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)

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)

Comeback leads to a shootout loss

After falling behind 2-0 in the second period the Sabres came back in the third to even the score at 2-2. However they failed to capitalize in the shootout, and walked away from the game with only one point.

Buffalo got outplayed badly in the first two periods, being outshot 30-18 and outscored 2-0. They turned things around in the third with goals from Mair and Stafford.

In the shootout Kotalik and Connolly scored for Buffalo, while Stafford and Roy missed. Miller allowed three of four to get past him, and probably should have saved two of them, but played well enough in regulation that this loss can not be blamed on him. In the shootout the first seven shots were all backhands, with all three of Buffalo's original shooters going for Kotalik's move.

Thomas Vanek left the game during the first period after taking a puck to the face. He will be out for a few games as a result. Hopefully it won't be for all that long.

Official Three Stars

Brian Elliott

Ryan Miller

Daniel Alfredsson

My Three Stars

Anoine Vermette (one goal, three shots, plus one)

Drew Stafford (one goal, three shots)

Brian Elliott (28 saves, 0.933SV%)

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)

Shootout loss in Colorado

The Sabres got in their tight low scoring game that we expected against Minnesota, against the Colorado Avalanche instead. This was supposed to be an easy opponent, but given the way Buffalo played they were lucky to earn the one point on the night.

Buffalo looked out of position and confused for most of the game, and then in the third period and in overtime they looked flat out bad. The one goal Buffalo scored was a bit of a fluke as well.

In the shootout, both Kotalik and Roy had very nice goals, but Stafford who was very good coming into this game failed to score. On the other end Miller was too far out of his net again, and only stopped two of five shots against.

This was Buffalo's second loss of the season, but they got a point for the tie. Due to Montreal's loss to the Ducks, Buffalo still has the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Smyth

Peter Budaj

Ryan Miller

My Three Stars

Peter Budaj (only one goal against, shootout win)

Ryan Smyth (an assist, shootout goal)

Toni Lydman (an assist, plus one)

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)

Still Failing in the Shootout

The Sabres blew an early three goal lead to lose 4-3 in the shootout. Coming into this game the Sabres' opponent the Philadelphia Flyers had the worst shootout record in the league. Yet once again one the shootout started the Sabres were unable to score.

Kotalik continued to be the best for Buffalo in the skills competition and scored on his chance, however Connolly fumbled the puck straight into Biron's stick, and Roy just completely failed to hit the puck on his shot. You can swing the stick all you want, but it's got to come into contact with the puck at some point. Miller was ok on the other end, but really shouldn't have let Briere score on him. Also, where was Henrick Tallinder?

Once again alot of the goals against came from mental breakdowns in a game that the Sabres really needed to win. Only seconds after getting their third goal, the Sabres gave up a breakaway to Jeff Carter who scored on a nice shot to the top corner.

The Sabres first two goals in the game did look pretty, with Roy proving that good things happen when you throw the puck at the net, and MacArthur getting set up real nicely from Connolly and Pominville just eleven seconds later. Paille ended the game minus one, but looked to be one of the better Sabres players on the night. Rookie Gragani once again only got around six minutes of ice time during the game, but seemed to get half of it during overtime and twice almost prevented the shootout from ever happening.

The officiating in this game was really bad. There were calls all over the place that really left everyone on the ice wondering what was going on. It didn't really have anything to do with why the Sabres lost, but it made the game really hard to watch.

Official Three Stars

Jason Pominville

Scott Hartnell

Jaroslav Spacek

My Three Stars

Jeff Carter (one goal, six shots, and a goal in the shootout)

Jason Pominville (one goal, one assist, plus three)

Mike Knuble (two assists)

Shootout Success

The Buffalo Sabres have finally turned the corner on the shootout, beating the New Jersey Devils 3-2 after going 2-0 in the skills competition.

The game was exciting and close, but the real excitement was in the shootout. All four games against the Devils went to the shootout this year, but New Jersey managed to win the first three. Buffalo finally decided to follow my advice on the shootout to give themselves their first SO win that didn't come against the worst shootout team in the league (yes, Philly's shootout performances have been worse).

First on the defensive side, Ryan Miller stayed back in his net, and kept away from the poke check, that wasn't working for him all season. Neither of the Devil's shots were particularly good, but the fact the Ryan Miller was able to stop both of them was critical.

On the other side Stafford just got a really, really good shot off, which Brodeur had no chance to save. Ruff did not include Vanek in his top three, and Kotalik was supposed to go third so there was no way to know how he would have done. The big surprise of course was Tallinder. It's rather rare to see a defenceman taking a shootout, and I don't think I've ever seen Tallinder on a breakaway before. After the game Ruff said that Tallinder had been a forward at some point back in Europe, but he seemed to be the only one remotely aware of that fact. Tallinder thought made Brodeur just look silly. Brodeur tried to run over the defenceman, but was easily side stepped and then helplessly watched as Tallinder shot the puck into the open net.

