comfortable seven-point lead in the Eastern Conference and are one point back of the Nashville Predators for first overall in the NHL.

A number of Sabres players are among the league leaders in various statistical categories:

POINTS: Daniel Briere - 57 points (11th); Maxim Afinogenov - 51 points (22nd); Thomas Vanek - 49 points (T-25th)
GOALS: Chris Drury & Thomas Vanek - 24 goals (T-8th)
ASSISTS: Daniel Briere - 39 assists (T-6th)
PLUS/MINUS: Thomas Vanek +26 (T-3rd); Jason Pominville +20 (T-8th); Brian Campbell, Derek Roy & Jaroslav Spacek +18 (T-14th)

Buffalo also has four players in the Top-25 in even strength points and Ryan Miller is tied for fourth in wins with 24.

Imagine if the team could score on the powerplay...

I will have the much-delayed mid-season report card up before the allstar game on Wednesday. Speaking of which, check out the cool shot that is currently up on NHL.com. That's Daniel Briere's stall on the far left.

Gameday Preview: Buffalo Sabres at Montreal Canadiens

2007-01-20T16:35:00.000-05:00

SEASON SERIES: Buffalo leads 3-1-1
2005-2006 SEASON SERIES: Buffalo went 5-2-1
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Buffalo is 95-90-32 (39-58-12 in Montreal)

LAST GAME: December 19, 2006 in Buffalo

Christopher Higgins scored twice and Cristobal Huet made 42 saves as Montreal convincingly beat Buffalo 5-2, giving the Sabres their first two-game losing streak of the season. Alex Kovalev, Maxim Lapierre and Francis Bouillon also scored for Montreal while Ales Kotalik and Jaroslav Spacek replied for the Sabres.

Buffalo Sabres –

OVERALL RECORD: 33-11-4 70 pts
STANDINGS: 1st Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 5-4-1
GOALS FOR: 182 (1st)
GOALS AGAINST: 139 (15th)
POWERPLAY: 16.0% (23rd)
PENALTY KILLING: 81.2% (19th)
GOAL LEADERS: Chris Drury & Thomas Vanek - 24; Two Tied with 21
ASSIST LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 39; Maxim Afinogenov - 29; Three Tied with 24
POINT LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 55; Maxim Afinogenov - 50; Thomas Vanek - 48
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Thomas Vanek +24; Three Tied at +18
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Adam Mair - 74; Andrew Peters – 65; Paul Gaustad - 64
GOALTENDERS: Ryan Miller 24-8-3 2.62gaa .915sp; Martin Biron 9-3-1 3.10gaa .894sp
INJURIES: Tim Connolly (post-concussion syndrome) is Out; Henrik Tallinder (high ankle sprain) is Out; Jiri Novotny (high ankle sprain) is Out; Jochen Hecht (lower body) is Out; Ales Kotalik (lower body) is Probable

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#26 Thomas Vanek - #48 Daniel Briere - #29 Jason Pominville

#28 Paul Gaustad - #23 Chris Drury - #12 Ales Kotalik

#20 Daniel Paille - #9 Derek Roy - #61 Maxim Afinogenov

#76 Andrew Peters - #22 Adam Mair - #21 Drew Stafford

DEFENSE

#51 Brian Campbell - #5 Toni Lydman

#45 Dmitri Kalinin - #27 Teppo Numminen

#38 Nathan Paetsch - #6 Jaroslav Spacek

GOAL

#43 Martin Biron

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#30 Ryan Miller; C#13 Jiri Novotny; D#10 Henrik Tallinder; LW#55 Jochen Hecht; C#19 Tim Connolly (IR)

