0-0-4

The Sabres have failed horriably all year against the Ottawa Senators and the Atlanta Thrashers. These are two teams that the Sabres easily should have beaten and have repeatadly failed to do so.

Buffalo's overtime loss to the Thrashers on Wenesday night should have been anticiapated as indicative of Buffalo's lack of success against the team all season. At least getting the one point for making it to overtime is not close to enough against a weaker team like Atlanta. Once again Buffalo is going to end up just outside of the playoffs and throwing away points against easy teams will once again be the reason why.

Despite scoring two goals, Vanek still ended the game -2. Of all of the Sabres in this game only Henrick Tallinder and Craig Rivet played well, and impressed througout.

Official Three Stars

Alex Kovalev

Ilya Kovalchuk

Christopher Higgins

My Three Stars

Ilya Kovalchuk (one goal, one assist, plus two)

Thomas Vanek (two goals, seven shots)

Vyacheslav Kozlov (one goal, plus one, six shots)

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)

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)

A shootout loss to the Thrashers

The Buffalo Sabres had their first loss of the season to the Atlanta Thrashers in a shootout. Patrick Lalime was in goal for Buffalo, who feel behind early, but played better in the later periods to tie the game up.

Thomas Vanek had yet another goal, to give him his seventh of the season just five games in. Buffalo remained strong on special teams as Vanek's goal came five on three, while Buffalo continued to be able to kill off all their penalties.

In the shootout Kotalik didn't go with his normal backhander and failed to score. Stafford did and Vanek continued to do poorly in the shootout like he has for his whole career. Ilya Kovalchuk and Vyacheslav Kozlov scored in the shootout for Atlanta.

Official Three Stars

Kari Lehtonen

Patrick Lalime

Ilya Kovalchuk

My Three Stars

Ilya Kovalchuk (one goal, plus another in the shootout)

Todd White (two assists, plus two)

Jason Pominville (one goal, one assist)

Sabres get a new rival

I don't recall the Sabres ever having a rivalry with the Atlanta Thrashers, but after an overtime loss there appears to be one now. As Paille said during intermission, these two teams did not like each other. The previous games against Atlanta this season resulted in 6-0 and 10-1 wins for the Sabres along with a 4-2 loss. However still bitter from the crushing that was handed to them in the last meeting the Thrashers clawed their way back into this game to get the last minute victory.

The Sabres actually played really well this game, but could have done better in the first, and had the refs against them all game long. The Sabres are also in deeper trouble with injuries. Goalie Ryan Miller didn't return for the third period, and without Biron as a backup this could really hurt the Sabres if he can't return soon. Also Adam Mair got an injury, while Afinogenov failed to return to the lineup as was expected.

The Sabres played great in the OT killing off around three minutes of penalties. In the shootout Thibault held his own, only allowing one goal on four chances. However the problem was with Buffalo's shooters who all failed to score. Why they are still trying Vanek (even as a fourth) is beyond me.

Official Three Stars

Tobias Enstrom

Marian Hossa

Robert Holik

My Three Stars

Tobias Enstrom (actually shot the puck)

Derek Roy (almost good enough to win the game by himself)

Robert Holik (one goal, one assist)

Sabres finally win, and they do it big

The Sabres snapped their ten game losing streak by scoring ten goals in a huge win over the Atlanta Thrashers. Both Stafford and Roy picked up hat-tricks in the game, and the Sabres had five different players who earned three or more points.

The Sabres started out the game rather well, with Paille scroing within the first two minutes to give the Sabres the early lead. A few minutes later on the powerplay, a shoot in took a funny boucne and left Stafford at the top of the crease with the puck and the goalie behind the net. Than to prove that it wasn't just a fluke Roy scored 23 seconds later from Stafford and Vanek. Roy scored yet again from Stafford and Vanek just three and a half minutes later.

There was nothing that Atlanta could do to slow down the Sabres. They tried changing goalies, and when that didn't work they switched back goalies again (still didn't work). Pratt got into a bit of an unispired fight, which later in the third led to Atlanta giving up a five on three for four minutes. Due to an error on the scoring sheet for a while it looked as if Paille, Stafford, and Roy all had two goals, and the crowd was just waiting for a hat-trick to celebrate. Stafford picked one up, but it turned out that one of Paille's goals was actually Roy's third so he got one as well. Towards the end the crowd couldn't even keep up with the cheers because the numbers were so big, and decided to simply things to just chanting "we want ten!" (they got it).

This was Roy's first game in two weeks and he played very well picking up three goals and an assist to go plus four on the night. Interestingly Peters was scratched to make room for Roy meaning that for the first time ever the team kept Kaleta and MacArthur up instead of Peters which is something that they should have been doing all along.

