In Memory of Kotalik

Now a few days after a trade sent him to Edmonton, the Sabres are doing pretty well without Ales Kotalik, but he had been a huge part of Buffalo's franchise for a long while.

Ales Kotalik has often been criticized for not being physical enough, but just because he is a big guy, doesn't automatically imply that being physical has to be part of his game. His real problem was a lack of consistency, and the fact that his defense wasn't always there.

That said he wasn't bad. This was his sixth full season for Buffalo, which has been the only NHL team he has every played for. Recently he had been averaging around 20 goals a season, which is decent if not anything special.

Still the interest that Kotalik was likely to get in this coming summer is more than the Sabres would have been willing to spend, so giving him up is not too much of a loss. Kotalik was however, surprised to be traded, but was almost a casualty of Buffalo committing its future cap dollars towards Connolly instead. From the start of the season it appeared as if only one of Connolly, Kotalik, and Afinogenov would be resigned, and the team chose to go with Tim instead.

The thing that will be most remembered about Kotalik of course is his role in the shootout. He always went first for Buffalo and almost always scored when he went to the backhand, and only really ever went to a different move for the sake of mixing it up. He is still one of the top shootout players in the league, and those few extra points that he picked up for Buffalo really are important. Stafford has adopted Kotalik's backhander as his own for the shootout sometimes, but still doesn't do it quite as well.

Kotalik was never a critical part of the team in Buffalo, but still he will be missed.

Another Loss to the Ducks

Once again the Sabres came out very poorly in a loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Gaustad and Kotalik both scored, but they were the only players who did anything on offense. Both goals came from Kotalik just blasting the puck into the net, and it's something this team has to do more often.

The Ducks received solid play from Buffalo native Todd Marchant. While getting outshot by the Sabres in the first period, they better took advantage of Buffalo's defensive breakdowns.

Official Three Stars

Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Todd Marchant

Paul Gaustad

My Three Stars

Ales Kotalik (one goal, one assist, five shots)

Todd Marchant (one goal, one assist, plus two)

Teemu Selanne (one goal, plus one, four shots)

Outworked by Chicago

As the Sabres took on my favorite team in the West, they got off to a good start with an early goal by Kotalik. However poor goaltending and an inability to produce on the powerplay cost Buffalo the game.

Lalime looked very bad in net, and allowed a number of goals by him that he really shouldn't have. While he is the second string guy, this should have been a winnable game for the Sabres and letting in that many soft goals ruined the chances for the team.

Not that the rest of the Sabres were playing all that well either. With the notable exceptions of Henrik Tallinder, and Tim Connolly nobody was willing to shoot the puck. The Sabres were given a six minute powerplay (which is weird in and of itself), but were only able to generate a single shot on net during that entire stretch. While Chicago does have one of the better penalty kill units in the league, that is no excuse for Buffalo to do that poorly.

The game was full of fights and confrontations usually surrounding Gaustad and Stafford. The goose actually had a pretty good game, disrupting the Blackhawks flow and finishing the night plus one with two shots on net.

Instead of the high flying Blackhawks the Sabres get to play the struggling Stars on Thursday night. Hopefully that is enough of a chance that they can actually take advantage of it.

Official Three Stars

Cristobal Huet

Jonathan Toews

Matt Walker

My Three Stars

Jonathan Toews (one goal, one assist, plus two)

Martin Havlat (one goal, plus one)

Ales Kotalik (one goal, plus one in the loss)

Again Buffalo losses in OT

Buffalo lost their second straight game in overtime in a 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was a rather slow game, which was odd, but the Sabres took an early 2-0 lead. While the Penguins tied it up, Buffalo took a 3-2 lead into the third.

However in the third period Buffalo took it first penalty of the game and immediatly gave up a goal. This ended their incredible streak of four on five play at 74 minutes and 48 seconds, and lost them the game. Buffalo did moderatly well on their own powerplay with a go ahead goal from MacArthur, but had many more chances then Pittsburgh.

In overtime the Sabres looked completely overwhelmed and at no time had control of the game. Crosby quickly scored to finish the game off. His stick may have been a bit high, but given how Buffalo was playing at that point, it was bound to happen anyhow.

