Here's something I didn't expect to say at this point in the season: Derek Roy is making $3 million this season, and he's underpaid. Roy has proved to be worth his salary and more, which makes him a rarity on this team. There, I said it. Everybody happy now?
Last spring, when I was playing GM for a day, Roy was among the players who took a hit in my effort to keep Daniel Briere and Chris Drury. What can I say? I wasn't prepared to shell out an average of $4 million per year for a small third-line center. The key to the whole thing was keeping Drury and Briere, not keeping Roy satisfied. And had they succeeded, the Sabres would be in better shape now.
We ran a chart suggesting Roy make $800,000 for this season. What wasn't on the chart was a plan for escalating salaries that would have had Roy making $800,000 the first year, $1 million the second year and $1.4 million the third year. Where did I come up with those numbers? Basically, I gave him a slightly heftier contract than the one that Jason Pominville signed the previous summer.
It doesn't sound all that ludicrous if they still had Drury and Briere now, does it? Three years for $3.2 million was about the going rate for third-line centers last year.
Instead, Roy's leverage skyrocketed when it became clear he would be the Sabres' No. 1 center. He's lived up to the contract and deserves all the credit. He's been their most consistent player this season. He's been their best player over the past nine games, when he piled up 16 points. Lindy Ruff was saying today how Roy exceeded his expectations, too.
It was in the same column that I suggested Thomas Vanek be offered a four-year deal worth $15 million. I did some checking around and found that's where he fit in the market at the time. The bluebook on Vanek was a little less than $4 million per season or in the neighborhood of what the Hurricanes were paying Eric Staal and the Blue Jackets were paying Rick Nash.
Everything was based on getting Drury and Briere signed, which would have set the market for Vanek. For the umpteenth time, Drury was prepared to sign a four-year contract worth $21.5 million. Briere was looking for five years and $25 million.
If the Sabres get those two locked up, they could have made an aggressive attempt to sign Vanek by using Drury's and Briere's contracts as the standard. Instead, the Sabres fiddled around with Drury, ignored Briere, did nothing with Vanek and wound up losing two players and paying through the nose for the third. By the way, it also would have increased their chances of signing Brian Campbell.
At the very least, the Sabres would have had options with Vanek if they signed Drury and Briere. The best move would have been signing him before the season ended. But even if they failed, and Vanek received the whopping seven-year offer for $50 million, the Sabres could have let him go and taken the first-round picks knowing the roster was still relatively intact.
It was also suggested that the Sabres shop Maxim Afinogenov while they could get something for him because he had a history of disappearing in the playoffs. Take away Drury and Briere, and he's back to disappearing in the regular season, too. That's why it was so important to keep them. Maybe the Sabres wouldn't be fumbling around in 10th, either.
Unlike "Louie Armstrong" below, I have nothing poetic to say about Sunday's 2-1 overtime win over the Bruins. The bottom line is that it extends the season to Tuesday night's game at Toronto (wouldn't the Laffs and the folks in Laffland love to put Buffalo out of its misery?)
Kind of odd to look at the Sabres' record against the teams they're chasing because they're 9-3-3 against the trio immediately above them. Buffalo went 3-1 against Washington, 3-0-1 against Philadelphia and is 3-2-2 against Boston with one game left.
Of course, blown two-goal leads, nine shootout losses, a combined 0-6-2 against Pittsburgh and the Rangers and losing in regulation to all four bottom teams in the Western Conference pretty much cancels out all the good things I just cited.
OK, I've run out of big intros. No out of town scores necessary. Only need four wins -- and a ton of help. It's Ryan Miller vs. Tim Thomas in goal.
Onward.
---Mike Harrington
OT
4:21 left: The Sabres live another day. Vanek finds Andrej Sekera in the slot for a slapper that gives Buffalo a 2-1 win.
Third Period
13:42 left: The Bruins seem more than content to play it tight and protect their one point. Boston has the only two shots on goal so far and is going on a power play as Adam Mair is off for interference.
11:00 left: It took the Sabres nearly nine minutes to get a shot in this period before Nathan Paetsch got the first one. It came a few seconds after Daniel Paille rifled a shot on a good chance from the slot.
5:38 left: Bruins still holding on to their point. Shots are 6-6 in the period. The Monkees' "I'm a Believer" is blaring. Grrrrrr.
1:19 left: Auld robs Gaustad from point-blank range a few seconds after nearly fumbling Lydman's knuckleball into the net. The Sabres are showing some of the desperation to win this in regulation we should have seen for the last 18 minutes.
End of the 3rd: The Bruins survive to get a huge point. Sabres ended the third with a 10-6 edge in shots (29-18 overall). So it comes down to this: The Sabres are still alive -- barely -- with a win. If Boston wins it, Buffalo is done. If it went to a shootout and the Sabres lost, that would be an appropriate climax to this season, wouldn't it?
