At least the Sabres won't have to worry about being the team victimized by the Boston Bruins to allow the Bs to snap a franchise-record losing streak. Boston hits town Tuesday fresh off Sunday's 3-0 win at Montreal that snapped its skid at 10 games; the record was 11 and No. 12 would have come against the Sabres.
Meanwhile, the beat goes on for the Capitals as they wiped out a three-goal deficit and won their 14th straight with a 5-4 overtime win over the Penguins. Alex Ovechkin had three goals and Mike Knuble got the winner in OT to offset two goals from Sidney Crosby. The Caps have three games before the Olympic break (at Montreal, at Ottawa and at St. Louis). If they win them all, they would tie the NHL record of 17 straight set by the Pens in 1992-93. And remember, they would go for No. 18 on March 3 in HSBC Arena.
As for the Sabres, they were off Sunday and return to the practice ice Monday. I spent a total of 12 1/2 hours of round-trip driving for that 4-0 clunker Saturday in Columbus but a big thumbs-up to the Buffalo airport Hertz counter for providing the satellite radio. Not only did I hear both NHL games but I heard the opening kickoff of the Super Bowl on the BBC feed and listened to the local Indy and New Orleans crews, as well as a play or two in about seven other languages. Cool.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
