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)

The Sabres win in a shootout

The Sabres continue to slowly gain on the eight place Canadians, with a 4-3 shootout win over them that leaves Buffalo only four points out of the playoffs. Given the lack of game left that is doubtful to be enough, but at least they are finally trying.

This was a real even back and forth game with each team scoring one goal on the powerplay. Buffalo got goals from MacArthur and Mair who have both been quiet as of late (although MacArthur did get one last game), while Afinogenov was sat out again despite decent play in the last few games.

In the end the game came down to a shootout, and Miller proved once again why he was the Sabres number one goalie. Miller stopped all six shots that he faced, while the Sabres struggled to score on the other end until Lydman of all people got a shootout goal. Stafford needs to go back to being reliable in the shootout, had Miller not returned from injury, this most likely would have been a loss.

Official Three Stars

Alex Kovalev

Tim Connolly

Christopher Higgins

My Three Stars

Tim Connolly (one goal, one assist, four shots)

Alex Kovalev two goals, five shots)

Ryan Miller (32 saves, 6 for 6 in the shootout)

Ryan Miller practicing

Ryan Miller has returned to practice and is back working out with the team. Regardless this may be a case of too little too late for the Sabres, who except by winning out the season have little hope of making the playoffs.

The Sabres next game is Wednesday, although it is unclear if Miller will be ready to play by then.

Life without Ryan Miller

With Ryan Miller's ankle sprain he will be out for some time, and will leave the Sabres without one of the leagues best goaltenders to rely on. From personal experience I know that ankle sprains can mean anything as far as time out goes, but that the absolute worst thing you can do is to come back too early.

So for the short term that leaves Patrick Lalime and Jhonas Enroth as the Sabres goalies. Enroth is a promising prospect who played very well last season in Sweden and has looked decent so far this year in the AHL. He may well be the future goaltender for this team if something happens to Miller.

However in the coming days Lalime will be getting the vast majority of the starts. His record this season had not been too good, but more often then not that was the result of the play in front of him, and not Lalime playing poorly. Last season he had a winning record for a non-playoff team in Chicago getting a bunch of starts due to an injury to the starting goaltender there.

The other option is to trade for a goaltender, but with the trading deadline just over a week away there are only a limited number of options available. There is no obvious team looking to give up a quality goaltender and it is unlikely that the Sabres could pick up someone much better than Lalime. Detroit would probably trade Osgood, but given how he has played this season, the Sabres probably wouldn't want him. A trade for a big name player is more unlikely because Miller should be back in time for the playoffs, so this would be an even shorter term player rental.

The best option for the Sabres is to hope that their defense stays healthy and the Lalime is good enough to get the job done. He looked good the last two games in which he replaced Miller, lets now see him win some starts.

A Win mitigated by the possibility of injury

The Buffalo Sabres soundly beat the New York Rangers on Saturday night 4-2. The Sabres may be in trouble as a whole though as Ryan Miller had to leave the game injured. Currently it isn't clear how bad it is, but Buffalo needs its starting goaltender going into the playoffs.

Buffalo soundly outplayed the Rangers for the first two periods. Then following Miller's injury at the beginning of the third, they started to allow the Rangers to get some shots on net. Still after allowing a powerplay goal right after going in Lalime played well enough to give Buffalo the win.

Tallinder returned for this game, and the defense was all around better as a result. The Rangers first goal where two players were on the guy with the puck looked like the only real defensive mistake that was made all game, and Buffalo is now doing better as far as injuries go, although having Miller and Vanek out isn't exactly ideal.

Official Three Stars

Derek Roy

Daniel Paille

Tim Connolly

My Three Stars

Derek Roy (one goal, two assists, plus two)

Daniel Paille (one goalthree shots)

Ryan Miller (zero goals against, 20 saves)

A Solid Win against the Leafs

The Sabres won a 4-1 game against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, but still looked a bit shaky at times.

While the game was pretty well decided after the Sabres ended the first period with a 3-0 lead, things did not go perfect. Two of the goals were a bit soft and Justin Pogge did not play great in what was only his third NHL start ever. Also the Sabres were outworked in the first ten minutes of the game, and allowed a powerplay goal against, when just a month ago, the penalty kill was a highlight for this team.

Stafford played well scoring two powerplay goals, while the team also got bailed out by Miller most of the night. Ellis also had a good game filling in the role traditionally done by Gaustad.

Pominville had one of his goals discounted after it bounced off of his chest. The goal should have been good, but the game was pretty well decided by that point anyhow. Buffalo beat a team that they were supposed to, while Carolina lost giving the Sabres a bit more separation.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Drew Stafford

Niklas Hagman

My Three Stars

Ryan Miller (27 saves, .964SV%)

Drew Stafford (two goals)

Daniel Paille (one goal, one assist, three shots, plus two)

A big win over Montreal

The Buffalo Sabres came through and earned a solid 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadians on Friday night.