Second Period
13:30 left: The Sabres have a 6-0 edge in shots in this period, making it 12-5 overall. Yep, the Bruins have just five shots in 26 1/2 minutes. Pretty uninspired performance by them. Too bad Afinogenov handed them a goal or they'd have nothing going here.
12:10 left: Patrick Kaleta goes for elbowing on Milan Lucic. Ridiculous. Lindy Ruff is going nuts behind the bench with good reason.
10:49 left: The Bruins even that one out with a too many men on the ice call.
3:38 left: Andrej Sekera goes off for holding. Shots are 13-3 for Buffalo in this period (19-8 overall) and the game is still tied. Hey, things could be worse: The Sabres could have a 3-1 lead.
End of the 2nd: It's still 1-1 as the Sabres finished the period with a brutal power play. The best scoring chance was a 3-on-2 by the Bruins that was stopped by Miller. Terrible. Shots were 13-7 in the period (19-12 overall). The Sabres' misery could be over in the next 20 minutes.
First Period
17:27 left: Just 19 seconds after Milan Lucic goes off for a four-minute high-sticking penalty, Maxim Afinogenov makes what should be his last play as Sabre. His brutal pass in the offensive zone is intercepted and the Bruins break out on a 2-on-1. David Krejci goes down and his shot leaks through Miller for a short-handed goal to make it 1-0. Nice first effort by Max to try to tell Bucky Gleason his column this morning was wrong.
Lindy Ruff should just put Andrew Peters or Mike Ryan in Max's place Tuesday in Toronto. But oops, I forgot how this organization works. Max is making $3.5 million -- and has another year on his deal. Guess he has to play. Wonderful.
13:27 left: Two shots on the power play and now Ales Kotalik goes off for hooking. A woman on the HD board holds up a sign that says "Go Sabers." Beautiful. The place is just falling apart.
9:45 left: Toni Lydman hasn't stopped too many goals lately but he just scored one on a power play, tipping in Paul Gaustad's feed from the edge of the crease. Lydman actually made the play a few seconds earlier by keeping in a hard Boston clearing attempt at the left point. Lydman's fourth of the year.
3:55 left: The fans speak. Afinogenov gets the Zdeno Chara boo treatment when he touches the puck in the Boston zone -- and, of course, turns it over with another brutal pass. WHAT IS HE DOING ON THE ICE?
End of the 1st: We're tied at 1-1. Shots are 6-5 for the Sabres. Pretty bland period.
The Sabres are 5-5-3 in March, including 1-2-1 in their last four games. It's simply not good enough if you want to make the playoffs -- especially since every team Buffalo is chasing has been far better of late.
The Bruins come to town tonight with three straight wins after a 1-3-3 slide. The Caps have won four straight and are 8-1 in their last nine. The Flyers are 5-0-1 in their last six. The Rangers are 3-0-2 in their last five. It's probably the Senators the Sabres could have caught. Ottawa is just 1-3-1 in its last five and what kind of panic would be unleashed in the Canadian capital right now if the Sabres had just held that lead Tuesday night?
For the last week or so, the Sabres have done little to help themselves -- and got no help in any other games.
"Once you're at that point where you're looking to what the other teams are going to do, you know you're in a hole that you're trying to get yourself out of," captain Jason Pominville said after this morning's optional skate. "I'm looking online on my phone no matter where I am or on my computer. It is tough. You want to see what goes on. We definitely didn't get help as of late."
"I don't think you can look to the outside," added coach Lindy Ruff. "You want help but other teams are looking at it that they can do their own damage themselves. For us, I still look back at important points we didn't get that are frustrating are the shootout points (3-9 in 12 shootouts). Those are big points right now even if you get three or four of them."
So, what else did you expect? A little help? Forget it. The Sabres haven't been able to help themselves for weeks and no one else has helped their cause either.
It continued Saturday night as Washington won at Florida, 3-0, and the Flyers wiped out a 2-0 deficit to rally past the Islanders in a shootout, 4-3. Mike Richards got the tying goal with 4:22 left in regulation and Daniel Briere got the only goal in the shootout.
So it all comes down to this: A Buffalo loss Sunday against the Bruins -- in regulation or overtime -- and it's all over. And realistically, it's over anyway. The Sabres have to win their last four games to finish with 92 points and still need tons of help even if they do that because they'll have to finish ahead of two teams in the group of Philly, Boston, Washington.
Cue "Dandy Don" Meredith: Turn out the lights, the party's over.
There was no help coming today in Boston as the Ottawa Senators laid an egg and were blanked by the Bruins, 4-0.
So Boston temporarily moves into seventh in the East with 90 points. Philly is eighth at 89 pending tonight's game on Long Island. Washington, which plays tonight at Florida, is ninth at 86 and the Sabres have 84.
