The Sabres actually win

After a few long weeks of losses, the Sabres actually came out and won a game against a team that they are chasing in the standings. Furthermore they did so coming back from a 3-1 deficit, and got goals from MacArthur, Afinogenov, and Pominville.

Jason Pominville has been a bit of a disappointment all season long but finally got things together in the third period for this game, getting a goal and two assists. Buffalo has needed him and MacArthur to pick up their games this season, and they both came through against the Panthers. Now Jochen Hecht just needs to get on board.

Max Afinogenov has been doing the same routine lately, where he makes dumb mistakes early on, and then plays full out for the rest of the game in an attempt to make up for them. If he can play like that without the early mistakes he may even be worth keeping for next season. Afinogenov was eventually rewarded for his work with an empty net goal.

Buffalo is still in trouble playoff wise unless they win out, but this game at least proves that they can play if they want to.

Official Three Stars

Jason Pominville

Brett McLean

Patrick Kaleta

My Three Stars

Jason Pominville (one goal, two assists, five shots)

Tim Connolly (one goal, one assist, plus three)

Brett McLean (one goal, one assist, plus two)

Buffalo back on track

The Buffalo Sabre returned to their winning ways in a very important game against the Florida Panthers who are just above them in the standings. Buffalo ended the first period with a 2-1 lead, and was able to hold onto it until Vanek got a fluke goal towards the end of the third to put the game away for good. Still the Sabres had far more chances then the Panthers throughout the game and especially in the scoreless second period and deserved to win.

Florida's best chance at coming back was during a solid powerplay opportunity at the beginning of the third period, where they had over a minute of five on three hockey. The Sabres, especially Lalime, were able to shut them down.

The one goal that Lalime did let in was a bit soft, but he more than made up for it, making many big saves throughout the rest of the game.

Furthermore, not everything went right for Buffalo's opponents Thursday night. Besides the Florida Panthers' loss, the Flyers and Hurricanes also lost, while the Penguins and Canadians both only earned one point. Of the teams close to Buffalo in the standings only the Rangers won their game.

Official Three Stars

Patrick Lalime

Jaroslav Spacek

Henrik Tallinder

My Three Stars

Daniel Paille (one goal, plus one)

Patrick Lalime (30 saves, one goal against)

Michal Repik (one goal, plus one, three shots)

The game of ugly goals

The goals that were scored in this game were all around ugly, not a single one of them should have found the back of the net. Still Buffalo was able to prevail in the shootout against a team that is right behind them in the standings.

The scoring opened with David Booth scoring on a penalty shot, which while it doesn't really count was really the right call by the refs. Mid way through the second period it was beginning to look like neither team would score.

The comes in Tim Connolly who finished the game with the fun state line of one goal and zero shots. After nicking the corner of the puck in a failed attempt to control a rebound the Panthers then passed the puck through the crease, off of the defender and the goalie and into the net. Officially it went into the books as a wrist shot which is perhaps what Lydman took when he shot the puck half a minute earlier.

Vanek then gave Buffalo a lead on the powerplay after he hacked at the puck a few to score on his birthday. Horton came back to tie the game on a Florida powerplay with might have been the only goal in the entire game to come off of a legitimate shot.

In the shootout Kotalik did his thing going to the backhand, and Miller stopped both of the attempts at his end including another shoot by Booth. Then true to how the game went Roy messed up just as he was approaching the net, but was able to watch as the puck slowly drifted five hole and into the net to give the Sabres the win.

Official Three Stars

Ales Kotalik

Ryan Miller

David Booth

My Three Stars

David Booth (one goal, one assist, seven shots)

Ryan Miller (27 saves plus both in the shootout)

Tim Connolly (for scoring without shooting)

A lack of effort results in the lack of a win

The Sabres lost once again on Thursday night to the Florida Panthers. Buffalo was only able to score with the two man advantage, despite actually putting together a decent first period. Still when Gregory Campbell got the Panthers first goal midway through the second the whole team seemed to give up, which immediately lead to another Florida goal.

Lydman who almost had to sit out due to injury played hard in this game and so did Gaustad and Kotalik, but the Sabres need to put in an all around effort by everyone. Until that happens the Sabres are going to keep getting more of the same. Buffalo isn't actually a bad team, but unless they are willing to try a little harder nothing is going to come of it.

