Still better than Toronto

The Sabres have showed that they have yet to bottom out completely, as they solidly beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1. As a result the team is still mathematically in it. As they say, as long as their is life, there is hope. So as long as Buffalo wins their two remaining games, and the Rangers and Panthers both lose both of theirs, then the Sabres are back in the playoffs this season. Not likely, but possible.

The team finally got some solid play from Pominville who had two point and six shots in the game. Gaustad and Vanek came through as usual and score the other two goals.

Buffalo was actually outshot in this game 33-29 but got good play from Miller who has been wearing a new helmet the last handful of games.

Thursday night has three of the games that Buffalo needs to go their way. The Sabres, Flyers, and Thrashers all have to win or else that 2.1% drops to zero.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Nikolai Kulemin

Jason Pominville

My Three Stars

Jason Pominville (one goal, one assist, six shots)

Paul Gaustad (one goal)

Ryan Miller (32 saves, only one goal against)

Back to winning

The Sabres continue to hang on by a thread with a 5-4 overtime victory over the Washington Capitals. Given the free five on threes that the Capitals were given, Buffalo clearly deserved to win this game, and finally did in overtime.

Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin combined for 18 shots on goal, but Washington did not have the goaltending to back it up. Meanwhile Pominville finally had a decent game going plus two in the game, getting an assist, and the game winner in OT. MacArthur got a lucky goal, and Rivet and Afinogenov both put in good performances as well. Lydman and Spacek were the only two Sabres to play poorly in this game.

Official Three Stars

Alex Ovechkin

Jaroslav Spacek

Sergei Federov

My Three Stars

Maxim Afinogenov (one goal, plus two, four shots)

Tim Connolly (three assists, plus three)

Alex Ovechkin (one goal, two assists, nine shots)

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)

Missing a Point

The Buffalo Sabres played one of three periods well against the Atlanta Thrashers to get one point in a shootout loss. After the refs called a lopsided first period, Buffalo came back to control the second period and take a 3-1 lead. However Buffalo then gave up a shorthanded goal, and then allowed a last second goal to tie the game up after being unable to clear the zone for a full minute.

Pominville was all around bad in this game. He was hardly ever moving his feet, and passed it right to the other team to allow the game tying goal. Afinogenov on the contrary actually had a really good game. After taking a dumb penalty due to laziness in the beginning of the game, he was flying through the rest of the night, and finished plus two with a goal. Paille who also scored a goal, had a real good game, and was defensively responsible throughout the night.

Lalime played ok. None of the goal were real bad, and he had no help in the shootout. With four shots, Buffalo was unable to score a single time. Having Kotalik would have helped, as would at least seeing Stafford try the backhand himself. Still credit Kari Lehtonen for saving all of the shots, and for keeping the outshot Thrashers in this game.

Official Three Stars

Kari Lehtonen

Maxim Afinogenov

Derek Roy

My Three Stars

Daniel Paille (one goal, plus two)

Maxim Afinogenov (one goal, plus two, three shots)

Derek Roy (one goal, one assist, five shots)

An eventful game

The Buffalo Sabres beat the San Jose Sharks 6-5 in a shootout, in what may have been the most exciting game of the year. The Sharks came in as the best team in the Western conference, while the Sabres have struggled in their last two games against a poor team in Ottawa.

However the Sabres came through in this game. Buffalo scored three early goals to take a commanding lead early and looked good throughout. They gave up a goal late in the first period to make the score 3-1, but Buffalo was consistently out skating the Sharks and had more scoring chances then them by far.

The second period was not as good for Buffalo with San Jose outshooting them 17-8 in the period and closing the score to a 4-3 Buffalo lead. Going into the third things did not look as promising and it was mostly assumed that the Sharks would take the lead in this game. They did, but instead of this turning into a 5-4 San Jose victory the Sabres tied up the game with four seconds left.

To get the goal at the end of regulation the Sabres had a line of Hecht, Pominville, and Ellis on the ice, none of who have been particularly hot lately. Ellis however won the faceoff, and without Gaustad in the lineup, I guess he must be our top guy.

