Sabres Edge

Greetings from downtown as the Sabres get set for a nifty November special against the Boston Bruins. It's the last home game before Thanksgiving and instead of Sabres classics on the HD board prior to the warmups, we're getting Peppermint Patty roaring, "Where's the mashed potatoes?" as she's eating Snoopy's popcorn in "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving." Love it. Always cracks me up.

As for tonight's game, it will be interesting to see how the Sabres react after Wednesday's stinker against Florida. The Sabres responded to their first two-game losing streak of the season (Nov. 6-7 against Philly and Boston) with a three-game winning streak. Avoiding long slumps is a big goal this year and if the Sabres keep doing it, it will be a big step up the maturity scale from last season.

"We don't want to sulk about a game and feel sorry about ourselves," Derek Roy told me after today's morning skate. "We want to go right back out there, work hard and get a victory. That's the difference between this year and last. We're on the same page when we lose a game. Everyone has that bad taste in their mouth and wants to turn it around the next game."

Ryan Miller is in goal for the Sabres while Tuuka Rask will make his third straight start in net for Boston as Tim Thomas nurses an undisclosed injury. If you want to catch up on the Bruins, you can give a look to the Boston Globe's blog, shepherded by longtime veteran Kevin Paul Dupont.

And as you get set for the opening faceoff -- with Jay-Z blaring in my ears (again) -- enjoy Snoopy battling the lawn chair.

---Mike Harrington

(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Overtime

4:13 left: It's over. Connolly drops the faceoff and Chara's long floater gets past Miller on a deflection by Patrice Bergeron.Tough 2-1 loss. Bruins had only two shots in OT. 26-26.

Third Period

17:20 left: Guess Lindy Ruff got a message across. Sabres already have four shots, including a Vanek laser that Rask stopped. Myers got it going on the first shift, bulling into the Bruins zone and created an opportunity.

17:00 left: Vanek nearly scores from in tight but takes a Mark Stuart glove to the mouth and skates to the bench for attention.

12:56 left: At least Sabres found some jump in this period. Shots are 7-3 for Buffalo. So their attention span has widened. Now it's time to get a go-ahead goal.

10:51 left: Just traded chances. Lucic nearly had his second for the Bruins and Kaleta was wide a few seconds later for Buffalo on a great Gaustad feed.

7:04 left: Another pinch by Myers resulted in a great chance for the big guy that Rask gloved for his 12th save of the period.

3:55 left: Rask comes through again, stopping a Hecht shot from the slot after the Buffalo winger scooped up a loose puck.

1:30 left: The Bruins are clearly holding on for their point in their second game in two nights. Rask just stopped Kaleta on a semi-breakaway. Shots are 14-6 for Buffalo and the Sabres are pressing.

On to OT: Shots were 15-6 for the Sabres and 26-24 overall through regulation. Bruins have to be happy to have one point in the bag and a chance for two.

Second Period

15:00 left: Would love to know what's up with all the booing for Zdeno Chara? Just because he's 6-9? Guess all the Bruins fans have to start riding Tyler Myers. Boston, by the way, has come out hot in this period by already getting five shots. Miller robbed Steve Begin just 19 seconds in to preserve the Buffalo lead.

14:17 left: Calling the Sabres. Period has started. Roy to the box for hooking after Krejci misses from the edge of the crease.

12:13 left: The Sabres have announced Drew Stafford has a lower-body injury but may return. He went off late in the first period favoring a leg/ankle. Meanwhile, another penalty for Buffalo (Lydman for hooking).

10:45 left: Pominville takes a Chara slapshot flush on the right shin and goes gingerly to the bench. Ouch.

10:00 left: Another good kill keeps the lead intact. Pominville is still on the bench. Stafford is not.

9:06 left: And the inevitable happens as Lucic pots a 2-on-1 with Butler caught, on a perfect feed from Byron Bitz. Bruins tie it at 1-1 on their 10th shot of the period. Sabres have two. Which team played last night?

6:26 left: Miller robs Blake Wheeler from in tight as the shot count reaches 14-2. He should sue for non-support in this period. One positive: Pominville is back on the ice.

2:00 left: Kaleta had a decent chance for the Sabres but they have simply not skated in this period. Bottom line. Their elite goaltender is the only reason they're still in this one.

End-2nd: The Sabres get out of that 20 minutes alive at 1-1. The Bruins had a 14-3 bulge in shots and it's 18-11 for the game. Yep, Buffalo has just 11 shots in 40 minutes. Their season low is 25.

First Period

15:40 left: The Sabres take the early lead as Gaustad tips home a low Pominville shot from the point on the power play. Byron Bitz was off for hauling down Kaleta (who else?). It's been physical so far, starting with Milan Lucic rubbing out Henrik Tallinder behind the Sabres' hit just 28 seconds in. Kaleta has made sure to answer a couple times. Vanek was robbed on the power play by a glove save from Rask.

13:15 left: Just the start the Sabres wanted with a 5-0 edge in shots until the Bruins finally got their first. We'll see how many more they get with Matt Ellis now off for hooking. Toni Lydman back in the lineup after 14 games paired with Montador on defense. Other defense pairs are Tallinder-Myers and Butler-Rivet. No surprises up front: Hecht-Kennedy-Kaleta started. Then came MacArthur-Roy-Pominville, Stafford-Connolly-Vanek and Ellis-Gaustad-Mair.

11:08 left: Two shots on the Boston power play, including a solid Miller save on Dennis Wideman.

End of the 1st: Apologies for the lack of posts as we had an Internet outage in the press box. All good now. I took advantage of the time to get a between-periods hot dog, a nice addition up here that has drawn lots of attentions from all the scouts and not much from the writers (heh-heh). Anyway, the Sabres held their 1-0 lead through one and shots are 8-4.

Interesting numbers from the first period: Buffalo had 10 hits (they had 1 in the opening period Wednesday) and won 11 of 14 faceoffs (they were 17-49 for the game Wednesday).  Hopefully, we'll be back to normal here for the second.