Sabres Edge

We're in our usual perch here in HSBC Arena, high above Section 319, for tonight's game between the Sabres and the red-hot Carolina Hurricanes, who are 6-0-2 in their last eight and seven points ahead of Buffalo for ninth in the East. The Canes haven't lost in regulation since Dec. 26 and are three points behind Atlanta for eighth in the East.

Carolina has 48 points and the Sabres have 41. A regulation loss by Buffalo tonight would push the Sabres nine points out of ninth in the East. Not eighth. Ninth. And that would mean the future Pegulas would be closer and closer to the time when they should start selling.

We learned this morning that Thomas Vanek would be in the lineup tonight. We're learning during warmups who will not be. Chris Butler is one scratch but there are 19 skaters on the ice. So we'll have to wait for the announcement of who sits, whether it's Luke Adam or Craig Rivet or somebody else. How about Rob no-goals-in-33-games Niedermayer getting a night off?

Stay tuned for more.

6:55 p.m. update: Rivet is a scratch. So are Butler and Kaleta. Sabres obviously don't care that their 11th place team has no useful captain since they keep scratching him but won't take away the C like they should. Who knew what Ted Sator did to Lindy 22 years ago would handcuff the team so much now?

7 p.m. update on starters:

Buffalo: Gerbe-Gaustad-McCormick-Sekera-Myers. Goal: MIller
Carolina: Cole-Staal-Jokinen-McBain-Pitkanen. Goal: Ward 

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Third Period

853 p.m: The puck is dropped.

17:11 left: Pitkanen goes for cross-checking McCormick in front. McCormick responded with a slash that could have been called too but wasn't. He needs to skate away when his team is in line for a power play.

16:34 left: Great puck work on the PP all the way up the ice. Even that drop pass at center ice I normally hate. Vanek eventually passes from the right wing to Stafford in the slot and he buries it past Ward for his 15th. Sabres lead, 3-1.

14:00 left: Connolly overhandles on a 2-on-1 with Vanek, doesn't shoot and loses the puck. Crowd boos. 

12:10 left: Nice stop by Miller on Ruutu keeps Buffalo's two-goal lead intact.

9:50 left: Vanek on break goes in too deep to Ward's left, curls around net beating Ward to the right post but just fires the puck back through the crease and is unable to curl it inside the post. Classic look on his face. Pained smile as he looks to the rafters. Great rush. Barely missed the spectacular finish.

6:49 left: Sabres in control. Shots are 5-4 in the third and 31-25 overall. Just have to simply take this one across the finish line. An oddly uninspiring outing so far by the Canes, who came in on a 6-0-2 streak. They showed very little except for about three or four minutes after their goal. And that one, remember, was a power-play tally after the very dubious call on Myers.

3:12 left: Sabres are currently 4-12-3 against top 8 in East. With win tonight, they would be 15-7-2 against everybody else in the NHL. Odd. Shows their mediocrity. Better against bottom-run teams (and suprisingly good against the West). Simply can't match up to the Phillys, Tampas, Pittsburghs and Montreals of the world. At least not over the first 43 games.

1:57 left: Ward out. Faceoff in Buffalo end.

31.3 left: Canes with HUGE pressure and Skinner finally puts it in. Miller AND Montador had no sticks. Sabres lead, 3-2.

10.2 left: Terrible play by Sekera. Ice-length icing. Just get it out and you'd kill the clock. Now faceoff back to Miller's left.

It's over: Sabres hang on for a 3-2 win. Final shots were 35-29 for Buffalo.

Second Period

8:01 p.m.: The puck is dropped.

15:06 left: Myers gone for goaltender interference. Horrible call. He went flying over Ward. Was pushed right into him. You could see the two-hand push on the HD board by Jay Harrison, who was beaten. And Lindy goes nuts.

14:51 left: Just 15 seconds later, the Canes tie it up at 1-1 as Tuomo Ruutu tips one home on a great pass from Eric Staal. Ruff is all over ref Marc Joannette. That whole sequence was a joke.

11:21 left: Ennis goes for tripping. In the offensive zone.

9:12 left: Sabres kill that penalty. Shots are 9-8 in the period for the Canes.

8:11 left: McCormick flips a Leopold rebound over Ward's shoulder. His sixth of the year, extending his career-high. And his 13th point set a new career mark. He does it all. Assist away from the Gordie Howe hat trick again. Sabres lead, 2-1.