The Sabres' last chance of catching Boston is a win Sunday. And if Philly wins tonight and the Sabres don't win tomorrow in regulation, the misery will be over and the Sabres will officially be done.
Still feeling sour over last night's meltdown against Montreal? Check out these nuggets. They won't make your mood any better.
---The Bruins have scored twice in the second period and have a 2-0 lead over Ottawa. Twenty minutes left for the Senators to give Buffalo some help.
---Habs center Saku Koivu and defenseman Mark Streit will both miss tonight's game in Toronto with foot injuries suffered when they took shots from Ales Kotalik in the opening minute of the first period Friday. Both recovered to play the entire game -- with Koivu making the key play from behind the net on the Habs' overtime goal and Streit assisting on the final three Montreal tallies -- before their pain grew overnight.
---The Sharks clinched the Pacific Division title with last night's 3-1 win over the Ducks. So for those keeping a Brian Campbell scorecard, San Jose is 14-0-2 since he was acquired from the Sabres at the trade deadline and he has 15 points (2-13) in those games. The Sharks are unbeaten in regulation in their last 18 games (16-0-2). Any Steve Bernier sightings lately?
I refuse to believe I saw that again. Another 3-1 lead gone in the third period. The sixth two-goal cushion that went poof in the night this season in HSBC Arena. A 4-3 overtime loss to the Canadiens that should just about be it for this team's playoff hopes.
Enough about youth. Lindy Ruff has to get these guys to finish better. Veterans have to make plays. Mike Weber and Andrej Sekera have been terrific and theyr'e rookies. Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder have been brutal. And for all the great things he's done this year, Jason Pominville made a horrible play in the final minute by missing an empty net -- and icing the puck to boot.
I suppose we all have to be Senators fans for Saturday's game in Boston, as hard as it may be to stomach doing that. But does it really matter?
Thanks to last night's shootout win in Ottawa, the Sabres are still alive in the playoff race but their reward is a "home" game with the Montreal Canadiens in HSBC Arena. I put home in quotes because I fear this might put visits from the Laffs to shame. There are red and white Montreal jerseys all over the place and a couple hundred of them congregated around the tunnel as the Canadiens came on the ice for warmups.
They've already been singing and chanting "Go Habs Go" and we'll probably hear it all night in the stands. Wonderful. Nice of all you folks to sell off your tickets north of the border. (OK, so I probably would have too. But if you buy in, isn't the assumption that you won't find the Canadian with the thickest wallet when the Habs and Laffs come to town?)
It's franchise-record game No. 73 in net for Ryan Miller. He'll be opposed by 20-year-old Montreal phenom Carey Price. No changes expected in the Buffalo lineup (meaning the scratches are Spacek, Kalinin, Peters and Ryan). Live updates to come.
---Mike Harrington
OT
Regular blog readers know we make the quick break to the locker room in OT. Do I really have to describe what happened? Unbelievable, unimaginable, inconceivable. OK, for formality sake: Christopher Higgins scores at 3:38 of OT to give the Habs a 4-3 win. Jeeeeeeeeeesh.
15:44 left: Predictably, Montreal is playing far better than the first two periods. Miller just robbed Christopher Higgins on a clean breakaway and a rebound after a home run pass from Roman Hamrlik. A few seconds later, Paetsch had a chance in front of the Habs ' net but shot high. Montreal already has seven shots in this period after getting just 13 in the first 40 minutes.
14:57 left: BAD news out of town (of course). Mike Knuble scores with 56 seconds left to give the Flyers a 4-4 tie at New Jersey. So they're heading to OT and Philly has wrapped up at least one point.
14:30 left: But GREAT news here. Roy again drives the net and Paetsch, who is pushing up quite a bit tonight, drills one in from the slot to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead. Just his second of the year -- and first since Oct. 27 at Tampa Bay. And only his second point since the calendar hit 2008!
12:45 left: Pominville pickpockets Mark Streit behind the net and makes a beautiful feed in front to Daniel Paille, whose blast from the circle makes it 3-1. Paille's 19th. They can't blow this lead, can they?
8:05 left: Nothing weird happening. We're coming up on 7:40 to go. The Sabres certainly hope that time has no significance tonight.
4:00 left: All still well. The Devils won their shootout with Philly, 3-2, as Marty Biron didn't make a save. That gives the Flyers 89 points and moves them into seventh place. Boston has 88, Washington has 86 and the Sabres are on the verge of 85.
3:44 left: Not so fast. Ales Kotalik is off for tripping. On the bench, Steve Bernier is hunched over in some discomfort. No idea what happened.
2:31 left: Here we go. Streit's drive from the point gets past Miller's glove to make it 3-2. Credit goes to Tomas Plekanac for the tip in front.
1:09 left: Faceoff in the Buffalo end and Price is on the bench.