Despite ending the game with eight shots, Vanek failed to score and ended the game minus three. Kotalik did much better, and besides his breakaway goal, also earned an assist. Malkin did not earn a goal in this game, but contributed with three assists. The best player in the game however was Alex Goligoski who had two goal and one assist for Pittsburgh.

The Buffalo Sabres are now done until Christmas. Their next game is on Boxing day against the Washington Capitals.

Official Three Stars

Alex Goligoski

Clarke MacArthur

Ales Koalik

My Three Stars

Alex Goligoski (two goals, one assist)

Ales Kotalik (one goal, one assist, plus two)

Sidney Crosby (game winner in overtime)

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)

Still Undefeated

Buffalo keeps on winning on the strength of their special teams. The Sabres have still allowed no goals against while on the penalty kill, and added two more powerplay goals in the first period to give themselves the early lead.

Clarke MacArthur got another goal, Ales Kotalik scored his fourth, and Vanek incredibly scored his sixth of the season already. Afinogenov has looked good, and Spacek put together a solid game, scoring the first goal, and getting three shots on net. Ryan Miller looked a bit shaky, as he probably should have had both of the shots that he let by him.

Buffalo was very disciplined not taking any penalties until the end of the first, and the only bad one, was the diving call on Kaleta. Still Buffalo allowed two goals against, the second to former Sabre Steve Bernier. MacArthur was on the ice for every single goal in the game, for and against. Vancouver sat Roberto Luongo, their captain and all star, but given how dominant Buffalo was it would have been unlikely to have made a difference.

Official Three Stars

Thomas Vanek

Ales Kotalik

Jaroslav Spacek

My Three Stars

Thomas Vanek (one goal, two assists, seven shots on net)

Ales Kotalik (two goals)

Jaroslav Spacek (one goal, one assist, plus two)

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)

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.

Mistakes may keep Sabres out of the playoffs

The Buffalo Sabres lost to the New York Rangers 4-3 in a game that was filled with mistakes. Turnovers and bad goaltending plagued the Sabres all game long in a game that was very important in the standings.

Miller played poorly all game long, giving up really bad rebounds, and then being way out of position on two of the goals against the team. However he really wasn't getting much help from the defense either. Still if you let Avery score on you, you're playing pretty bad.

The Sabres brought up Marc-Andre Gragani for his first ever NHL game. He was out for the opening faceoff, but only ended up seeing 6:28 in ice time during the game. He played alright but took two penalties.

The Sabres killed off all three of their shorthanded situations, but were unable to score when they were up a man, although the Sabres powerplay actually looked pretty good this game.

The Sabres though are going to have to play much better than this, and they are going to have to beat the teams like the Rangers who are competing for the same spot in the playoffs. Once you get in anything can happen, but you need to win a few to get in first.

Official Three Stars

Sean Avery

Derek Roy

Michal Rozsival

My Three Stars

Ales Kotalik (two goals, plus one in the loss)

Sean Avery (one goal, one assist)

Brandon Dubinsky (one goal, one assist)

Blowing away the Leafs

Why does everyone always use a metaphor in their headlines about Leafs games? Regardless the Leafs did get blown away by the Sabres as they picked up their second straight win 5-1. The short version is that the Sabres outplayed the Leafs in every aspect of the game, (although Toronto did outshoot the Sabres 35-23).

The most impressive part of this win has to be the fact that the Sabres actually played decent on the powerplay. The Sabres haven't had much of an advantage being a man up this season, but earned themselves two goals on six chances. While the one goal the Sabres did allow was on a Toronto powerplay, it was more the result of a major mental mistake, then a result of being a man down. Still they killed off the rest of their shorthanded situations well, and came away with the win.

Tim Connolly didn't play in the game which is a bit worrisome, and was replaced by defenceman Nathan Paetsch who played up front the whole game. He was a respectable plus one, but only got 1:40 of ice time.

