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.