Sabres Look To End Emery's Dominance

Tonight, the NHL's point leading Buffalo Sabres (40-15-5 = 85) look to win their eighth home game out of nine against the fifth place Ottawa Senators (35-22-3 = 73). The Sens hold a 4-2 season series lead against the Sabres, and in their wins have been dominating, holding Buffalo to only seven goals in those games. Both Buffalo's wins have been unconvincing and both by one goal. In the last meeting, Buffalo dominated the first period in a very startling fashion, taking nineteen shots and controlling the puck for almost fifteen minutes.

Unfortunately, Ottawa got a couple lucky breaks and gained the lead. Buffalo, although outplaying the Senators, had to play catch up and eventually won the game on some third period dramatics.

Ottawa backstop Ray Emery has been nothing short of stellar against the Sabres in his two years (in the regular season). He was 4-1 last year, and is 4-1 again this year.

Emery is undefeated this year when he faces forty or more shots, and look for Buffalo to approach that number. With as many youngsters as Buffalo has, they will probably be looking for any shot and deflection chance that may score a goal.

Ottawa may be wary of Emery's play, however, because tonight is his first night back after a short suspension after slashing Maxim Lapierre of the Montreal Canadiens. Lapierre is known to get under the skin of many NHL opponents, including the surprise Sidney Crosby, but Emery responded to being knocked down on an innocent play by slashing his stick to Lapierre's facemask. If Lapierre wasn't wearing a visor, he very likely could have had a very bad concussion, an eye poked out, and most certainly would have required surgery to fix his nose. The incident can be viewed in this link.

Emery was also destroyed by Buffalo in the 2006 Eastern Conference Semifinals in six games, giving up fifteen goals in five games (three overtime) and gave up Jason Pominville's series clinching goal (a shorthanded effort) on a fairly simple move. Emery's lateral movement is a weakness Buffalo should look to expose again. He also has a hard time seeing the puck in traffic when he gets frustrated.

Buffalo's defense needs to stop Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley, and Jason Spezza, who tend to have their best games against the cross border rivals. Spezza and Heatley boast better than a point per game ratio, and Alfredsson is just under one, with 47 points in 55 career games. Ruff will most likely match their line with Tony Lydman, right, and Henrik Tallinder, who shut them down in the playoffs last season.

Ottawa's consistently big defense has held Chris Drury and Daniel Briere in check thoughout their careers, meaning it will be difficult for them to score. Drury loves to hang out in front of the net, though- if Ottawa doesn't stop him early Emery may throw another hissyfit or start allowing goals. Also look for Thomas Vanek to be doing more checking, he is one of Buffalo's biggest forwards that isn't injured.

Hopefully Adam Mair and Andrew Peters will have the same type of game they had Tuesday. They don't need to score, but their time on ice will be around the same, and they will be asked to check Ottawa at every clear opportunity. Buffalo can't afford to take penalties tonight, though, so don't expect any fights unless it is Peters taking Heatly, Spezza, or Chris Neil out of the game for a little while. Buffalo's Bash Brothers need to be conservative and ready to play their most fundamentally sound game of the year so far.

Buffalo native Patrick Kaleta was called up yesterday from the Rochester Americans to replace Daniel Paille. Kaleta is a big forward who plays like Paul Gaustad. Unfortunately, he is undersized for his style of play at only 5'11" and 195 pounds. Look for him to get about five to ten minutes of ice time today.

Unfortunately, I think I'll have to pick Ottawa to win in overtime. They have almost no injuries, and their track record vs. Buffalo during the regular season is impeccable in the recent years. But, Sabres fans, don't doubt me yet. Buffalo won seven of the last eight vs. Ottawa in the playoffs, even being a much lower seed. That's where it matters. This also doesn't mean I won't be rooting for Buffalo the entire game. I'd much rather be wrong.

Look for a post shortly about what Darcy Regier should do with the upcoming trade deadline and the salary cap roof, which is only about three inches over his head.

BREAKING NEWS- 7:05 PM, gametime decision: Martin Biron, right, who is 2-1 against Ottawa this year, will be given the start. Biron is 12-8 against Ottawa in his career, and has a better than .900 save percentage.