Montreal Canadiens –

OVERALL RECORD: 26-17-5 57 pts
STANDINGS: 4th Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 4-6-0
GOALS FOR: 142 (15th)
GOALS AGAINST: 137 (13th)
POWERPLAY: 22.7% (2nd)
PENALTY KILLING: 86.7% (4th)
GOAL LEADERS: Sheldon Souray - 16; Saku Koivu – 15; Two Tied with 14
ASSIST LEADERS: Andrei Markov - 28; Saku Koivu - 26; Sheldon Souray - 24
POINT LEADERS: Saku Koivu - 41; Sheldon Souray - 40; Alex Kovalev - 34
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Mike Johnson +12; Alexander Perezhogin +10; Radek Bonk +6
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Sheldon Souray – 68; Alex Kovalev - 64; Mike Komisarek - 57
GOALTENDERS: Cristobal Huet 18-10-5 2.62gaa .923sp; David Aebischer 8-7-2 2.89gaa .910sp
INJURIES: Steve Begin (ribs) is Out;

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#21 Christopher Higgins - #11 Saku Koivu - #73 Michael Ryder

#84 Guillaume Latendresse - #35 Tomas Plekanec - #27 Alex Kovalev

#15 Sergei Samsonov - #12 Radek Bonk - #20 Mike Johnson

#42 Alexander Perezhogin - #40 Maxim Lapierre - #32 Mark Streit

DEFENSE

#44 Sheldon Souray - #52 Craig Rivet

#79 Andrei Markov - #8 Mike Komisarek

#51 Francis Bouillon - #25 Mathieu Dandenault

GOAL

#39 Cristobal Huet

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#30 David Aebischer; D#6 Janne Niinimaa; LW#57 Garth Murray; RW#47 Aaron Downey; LW#22 Steve Begin

The Buffalo Sabres travel to la belle province to face the team below them in the Northeast standings, the Montreal Canadiens.

The Habs are coming off a win on Thursday night but have struggled of late, winning only five of their last fourteen games. Huet especially has been fighting the puck but was solid in the game the other night.

Montreal's success lies with the performance of their special teams - when it's going well, they will win. If they lose the ST battle, they will likely lose the game.

Their powerplay is ranked second in the league and their excellent penalty killing unit is ranked fourth. It's their even strength play that is a concern, as only seven of their regulars are plus players.

Defenseman Sheldon Souray has been a powerplay force and leads the team in goal scoring with 16. Saku Koivu has also been excellent and leads the team in points. However, some of the secondary scorers haven't been as successful.

Alex Kovalev has been in and out of coach Guy Carbonneau's doghouse this year due to lack of effort. The slick Russian only has 34 points in his 48 games. Another player who just hasn't fit in is Sergei Samsonov, who was a healthy scratch earlier last week. The former Bruins standout only has 7 goals and 20 points in 47 games! Pretty awful. Michael Ryder has been terribly inconsistent as well, with 32 points in 48 games and carries a team-worst -13 rating.

Montreal may be without Radek Bonk tonight, as his wife went into labour last night and still hasn't given birth as of yet.

Buffalo will play tonight without fourth line centre Jiri Novotny, who took a bad spill into the boards last night and suffered a high-ankle sprain. He will be replaced by Andrew Peters.

There may be some line juggling because of the Novotny injury, with the possibility that Stafford moves up to one of the scoring lines. However, I figure Goose will get reunited with the Drury line and Paille will either move up to Briere's line or work with Roy and Afinogenov.

No official word on the Sabres goaltender but many expect Martin Biron to get the start in the second game of a back-to-back.

For info from a Canadiens fan perspective, check out HabsBlog.

Sabres Squeak by Determined Canucks in a Shootout

2007-01-20T14:00:00.000-05:00

The red-hot Vancouver Canucks made a bold move, starting Dany Sabourin on the last game of their fantastic road trip instead of superstar Roberto Luongo. Sabourin, winless in his NHL career, looked shaky in letting in the first Buffalo goal and it looked like this might be one of those lopsided victories Sabres fans have often been spoiled with this year.

Not so fast, bucko!

