Briere To Be a Big Target In The Playoffs

How many of you are shaking your heads? "UH, DUH!"
Of course he's going to be a target for the other team. But the target he is now isn't the same one you were thinking of.

Daniel Briere, the Co-Captain of our own Buffalo Sabres, has been called for Diving twice this year.

Diving is a new penalty instituted in the NHL rulebook after the 2004-05 season strike. It was one of the penalties that was supposed to help open up the game to create more revenue. Scoring brings fans and fans bring money.

Anyways, the stipulations of the Diving call are as follows, per NHL.com:

Rule 52 Diving (NEW for 2005-06)

A minor penalty shall be imposed on a player who attempts to draw a penalty by his actions ("diving"). Regardless if a minor penalty for diving is called, Hockey Operations will review game videos and assess fines to players who dive or embellish a fall or a reaction, or who feign injury. (See also Rule 33A -- Supplementary Discipline.) The first such incident will result in a warning letter being sent to the player, the second such incident will result in a $1,000 fine, the third such incident will result in a $2,000 fine and the fourth such incident will result in a one-game suspension. (See also Rule 33A -- Supplementary Discipline.)

Briere was called for his second Diving offense in the second Toronto game last Saturday.

Obviously, Briere with his small stature is more prone to fall than others. Players have turned diving into an art form- they use it to help their team gain momentum by getting on a powerplay.

But Briere is now going to be agitated and poked and pushed and anything else that may get him to fall.

Think of the effect on the Buffalo Sabres organization if one of the Buffalo Captains was suspended for an offense such as diving. The psychological effect of the Captain taking the easy way out- and not even just the Captain, the Buffalo points leader.

Teams will be doing everything they can throughout the entire Stanley Cup playoffs to try and take Buffalo's biggest scoring threat out for game or so. This could also prove to be a two way swing- what team wouldn't get a lift knowing the other's number one guy wasn't playing?

The Captains Respond The Goalies' Frustration

"Hopefully, it's the last one," co-captain Chris Drury [right] said. "I think the overall theme was, 'You're not going to win them all, but you certainly can control your effort, your focus and competitiveness.' We lacked that for a big chunk of six periods this weekend."

The Captain speaks. Now the second person on the Sabres has spoken what a handful of us were thinking. He knows they were wrong, and maybe it only took Ryan Miller to get him to go public with it. Hopefully, a leader like Dru repeating what was said not three days ago may kick his linemates, the injured, and the healthy in the seat of the pants so they'll get into 'hero' mode. Nothing is better than watching these boys play with heart.

"This isn't a situation where we should be letting each other off the hook," goalie Ryan Miller said. "I think there were some situations where we weren't competing hard enough. I was a little ticked off after the game," Miller said. "Maybe I went a little too far, but I think everybody would say that we didn't compete hard enough to a man. And sometimes you've got to voice your opinion."

Miller seems to be saying his statements may have been too harsh. I know he knows they weren't but I think he is softening them up a bit so the Captains look like they feel the same thing beforehand. I'm sure they did, but they didn't voice it to the press first. He's also stating everyone is to blame, and no one is off the hook for not trying. Very admirable for a sophomore. Probably couldn't say it better or at a better time than he did. Kudos.

"He was right," co-captain Daniel Briere [right] said, referring to Miller. "We didn't play very well in front of him those two games."

Both Captains decided to say something, and I think that's excellent. I've never been prouder than now. The team is recognizing the problem and the three most important people on the roster are trying to fix that. I wouldn't be surprised if the playoffs do start tomorrow night and they play like they did in last year's playoffs.

Ruff said he wasn't aware of Miller's outburst. But he didn't disagree with his goalie. "It's OK to be angry," Ruff said. "As long as the player takes care of his area before speaking out, I'm OK with that. ... Everybody should be upset with what went on in those two games. And he should be one of them."

Nothing like a team banding together and the Coach right there behind him.

The last time we saw that was February 22nd. The Ottawa Brawl. And if we play that way all the time, we'd be unbeatable. I want to win 23 games in the remaining schedule.

We, the seventh man, have the power to make that happen. Stick with your team. Will them to work hard. The city of Buffalo is known for being hard working, blue collared good citizens. (Really, it is). Nothing would make us more happy for our team if they used the same elbow grease on the ice that we use at our desks, in our houses, outside in the lawn, what have you.

So here's to 23 more wins...and 16 of them starting April 11th.

Let's go, Sabres. Play with the same amount of heart that we watch you with.

Ryan Miller Calls Out Defense; Injured Limp Back On Ice

"If we wanna be the big, bad team we THINK we are, we're gonna have to show a little more effort, that's for sure. Earlier in the games, at least. We KNOW we have the capability to score, but we gotta start playing complete hockey. You know, we better start learning some lessons, because we can't come back every night. It's not the way we wanna play hockey. It's nice to have that capability, but you can't get outshot two nights in a row, and look at it like we're happy with our game....We just have to be hungrier. There's no excuse.

(Asked about how Toronto has been playing with such desperation....) We should use it, too, you know, that was a team we couldn't match up against. You've gotta play your best hockey every night, and not give the other team any kind of confidence..... You know...... we're gonna find soon that WE'RE gonna be the desperate team if we don't start playing good hockey."

- Ryan Miller after the loss at Toronto, Saturday, March 24th

While grit, determination, and flat-out hard work may be the three most cliche elements of victory in sports, they are only outperformed by the two most cliche elements of sports- heart and hustle.

Unfortunately, very few members of the Sabres have been playing with any of the five aforementioned characteristics. And those are the things that win championships.

I've been argued with countless times that when our injured heal we need a checking line. I don't think rolling four scoring lines will help our plight. We need guys on the ice that can scare the other team. Force them to think twice about hitting our star players hard or cheap.

Buffalo's lackluster play has largely been at fault for the funk we've been in. 6-4-2 in the last 12. With our high-octane, five man up five man down attack, there is no room for slow, lazy play, or we give up odd man rushes and gift wrap scoring chances like it's Christmas.

And we have been. Ryan Miller was the first person to stand up and say it, and hopefully that will light a fire under the Sabres' butts. Maybe they will remember digging out those first ten victories of the season and how accomplished they felt, especially after winning a couple in a shootout, after sixty-five minutes of pure dogfight.

Or maybe Ottawa and New Jersey sneaking up on us is something that is frightening them. I would be scared- Ottawa has been playing some excellent hockey as of late, led by Dany Heatley.

Either way, Buffalo needs to turn it on now- and hopefully get 23 more wins. As long as 16 of them come after April 8th, I'll be happy. But if they don't, SABRES NATION, don't be surprised if you don't get to see Chris Drury and Daniel Briere pick the Stanley Cup over their heads in their alternate jerseys.

Injury Update

Ales Kotalik will be back Wednesday against the New Jersey Devils.
Toni Lydman and Daniel Paille expect to return to action this weekend.
Don't be surprised if Paille goes back down to Rochester to get back into the swing of things. It wouldn't be a bad idea because Ryan, MacArthur and Stafford are used to the speed and still carry the conditioning.
Maxim Afinogenov has had no change, still the last game or two is possible.
And finally, Tim Connolly is on pace to be back for the last couple games of the season. If he gets his wind back quickly, he could be back as early as this weekend as well.


Season Scenarios- Seven games left

The Magic Numbers are now reflective of the games on 3/27.

