Buffalo Sabres Zone

With the extraordinary effort by their goaltender Cam Ward, the Carolina Hurricanes were able to defeat the Sabres in a shootout with a final score of 2-1.  Ward stopped all 3 Buffalo shooters and need only Jussi Jokinen’s one goal to win the game.  Buffalo failed to capitalize on their chances throughout the game and is a big reason why they did not win.  Patrick Lalime played excellent, allowing just one goal and making key saves on the power play.  I have nothing against Patrick Kaleta, and feel he is one of the most hard working players out there, but when he is the teams only goal scorer for the night, then there’s a problem.  His job is not to go out there and win the game by scoring, no we have millions of dollars invested in other players for that kind of stuff and it’s sad to see those players not produce when we need it the most.  We get a bit of a break tonight in playing the struggling Islanders, so hopefully this will allow us to get out of this current funk we are in and back on the right track.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

The Buffalo Sabres lost to the Anaheim Ducks last night by a score of 3-2.  It was their second loss of the season against the Ducks and prevented them from capitalizing on a chance to move up the standings.  They sit 8th place in the Eastern Conference currently with Carolina and Pittsburgh hot on their tail.  It’s clear how much this team needs the likes of Vanek and Miller.  If we are going to make the playoffs we are going to have to string some wins together here and make a splash at the trade deadline.  Our defense is far too weak to be a contender in the playoffs and we need guys like Paille and Hecht to start scoring goals.  The next game for Buffalo is in Carlina tomorrow night who are 1 point behind the Sabres and sit in 9th place.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

The Sabres got a big win last night to keep pace with the likes of Montreal, NY Rangers and Florida.  Every point is huge this time of year and it was good to see Buffalo play a solid game of hockey.  Stafford is really turning into something else this year as he scored twice last night.  His play has improved greatly and it’s clear he is going to be a top notch player in this league for many years to come.  Tim Connolly continued his point per game pace by getting 2 assists last night en route to the Sabres 4-1 victory.  Ryan Miller got his 28th win of the season in a 27 save effort.  Daniel Paille and Matt Ellis recorded goals for Buffalo for the first time in several games.  The Sabres next game will be against Philadelphia tomorrow night.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

The Buffalo Sabres defeated probably the best team in the league 2 nights ago as they rallied back with a few seconds left and go on to win the game in a shootout.  The game was really something else for the city of Buffalo who was part of a tragedy which took the lives of 50 people.  The league gave the Sabres the option to postpone the game and play it at another time but Buffalo declined.  Before the start of the game, there was a moment of silence for those that lost their lives and those that were mourning.  It is something else to see 18000+ people standing and not making a sound.  I am told that the silence sent chills down peoples spines as it was a very powerful moment.  Buffalo got off to a quick start in the first scoring 3 goals early on and getting the arena pumped up.  The Sabres blew two 3 goal leads throughout the game and found themselves losing 5-4 in the dying seconds of the game when Craig Rivet ripped a slap shot on net.  With 3.9 seconds left in the game, Jason Pominville deflected Rivet’s shot from the point and into the net.  The arena went crazy after that.  The emotion, the passion, everything was just released in one big roar.  The pan out of the arena showed everyone on their feet applauding and giving each other high fives.  The passion could also be seen on the ice as all the entire Sabres team was filled with joy.  It was one of those cases that sent chills down my spine.  Seeing the look on Rivet’s face as they scored, the look on the rest of the teams face.  You could just tell that they wanted this so bad and were not going to lose that game.  The crowd gave the team a standing ovation before the overtime period.  After an exciting overtime which featured much end to end action the teams were faced with a shootout.  Buffalo had the advantage in this category as they are statistically one of the leagues best in that category.  Derek Roy would clinch the shootout victory for Buffalo and put the city of Buffalo at some ease.  After the game, several of the players commented on how the win was for the city of Buffalo and hoped it would help numb some of the pain temporarily.  The Sabres next game is at home tonight against Carolina.

I would like to send out my thoughts and prayers to those who lost their lives, and to those who have lost loved ones.  I know this is a difficult time and it has changed peoples lives forever.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

Well if last night was any indication of how much a factor Thomas Vanek is on the power play, I don’t know what is.  The Sabres were 1/12 on the power play which is just not acceptable.  That accounted for almost an entire period of power play time for Buffalo.  The lone goal came off the stick of Ales Kotalik on a one timer from the point and would make the score 3-1.  It’s clear that someone on this team needs to step up and fill in the shoes of Vanek.  Nathan Gerbe is going to have to take advantage of his time here in Buffalo and show that he can be a scorer in this league.