Sabourin settled down and played extremely well and his teammates fed off his performance, dominating play in the second period. However, a late Chris Drury goal in regulation was followed with an Ales Kotalik backhander in the shootout to give the Sabres a hard-fought 4-3 win on Friday night against their expansion brother.

Jason Pominville and Paul Gaustad also scored in regulation for the Sabres. Pominville added an assist to garner a multipoint game. Ryan Miller turned aside 25 of 28 Vancouver shots in the win.

Former Sabre Taylor Pyatt was one of Vancouver's goalscorers, with Jan Bulis and Markus Naslund also joining him as marksmen. Sabourin made 33 saves in the contest, 15 of them in the third period.

Vancouver played the night previous against the Ottawa Senators and looked sluggish in the first period. The Sabres forechecked hard and forced countless turnovers in the first twenty. They would hit the scoreboard first when Sabourin allowed a puck beside the net go uncovered. It was poked in front of the net by Daniel Briere and Pominville was right there to redirect it past a sprawling Sabourin for his 21st of the season and the 1-0 lead. Buffalo also had another potential goal disallowed, as Drew Stafford was judged to have knocked the puck into the net with a high stick. The Canucks were fortunate to escape the period down by a single marker as the Sabres outshot them 13-6.

A different Canucks team emerged from the dressing room in the second and they completely controlled play in the middle frame. With Adam Mair in the box after a blatant hook, Vancouver was able to score off a scramble in front. The video official looked over the play, which saw Pyatt kick the puck into the net with his back turned to Miller. The review official couldn't determine if Pyatt intentionally kicked it in so the goal would stand, giving Pyatt his 13th of the season and tying things at 1 apiece.

Vancouver would take their first lead late in the period while shorthanded. A poor dump-in by Buffalo resulted in the Canucks taking possession behind their goal. The attempted clear along the boards ended up hitting a partition in the glass and completely eluded a pinching Brian Campbell. The unfortunate bounce ended up on the stick of Jan Bulis, who had all day to head in on Miller. The Sabres goaltender came out almost to the hashmarks before moving back toward his goal and was out of position, as Bullis easily went to the open blocker side for his 9th of the year and the 2-1 Vancouver lead. Buffalo got a few last minute shots to make things respectable but the Canucks outshot the Sabres 12-5 in the period.

Buffalo obviously got a talking-to from coach Lindy Ruff at the intermission because they came out firing in the third. They tied things up less than two minutes in when Gaustad jumped on a rebound in front of the goal and wristed his 8th goal of the year past Sabourin.

However, the Canucks would once again take the lead on the powerplay after a Drury tripping call. Off the ensuing face-off, young defenseman Kevin Bieska, who had quite the cheering section in this game (he's from the Niagara Region), ripped a shot that bounced off the back boards right to Naslund, who fought off a check from Teppo Numminen to snap his 15th of the year home to make it 3-2.

The last ten minutes was all Buffalo. Bieska took a selfish boarding call after retaliating against Derek Roy and while Buffalo moved the puck beautifully, they couldn't put anything by the sharp Sabourin. Numminen had the best chance on a pinch from the point but the young keeper made a tremendous save.

Ruff pulled the goaltender in the last minute and would tie it up immediately following a timeout. The puck was won back to the point to Campbell, who skated towards the middle of the ice and fired a wrist shot toward the goal. It hit Pominville, Vancouver defenseman Mattias Ohlund and finally Drury on its way past Sabourin to knot things at 3 and send the game to overtime. Buffalo outshot Vancouver an incredible 17-8 in the third.

In the overtime, Sabres defenseman Jaroslav Spacek committed one of the ugliest gaffes seen this year, as he had a brainfart and coughed the puck up to Josh Green right in front of Miller. Spacek then tripped up Green as he attempted to score, giving Vancouver the 4-on-3 powerplay. Buffalo rallied, however, and did a great job getting in the shooting lanes, ultimately holding Vancouver without a shot on the powerplay. The Sedin twins, who were not their dominant selves on this night, kept trying to make the perfect play and it cost the Canucks as the game headed to the shootout.

