Sabres not looking so good this weekend

The Sabres escaped this weekend with a 1-1 record, and are still among the best teams in the NHL with a 8-2-1 record. Still they didn't look all that great in their past two games against somewhat weak teams.

The Toronto Maple Leafs who only have one win to their name so far this season forced the Sabres to go to overtime on Friday. A second goal in that game by Tim Connolly earned Buffalo the win, but the game was still far closer than it ever should have been.

On Saturday the Sabres then got blown out 5-0 by the New York Islanders of all teams. While they did have former Buffalo goalie Marty Biron in net, the Sabres need to play better against what are the league's weaker teams. Buffalo is starting to show the same mistake of losing the easy games that cost them a playoff spot last season. Hopefully there is still time for them to turn things around.

Sabres continue to play well

After a dominating 6-2 win over the traditionally very good Detroit Red Wings, the Sabres went on to beat the traditionally not so good New York Islanders by a score of 6-3.

Tyler Myers got the first goal of his NHL career in this game, after pick up two assists already this season. At this point Myers has proven himself, and his ability to play on this team. The weak line on the Sabres defense at this point appears to by Lydman and Montador, although neither of them are likely to get bumped when Sekera gets healthy again.

Clarke MacArthur and Hecht both played well against the Islanders. MacArthur got rewarded for his hard with with a penalty shot, that he masterfully used to get the second goal of the game. With that play MacArthur made a very serious argument to be used in the shootout for the Kotalik less Sabres. MacArthur than picked up an assist on Connolly's goal. Hecht got his own goal in the Second Period after blasting in a takeaway.

Kaleta also scored well, getting his second goal in two games. If he can continue to put up points in addition to his physical presence this year, that will do alot to help this Sabres team.

Former Sabres goalie Marty Biron was brought in mid-way through the second period for the Islanders and received a large cheer from the crowd. Biron was always a favorite here, and is one of a few former Sabres still loved by most. The Islanders other goalie, Dwayne Roloson is also a former Sabre, who played two playoff games against the Maple Leafs back in 1999.

Sabres hit a new low

Things are at an all time bad for Buffalo this season, because nothing can really get worse than being shutout by the Islanders. If there was an easy win to come out of this stretch this game was it, and the Sabres absolutely blew the opportunity.

Seriously, has anyone even heard of Yann Danis before? Let alone that he had the Islanders playing in front of him with one player out of the game suspended, another out to be traded, and the rest of them Islanders. Yet that seemed to be enough to stop Buffalo completely.

Coming into this game the Sabres have struggled to score in front of Lalime, but at least they had not yet been shutout in any of those.

Lalime actually played well, saving 32 of 34 shots, and putting Buffalo in a position to win the game. At the very least three points against the third worst defense in the league shouldn't be too much to ask for.

The only hope is that Vanek should be ready to go play for the next Sabres game on Wednesday night. However he will have to do so all by himself. For this being the last game before the trade deadline, every player has given themselves great reason to get sent away.

Official Three Stars

Sean Bergenheim

Yann Danis

Jack Hillen

My Three Stars

Yann Danis (shutout, 31 saves)

Sean Bergenheim (two goals, plus two, six shots)

Jack Hillen (one assist, plus two, four shots)

Yet another loss

The combination of Gaustad and Mancari was the only threat that the Sabres had in this entire game. The two did combine for Buffalo's first goal, and Mancari's first in the NHL, but without any help from the rest of the team it was not enough.

Lalime played ok in net, maybe should have had the first goal, but had no chance on the rest. Still Lalime has now slipped to a record of 1-3-1 against what are some of the weaker teams in the league. Roy scored a goal in the third, but was also directly responsible for leaving his guy wide open on the previous goal for the Islanders.

Buffalo needs to do their best to find a way to get Gerbe, Kennedy, and Darche on the team as soon as possible, because the current group of players no longer shows any interest in winning hockey games any more.

