Thursday, April 9, 2009

Still better than Toronto

The Sabres have showed that they have yet to bottom out completely, as they solidly beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1. As a result the team is still mathematically in it. As they say, as long as their is life, there is hope. So as long as Buffalo wins their two remaining games, and the Rangers and Panthers both lose both of theirs, then the Sabres are back in the playoffs this season. Not likely, but possible.

The team finally got some solid play from Pominville who had two point and six shots in the game. Gaustad and Vanek came through as usual and score the other two goals.

Buffalo was actually outshot in this game 33-29 but got good play from Miller who has been wearing a new helmet the last handful of games.

Thursday night has three of the games that Buffalo needs to go their way. The Sabres, Flyers, and Thrashers all have to win or else that 2.1% drops to zero.

Official Three Stars
  • Ryan Miller
  • Nikolai Kulemin
  • Jason Pominville

  • My Three Stars
  • Jason Pominville (one goal, one assist, six shots)
  • Paul Gaustad (one goal)
  • Ryan Miller (32 saves, only one goal against)

  • Wednesday, April 8, 2009

    And a loss to the Red Wings

    Buffalo inched closer to being mathematically eliminated by losing to the Red Wings 4-1 in a game that wasn't even close.

    While there was a back and forth first period, Buffalo predictably gave up and allowed the game to get out of hand.

    The one exception as usual was Paul Gaustad. After Detroit scored to go up 3-0, the camera went to Gaustad on the bench and he looked rather pissed that his team had been scored on. Had Gaustad been out on the ice for that shift he probably would have prevented that goal. Next shift when he did get on the ice, he put in Buffalo's only goal of the night.

    Official Three Stars
  • Marian Hossa
  • Tomas Holmstrom
  • Chris Osgood

  • My Three Stars
  • Marian Hossa (two goals, one assist, plus two)
  • Nicklas Lidstrom (one goal, one assist, plus three)
  • Pavel Datsyuk (two assists, plus two)

  • Sunday, April 5, 2009

    Possibly the end

    The Sabres lost 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils in a defeat that could possibly mark the end of Buffalo's playoff hopes. While mathematically still in it, and still able to hit Mirtle's magic number if they win out, things do not look promising for the post season hopes of the Sabres. There is still a 10.4% chance so the team will have something to play for, but even if they win out, they will need some significant help.

    The Sabres got out to a bad start against New Jersey, allowing two goals early in the game. In the second period Buffalo all but gave up, going down an additional goal and getting only four shots on net.

    For the third period the Sabres seemed to be giving up, pulling Miller from the net and sitting in a three point deficit. Still the team came through for that single period and outshot New Jersey 23-6 in those 20 minutes. Despite scoring two goals to make the game close, they were unable to overcome their lazy play in the first two periods of the game and ended with a loss.

    Official Three Stars
  • Jamie Langenbrunner
  • Martin Brodeur
  • Clarke MacArthur

  • My Three Stars
  • David Clarkson (one goal, plus one, four hits)
  • Martin Brodeur (35 saves)
  • Jochen Hecht (one goal, plus one, four shots)

  • Saturday, April 4, 2009

    Back to winning

    The Sabres continue to hang on by a thread with a 5-4 overtime victory over the Washington Capitals. Given the free five on threes that the Capitals were given, Buffalo clearly deserved to win this game, and finally did in overtime.

    Buffalo Sabres
    Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin combined for 18 shots on goal, but Washington did not have the goaltending to back it up. Meanwhile Pominville finally had a decent game going plus two in the game, getting an assist, and the game winner in OT. MacArthur got a lucky goal, and Rivet and Afinogenov both put in good performances as well. Lydman and Spacek were the only two Sabres to play poorly in this game.

    Official Three Stars
  • Alex Ovechkin
  • Jaroslav Spacek
  • Sergei Federov

  • My Three Stars
  • Maxim Afinogenov (one goal, plus two, four shots)
  • Tim Connolly (three assists, plus three)
  • Alex Ovechkin (one goal, two assists, nine shots)

  • Friday, April 3, 2009

    Matt Generous signed

    The Sabres have signed Matt Generous to a one year contract following the conclusion of his college career playing for St. Lawrence. Generous was a seventh round draft pick in 2005 and is not expected to be up with the Sabres anytime soon. He will however help Portland with their defenseman shortage for the rest of this season. More details on his NCAA playing days...

    The Sabres play the Washington Capitals tonight, although a win yesterday by Montreal is pushing Buffalo towards being mathematically out.

    Thursday, April 2, 2009

    0-0-4

    The Sabres have failed horriably all year against the Ottawa Senators and the Atlanta Thrashers. These are two teams that the Sabres easily should have beaten and have repeatadly failed to do so.

    Buffalo's overtime loss to the Thrashers on Wenesday night should have been anticiapated as indicative of Buffalo's lack of success against the team all season. At least getting the one point for making it to overtime is not close to enough against a weaker team like Atlanta. Once again Buffalo is going to end up just outside of the playoffs and throwing away points against easy teams will once again be the reason why.

    Despite scoring two goals, Vanek still ended the game -2. Of all of the Sabres in this game only Henrick Tallinder and Craig Rivet played well, and impressed througout.

    Official Three Stars
  • Alex Kovalev
  • Ilya Kovalchuk
  • Christopher Higgins

  • My Three Stars
  • Ilya Kovalchuk (one goal, one assist, plus two)
  • Thomas Vanek (two goals, seven shots)
  • Vyacheslav Kozlov (one goal, plus one, six shots)

  • Wednesday, April 1, 2009

    Montreal and Florida win

    Both Montreal and Florida won last Tuesday night leaving Buffalo in an even tighter spot. Even if the Sabres do win out, they have little to no chance of making the playoffs.

    Kaleta however says that he is up and ready to go despite his concussion. From the sound of it he intends to play through the injury knowing how much each game counts. The effort is why we all like Kaleta in the first place.