For the first time in a long while the Sabres were able to dress a respectable blue line. In his first game back, Spacek scored the first goal of the game. Buffalo then got their second goal from Nathan Paetsch who was bumped up to playing forward in this game. Buffalo's scoring was then finished up by Tim Connolly who scored his ninth goal in the past nine games.

Montreal got scoring from Saku Koivu and Roman Hamrlik, but it was not enough to come back in this game, as Miller played well, earning the win in a game where the Sabres were outshot 37-22.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Tim Connolly

Maxim Lapierre

My Three Stars

Roman Hamrlik (one goal, three shots, plus one)

Ryan Miller (35 saves, 95% saves)

Nathan Paetsch (one goal, plus one, two shots)

Beating up on the Leafs

The Sabres team has had wild swings between success and failure recently, and solidly destroyed the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-0 Wednesday night. Thomas Vanek lead the way with a natural hat-trick while Tim Connolly scored his fifth goal in the past five games, and Drew Stafford scored another to continue his recent success.

Ryan Miller, who did not play last game against the Ducks, got his second straight shutout, after facing only 16 shots. Toronto has rookie Justin Pogge in net, but the loss was more of a result of the poor showing by those in front of him.

Buffalo has been short on defensemen for some time now. They got some help with the return of Numminen in this game, but Rivet still looks as if he is playing hurt, and did limp off to the dressing room at one point last game, before returning and playing for around 18 minutes in the game. At a few times Buffalo used five offensive players on the powerplay, and this was probably so that they could give their depleted defense as much rest as possible.

Still over the past six games Buffalo has dominated in this 5-0 win over Toronto, a 2-0 win over Phoenix and a 10-2 win over Edmonton, but then struggled in losses to Tampa Bay, Calgary, and Anaheim. It's hard to tell if all of these injuries on defense are actually hurting the team or not.

In an odd occurrence I agree with the three stars selection for this game. Buffalo next play the Canadians at home on Friday.

Official Three Stars

Thomas Vanek

Ryan Miller

Drew Stafford

My Three Stars

Thomas Vanek (three goals, one assist, six shots)

Ryan Miller (shutout, 16 saves)

Drew Stafford (one goal, one assist, plus three)

Slow and Steady wins the game

Buffalo earned a boring but solid 2-0 win over the Phoenix Coyotes Saturday night. The Sabres were in control for most of the night, but were unable to really pull away at any point.

Kaleta returned to the line up for this game after being gone for some time, while Adam Mair once again sat out with a minor injury. Injuries are still a serious concern on the defense, with things getting worse and Spacek not playing past the first period. We are honestly running out of defensemen and would be greatly benefited from getting one or two back. Pominville may be on defense for next game.

Tim Connolly scored again in this game, making this his third straight game with a goal. He has played real well as of late. The other goal came from Paille, who hasn't been as reliable in the past month, but who hopefully gets things going again.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Derek Roy

Tim Connolly

My Three Stars

Ryan Miller (shutout, 28 saves)

Tim Connolly (one goal, four shots)

Daniel Paille (one goal)

Buffalo handles Carolina

Buffalo earned a 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday night, winning a game that they were supposed to win. Buffalo was in control throughout the game, and Tim Connolly stole the show by netting two goals.

Buffalo returned to form by killing off all five of their penalties in the game. Teppo Numminen also scored a goal, but the downside is that he took a puck to the face and is hurt badly.

Official Three Stars

Tim Connolly

Ryan Miller

Thomas Vanek

My Three Stars

Tim Connolly (two goals, plus two, five shots)

Teppo Numminen (one goal, plus one)

Ryan Miller (36 saves on 37 shots)

Detroit overruns Buffalo

The Sabres really got overrun by Detroit in their 3-1 loss. Buffalo got outshot 48-22 in the game. Yet Miller put in one of his best performances, and almost stole a second straight game.

The Sabres scored the games first goal, but there was no question throughout the entire game that the Red Wings were the better team. The only difference was Miller, who was able to hold onto Buffalo's lead for a long while, before finally letting some by at the end of the third.

Detroit also dominated on faceoffs, winning an impressive 65%, with not a single Sabre finishing the game with a winning percentage.

Official Three Stars

Mikael Samuelsson

Ryan Miller

Johan Franzen

My Three Stars

Mikael Samuelsson (one goal, one assist, plus two, four shots)

Ryan Miller (45 saves, and the only reason the game was close)

Jiri Hudler (one goal, one assist, plus two)

Miller wins in the shootout

While Ryan Miller is a good goalie, the knock against him seems to be that he doesn't steal games and win them on his own. However last night he did just that, as the Sabres were only able to score one point, but earned a win through Miller's strong play.

Buffalo started out the game real well, then gave up a goal and played poorly for a long stretch of time. Then a quick turnover forced by Vanek got Buffalo a goal, and then they played well enough in the third and overtime to get to the shootout. Like he had all game Miller once again came through in the shootout, saving all three of the shots at his net.

