Post one.

Welcome to the humble and not so subtle opinions of me. I think I do an excellent job analyzing and critiquing hockey, and I plan on continuing to express my views but hope to expand my audience from a few close friends and random people I meet at bars to what happens to be the general public. I love hockey in general, but being that I am a Buffalo Sabres addict (pre 05-0 6, you bandwagoning sonsofbitches) a fair chunk of the information I discuss will probably relate to their needs and current play. Alas, I'm a math major at SUNY Oswego, and will most likely be unable to update more than once a week. I will *try* to at least get a paragraph in before every game, expressing what I feel are the key points. For the Sabres anyways. I will quickly go over most of the other games the next day (time allowing) and write a quick pre-game on the game of the night(usually seen on CBC or the VS network).

Buffalo(37-15-4 = 78, Eastern), after a VERY disappointing mid-season slump (a streak that left them 2-5-1, giving them only five out of 16 points) has regained a bit of ground in the league race to lead in points. The Nashville Predators currently lead (38-15-4 = 79, Western), behind goaltending duo Thomas Vokoun and Chris Mason(a surprise backup turned semi-starter), and following after Buffalo is Detroit (76, Western), New Jersey(74, Eastern) with the brilliance of the never disappointing Martin Brodeur, and the slumping and hurting Ducks of Anaheim(74, Western), led by perennial All-Stars like Chris Pronger, Teemu Selanne, and Scott Niedermeyer. But with each team having nearly 30 games left, the race is wide open, and teams such as Atlanta (30-18-9 = 69, Western), San Jose (35-19-1 = 71, Western), Sid the Kid's Pittsburgh Penguins (28-17-9 = 65, Eastern), and the red-hot Calgary Flames (29-18-7 = 65, Western) all look to make a strong last third of the season.

Saturday, the Buffalo Sabres(37-15-4 = 78) take on Calgary Flames(29-18-7 = 65). Calgary's most recent acquisition of 2006 Olympian Craig Conroy (second tour of Calgary) thus far has proved to be an excellent trade. His stint is only five games but he does have four (2+2 = 4) points. He takes a ton of pressure off of Flames star Jarome Iginla. The last time Conroy and Iginla worked together, they had career years combining for 171 points (Conroy 27+48 = 75, Iginla 52+44 = 96). Where Buffalo may be worried about Iginla, they may need to pay special attention to Krisitan Huselius and whatever he decides to do with the puck.

This wing is on a points tear that started December 19, where he has scored in 20 of 23 games and accumulated 31 points (14+17 = 31)in that span with a rough average of 17:30 ice time. Calgary needs to keep an eye on the squirmy Daniel Briere and his best-performance-in-clutch partner Chris Drury. Both of these players are extremely dangerous and for Calgary to have any hope, Dion Phaneuf, Rhett Warrener, and company must take both the centers out of the game.

Thomas Vanek, another (less-noted) sensational sophomore, had a good last few games and should continue it working on the second line. Buffalo's defenders need to be in the offensive zone, to regain the name of a defensive scoring team. Buffalo's best games are always the games where the defensemen are involved heavily in the offense, chasing the puck in.

Veteran Teppo Numminen and young All-Star Brian Campbell need to get their defense to play aggressive. Both powerplay units are mediocre in the league, hovering at about 17%, and both penalty kills are also near a stagnant 80%. Buffalo needs to open it's powerplay flood gates by just throwing the puck at the net more, looking for deflection and rebound goals.

Not pretty, but a point's a point. Calgary has a winning percent well over 90 when leading after the first and second periods, but reigning Vezina winner Miikka Kiprusoff has had an extraordinary amount of trouble winning both overtime games and especially shootouts. Ryan Miller is actually the opposite.

Buffalo, in order to win, needs to neutralize Calgary's first line, score on the power play, get the defense involved, and not give up a lead. Calgary, in order to win, needs great special teams play, goals early and often, and to make sure they don't go to overtime.

Sabres win by 2.