Buffalo Sabres Zone

The Sabres will be in Phoenix tonight for their first of 2 meetings against the Coyotes this season.  The Sabres got destroyed last year when they place the Coyotes by a score of 6-2.  Ryan Miller will make his first start against them in his career against a team that has slowed down as of late.  The Coyotes sit in 7th place in the West with 53 points, are 5-5 in their last 10 and look to avoid dropping 3 straight tonight.  They have a 16-7-2 record at home this season so this will be no cake walk for Buffalo who is coming off a loss in Calgary a few nights ago.  The big thing for Buffalo will be to keep Coyotes captain Shane Doan off of the score sheet.  He leads their team in goals with 20, and points, 48.  In net for Phoenix should be Ilya Bryzgalov who is 11-4-2 at home this season.  The Sabres look to finish the month of January on a good note as they have won 8 of 12 games thus far and have been one of the hottest teams in the league since the new year.  The game is set to start at 9pm tonight and as always, Let’s Go Buffalo!

-Sabs Hockey Nut

The Sabres will not be playing tonight either.  Two teams chasing Buffalo for a playoff spot, Carolina and Florida, each won their games last night and moved even closer to the Sabres.  Buffalo still sits in 7th place in the conference but the gap between them and the teams on the outside looking in is quickly diminishing.  Sidney Crosby and the Penguins are looking much better than they have as of late and look to make a charge for the final playoff spot.  With a big gap between 6th and 7th place, it seems it will be a 4 team battle for the final 2 spots in the East, barring some extraordinary collapse by some of the front runners.  With the Sabres losing a few defensemen recently, I am willing to bet that Darcy Regier will make a trade before the deadline so as to beef up a depleted Defense.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

Well it was not too much of a surprise to return from my own hockey game at midnight and see that the Sabres fell apart in the 3rd period.  I was skeptical as to if our legs would hold out, even though we were playing very well heading into intermission.  I was watching on TSN and Mr. Brilliance, Pierre McGuire, did not cease to amaze me on his comments.  He is so blunt in his statements, even calling out rookie defensemen Chris Butler several times, once while on the bench of the Buffalo Sabres.  He was doing an on ice interview with Lindy Ruff while play was underway and made a comment about how Butler looked really jittery out there.  This was true, Butler did not play very well last night, but I felt it was very unprofessional of Mcguire to call out a player when he was standing practically right behind him.  On to the game, we looked really sloppy in the beginning of the game and started to pick it up as the game went on.  Our failure to score on the powerplay early on did not help us at all last night, along with us hitting a few goal posts.  Our defensive play and goaltending were not at their best last night.  Connolly and Stafford continued their hot streaks last night, each collecting a goal, it would not be close to enough though as Calgary’s Mike Cammalleri would score a hat trick and Miikka Kiprusoff would make 25 saves en route to his league leading 29th win of the season.  Not really in the mood to give much more of my thoughts, its been a bad day.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

You could just tell the game was going to be something else after Drew Stafford scored 10 seconds into the game on a nice pass from Vanek, and Nathan Paetsch scored just a minute after that.  The Sabres won by a score of 10-2 last night and played one of their best games offensively all season.  Ryan Miller didn’t earn the victory easily though as he turned away 36 of the 38 at shots he faced.  Here are some stats to consider.  12 players recorded at least one point while 10 of those had multi point efforts.  Vanek, Stafford, Connolly and Roy each got 3 points on the night with Stafford getting the hat trick late in the 3rd.  Stafford also received the infamous pigeon and it can be seen on his shoulder during a post game interview on www.sabres.com.  For more on the pigeon just google it.  The Sabres were 3/6 on the powerplay and killed off 7 of 8 penalties.  They scored the tenth goal late in the third on a 2 on 1 with Hecht and Connolly shorthanded.  It was one of those games that was just fun to watch, the Sabres passing was just incredible and on more than one occasion I heard the Edmonton announcers comment on how good the Sabres were passing the puck and that we had good puck control.  Pretty good compliments from a Canadian broadcasting company I’d say.  This was the Sabres 8th win in their last 11 contests and helped them continue to secure the 7th spot in the East while they begin to inch closer to the upper tier of the conference.