14.6 left: You gotta be kidding me. Plekanac puts in the rebound to tie it. Pominville had a chance at the empty net and missed -- causing the first of two straight icings. Lydman didn't tie up Plekanac in front by the way.
On to OT: If they lose, aside from basically ending the season, it would be the sixth time the Sabres have lost a game at home when leading by two goals.
Second Period
18:41 left: I know I said I wasn't going to obsess about the Flyers game but they're trailing the Devils, 3-2, late in the second period so that's a good thing. So is Miller's save a few seconds ago on a streaking Tomas Plekanac, who has been pretty quiet tonight after getting a hat trick the last time the Habs were in town.
17:35 left: Derek Roy drives to the net with a backhand that Price turns away but Drew Stafford bangs home the rebound to make it 1-0. Stafford's 16th of the year.
16:25 left: After a brutal shift by Stafford-Mair-Kaleta, Michael Ryder gives Buffalo a break by getting a goaltender interference penalty. He shot wide, then bowled Miller over. The Habs didn't like the call. Too bad.
12:59 left: The Sabres had a dominant power play but Price kept them off the scoreboard and now the Sabres have ANOTHER power play for too many men on the ice. Shots are 18-6 in this game. The Habs had last night off and have six shots in 27 minutes? Can that last?
12:52 left: And here's the makeup call you knew was coming. Sekera goes for closing his hand on the puck.
11:18 left: Kovalev gets a holding call for grabbing Tallinder's stick and driling him into Miller. So it's 4-on-3.
9:25 left: Another power play produces no goal. Shots are 22-8 so why do you get a bad feeling about this one? You wonder when the Habs will wake up and how the Sabres' legs will be in the third period. Out of town, the Devils still have a 3-2 lead over the Flyers through two.
7:09 left: Vanek goes for a silly interference penalty along the boards. Not too bright with Montreal's terrific power play.
5:00 left: No shots on the Habs' power play and no boos from this crowd. Shots are 25-9 (14-4 in this period) but the Sabres really need another goal.
2:16 left: So close. Gaustad is stopped by Price with a terrific right pad save but the puck was oh-so close to the line.
1:08 left: Miller's best save of the night by far as he robs Christopher Higgins from point-blank range.
36.4 seconds left: Couldn't stop that one as Kovalev ties it by beating an out-of-position Miller as Tallinder fails to tie him up. The end of a 3-on-2 break. Shots are 27-13. No way -- no way -- this game should be tied. Really down on Tallinder right now. He's just got to be better than that in that situation.
First Period
I'm with Lindy Ruff: We should stop looking at the out-of-town scoreboard. Are we ever going to see any good news there? The Flyers already lead the Devils, 1-0, midway through the first. More on the fans: During the anthem we noticed a good 20 people in Habs jerseys in the first five rows by the glass just inside the Buffalo blueline. The HD Board howled: "Believe" and "We're Not Going Away." Looks like lots of fans in the 100 level have.
19:05 left: Ales Kotalik takes out two Canadiens with shots to the foot on the first shift. Saku Koivu limped off and so did Mark Streit. Take that, singing fans!
14:33 left: Are we going to stop the myth that Lydman-Tallinder are this great shutdown pair? They simply keep giving the puck away too much. Alexei Kovalev just missed a great opportunity to open the scoring after a Tallinder mistake.
11:03 left: Sergei Kostitsyn goes off for slashing Thomas Vanek in the foot a few seconds after Vanek did a great job backchecking to stave off a 2-on-1 as Andrej Sekera got caught up ice. The lines are the same as they've been for a few games: Kotalik-Gaustad-Bernier, Paille-Hecht-Pominville, Afinogenov-Roy-Vanek, Stafford-Mair-Kaleta. On defense it's Weber-Sekera, Lydman-Tallinder and Paetsch-Pratt.
8:49 left: One shot on the power play. The HD board showed Sabretooth banging his drum and some clown in a Habs shirt jumped up next to him flapping his chest crest. Sit down, pal. Streit and Koivu are back and Miller just stopped Streit on a shot in the left circle. Now they've trotted out Jim Kelly for the T-shirt toss. He's eschewed the air gun and is chucking them all over the place -- even into the 300 level. And no Hab wear got in the way.
8:09 left: Nightly Patrick Kaleta Retaliatory Penalty -- Andrei Markov goes for roughing.
6:01 left: Three shots on that power play but Price saw all of them and made easy saves. Not much traffic or pressure created. Buffalo has a 9-4 edge in shots.
End of the 1st: Pretty good energy by the Sabres in that period even though it's still scoreless. Let's see if that holds in the second game in two nights and the third game in four. Shots are 10-5 through one.