Right off the bat, things got interesting. Briere was the first shooter and Sabourin made an absolutely remarkable spinning save on the Sabres co-captain. Again, the video goal judge took a look to make sure the puck didn't get past the goalline but indeed, the young goaltender made the save.

Just tremendous!

Next up was Ryan Kesler for Vancouver. My buddy is a Canucks fan and he was incredulous at the shootout choices for his team. Kesler was easily stopped by Miller, bringing up Afinogenov for Buffalo. His shot went through Sabourin's five-hole to give the Sabres the short-lived advantage. The next Vancouver shooter was Brendan Morrison, who wristed a nice one past Miller on the blocker side to knot things at one.

Thomas Vanek was next and all I thought was "please don't try the 'Around the World' move". So of course he DOES try it and completely flubs, losing the puck and not even getting a shot off. Atrocious. I guarantee we won't be seeing that crap from Vanek for quite some time or his butt will permanently be stapled to the bench in shootouts.

Thankfully for Sabres fans, Miller was able to easily turn aside Naslund's backhand attempt to send the shootout to sudden death. A beaten-up Kotalik stepped on the ice and deposited his patented backhander into the top of the net and when Josh Green (really?!?) had his shot stopped, the game was in the books.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Thomas Vanek-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Daniel Paille-Chris Drury-Ales Kotalik

Derek Roy-Jiri Novotny-Maxim Afinogenov

Adam Mair-Paul Gaustad-Drew Stafford

DEFENSEMEN:

Brian Campbell-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Nathan Paetsch-Jaroslav Spacek

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Martin Biron (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

LW Andrew Peters

INJURIES:

LW Jochen Hecht (lower body); C Tim Connolly: Long-term IR (post-concussion syndrome); D Henrik Tallinder (high ankle sprain)

VANCOUVER CANUCKS LINES -
FORWARDS:

Taylor Pyatt-Henrik Sedin-Daniel Sedin

Markus Naslund-Josh Green-Ryan Kesler

Jan Bulis-Brendan Morrison-Matt Cooke

Alexandre Burrows-Marc Chouinard-Jeff Cowan

DEFENSEMEN:

Mattias Ohlund-Kevin Bieska

Sami Salo-Lukas Krajicek

Alexander Edler-Rory Fitzpatrick

GOALTENDERS:

Dany Sabourin; Roberto Luongo (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

C Trevor Linden; D Willie Mitchell

INJURIES:

C Rick Rypien (groin); C Tommi Santala (sprained knee)

THE GOOD -

That third period swagger was back. You finally got the feeling that Buffalo was GOING to score in that third period the way they were forechecking. It's been awhile since I had that feeling.

Getting Gaustad back provided a nice energy boost. He was credited with four hits and blocked three shots as well.

I liked Nathan Paetsch's game. Usually, if you don't notice him, it's been a good night but last night he was physical and did a great job breaking up a couple of rushes. With Kalinin and Spacek continuing to struggle, it's nice that Nathan is elevating his game a bit.

Sabourin was superb after looking shaky early on. He deserved a better fate in this contest.

Pyatt was the best forward for Vancouver on the night. He's fortunate to be playing with some special players in the Sedins, although they didn't do much in the game.

THE BAD -

Kalinin was brutal again in the first period but got a bit better as the night went on. He was lost on the Naslund powerplay goal, as Bieska was his man and Kalinin was nowhere to be found. He also lost the battle in front of the net with Pyatt on his powerplay marker. He inexplicably ended up +2 but he needs to start putting in 60 minute performances.

Spacek's gaffe was mind-boggling. You could see that he was uncomfortable five seconds before he gave the puck away - it's like his brain malfunctioned. Amazing that Buffalo was able to kill that penalty off.