Tonight the Sabres head to the Saddledome in Calgary.  I must confess that I do like Calgary, not as much as the Sabres of course, but I enjoy watching them play.  They have one of the best defensive corps in the league by far, led by Dion Phaneuf.  Their size on the point makes them a difficult team to play and will require the Sabres to play a physical game if they don’t want to get pushed around.  Calgary sits 3rd in a very competitive Western Conference.  They are also 1st place in their division and are 7-3 in their last 10 and have a 17-5-3 record at home.  Their goaltending is very good as well in Miikka Kiprusoff who leads the league in wins with 28.  “Kipper” is one of those goalies that can steal the game for his team if the offense is not playing well.  This does not happen often however as Calgary boasts a very skilled set of forwards led by captain Jarome Iginla.  Calgary has 10 players with at least 20 points on their roster, while 6 of those 10 have at least 30.  Five players also have at least 15 goals with Mike Cammallari leading all with 22.  Being such a follower of the Flames I just can’t sit here and end this blog, I have to list the players I feel are a threat to the Sabres tonight.  So I’ll start with the offense:

Jarome Iginla,  Mike Cammalleri, Daymond Langkow, Todd Bertuzzi, Craig Conroy, David Moss, Rene Bourque, Curtis Glencross and Matthew Lombardi.  Sure you’re going to say I just listed the top guys in points on the team, well these guys play every night and the depth on this team is extraordinary.  It’s no mistake that they are sitting 3rd in the Western Conference, they have such a solid corps of players up front I feel that they can make a run for the Stanley Cup, barring injuries.  Their defense averages a little over 6ft 2!  Phaneuf is not the only guy that will hit you hard and often, Robyn Regehr, Cory Sarich, Mark Giordano, I just love this team.  They were put together very well, are coached well and I wish that the Sabres could put together a team like this.  I am going to love watching this game tonight.  I am going to root for the Sabres 100%, but if they lose I’ll know why they did and it won’t be such a disappointment.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

The Sabres will face-off against the Oilers tonight, a team they have not faced in almost 2 years.  The Oilers have 51 points and are 6th in the Western Conference.  Both teams entered the All Star Break on hot streaks as both have gone 7-3 in their last 10 contests.  Edmonton is on a 6 game win streak and is 11-8-3 at home this year while Buffalo is coming off a loss in Tampa Bay and is 11-9-3 on the road.  This marks the halfway point for the Sabres on their 6 game road trip.  Derek Roy and Ryan Miller will need to continue their great play over the last month if the Sabres hope to escape this road trip unscathed.  I think tonight will be a tough game for the Sabres as Edmonton is a very fast skating team and they can really move the puck well.  Their goaltending is also very good in ex-Sabre Dwayne Roloson.  The Sabres will need to keep an eye on Ales Hemsky however and do their best to keep him off the scoresheet.  The playoff run has begun and from this point on, no team can afford to go on a losing streak.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

The East All Stars defeated the West last night in front of a sold out crowd in Montreal.  The game will be one to remember as the West was down by a score of 6-2 during the 2nd period and after 40 minutes of play, the game was tied at 8 a piece.  15 players had multi point games with ten of them having 3 point performances.  It was clear that Montreal Canadian Alex Kovalev was going to steal the show, scoring 2 very nice goals in regulation while also scoring the game deciding goal in a shootout.  The would never have gone to a shootout had it not been for the terrific play of Boston goaltender Tim Thomas who made several key saves on a 4 on 3 powerplay for the West during the overtime period.  Overall, the game saw 102 shots taken over the course of the game and only one penalty, which was called during the overtime period.  The game MVP and winner of a new car was Kovalev who definitely performed very well and was deserving of the honor that so many greats have wielded before him.  Patrick Kane scored his first ever all star goal on a breakaway while Calgary Flames’ captain Jarome Iginla also scored his first in his 5th all star appearance.  It was an ugly goal by Iginla and he laughed about it afterwards.  I’m sure he will tell everyone that he scored it top shelf on a breakaway but it is good to see him finally end that draught.  The Sabres will face off in Edmonton tomorrow night and I’ll give a preview of that tomorrow.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