-For Buffalo to win the Northeast division, any combination of Buffalo points and opponents squandered points that equals
a) Ottawa Senators- 8

-For Buffalo to win the Eastern Conference, any combination of Buffalo points and opponents squandered points that equals
a) New Jersey Devils- 8
b) Pittsburgh Penguins- 6
c) Ottawa Senators- 8

-For Buffalo to win the President's Trophy, any combination of Buffalo points and opponents squandered points that equals
a) Nashville Predators- 13
b) Detroit Red Wings- 13
c) Anaheim Ducks- 12
d) New Jersey Devils- 8
e) Vancouver Canucks- 10
f) Dallas Stars- 8
g) Pittsburgh Penguins- 6
h) Ottawa Senators- 8
i) San Jose Sharks- 8
j) Minnesota Wild- 7

Drury's Troubles Stems From Him Being Too Good; We Need A Fourth Line

In response to an e-mail stating Drew Stafford is the same player as Chris Drury, only finishes better-

We haven't seen Chris Drury with a good finishing line...most of the things he does he ends up doing on his own (except the end of games and some powerplay goals, because of the 'hero' lines). Drew Stafford's good, of course, and I want him to be a Sabre, but I really think that Drury's a better finisher. Especially around the net. Stafford, as I have said, has been the beneficiary of a few brilliant passes, making his job MUCH EASIER. Drury is usually outsized in front of the net, and he finds some way to put it in. Or he runs a sweet wrister/slapper from the slot. I can't believe that Stafford's a better finisher until I see Drury on a line where he has the opportunities to finish like that.

Last year, Drury had Mike Grier (now with the San Jose Sharks) and Jochen Hecht as his linemates. Both very good players, but both grinders. To put up Drury's numbers with one TRUE grinder (Grier) and one sniper/grinder mix (Hecht) is quite an accomplishment. There's a reason Drury's probably the best team player in the league- he can play with ANYONE. Look at this year! If anyone has the right to complain about the injuries, it's Drury. First his lines have changed seemingly every week since mid-November, and then he got his face knocked off on a cheap shot.

Stafford IS good, but he also has Derek Roy, who is very good at setting things up, most of the time, and Thomas Vanek, who really pulls some of the opposition's defense towards him. The league knows he's good, and his linemates benefit. Roy also instigates the piss out of people because he's so little and they can't ever seem to light him up.

The only person in the league I could really see playing so well while playing musical chairs with their lines is Joe Thornton, right, of the San Jose Sharks.

In response to a message about Adam Mair not hitting everything that moved, and the possibility of having an Adam Mair/Ales Kotalik/ Pat Kaleta or Andrew Peters line.

Adam Mair turns it on in the playoffs. Granted it was only a few games last year, but he played extraordinarily well. He plays well in big games. Plus, it's really hard to get an idea of how effective he is when he only plays five minutes a game. Two hits in five minutes isn't bad. Think about it- Chris Neil plays about 12 minutes with Ottawa, and he averages about 2-3 hits a game...and he leads the league in hits. If Mair gets two hits in five minutes, that's pretty sweet. Mair-Kotalik-Kaleta, I think, are talented enough to get ten minutes a game. If you think about Kaleta's 4 hits per game average, and Mair's 2, that's six hits per game, which is actually quite a chuck of hits, especially because the three of them are forwards. And if Kotalik decides to throw around his mammoth body, we're talking a possibility of ten hits a game! That's not only impressive- that's elite.

Kotalik has a very heavy shot, and might play hard with the 'demotion' to the third line. With his heavy shot creating rebound chances for the big guys, this could really work to all of their advantages. I know Kotalik's a winger, but before he was injured, he was trying his hand at center, and played well as a pivot.

Mair isn't the kind of player Kaleta is- Kaleta will take himself out of a play to take someone else out of the play. And that's awesome, don't get me wrong, I love the way he plays. I want him wearing blue and yellow all next season. Mair actually has more hockey plays than Kaleta. He is good at getting in front of the net (and he does, frequently) just having Peters as a linemate takes away from his production. Obviously, Mair is no 20 goal scorer...but I could see him having ALMOST as many points as a healthy Paul Gaustad. Mair will dig in corners and clean out someone who's being disruptive to his teammates.

Peters IS a pylon. He doesn't skate well and the entire NHL knows it. He is a good fighter, he wins a bunch more than he loses. Fighting in playoff hockey won't happen that much (unless we play the Senators) I think. So he's good to be dressed just in case. But I'd much rather see a BIG HITTER (Kaleta) a grinder/teammate player (Mair) and a guy with a rocket (Kotalik). I could see Mair having five or more goals in the playoffs on this line, disrupting everyone, second chance goals or tip ins off of a Kotalik slapper.


Any other questions? Drop a comment. I'd be happy to respond.

The Home and Home With The Rivals Begins

Tonight, the league leading Buffalo Sabres (47-19-7 = 101) take on the playoff hungry Toronto Maple Leafs ( 35-28-10 = 80) at HSBC arena.

Toronto is looking for their return to the playoffs. Last year was the first year the Leafs hadn't been involved in post season play in almost ten years. When the Leafs were in a similar position last year, tough guy Andrew Peters, right, got into a scuffle with the most hated Leaf, Darcy Tucker. Peters was separated from Tucker before anything else could happen with fighter Wade Belak.

Lo and behold, Peters wasn't done yet. He used his stick as a golf club and taunted Belak, because instead of going to the playoffs, he was going to be hitting the links. View it here.

Tonight marks the very emotional return of Tomas Kaberle. He is returning from his concussion suffered in early March due to a very dirty hit by Cam Janssen of the New Jersey Devils.

He will give Toronto's defense a big lift tonight, though they're pretty slow. If Buffalo's speed is on, Toronto doesn't stand a chance.

Buffalo is ahead 4-2 in the season after two dominating wins in the end of February and the beginning of March.

I say Buffalo, 4-1.

Separate Roy/Afinogenov/Vanek When Max is Healthy? HECK YES!

Okay, SABRES NATION, I'm going to try something a little different tonight. Give me feedback on your thoughts. Let me know whether you like this or not.

Tonight, I was on the Sabres message boards, and I happened to get involved in a very heated discussion with a member who loves the Derek Roy/Maxim Afinogenov/ Thomas Vanek line. It's a great line, but since Drew Stafford has filled in for Max, making the Roy/Stafford/Vanek line, it has created many debates about where to put Max, and in turn, where to put Stafford.

Stafford is a rookie, and Max is a proven Veteran, meaning Max will probably produce wherever he goes, though it's possible he won't have as many points. Stafford may not produce as well with other linemates.

What I will do differently is basically cut and copy the discussion I had. I won't do this often, only when I feel it's pertinent and relatively interesting.

Arguer- The opposition
Aguees- Me (with an asterisk) and knucklesandwich

Original post by arguer: Stafford has 12 points in his last 12 games. Max when he was with Roy was getting more than a point per game. You fans are so funny. Max will go back on the RAV line. See Max plays very well with Roy and Connolly. Stafford can play well with Drury. Do you see my point? Zubrus can go lay an egg. put him on the 4th line. There is also no way to know how Max and Zubrus will play together. I don't want Max with a guy whos a big minus all the time. Zubrus was even a minus vs washington. Vanek, Roy and Max will be a plus line and have good chemistry together. Don't get all excited over a players 12 game stats. Max put up good numbers all season and last year. Why break up the RAV line.

arguees- The RAV Line broke up the minute Max got hurt, and since then, Stafford's been playing GREAT with them. You don't break up a Line THAT productive, EVER.

arguer-Max was getting 1.5 points per game with Vanek and Roy. Why didn't we trade Max if hes going to play 5 minutes on the 4th line. So if Kurri was hurt for 20 games you would not put him back with Gretzky when he was better? You better go back and watch the highlights of the RAV line. Stafford is a rookie and is still learning. You guys all ready have him in the hall of fame. 5 good game don't make a career. max is a better player at this point in his career. Better also than Zubrus.

arguees- Stafford has been phenomenal with Roy and Vanek, and Max has been clamoring about how he wants to play with Zubrus, and Zubrus has been extremely effective since he got acclamated to our system, and is improving daily.