Rivet had a good game against his former team, with his shots from the point being tipped in for both the first and final goals of the game. The final shot was tipped in by Jason Pominville who scored in the first time in forever, and then had another goal in the shootout after having an assist earlier in the game. Roy also posted the same stats as a goal, an assist and a shootout goal.

The shootout got off to a slow start for the Sabres with the regular three shooters of Kotalik, Stafford, and Connolly all failing to score. Kotalik did not even try to go backhand, but did have a decent game for the Sabres as he scored the team's lone goal in the second period. Miller however came through on the shootout and saved four of the five shots against him.

For a look at this game through the lens of the recent Flight 3407 tragedy, The Gooses Roost has a good look at things.

Official Three Stars

Craig Rivet

Joe Thornton

Jason Pominville

My Three Stars

Craig Rivet (three assists)

Jason Pominville (one goal, one assist, five shots, a shootout goal)

Patrick Marleau (2 goals, a shootout goal)

Goose leads comeback against the Stars

The Sabres came out flat to start the game and quickly found themselves down 3-0 to the Dallas Stars. However the Sabres came back, lead by Paul Gaustad to eventually win the game in the shootout.

The turnaround was twice the result of Gaustad's effort in this game. The Goose got the Sabres first goal. Then after Buffalo looked to have ruined their comeback chances after going down 4-2, Gaustad scored again to bring Buffalo right back into the game. After that there was little doubt that the Sabres would be able to complete the comeback. Buffalo did, and while they outplayed the Stars at the end of the game and in overtime, they were unable to win before the shootout.

In the shootout, two very good goalies were in, as was showed by the inability of both teams to score. Buffalo did win after six rounds, with Miller stopping five of the six shots against him.

Still not everything went well for the Sabres in this game. Dallas' first two goals both came on the powerplay, and the third right after another powerplay had just expired. Buffalo had been very good down a man until this game. Not only did the Sabres allow goals against, but they never really looked as if they had control, and gave the Stars multiple chances to score. Allowing Ott to walk in almost uncovered was a huge mistake, and how you don't expect them to press when up a player is inexcusable.

Official Three Stars

Paul Gaustad

Steve Ott

Trevor Daley

My Three Stars

Paul Gaustad (two goals, 8 for 10 on faceoffs)

Jason Pominville (two assists, five shots, shootout goal, plus two)

Steve Ott (one goal, one assist)

Buffalo beats Tampa Bay again

While the Sabres just played Tampa Bay last week, they earned yet another win against the Lightning with a 4-2 win. As was seen last time, these teams do not appear to like each other as four fighting majors were given out to four different players in this game.

Buffalo excelled in the non-even strength areas of this game. They scored two of their goals on the powerplay. The Sabres were also able to kill off all of Tampa Bay's opportunities, and even scored an empty net shorthanded goal.

Vanek was on fire again this game, scoring two goals to bring his season total up to a lead leading 22 after 28 games. This puts him on pace for an impressive 64 goals on the year.

Official Three Stars

Thomas Vanek

Ryan Miller

Jason Pominville

My Three Stars

Thomas Vanek (two goals)

Jason Pominville (one goal, two assists)

Jochen Hecht (one assist, three shots, plus two)

Buffalo beats New Jersey

Going into the game, Martin Brodeur's absence was the story of the game. However backup Kevin Weekes played well behind a disastrous Devils team. Buffalo dominated the first period, outshooting New Jersey 20-3. However they only scored one goal in that span on a nice shot by Jason Pominville.

In the final two periods the Sabres were outshot 21 to 10 by the Devils, but Miller stayed strong and earned himself a second straight shutout. Kaleta scored when he deflected Sekera's shot through the five hole.

Rivet was played in this game, returning earlier then expected from his injury. Paetsch sat out the game to make room on the roster for the captain's return. Speaking of injuries, Tim Connolly made it through a second straight game, although he even took a shift without his helmet.