Official Three Stars

Thomas Vanek

Ryan Miller

Brian Campbell

My Three Stars

Thomas Vanek (one goal, two assists, three points)

Ales Kotalik (two goals)

Adam Mair (one assist, plus one, 6-0 on faceoffs)

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 Drop the most exciting game of 2008

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

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

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

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

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

Official Three Stars

Mike Fisher

Danial Alfredsson

Jason Pominville

My Three Stars

Danial Alfredsson (shorthanded goal)

Clarke MacArthur (recently the Sabres best scorer)

Mike Fisher (an assist and a shootout goal)

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...

Sabres Beat Flyers Again

Buffalo once again beat Briere's Flyers, but this time in more dramatic fashion as the Sabres won the game 6-5 in a shootout. The Sabres scored the game tying goal with only seven seconds left in regulation, then killed of three minutes of penalties in overtime to get the win in the shootout.

After a close first period in which the teams exchanged goals, Buffalo took a solid 3-1 lead early in the second. This was followed by a series of powerplay opportunities that backfired, as Buffalo allowed two quick shorthanded goals to let the Flyers back into the game. Buffalo scored on a five on three quickly afterwards to retake the lead, but then Philly got a five on three goal of their own at the end of a penalty prone second period (combined twenty min of penalties, all minors).

In the third period the Flyers got out to an early one point lead, and stayed there until Thomas Vanek deflected a shot from Jochen Hecht past Marty Biron to tie the game. After a scoreless overtime, Kotalik got a goal for the Sabres beating Biron with a wrist shot to his glove side. On the other end of the ice Ryan Miller stopped all three of Philly's shots to secure the victory for Buffalo.

The Sabres have now won a season high six straight games. Next game is on Boxing Day against the Ottawa Senators.

Official Three Stars

Mike Richards

Jeff Carter

Jason Pominville

My Three Stars

Jason Pominville (four points on the night)

Ales Kotalik (one goal, one assist, plus one, and the shootout win)

Mike Richards (three points including two goals)

Sabres back to winning

The Sabres put together a solid effort (on offence) to beat the New York Islanders 5-3. Lead by Jason Pominville, and Derek Roy, the Sabres gave a huge offensive push that made up for their errors on defence. Buffalo outshot the Islanders 41-31 on the game and 34-26 in the first two periods.

Given the high number of shots, and excellent opportunities for each team, both of the goalies (Ryan Miller and Rick DiPietro) both played pretty well, despite giving up eight goals between them.

Buffalo dominated the faceoff circle this game, winning 58%. This was despite going up against the normally excellent Sillinger, who was only at 47% for the game. The Sabres were lead by Gaustad and Connolly who were at 67 and 64 percent.

As well as Buffalo did on faceoffs, they did even worse on give aways. The Sabres had sixteen giveaways compared to the Islanders two. The refs meanwhile were rather whistle happy this game, as both teams ended up scoring a goal with a two man advantage, and the game was being played at four on three for over a minute at one point. The refs weren't favoring one team over the other, but it was starting to get to the point where it was ruining the flow of the game.

Official Three Stars

Jason Pominville

Ales Kotalik

Derek Roy

My Three Stars

Jason Pominville (three assists on a night he just couldn't score)

Derek Roy (a goal, and on ice for three goals for and none against)

Ales Kotalik (one goal, plus two)

Eight is (more than) enough

The Buffalo Sabres embarrassed the Carolina Hurricanes, beating them 8-1 in a game that wasn't even close. Buffalo ran away with this one, only allowing a late power play goal with less than two minutes left in the game.

Kotalik had two goals in the game including the first one at just 1:32 into the first. The Sabres have now scored the first goal of the game in seven straight games after failing to do so the 13 games preceding that.

Mair got a goal in his first game back since the fifth of November. It was a nice goal right of the faceoff where he was feed the puck from Gaustad to pick up the easy goal.

Practically everyone on the Sabres had a good game. Afinogenov played great and was on the ice for half of the Sabres goals for the night. Max had an awesome shot go in, as did many other of the Sabres in this blow out win.

Miller played well, but seems completely unable to get a shutout. No matter how well he plays he has a tendency to blow his shutout bids on easy shots late in the third. Miller has played much better for a few seasons now then his shutout count would seem to indicate.