Vanek's shootout attempt. Please retire that 'move' Thomas.

Jiri Novotny got tripped up and went into the boards hard, spraining his ankle. It looks as if he will miss some time.

The goal aside, Markus Naslund is a shell of the player he used to be. My buddy thinks he's got an injury that he's not talking about but his attention to detail in the defensive zone is awful and he seems reluctant to take shots. His poor play was very noticeable.

Officiating wasn't good again. They aren't calling any of the obstruction fouls like they used to (ie: guys setting picks; defensemen 'getting in the way' of forecheckers) and this went for both sides.

Buffalo dominated for two of the three periods but special teams almost did them in again. They were fortunate to escape with the win.

I apologize that I was unable to finish my pregame writeup in time for the game. The 'real job' got in the way, I'm sorry to say.

I want to point out a few fantastic Vancouver blogs that you should definitely visit. They have a rabid fanbase and are well-represented in the blogging community. First, check out J.J. Guerrero and Canucks Hockey Blog. Other great sites include Tom Benjamin's CanucksCorner and Alanah's Canucks and Beyond. All three are tremendous.

Tough game tonight against the Montreal Canadiens, who should be well rested. Buffalo players will have to fight off the fact that they get an extended break after this game due to the all-star festivities and come out hard, rather than think about what they'll do with all the time off.

BUFFALO 4, VANCOUVER 3 (SO):
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Buffalo Regains Some of Their Swagger in Win over Boston

2007-01-19T00:19:00.000-05:00

The Buffalo Sabres finally were able to score some goals at crucial times in a 6-3 win Wednesday night over the Boston Bruins in the backend of a home-and-home series.

Recent callup Daniel Paille scored two goals for the Sabres, while Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, Brian Campbell and Maxim Afinogenov scored singles. Paille (2g), Roy (1g 1a), Campbell (1g 1a), Afinogenov (1g 1a), Daniel Briere (2a) and Jaroslav Spacek (2a) all had multipoint games for Buffalo. Ryan Miller stopped 25 shots for his 23rd win of the season.

Rookie Phil Kessel notched his first career two-goal game in the NHL and Glen Murray added a single. Tim Thomas made 26 saves in the loss.

Boston controlled play early and held a significant shot advantage through the first six or seven minutes. They would get on the board first in the contest, as Dmitri Kalinin misfired on an attempted pass out of the Buffalo zone and Kessel jumped on it, sped in and beat Miller through the five-hole for his 6th of the season and the 1-0 lead.

Less than a minute later, Bruins forward Marco Sturm got nailed for clearing the puck over the glass, sending the Sabres sputtering powerplay to work. However, Buffalo showed great puck movement with their new top line of Briere, Vanek and Jason Pominville and were able to convert. Campbell's point shot went wide of the net and Briere was able to feed the puck into the crease. Vanek jabbed away at it and sent it in off defenseman Zdeno Chara for his team-leading 24th of the year and the 1-1 tie.

Buffalo would strike again less than two minutes later. An extended shift in the Boston zone resulted in Ales Kotalik gaining possession in the high slot. He turned around and fired a wrist shot that deflected off Paille past Thomas for the 2-1 lead. It was Paille's first goal of the season and second of his career.

Boston would tie it up with about two minutes remaining in the period. Chara brought the puck into the Sabres zone then willingly stickhandled outside the zone, putting himself offside. It went uncalled (I know the rules on this are vague, with it being written that if a player has control, he's still onside) and his feed to Murray was buried past Miller for his 21st of the year and the 2-2 tie.

People were likely heading to the concession stand late in the period when Buffalo surprisingly took the lead once again. With less than ten seconds remaining, Afinogenov took the puck on the half-wall and ripped a slapshot that was deftly deflected in by Roy for his 8th of the season and the 3-2 lead.