Buffalo blew some five on three chances in the game, but did finish the game a respectable one for five on the powerplay.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Jason Pominville

Kevin Weekes

My Three Stars

Ryan Miller (shutout, 24 saves)

Kevin Weekes (0.933 SVP, 28 saves)

Jason Pominville (one goal)

Sabres turn things around against Washington

After two really bad losses, the Sabre came out firing in their last game to win 5-0 over the Washington Capitals.

Thomas Vanek scored his first goal of the game just 72 seconds in.After receiving the pass on the blueline on a partial breakaway, he single handedly danced around Mike Green who is one of the better defensemen in the league. In the second period Vanek scored another goal on a backhand with only three seconds remaining. These two goals bring Vanek back up to his goal per game pace, as he leads the league with eleven goals in eleven games.

Buffalo outplayed the Capitals all around in this game, and got a very pretty goal midway through the third from Paille and Kaleta. The Capitals were without Ovechkin, but given how the game went it would not have made a difference.

Tim Connolly was back from the dead, and posted 19 minutes of injury free ice time, and also earned an assist. Peters sat out to make room for him on the roster.

Miller earned a shutout for the first time this season, even as the Sabres got slightly outshot in this game. Buffalo also looked very poor on the powerplay only converting one of their many chances.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Thomas Vanek

Jason Pominville

My Three Stars

Thomas Vanek (two goals, plus two)

Ryan Miller (shutout, 29 saves)

Jason Pominville (one goal, one assist)

Buffalo beats down on the Islanders

Buffalo beat down on the Islanders by a score of 7-1. New York played its second straight game without all-star goalie Rick DiPietro who has been having knee problems. Buffalo however also played their back up goaltender Patrick Lalime for his first game in Buffalo.

The game had 150 minutes worth of penalties with Rivet and Kaleta each getting two game misconducts and Bergenheim, Witt and Thompson earning game misconducts for the Islanders.

Buffalo looked good on the powerplay this game, scoring three times with the man advantage. The penalty kill allowed one goal against, but also scored a shorthander.

Hecht left the game early with an injury and will likely be out for a couple of games. Staffard also was limping a bit towards the end of the game, while Connolly was still out. The scoring in the game was fairly evenly distributed, but Vanek scored two putting him on pace for 123 for the season. At the very least he should not have the slow start that he had last season. Both Kotalik and Pominville had a goal and two assists.

Official Three Stars

Thomas Vanek

Jason Pominville

Ales Kotalik

My Three Stars

Thomas Vanek (two goals)

Ales Kotalik (a goal and two assists)

Patrick LaLime (only one goal against)

Ranking the top 27 Buffalo Sabres

Last season I listed the "top 26 Sabres" before the season began. With a new season starting tonight a new ranking is in order. These are based upon the importance each player brings to the team for the coming season. As a result long term potential for anything beyond this season is not counted, also these are not strictly based on the talent each player has, but also his importance to the team. As such the goalies are not really comparable, but thrown in regardless because I did so last time.

The last list was fairly accurate, but overestimated Connolly's ability to stay healthy and did not give enough respect to Spacek. This year's list is as follows...

