Sabres lose Enroth's first start

Tim Thomas and Ryan Miller are two of the best goalies in the NHL right now, and are the favorites to start for team USA in the Olympics in a few months. However instead of a battle between the Olympians both coaches started their backups and a match-up between Jhonas Enroth and Tuukka Rask.

This was Enroth's first NHL start, and despite the lopsided loss, he played pretty well. None of the 4 goals against him were bad, and he came up big on a few breakaways throughout the game, including one by former Sabre Daniel Paille.

The Sabres need to start playing better, losing two in the row now for the first time this season, and still yet to get a single win without Miller in net.

Buffalo pulls off win over Boston

Once again the Sabres have been a streaky team this season, but were able to pull off a 4-2 victory over the very good Boston Bruins. The team was lead unexpectedly by Matt Ellis who had two goals and an assist in this game.

I really haven't been a fan of Ellis this season, and would rather see the roster spot go to one of our talents in the AHL. However Ellis has been better since he was last recalled from Portland. He was the obvious star of this game, and may go to show that management knew what they were doing when they claimed him from the Kings.

The other Sabres goals came from Paul Gaustad and Thomas Vanek, and then an impressive third period by Ryan Miller to keep the Bruins from coming back into the game.

Official Three Stars

Matt Ellis

Jason Pominville

Milan Lucic

My Three Stars

Matt Ellis (two goals, one assist, plus three)

Paul Gaustad (one goal, four shots, 10 of 15 on faceoffs)

Ryan Miller (29 saves)

Finally a win (with thanks to Derek Roy)

The Sabres change to the slugless jerseys has appeared to work, as the team finally wins a game. Furthermore this 3-2 win came against the best team in the East after Buffalo failed to beat two of the conferences weaker teams.

Tallinder and Afinogenov both returned to the lineup for this game as Paetsch and a sick Paille both sat out. Both played well, including Tallinder who never should have really been out anyhow. Mancari, the newest Sabres, didn't have quite as good of a game without being on a line with Gaustad, but won for the first time since he got called up.

Roy played an excellent game, scoring the first two goals almost all by himself. The other Sabre goal was scored by Jochen Hecht shorthanded, and turned out to be the game winner.

The game had alot of hits with Kaleta named the third star after getting an astounding 8 hits, but still had less then Boston's Milan Lucic who had nine in the game.

Hopefully this game is not the exception, as Buffalo has two more games against good opponents in Pittsburgh and Montreal this weekend.

Official Three Stars

Derek Roy

Jason Pominville

Patrick Kaleta

My Three Stars

Derek Roy (two goals, plus two)

Matt Hunwick (one goal, plus one)

Jochen Hecht (shorthanded goal)

No effort in third straight game

I understand that Boston has a decent team this year, and that not every game can be won, but after three straight bad losses, something is just fundementally wrong with this team. After losing to the Bruins 7-4 the team has now allowed 18 goals against in their past three games for an average of six goals against per game. There is no way to win like that. In fact Buffalo has lost five of their last six games, allowing an average of 4.7 goals against per game.

When you score four goals in the first period you should not lose, especially if you have a two goal lead. Even as Boston caught up, Buffalo should have been able to continue to take advantage of the Bruin's mistakes, but instead they just gave up. As soon as Boston was up 5-4 most of the Sabres stopped skating hard despite there still being half of a game left to play.

Mair and Peters both hurt the team by taking some bad penalties. Over the last weekend they were two of our best guys, but now they are even hurting us. The refs really were trying to hurt the team as they called a number of rediculous trips that never should have been penalties. Also there was the diving call on Gaustad. Paul Gaustad does not take dives. He simply does not. If it was Roy I'd give it the benefit of the doubt, but to call that a dive on Gaustad is just insane.

Miller looked really bad this game, and finished the first period with a .571 save percentage. Lalime on the other hand looked good, alowing nothing past him in over 18 minutes of play. He should have gotten in the game much sooner, as some of the goals that Miller had allowed against in this game were really bad, and completly his fault.