Craig Anderson had a good game in goal for Florida. After doing very little for most of his NHL career he is 6-1-3 this season for a rather weak Florida team. He had 45 saves in this game and only allowed a goal against when his team was down two players. He should be getting alot more starts for Florida in the near future.

Official Three Stars

Greg Campbell

Craig Anderson

Michael Frolik

My Three Stars

Craig Anderson (45 saves, 1GA)

Greg Campbell (one goal, one assist, plus two)

Ales Kotalik (one goal, six shots)

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)

Sabres continue to beat on the Southeast

The Buffalo Sabres continued their winning with their third straight victory in a 1-0 victory over the Florida Panthers. Ryan Miller earned the shutout in net for the Sabres, and despite the game's low score, it was a high paced back and forth type of game.

After a scoreless first period, Thomas Vanek scored early in the second with the man advantage for the game's only goal. The Sabres powerplay and penalty kill looked rather decent in this game, and eventually did determine the outcome. The Sabres powerplay scored on one of it's three chances, and that included one in the final minutes of the game when Buffalo was just more worried about holding the lead. Then the Sabres only had to go shorthanded twice, and killed off both of those opportunities for the Panthers.

The downside to the game is that Drew Stafford got injured, and looks to be out for some time. Hopefully Connolly can get better quick enough to take his place. The Sabres next game is on Friday against Atlanta, which the team against which Miller got his first shutout of the year, and the Sabres last beat 10-1. That said Buffalo lost it's other matchup against this team, and can not afford any mistakes, especially in games that they are supposed to win.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Tomas Vokoun

Thomas Vanek

My Three Stars

Ryan Miller (allowed zero goals to get by him)

Thomas Vanek (games only goal, nine shots on net)

Jochen Hecht (lead the team in ice time, had five shots, and 62% of faceoffs)

Buffalo hands Panthers a win on a Platter

Theoretically the Sabres are a much better team then the Panthers. Buffalo really should have won this game, but that would require them to actually show up. The Sabres had a few stretches in which they massively outplayed Florida, but they were unable to score on these opportunities, and followed them with catastrophic Defensive breakdowns.

Thibault actually played rather well, but just got no help on the night. A bit more of a back check was really needed in this game, as too often Buffalo's defensive was just outnumbered deep in their zone, for no apparent reason. On the few offensive opportunities the Sabres put far too many pucks wide of the net.

Pratt looked ok in his first game with Buffalo, but was by and large just average in his play. He was in for Spacek who presumably re-aggravated his prior injury in the game last night.

The line of Vanek and Afinogenov was on the ice for were both on the ice for three goals against, and their linemate Roy has been putting up some very poor defensive numbers all season long. You need to play both ways. After leading the league in plus minus last season Vanek is at -4 so far this year.

Official Three Stars

Richard Zednik

Jozef Stumpel

Stephen Weiss

My Three Stars

Richard Zednik (two goals)

Jozef Stumpel (assisted on both the Zednik goals)

Radek Dvorak (got the games first goal)

Sabres score four to beat Florida

The Sabres have been falling apart in the third period the last couple of games, but came through this time to score three goals for the win. It's about time Buffalo shows up for the comeback rather than letting in four like they did last game. Hecht and Pominville both had awesome games, with Pominville having an absolutely beautiful pass to set up Hecht for the Sabres second goal of the game.

The Sabres penalty kill ended up excellent on the night. After letting in a soft goal early on the first shot on their first penalty kill, the Sabres shut down Florida for the rest of the six penalties taken and then Paille scored shorthanded on the final penalty kill of the game.

On the powerplay Buffalo was not nearly as good. They scored on the tail end of a minute long five on three chance in the first, but were unable to convert on a later minute long five on three chance in the second and in fact only got one shot on goal in that whole time.

This is Buffalo's first win with under five goals scored, but there is no reason that a team should ever lose if it can get one shorthanded. The team looked a bit iffy in the first two periods but put together a solid effort in the final twenty minutes to earn the win. Hopefully they can do the same again Saturday night against Tampa Bay.

Official Three Stars

Jason Pominville

Ryan Miller

Daniel Paille

My Three Stars

Jason Pominville (two primary assists and an awesome overall game)

Jochen Hecht (a goal and an awesome overall game)

Daniel Paille (a shorthanded goal for the win)