Goaltender battle

Following a one all tie, the Devils beat the Sabres in the shootout. In a game with two of the leagues best goal tenders, the scoring was kept low as each team only managed one goal, and only one player scored in the shootout afterwards.

Miller had a really good game, bailing the Sabres out time after time. In the first period the Sabres were outshot 13-2 and Miller was able to stop everything including a penalty shot.

The game started with a very slow first period in which neither team could score. Buffalo only managed two shots in the first including only one on their powerplay. However from the drop of the puck in the second the Sabres pushed forward with their attack. The first five minutes of the second were dominated by Buffalo, and saw them score a goal when Kotalik put one off the post and into the net. The rest of the second was more evenly fought, but saw both teams continue to play aggressively.

This game was the first against Zubrus since he was on the Sabres for the end of last season. Mostly he was seen as a hired gun and was not expected to be back, but would have been a good player for the Sabres to have tried to keep. Zubrus has been playing ok for the Devils this year...

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Martin Brodeur

Mike Mottau

My Three Stars

Ryan Miller (bailed out the Sabres time and time again)

Martin Brodeur (only allowed one goal)

Daniel Paille (one goal, plus one)

Ice Bowl is quickly coming as work on the rink continues...

Hindsight on the Zubrus - Novotny trade

Only half a year after the trade, neither Zubrus nor Novotny are playing with either of the teams involved in the trade, and nobody knows where Timo Helbling is playing this season. As such it seems the only long term asset was the first round draft pick Buffalo gave up to Washington. At this point it looks as if the Sabres got the worse end of the bargain, giving up a good draft pick and Jiri Novotny for a player that they were unable to resign to a long term deal. At the time it didn't look to bad as Zubrus is a great player and looked likely to resign, while Novotny seemed easily replaceable by Stafford of Paille. Even if the Capitals didn't want to resign Novotny (now with Columbus) doesn't mean that the Sabres couldn't use him. He no longer looks so replaceable with either Michael Ryan or Peters likely to take his spot, and while the Sabres still have a great lineup, they are lacking the depth behind their top 20 that they could really use. Funny how a trade can go downhill so much in so short of a time frame...