Well it was a crazy night last night as the NHL’s best competed in several different contests which tested their unique skills.  The winner of the fastest skater was Andrew Cogliano of the Oilers who completed one lap around in 14.31 seconds.  The winner of the accuracy contest needed to be decided in an extra round between Dany Heatley and Evgeni Malkin.  Each hit 4 targets on 4 shots and needed to settle the tie with only 4 shots a piece.  Malkin would prove victorious, hitting 3 of the 4 targets.  The youngstars game was highlighted by Boston’s Blake Wheeler as he got a hat trick in the quick 3 on 3 game, helping the Rookie squad defeat the Sophomores by a score of 9-5.

Zdeno Chara of the Bruins had a tall order in front of him as he needed to beat Shea Weber’s blast of 103.4 mph in the hardest shot competition.  Chara’s first shot was clocked at 103.3 mph while his second would set the bar for future competitions.  A 105.4 mph shot by Chara would break Al Iafrate’s old record of 105.2 set back in 1993.  The Fan Fav Breakaway challenge saw several dazzling and obscure moves by all the players involved, but the eventual winner, Alex Ovechkin, would just put on a show.  With time for one more trick left, Ovechkin called for a time out and skated over to Evgeni Malkin who was holding a bag.  Inside, AO had some props ready to use, this included a hat with a canadian flag sticking out the top, and a pair of sun glasses.  Once he put these on, Ovechkin proceeded to take Malkin’s stick and skate in on goal with 2 sticks.  He discarded his preferred right handed stick and scored on his own rebound left handed.  The crowd went nuts and he received over 40% of the votes to win the competition.  The final competition was the breakaway challenge.  This went 7 rounds total and saw Shane Doan, Marc Savard, and Milan Hedjuk battle it out between the goaltenders in the end.  Vanek made it to the second round but failed to go any further.  The eventual winner would be Shane Doan who scored on 2 similar goals in the final 2 rounds to secure his spot as champion.

Tonight the All Star game will take place at 6pm and should be a fun game to watch.  It will air on CBC and Versus I believe so tune in for some good entertainment.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

Tonight the NHL’s best players will faceoff in the Skills Competition as the East takes on the West in this great tradition.  The whole event is getting some big publicity as it takes part in Montreal whose franchise is celebrating its 100th anniversary.  There will be 6 events in total and I will break them down and show who is participating in each.

The first event is the fastest skater.  Each player will line up on the center ice line and make one complete lap around the rink.  The player that completes the lap in the fastest time will win the competition.  Competiting for the East will be Zach Parise, Jeff Carter, and Jay Bouwmeester.  For the West it will be Brian Campbell, Mason Raymond, and Andrew Cogliano.  Mike Gartner holds the record for this competition completing his lap in 13.386 seconds back in 1996.

The second event will be the Fan Fav Breakaway challenge in which each shooter will receive one minute to try as many different breakaway moves as they can with no restrictions, meaning, NHL penalty shot rules do not apply.  This has got to be the most exciting competition of the night as no one really knows what some of these stars are capable of.  Shooting for the East will be Martin St. Louis, Alex Kovalev, Steven Stamkos, and Alex Ovechkin.  For the West it will be Pat Kane and Ryan Getzlaf.

The 3rd event showcases the games up and coming stars in the Youngstars game.  This game consists of three 6 minute periods with 2 teams of 9 players and a goalie.  The game is much like a pickup game at your local rink as it is running clock and there is only one faceoff, and that is to start the period.  Otherwise once you score, you back up and let the other team start from their own end.  The Rookies team will have the following players:  Patrik Berglund, Mikkel Boedker, Drew Doughty, Michael Frolik, James Neal, Luke Schenn, Steven Stamkos, Kris Versteeg, Blake Wheeler.  Goaltender Steve Mason will be replaced by Pekka Rinne.  The Sophmores roster will consist of:  Nicklas Backstrom, Andrew Cogliano, Brandon Dubinsky, Kris Letang, Bryan Little, Milan Lucic, Mason Raymond, Devin Setoguchi,  Marc Staal, Dave Bolland, David Perron, and Carey Price.