The Hecht, Pominville Vanek line actually played well in this game and finished with a combined for three goals, four assists, and a plus two rating. Rivet also had a good game plus two with an assist for a team that was all around bad. One line can not carry a team though, and the others need to play hard as well.

Chara had a good game for Boston, putting in two powerplay goals from the blueline. The Sabres should know better than to let his blasts get through. Marc Savard also had a good game getting four assists, including both of Chara's goals and getting himself a goal as well.

Official Three Stars

Marc Savard

Zdeno Chara

David Krejci

My Three Stars

Chuck Kobasew (two goals, plus three)

Thomas Vanek (two goals, one assist)

Marc Savard (one goal, three assists)

Once again the Sabres fail to perform

While the game against Atlanta was a disaster because of the lack of a backcheck and incompetent goaltending, the game against the Bruins, added a lack of offense to the problem. The Sabres came out flat in every aspect of the game.

Connolly looked really good in the first period, including the goal he scored along with Pominville, but then was giving no effort on any play by the third.

While Buffalo did generate 33 shots, most were very poor, and they allowed 40 shots against. The Sabres were unwilling to maintain any pressure whatsoever in this game and that hurt them. The game had only three penalties between both teams before the final two minutes of the game, and all of them were killed off minimizing any effect that special teams had in the game.

Stafford was back on the ice for this game, as Paille sat out instead.

Official Three Stars

Chuck Kobasew

Dennis Wideman

Manny Fernandez

My Three Stars

Chuck Kobasew (one goal, one assist, plus two)

Tim Connolly (one goal, plus one)

Dennis Wideman (one goal)

Buffalo comes back against Boston

For the second straight game Buffalo started out slow and did poorly in the first period. Buffalo was outshot 16-6 in the first period and outscored 1-0. Then Boston came out as the stronger team at the beginning of the second and the Sabres allowed their first power play goal of the year against to go down 2-0. Soon after they scored their first of the game when MacArthur tipped in a blast from Rivet on the powerplay. Buffalo then kept the pressure on and tied the game up on a beautiful goal by Stafford. Buffalo went on to win in the game after a five round shootout.

Both of the Bruin's goals came on relatively weak shots. However Miller more than made up for that with many fantastic saves. Ryan finished the game with 29 saves and another four stops in the shootout.

Thomas Vanek did not score a goal in the game for the first time this season, but actually had the game winner in the shootout with a very impressive fake and shot combination. Kotalik's unstoppable backhander was actually stopped in the shootout, but Stafford managed to score on the move from farther out. Manny Fernandez looked rather nervous during the shootout and almost allowed goals by Roy and Pominville to trickle in.

Boston's goals came from Wideman and Kessel with their lone shootout goal coming from Krejci. The Bruins looked good at times, but never as if they were playing the type of dominating game that suggested that Buffalo could not come back.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Derek Roy

Thomas Vanek

My Three Stars

Drew Stafford (a goal, a shootout goal, second in game in shots)

Ryan Miller (kept the team in the game, then saved four of five in the shootout)

Dennis Wideman (one goal)

Random pre-Boston updates

According to ESPN, the Sabres are 12-0-2 against Boston whenever Vanek scores at least one point. Given how the Austrian's play has been recently I'm feeling pretty good about that.

Nathan Gerbe has been playing well in Portland where he had two assists in his first game, and then scored two goals in a 3-2 win in game number two. The pirates are currently 2-1 on the year.

The Boston Bruins are 2-1-2 this season, so another trip to the shootout many be in the works. Goalie Tim Thomas has always been good against Buffalo, but Manny Fernandez is expected to start instead. Buffalo has not had to face him since before the lockout.

The last time Buffalo played the Bruins was the final game of last season, where Numminen finally came back, Vanek scored a hat-trick, and Jocelyn Thibault got a shutout to end his time as a Sabre.

Northeast Division

The northeast has been one of the toughest divisions since the lockout, but the competition is beginning to level out. Neither Ottawa nor Buffalo are as dominate as they used to be, and Montreal and Boston have improved into playoff contenders.

