Sabres Edge

Greetings from HSBC Arena for the Sabres' game against Nashville. Wonder if it will be a chippy one like the teams' meetings the last two years. There's an odd amount of hate going on from teams from opposite conferences but that happens when you get cheap shots like Scott Nichol's 2006 suckerpunch to the head of Jaroslav Spacek that resulted in a nine-game suspension for the Predators' forward or the Jordin Tootoo-Derek Roy-Steve Bernier dustup here last season.

The Sabres have Andrew Peters in their lineup tonight and have mercifully scratched Maxim Afinogenov.

"There's enough goofy stuff that's happened that we need him in the lineup tonight," Lindy Ruff said this morning of Peters.

Recapping the Buffalo injuries: Ales Kotalik (hammy) is back after seven games. Patrick Kaleta (head/neck) is out and captain Craig Rivet (upper body) was ruled out 90 minutes before faceoff. Here's the first real case where it would be nice for the farm team to be in Rochester. You rule Rivet out at, say, 3 p.m. and Mike Weber -- a physical guy who they could use tonight against the Preds -- could be here. Now you get a late injury and there's virtually no way to get anyone from Portland.

So Nathan Paetsch is in and the Sabres are down to their last defenseman. Weber almost certainly will be called if Rivet is more than day-to-day. Ryan Miller (10-5-2, 2.56, .910) in goal for Buffalo and backup Pekka Rinne (3-0-0, 3.53, .866) for Nashville. Live updates to come.

---Mike Harrington

Third Period

11:53 left: A Clarke MacArthur giveaway in the zone leads to a Jason Arnott goal that snaps the scoreless tie. Miller had stopped Arnott earlier in the shift and Greg DeVries from the left point.

9:40 left: Old friend J.P. Dumont dives to swoop home a loose puck to make it 2-0. Lousy effort by the Sabres in this period when the game was there for the taking.

2:15 left: Sabres finally pressing a little but Rinne has made a couple good saves to keep a chance for his first career shutout in play.

It's over: A 2-0 loss. Nice back-to-back days for Buffalo sports fans. Yeesh.

Second Period

11:00 left: I'm a big believer that some scoreless hockey games can be riveting. Not this one. Three shots and two failed power plays for the Sabres (Spacek's one-timer from the point was stopped by Rinne for the best chance). Two shots for the Preds. A big rush, a big hit, anything is needed to get the juices going in this one. Teams dead. Crowd's dead. Yawn.

9:00 left: What are Peters and Preds enforcer Wade Belak doing in the lineups if they're not gonna give these people something to yell about?

End of the 2nd: Like old friend and Nashville announcer Pete Weber might say, it's nada-nada through two -- and nada is going on.  Shots were 9-5 for Buffalo and 19-16 for the Sabres through two. The Preds had two good chances in the final 90 seconds as Jordan Tootoo got in alone on Miller but was stopped and Jerred Smithson was denied on a slapshot. Lydman's slapshot from the right point with 6:40 left was turned away by Rinne and that was Buffalo's best chance.

First Period

For starters: Paetsch is in the starting lineup with Teppo Numminen. So is Kotalik, skating with Clarke MacArthur and Mark Mancari. This morning, Kotalik was skating with Andrew Peters and Adam Mair. He must be feeling better than the Sabres even thought he would be and, frankly, those players weren't a fit for him anyway. Should be interesting to see the other combinations.

It's a full house for a Monday night against Nashville when the club couldn't sell out a recent Friday against Philly. You folks like your value games! Lots of empties in the 100s however as regulars seem to have opted out but the 300s are packed. Dear Sabres: Too many gold/silver games this year.

12:14 left: No score as Nashville has a 5-4 edge in shots. Rinne robbed Derek Roy with a glove save four minutes in and Miller made a nice stop on Martin Erat during a Nasvhille power play (Mancari off for delay of game). Biggest thing that happened on that penalty was referee Tim Peel getting drilled in the ribs with a deflected slapshot from Preds stud Shea Weber. Ouch.

As for the lines, it's Kotalik-MacArthur-Mancari, Stafford-Roy-Vanek, Gaustad-Hecht-Pominville and Peters-Mair-Paille. On defense, Lydman and Tallinder are reunited with Rivet out. Spacek and Sekera stay together and Numminen goes with Paetsch.

6:00 left: Good thing this is a value game. Nothing happening. Shots are 7-7. This must be how the fans felt yesterday at the Ralph -- minus the cold rain and drunken louts.

End of the 1st:  It's zip-zip through one with Nashville holding an 11-10 edge in shots. Miller's best saves came on backhanders from Vernon Fiddler (who didn't find the roof -- sorry, couldn't resist) and Jason Arnott. Rinne beat Gaustad to the post on a neat wraparound attempt in the final three minutes and stopped MacArthur on a 2-on-1 in the final 50 seconds that resulted in a tripping penalty to Dan Hamhuis with 48.7 ticks on the clock. Buffalo on the power play for the first 1:12 of the second.