Live from the Arena: Sabres vs. Canes

The Sabres' playoff push -- or is it a road to nowhere? -- continues downtown tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes. Even without Rod Brind'Amour, they are 8-1 in their last nine games and have won five in a row. Just what the Sabres need to see at this point.

Games to watch out of town: Atlanta at Washington (root for Atlanta) and the Rangers at Florida (root for Florida at this point because there's no catching the Rangers).

The scratches for the Sabres are Tim Connolly, Michael Ryan and Andrew Peters up front and Jaro Spacek, Dmitri Kalinin and Nathan Paetsch on defense. Yeesh. Andrej Sekera, Mike Weber and now Mike Funk are all here and expected to play meaningful minutes in Game 72 with the team's playoff life hanging in the balance.

"I'm not afraid," Lindy Ruff said after the morning skate. "Andrej has done a great job and Mike [Weber] stepped in with some physical play. It's limited some of our rush attack but I still think we can be very effective."

We'll see. The Sabres have given up 41 goals over the last 10 games (2-5-3) and 29 in the last seven (going 1-4-2). You won't win much giving up four goals a game. (When the Sabres are home, of course, that means we hear a lot of goofy ads read while Ryan Miller is still fishing the puck out of the net).

It's Miller and Cam Ward in net. Live updates to come.

---Mike Harrington

Third Period

Out of town update: Washington beat Florida, 4-1, and will stay one point back of the Sabres. The Rangers and Florida are tied at 2-2 with 12 minutes left.

12:19 left: Mair just stepped in for Kaleta and fought an even battle with Canes tough guy Tim Conboy. It's been a pretty chippy period with Carolina's frustration clearly showing through. That happens when you're down by six. Conboy got the book thrown at him -- five for fighting, five for interference and a game misconduct.

8:30 left: Scott Walker ends Ryan Miller's shutout bid with a short-handed goal on a hard slapshot from the right circle to cap a 2-on-1 break. So it's 6-1.

5:42 left: It's pretty funny seeing other teams running around trying to take Kaleta's head off. The Canes had enough of him tonight and Erik Cole and Kaleta both got misconducts. Mair was in the middle protecting Kaleta again.

3:21 left: Ales Kotalik makes it 7-1 on the power play. That's 15-2 for the Sabres at home against the Canes this year. It will never make up for 2006 but never hurts to lay a pasting on the boys from Raleigh at every opportunity.

That's it: An impressive 7-1 win but no help out of town. Washington beat Atlanta, 4-1, and Florida beat the Rangers, 3-2, so both of them stay within a point. The Sabres are two back of Philly.

Second Period

Out of town update: Leafs star Mats Sundin is questionable for tomorrow's crucial game against the Sabres  due to a groin strain. Washington leads Atlanta, 3-1, late in the second period while the Rangers and Florida are tied at 1-1 through one.

17:05 left: That's 5-0 as Patrick Kaleta jams home Drew Stafford's rebound. Five goals on 10 shots. Kaleta's third stands after a silly video replay. Assists to Stafford and Mair -- whose has posted the first three-point game of his NHL career, which began with the Laffs in 1999.

11:08 left: Grahame has made two more sensational saves to keep the damage tab down, robbing Stafford from in tight and stopping Roy on a short-handed breakaway after he stole the puck at the Buffalo blue line.

7:41 left: Miller has a shutout going and just made his 20th save, stopping Tom Gleason on a short-handed breakaway after a Lydman giveaway.

6:35 left: Afinogenov just bounced one off the post with a wide-open net. It was an easy tap-in after  a terrific three-way passing play with Kotalik and Bernier. Would have been one of the goals of the season.

4:22 left: The Sabres are simply outhustling the Canes all over the place. Paille beat the Carolina defense to a loose puck behind the net and fed it in front to Roy for a tap-in to make it 6-0. Roy's second of the game and team-high 29th. Here's a note for you: That's Buffalo's 123rd goal of the season in HSBC Arena -- the most for any NHL team at home. Subtract Nos. 23 and 48 from the lineup and you would not have thought that stat would be possible.

0:00 left: So it's 6-0 through two and the Hurricanes have a 21-18 advantage in shots. Buffalo will open the third period on a power play as Scott Walker picked up a high-sticking penalty at the buzzer.

First Period

15:16 left: The start the Sabres need. Henrik Tallinder pinches to force some pressure, then Derek Roy gets the turnover and feeds Daniel Paille in front for a quick shot past Ward.

14:54 left: No worries about giving up a quick goal. How about adding a second? Adam Mair does the honors as Drew Stafford gives him a feed in front. Two goals on four shots. Timeout, Hurricanes. Buffalo has outscored Carolina, 10-1, in this building this season. Wow.

How about tonight's lines? Hecht-Gaustad-Pominville started, followed by Paille-Roy-Bernier, Vanek-Kotalik-Afinogenov and Kaleta-Mair-Stafford. On defense, it was Lydman-Tallinder, Weber-Sekera and Funk-Pratt.

9:09 left: With Gaustad in the box for tripping, Roy scores a pretty short-handed goal by finishing a 2-on-1 with Pominville to make it 3-0. Nice assist from one of the linesman, as the puck glanced off him to send the Sabres on their way.