The second period saw Buffalo take the majority of the play but it was a truly wonderful period of hockey, with end to end action and great goaltending. Unbelievably, there were no goals but Buffalo outshot the Bruins 10-5 in the middle frame after being outshot 15-8 in the first.

The third period saw Boston tie things up early. Marc Savard mozied on into the Sabres zone, spun around and fired a pass across the ice to Kessel, who let a one-timer rip into the top of the net past Miller for his second of the game. Truly a beauty of a goal by Kessel, who likely played one of his best games as a pro on this night.

Buffalo continued to pour it on and finally came through halfway through the period. With Vanek providing a screen in front, Campbell let a slapper go that eluded the goaltender for his 6th of the year and the 4-3 lead.

The goal of the night for Buffalo came about four minutes later. Jiri Novotny cleared the puck into the neutral zone on a clearing attempt and Afinogenov went to work. He stormed across the ice, took the puck and sped right past Andrew Alberts on a partial break. Max cut across the middle of the ice and backhanded his 21st of the year past Thomas for the 5-3 lead.

Buffalo would score into the empty net late in the game, as Paille converted a Chris Drury miss off the goalpost for his second of the night to help the Sabres break their three-game losing streak.

BUFFALO SABRES LINES -
FORWARDS:

Thomas Vanek-Daniel Briere-Jason Pominville

Daniel Paille-Chris Drury-Ales Kotalik

Derek Roy-Jiri Novotny-Maxim Afinogenov

Andrew Peters-Adam Mair-Drew Stafford

DEFENSEMEN:

Brian Campbell-Toni Lydman

Dmitri Kalinin-Teppo Numminen

Nathan Paetsch-Jaroslav Spacek

GOALTENDERS:

Ryan Miller; Martin Biron (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

None

INJURIES:

LW Paul Gaustad (upper body); LW Jochen Hecht (lower body); C Tim Connolly: Long-term IR (post-concussion syndrome); D Henrik Tallinder (high ankle sprain)

BOSTON BRUINS LINES -
FORWARDS:

P.J. Axelsson-Marc Savard-Glen Murray

Phil Kessel-Brad Boyes-Stanislav Chistov

Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Shean Donovan

Mark Mowers-Jeff Hoggan-Petr Tenkrat

DEFENSEMEN:

Paul Mara-Zdeno Chara

Brad Stuart-Andrew Alberts

Milan Jurcina-Bobby Allen

GOALTENDERS:

Tim Thomas; Hannu Toivonen (DNP)

SCRATCHES:

C Wayne Primeau; D Matt Lashoff

INJURIES:

D Jason York (knee)

THE GOOD -

Lindy finally made some adjustments (mostly due to injury) and some things worked. The powerplay looked great in the three opportunities - give Ruff credit...it takes big brass ones to keep your second leading scorer off the unit because of poor play in the last game (Afinogenov). Max didn't see a second of time on the PP.

Lindy also had a talk with Danny Paille before the game about his general lack of effort this year, especially in Rochester and the kid took it to heart, putting in a wonderful performance for the second consecutive game. He had chances to score at least three more on this night.

Vanek had a really nice game, forechecking well and doing a great job of harrassing Thomas in front of the net. No giveaways for TV tonight.

Overall, Buffalo competed hard and skated well, a pleasant change from their recent form.

Kessel was excellent for Boston and had great jump all night. He's going to be something special in about a year. Boston's gameplan was pretty sound, as they really did a good job in limiting odd-man advantages. Unfortunately, their goaltending wasn't good enough.

THE BAD -

Dmitri Kalinin. Oh my, was he brutal again tonight. Not just the blatant error on the Kessel goal but everytime he touched the puck it seemed to jump over his stick or end up slipping away from him. Add in two penalties and a few poor decisions to make it one of his worst performances in a Sabres uniform.

He had two assists but I wasn't particularly enamoured with Briere's performance tonight. Pretty invisible out there...not bad, just not really there.