1. #1 Jason Pominville - Although ultimately not named captain, he will still be looked to lead this team. How his stats end up is highly dependent on who he plays with, but he will need to be counted on to play a full game every day of the season.
2. #2 Derek Roy - Number one last year, the Sabres need to count on Roy again this season. As the center for Buffalo's top line, he is likely to touch the puck more than anyone else on the team.
3. #3 Craig Rivet - New to town Rivet will be expected to take care of things on defense. This is where Buffalo needs help, and if Rivet can perform then things will go much better for Buffalo this year. Earning himself the role of captain only heightens his expectations.
4. #4 Ryan Miller - As the goalie he is obviously the most important player on the team, and will need to be solid in net for the Sabres to have any chance. If he can get good in the shootout again, that would earn another three of four wins that the team missed out on last season.
5. #5 Thomas Vanek - Buffalo's scoring machine had a disappointing season last year. While he still scored alot of goals, he was not playing both ways as much as he needed to, and went from leading the league in plus minus to ending the year minus four
6. #6 Henrik Tallinder - Will be relieved with the addition of Rivet and Numminen, but will still need to be the team's shut down defender.
7. #7 Toni Lydman - Same story as Tallinder. These two need to guarantee no goals against.
8. #8 Jochen Hecht - A captain for most of last season and an alternate this year, Hecht will be counted on to continue leading this team. While he doesn't have the biggest offensive numbers he is a very solid two way player.
9. #9 Teppo Numminen - Just like last year's list defense is extremely important. Numminen is a very consistent and reliable defender for the team. His only limiting factor is he is not likely to get lots of ice time, and isn't a huge help when it comes to scoring.
10. #10 Paul Gaustad - Out for the start of the season he is still one of the hardest working players on the team. Also has a history of coming back early from injuries so may not be out all that long.
11. #11 Jaroslav Spacek - Proved last season that he actually can play. If his pairing with Rivet works well, he could see alot of ice time and have a very good year.
12. #12 Patrick Lalime - Last season nobody had any confidence in the backup goaltender forcing Miller to be overworked. Last season Lalime earned himself a winning record as the backup for a team that failed to make the playoffs. If he can be a reliable backup once again, then Miller should be able to be better off when he does play.
13. #13 Patrick Kaleta - Should see more games this year even if playing time is still limited. He is a real difference maker on the team, and is defensively responsible enough to be counted on.
14. #14 Maxim Afinogenov - May very well prove that last year was a fluke. Has the ability to play very well, and if he gets in sync with Roy and Vanek has the possibility to have a great year. Also is in danger of getting traded mid-season though.
15. #15 Ales Kotalik - He hasn't always been providing the offense needed, and needs to return to his backhand in the shootouts. If he can keep scoring there, that will give Buffalo some free points in the standings.
16. #16 Tim Connolly - Will probably miss a large number of games due to injury, but is still a great talent when he is on the ice. If he can stay healthy it would give Buffalo a huge advantage up the middle.
17. #17 Andrej Sekera - Looked very good at the end of last season but will have to continue to play well to prevent losing his job to Paetsch or Weber. Is likely to be part of the third defensive pairing with Numminen.
18. #18 Adam Mair - The bedrock of the fourth line will continue in that role. He sees limited ice time, but is usually pretty good when he is out there.
19. #19 Daniel Paille - Paille is a player that has the potential to be good, but still has yet to really prove it. He still needs to find his spot on the team.
20. #20 Drew Stafford - Like Afinogenov he needs to prove that last season was a fluke. He showed much promise in his rookie year, but fell off from that somewhat. If he can get scoring again, it would be a huge asset to the team, and if he plays on a line with Roy and Vanek he better be able to contribute heavily.
21. #21 Nathan Gerbe - starting the season on the minors, Gerbe should figure to be the first call up, and be an excellent player for Buffalo. He won the NCAA frozen four last year with Boston, and has proven himself to be able to play very good hockey. If Buffalo has any long term injuries, Gerbe will be needed to contribute.
22. #22 Clarke MacArthur - With some NHL experience he may get a call up before Gerbe does. While he has some very good games last season he needs to do so more consistently if he wants to make the NHL full time.
23. #23 Mike Weber - He will start the season in the AHL, but proved to be good when paired with Sekera at the end of the last season. Despite being more talented will probably be behind Paetsch in the depth chart.
24. #24 Nathan Paetsch - Currently the seventh defenseman he will need to rebound from last season which was a bit of a disappointment for him. Still it is highly unlikely that the team will go all year without any injuries so he should see some playing time.
25. #25 Tim Kennedy - Fresh out of college he will not see much time in the NHL this season, but looks to be a very good player down the road. If he does get called up count on him to look impressive.
26. #26 Andrew Peters - Will have a hard time justifying his roster spot with so much talent in the team's prospects. Furthermore with Kaleta playing a more prominent (and well rounded) role Peters may no longer really have a spot on the team. In fact new Sabre and captain Craig Rivet is probably even a better fighter than Peters is.
27. #27 Matt Ellis - not really sure why he is on the team. If he couldn't make the cut with the Las Angles Kings there is no reason to believe that he deserves to be here.