Given the rubble this season has just about turned into (kudos to Tracy Joy's comment below for that bit of smack), it's kind of funny to hear this bit of news: The Sabres were named today as one of five nominees in the category of “Professional Sports Team of the Year” in the inaugural Sports Business Awards presented by Sports Business Journal and Sports Business Daily.
The other four nominees are the Boston Red Sox (MLB), Phoenix Suns (NBA), Toronto FC (MLS) and Hendrick Motorsports (NASCAR). Pretty elite company.
But hmmm, last I checked I don't think ownership in any of those places sold its fans down the river by not committing to keeping a winning team together.
The awards recognize excellence and achievement in the business of sport for the calendar year 2007. I'm betting the Sabres don't get nominated in 2008.
Tonight's game against the Canadiens in HSBC Arena is going to be a big enough challenge. The out-of-town scoreboard has done the Sabres no favors in their last two times out anyway, so they should just take care of their own business and not worry about what's going on elsewhere.
The only relevant game tonight is the Flyers' game at New Jersey but even that one doesn't seem that big a deal anymore. With Philly five points up on Buffalo and no head-to-head meetings left, the Sabres most likely aren't catching the Briere/Biron crew.
Here's my perfect scenario: The Sabres beat the Habs, the injury-riddled Bruins lose Saturday afternoon's game to Ottawa and come here Sunday night clinging to a three-point lead over the Sabres. And it would be nice, by the way, if the Panthers could beat the Caps at home Saturday night.
Lindy Ruff said after this morning's optional skate that he doesn't tell his players to stop sneaking a peek at the scores.
"If they're gonna look, they're gonna look," Ruff said. "You can't control that part of it. It's like golf. Some guys watch the leaderboard, some guys don't watch it. I think that's a personal preference."
My preference is for everyone to be paying 100 percent attention tonight to the Bleu Blanc et Rouge.
OTTAWA --- Lindy Ruff refused to watch the shootout. After all, watching didn't work, so why not? The Buffalo Sabres' luck finally changed in the extra session, as they improved to 3-9 with a 4-3 victory over Ottawa.
Unfortunately for them, the Sabres have to watch the standings. They didn't move up. Boston and Washington won, so the Sabres are still five points out of eighth and three back of ninth. But for one night, a win was fun.
10:15 p.m.: Roy wins it in a shootout. Sabres keep a faint pulse.
10:01 p.m.: Going to overtime, 3-3.
9:57 p.m.: Paul Gaustad's dynamic shift ties the game at 3-3 with 1:26 to play.
9:45 p.m.: Boston beats Toronto, 4-2. If Sabres lose (still trailing by one with eight minutes left), they go seven points down with five games left.
9:33 p.m.: Fisher, who had two goals in the previous 26 games, scores his second of the night with 16:56 left to give Sens a 3-2 lead.
9:09 p.m.: End of two, tied at 2. Sens will have power play for first 1:37 of third period after Sabres get nailed second time for too many men on ice.
9:05 p.m.: Announcement in arena -- Senators playoff tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday.
9:03 p.m.: Sabres playing well, aside from those odd-man rush lapses. They must still believe, even though Bruins are beating Toronto, 2-1.
8:38 p.m.: Mike Fisher, who hasn't scored since, oh, about Halloween, ties game 4:17 into second. Two cross-ice passes create odd-man rush.
8:14 p.m.: End of first period, Buffalo leads, 2-1. But is nothing sacred? The longtime announcement of "One minute remaining in the period" had a sponsor! Unacceptable!
8:04 p.m.: Neil again goes after Mair, roughing to both, plus cross-check to Christoph Schubert, another power play for Buffalo.
8:02 p.m.: Pominville's stick breaks (what's new?) but Martin Geber can't handle whiff and Jochen Hecht buries rebound for power-play goal with 7:15 left in first. Buffalo, 2-1.
7:53 p.m.: Maxim Afinogenov ties it 55 seconds later. Two turnovers by Ottawa in its own zone.
7:51 p.m.: Jason Spezza scores 7:35 in to make it 1-0 Ottawa. Another two-on-one.
7:47 p.m.: Roughing penalties to Adam Mair and Chris Neil. Neil was reallllyyy quiet in Buffalo the other day, but he's always more noticeable at home.
7:38 p.m.: Game on.
7:06 p.m.: I love this town. The hockey is entertaining, the arena atmosphere is great, the restaurants rock and the nightlife has had more than its share of good moments. It's a shame this is probably the last visit for a while. Coming here during the playoffs the past two seasons was a blast, and we all know how dire the Sabres' playoff prospects are. Well, at least the draft is here at the end of June, but that's not the same.
Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller was at his best this morning, talking philosophically on a number of topics. A few of them will be in the Sabres Notebook on Friday, but here's the ones that didn't make it:
*On the Sabres' future: "Whether we can pull it together this year or not, when you look around, the core of the guys getting experience here are 22, 23 years old. It's pretty amazing when you think about it. We've got a lot of potential here."