The officiating was horrendous tonight. You almost will never hear me complain about the zebras but they were equally bad for both teams tonight. Lindy was right to criticize them today in the papers.

Derek Roy had six more turnovers tonight and Max had three. These guys have to be a bit more careful with the puck.

Chara was really average - his skating seemed off tonight and his -3 pretty much tells the story.

Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for one night, as the Sabres find their scoring touch and jump back into first place in the league, along with the Ducks.

Buffalo will take the ice on Friday night against the smoking-hot Vancouver Canucks, who just defeated the Ottawa Senators 2-1 on Thursday night.

Taylor Pyatt and Rory Fitzpatrick both scored in that game and will return to Buffalo for the first time since leaving the Sabres in the off-season.

Buffalo can only hope that the 'Nucks and stalwart keeper Roberto Luongo are wiped out after facing a whole lot of rubber against the Sens.

Game time is 8pm and I will be at the game. Should be a good one!

BUFFALO 6, BOSTON 3:
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com

Gameday Preview: Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres

2007-01-17T17:26:00.000-05:00

SEASON SERIES: Buffalo leads 2-0-1
2005-2006 SEASON SERIES: Buffalo went 7-1-0
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Buffalo is 94-102-30 (57-41-14 in Buffalo)

LAST GAME: January 15, 2007 in Boston

Marco Sturm scored the only goal in the shootout as the Bruins prevailed 3-2. Marc Savard and P.J. Axelsson scored in regulation for Boston while Derek Roy and Jochen Hecht notched singles for the Sabres. Tim Thomas and Ryan Miller were both excellent in the contest.

Buffalo Sabres –

OVERALL RECORD: 31-11-4 66 pts
STANDINGS: 1st Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 5-4-1
GOALS FOR: 172 (1st)
GOALS AGAINST: 133 (T-11th)
POWERPLAY: 16.1% (23rd)
PENALTY KILLING: 81.6% (19th)
GOAL LEADERS: Chris Drury & Thomas Vanek - 23; Two Tied with 20
ASSIST LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 36; Maxim Afinogenov - 27; Two Tied with 23
POINT LEADERS: Daniel Briere - 52; Maxim Afinogenov - 47; Thomas Vanek - 46
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Thomas Vanek +23; Jason Pominville +17; Brian Campbell +16
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Adam Mair - 72; Andrew Peters – 65; Paul Gaustad - 64
GOALTENDERS: Ryan Miller 22-8-3 2.61gaa .916sp; Martin Biron 9-3-1 3.10gaa .894sp
INJURIES: Tim Connolly (post-concussion syndrome) is Out; Henrik Tallinder (high ankle sprain) is Out; Paul Gaustad (upper body) is Out; Jochen Hecht (lower body) is Out

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#20 Daniel Paille - #48 Daniel Briere - #29 Jason Pominville

#12 Ales Kotalik - #23 Chris Drury - #21 Drew Stafford

#26 Thomas Vanek - #9 Derek Roy - #61 Maxim Afinogenov

#76 Andrew Peters - #13 Jiri Novotny - #22 Adam Mair

DEFENSE

#51 Brian Campbell - #5 Toni Lydman

#45 Dmitri Kalinin - #27 Teppo Numminen

#38 Nathan Paetsch - #6 Jaroslav Spacek

GOAL

#30 Ryan Miller

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#30 Ryan Miller; LW#28 Paul Gaustad; D#10 Henrik Tallinder; LW#55 Jochen Hecht; C#19 Tim Connolly (IR)