Captain Rivet?

Today Lindy Ruff named Craig Rivet as captain of the Buffalo Sabres. For the Sabre I know the least about to be named captain is a move that nobody expected, including Rivet himself. The selection was the result of the players choice, which early last season resulted in Hecht being captain in October.

Rivet is a bit of a surprise as he has never played for Buffalo before, but did well in the preseason, and was given the captains role from time to time there as well.

The Sabres also named four alternative captains, which will rotate on a home and away basis. They are Jason Pominville, Teppo Numminen, Jaroslav Spacek, and Jochen Hecht. None of whose selection is surprising, except for the fact that there are so many of them.

This also results in a shift towards the defense as three of the five captains are defensemen, which is not only odd because the role of captain usually goes to an offensive player, but also because a typical roster has twice as many offensive players to begin with.

Pominville signs for five more years

Jason Pominville has signed a contract extension to stay with the Buffalo Sabres for five additional years. As he still has another full year under his current contract, he will be in Buffalo through 2014. This puts the Sabres in really good shape, as there is no very little they need to do next offseason besides resigning restricted free agents Kaleta, Stafford, and Sekera.

Pominville showed last season that he is more than able to lead this team, and now that he has signed a contract is all but guaranteed to be named team captain this Saturday.

It is a good thing that this extension got taken care of before the season began. Last year the constant contract talks clearly distracted Campbell from his game, and is not a issue that the team needed to face again. That said, if they hadn't come to a deal by the start of the regular season, I'm hopeing that the team would have put off further contract discussions until after the season was over.

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.

Sabres still need a captain

Last season I tried to anticipate who the team would pick as captain, and was completely off picking Connolly and Campbell. Instead the Sabres went with a rotating captaincy, and besides Campbell who is no longer on the team, the obvious captain appeared to be Hecht and Pominville.

Despite the assumption that the Sabres will stick with a rotating captain, I think it is likely that they will not do so for this season. I think the pattern that we saw before with Lindy Ruff and the Sabres will hold true, in that after a single year of a rotating captain, that Ruff will pick from those who were captain during that time, and give them the full time job.

The obvious candidates are Jason Pominville, Jochen Hecht and Teppo Numminen. Both Hecht and Pominville were very strong in the role of captain, and would be the go to guys to take on the role. Numminen meanwhile was the alternate captain behind Briere and Drury before having to sit out all of last season due to heart issues. Teppo is unlikely to wear the C, but will probably represent the defense as an alternative captain.

Between Hecht and Pominville, Pominville most likely has the slight edge to act as captain, but unless he signs a contract extension, the team is not likely to grant him the role if only to avoid seeing their captain leave the team again. As such, Hecht (who has a four year contract) becomes the obvious choice. There is also the possibility that the two of them are named co-captains as the team has done before. In fact the last captain that was neither a co-captain or a rotating captain was Stu Barnes.

End of the year player awards

With the Sabres season over, and the NHL taking a few days off from any on ice action, the time seems good to acknowledge those players who put in a really good season for the Sabres this past year. Despite not making the playoffs it wasn't all bad. Based on the categories used in the OHL coaches poll heres how the Sabres did this past year.

Most Underrated Player : Derek Roy - The success he has had on the ice with Vanek, and whoever on the other wing has been critical to the Sabres all year. However Roy get very few of the goal and little of the credit despite also being one of the top faceoff guys and a solid two way player. Gaustad and Kaleta are underrated league wide, but are well known and loved in Buffalo.

Most Improved Player : Jaroslav Spacek - He was really bad last year. While he only really moved himself up to be the team's number four defenseman before Campbell left, thats quite an improvement over last season when he was quite the defensive liability. The upside is that it appears as if last year was the exception given that he did decent back in Edmonton with Pronger. Jochen Hecht is also a candidate for being the most improved given his greatly expanded leadership role.

Smartest Player : Jochen Hecht - Ryan Miller also gets consideration for being good at constantly assessing the whole team's big picture. Hecht gets this due to his smart play, and his ability to make the players around him better.