The Arguer then put up facts that Max has put up a better point to game ration than Stafford. Which is true, but the line together hasn't. I produced the following statistical evidence:

arguees*-Afinogenov - 1.07 PPG
Roy before Afinogenov injury - .72 PPG
After - 1.06 PPG
Vanek before Afinogenov injury - .96 PPG
After - 1 PPG
Stafford before Afinogenov injury - .26 PPG
After - 1 PPG
Therefore, statistical evidence shows that RAV scores 2.75 PPG while SRV line scores 3.06 PPG. Who's got more chemistry? The line isn't about Max, it's about all three players.

arguer- Max has 13 points in his last 8 games. Stafford has had 12 in the last 12 games.

With this, I compiled the statistics of the players in the eight games prior to Max's injury, Feb 15th against Edmonton.

arguee*- Okay, 13 points in 8 games for Max - 1.625 points per game
in those same eight games
Vanek - .875 PPG
Roy - .5 PPG
RAV before Max's injury - 3 PPG
SVR - 3.06 PPG
Sorry, man, but the new line is STILL more productive even with hot streak of Max included.

Okay, guys, that's pretty much the most important parts of the thread. This is a huge debate within SABRES NATION right now, and since I'd been talking about it all night, I thought it would be beneficial for everyone to know where I stand on the issue.

Season Scenarios

The Magic Numbers are now reflective of the games on 3/22.

-For Buffalo to win the Northeast division, any combination of Buffalo points and opponents squandered points that equals
a) Ottawa Senators- 10

-For Buffalo to win the Eastern Conference, any combination of Buffalo points and opponents squandered points that equals
a) New Jersey Devils- 10
b) Pittsburgh Penguins- 8
c) Ottawa Senators- 10

-For Buffalo to win the President's Trophy, any combination of Buffalo points and opponents squandered points that equals
a) Nashville Predators- 16
b) Detroit Red Wings- 16
c) Anaheim Ducks- 14
d) New Jersey Devils- 10
e) Vancouver Canucks- 12
f) Dallas Stars- 11
g) Pittsburgh Penguins- 8
h) Ottawa Senators- 10
i) San Jose Sharks- 10
j) Minnesota Wild- 9

Sabres Rock Capitals and Revitalize Power Play

The Buffalo Sabres took the beginning steps to making up for their terrible three game home stand two weeks ago.

Drew Stafford, right, scored two goals and had one disallowed as the Sabres trainwrecked Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals 5-2. The HSBC crowd was in the game early, making sure Ovechkin was booed every time he entered the offensive zone with the puck.

The first goal of the night was scored forty seconds in the second period on a nice backhand on a short angle by playmaker Derek Roy. This was a rebound goal from a rocket shot by Dmitri Kalinin. Olaf Kolzig, the Capitals keeper nicked it with his glove and it went over the net, cracked the glass, and bounced to Derek Roy on the far side who wasted no time converting.

This was Buffalo's first powerplay goal in seven games, dating back to March 2nd against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Eight minutes later, on a takeaway by Danius Zubrus, Clarke MacArthur scored in his big league trip again. Zubrus left a backhanded pass to Adam Mair, who dragged Kolzig to the side of the net. He pushed a pass across the ice to MacArthur who fired a shot quickly, seeing Kolzig out of position. Kolzig caught a piece of it, but it dribbled in.

At the fifteen minute mark, Brian Pothier, right, let a slapshot go from the point that found it's mark top shelf over Ryan Miller.

It didn't take Buffalo long to answer back- on the powerplay. Chris Drury fed the puck behind the boards to Danius Zubrus, who took one of his former teammates out of the play while sticking the puck to Daniel Briere.

Briere worked around to the front of the net and wristed a nifty shot past Kolzig.

Drew Stafford scored both of his goals in the third period. One of which he turned the Washington defense inside out and put a beautiful shot over the top of Kolzig.

Donald Brashear rounded out the scoring for the night with a rebound conversion over Miller, with ninety-five seconds left in the game.

Season Scenarios

The win lowered all of Buffalo's magic numbers.

-For Buffalo to win the Northeast division, any combination of Buffalo points and opponents squandered points that equals
a) Ottawa Senators- 10

-For Buffalo to win the Eastern Conference, any combination of Buffalo points and opponents squandered points that equals
a) New Jersey Devils- 12
b) Pittsburgh Penguins- 10
c) Ottawa Senators- 10

-For Buffalo to win the President's Trophy, any combination of Buffalo points and opponents squandered points that equals
a) Nashville Predators- 18
b) Detroit Red Wings- 17
c) Anaheim Ducks- 16
d) New Jersey Devils- 12
e) Vancouver Canucks- 12
f) Dallas Stars- 11
g) Pittsburgh Penguins- 10
h) Ottawa Senators- 10
i) San Jose Sharks- 10
j) Minnesota Wild- 8

(Thanks to knucklesandwich on the Buffalo Sabres official forums for some of this)

Another Suspension; Sabres Ready For Ovechkin and Co.

On March 17th, the Dallas Stars met up with the Nashville Predators in a playoff type game. Mike Modano, fresh off setting the record for most goals by a U.S. born player, was checked very hard by Jordan Tootoo, right, into the boards.

When Stephane Robidas came to defend the Stars' star Modano, Tootoo threw a straight arm punch under Robidas' visor. The blow knocked Robidas unconscious and he had to be removed by stretcher.

View it here.

As you can clearly see, Robidas was not ready to fight...yet. He was about to start one, definitely, but with gloves on and stick in hand it looked like Tootoo was going to get the 'prefight check'. Instead of taking on Robidas in a fair fashion, Tootoo threw a punch -hard, with gloves on- into the unprotected part of Robidas' face.

To too many Sabres fans, this was familiar to the Buffalo game when Nashville forward Scott Nichol sucker punched Jaroslav Spacek in December. Here.

Tootoo was given only a five game suspension, one which I think is too short. At least the league did do something about it, I have a sick feeling that if Robidas wasn't removed via stretcher, the league would have done nothing.

Wednesday's Gamenight

Wednesday, the top seeded Buffalo Sabres (46-19-7 = 99) take on the 14th seed Washington Capitals (26-34-13 = 65). This is Buffalo's first game at home since the three game slide vs New Jersery, the Wild, and the Avalanche. Buffalo is 2-0-2 in the last four games, and after having nearly three days off, look for them to come out screaming.

This game is also a game of vengeance. Jiri Novotny faces his former team in the Sabres and Danius Zubrus faces his former mates on the Capitals for the first time since the trade deadline. Novotny left with a bad taste in his mouth; he didn't want to go. Neither player have been big deals to their new teams yet, each scoring 3 points or less.

However, one player that has been playing great since the deadline is Alexander Semin, right. The 'other' Alexander, as he is known, has eight points in his last four games (4+4), including two three point performances and a hat trick. This young guy has feasted with the top line taking on the dynamo Ovechkin, scoring 37 goals and 30 assists in 69 games.

Ovechkin will also be closely watched. After the infamous Daniel Briere and Ovechkin check and spear, the Buffalo crowd has booed him every time he has stepped on the ice. Expect no different. What you should expect different is that there shouldn't be any fights or scuffles or cheap shots this game. It's most likely gone after the confrontation on the ice the last time these two teams met.

I may be being an optimistic homer, but I have to believe that Buffalo is goig to break out of their home funk and win this game, if only for the fans. This year both teams have put up huge numbers in their meetings, so I say Buffalo, 3-1. Teams don't always score big numbers against each other. Buffalo's defense seems to be settling in as well and it looks like Toni Lydman will be back, thus my pick for a low scoring game.

Six of Eight Points on Spring Break Road Trip

SABRES NATION readers, I apologize for my lack of updates this past four days. My Spring Break started, so I've been pretty busy. Nevertheless, this blog should cover most of the important going-ons this past half week and the results of all Sabres games, starting with:

Buffalo at Florida

With Buffalo (then 44-19-6) at Florida Thursday night with three games in 3 and a half days, Lindy Ruff gave newcomer Ty Conklin the start against the 13th seed Panthers. 'Conkers' proceeded to go bonkers in net, making 42 out of 45 saves. Though Florida just tends to throw anything at the net, 'Conks' still made at least twenty or twenty five quality saves, and let no ugly shots go in, which is an excellent change of pace.

