Peters scores a powerplay goal

The Sabres have let Andrew Peters go this past off season, but now trying out for the New Jersey Devils he has done what he rarely did in Buffalo, and scored a goal. Furthermore he scored a powerplay goal.

Given his lack of offensive achievement (3 career goals), the Sabres never put him on the powerplay. Perhaps they should have and Peters would now be our fighting/power play specialist, and would be a valuable part of the team, scoring 20 goals a year.

Or maybe his goal was just a lucky fluke.

Either way I hope he is able to come back and play somewhere in the NHL, even though I agree with the Sabres decision not to bring him back.

Buffalo wins third straight

Buffalo won their third straight game with a 4-2 victory over the struggling Senators. The Sabres started out strong, and despite a small collapse midway through the second period they were able to hang on to the win.

Ellis scored just fifteen seconds into the game to give Buffalo the early lead. This was Ellis' fourth goal of the season and his third in the past two games. Drew Stafford then scored another goal late in the first, and then Roy got a fluke goal early in the second to give Buffalo an early 3-0 lead.

This was not however until after Jarkko Ruutu decided to bite Andrew Peters finger. Fortunately Peters had his glove on so he wasn't too hurt, but that was still a tad ridiculous. Then to add insult to injury the only penalty on the play went to Peters who didn't really do anything, and backed out after Ruutu chomped down on his finger. The refs instead mostly pretended that nothing happened, which then forced them to break up skirmishes the rest of the game between two teams that already do not like each other. Hopefully the Senators take a hint from Dallas and keep Ruutu out of the NHL permanently, but we already know that they are not a classy organization.

Ottawa almost came back as Jason Spezza scored two goals just 32 seconds apart seven minutes into the second period. The first one was a bit of a fluke that Miller let bounce off of him and trickle in, while the second was scored on a breakaway. Buffalo however held onto their slim lead and got a fourth goal when Stafford set up Vanek for an empty netter.

The powerplay for both teams was rather weak in this game, with the only the empty netter coming with the man advantage. While Buffalo has had a good penatly kill all season, had they been able to put up an extra point earlier it would have gone a long ways towards giving them an easy win.

Official Three Stars

Derek Roy

Jason Spezza

Ryan Miller

My Three Stars

Jason Spezza (two goals)

Derek Roy (one goal, two assists, plus two)

Drew Stafford (one goal, one assist, plus two, should have been given another assist on Roy's goal)

Mair and Peters, Buffalo's plus minus leaders

Over the past two games the Buffalo Sabres have played very poorly, getting outscored 11-3. Over these two games only two players avoided going negative in their plus/minus rating, and they are Adam Mair and Andrew Peters.

Peters only has a combined 10:41 of ice time over the two games, and they contributes somewhat to this statistic, but it doesn't change the fact that he is still doing better then the rest of the team. Perhaps the fact that he doesn't have such offensive expectations helps, but he also has four shots on net over the past two games, the same number of shots that the minus five rated Derek Roy has. Over the past two games at least Peters has been one of Buffalo's best players.

Patrick Kaleta also has a neutral rating against the Penguins, but only had six minutes of even strength ice time, and did not play the night before.

Adam Mair is the lone player to be in the positive over the past two games. He is only plus one with slightly less ice time then most players on the team, but that is the best that the Sabres can offer. He earned the assist for the one goal he was on the ice for, and wasn't on the ice for any goals against, not even any powerplay goals.

Last season the big disappointment that Vanek had was not the fact that his goal scoring slipped a little, but rather his plus minus dropped over 50 points from being the league leader to being in the negative. Vanek (and the whole team), now have to get back to playing two way hockey.

The 2009-2010 roster

While it is way too early to talk about the season that comes after the next one, there is also no hockey news to talk about in the middle of August. Assuming that Michael Ryan isn't going to be with Buffalo this coming season, the Sabres 2008-2009 roster is pretty well set. The year after the Sabres will not have contracts with twelve of their players, however things are not as bad as that statistic makes them sound.

Maxim Afinogenov
Afinogenov lead the team in points just three seasons ago, but seems to have lost his place in Buffalo. While a good player, he no longer appears to fit the Buffalo system and will probably not be resigned. The Sabres will most likely continue to try and trade him throughout this season.

Tim Connolly
Another player who looked real good the first year out of the lockout. However he has been unable to stay healthy so it is unlikely that he will be offered a large contract. If he stays with Buffalo or not is really dependent upon if any other team is willing to take a risk to sign him to a large deal.

