Still unable to beat Ottawa

The Buffalo Sabres have been unable to beat the Ottawa Senators all year, and failed to do so once again on Saturday night. The team came and went all night in a game that saw poor performances by both goaltenders. In the end though, Nick Foligno and Dan Alfredsson proved to be too much and outscored the Sabres 6-3.

Buffalo got all three of their goals on the powerplay, but allowed too many shots against in the game, and had too many breakdowns. While it was close until the end, at no point did the Sabres look like the best team on the ice. Lalime let in too many soft ones, and should have been pulled after the second period.

Buffalo also got no help from around the league as the Hurricanes, Flyers, and Panthers all won as well.

Official Three Stars

Nick Foligno

Chris Campoli

Daniel Alfredsson

My Three Stars

Nick Foligno (two goals, plus two, two for two on faceoffs)

Daniel Alfredsson (two goals, five shots)

Chris Campoli (one goal, one assist, plus three, five shots)

Once again Ottawa ends our Season

Technically the Sabres still have a shot at this thing if they win out, but based on their play in the 6-3 loss to the Senators I highly doubt that is going to happen. How the team managed to fall apart so badly is beyond me. Worse yet the breakdown came from some of the teams better players.

While usually the among the best on the team, Hecht, Lydman, and Tallinder all had a rather poor showing in this game. Our top two defensemen ended the game a combined minus five with three giveaways. The Sabres best two way player (Hecht) finished the game minus three. Even Gaustad had a less then stellar game. If these players don't show up there is no way Buffalo is ever going to win.

That said, the Sabres were by far the best team in the first two and a half periods of this game. While the score was 1-1 going into the third, the Sabres had far more chances, and were getting stopped by lucky goaltending more than anything else. One huge mental lapse by the Paetsch and Pratt pairing allowed the Senators an easy goal in the first, but for the most part only rookie Lee in his first ever NHL game looked impressive for the Sens.

Then the Sabres made an even bigger mental mistake, somehow allowing a three on one while being up a player. Shorthanded goals will kill you every time. After that Buffalo never really had any chance.

A (small) handful of players did play well for Buffalo. These were Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, and Mike Weber. Roy had two of Buffalo's goals, and did so with very little help from Vanek or any of his other line mates this game. Pominville continued to show how good he is as a captain, and played excellently both ways and even scored a goal.

Weber had an almost perfect game. Despite the three point loss, Weber ended the game plus two, and even earned a primary assist on Roy's second of the night. Even before that going into the second I was starting to fell that he may very well be our third best defenseman. After the third period I'm not even sure that he shouldn't be number one. Another rookie playing well was Brian Lee for the Senators. In his first NHL game, he played very solid and saved a sure goal by kicking the puck out of the net.

The Sabres play again in a day or so, but for real the season is over now.

Official Three Stars

Daniel Alfredsson

Derek Roy

Anton Volchenkov

My Three Stars

Daniel Alfredsson (two goals, three points, plus two)

Mike Weber (assist, plus two, had a perfect game)

Anton Volchenkov (goal, three points, plus three)

Sabres Drop the most exciting game of 2008

The Sabres came back from a two goal deficit to send their match against the Ottawa Senators into a shootout, but like all teams who give up a short handed goal, they eventually lost.

Both teams came out strong, with an exciting first period that didn't have any goals. In the second the Senators got out to an early lead, and then were able to double it when Alfredsson was allowed to skate in untouched for a short handed goal. The entire Sabres powerplay was pretty bad this game, not only giving up the shorthanded point, but also frequently getting outshot, and failing to score on all of their opportunities.

The third period was much better for the Sabres. Clarke MacArthur Scored his second goal (and third point) in his third game since being in Rochester. He's starting to look like Stafford did last season, when nobody wanted to see him go back to the Amercks. Kaleta also looked good in his second game with the Sabres this season, getting two shots on goal and a ton of big hits. 12:52 into the third Paille nailed a shot into the top shelf of the net to tie up the game.

While the team did get one point, the Sabres can not afford to go this many straight games without a win. Last year the team hardly ever lost two straight let alone this many.

If your looking to blame someone for the loss, choose Kotalik. I have no clue what he thought he was doing on the shorthanded goal. Just drive the other guy into the corner, and wait for all of your numbers to get back and that play wouldn't have been so bad. Then in the shootout Kotalik failed to go with his dependable backhanded move that served him well last game. While mixing it up can be useful, there is no reason to do so if no one can come close to stopping your normal move.

Official Three Stars

Mike Fisher

Danial Alfredsson

Jason Pominville

My Three Stars

Danial Alfredsson (shorthanded goal)

Clarke MacArthur (recently the Sabres best scorer)

Mike Fisher (an assist and a shootout goal)

Sabres drop fifth straight

The Sabres lost their fifth straight game of the season in a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators. The Sabres are now 1-3 on the season against Ottawa, and desperately need to turn their season around.

The Senators got out to a sizable lead as they looked to be the better team in the first. Following the third Ottawa goal, Ruff pulled Miller despite the fact that he was playing relatively well, and couldn't really be blamed for any of the goals against him. However the magical goalie change had the intended effect, and the Sabres got a goal within the next minute, and then came back to tie the game midway through the third. However the Sabres then gave up two soft goals to Heatley and Alfredson.

Stafford was back after being out for a few games and really played hard. I get the feeling that he was rather disappointed about having to have sat out of the Ice Bowl and was looking to make up for it. He took the place of Afinogenov who sat out of the game with a groin injury.

Lindy Ruff moved around the lines for this game, and the player that seemed to benefit the most from this was Ryan, whose greatest asset is his speed. He was able to use it to his advantage much better on a line with Stafford and Gaustad than he was on the fourth line.

Official Three Stars

Dany Heatley

Thomas Vanek

Andrej Meszaros

My Three Stars

Andrej Meszaros (first two points of the game)

Daniel Alfredson (two points, plus two)

Drew Stafford (only Sabres plus one)

Buffalo finally scores two in regulation, still lose

The Buffalo Sabres ended their 5v5 scoreless streak at 218 minuites, 3 seconds. But given Buffalo's tendency to miss open nets the rest of the game it was all for nothing.

The Sabres did get a second goal (the first time in five games they have done so in regulation) on a five on three. The Sabres had two five on three chances in the game and scored on one, but given how short they were one goal isn't bad.

I can't even remember the last time the Sabres had the lead at some point in the game, so perhaps that should be the goal tonight against Montreal. Then again the last time we played them I don't think the Sabres scored at all...

Official Three Stars

Daniel Alfredsson

Martin Gerber

Jochan Hecht

My Three Stars

Daniel Alfredsson (two goals)

Martin Gerber (the win in net)

Michael Ryan (his best game ever for the Sabres)