Thrashers defenceman number 39 Tobias Enstrom was really bad. Looking at the stats after the game he doesn't look so bad as he was third on his team in ice time, and was amazingly plus one (the only one on his team). Yet given repeated chances to shoot at the net on some rather good oppertunities he choose to pass time and time again. He ended the game with zero shots and it was almost comincal with the chances that he was giving up. Even when Atlanta got a five on three, he would sit at the point with the puck, not covered at all, and then he would pass it. It was almost as if the defence had realized that he wasn't going to shoot and just decided not to bother covering him at times.

Despite the blow out the Sabres powerplay was really bad. The Sabres got a powerplay goal early, but that was due to a fluke bounce, and then they struggled the rest of the night. The Sabres had a four minute five on three chance, and barely managed to shoot let alone score. They did eventually get a goal five on three, but only after playing with the two man advantage for a full five minutes first. Furthermore they let the Thrashers get a short handed goal, which ruined their shutout, and in a closer game would have been a lot more devistating.

They play against the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight, lets hope that they can reach double digit scores again...

Official Three Stars

Drew Stafford

Derek Roy

Thomas Vanek

My Three Stars

Drew Stafford (hat-trick, five points)

Derek Roy (hat-trick, four points)

Jochan Hecht (prettiest goal of the night, three points)

Defensive mistakes allow Atlanta to win

The Buffalo Sabres played very well for parts of their game against the Atlanta thrashers, but lost 5-2 on the heals of some major defensive mistakes. If the Sabres can't even beat the teams in the southeast division then they are really going to have a hard time making the playoffs.

There were far to many big time defensive meltdowns in this game. All of Atlanta's first three goals were unassisted, and for the first one Kalinin gave up the puck behind the net on what should have been an easy play. On Atlanta's fourth goal Hossa was able to come down the wing with the puck all by himself to score the goal.

The Thrashers had a very good penalty kill throughout the game, and spent alot of time pressuring the Sabres, including what was a six on four advantage at the end of the game. The three best players on the ice for Buffalo were Campbell, Hecht, and MacArthur. Why MacArthur keeps getting sent down to the Amerks is beyond me. He keeps playing well every game he is up with the Sabres, and picked up another goal in the game this afternoon.

Official Three Stars

Marian Hossa

Johan Hedberg

Colin Stuart

My Three Stars

Marian Hossa (first two points of the game)

Colin Stuart (a goal and plus three)

Eric Perrin (an assist and 15 for 20 on faceoffs)

Spacek out for weekend

Spacek is still recovering from the minor shoulder injury he received in the Leafs game. He will not be playing in either of the games this weekend, but shouldn't be out for too long. I'm surprised to say this, but I'm actually disappointed that Spacek won't be in the lineup for these games. Expecting Andrej Sekera to be up in his place. The Blue Jackets are really not that great of a team, with Rick Nash as their only real threat. Game is at HSBC Arena and starts at 7:30.

Yesterday Atlanta finally got their first win against the Rangers (and without a coach at that), while the Senators and Flyers both won to stay at the top of the Eastern Conference. And one day after my post on how shots per game turns into goals per game the Phoenix Coyotes lost 4-2 after outshooting the Oilers 41 to 18...

Buffalo blows out (and shuts out) Atlanta for the first win of the season

The Buffalo Sabres finally showed up. More surprisingly the Sabre's special teams showed up as well. Buffalo was nearly perfect in non 5v5 situations in this game, driving towards a 6-0 win.

On shorthanded situations Buffalo was perfect, preventing the Thrashers from scoring on every oppertunity including 1:34 of five on three play, and Pominville netting a shorthander in the second. On the other side of things the Sabres scored four powerplay goals, including three in the first 12:07 of the game. In fact Roy's goal at the very very end of the second, was the only even strength goal of the game.

Kotalik's return to the game was immediatlly helpful, as he scored the games first goal three minuites in, and then picked up an assist on the second. Connolly and Gaustad also both had excelent games, although while Connolly picked up 3 points Gaustad had none.

The best player for Atlanta was clearly Steve McCarthy. He lead all players with five shots, and was behind almost every chance that the Thrashers had.

If the Sabres powerplay can be like this the rest of the season there is no reason that they should lose a single game. Ottawa meanwhile lost their first of the season to Carolina, and the Leafs blew out the Islanders 8-1. It was actually a bit of an upset night as Florida beat New Jersey, and Phoenix topped Nashville. The Sabres next game is Saturday against the currently undefeated Capitals, on a night when 26 teams play.

Official Three Stars

Tim Connolly

Brian Campbell

Ryan Miller

My Three Stars

Ales Kotalik - (returns to the ice to net a goal and and assist)

Tim Connolly - (lead the team with three points)

Ryan Miller - (didn't see many shots early on but earned the shutout in the second half)