Hardest Worker : Paul Gaustad - The Goose earns this by never giving up on any play or opportunity. Also his hard work on the powerplays resulted in the little that the team ever got out of them.

Best Playmaker : Maxim Afinogenov - Granted half the time he would just spin himself into the corner, but when his moves worked, they set up great scoring opportunities for his team. Max was willing to attempt stuff that no one else was. For more sane playmakers, Roy and Connolly are also candidates.

Most Dangerous in the Goal Area : Thomas Vanek - Vanek was the guy whose job it was to sit in front of the goal and to bang in any pucks that came his way. While he may not have done as well as he did last year, he was still the team's leader in this regard.

Best Skater : Maxim Afinogenov - The Russian has a bit of a different style to his skating, and it seems to work for him. In terms of both pure speed, and unpredictable maneuverability he is tops for the Sabres. Mike Ryan may come close on just speed though.

Best Shot : Ales Kotalik and Jason Pominville - I couldn't choose just one, and Hecht was close as well. Most of Pominville's many goals this past season came from good shots during five on five play, and included very few rebounds and other easy shots. Kotalik had less goals, but all of the ones he did score were pretty ones. Additionally he was known to bust out his solid shot in the shootout as well.

Hardest Shot : Jaroslav Spacek - This is of course allowing for a definition that doesn't require the shot to actually be on net. From back on the blue line Spacek consistently had a shot that was harder than others such as Lydman, even if it wasn't always anywhere near the net.

Best Stickhandler : Tim Connolly - Afinogenov is a close second, but Connolly gets the top spot as it actually looks as if what he is doing is on purpose. Connolly is among the best in the league in this regard and is really good a transitioning his moves into passes or shots as well. If only he was ever healthy.

Best on Face-Offs : Paul Gaustad - He was our most reliable guy out there in this job, something that really hurt the Sabres after losing Drury in the past offseason. Stafford also did surprisingly well, but not as well as the Goose.

Best Body Checker : Pat Kaleta - Is there really any question about this one? Kaleta Collision made his way into the league mainly on his ability to put people through the boards. Furthermore the whole town loves him for it.

Best Defensive Forward : Jason Pominville - Pominville played a solid two way game all season, and was the best forward that the Sabres had in their own end. Jochen Hecht followed close behind, and would have been the clear winner here until Pominville massively picked up his game in the final two months.

Best Penalty Killer : Toni Lydman - While he might have been second behind Tallinder in pure defensive ability, he was almost always the one to be able to clear the puck and knock large amounts of time off the clock for the penalty kill. Mike Ryan also deserves a mention for his aggressive play and speed for going after the puck when its cleared and making the move much more effective.

Best Offensive Defenceman : Brian Campbell - We traded him away towards the end of the season, but while he was here, he was the go to guy for goals on the blueline. Additionally he had the speed to take the puck up the ice himself, and had that still pretty awesome spin move.

Best Defensive Defenceman : Henrik Tallinder - The number one guy for the Sabres back in their own zone, and one of the best defencemen in the league. While nowhere near the fastest or more offensive on the squad, Tallinder had to be the most important on the team, and there was quite a noticeable difference whenever he was gone.

The Conference finals start today out in the West between the Detroit Red Wings and the Dallas Stars.

Jason Pominville nominated for the Lady Byng

The NHL has announced the three finalists for the Lady Byng award, and Pominville made the top three. Unlike most of the other awards in the league, this one is really up in the air, and could go to any of the nominees.

Typically the Lady Byng award goes to a top tier guy known for taking very few penalties. Pominville has got a legitimate shot at winning, but it could also go to Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk or Tampa's Martin St. Louis. Datsyuk may have a small advantage of being the only one of the three to be in the post season.

An actual good shootout

The Buffalo Sabres won their third shootout of the season, to get a 4-3 win over Ottawa. Had the Sabres performed in more shootouts like this, they wouldn't be out of the playoffs.