Boston Bruins –

OVERALL RECORD: 21-18-4 46 pts
STANDINGS: T-11th Eastern Conference
LAST TEN GAMES: 3-5-2
GOALS FOR: 128 (21st)
GOALS AGAINST: 157 (T-25th)
POWERPLAY: 20.0% (4th)
PENALTY KILLING: 81.2% (20th)
GOAL LEADERS: Glen Murray - 20; Marc Savard – 17; Patrice Bergeron - 15
ASSIST LEADERS: Marc Savard - 40; Patrice Bergeron - 31; Zdeno Chara - 20
POINT LEADERS: Marc Savard - 57; Patrice Bergeron - 46; Glen Murray - 34
PLUS/MINUS LEADERS: Nate Thompson E; Wade Brookbank & Mark Stuart -1
PENALTY MINUTE LEADERS: Andrew Alberts – 77; Zdeno Chara - 64; Paul Mara - 59
GOALTENDERS: Tim Thomas 19-12-4 3.22gaa .903sp; Hannu Toivonen 2-5-1 4.24gaa .872sp; Brian Finley 0-1-0 3.05gaa .909sp; Philippe Sauve 0-0-0 5.85gaa .826sp
INJURIES: Jason York (knee) is Questionable;

PROJECTED LINES:
FORWARDS

#11 P.J. Axelsson - #91 Marc Savard - #27 Glen Murray

#16 Marco Sturm - #37 Patrice Bergeron - #22 Shean Donovan

#17 Petr Tenkrat - #81 Phil Kessel - #26 Brad Boyes

#13 Stanislav Chistov - #20 Wayne Primeau - #18 Mark Mowers

DEFENSE

#23 Paul Mara - #33 Zdeno Chara

#6 Brad Stuart - #41 Andrew Alberts

#49 Matt Lashoff - #68 Milan Jurcina

GOAL

#30 Tim Thomas

OTHER ROSTER PLAYERS

G#54 Hannu Toivonen; RW#32 Jeff Hoggan; D#25 Jason York

Buffalo will look for ways to beat Boston goaltender Tim Thomas as the two teams faceoff in the backend of a home-and-home series tonight down at HSBC Arena.

Thomas and Ryan Miller were both spectacular in Monday's matinee affair but it was Thomas that emerged victorious in the 3-2 Boston win.

The Sabres are in the midst of their worst slump of the season, having lost 5 of their last 7 games. The news continues to get worse, as Jochen Hecht is joining Paul Gaustad, Henrik Tallinder and Tim Connolly in sick bay with a 'lower body' injury.

The effort in Boston was much better than in past games but the Sabres continue to have trouble winning the special teams battle. It's no coincidence that Buffalo is having difficulty adding to their win total while their powerplay and penalty kill percentages continue to fall.

There is a good chance that Lindy Ruff is going to shuffle his lines with all the injuries. Thomas Vanek may finally get the chance to play alongside Daniel Briere, which would mean Drew Stafford possibly playing left wing with Derek Roy and Maxim Afinogenov. Or, Stafford may play the right wing alongside Chris Drury, meaning Ales Kotalik has to go back to playing the left flank, something that won't sit well with him.

Should be an interesting contest.

Sabres Drop Season-High Third Straight in Monday Matinee

2007-01-16T19:08:00.000-05:00

Despite rock-solid goaltending and easily the save of the year from Ryan Miller, the Buffalo Sabres dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to the Boston Bruins on Monday afternoon, the team's third straight loss.

Marco Sturm was the only shooter to score in the extra frame, as Daniel Briere, Ales Kotalik and Thomas Vanek were all denied by Boston's Tim Thomas.

Marc Savard and P.J. Axelsson scored for the Bruins in regulation while Derek Roy and Jochen Hecht lit the lamp for Buffalo.

Since I was working yesterday afternoon and didn't see the game, I'll ask that you visit Kevin's post at BfloBlog for his recap.

If you're looking for a Good & Bad analysis, check out this post at the HF Boards.

There was some more bad news that came out of the loss, as Jochen Hecht will miss a week or so of action with a lower body injury. Drew Stafford was recalled by the club to take his place.

BOSTON 3, BUFFALO 2 (SO):
Game Recap - NHL.com
Official Scoresheet - NHL.com
Official Superstats - NHL.com