*He wouldn't mind getting tips from other goalies on how to handle playing every night, but he thinks the Sabres' talent will prohibit that: "If Marty [Brodeur is] around, it'd be fun to pick his brain. But I don't think he's going to give too many pointers being an Eastern Conference guy. [I'm] a goalie on a team that's got young talent and is going to be giving him hassles for a long time."
*On the analysis of his game, by himself and others: "It's just magnified now because I've been playing the vast majority of the games, and we're in a position now where we really have to make a run. So everything just gets magnified, it gets talked about. Even the other night, two goals go in off deflection, one's two-on-one, and people think I'm out to lunch. I really don't know what I can do different. I'm just trying to put myself in position to make saves.
"To start beating yourself up about those kind of things, the next game turns to crap, and then on down the line. I look at it as, 'Yeah, it was disappointing to lose, but it's a microcosm.' With my season, it's always about reflection, figuring out what parts of my game I can improve on."
OTTAWA -- Interested to see where the majority will lean on this one (if there is a majority): Roberto Luongo has left the Vancouver Canucks to join his wife for the birth of their first child. With the possible exception of Alexander Ovechkin, there probably isn't another player more valuable to his team than Luongo. The Canucks are in eighth place in the West, just two points ahead of Nashville and three ahead of Edmonton.
If Luongo misses games because of his decision (a very real possibility), the Canucks could miss the playoffs. So, our gentle and not-so-gentle readers, good move by Luongo to put family first, or bad move leaving his teammates?
OTTAWA -- Brian Murray says he'd get no special satisfaction in eliminating the Sabres from the playoff race. In fact, the Ottawa coach said this morning, he'd like to see Buffalo get in.
"Obviously, those kids have worked really hard," Murray said in Scotiabank Place. "I think Lindy [Ruff] is a terrific coach. I have no special feelings toward knocking them out. I hope they beat somebody out, for their sake."
The coach was sincere about being impressed with the "kids" -- no way that term comes up during the previous two seasons when the teams met in the playoffs -- but I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting the team that beat him two years ago out of his hair.
I would have liked Ryan Miller to take a little more responsibility after Tuesday's meltdown against Ottawa. But at the same time, his teammates probably deserved to get thrown under at least one wheel of the bus by their goaltender after they crumbled at the first sign of adversity.
Miller then got on a tangent about how the team has to stop trying to entertain and has to "muck and grind" more in crunch time. Told of those comments Wednesday, Lindy Ruff didn't really agree.
"We've been outside where the league has been. We've been a very good offensive team," Ruff said. "We have those types of players. You have to get rid of those players if you want to become a grinding up and down the walls-type of team. You have to go get some of those players. Our strength has been that we have some very creative guys and that's allowed us to win a lot of games in the previous years ... Sometimes you can turn that around and it can be your weakness because typically those guys aren't your best defensive players.''
No kidding. This team needs to get tougher up front and have fewer "creative" softies on forward lines like Maxim Afinogenov (holy cow, I sound like Don Cherry there). Did you know Max has two -- count 'em, two -- goals at home all season? Isn't it time to let Clarke MacArthur get six more games of NHL experience and forget about useless Max?
I know you're all ready to dump on Miller (that's what the comments section below is for!). And like Bucky Gleason wrote Wednesday, Miller is having a wretched March. Part of me says he needs to shut up, mind his own house in the crease and get the job done there. But on the other hand, he's definitely got a point and I like hearing one voice in this dressing room that tells it like it is. Miller is the guy with the spot-on analysis almost every time.
The Sabres were on the ice in HSBC Arena today -- minus Derek Roy, who suffered what Lindy Ruff termed a charley horse late in the third period of Tuesday's meltdown against Ottawa. Roy skated briefly on his own in sweats before the full team came out, and that didn't seem to bode well for his chances to play in the rematch tomorrow in Ottawa.
But both Roy and Ruff said after practice they expect the center to try to play in the game.
"It's better than expected," Ruff said. "I would anticipate him playing tomorrow which is good news."
Dmitri Kalinin and Jaroslav Spacek practiced in full equipment prior to the team's workout as well. But no practice with the team almost certainly means no game for them either.
Forget about games in May or June like we've seen the last two years. There's not going to be any hockey in April in HSBC Arena this year unless the Sabres pull off one huge turnaround.
The last home game is Sunday against Boston -- and that's just March 30.
Tuesday's 6-3 loss to Ottawa was the most inexcusable one in a season full of them. Five goals in the last 7:40. A short-handed goal waking up an Ottawa team clearly dead from two games in two nights.
There were a good number of empty seats tonight. Those folks have given up. They're probably right. Anybody care to disagree?