Official Three Stars

Maxim Afinogenov

Ales Kotalik

Ryan Miller

My Three Stars

Derek Roy (plus three points, one goal, and one assist)

Maxim Afinogenov (on ice for four goals including one of his own)

Jaroslav Spacek (plus three, three points)

Ales Kotalik (two goals, this was a four star game)

Sabres beat Ottawa

The Buffalo Sabres have now won two straight (both 4-2), and now that they are scoring, look like a decent team.

Buffalo benefited from getting Connolly back for this game. Furthermore they kept MacArthur up with the team, and scratched Peters instead. MacArthur deserved that spot, and played well this game even though he didn't get on the score sheet. Mike Ryan is suddenly in danger of losing his spot, but he did get himself onto the scoring sheet as he got the first goal of the game.

Stafford got the night's final goal, and Paille got an assist on Ryan's so the Sabres are really starting to rely on their younger players. Combine that with MacArthur's recent success and almost all of the Sabres points are reliant upon players who were not on the roster to start last season.

Miller played good enough this game, and deserved the win. He even got an assist on Kotalik's powerplay goal.

Official Three Stars

Thomas Vanek

Ryan Miller

Mike Ryan

My Three Stars

Mike Ryan (first goal of the game)

Daniel Alfredsson (first goal for Ottawa)

Ryan Miller (the win in net)

MacArthur Wins one for the Sabres

The Sabres got down by a goal early on, but were able to come back to beat Boston 2-1 in OT. The Sabres only allowed one goal, but unlike against Montreal they actually scored one themselves as well. Then in overtime Clarke MacArthur scored a pretty one to win the game for Buffalo.

MacArthur had been up for a few games last season, and even this preseason I stated that MacArthur's play would be more important than that of Peters and Ryan despite less games played over the season. He showed up big tonight. In his overtime of his first game in the NHL this season, he got a quick pass from Stafford, and absolutely buried the opportunity.

My last post seems to be confirmed, as both Roy and Vanek were on the ice for the only goal against this game. Still it was only one goal all game long and the Sabres have now played great on the defensive side of things for two straight nights. Lets hope they can keep it up for their next game against Toronto on Friday. And if they start scoring again as well, that would also be nice...

Official Three Stars

Clark MacArthur

Paul Gaustad

Ryan Miller

My Three Stars

Clarck MacArthur (overtime goal in his first game of the season)

Ales Kotalik (game tieing goal, plus a solid two way effort)

Paul Gaustad (almost crazy enough to fight Chara)

Random Statistic of the day

The Buffalo Sabres are undefeated so far this year in games where both Spacek and Kotalik played...

For the optimist, the Sabres have the potential to win every game this season.

For the pessimist, the Sabres are unable to win if they are without so much as one starter.

As for those of you who are suddenly more worried if Spacek will play on Wednesday, he might. Spacek will traveled with the team, but it isn't clear if he will play or not.

Buffalo Comes back to beat the Leafs

The Sabres brought back memories of last season as they relied upon a dramatic comeback, followed by a dominating overtime performance to win the game.

At first the game started looking like the one against the Capitals in that the Sabres looked as if they were going to be shut out to lose a close one. Toronto was able to go into the third period with a 2-0 lead. However, also like the Capitals game Buffalo was able to come back with a flood of late goals in order to win the game.

The Sabres finally got on the board with only 12 minutes left in the game, as Adam Mair scored off a pass from Roy. Mair who had even less goals then Spacek last season already has two this year and is actually tied with scoring machine Thomas Vanek so far. Vanek himself got a goal tonight as did Pominville and Hecht.

Ales Kotalik who is by far the teams best shoot out player prevented the shootout in this game by scoring unassisted with only four seconds left in overtime.

This was Thibault's first start of the season, and he was good enough for the win. Spacek left the game late in the third with an unspecified injury, no details on that yet. The Sabres get a few rest days before they have to play Columbus on Friday night.

Official Three Stars

Ales Kotalik

Tim Connolly

Chad Kilger

My Three Stars

Ales Kotalik - (came up big in OT)

Jason Pominville - (a goal and an assist)

John Pohl - (three assists for Toronto)