#1 Montreal Canadians
They took second in the division last year, and have mostly brought back the same team. Their most notable addition is Robert Lang who they picked up from Chicago, and will give them some additional offense. The main downside for this team is that Price is still rather unproven in goal, and could go either way.

#2 Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo missed the playoffs last year, but should make it this season. Their main weakness was on defense, but they have shored up that position with the addition of Rivet and the return of Numminen. Buffalo also has the division's best goaltender in Ryan Miller.

#3 Ottawa Senators
Ottawa won the division last year, but fell apart at the end of the season and then got swept out of the playoffs in the first round. The team has some talent, but there is no reason to think that they will recover from their collapse and are unlikely to make the postseason.

#4 Boston Bruins
Boston is a bit of a question mark as they have the possibility of easily making the playoffs, and also finish near dead last. The team has some big name players, but lacks the depth to be a top of the league team. Goaltending is also a huge question mark for this team as it could end up being anywhere from amazing to awful.

#5 Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto has been having a very tough time getting things together since the lockout and this season doesn't look any more promising for them. They have no consistent scoring, and only mediocre defense. They surprisingly upset the defending champion Detroit Red Wings in their season opener, but that is not how the entire season is going to go for this team.

Nathan Gerbe leads Boston College to Victory

Nathan Gerbe picked up another two goals to lead Boston College to the NCAA Frozen Four Championship victory. Notre Dame hadn't been expected to win a single game, but then made it all the way to the final two before finally losing. Boston College was all around the better team, and was able to dominate the game.

The best thing about is that Nathan Gerbe is lined up to become a Sabre. He was a fifth round draft choice in 2005, and could very well end up one of the teams best selections. In the final two games of the NCAA tournament, he had five goals, and a handful of assists. He was a final three Hobey Baker finalist, and was named the NCAA playoff tournament's "Most outstanding player". He still has one more year of college eligibility left, but he looks to be good enough to crack the NHL lineup if he wants to come next season. If the Sabres have any strength it's that they know how to draft.

Also in the NHL, the refs went a bit out of their way to hand the game to Montreal. In the final 7:10 of regulation and the first 1:31 of overtime the refs called ten minutes of penalties against Boston. Not only did they call ten minutes worth of penalties in under nine minutes, but they called nothing against Montreal, and some of the calls made were rather weak. Montreal of course has the best powerplay in the league, and while it took them a while this time, given that much five on four, and even a few short five on threes, even the Sabres powerplay would have found a way to win that game. The final penalty was pretty weak to begin with. Calling that when in overtime of a playoff game when Boston is already a man down is insane.

A win to finish out the year

After no effort in so many important games, the Sabres showed up to collect a meaningless win over the Boston Bruins. Vanek got a hat-trick, and Thibault got a shutout to give Buffalo a 3-0 victory.

The powerplay finally looked good for Buffalo, with the Sabres scoring on two of their three powerplay chances. Vanek's hat-trick was the fourth of the season (and his career).

Teppo Numminen played his first (and last) game of the season, and finished the year with just over 16 minutes of ice time. Hopefully he is more healthy next year.

Thibault got his second shutout of the year, despite only playing in nine games. Based on his play a few of the times he has been in, I have no idea how this happens.

The Capitals won their game meaning that they secured the last playoff spot for this season. I guess I have to root for Ovechkin to win at least the East.

My Three Stars

Thomas Vanek (three goals)

Derek Roy (two assists)

Jocelyn Thibault (shutout)

More Math

The Sabres chances of getting into the playoffs is getting more and more tricky. For example, the Bruins overtime loss to the Devils means that if the Sabres beat Montreal and the Bruins lose to Ottawa, then the Sabres will have to beat the Bruins in regulation to get ahead of the Bruins on the fourth tie breaker.

The Penguins did come through, and Philly is still down at 91 points (with two games to go). Given the remaining schedules the Capitals are going to be hard to catch, and should claim the seventh spot. Also Carolina's win puts them out of reach for the Sabres, not that I was aware that they were in reach to begin with (turns out they were).