I have been downgraded to not getting paid for every post.  Now I only get $2 for every 1000 unique visitors I get.  So please spread the word and help me out so I can get the popularity of this post up and get back to being paid $1 per post.  Thanks.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

Thanks to some articles I found online, I’ve been able to give you a rough idea of what the lines will look like with the absence of Thomas Vanek.  One thing I’m happy to see is that Ruff looks to spark Pominville’s offensive game by pairing him up with Derek Roy and Clarke Macarthur.  Connolly will center Hecht and Stafford, Mair will go between Paille and Kotalik, and the 4th line will keep Nathan Paestch on forward as he will be paired up with Ellis and Peters.  I also heard that Sekera and Tallinder are also practicing again which is definitely a good sign.  Yes our team can still score, but I think our offense will take a big hit with Vanek gone.  This means we will have to play better defensively and getting these players back is necessary to do this.  I go on break from school for the rest of the week so I should be on top of the pre and post game write ups.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

With the trade dead line just a few weeks away, teams are going to start shopping to make a playoff push.  With Buffalo in its current position, I, along with others, expect the Sabres to be buyers.  It has been talked about all year that Maxim Afinogenov will likely be shipped out.  It is unfortunate that his trade value has gone as low as it has, due to his lack of production over the past few years.  For those of you looking for information about trade rumors and what not, I recommend going to www.thefourthperiod.com.  This website has been very resourceful to me over the years and offers legitimate information.  I was reading today that the Sabres are interested in Blue Jackets defenseman Rostislav Klesa.  I have also heard that the Sabres are also dangling Tim Connolly in front of other teams.  Connolly’s value has gone up as of late, and I’m not sure how I feel about this.  Losing Connolly would be a big hit to this team, but at the same time, we could get a ton in return for him.  If it wasn’t for Connolly’s injury history I would say there is no way we could trade him, but with him being in his last season under contract, and his great play as of late, I feel Darcy would pull the trigger on a deal like this, given we get a lot in return.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

The big story of last night is that leading scorer for the Sabres Thomas Vanek, will be out 3-4 weeks with a broken jaw after the puck came up and hit him in the face.  The Sabres fell down to the struggling Ottawa team by a score of 2-0 but came back and tied up the score with goals by Drew Stafford and Adam Mair.  The game would go into overtime after that and was filled with much end to end action that nearly ended the game.  The shootout was full of goals.  Ales Kotalik scored on his signature move, but Ryan Miller got beat 3 times and Derek Roy would fail to score on his shootout attempt.  Buffalo escaped Ottawa with a point and I’m sure they are happy with that considering what they lost in Vanek.  The rest of this team will need to step it up to fill the big shoes of Vanek.  The Sabres next game will be in Buffalo against Ottawa again on Wednesday.

-Sabs Hockey Nut

First of all, let me apologize for not getting a pre game post up.  I was very busy and just didn’t have the time to sit down and write.  On to the game now.  Buffalo won by a score of 3-2 last night with a great effort by the entire team.  After a scoreless first period, Jaroslav Spacek came down the left wing and ripped a slap shot past goalie Carey Price just 27 seconds into the 2nd period.  It would be halfway through the 2nd period when Saku Koivu would tie up the game on the power play for the Habs.  This tie didn’t last long however as Nathan Paetsch would score on a pass from behind the net just 2 minutes later.  Paetsch was converted to forward for this game with the return of Spacek.  It’s not that hard to guess who opened the scoring for Buffalo in the 3rd…Tim Connolly.  The man is playing great as of late and showing up on the score sheet very often.  His 11th goal of the season came 4 minutes into the 3rd period and gave the Sabres a 3-1 lead.  Montreal would try and make a charge late, scoring once to make the score 3-2, but that is as close as they would get.  Ryan Miller made 35 saves last night and deservedly was awarded first star of the game.

Buffalo improved their record to 28-20-5 with last nights win and are 7-3 in their last 10.  They will play in Ottawa tonight as they take on a struggling Senators team.  Ottawa sits 13th in the conference with a 17-25-8 record.  One of the big problems facing the Sens is their lack of depth at forward, and they lack a goaltender who can singlehandedly win the game for them.  They rank dead last in the league with 2.36 goals for per game.  Their only goal production comes from the line of Spezza, Alfredsson and Heatley.  If you can shut these guys down, its pretty much game over as no one else really scores for this team.  This line accounts for about half of the team’s total goals this season so it’s no surprise as to why they are having a rough year.  Puck drop is at 7pm tonight.  Let’s Go Buffalo!

-Sabs Hockey Nut

Ryan Miller continued his solid play last night at HSBC arena as the Sabres shutout the Maple Leafs by a score of 5-0.  It was Miller’s 5th shutout of the season and 2nd consecutive.  Buffalo was in control for the majority of the game and the Leafs just looked so out of place last night.  It was Buffalo’s first home game since January 17th and they showed the home crowd that they missed being home.  Tim Connolly scored a few minutes into the first period to continue his point per game pace while Stafford scored about halfway through the first period to make it 2-0.  From that point on it was the Thomas Vanek show as he would score the last 3 goals of the game for his 5th career hat trick.  He also tied a record set by Cy Denneny of Ottawa back in 1924 in which each player scored 4 consecutive natural hat tricks.  It was enough for Vanek to be tied with Jeff Carter of the Flyers for 2nd in the league in goals with 32.  Vanek finished off the night with 4 points and now leads the team in points with 52 through 52 games.  Teppo Numminen made his first appearance since being injured not too long ago so it was good to see our defense start to get healthy again.  Our next game is at home against Montreal tomorrow night.

-Sabs Hockey Nut