5:30 left: The Canes have a 3-on-1 and shoot high. The Sabres come right back with a 4-on-2 and shoot wide. Gotta put the puck on the net, people.

5:01 left: Bodie goes for an unintentional high stick of Connolly in the faceoff circle. Awfully close to that nine-way nose. McCormick, by the way, now has the same number of goals as Connolly at a cost that 's $4 million less (Connolly is making $4.5 million and 

3:44 left: Miller comes way out to get the puck and gets his legs taken out by Patrick Dwyer, who was going for the puck too and went into a slide to avoid a collision. Still, he took Miller out at the legs. Not good.

2:40 left: Sabres have really taken charge after the second goal. Shots are 18-9 for Buffalo.

21.4 left: Miller stops Boychuk from in tight to preserve the lead. Sabres have had at least the last 10 shots on goal. It's been a while for the Canes but that was a good chance.

End-2nd: Sabres lead, 2-1. Shots were 18-11 in the period for Buffalo and 26-21 for the game. Just checked the play-by-play. It was 10 straight shots for the Sabres and none over nine minutes for the Canes.

First Period

7:08 p.m.: The puck is dropped. Very classy move by the Sabres to have a pregame moment of silence for Dawn Hamilton, who passed away last night after a four-year battle with cancer. She was the wife of WGR Radio beat reporter Paul Hamilton, one of the true professionals on this level of the arena. Rick Jeanneret just passed on condolences on air as well.

15:42 left: Yawn. Hurricanes have a 2-1 edge in shots. Nothing really going on. Out of town, reeling Ottawa is giving Swedish rookie Robin Lehner his first NHL start in goal against the New York Islanders. Lehner, you may recall, is the 19-year-old who beat Team Canada in a shootout in the World Juniors here on New Year's Eve.

13:39 left: Shots are 3-1 for the Canes. Yep, not taking the morning skate this morning really has the Sabres full of life.

11:00 left: No surprises on the Sabres' lines. Gerbe-Gaustad-McCormick got the start. It's also Vanek-Connolly-Pominville, Ennis-Hecht-Stafford and Niedermayer-Adam-Grier.

10:13 left: Good scrap between McCormick and Troy Bodie came at the end of a shift where the Gaustad line was again doing solid work down low. The other lines have been invisible.

8:53 left: Ward stops Pominville on a slapper from the right circle. Shots are 7-5 for the Canes.

8:15 left: Montador crushes big-name rookie Jeff Skinner at the Canes line to give the Sabres a good chance but Ennis and Stafford combine to overpass and there's no shot. SHOOT!

7:33 left: Gaustad goes for tripping.

6:10 left: Zach Boychuk denied on a golden chance from the slot.

5:22 left: Tough PP for Boychuk. He's drilled with a teammate's shot and struggles to limp to the bench. The Sabres go down and take a 1-0 lead as Gerbe puts one home from the slot on a great feed from behind the net from Vanek. Gerbe's second of the year. Richly deserved the way he's played the last two games. Big for the Sabres to get too: Carolina is 14-1-3 when scoring first.

4:14 left: Classic moment on the HD board: The 1976 game against the Soviet Wings that resulted in a resouding 12-6 rout at the Aud. Awesome. (go away kisscam and bloopers).

End-1st: Sabres hold their 1-0 lead. Canes have a 10-8 edge in shots.

Thomas Vanek shot a few pucks on his own and did a few sprints in one end of HSBC Arena this morning. Frankly, he didn't look all that comfortable testing his injured right hand. Nonetheless, Vanek said he will be in the lineup tonight when the Sabres face the Carolina Hurricanes.

"I expected to be a little uncomfortable but it actually went better than I thought it would," Vanek said. "It felt good. I still think I can contribute and score out there so that's why I'm in."

The Sabres are getting into dire straits in the standings (they're seven points behind ninth-place Carolina heading into tonight's game), but Vanek said he's not pushing the envelope because of the conference race.

"It's always based on if you can help the team," he said. "Even now, we're in a tough situation but if I would have felt like I can't shoot and can't help the team, there's no purpose in playing."

"It's not uncommon for a player to try to battle through [injury]," added coach Lindy Ruff. "He's not 100 percent but a lot of players are not 100 percent when they play. Thomas thinks it's important that he plays and I do too."

Vanek played 24 minutes Tuesday against Philadelphia and the injury flared up after the game and kept him off the ice Wednesday. The line of Vanek, Tim Connolly and Jason Pominville did very little offensively against the Flyers and that has to change quickly.