Both Buffalo Main Event and Mirtle have taken a look at their chances. The short version is that while it is mathematically possible, odds are against it happening. As for tie breakers the Sabres will have the advantage over the Bruins and the Flyers, but lose out to the Capitals. This would have to happen at 92 points, which means that the Sabres still need to win everything.

What both of them failed to talk about is three way ties, and also four way and five way ties (yes those are possible). Furthermore a six way tie is almost possible, except for the fact that the Senators and the Bruins play each other.

Alot of this is actually simple. By virtue of more wins the Hurricanes, Capitals, and Senators would all move on. In the case of a three way tie between one of these teams and either Boston or Philly, Buffalo would be ok, as they would go against these teams one on one where we win the tie breaker. In a three way tie between the Sabres, Flyers, and Bruins things get more complicated.

Tie breaking rule number three reads as follows:

The greater number of points earned in games between the tied clubs. If two clubs are tied, and have not played an equal number of home games against each other, points earned in the first game played in the city that had the extra game shall not be included. If more than two clubs are tied, the higher percentage of available points earned in games among those clubs, and not including any "odd" games, shall be used to determine the standing.

In short, suddenly all of the games count, and the individual games for Philly count more because they play Boston and Buffalo less then they play each other. In eight games against Boston the Sabres are 4-2-2, and in four games against Philly the Sabres are 3-0-1. Overall the Sabres earned 17 points in 12 games or .708% of all possible points. The Bruins also went 4-2-2 in their eight games against Buffalo, and went 3-1-0 against Philly giving them 16 points in 12 games right behind Buffalo at .667% of all possible points. The Flyers went 1-1-2 in four games against Boston, and 1-2-1 in four games against Buffalo. This leaves Philly with 7 points in 8 games which is only .438 of all possible points.

Short version is that between these three teams Buffalo wins the tie breaker, and if it ends up being a three way tie for seventh (because Washington lost out) then the Bruins get the eighth seed. Also if the Capitals, Bruins, Flyers and Sabres all tie for seventh, both the Capitals and the Sabres would be in. Of course a three way (or four way) tie involving the Capitals for eighth place doesn't work out so good.

Of course if the Sabres had just done half way decent against the Rangers this season, none of this would matter. I'm pretty sure those numbers are correct, but if not let me know. First of course the Sabres need to beat Montreal or none of this counts for anything.

Remaining possibilities

The Sabres are still not mathematically out of it, but their chances are continuing to disappear. The Rangers last win puts them out of reach for Buffalo, and leaves only the Philly and Boston spots within reach. The downside is that a single win by either of those clubs puts them out of reach as well.

The Sabres need to win out. This would give them a respectable 92 points for the season. Currently the Flyers and the Bruins are both sitting at 91 points with three games to go. This means that a single win puts them up to 93 points and out of reach. Either they need to lose out, or at the very least do no better than one tie (0-2-1). The Capitals are also ahead of the Sabres but can win two and still be caught.

If we all end up at 92 points, the Sabres should win the tie breaker against the Bruins and the Flyers, but would lose out to the Capitals. Preferably, they will stay at 91 points and it won't come down to that.

The Sabres next game is Tuesday night against the Maple Leafs and unless Buffalo can win this game then none of this really matters anyhow.

Defense allows Buffalo to hang on

While still in the hunt mathematically, giving another point to Boston is not going to help. Assuming Buffalo wins out the season, they still have only a 16.5% chance of getting into the post season.

The Defense had all of the goals for Buffalo as Lydman scored on the powerplay in the first (from Gaustad), and Sekera got the game winner in overtime. None of the goals in the game were scored five on five, with the Sabres goals coming five on four, and four on four, while Boston got their one goal shorthanded.

The Sabres highlights of the past month are still captain Pominville, and Mike Weber who had an assist on the game winner, and was plus one in this game. After 13 games played this season Weber is plus 14 and behind Pominville is the second highest on the team.

After the dramatic Sabres overtime win, every other team I was rooting for also won in OT. The Chicago Blackhawks won their game in a shootout, and both Boston College and the University of North Dakota won their games within the first overtime period to get to meet each other in the NCAA semi-finals.