Official Three Stars

Joey MacDonald

Mark Mancari

Mark Streit

My Three Stars

Andy Hilbert (one goal, one assist, four shots)

Mark Mancari (one goal, seven shots)

Craig Rivet (one assist)

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)

Sabres outlast the Islanders

The Buffalo Sabres beat the New York Islanders 2-1 in a very close game. Derek Roy and Max Afinogenov scored for the Sabres while Brendan Witt scored for the for the Islanders.

Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller had an excellent game stopping 42 of 43 shots. He really carried the win for his team as the Sabres only managed 17 shots on the goal on the other side.

The Sabres came into the game healthier than ever, but loss both Derek Roy and Tim Connolly to injury by the time the game was over. No word yet on how serious the injuries are. If they are unable to play expect Ryan and MacArthur to take their place...

Hecht played well as ever, and actually had a goal discredited for kicking it into the net... next two games are against Marty Biron and the Fliers on Friday and Saturday...

Official Three Stars

Ryan Miller

Max Afinogenov

Brandon Witt

My Three Stars

Ryan Miller (97.7 save percentage)

Max Afinogenov (game winning goal)

Derek Roy (great game before getting hurt)

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)

Getting Closer (but not close enough)

These first two games against the Islanders were supposed to be easy ones for the Sabres, but instead they droped both of them losing the second game tonight 3-2. For the most part the Sabres played well in this game but were unable to finish and had two absolute collapses which lead to the second two goals for New York.

On a positive note, the powerplay was decent this game. Spacek scored in a five on four situation early in the game, but the team was only one for eight on the night. However, they looked better, and created a good number of chances, even if it only resulted in one goal. When they used Pominville on the point they were really able to get some good looks. On the other side of the ice, they allowed the Islanders to score on one out of four chances, which although not great is acceptable.

Also on the plus side Spacek is looking decent this year. After two games he is the teams leading goal scorer with two goals. It looks as if I might have been a bit too harsh on him. Without Drury to hit, he is finally aiming for the net.

On the positive side for the Islanders, Mike Comrie is starting off the season in magnificent fashion having scored six points in only two games so far this year. By far the best move they made in the off season.

For the Sabres things are not looking as good. It's a long season, but the games in October count just as much as the games in February and March. On the plus side the team has until next Thursday to regroup and get their act together. The team has got talent, it just needs to get rid of the monumental mistakes.

Official Three Stars

Mike Comrie

Rick DiPietro

Chris Campoli

My Three Stars

Mike Comrie - (6 points in two games)

Jaroslav Spacek - (who would have ever guessed it)

Jason Pominville - (he did everything right this game including an assist)

Lack of Defence

The Buffalo Sabres lost their season opener 6-4 to the New York Islanders. The offensive was still churning as it did last year, but the defence was a complete mess. Ryan Miller had very little chance on the shots he let, but the Sabres play in their own zone was horrible. Buffalo was unable to cover anyone in front of the net all game long. Even with the Sabres offense you can not expect to win games when you allow six against. The problem was not only with the players who are assigned the role of defenders, but to the offence as well for failing to come back to the puck and pick up a player.

Powerplays did not help the Sabres again, as is becoming all too common. The Sabres were zero for three on the powerplay (with not nearly enough shots), while the allowed the Islanders to go three for four (including a 3 on 5). Although the 3v5 goal can almost be excused, there is no reason that any team should only be able to prevent the powerplay from scoring 25% of the time. In fact the Sabres actually outscored the Islanders in five on five play, so if the Sabres powerplay and penalty kill were at least decent then there is no reason that Buffalo would not have won.

Official Three Stars

Mike Comrie

Ruslan Fedotenko

Jaroslav Spacek

My Three Stars

Mike Comrie - (Two goals, Two Assists)

Rick DiPietro - (Inspite of allowing 4 goals)

Derek Roy - (The only Sabre with his head in the game)