As to the actual game the Hecht, Pominville, Paille line got yet another goal, and Tallinder continued to have a great game, as he got an assist on the game first goal when Ryan tipped his shot into the net. In the regular game thanks also has to go to Kaleta who lead the team with five hits for the second night in a row, and Paul Gaustad who had four hits of his own, and won ten out of twelve faceoffs. For other top performers see my three starts of the game.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

John Madden

Henrik Tallinder

My Three Stars

Henrik Tallinder (an assist, and a shootout goal)

Adam Mair (plus one, an assist, and won 67% of faceoffs)

John Madden (two assist, and plus two in the loss)

Strategy for the Sabres Success in the Shootout

The Sabres current massive losing streak is in a large part due to the team's failure to win in the shootout. The Buffalo Sabres have gotten one win six trys this season, making them the third worst team in the league in shootouts ahead of only Washington and Philadelphia (who gave Buffalo their lone win). The Sabres were the second best in the league in the shootout last season, winning ten out of fourteen, and can do better this year as well.

First they need to do better in goal. The team's real problem is with putting them in the net, but Buffalo is currently tied for 20th in the league in save percentage in shootouts, and need Miller to steal them a game or two. The problem is that Miller personally is doing even worse saving only half of the shots he's faced (7 out of 14), while backup Thibault saved four of the six he faced last week against Ottawa. Miller needs to do much better. He was one of the best goalies in the shootout last season, and needs to return to that style. He plays great against breakaways in games, but has forgotten how to convert that into the shootout. Far too often Miller has been starting far out of his net and then attempting to poke check the puck away. While this occasionally works, he is becoming far too predictable and has seen players just dance around him lately. There is nothing wrong with making a good old fashion save, and saving the poke for when it is guaranteed.

The big problem however is the shooters, and Ruff's inability to choose some that will actually score. Only two players have scored in a shootout this season for Buffalo, and they are Ales Kotalik (3 for 6) and Thomas Vanek (1 for 4). Connolly, Afinogenov, and MacArthur are all zero for two, while Hecht, Stafford and Pominville have all failed to score on their single attempts.

Despite actually getting a goal, Vanek is the worst player the Sabres have been using in the shootouts. While he is a great player, he looks helplessly confused, and is way to slow in the shootouts. He is indecisive, and time and time again he fails to make any real attempt to score, and the goalies just wait him out every time. He wasn't any good last season either going two for eleven. Ruff needs to go with Stafford, Paille, and Connolly a little more.

Ales Kotalik on the other hand is the Sabres' best player in the shootout, but he was far better last year. Every single time last season Kotalik would charge in go to his left and backhand the shot in. Every single time, and the goalies would know it was coming, but were still unable to do anything about it. Of all players with at least five shootout attempts last year, Kotalik was the second best in the entire league. The two times that he has gone with his move this season he has scored. Of the four times that he has tried something else he is only one for four, and no better than Vanek. Notably the one non-backhand shot that Kotalik did score on was against Biron, who knows Kotalik's move better than anyone else in the league after being teammates last year, and was probably cheating towards it.

If Kotalik was consistently going to the backhand, and Miller was saving around 15% more to bring him near the league average, the Sabres would have another three points or so, and would no longer be driving towards the longest losing streak in team history.

Full shootout stats for the current season
Data from last season

Sabres can't break the streak

The Sabres posted their ninth loss in a row, dropping a game to the Devils in overtime. This was the fifth loss in the streak to come in the shootout. While it took until late December for the Sabres to get into a shootout it hasn't seemed to help them much as they have lost far more than they have won.

The Sabres got off to a quick start with Paille netting two goals within the first 12 minutes, but played poorly in the second to allow New Jersey to come back within one goal. The Devils then tied the game with a minute remaining in the third. Both of the Devils goals came on delayed penalties, which is odd because the Sabres did a good job killing of their actual shorthanded situations.

The real problem is the Sabres inability to win a shootout. A few things they need to do to fix it. First Miller needs to stop trying to poke check every single attempt, it makes him predictable, and unable to recover if his initial try doesn't work. Ales Kotalik has to go back to his backhand move. He has scored every time this season when he has gone to it, but is like one for seven trying other moves. Finally Thomas Vanek needs to stay on the bench. He's a good player, but should never be used in a shootout. Either Paille or Stafford need to be the go to guy instead. In fact I'd even rather see Peters take the shot, no one knows what to expect there, and that's better than knowing that Vanek is going to mess up.

Official Three Stars

Danial Paille

Zach Parise

Brian Campbell

My Three Stars

Danial Paille (two goals)

Paul Martin (goal)

Paul Gaustad (an assist)

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...