Official Three Stars

Andrej Sekera

Ryan Miller

Alex Auld

My Three Stars

Andrej Sekera (one goal, plus one, lead the team in ice time)

Derek Roy (one assist, plus one, 67% on faceoffs, lead Sabres in shots)

David Krejci (one goal, plus one in loss)

Buffalo blows game with the Bruins

Despite entering the third period with a solid 2-0 lead the Sabres lost to the Boston Bruins in a shootout. The Sabres, backed by Ryan Miller played very good in the first two periods, but were dreadful in the third, overtime, and the shootout. For the most part Miller played ok, but let in a very easy one in the skills competition.

The Sabres played very poorly in four of their five powerplays, even getting outshot and outworked on a powerplay in the third, but did have one that went really well at the end of the first. The Sabres had good puck control almost the entire time, and got in a number of quality chances, then with almost no time left in the period Jaro Spacek knocked one into the top corner to give the Sabres the early lead. Vanek got the Sabres other goal at the end of the second.

Come third period though, the team just fell apart, allowed the Bruins to get the first fourteen shots on net in the third. The Sabres allowed a goal to Chara early on, and then following a huge defensive mistake by Campbell gave up a second to allow the Bruins to tie up the game. Unfortunately they never came back.

Patrick Kaleta wasn't as noticeable in this game, and seemingly was hardly on the ice in the third when his aggressiveness was most needed. Stafford left the game injured in the third with what looked like to be a sprained right ankle. Assuming he is reinjuring that from earlier this year, he should probably only miss around three games or so.

Official Three Stars

Phil Kessel

Thomas Vanek

Marco Sturm

My Three Stars

Zedeno Chara (scored a goal)

Marc Savard (an assist)

Ales Kotalik (despite the loss)

Sabres beat the Bruins

Led once again by the line of Paille, Pominville and the returning captain Hecht, the Sabres beat their divisional opponent the Boston Bruins 4-2.

This was a game that the team really needed, and they play Boston once again later in the week, to really get a good shot at moving up the standings. Buffalo is in about eight to ninth place in the east, but too many of the teams that they are ahead of are in the southeast. Buffalo needs to keep moving up and getting wins against the Northeast and Atlantic teams, such as when they play the New Jersey Devils tonight.

Pominville, Paille and Hecht set Buffalo up for an early lead in this game, only to see it get tied up before the end of the first period. Vanek then got an easy goal at the beginning of the second off of great passes from Stafford, and Campbell. The Sabres carried their one nothing lead into the third period.

In the final period of play, the line of Paille, Hecht, and Pominville managed to score another goal to secure the win. Soon after on the powerplay, Lydman rocketed in a shoot from the blue line to go up 4-1. The Sabres then held onto that lead before giving up a meaningless goal with under a second left in the game.

Patrick Kaleta had a very noticeable presence in the first two periods, picking up five hits in the game, and even drawing some retaliatory penalties. While Kaleta is always known for his big hits, they really stood out early in this game.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Daniel Paille

Jochen Hecht

My Three Stars

Daniel Paille (two goals)

Jochen Hecht (set up Paille's two goals)

Per Johan Axelsson (scored the Bruin's meaningful goal, had an assist on the other)

Bruins Steal one from the Sabres

The Sabres came out and played well against the Boston Bruins. Buffalo was able to outshoot their opponents 45-21, yet still managed to lose 4-1. Boston even had Alex Auld in goal, yet he played really well.

This is the second game that the Bruins have won against Buffalo dispite getting massivly outshot. Milan Lucic lead Boston in shots with four, yet six different Sabres (one third of the team) had four or more shots on net in the game, and Pominville even had eight, yet not a single one went in. Without Tim Thomas in net, the Bruins goaltending was not supposed to be this good.

Granted the Sabres made some pretty big mistakes to allow some of those goals, yet there is no reason to lose, when you have more than twice as many shots on net as the other team.

For the second straight game, Peters has been in the lineup instaed of Paille. While I can understand playing Ryan or even MacArthur in favour of Paille, Peters hasn't really been doing all that much. Peters was only on the ice for 1:32 all game on just two shifts. Against San Jose, he played for only 1:31 in the game. Last year the Sabres strength came in playing all four lines, that hasn't been happening lately.

