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.
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