Seven games left. No more time to fritter away any points. The Sabres open a home-and-home series with the Senators tonight and they better win or they could be closer to the bottom of the Eastern Conference than to the playoff race. Yep, a Buffalo loss and bad news from the many key out-of-town games could leave this team in 12th place in the East.
This is Ottawa's second game in two nights. Gotta jump on the Sens early. Especially with ace defenseman Wade Redden a scratch due to a hip injury suffered last night in Montreal. Martin Gerber starts in goal for the Sens and it's game No. 71 (and start 70) for Ryan Miller. The Sens are starting the Spezza-Heatley-Alfredsson line and Buffalo is countering with Tallinder-Lydman on defense and Hecht-Gaustad-Pominville up front. Every time the Spezza line comes out tonight, look for Buffalo to go for that five-man matchup.
---Mike Harrington
Third Period
Checking the scoreboard: Not a lot of good news out there. The Bruins have a 3-0 lead over the Laffs. The Caps and Canes are tied at 2-2 through two. The Panthers are tied 1-1 in the second. The Rangers lead the Flyers, 1-0, in the second.
17:22 left: THERE's the good news we needed to see. Another Derek Roy goal. Another backhand as he scooped up a loose puck sent toward the net by Mike Weber, who picked up his second point.
16:57 left: MORE great news. Jochen Hecht befuddles the Sens behind the net and feeds Pominville for a tap-in and a 3-1 lead.
15:00 left: Stafford goes for roughing after a scrum with bad boy Chris Neil. How can that not be coincidental minors?
9:17 left: Miller foiled the Spezza line on its best chances of the night to keep Buffalo's two-goal lead. Shots are 10-4 for the Sabres in this period. It was 10-1 at one point -- meaning the Sabres had a 20-3 advantage in an 18-minute span of the second and third periods. Out of town, the Leafs have pulled within 3-1. Still 2-2 between the Caps and Canes and 1-1 between the Lightning and Panthers.
8:37 left: Time to go for the kill. Cory Stillman goes off for a stupid roughing penalty against Vanek.
7:40 left: Uh-oh. Pominville gets caught up ice and Dean McAmmond jams in a short-handed goal on a 2-on-1. That's the Sens' NHL-leading 15th shorty of the season. It's 3-2 and nervous time returns.
5:58 left: You gotta be kidding me. Daniel Alfredsson ties it up on a screened shot from the slot to make it 3-3. Buffalo was in COMPLETE control of this one. Blow the two points this way and it's just about time to say see you in September.
4:52 left: And it just keeps getting worse. Roy is down inside the Ottawa zone and gets up bent over and not putting much pressure on his left leg. Looked like a knee on knee with Andrej Meszaros.
1:56 left: The collapse is complete. Anton Volchenkov rockets one off the post for a 4-3 Ottawa lead. His FIRST of the season. Looks like it hit Vanek's stick and maybe something else. Unreal.
1:40 left: See ya, Sabres. Alfredsson blows one by Miller to make it 5-3. It's gonna be four goals in the last 7:40! The Bruins lead, 4-1, while the Caps are four minutes away from getting another point. Lovely.
It's Over. Thankfully: Turns out it was five goals in the last 7:40 as Antoine Vermette scores into the empty net at the horn to make it a 6-3 final.
Second Period
A girl was just shown on the HD board with a sign that said, "I came all the way from Norway to see the Sabres." Yeesh. They gotta give her something better to see than this. Someone else has a sign that says "If you still believe, make some noise." He's gotten multiple shots and draws a yell from the crowd. No response on the ice yet.
15:13 left: Ruff has done plenty of line shuffing in this period and a Gaustad-Kotalik-Bernier combination narrowly missed tying the game. Gaustad was stopped by a kick save from defenseman Brian Lee, just called up today to replace Redden.
13:16 left: The Sens have a 7-0 edge in shots in this period as Miller has made a couple good saves, notably on Cory Stillman. Now the lines are Paille-Hecht-Pominville, Kotalik-Gaustad-Bernier, Vanek-Roy-Afinogenov and Stafford-Mair-Kaleta. We're 76 games in and this team simply can't find any combinations that work for more than two or three games in a row.
8:45 left: Two shots on a power play as the Sens were nailed for too many men on the ice. After that, however, some great pressure by Paille-Hecht-Pominville. Out of town, the Bruins still lead, 1-0, in Toronto while the Caps and Canes are tied at 1-1 in the second and the Panthers are down, 1-0, through one against Tampa Bay.
6:50 left: After several strong minutes, the Sabres get rewarded as Derek Roy moves through the slot, waits, waits, waits and stuff a backhand past Gerber to tie it at 1-1. That's his 30th of the season. Are the Sens fading as they head through their second game in two nights?
3:45 left: Great play by Paille to sweep the puck out of his hand as both he and Pominville were without sticks and the Sabres were scrambling. Buffalo has the last eight shots in the game and the Sens have none in the last 9 1/2minutes.