Ales Kotalik
A good player who's resigning should be more important to alot more Buffalo fans. While it would not be the end of the world if he doesn't come back, he has been a solid player, and would be likely to sign a multi-year deal for around $4 million a year. Expect this deal to happen shortly before the start of free agency next summer if it does.

Jason Pominville
This is the contract that has been getting all of the attention, however he will still be a restricted free agent, so the Sabres have their options open. I feel that his shot at being captain is dependent on him signing a long term deal before the season starts. Because Pominville has some constraints on him as a restricted free agent, I expect that this deal will happen, but not until half way through November or so. Worst case scenario is that we go to arbitration, or that another team signs him for alot and we have the option of matching or taking a number of high draft picks.

Drew Stafford
Stafford is also a restricted free agent, but his value is highly dependent upon how he does in the coming season. Last year was a bit of a disappointment for Stafford and if that happens again it is likely to be reflected in the offer that he gets from Buffalo. Regardless of the amount odds are he will be resigned next summer.

Andrew Peters
Will be a restricted free agent. We could resign him for practically nothing, but lets hope we don't and let Kaleta or Gerbe move up into this roster spot.

Patrick Kaleta
Kaleta's contract will be up, but as a low paid restricted free agent who is unheard of outside of the Buffalo area, there is almost no chance of him signing elsewhere. Expect him to get a raise next summer dependent on how many games he plays with Buffalo.

Jaroslav Spacek
After one bad season and one decent season in Buffalo Spacek is a real question. I expect that the Sabres will have a small amount of interest in keeping him, but that it is likely that he will sign elsewhere next summer. Well I think he could be resigned for a somewhat reasonable amount I expect that Sekera and Weber will be ready to fill in for him by then.

Teppo Numminen
Currently only on a one year contract, Teppo's future is really dependent on this coming season. There is always the possibility of retirement, and I think this is mostly going to be based on how healthy he can stay. If he does want to come back, expect another one year deal.

Andrej Sekera
As a restricted free agent who is likely to play less then 40 games in the NHL this season, there should be no problem resigning him next summer.

Mike Funk
As a restricted free agent who will probably not get a single NHL appearance this season he is likely to be resigned. However being behind Sekera, Weber, and Myers I'm not sure that it really matters.

How Peters helps.

I've stated before my preference for Peters to be scratched, but perhaps that is ignoring some of the evidence. The Sabres play better when someone on the team picks up a fighting major. The team plays even better still when that someone is Andrew Peters.

The Sabres are currently 32-27-9 a pace at which they will end the season in ninth place with a 39-33-10 record. However in games in which Buffalo picks up a fighting major the Sabres are winning 59% and have twice as many ins as losses for a record of 10-5-2. The record is even better yet if Peters is the one brawling, as the Sabres are 7-2-1 in those games with a 70% win percentage.

Assuming the Sabres fought in every game, over the course of a season while keeping up at this pace, the Sabres would end the year 48-24-10 (good for 106 points). If Peters fought every night and Buffalo kept up that pace then Buffalo would finish the year 57-16-9 (good for 123 points). This would translate into the best season ever in the history of the team.

The problem may be in expecting Peters to be racking up the points. Peters already has his goal for the year, and needs instead to concentrate on dropping the gloves. If he fights out the season the Sabres could finish strong going 10-3-1. That record would give Buffalo a 98.4% chance of making the playoffs. In fact that may be their only chance.

NOTE:I had formally looked at this earlier in the season.

Bernier starts strong

In his first game with the Buffalo Sabres Steve Bernier showed that he was a decent player, scoring the first two goals of the game against the Nashville Predators. Besides the goals he also finished the game plus three with an assist. Furthermore his chemistry with Vanek and Roy looked good (although almost everyone looks good with those two), and he appeared to be rather solid (and responsible) defensively and wasn't on the ice for any goals against.

The Sabres won the game 8-4. The main reason was that Nashville's goaltending was bad, so bad in fact that Andrew Peters scored a goal. Kaleta nicely set up the play for Peters first goal of the season, and fourth of his career. Furthermore it actually came at a critical time when the Predators were starting to make a bit of a comeback. Other Sabres goals came from Paille, Connolly, and Kotalik, while the population of Pominville went up by one as well.

Ryan Miller got hit in the mask, and was bleeding, which as a result gave up the first goal of the game. Thibault had to come in for a little while and didn't look too good giving up two goals in a little over eight minutes of ice time.