The game had almost no penalties, with only two called against the Sabres and none against the Rangers. Buffalo killed off both of their shorthanded situations.

Tim Connolly was back, and while he didn't make the score sheet he played well. He may even be healthy enough to play again as the Sabres take on the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Derek Roy

Scott Gomez

My Three Stars

Ryan Miller (43 saves and 3 for 3 in the shootout)

Thomas Vanek (forced the turnover for lone Buffalo goal)

Derek Roy (one goal, 4 shots, 10 of 15 on faceoffs)

As Easy Win over Los Angeles

The Sabres got what may have been their easiest win of the year in a 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. The Sabres scored goal after goal on the luckiest and most random bounces. Meanwhile the Kings were shutout by good play from both the defense, and Ryan Miller.

Matt Ellis and Chris Butler were brought up from Portland for this game, and both played well. Afinogenov and Paetsch were sat out to make room for them, while Gaustad is out short term with an injury. This was Butler's first NHL game, and got an assist when the rebound from one of his shots bounced right to Adam Mair.

Bringing up Ellis was an odd choice as Kennedy or Mancari could have been called up instead. Still Ellis played well, and scored his first goal of the season.

The Sabres are back on the road as they play against Montreal Saturday night.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Derek Roy

Adam Mair

My Three Stars

Ryan Miller (shutout, 40 saves)

Derek Roy (one goal, two assists)

Chris Butler (one assist, plus two in NHL debut)

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)

A Second loss to Atlanta

For the second time this season, the Buffalo Sabres lost to the Atlanta Thrashers in overtime. Buffalo actually looked good for alot of the game, but had a few defensive gaps, and Miller played very poorly.

Ryan Miller was a wreck almost all night, and probably should have gotten pulled for Lalime after goal number three. Now that Buffalo has a capable backup they may as well use him. Hopefully Lalime gets the start tonight against Boston, so that Miller can be back in form for the next game.

To get under the roster limit Matt Ellis was waived and Stafford sat out the game. Also despite what everyone had been saying apparently Stafford would have to clear waivers. Ellis probably will not be claimed, but Mancari should still should get called up before him.

Bryan Little had a real good game for Atlanta with two goals and an assist. Meanwhile Vanek scored for Buffalo, keeping him on top of the league in that category.

Official Three Stars

Thomas Vanek

Bryan Little

Derek Roy

My Three Stars

Bryan Little (two goals, one assist, plus two)

Jason Williams (two goals)

Vyacheslav Kozlov (three assists)

All star voting

The NHL has announced the ballets for the All-Star game, and of the 104 players selected there were four Sabres.

Ryan Miller was selected as a goalie, and given how he has done this season he deserves to be in the game. At this point he leads the league in goals against average at 1.62. In save percentage he is second in the league at .942, just behind the .944 posted by Boston's Tim Thomas. Furthermore he hasn't allowed a single goal against in the last 125 minutes of game time.

The second Sabres all star selection is Thomas Vanek. As the Austrian is currently leading the league in goals with eleven, while he is tenth in the league in total points with 14. Also very deserving and very probable to make the all-star team.

The other Sabres forward selected was Derek Roy. The selection of Roy is a bit odd, as he is only ninth in points on his own team, falling behind players like Kotalik and Pominville who are beating out Roy in every statistic that there is. It's not that Roy has been doing bad, but he should not be the team's second choice.

On defense the only Sabre selected for the ballet is Teppo Numminen. A bit of an odd choice, especially given how influenced by last years numbers these selections appear to be. Still I would pick Tallinder or Rivet as the team's top player on the blue line. Even Spacek deserves a mention with the eight assists he has earned so far this season. Probably none of Buffalo's defense will make it in.

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 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)

Sabres start season with a shootout win

The Buffalo Sabres got their 2008-2009 season off to a much better start then last year. Not only was it a win, but a win over one of the teams that is expected to end the season at the top of the eastern conference. Montreal played well, but Buffalo was the better team throughout the game, and deserved to win after earning more scoring opportunities then the Canadians did.

Buffalo's lone goal came from Thomas Vanek on a bit of a delayed shot. Vanek lead both teams with eight shots in the game. The Canadian's goal came from Robert Lang in his first regular season game with Montreal.

In the shootout Buffalo looked much better then they did last year. Kotalik started things off with his unstoppable backhand. Stafford then pulled the exact same move as Kotalik and also scored. If these two can score every shootout then the Sabres will be in a good position. Miller stopped both of the shots on his end, although Koivu never really got his shot off.

Still despite the win Buffalo still looked a bit sloppy with their passes at times, and definitely have plenty to improve on. The powerplay was awful. Tim Connolly was out of the game with an injury, but that's not really even news anymore. Buffalo's next game is Monday against the Islanders.

Official Three Stars

Thomas Vanek

Ryan Miller

Carey Price

My Three Stars

Ryan Miller (only one goal against, perfect in the shootout)

Thomas Vanek (eight shots and one goal)

Robert Lang (scored the only goal for Montreal)