"My mind-set going into it was that I want to make a good impression, you want the guys to feel confident with you in the net," Conklin, left, said. "While it's only one game, it's a bit of a start."

Buffalo surrendered an early 1-0 lead, but fought back with three goals in the second period. Florida scored again as well, leaving the second period with a 3-2 lead. Florida tied the game quickly, and around the eleven minute mark, Buffalo scored again. Captain Clutch Chris Drury scored what proved to be the game winner. Shortly after, Ed Belfour was baffled by Drew Stafford at the five minute mark, and Buffalo just killed the last five minute on the clock. This was a big win for a troublesome Florida team who was previously on a 7-1-2 streak and an 8-1-2 streak at home.

The big UGH of this game was that top Buffalo defender Toni Lydman left the game with a still undisclosed head injury. He's still Day-to-Day.

Buffalo at Tampa Bay

The next night, Buffalo (45-19-6) was in Tampa Bay to take on the Lightning. Fun fact: Tampa has $21 million tied up in three players (Brad Richard, Vincent Lecavalier, and Martin St. Louis) out of the $44 million cap, leaving $23 million to sign 17 players. That's trouble if one of them gets injured, though.

Tampa jumped out to an early lead as Vincent Lecavalier, the league's leading goal scorer, beat Ryan Miller high.

Five minutes later, the population of Pominville increased to thirty on the season as Jason deflected a Nathan Paetsch shot. Shortly thereafter, (thirty-six seconds shortly) Derek Roy buried his shot from Thomas Vanek and Drew Stafford. It seems these linemates are back to their former selves, playing as well as they did in that five game scoring tear.

Then came one of the most incredible calls I've ever heard from Rick Jeanneret. On consecutive shifts, Jason Pominville, right, scored, giving him two in the game, and thirty-one on the season. To go along with his famous play on Pommers' last name, he exclaimed that "Pominville is going to need to open a Planned Parenthood center!" You can hear it here, at about the 1:17 mark.

Buffalo lasted for a 3-2 victory enclosing an undefeated tour of Florida- though being outshot 37-20.

Buffalo at Atlanta

Buffalo looked poised to beat Atlanta coming off a solid 2-0-1 stretch, and a fresh goalie. For the fourth game in a row, Buffalo uncharacteristically gave up the first goal to the opposing team. Ilya Kovalchuck ripped a shot from the slot after recieving a pass from longtime Sabre Alexei Zhitnik. This was a five on three powerplay, as Adam Mair was in the box for interference and Chris Drury, the Sabres' best penalty killer, was in for delay of game after shooting the puck into the crowd.
Zhitnik, right, was traded with Miroslav Satan to the Islanders for the injured Tim Connolly and the now departed Taylor Pyatt.

Less than three minutes later, Drew Stafford tied it at one. This was a three on two break that was perfect from start to finish, and Buffalo exercised it's odd man rush muscle. Jeanneret's partner, Jim Lorentz stated that he felt Buffalo's odd-man rush offense was the best in the league.

Buffalo ended the period down 2-1 on a nice wrist shot by Eric Belanger beating Miller stick side.

The second period contained Buffalo's only good powerplay of the day. Teppo Numminen had the biggest part in it, and Thomas Vanek also played very well on it. Unfortunately, Buffalo couldn't get a goal out of it, but scored shortly after the game went even strength. Vanek deflected a Teppo shot and it went right under Thrasher tender Kari Lehtonen.

This was basically it to a very boring second period.

The third period was very stressful for Sabres fans to watch. Our powerplay was piss poor and wasn't looking any better. At about the eight minute mark, Adam Mair was given a very controversial penalty that ended up being a knife in the Sabres' hearts.

Alexei Zhitnik scored on a slap shot from the blue line less than ten seconds into the penalty. Buffalo battled back, though. On a rush five minutes later, Henrik Tallinder ripped a rocket slapshot from the blue line that caught Lehtonen in a awkward place on the helmet. Lehtonen was stunned just long enough for Derek Roy to collect the rebound and shove it in the net on a wraparound.

The game caromed into overtime. However at the end of regulation, Keith Tkachuk took a slashing penalty, so Buffalo started overtime with a 4 on 3. Buffalo just couldn't get anything going, even though they did take four shots.

Jaroslav Spacek took a penalty near the end of the Buffalo powerplay, sending the Thrashers on the powerplay, where they had been deadly. This powerplay proved no different, as Tkachuck ripped a wrist shot past Miller with 38 seconds left.

All in all, it was a good road trip. To play away and in that different of environments against teams fighting for playoff spots or positions and come away with six our of eight points is something to be proud of.

They do have some work to do before I'm entirely convinced their losing stint is over. But this isn't unlike Buffalo's 1-7-1 streak late last year.

Dmitri Kalinin and Pittsburgh's Future

Dmitri Kalinin, right, the Sabres high flying, quick skating defenseman, has been slammed throughout the year. The young player does have a few seasons under his belt, but his best season was in 2003-04, before the lockout and the rule changes.

He is better suited for this NHL, though he is an unlucky guy. He routinely does have pucks deflect off him and past our goaltenders. People, especially Sabres fans, are way too quick to push all the blame on Kalinin.

Yes, they can point out his flaws. So can I. He tends to have a few giveaways in our zone, and once in a while his outlet pass isn't very good. He tends to watch the skater when covering a man in front of the net instead of the play as well.

But he also does a pretty good job poke checking and a fair job keeping his man under control. He joins the rush extremely well, and plays his best games when allowed to skate freely. Kalinin is no top 2 defenseman on many teams, but he definitely is top four on our team.

Ease off Kalinin. He's a solid player, and fairly dependable. Yes, it's easy to blame someone when the puck goes off them into the net upwards of five times a year, but it's not his fault.

As Yoda would say: Bad breaks does not a bad defenseman make.

Pittsburgh, Lemieux Ink New Deal

After months of pressure from Mario Lemieux (owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins) and the NHL's agenda to keep the large market Penguins in Pittsburgh, the deal has finally been done.

After months of painstaking negotiations, the Penguins were given a thirty year lease on what will be a brand- spanking new $290 million arena.

The arguments began long ago after Lemieux, right, stated that for this new, young team, we need a new arena. The Mellon Arena where the Penguins currently play is the oldest arena in the league. Buffalo's old Auditorium and the Montreal Forum were constructed near the time the Mellon was constructed.

Buffalo has been in HSBC for nearly ten years and Montreal has been out of the Forum for almost as long.

This solidifies one of the youngest lineups in the league and puts them dead center at the heart of their team. Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Fleury, Armstrong, Malone, and Whitney are the young centerpieces of this team and Pitt will try to keep them for many few years.

People have compared the Penguins this year to the Edmonton Oilers before they started their tear of Stanley Cups in the eighties. Crosby is being compared to Greztky, for sure.

Captain Connection In Waning Seconds Forces OT

The Sabres escaped with a point in the standings today - and I say escaped with good reason.

The Pittsburgh Crosbys, ahem, I mean the Penguins and Sidney Crosby, right, outplayed Buffalo for most of the game tonight. The Sabres, in their soft, lazy effort only managed nineteen shots- and only two in the second period.

Buffalo looked poised to extend their losing streak to four games. Thank Heaven for the Captain Connection on our hero line for helping us force overtime. With Ryan Miller pulled, the Penguins had multiple chances of putting in the clincher, but Buffalo played with some grit and kept the puck out of the net.

Racing to the end with twenty seconds left, Buffalo dumped the puck in and organized a rush. Jochen Hecht pinched the puck in and Danny Briere picked it up behind the net. Briere waited for fellow Captain Chris Drury to sneak in front and fed him a perfect pass that Drury one-timed past Penguin keeper Marc-Andre Fleury.

Who says Drury isn't as clutch as he ever was?