Official Three Stars

Alex Auld

Marc Savard

Paul Gaustad

My Three Stars

Alex Auld (.978 save percenage)

Marc Savard (one goal, one assist)

Milan Lucic (two points, plus two)

46 shots, yet only 1 goal

The Sabres had plenty of shots in this game, but nothing to show for it. Paille finally scored a shorthanded goal on what was around the 40th shot of the night for Buffalo. The Sabres did decent on the defensive end of things, but that doesn't count if you can't score.

The Sabres were pretty bad on the powerplay, getting no goals and not to many shots either. At one point the Sabres got 40 seconds of five on three time, and did not register a single shot on net.

The penalty kill was better only allowing one against, killing a full minute of five on three, and getting a short handed goal.

It's been five games since the Sabres have scored a 5v5 goal. They lead the league in this last year. They need to get doing it again.

Official Three Stars

Tim Thomas

Chuch Kobasew

Jochan Hecht

My Three Stars

Tim Thomas (45 saves)

Jason Pominville (ten shots on goal all by himself)

Chuch Kobasew (game winning goal)

MacArthur Wins one for the Sabres

The Sabres got down by a goal early on, but were able to come back to beat Boston 2-1 in OT. The Sabres only allowed one goal, but unlike against Montreal they actually scored one themselves as well. Then in overtime Clarke MacArthur scored a pretty one to win the game for Buffalo.

MacArthur had been up for a few games last season, and even this preseason I stated that MacArthur's play would be more important than that of Peters and Ryan despite less games played over the season. He showed up big tonight. In his overtime of his first game in the NHL this season, he got a quick pass from Stafford, and absolutely buried the opportunity.

My last post seems to be confirmed, as both Roy and Vanek were on the ice for the only goal against this game. Still it was only one goal all game long and the Sabres have now played great on the defensive side of things for two straight nights. Lets hope they can keep it up for their next game against Toronto on Friday. And if they start scoring again as well, that would also be nice...

Official Three Stars

Clark MacArthur

Paul Gaustad

Ryan Miller

My Three Stars

Clarck MacArthur (overtime goal in his first game of the season)

Ales Kotalik (game tieing goal, plus a solid two way effort)

Paul Gaustad (almost crazy enough to fight Chara)

After giving up Three soft goals the Sabres lose in OT

The Sabres came in to Boston and proved themselves to be the better team, then Miller gave up three easy goals, and Buffalo was only able to come away with one point. Although it took the Sabres a while to score the offence looked good all night, and actually outshot the Bruins 30-24 despite having fewer powerplay opportunities.

The Sabres were lead by new Captain Lydman and Afinogenov throughout the game, who both gave huge efforts throughout the night. Afinogenov got the first goal after a nice set up by Vanek and Gaustad, but was constantly the source of the Sabres push throughout the game. Lydman on the other hand lead the push on the defensive end, playing up to the expectations that come with being the team captain. Lydman had a number of big blocks including one that came off his face, but that sacrifice saved an otherwise certain goal. Lydman had to leave the game to get stitched up, but came back to play in the third.

The Sabres real problem in the game was in goal. Although Miller didn't have much of a chance on the first goal all the rest of the goals came on shots that Miller really should have had. It's kindof hard to win a game when you give up three easy ones like that.

Part of the reason the Sabres were able to pick up a point in the game was their special teams play. Boston scored a nice goal early on their first power play, but Buffalo killed off the other four later in the game (thanks to mainly to Paille and Lydman, although not to Pominville who missed what should have been an easy short handed goal). On the other side of things the Sabres were two for three with the man advantage, which is clearly where they need to be. Next game is Friday night against Florida.

Official Three Stars

Marc Savard

Marco Sturm

Glen Metropolit

My Three Stars

Marc Savard (a goal and an assist and by far the best player on the Bruins)

Maxim Afinogenov (goal and Buffalo's best on the night)

Glen Metropolit (a goal and an assist at the most important times in the game)