Later in the game things turned a little violent as these two teams who barely play each other apparently are not the best of friends. I do recall someone from Nashville sucker punching Spacek from behind when these two teams met last season though. Anyhow there were a number of fights including Roy who seemed a bit more aggressive this game and Bernier who proved himself ready to drop the gloves. Furthermore Peters must have been feeling good off of his goal and actually took a swing in his fight (and landed it), although Mair got absolutely destroyed.

Official Three Stars

Stever Bernier

Derek Roy

Andrew Peters

My Three Stars

Steve Bernier (Two goals to lead off a Gordie Howe hat-trick)

Toni Lydman (four assists, plus three)

Derek Roy (on goal, one assist, plus four)

Sabres win game tainted by serious injury

The Sabres beat the Florida Panthers 5-3 to continue their push towards the playoffs. The Sabres came through despite some big mistakes, and saw the first NHL goal for Patrick Kaleta. However in the end the game was largely overshadowed by a skate blade cutting Richard Zednik across the neck.

Midway through the third period, Jokinen fell after being checked in the corner, and had his skates fly up and hit Zednik. Zednik skated himself over to the bench immediately, while leaving a huge trail of blood across the ice. Reports from Buffalo General Hospital indicate that he is doing ok. However this was a very serious injury, that is very rare in sports. After the incident, there was some question over if the game would be resumed or not, although after a long delay it eventually was.

As for the game itself, things went pretty good for the Sabres. The Sabres were shockingly 3 for 4 on the powerplay (with thanks to Roy who got two). The Sabres were the better team all night long, but were not always rewarded for their chances as they finished the first down, 1-0 and saw too many posts, while they had fluke goals being scored against them.

Buffalo got its first point of the game early in the second on the first ever NHL goal for Patrick Kaleta. Glad to see him get rewarded like that, and continue to prove that he deserves a spot ahead of Peters. Peters interestingly enough had an assist on that goal, which was his first point this season. Kaleta also has an AHL point this year, and had five goals in the AHL last season.

In the final minute of the second and the first minute of the third the Sabres gave up two goals to blow their 3-1 lead, and began to scare fans as things started to look like last weeks meltdown against the Bruins. However the nights second Roy powerplay goal regave the Sabres the lead, which the held onto and then added to later.

Official Three Stars

Derek Roy

Jason Pominville

Patrick Kaleta

My Three Stars

Derek Roy (two powerplay goals)

Brian Campbell (three assists)

Patrick Kaleta (first NHL point)

Pre-game peculiarities

I had the opportunity to attend the Sabres game against the Devils last Saturday, and a few things about the teams pregame skate stuck with me.

Most of what the team was doing consisted of running through simple drills one time each, and then moving on to the next variation of the shooting/passing pattern. Most surprising is that instead of Hecht or one of the captains running the drills, Andrew Peters was the one running the pre-game show. Not that it's a hard job to do, but it was a bit unexpected to see an often scratched player running everything.

Some players are better in practice than others. Pominville was hitting the most beautiful shots, while Kotalik was missing everything, and Stafford was alternating between top corner and three feet wide. The most aggressive in practice (like in games) were Campbell and Gaustad. Campbell was the first onto the ice, and after knocking a puck into his own net, turned and from his own blueline nailed a shot into the top corner of the far net.

A few players including Tallinder mostly warmed up on their own, stickhandleing and stretching in the neutral zone, rather than taking part in some of the drills. Miller did participate however, and for the drills in which he was not in net, he would take shots at the goal, just like the position players. Thibault however did not.

Sabres fall to Ottawa

The Ottawa Senators defeated the Sabres 5-3. Ottawa had a big second period that saw them take a 3-1 lead that was quickly padded to 4-1 in the first. Buffalo started making a comeback, but gave up an empty netter to lose the game.

Miller did not have a good game, and probably should have been able to stop a few of the shots that he let in this game. That said the rest of the team had to play better as well.

Peters seemed to get alot of ice time this game, and was always half a second from being in a fight, although no one took up that challange tonight...

Official Three Stars

Wade Redden

Mike Fisher

Tim Connolly

My Three Stars

Danny Heatley (two assists and an empty netter)

Wade Redden (one goal, one assist)

Jochan Hecht (played well as always)

Preferring Paille Plays Prior Peters

The question still exists as to if Peters is really helping the team all that much. To most perspectives the Sabres would be better off if they brought up somebody else instead.

Peters has been in the lineup for five straight games now, but has only been playing around 2-3 minutes each night. In fact the most ice time he has had in a single game in that stretch is 3:37, and hasn't played for more than 6:33 all year.