The two Captains, right, showed why they alternate the 'C' and the 'A' tonight. They brought their game and hopefully this small step is part of a big step- a winning streak.

Buffalo is on a four game road trip, and in the middle of a three day three game stretch.

Tomorrow, Buffalo takes on a surging Florida Panther team. Florida, though seeded near the bottom of the Conference, is only five points out of the playoff race- and they're playing like it. Since Gary Roberts was traded to Pittsburgh, Florida has been playing excellent hockey, illustrated by their 16 points(7-1-2) in their last ten games.

Buffalo has typically had a tough time against Florida this year, and hopefully they can turn that along with their winless streak around. Buffalo has not fared well as of late to teams fighting for a playoff spot but I wouldn't be surprised if Lindy Ruff finally lit a fire under Thomas Vanek's lazy butt and they all come to play.

Largest Suspension Since Bertuzzi Incident In New York Rivalry

On March 8th, 2004, we saw one of the most dirty hits in hockey when Todd Bertuzzi broke Steve Moore's neck. Moore, then playing for the Avalanche, hit Markus Naslund, Bertuzzi's (right) linemate in a vicious, but very clean hit.

Bertuzzi and the Canucks vowed to get Moore back in the next game. Bertuzzi followed Moore around, tugging his jersey, slashing him a bit with the stick in order to get Moore (who was much smaller) to drop gloves.

Moore did not. In response, Bertuzzi sucker punched Moore in the side of the head, and Moore instantly lost consciousness. Bertuzzi's weight followed him to the ground and his head smashed into the ice, breaking his neck. The whole incident is here.

Bertuzzi played on a team with Donald Brashear in 2000. Marty McSorely, a tough guy most well known from his day with Edmonton and LA Kings as Wayne Gretzky's personal tough guy, was trying to get a fight with Brashear. He wanted none of McSorely. So, McSorely slashed Brashear in the head with his stick, breaking his neck. View it here.

Bertuzzi was suspended for 20 games and lost more than $800,000 in endorsements and pay.

I can't find Bertuzzi's reaction to Brashear, which is too bad. In it he states things like that has no place in hockey, and how the League needs to look at it. It is included in this video, showing the irony of his statements.

Well, when all is said and done, most people had figured that was the last of the very serious incidents for a while.

After the hockey debauchery seen in the last few weeks by Chris Neil and Cam Janssen, I had figured the head shots would go on the decline for a while as well.

I was wrong.

In a NY Islanders vs NY Rangers game, three years to the day after the Bertuzzi incident, Islander tough guy Chris Simon was checked into the boards by Ranger tough guy Ryan Hollweg in another clean hit. It was hard, but nothing over the top or even near controversial. Simon bounced off the board and as Hollweg came near him again to play the puck, Simon slashed Hollweg across the chin with his stick. Hollweg was knocked unconscious for a while. View it here.

Simon was suspended today for twenty-five games (two games longer than McSorley). He will forfeit only about 80,000 dollars.

This is getting to be a ridiculous trend. These guys are athletes, yes, and there is a danger of everything as soon as they step on the ice. With grown men flying up and down the ice on razors to hit people and an eight ounce puck, it will be a rough game. Accidents happen. If anyone remembers Clint Malarchuck in the late 80's with the Sabres (need a reminder? Click here), or even this year, with Mike Knuble and Brendan Shanahan colliding (here).

But these incidents aren't accidents. Janssen, Neil, McSorley, Bertuzzi, and Simon went out to intentionally INJURE other players. Going out to bruise someone? Fine. Make them be a little scared to take that next shot or dig in the corner, that's okay. But to try to INJURE someone, as in take them out of the game, the season, or the league, is absolutely atrocious.

It's getting way out of hand. Hopefully, the message is strong enough this time to ward off any other attacks in the next three months...nay, eternity.

Think of the NHL as a fraternity, for a lack of a better term. These guys are all out there for a minimum of 82 games a year, basically to knock the stuffing out of each other. But like war, there are rules and methods to the madness. Don't hit a player if he isn't in a situation where he can hurt your team. Don't take cheap shots.

Unfortunately, the five people above seem to have no inclinations to following the 'rules' of hitting. It needs to be stopped.

Wild claw Buffalo; New Jersey Deviled the Sabres

See that, people?

It was what kicked Buffalo's butts in three consecutive games. At home. HSBC saw three games in four nights and Buffalo came out with zero out of six points.

In what was arguably Buffalo's toughest three game stretch of the year, they were dominated twice and gave up shorthanded goals in all three games. All three teams ran variations of Jacques Lemaire's Neutral Zone Trap.

Lemaire, right, made it famous in 1995 when he won the Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils. He has since moved to coach the Minnesota Wild, and carried the system (mostly) over. The Devils have employed the system since and have been fairly successful with it. The Avalanche have only used it a few times this year, and I believe they were using it mainly as an experiment on Buffalo, to see if they could shut down the Sabres offense.

Buffalo scored 251 goals through 65 games this year, an average of 3.86 goals per game. In the three games this week, Buffalo had only scored five goals. The trap has stymied the most potent offense in the NHL, and coach Lindy Ruff gave the players both Thursday and Saturday mornings off, citing they didn't need to skate.

Well they sure as hell needed to watch some game film. Drew Stafford has left his man unguarded twice and both times goals were scored. Thomas Vanek seems to have forgotten what backchecking is- along with the rest of the forwards.

In the Sabres' offensive system, the defense is normally supposed to cheat up and help forecheck, but in that case, the front lines should be helping backcheck... and they haven't been.

I don't know whether the Sabres need a break from their fast paced style, whether they didn't play hard so they don't kill themselves before the playoffs, or the injured players coming back one at a time is screwing up chemistry; but I do know if they don't get their act together, they won't be seeing home ice for game seven in the Conference Finals... and if you don't think that's important, think back to June 1st, 2006 when Buffalo lost game 7 to the Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC center.

There is no doubt in any other's mind that if the game was in Buffalo, the Cup would be on display at HSBC arena.

The Trap is something Lindy and his mates need to study and counter, fast. The Trap isn't a really difficult system to use, and if the rest of the league sees our fall to it- it could really wreck any chance of us winning in the playoffs.

Trap defense is also used in playoffs on a regular basis.

In the last week, Buffalo had it's first glimpse at playoff hockey.

Let's hope the losses were a hiccup and not a trend. Buffalo can win big games, and I'd like to see them win 16 after the season is complete.

Sabres Look to Claw Back to Winning Ways vs. Wild

The Minnesota Wild (37-24-7 = 81) are in the final spot of the Western conference playoff seedings. Tonight, they come across the great lakes to HSBC arena to try to extend Buffalo's losing streak to two games.

Other than Minnesota's firepower first line of Pavol Demitra, Brian Rolston, and Marian Gaborik, right, they play a game very comparable to the Avalanche. Gaborik missed about thirty games earlier in the season due to injury, but in the 34 games he has played, he averages better than a point a game (23 + 14 =37) and was on pace for 52 goals, had he remained injury free.

Rolston is the Alternate Captain for the Wild for a good reason - he has excellent leadership skills. He played in this year's all star game, and was a plus five with two goals and 2 assists. He can play, baby.

Buffalo is 6-2-1 in interconference play to date, with both losses being disappointing. One was in Columbus in December and of course, Wednesday's meltdown against the Avalanche. Buffalo will most likely adjust to the Neutral Zone Trap tonight, so look for Buffalo's offense to be potent.

New Sabre Ty Conklin, right, will most likely get the nod in net tonight. With three games in four nights and a huge showdown tomorrow night in HSBC, Buffalo will want Ryan Miller at his best to tighten their grasp on the Eastern Conference lead.

Conklin has played the Wild and started for the Edmonton Oilers in their Cinderella season last year, before the Wild traded Dwayne Roloson to Edmonton at the deadline. 'Conks' ended up in Columbus this year, and we know what happened from there.