7:30 left: With Pominville in the box on a cheap hooking call, Jochen Hecht gets a cheap cross-checking call. Nice dive by Erik Cole. And Ruff is going beserk. Update: Here's the makeup call: Canes center Matt Cullen gets an unsportsmanlike conduct call before the puck is dropped for chirping about the faceoff. So the Canes have a 5 on 4 with both penalties coming at the same time.

6:14 left: Mair and Pominville cause chaos in front again and Gaustad slams home the loose puck to make it 4-0. Four goals on seven shots and that's it for Cam Ward as John Grahame is in. Gaustad's first goal in 14 games since getting the lone tally in the Feb. 13 win over Toronto.

5:46 left: Grahame robs Roy with a glove shot on a shot labeled from the slot that has Roy looking to the rafters in disbelief. Just checked the game summary sheet and Sekera is plus-3 so far. Frantisek Kaberle and ex-Senator Patrick Eaves are minus-3 for the Canes

5:26 left: Wonder if we see Erik Cole anymore tonight. His left foot/ankle just got twisted under Tallinder and Gaustad and he limped off.

0:00 left: The Sabres lead, 4-0, after one but the Canes actually had an 11-9 edge in shots. Here's a juicy nugget from Sabres information director/stat guru Kevin Snow: It was Buffalo's eighth period of the season with four or more goals, snapping a tie with Los Angeles for the league lead.

Comments

[W]

"That game was a total "abberation."

Delusions of granduer.

Tom Petty was singing "Even the LOSERS get lucky some time."

Two wins in last 8 games. lo Sad.

A LOSS IN YESTERDAYS GAME WOULD HAVE DROPPED BUFFALO DOWN TO 11TH PLACE.

The two teams are still just one point behind Buffalo,

One lucky game and these Butterknife fans think that they're going to win the Stanley Cup. lol"

Posting this is multiple threads because you can't think of anything else to say? It doesn't make what you say any more true if you say it multiple time, by the way. Perhaps you should get some new material James.

[Chris in RI]

Glad we get to enjoy a game every 10 or so. Please remember who is running this team though. Lady Quinn will disappoint again soon. I'm being a realist; not a pessimist. Until Golisano fires Quinn, we will be teased. If you believe the future could hold promise because of the "young talent" then answer this question: In the coming years who on the current roster will leave and who will stay? History tells us the true upcoming stars will leave and garbage will stay. What happened to the scouting department? Quinn is another version of Donahoe, but she pretends to be a little more stylish. Quinn thinks so much of Quinn that they try to change the entire NHL (weird goals, blue ice, etc) to make things easier on their players. How about focusing on getting players with heart and toughness and KEEPING them? Detroit, is the model to emulate; then maybe Anaheim & San Jose. Players like Grier & Drury recognize how Quinn miss manages things and they bolted.
By the way, to lend some credibility to these comments, I know the banker in Boston (Fleet Bank at the time) that dealt with Quinn and Bettman during the Sabres' bankruptcy. The people at Fleet were not impressed with either of them. In fact they kept joking they had to wash their hands after every meeting and check for their wallets and watches. Sabres fans; keep your hands on your wallets.

[Kevin S.]

Great game! Now let's hope it's not Jekyl and Hyde again tommorow in a must win or tonight means zippo.

[Bster]

Nice win. I missed it. How did Weber and Funk(y) do?

[Buffalo Locals]

That's One for the Gipper!
Who's left in Rochester? Send a primadonna or two down for effect and give the rooks a change for the show.

[Mike Harrington]

Jay: My bad. I meant the Sabres should have been rooting for the Rangers tonight. Not gonna catch them and Florida is nipping on their heels.

[Jay]

I think Harrington meant root for Atlanta and FLORIDA, not the Rangers.

We are much more likely to be overtaken by Florida at this point than catch up to the Rangers. Both of those teams have momentum on their side.

[Bffbll]

that' more like it ! that Funk guy is 'Long'----seemed to know what to do, for the most part. C,mon leafs, help us out yet again, and return to your usual form on Saturday.....

[Steve]

It feels great to watch a blowout, but I'd rather see how they fare in a close game. I like Bernier with Roy and Paille. I thought they pulled Bernier off the top line too soon.

[Heather B.]

Mike: Don't you worry. I've been working on one post every night for the past three nights. It's rambling, disorganized, and probably a little incoherent so you'll probably be sorry you mentioned it :-D

[Mike Harrington]

Heather: Paille had six goals in a four-game span after his January benching. That's three in the last two games now and he had five shots with no goals last week in Carolina. By the way, three days with no blog entries? Just cuz you're in warm weather? It's March. No excuse! LOL

[Mike]

should have been a double minor but we are up so the refs go easy on carolina.

bush league

[rmc]

and the sabres are bringing hope back to the sabre faithful...they're making it look too easy. i'd still take 10 close games that buffalo wins than one blowout win for every 6-8 losses

[Mike]

lookie another penalty against the sabres trying to make up for it

[Mike]

what a bs goal, come on.

[Heather B.]

Danny Paille clearly needs to be benched every six or seven games. He always responds well.

[Mike]

Tallinder with a couple of good pinches and a very strong forecheck.

They are playing playoff hockey and looking good