"We were put together for a reason," Vanek said. "That's not just to score goals but to create momentum and offense and we didn't do much of that. On the power play we didn't do the job and it carried over on our five-on-five play."

In other news, Ruff said Luke Adam would return to the lineup tonight after missing Tuesday's game with the flu. Ruff said he had not decided to go with six or seven defensemen but it seemed unlikely he would scratch Nathan Gerbe, who might be coming off his best game of the season Tuesday.

Ruff kept his players off the ice this morning so they would stay a little fresher for the game, much like he did on the Western road trip. The only ones who skated were the injured Patrick Kaleta, backup goaltender Patrick Lalime and defensemen Craig Rivet and Chris Butler. Hmmm. Wonder if Ruff is going back to six blueliners and scratching the captain again.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Lindy Ruff has used seven defensemen and 11 forwards for the past five games, but the coach said that could change Thursday against Carolina. Nathan Gerbe is the reason why.

Gerbe had an assist and three shots on goal Tuesday against Philadelphia, joining with linemates Paul Gaustad and Cody McCormick to create several scoring chances. Gerbe had been scratched in the previous four games because of Ruff's lineup switch and only dressed because the flu struck center Luke Adam, who returned to practice today and will be available to play.

"It was a pretty good game for myself for not playing for a bit," Gerbe said. "Jumping back into it, I wanted to make sure I got my feet going and play a pretty smart game. I thought I did that."

Did he do enough to persuade Ruff to use four lines?

"I hope so, but that’s out of my control," Gerbe said. "Whatever games I’m playing, I’ll show up and play and do my best. That’s all I can do."

Said Ruff on a return to 12 forwards and six defensemen: "I think it’s a possibility looking at the schedule right now. We’re 4-1-1 in the last six. I don’t want to let really what I look at as one period of hockey ruin what we had going. It hurts. You learn from it. Nobody likes losing, but we have to move on."

---John Vogl

The Sabres practiced without their most potent scorer today, as Thomas Vanek was a little "banged up" following Tuesday's 5-2 loss to Philadelphia. Coach Lindy Ruff is hopeful Vanek can return for Thursday's game against Carolina in HSBC Arena.

"Thomas is a little banged up, so we had to give him the morning off," said Ruff, who acknowledged Vanek got his hand taped up during the Flyers game. "Hopefully, he’ll be OK. There’s concern. I think there’s always concern. He couldn’t practice today. He was too sore. We’ll see where he’s at tomorrow morning."

Center Luke Adam will be able to return after missing one game with the flu. Right wing Patrick Kaleta practiced with the Sabres after visiting the doctor, but he will miss his sixth straight game and more with a broken hand suffered Dec. 28 in Edmonton.

"He saw our doctors, and he won’t be back for at least a week, at the minimum," Ruff said.

Thursday's game will be a match between the ninth- and 10th-place teams in the Eastern Conference. Carolina has 48 points and is three out of the final playoff spot, while Sabres have 41 points and are 10 behind eighth-place Atlanta.

"It is big. The way you move up is to play the teams that are right around you," Ruff said. "We’ve got an opportunity to play Carolina who is just above us, and you call these four-point games. They really turn out to be."

The audio of Ruff's news conference is below.

---John Vogl

Greetings from HSBC Arena as the world is back to normal now that the Worlds have left Buffalo. The Sabres' anniversary logo is back at center ice, the normal board ads adorn the rink, the semicircle goal crease is gone, the competing nations' flags are down from the rafters, the obnoxious Canadian fans are back across the Peace Bridge and -- perhaps most important -- the Russians are back in Moscow. Whew. 

It's the Sabres and Eastern Conference-leading Flyers tonight and faceoff is in the 7:40 range thanks to Versus, which obviously doesn't give a hoot about deadlines of your friendly blogger/ink-stained wretch. 

First bit of news (no, not about Terry Pegula): Nathan Gerbe is in the lineup tonight. Looks like the scratches are Luke Adam, Chris Butler and the injured Patrick Kaleta as the Sabres continue to go with seven defensemen. Frankly, I wouldn't play one-goal-in-24-games Gerbe over Adam but they know best, right? Yeesh.

Rick Jeanneret is back tonight with Harry Neale but they will be radio only as Versus tells stories and ignores the play calls the game. Keep it here for the latest.