Minnesota will most likely play a conservative game and try to capitalize on Buffalo's mistakes. I doubt very much this will work for them, especially after the last two skate sessions where I'm sure Lindy Ruff has worked on the tactic of the Trap.

I say Buffalo, 5-2.

Sabres Avalanched At Home By Statsny and Budaj

Unfortunately, the Avalanche walked all over Buffalo last night, handing Buffalo only their second regulation loss in the last twelve games.

Paul Statsny and Milan Hejduk played exceptionally well, partly due to Buffalo's defense playing shady. Buffalo may have been slack because of the four days off, or the shuffling of the lines finally interfered with some chemistry.

More likely than all of that, however, is the desperate play of the Avalanche and the incredible goaltending of Peter Budaj, right. Budaj made nineteen saves, and at least seven or eight were saves that most goaltenders would never save. Buffalo did put a small number of shots on goal, but had a fair few go off the posts as well.

The bounces just didn't go the right way. Ryan Miller made a good chunk of saves (26) but letting in one soft goal and a bad bounce off of defenseman Dmitri Kalinin does not normally make for a victory.

The Avalanche are now eight points out of the eighth and final spot in the Western conference, and are playing like a team that deserves to be there. It will be a great stretch run as long as the Avs, led by Sakic and Statsny, continue playing as they have been.

The rest of the Sabres really didn't play well. The defensemen were lagging and getting caught in the offensive zone a lot more than they usually do. The offense did create some very quality chances, but unfortunately they did not connect on any. However, I can't say that they created as many as they usually do.

Chris Drury, in his first game back since "The Hit" as it has since been immortalized, played an excellent game. Unfortunately, this game wasn't spectacular on the regular scorecard.

If you look at his extra stats for the game, he played almost nineteen minutes on the ice, frustrated opponents by closing their passing lanes, and won 13 out of 16 faceoffs. The faceoff statistic alone is very showing. Whether he distracted the opponents with his eye (that didn't look 100% healed) or he was just on his game, we'll never know. He set up a few good shots, and he also took a few good shots. Overall, I'd give Dru a B+ for his game.

The biggest reason Buffalo couldn't really get any offense moving is because they couldn't organize the rush in through the neutral zone. Buffalo has thrived on it the entire year, and it's how they create so many odd-man rushes.

Colorado employed the Neutral Zone Trap defense to contain Buffalo...a defense they haven't really used this year. Buffalo has played teams that have tried to use it, but the Avs executed it extremely well last night.

The Trap defense was made famous by the 1995 New Jersey Devils, who have employed it since. The Trap is played by using mobile forecheckers (just one!) to get in passing lanes of the opposition in their own zone. The other four players play the neutral zone and try to create giveaways and turnovers when the opposition plays the puck off the wall.

This keeps speed away from the game, normally, and if executed well, it should keep the team's goalie from facing many shots. Last night, it couldn't have been more perfect for the Avs.

Buffalo could help the Avs for the second time this week, if they beat the incoming Minnesota Wild, led by aging star Brian Rolston, right, and young superstar Marian Gaborik.

Minnesota tends to play a very similar game to Buffalo, except they really only have one dangerous line. They are also on their third-string goalie, so hopefully Buffalo can convert their chances (they should receive many odd man rushes) and get their offense back on task.

Defensive Situation With Returning Starters and Proven Youngsters

Many people have been fighting over what the defense should look like when Jaroslav Spacek, right, returns.

Spacek was injured about a month ago in his first game back from a knee injury. He broke his wrist, and recently got on the ice for the first time since and is now taking shots. He's been wearing the black no-contact jersey in practice for two days, so once the coaching staff feels Spacek's wrist is ready, he'll be on the ice. They're figuring on next week. I think that he may be back Tuesday against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But once he's back, what do you do with the six guys who have been manning the blue line so well (for the most part)? This is where the speculation is, and this is my answer.

I hope that Spacek plays very well in the waning months of the season, especially the playoffs, where he played so well last year. You might be thinking, "Well, duh!". Understandable. But I not only want him to play well so we can bring home the Stanley Cup, but so we can trade Spacek.

Spacek is a pretty good defensemen, yes, but he is a bit slow and can drift out of position sometimes. At 3.2 million next year, with Paetsch waiting in the wings, I don't think we need him. Probably would even be better off without him.

The rest of the season's pairings that I would like to see, and why.

1) Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder, right. Why? Because they quite possibly may be the best pair of defensemen on the ice. They are the rare combination of 1+1 =4. Somehow, they compliment each other so well that they can double each other's abilities. Splitting these two up is like when the Allman brother died. The other was still okay, but not great. These two are great.

2)Paetsch and Kalinin. Kalinin gets ragged on a lot, unfortunately. He's one of those players that is streaky, yes, but when he's good, he's great, and when he's bad, he's okay. He also tends to have pucks bounce off of him into bad places, which is mostly due to unfortunate events rather than poor positioning. Kalinin's actual mistakes normally come from playing the puck behind the net. I have Paetsch here because Paetsch is very fast and his strength is playing the puck. If Kalinin does have a miscue, Paestch's speed helps recover the puck. He's also normally in very good position.

3) Campbell and Spacek. I've already discussed Spacek, above. Campbell is incredibly fast and is the epitome of what Lindy Ruff wants his defensemen to do. He joins rushes well and plays a fast game with good puck control. He gets better with more minutes on ice, and we saw that when he thrived in the playoffs last year when four of his linemates were out on injury. Campbell's major flaw is that he may get trapped in the offensive zone because he may get greedy with the puck.

What about Teppo Numminen? you may be asking. That's the kicker. Teppo's an old man, and he's not so nimble or reliable for long stretches. But, his positioning is incredible, play in and play out. The pairings I have listed above are not set (except for Lydman and Tallinder) because I would like to see a rotation schedule going with Spacek, Campbell, Paetsch, and Kalinin.

With Teppo not being a spring chicken, Spacek being mostly fragile this year, Paetsch being young, Kalinin being so streaky, and Campbell playing his best hockey after a day off, I think this set would work best. This keeps our defensemen really fresh for our five up five down attack that we have become so well known around the league for.

Plus, since Paetsch has been the pointman on the powerplay, we have just gotten better and better with the man advantage.

Buffalo Wraps Up Winning Weekend And Canada Series

Buffalo completed a five game stint where they played Canadian teams in their division, including two in Toronto and one in Ottawa. Buffalo left with nine out of ten points, going 4-0-1 in the stretch.

Forwards Jochen Hecht, right, and Derek Roy are huge reasons why Buffalo has been so dominating even with their injuries. Hecht is the type of player that takes advantage of the chances he gets, and with so many injuries, he finally gets a chance to show how productive he can be, scoring in nine out of ten games, including three multi-point contests.

Roy has logged big time on ice, almost 25:00 per game in the last five contests. For a young small guy to log that kind of time and still be a plus six and have eight (3+5) points, it's rare and a treat for the depleted Buffalo bench.

On Saturday, Buffalo went to Toronto looking to beat the Leafs for the third time at the Air Canada Centre. The game was scoreless and mostly boring in the first period, due to both teams playing a physically draining game the night before.

In the second period, Toni Lydman started things off by scoring his first goal of the year. He was assisted on a nice quick heads up pass from Henrik Tallinder, and Lydman ripped a shot on net that hit a Toronto defender's leg and bounced in the net. Mark Mancari got the other assist, scoring his first NHL point.

Thirteen minutes later, Drew Stafford gave us another reason why he should be on our roster for years to come. Brian Campbell received a pass from Jochen Hecht at the blue line and wound up for a shot. Campbell pulled a trademark move and instead gave a hard saucer pass to Drew Stafford, who deflected the puck behind J.S. Aubin.

The third period was mainly a game of keep away for the Sabres, but with five minutes left in the game, Nathan Paetsch received a pass from Danny Briere and took a sidestep and threw the puck on net, scoring his first NHL goal.