Yet besides Peters the rest of his line including Mair is given more ice time than that, and when Peters is scratched in favour of Paille or Ryan then the fourth line gets around the same amount of time as the third. Now that the Sabres are healthy there is no reason for him to be in the lineup, as I would rather see MacArthur or Kaleta be brought up, let alone not needing to have either Ryan or Paille as a healthy scratch.

On the defensive side of things I think it was the right move to keep Sekera up and to scratch Pratt. Sekera has played very well in the last few games and will be sent to the AHL soon enough with Kalinin due to return soon...

Buffalo wins the brawl, loses the game

The Sabres lost a fight filled game to the Ducks 4-1. The Sabres didn't play well at all in the second period and managed only three shots in those twenty minutes. The powerplay for Buffalo wasn't good at all, as the team was almost scared to shoot the puck, failing to do so at even the most obvious of opportunities.

The Sabres did much better with their gloves off. Peters fought Parros twice, coming even in the first match, and decisively winning the second, even taking an opportunity to mock Parros' ridiculous eighties style mustache. Gaustad took an opportunity to beat on Bertuzzi. There was plenty more hostility between the teams, but nothing that was a clear fight, although three penalties were assessed after the end of the third including a ten minute game misconduct to Pronger.

Hecht played well as always, scoring the lone goal for the Sabres, marking the 8th straight game that the Sabres scored first after failing to do so for 13 straight.

Also, Ryan Miller played against his brother Drew for the first time in the NHL, but I can expect the Buffalo News to run with that story, so I'll let you all read about it there...

Official Three Stars

Todd Bertuzzi

Andy McDonald

Chris Pronger

My Three Stars

Andy McDonald (one goal, one assist, plus two)

Jean-Sebastien Giguere (played well in net)

Paul Gaustad (beating up Todd Bertuzzi is always good)

Fighting for the win

As I've noted before the Sabres have not been prone to get into fights this season. However out of the four games in which they have fought they have won three of them.

Buffalo so far has gotten into fights with Atlanta(2), Tampa, Florida(2), and Washington. Buffalo's fighters so far this season are Peters(2), Gaustad(2), Mair and Stafford. So it appears if seeing Peters get into a brawl may actually be good for the team. On the other hand, all of these games were against teams in the southeast with losing records.

Random stat from all of this? In games in which their is a fight and Miller is the starting goal tender the Sabres are undefeated. 3-0 is good no matter how circumstantial...

Hecht leads the team to victory

Jochen Hecht had a dominating game as the Sabres beat the capitals 3-1. Hecht had the Sabres first two goals and assisted on the third. He almost got the hat trick in the third period, but Kolzig came up big and made the save.

Ryan and Paille who played on a line with Hecht for most of the game also played very well as did Pominville who scored the games final goal. Gaustad played well, but missed an easy empty netter with ten seconds to go.

Peters apparently reads this blog, as he got into a fight on his very first shift, saving himself from having to go a full month without a fight. The fight was mostly a draw, although you could give Peters a slight edge. Like most of his fights it was slow with nobody really landing anything, although the refs let it go for quite awhile.

Official Three Stars

Jochen Hecht

Ryan Miller

Alexander Ovechkin

My Three Stars

Jochen Hecht (three points, two goals)

Ryan Miller (only allowed one against)

Olaf Kolzig (made some big saves despite the loss)

Keeping the gloves on

The Sabres have done very little fighting this year (even after a few games against Ottawa). According to hockeyfights.com the Sabres have not had any fights since two against Florida all the way back on November second. Peters himself has only had one fight so far this season, and that was a day short of being a full month ago. Peters is on track to have only four fights all regular season, and this is after he got into three fights in five preseason games.

With only five fights so far on the season, Buffalo has had the fewest fights in the entire NHL. Meanwhile, Philadelphia is averaging a fight per game.

Game against the capitals tonight, hopefully they can put themselves over .500 (even if they don't drop the gloves)...

A look at Andrew Peters

The Sabres have a good interview with Andrew Peters posted on their site now. Although the interview deals mainly with his weight and his fighting role. Peters is in a unique and interesting position on the Buffalo Sabres team, he is almost guaranteed to make the opening night roster, but is probably not going to be playing come playoffs. Last season with 54 games played, it's the most that Peters has ever played in a season, yet nobody really thinks he is going to disappear from the team either... In addition Peters serves as the Sabres representative to the NHLPA, which puts him a bit in between most NHLPA reps who are often the young journeymen type, or the older leader type of person. So where exactly does Peter's fit in on this team?