Most of the players who did poorly last game came through in game two, including Afinogenov, and Hecht who both scored goals. Max was looking good in this game and really turned it on. His goal was a tremendous effort, and he worked hard all game long. In fact all three of Buffalo's goal scores lead the team in shots, and all had five or more, including Paul Gaustad who had the Sabres final goal and six shots on the night.

The Sabres took a number of dumb penalties including twice getting called for too many men. Fortunately they managed to kill all of them off. The Sabres powerplay looked ok in this game as well, and was where Hecht picked up his goal.

It was a very physical game, and the refs let things get out of hand. Neil got away with a number of cheap shots throughout the night, and didn't get anything called on him unless Mair got sent to the penalty box as well. Kaleta was physical as always, and Kotalik and Gaustad lead the team in hits with four and five. The goose got his goal off of some very physical play that found him alone with the puck.

Come shootout the Sabres did very well. First they didn't allow Vanek to take a shot (although Kotalik is apparently no longer any good). Second Miller was responsible and came very very close to saving all three of the shots against him. Pominville has shown his skill on the shootout recently, and had a shot that was impossible to save. Roy more or less got lucky, but that was all the Sabres needed, besides the Senators had gotten lucky on most of their goals in the game anyhow.

How exactly did Gerber get into the three stars? He got bailed out by the post far more than his glove, and let in a weak goal to Roy in the shootout. The Sabres have a quick turnaround and play the Canadians Friday night.

Official Three Stars

Mike Fisher

Derek Roy

Martin Gerber

My Three Stars

Paul Gaustad (one goal, lead both teams in hits and shots)

Mike Fisher (two goals, plus two in the loss)

Derek Roy (two assists, shootout goal)

Third Period Is good enough for Buffalo

Well, the Sabres managed to win that one. At the end of two periods Buffalo was down 4-1 and got booed off of the ice. The team had been mostly outplaying Tampa Bay, but had allowed countless wide open shots and other defensive meltdowns to hand over this game to the Lightning. The population of Pominville had ticked up by one, but there was little reason to believe that the Sabres were going to make a serious run at a comeback. Well come back they did, and Buffalo won the game 7-4.

Jason Pominville was an all-star in this game, and after scoring the only Buffalo goal in the first two periods, scored an early one in the third. Then sixteen seconds later he assisted on Hecht's twentieth goal of the season. Thomas Vanek also had a good game earning himself a natural hat-trick on some rather odd goals, including one where he swatted a puck out of the air from behind the goaltender. All three of those goals were assisted by Derek Roy and Drew Stafford. With the Hecht, Gaustad, Pominville line responsible for the other four goals, not everyone had that great of a game. Maxim Afinogenov, was a team worst minus two, with a penalty, a giveaway, and two shots on net.

On Defense, Lydman was surprisingly weak, giving up the puck five times, and being on the ice for one goal against. On the other hand Sekera and Weber both played very well and were plus five each, with Weber leading the team with five hits. Funk and Pratt both saw limited ice time, and were a combined minus three in the game.

Tampa Bay's goals came with no surprises as Lecavalier scored two, with St. Louis picking up another. While the two of them combined for five points on the night, they also had a combined plus minus of negative three.

Official Three Stars

Jason Pominville

Derek Roy

Paul Gaustad

My Three Stars

Jason Pominville (two goals, two assists, plus four)

Jochen Hecht (seven shots, two goals, one assist, plus four)

Thomas Vanek (hat-trick)

The Captains carry

The Sabres continued their playoff hopes by beating the Maple Leafs 6-2. This win actually looked a lot like the Sabres last.

Captains Jason Pominville and Jochen Hecht were both plus three with three points. Also Paille continued his current streak and scored yet another goal. Drew Stafford also had a good game, ending plus two with a goal that was set up by Kaleta.

The Sabres didn't get much help though as the two teams ahead of them ended up with a three point game. However they are now only one point out of eighth place (although they currently don't have the tie breaker).

Official Three Stars

Jason Pominville

Jochan Hecht

Paul Kubina

My Three Stars

Jason Pominville (one goal, two assists, plus three)

Jochan Hecht (one goal, two assists, plus three)

Paul Gaustad (two assists, plus two)