With Ryan Miller playing excellent and with a three goal lead, it looked like Buffalo would give Miller his second shooutout of the year. Unfortunately, not thirty seconds after Paetsch's score, Maple Leaf Nik Antropov scored on a scramble in front of the net.

The rest of the game was just like the beginning of the third, control, control, control. Buffalo showed it could play a defensive game as well as they can play offensive, making them a double threat to other NHL teams.

Buffalo Sabres (44-16-5 = 93) vs. Colorado Avalanche (32-29-5 = 69)

Chris Drury, for the first time since February 21st skated in practice today without the black no-contact jersey. The swelling and discoloration in Drury's eye had also subsided. He will be available for Wednesday's game at home against the Colorado Avalanche, his former team.

He's had limited success against them, scoring 4 points (2+2) in seven games. Look for a multipoint night though...the practice lines today finally left Drury with some more talented offensive guys, Dainius Zubrus and speedster Mike Ryan, and I'm sure the crafty Captain will have something to prove coming off an injury.

Because Colorado is in the Western conference and the youth of the Sabres' lineup, most of the players have not had enough playing time against Colorado in the past to see if they are effective against them or not.

For Buffalo to win, though, they must shut down Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk. Hejduk has been on a tear lately, in a five game points streak (3+5) and seven multipoint games in the last twelve chances. Sakic, right, has been a player to fear for over a decade and even at the tender age of 37, has shown opponents no reason to let their guard up. The All-Star center has 76 points (27+49) in 66 appearances this year.

Rookies Paul Statsny and Wojtec Wolski and Paul Statsny have been the other forces for Colorado, and have been nothing short of impressive. Statsny has 62 points (22+40) and Wolski has 42 (19+23). Second year tender Peter Budaj has been pretty steady in the net, but hasn't seen the five man up five man back attack of the Buffalo Sabres. Personally, I don't think he'll be prepared for it and will give up a fair few goals to the high powered Sabres.

I've compiled the most likely lines to see tomorrow:

Jochen Hecht - Daniel Briere - Jason Pominville
Mike Ryan - Chris Drury - Dainius Zubrus
Thomas Vanek - Derek Roy - Drew Stafford
Pat Kaleta - Clarke MacArthur - Adam Mair

Sabres outshoot Montreal; Janssen suspeneded

Buffalo outlasted Montreal last night, 8-5. The high scoring affair was definitely a fans' game - there were four instances where goals were scored thirty nine seconds apart or less.

Buffalo was flawless in the first and third, and performed as I thought they would. However, the second heralded crazy bounces and lucky breaks on both sides the led to Buffalo only leading 5-4 at the second intermission.

Buffalo started out on a tear, having five very quality scoring chances in the first five minutes. Habs coach Guy Carbonneau took the team timeout in the first five minutes of the game- the only time I have ever seen that. Buffalo played well behind Mike Ryan, right, and Thomas Vanek. I was pleasantly surprised with Dainius Zubrus' performance...really meshed pretty well for his first game.

Look for him to get his first goal tonight.

Another Dangerous Late Hit

On the last goal scored by Buffalo, Thomas Vanek was on a breakaway. There was an empty net so Vanek was just cruising in with Habs defenseman Sheldon Souray a stride behind. Souray hacked Vanek violently with his stick and wasn't penalized. Souray definitely hit hard enough to break an ankle, thankfully, he didn't. The NHL should take a look at this play specifically- there is nothing but intent to injure here. The video, here, is from a cellphone in HSBC and isn't really reliable, but you can see when Vanek was hacked.

That was bad sportsmanship, bad hockey showmanship, and should be disciplined. Unfortunately, that wasn't the worst of the night.

In a game where the Toronto Maple Leafs looked to improve their chances at making the playoffs, and at the same time the New Jersey Devils looked to solidify their chance to win home-ice through the playoffs.

The game was two to nothing New Jersey, and it looked like Martin Brodeur would get his 40th win, best in the NHL, until a late and very damaging hit turned the game around. No, it wasn't a hit that got the team fired up, it was a hit that gave an excellent defenseman a concussion of unknown strength. The player didn't have his head down, the player wasn't near the puck...so what happened?

This happened. Unspeakable.

I love hitting. I think taking it away is damaging the game (apparentlyly, so does the NHL, but they're going about it horribly). But, taking liberties like that on someone is just ridiculous. It seems like the last few weeks a team per week has had to scrape up their players with a spatula off the ice to get them in the locker room. That's crossing the line.

Chris Neil, (shown right hitting Tampa Bay's Cory Sarich) is KNOWN to be dirty and is QUOTED as saying "I hit to cause injuries", should have been suspended after the hit on Chris Drury. OK, he wasn't, life goes on. The next game against Buffalo, Patrick Kaleta (our hitter) puts a CLEAN hit on Chris Kelly (one that didn't even knock him over!) and Neil comes cross ice and cross checks the much smaller Kaleta to the chin (if you don't believe me, watch it here).

Again, Neil wasn't penalized for anything but the fight that ensued. Outrageous.

And then, my most hated player strikes once again. As a Carolina defenseman was touching up for icing, Neil blatently ran through him. Can't find the video on YouTube, dammit if it ruins my credibility. Anyways, on a sensless play, Neil broke the Carolina defender's arm. Guess what? No penalty.

Chris Neil suffered through his mother's death ealry in the 2005-06 season. He said "I'm fortunate that she was here to see me play the weekend before she died. She was so proud of the fact that she could get to see me play in the NHL.". Do you think your mother is proud that to go out to try to injure and maim other players, Chris Neil? Do you think your mother would be proud if you viciously ended a players' career and maybe they got long term brain damage for your hits? How can you explain that to their family and kids? To your own kids if you have them?

And that brings me to Cam Janssen(shown at right, hitting then-Panther Gary Roberts). He's not historically dirty, his penalties normally aren't dirty. Fighting majors, hooking, penalties like that aren't dirty. While his past has nothing to do with what happened last night, he certainly changed my opinion of him. The hit was excruciatingly late, timed at 2.1 seconds.

Not only was Kaberle watching the play, across the ice and thirty feet up towards the blueline, but his body wasn't even in position to take a hit. Janssen took a run at a player who was crouched over, skating backwards toward the bench, and felt that it was okay. In short, Janssen's hip crushed Kaberle's head, which sent him careening into the boards, only to smash the other side of his head with the same, if not more, force Janssen released into Kaberle.

Thank God his neck wasn't broken, it very easily could have been so. Something needs to be done about this. Buttman and Campbell won't do what's necessary. Take hitting away? NO. Some example needs to be set, and I hope NHL officials take the recent weeks as a catalyst for their stance on the issue, especially last night.

NEWS BREAK: Janssen was just suspended about an hour ago for three games. I don't think this is nearly enough of a punishment. I feel five game would have been the minimum. Hopefully, the Leafs will update us on Kaberle's condition shortly.

Buffalo at Toronto

Buffalo looks to continue to prove their Eastern conference dominance. After being thrashed by Buffalo's backups Tuesday by a score of 6-1, Toronto is looking for revenge.

Darcy Tucker, right, after being on the injury reserve for quite a while, makes his return tonight. In the past, Tucker has been problematic for Buffalo, both offensively producing and getting under our player's skin. Tucker leads the Maple Leaf's power play scoring, and could be a threat if Buffalo takes penalties like they did last night.

Ty Conklin may see his first Sabres action, after Ryan Miller's poor performance last night. But he does have until Wednesday to rest, so they may play him anyways. It's a game time decision. Buffalo should have no problem scoring goals on the pylon defense Toronto has, especially short their best defender Kaberle.

I say Buffalo beat Aubin often again and wins 5-2.

Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres

The Montreal Canadiens (33-27-6 = 72) head south to HSBC arena to battle the red-hot Buffalo Sabres (42-16-5 = 89). When these two teams get together, the games are always exciting. I guess that's what you get when you get the two hardest working teams in hockey together in a game.