First Period
13:18 left: Christoph Schubert is off for a classic hit from behind (called boarding) against Patrick Kaleta, who is running around driving people crazy as usual. Shots are 4-4 and Miller had one close call in the first two minutes as he let Mike Fisher's shot from the right bleed though him before grabbing it in the crease as it was trickling toward the goal line.
By the way, there are a TON of empty seats in the 100 and 200 levels tonight. Lots of season ticket holders appear to have given up the ghost. Section 201 in the corner to Miller's left is virutally empty. Weird to see.
9:49 left: The goalpost foils Buffalo's best chance as Derek Roy beats Gerber with a quick shot on a 3-on-2 but finds nothing but metal. Roy is again playing with Vanek and Stafford and the rest of the lines remain status quo: Hecht-Gaustad-Pominville, Kaleta-Mair-Afinogenov and Paille-Kotalik-Bernier. Forget about the power play units. Their first attempt was a joke.
8:06 left: Schubert beats Miller with a wrist shot from the left wing to make it 1-0. What's Miller doing down on his knees?
4:16 left: Nothing to report out of town in the key games. The Caps and Canes are scoreless through 15 minutes. Flyers-Rangers, Leafs-Bruins and Panthers-Lightning just facing off.
End of the 1st: The Senators hold their 1-0 lead and shots are 10-10. The Sabres survived a couple of good chances with Roy in the box for hooking. And the Bruins have just taken a 1-0 lead over the Laffs in Toronto on Glen Murray's power-play goal at 3:57. More bad news: John Vogl just pointed out the Sens' record when scoring first -- 33-7-5. Ouch. And Buffalo better catch up in the next 20 minutes because the Sens are 29-1-4 when leading after two.
Standings could get a whole new look by 10 tonight. Here's now:
Place - Team - Points (Games remaining) 7. Philadelphia 86 (6) 8. Boston 84 (7) 9. Washington 82 (6) 10. Buffalo 81 (7) 11. Florida 81 (6) 12. Toronto 80 (6)
Tonight's schedule: Ottawa at Buffalo 7 PM Washington at Carolina 7 PM Pittsburgh at New Jersey 7 PM Philadelphia at Rangers 7:30 PM Florida at Tampa Bay 7:30 PM Boston at Toronto 7:30 PM
Yup, that's every team on the ice tonight. Any predictions?
Detroit coach Mike Babcock must think his team can handle a compliment. He's handed out a couple of huge ones.
"Not even close," Babcock told the Detroit Free Press when asked if this was his best team. "Didn't have as much points as the team a few years ago, (but) best team I've ever coached.
"More depth, faster, harder, the will to win. Yeah, best team I ever coached."
A recent anonymous poll of 365 players done by Sports Illustrated had 62 percent saying the Wings would win the Cup (players couldn't vote for their own team). Babcock's second compliment explained why.
"Since the start of February we've been grinding," Babcock said. "It's not like we go out, the puck's dropped and we have the puck for 60 minutes like we normally do and the other team doesn't get to touch it. The other team gets to touch it right now."
One little message from the experience of watching a Presidents' Trophy team: It's not easy to get back to the old ways, Mike. Get used to other teams touching the puck ... or start playing keep-away again right now.
The Sabres are three points behind Boston for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. They have two meetings left, so win them both in regulation and, cha-ching!, there's your playoff ticket.
Not so fast. If the Sabres get whacked by Ottawa in these next two games (and by Montreal on Friday), those Bruins games could be meaningless from Buffalo's standpoint. Sure, winning them both would gain four points, but the Sabres could be nine points behind them before they even meet once.
So, as almost every Sabre said today in HSBC Arena, let's keep this one game at a time for now.
"We all know what the big picture is," coach Lindy Ruff said. "But at the same time, you've got to break games down into periods, and you've got to win periods. I think that has to be the big picture for us."
I know how much some of you just LOVE hearing about Daniel Briere and Chris Drury, so here's an article by ESPN's Scott Burnside all about the former Sabres co-captains.
Ciamaga, who is only 30, worked alongside veteran Mick McGeough in the game (hope he didn't pick up any of the bad habits and arrogance McGeough regularly shows). It was his first regular-season NHL callup after two years in the AHL Ciamaga, a St. Francis grad, played for BuffState from 1996-99 and was team captain in his final two seasons.
He joins linesman Tim Nowak among Buffalo-area products on the NHL's officials roster.
This week's Monday Extra in the sports section, designed by The News' Vince Chiaramonte, focuses on the Spin-o-rama. Sabres fans, of course, associate that move with former defenseman Brian Campbell.
Here is the YouTube clip of the Spin-o-rama goal Cambpell, in a Sharks uniform, scored March 3 against the Montreal Canadiens:
