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)

A post trade deadline win

On this side of the trade deadline the Sabres are looking like a much better team. Buffalo didn't change all that much through trades, but looked really good in this game. While the Sabres have struggled to score in front of Lalime this season they got five goals Wednesday night against Montreal.

Lalime for his part also did really good especially in the first period when he saved all 18 shots taken on him. He came within a minute of earning the shutout before allowing a single goal against with a little over a minute to go. A trick Miller has pulled many times before.

Newcomer Tellqvist was the backup goalie for this game. Former Maple Leaf Dominic Moore was unable to get to the arena in time to play.

Afinogenov who is surprising still a Sabre played in the game for the first time in months. He was actually pretty good registering and assist, and two shots on net. Vanek was also back and played with a lower cage in addition to his visor.

Paul Gaustad and Derek Roy both had two goal games for Buffalo, each of them getting one goal on the powerplay. Gaustad's second goal then came shorthanded and was a real nice play. Spacek had the other real nice play in this game dancing around the defender, before blasting his shot into the net. He also had the primary assist on Roy's first goal.

Buffalo did really good on special teams in this game, scoring on two of four powerplays. Then on the penalty kill the Sabres killed off all six of Montreal's chances and even score a shorthanded goal.

Official Three Stars

Patrick Lalime

Paul Gaustad

Derek Roy

My Three Stars

Patrick Lalime (shutout, 38 saves)

Paul Gaustad (two goals, plus one, three shots)

Derek Roy (two goals, plus one, three shots)

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)

Buffalo needs to stay strong against Montreal

Coming into their Friday night game against the Montreal Canadians, there has been a lot of talk lately about the Sabres being a really good team. Still they haven't been any better than .500 as of late, and beating the Maple Leafs isn't the most impressive task that there is.

Buffalo should be commended for the way that they have dealt with injuries, and for continuing to hold on, but that is all. They need to beat some good teams, and recent games against the Ducks, the Red Wings, and the Blackhawks have all resulted in losses. The Montreal Canadians however are a good team, and if Buffalo can beat them in their game Friday night then the Sabres can start talking about how good they are. Buffalo did beat the Canadians to open the season, and there is no reason why they can't do it again.

Additionally the rumor is that Spacek should be returning to play for this game, so maybe we can have a respectable lineup on defense after all.

An Overtime Loss to Montreal

The Buffalo Sabres played well for most of the game, but ended up losing 4-3 late into overtime. Buffalo scored a powerplay goal, and did ok killing off their own penalties but were scored on during both a five on three and a four on three opportunity by the Canadians.

Despite the loss Miller looked good for the second straight game in a row. Afinogenov was called up to take the place of the seriously injured Kaleta. Max spent most of his ice time with Peters and Ellis and didn't really have much of a chance to make a real difference in the game.

Buffalo was without Patrick Kaleta who is out with what appears to be a serious injury. In his place Afinogenov played, but was with the fourth line and had little help and little ice time.

As far as losses go this one was not as bad as it could have been, as at least the team earned a point for a tie. Of course last year the Sabres startd a ten game losing streak around this time last year, and the few ties in that didn't end up doing the team any good.

Buffalo once again has a quick turnaround as they play their third game in four days against Pittsburgh on Monday night.

Official Three Stars

Sergei Kostitsyn

Steve Begin

Ryan Miller

My Three Stars

Sergei Kostitsyn (two goals)

Alex Kovalev (one goal, one assist, eight shots)

Teppo Numminen (two assists, plus two)

Northeast Division

The northeast has been one of the toughest divisions since the lockout, but the competition is beginning to level out. Neither Ottawa nor Buffalo are as dominate as they used to be, and Montreal and Boston have improved into playoff contenders.

#1 Montreal Canadians
They took second in the division last year, and have mostly brought back the same team. Their most notable addition is Robert Lang who they picked up from Chicago, and will give them some additional offense. The main downside for this team is that Price is still rather unproven in goal, and could go either way.

#2 Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo missed the playoffs last year, but should make it this season. Their main weakness was on defense, but they have shored up that position with the addition of Rivet and the return of Numminen. Buffalo also has the division's best goaltender in Ryan Miller.

#3 Ottawa Senators
Ottawa won the division last year, but fell apart at the end of the season and then got swept out of the playoffs in the first round. The team has some talent, but there is no reason to think that they will recover from their collapse and are unlikely to make the postseason.

#4 Boston Bruins
Boston is a bit of a question mark as they have the possibility of easily making the playoffs, and also finish near dead last. The team has some big name players, but lacks the depth to be a top of the league team. Goaltending is also a huge question mark for this team as it could end up being anywhere from amazing to awful.

#5 Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto has been having a very tough time getting things together since the lockout and this season doesn't look any more promising for them. They have no consistent scoring, and only mediocre defense. They surprisingly upset the defending champion Detroit Red Wings in their season opener, but that is not how the entire season is going to go for this team.

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)

The season begins

After four games were played in Europe last weekend, the NHL season gets underway for real tonight with four games being played. Buffalo gets in their first game of the season tomorrow against the Montreal Canadians. Despite all the talk about the Sabres wanting to get off to a good start this season, the Canadians are a tough opponent, and will be good this year.

Weber was recently sent to Portland, to get Buffalo under the roster limit. Matt Ellis is remaining with the club, but it is still not cler if he will actually play in the game or not. Paetsche has been kept with Buffalo as well, but is expected to be a healthy scratch.

Chicago got a free conditional draft pick, by claiming former Sabre Doug Janik from waivers and then immediatly trading him back.

Gerbe scores in preseason loss

Buffalo lost their second straight preseason game. Being preseason the big news is not the loss, but rather a goal by Nathan Gerbe. After having such a great year last season for NCAA Boston, Gerbe has a legitimate shot at winning rookie of the year if he can only make the team. Gerbe is an explosive talent, but is far back on a roster that is stuffed with forwards.

This pre-season game was a special event held in Glace de Roberval, a small town in Quebec, that won the right to host the game as part of a "Hockeyville contest". The arena the game took place in had only 1,237 seats, but drew a crowd of an additional 11,000 to watch on screens out side of the stadium.

Nathan Gerbe leads Boston College to Victory

Nathan Gerbe picked up another two goals to lead Boston College to the NCAA Frozen Four Championship victory. Notre Dame hadn't been expected to win a single game, but then made it all the way to the final two before finally losing. Boston College was all around the better team, and was able to dominate the game.

The best thing about is that Nathan Gerbe is lined up to become a Sabre. He was a fifth round draft choice in 2005, and could very well end up one of the teams best selections. In the final two games of the NCAA tournament, he had five goals, and a handful of assists. He was a final three Hobey Baker finalist, and was named the NCAA playoff tournament's "Most outstanding player". He still has one more year of college eligibility left, but he looks to be good enough to crack the NHL lineup if he wants to come next season. If the Sabres have any strength it's that they know how to draft.

Also in the NHL, the refs went a bit out of their way to hand the game to Montreal. In the final 7:10 of regulation and the first 1:31 of overtime the refs called ten minutes of penalties against Boston. Not only did they call ten minutes worth of penalties in under nine minutes, but they called nothing against Montreal, and some of the calls made were rather weak. Montreal of course has the best powerplay in the league, and while it took them a while this time, given that much five on four, and even a few short five on threes, even the Sabres powerplay would have found a way to win that game. The final penalty was pretty weak to begin with. Calling that when in overtime of a playoff game when Boston is already a man down is insane.

No surprise

The Sabres lost to the Montreal Canadians (on the powerplay of course) 3-1. With this loss Buffalo is now mathematically out of the playoffs. Buffalo of course lost this game, the same way in which they have lost most of their games this season, which is by failing on the powerplay, and only really trying for ten minutes.

The Sabres held their own, until the Canadians got a powerplay, on which the Canadians did what they do on 95% of their powerplays which is score a goal. The game completely fell apart after that. Kotalik finally did score a goal, but at that point it was far to late, and all it did was avoid the shutout.

The final game of the season is Saturday, but it doesn't much matter at this point. Right now the Sabres need to resign Gaustad, and get Numminen and Connolly healthy (assuming of course that it possible).

Official Three Stars

Bryan Smolinski

Carey Price

Steve Begin

My Three Stars

Bryan Smolinski (two goals)

Steve Begin (one assist, plus two, eight hits)

Carey Price (only allowed one goal against)

Another blown game

The Sabres once again blew a game after failing to hold onto a two point lead with less then three minutes to go. As a result the Montreal Canadians were able to come back and win the match 4-3 in overtime. While the single point means that the Sabres are still mathematically still in, they have not been getting any help either, and they have zero room for error at this point.

Official Three Stars

Tomas Plekanec

Derek Roy

Jason Pominville

My Three Stars

Tomas Plekanec (two goals)

Mark Streit (three assists)

Drew Stafford (plus one, one goal)

Lack of a penalty kill buries Sabres

The Montreal Candaians have the best penalty play team in the league, and scored on all three of their chances to beat the Sabres 6-2. The Sabres also managed two powerplay goals (on six oppertunities), but more or less got outplayed all game long.

The Sabres still need ten more wins to make the post season, and get thier next chance on Sunday against the injured Red Wings.

Official Three Stars

Tomas Plekanec

Alex Kovalev

Mark Streit

My Three Stars

Tomas Plekanec (hat-trick and four points)

Alex Kovalev (setting up Plekanec, four assists)

Thomas Vanek (one goal, played well along with Roy and Bernier)

Thibault gets the shutout

Jocelyn Thibault got himself a shutout against Montreal in his third start of the season. He stopped all 24 shots he faced to bring the Sabres to a 3-0 victory.

Spacek got the first goal of the game on the powerplay, hitting the net on a bad angle despite never being able to do so from out on the point. The Sabres later goal by Vanek also was the result of converting on a rebound. Spacek was actually on the ice for all three goals scored, and played well on defense as well.

Buffalo's penalty killers did an excellent job in the game, killing all three of their penalties. Montreal has had one of the better powerplay teams but the Sabres have now outplayed them in these situations for two straight games.

The Sabres have been playing well of late and are have just won four straight, and are coming up against an easy opponent in Washington.

Official Three Stars

Jocelyn Thibault

Thomas Vanek

Brian Campbell

My Three Stars

Jocelyn Thibault (the shutout)

Jaroslav Spacek (played well both ways)

Thomas Vanek (played real well two straight nights)

Sabres win on the powerplay

The Buffalo Sabres scored on two of their three powerplay chances to beat Montreal 4-2. The first goal came on a powerplay goal by Derek Roy, from Afinogenov and Pominville, who all had suffered on the powerplay previously. The game winning goal came from Vanek who had also been doing poorly on with the man advantage. Pominville again got the assist, along with Paetsch. Buffalo's even strength goal came from Tim Connolly who has been playing great for the team since returning from injury earlier this week.

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Daniel Paille

Tomas Plekanec

My Three Stars

Jason Pominville (two assists on the powerplay)

Tim Connolly (Buffalo's only even strength goal)

Maxim Afinogenov (on ice for three of Buffalo's goals, none for Montreal)

Sabres finally get a win

Apparently shooting is not the best way to score. After outshooting their opponents in three straight losses, the Sabres were outshot by Montreal, but still came out ahead 4-1.

The Sabres were lead by Clarke MacArthur who had two goals in the game and has looked great since he was called up from Rochester earlier this season. He already has three goals in just a few games with Buffalo, and at times it really appeared as if the rest of the team was going out of its way to try and give him the hattrick.

Miller played really well, coming up big in the early goings of the second, not allowing Montreal to score two. The Sabres were also perfect on the penalty kill this game, which is significant given how good Montreal is with the man advantage.

Official Three Stars

Clark MacArthur

Ryan Miller

Thomas Vanek

My Three Stars

Clarck MacArthur (two goals)

Ryan Miller (came up big in the second)

Thomas Vanek (actually agreeing with the official picks)

Sabres play well, still lose

The Sabres actually put together a pretty good game. The only problem is that they failed to score any goals. The Sabres outshot the Canadians 29-19, including 9-2 in the third, but Huet had a great game and really earned himself the shutout.

Miller played decent as well, only allowing one goal to get by him, and that should be enough for the win. Montreal just got lucky this game.

Official Three Stars

Cristobal Huet

Tomas Plekanec

Derek Roy

My Three Stars

Cristobal Huet (the shutout and the only reason Montreal won)

Brian Campbell (for his agressive play throughout the whole game)

Tomas Plekanec (scored the games only goal)

Sabres lose second straight

At least the team showed up for this game. They still lost 4-2 to Montreal, which is a team that they should be consistantly beating. Unlike the previous game the Sabres were ok five on five. Although not spectacular even strength they played well enough to win. Special teams were once again a disaster. They were unable to score with six powerplay chances, in fact they were unable to even come close to scoring. They allowed two goals when down although one of those was on a five on three. Still in the end the team didn't put together a good enough game to win.

Next game is Wenesday against the surprisingly good Carolina Hurricanes.

Official Three Stars

Roman Hamrlik

Christopher Higgins

Derek Roy

My Three Stars

Christopher Higgins (two goals)

Roman Hamrlik (three assists)

Christobal Huet (the win in net)