The 4th event is my personal favorite, the Accuracy Shooting.  This event has players recieve 8 passes from the corner and try and hit 4 targets in each corner of the net.  The object is to take as few shots as possible to win, so the goal is get 4 for 4.  This feat has only been done a few times in the event’s history.  It has been done 5 times to be exact by 2 of the games greatest, Mark Messier and Ray Bourque who accomplished the feat twice along with Tomas Kaberle and Jeremy Roenick.  Shooting in this competition will be:  Marc Savard, Jonathon Toews, Mike Modano, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jarome Iginla, Evgeni Malkin, Dany Heatley, and Tomas Kaberle who is the reigning champion.

The 5th event is the hardest shot competition.  Big Zdeno Chara has won the competition the past 2 seasons and looks to continue that trend this year.  I think this is finally the year in which Al Iafrate’s record gets broken.  In 1993, Iafrate blasted the puck 105.2 mph!  Shooting this year will be Zdeno Chara, Sheldon Souray, Vincent Lecavalier, Shea Weber, Mike Komisarek and Mark Streit.  Souray is my favorite to win this year and I think he can break the record.  In an Edmonton Oilers exclusive skills competition, Souray was clocked at over 106 mph!

The 6th and final event will incorporate every player in the all star game for the Elimination Shootout.  The total tally of players is 36 shooters and 4 goalies.  The rules are simple, score and you advance to the next round, don’t and you are out.  This will continue until there is only one shooter left.

I hope you all enjoy this, I know I always have and that I definitely will tonight.  Since the Sabres are in the East, I have always been favored towards that conference so hopefully they win it this year.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

The Sabres just could not get the puck past goaltender Mike Smith as many times as they needed which resulted in the 5-3 loss.  The loss ended the Sabres 7 game win streak in Tampa even though stars Lecavalier and St. Louis were held without a point.  Lighting the lamp for Buffalo was Derek Roy (2) and Kotalik.  Buffalo would get several chances on their 34 shots on net, but failed to get any good bounces.  Tampa was more fortunate with bounces, scoring at least 2 goals that could have easily not been.  A turning point in the game was when Buffalo was 5 seconds away from the end of the 2nd period before an errant clearing attempt by Lydman got kept in and found its way into the net on the ensuing shot.  Ryan Miller cannot be blamed really for the game as 3 of the goals I remember were on screens in front.  The Sabres now get a break for the all star break until they return to action out West in Edmonton.  Defensemen Henrik Tallinder left the game with an upper body injury and there has been no report as of late on his status.  I will keep you updated when I find out, but it seems as if Hank will miss an extended period of time.  This will cause the front office to make some call up’s from Portland as our D-Corps has been severely depleted.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

Tonight the Sabres travel to Tampa Bay for the 2nd game of this extended road trip.  The Sabres have won their past 7 games in Tampa Bay and are 7-2 in their last 9 games.  The Sabres also have accumulated 14 points since the new year which is the most of any team in the Eastern Conference.  The Lightning are 15-24-10 thus far this season which puts them 12th in the conference with 40 points.  Ryan Miller is also 13-2 lifetime against the Lightning so this match up is very favorable towards Buffalo, however, it does not mean that it is a free win.  This Lightning team has improved greatly since the beginning of the season and are 5-5 in their last 10.  The key tonight will be stopping the offensive power houses that go by the names of Vinny Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, and rookie Steven Stamkos.  If the Sabres can stop these 3 guys I feel that they will have no problem tonight as Tampa’s defense is not exactly the cream of the crop.  My prediction for tonight, Sabres win by a score of 4-2.  I’m also going to say that Vanek and Connolly each pick up at least a point.

-Sabs Hockey Nut