With the pressure off of Ryan Miller, left, to perform flawlessly, he should be even better than he was. Martin Biron wasn't just a safety net to Miller, he was a potential threat. With him gone, and Miller able to relax, he should perform as well during the first 65:00 as he does in the shootouts. That, SABRES NATION, is scary. Miller also loooooooves to play the Canadiens. In his career, he is 7-1-2 against them with a 2.23 goals against average and a .925 save percent.

The season series in Buffalo's favor at 3-2 this year. Each team has a victory in the opponents' building by three goals, two games have gone into a shootout (Buffalo taking both, behind Ryan Miller's spectacular keeping), and one being decided by Alexei Kovalev's goal with less than ten seconds left in overtime.

These two teams are not considered a rival, but for some reason, Buffalo always plays well and hard against the Canadian big-market teams. I personally think it's because until recently, Buffalo has had little or no respect from the league. I also think a small part of it is that the distance to Canada from Buffalo is less than thirty miles, forcing a bit of extra tension, because a lot of fans from each team will show up at the games.

Montreal and Captain Saku Koivu look to stay in the playoff hunt. Currently the last (number eight) seed in the playoff chase with the Carolina Hurricanes, NY Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs all nipping at their heels, Montreal will come out playing like the desperate team they are. Coupled with their usual good games against Buffalo, this will probably be a very good battle to watch.

If Buffalo wants to win this game, they must make sure Sheldon Souray does not get the opportunity to shoot from the point. Souray leads the Habs in goals this season with 23 and is first amoung NHL defensemen in that category and third with 53 points.

Habs wing Michael Ryder is the player that has caused the most damage to Buffalo this season with six points (3+3) and a game winning goal. He's not very strong and easy to push off the puck. Lydman and Tallinder (who hasn't been healthy against the Canadiens yet) should have no problem with him tonight.

Dainius Zubrus will see his first game on a winning team in the last three years with Mike Ryan on his left and Adam Mair on the right. Look for him to have a good game...he'll want to at least make his presence widley acknowleged in his first game at HSBC arena as a Sabre. A few big checks, strong penalty kill performance, and an assist at least. Zubrus has been told, I'm sure, how important it is to Buffalo players.

Drew Stafford will look to add even more points to his resume and effort to start next season. Patrick Kaleta just loves to hit...and Saku Koivu will be skating with his head down tonight. The Habs Captain is only 5'10" 180, but tends to play much bigger and not worry about being hit. Hopefully their lines cross.

Look for Montreal to leave four men back tonight and capitalize on any mistake Buffalo mistakes. Montreal usually plays a defensive game against Buffalo, but tonight should be their biggest defensive effort, especially with a shaky rookie goaltender in. Star keeper Cristobal Huet tore his ACL about a month ago and since, the Habs have been struggling.

Tonight, I say their struggles continue. Buffalo wins in a shutout behind spectacular goaltending by Ryan Miller, 4-0.

Drury Out All Weekend; Return Against Former Team Colorado

Chris Drury has been ruled out of tonight's game against the Canadiens and tomorrow's rematch against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Drury looked more like the Terminator from the 1992 blockbuster than his normal self in his press conference yesterday.

Drury doesn't plan to change his game after recovering from the vicious shot by Ottawa's Chris Neil. He also says what happened is over, and there's nothing left to do but move on. He should be ready Wednesday against his former team, the Colorado Avalanche, where he first became known as Captain Clutch.

In other injury news, Jaroslav Spacek and Daniel Paille may be back within the next two weeks. Spacek and Paille have been skating in the last couple weeks and should need no extra time one their respective injuries are healed to get back in shape.

Zubrus' Impact And City Unity

Dainius Zubrus, a quality player with great size, practiced yesterday for the first time with the team. The 28 year old 6'4", 225 pound Lithuanian force figures to fit in very well in Buffalo's high octane five person attack and defense.

Buffalo often uses their fast defensemen in on the rush, and when the defense does join the attack, Buffalo has it's best offensive outputs. In the recent four game offensive tear, the defense has tallied nine (3+6) points. That's very good, especially because most of the time Buffalo's defense is keeping possesion of the puck down behind the net, and often the forwards are left playing point.

Zubrus isn't the player that will aggravate the opposition, but he will play a decent, consistent game. He doesn't fight often, and isn't known for being a huge open ice hitter. However, he does finish a lot of checks on the wall. He tends to have sloppy hands; about five or so of his goals have been Alexander Ovechkin bouncing the puck off of him in front of the net. He has also missed a fair share of goals with an open side of the net, shooting the puck wide off the pass.

Afinigenov has played with Zubrus on the Russian World Cup team and other times earlier in their career. They are excited to be on the same team, and even after Afinigenov playing with Thomas Vanek all year, I'd like to see Zubrus and Afinigenov on the same line especially with the amazing play of the recent Vanek/Roy/Stafford line.

When and if Tim Connolly comes back, I would like to see these lines and defensive pairings:

Pominville/Briere/Paetsch
Hecht/Drury/Kotalik
Afinigenov/Connolly/Zubrus
Vanek/Roy/Stafford

Lydman/Tallinder
Kalinin/Numminen
Spacek/Campbell

I'd like to see Kaleta, Mair, MacArthur, and Peters on our bench. Paetsch can play defense if someone gets hurt, as can Pominville. Also, none of these lines are a number one line except for Lydman and Tallinder, who may the best defensive pairing in the NHL. Buffalo is known for it's three number two lines...but with the players coming back from injury and the young guys who have been so potent, look for two number ones, two number twos, and a big guy line ready to go if we need them in a game.

Lindy Ruff put Dainius Zubrus on the spot in his first practice as a Sabre. Ruff skated to center and placed a puck in the face off circle and challenged Zubrus. "Take a slapshot. If it goes in, you guys are done. You miss, you make the team do sprints." Zubrus put it right down the pipe. Ruff's strategy to make sure the Sabres know they are all one team, one family, is excellent. He did the same thing when the rookies came up, forcing the rest of the team to take them in.

Zubrus in his career with Washington wore number nine. No one knew what number he'd be in Buffalo, since center Derek Roy wore nine. Roy offered the number to a stunned Zubrus. He politely declined.

"[Roy] said, 'If you want to take it, take it," Zubrus said Wednesday, a day after Buffalo acquired him in a deal with Washington. "I said, 'Are you kidding me? ... No way.'"

"They were laughing about it, but then [Roy] said, "Take it. Take it,' " Zubrus said. "I'm like, "Are you kidding me? You've been here. There's no way I would take it.' He did offer. He's a nice guy."

Zubrus will wear number 15.

Welcome to Bills Country/SABRES NATION

Most times, a city wouldn't look twice at a news article on their home coach being fined. Here, in Western New York, a la SABRES NATION, it isn't that way. Starting from our management and production that have been here since their playing days - Rob Ray and Mike Robataille- to our announcing icon Rick Jeanneret, the Buffalo area is unlike any other.

In Bills Country, the motto is Community. Marv Levy built it during the '90s, and it held the Country together through four Super Bowl losses. It's why Ralph Wilson brought Marv back for a second go-round with the team. Celebrities such as famed play-by-play man Van Miller create community - they're adored by every citizen of Buffalo.

In response to the NHL's decision to fine coach Lindy Ruff (Sabre in his playing days as well) for sending out his fourth line, SABRES NATION responded. A local pizza shop decided to take 10% of each sale and put it toward Lindy Ruff's fine, video here. Ruff's response was nothing short of happy, second video here, and I'm sure that him and the players both realized the amount that Buffalo cares for them. I also think B. Thomas Golisano is finally realizing what he did in saving this team not two years ago.

Here in SABRES NATION and Bills Country, we're a different breed. We've been brought together through different sports and different failures. Whether it's the No Goal, Wide Right, Music City Miracle, Side Goal, or a freak show of injuries sidelining our respective Championships - we still stand strong. The dedication to our home teams is and hopefully will always be fantastic. We're not just Western New York...We're the Western New York FAMILY!