Sabres starters: Ennis-Hecht-Stafford-Myers-Sekera. Goal: Miller.
Flyers starters: Hartnell-Briere-Leino-Coburn-Timonen. Goal: Bobrovsky

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Third Period

9:26 p.m.: Game on.

18:40 left: Sabres do nothing on the power play and the time expires.

17:43 left: The Flyers go ahead as Ville Leino pots Briere's rebound after Myers loses the puck at center ice. Might be a kick with the left skate. Under review. Goal stands. Looked like Leino moved his right skate and the puck hit the left. Flyers lead, 3-2. Third point for Briere.

16:37 left: Flyers buzzing. Have a 5-1 edge in shots. Wonder if Ruff is pondering his timeout right now.

9:30 left: Print editions calling but we seem to have that under control now. It's still 3-2. Shots are 11-6 Philly in this period.

8:39 left: Good rush by Ennis but Bobrovsky with the save on Buffalo's 36th shot. Flyers have 27.

8:24 left: Good night. Terrible giveaway at the Flyers' line by Sekera and Mike Richards goes all the way in alone. Burns Miller on the backhand. Flyers lead, 4-2.

Flyers win 5-2 -- empty netter by Hartnell with 1:55 left.

Second Period

8:31 p.m. The puck is dropped.

15:21 left: Good start for the Sabres as they have the only three shots. Sekera did a good job lugging the puck on one rush coast to coast but Connolly blew that opportunity. 

14:32 left: Leopold for hooking and it's a good thing. Van Riemsdyk had a wide-open net on a rebound but Leopold hooked him down.

13:13 left: Miller's best save, a sprawling dive on a Jeff Carter rebound. That had to hurt the groin a little, just for the record.

12:30 left: Miller helps Buffalo survive that one. Flyers' power play has been dominant in its two chances so far.

9:50 left: Shots are 20-13 for Buffalo and here comes the Kisscam. Told ya. Boo. Out of town, the Bruins are crushing the Senators, 5-0, in Boston. When is the end coming in Ottawa for GM Bryan Murray and coach Cory Clouston? It has to be near.

8:46 left: How many shots is McCormick getting in this game? He just cut in front from the left boards and forced Bobrovsky to make another save. That's eight shots on goal for No. 8. 

8:10 left: The Gaustad line is driving the Flyers crazy. And after-the-whistle stuff has the Sabres on the power play as Andrej Meszaros takes a silly roughing penalty going after Gaustad.

6:01 left: Decent possession in the zone, not too many chances as the penalty expires. Shots are 10-3 for the Sabres in this period.

5:37 left: Good slugfest after the whistle between Gaustad and Hartnell, who clearly went looking for him. They'll get five apiece.

3:56 left: Some 4-on-4 hockey as Timonen goes for grabbing Ennis in front of the net but Ennis got unsportsmanlike conduct for diving. Hmmm.

2:10 left: Miller robs Matt Carle in the slot after Carter manhandles Weber behind the net to get the puck out front.

1:49 left: The famous Briere windmill after the ex-Sabres captain gets his 22nd to tie the game at 2-2. A bad break as McCormick's back pass at center ice went by Montador and sent the Flyers away as Timonen jumped the puck coming out of the penalty box and Briere took his rebound. Shots are 14-6 in the period for Buffalo and 28-16 in the game but it's game tied 2-2.

46.4 left: Coburn for holding.

End-2nd: It's 2-2. Shots were 15-6 for Buffalo and are 29-16 through two periods.

First Period

7:40 p.m: The puck is dropped (thanks for nothing, Versus). Both teams in their retros. Flyers have the white with orange that brings back 70s nightmares and has me looking for the ghosts of Orest Kindrachuk, Don Saleski, Bob Kelly and Dave Schultz. This is, by the way, the 35th anniversary of their win over the Red Army -- the game the Russians temporarily walked off the ice to protest the Bullies' rough play.

15:00 left: The Sabres take the lead on a rebound goal by Gaustad. Myers let go a drive from the point, McCormick was stopped on the backhand on a rebound and Gaustad finally pounded it home. Sabres lead, 1-0. A minute earlier, Bobrovsky had robbed Ennis on a 3-on-1 break.

13:30 left: Sabres skating well in this one. Shots are 8-3 in their favor. Miller made a good save early on Mike Richards from in tight and the Flyers have done nothing else.

12:30 left: Forget what I said about Gerbe. He's been a terror down low so far. Gerbe-Gaustad-McCormick all over the Flyers again with three more shots. 

10:01 left: Gerbe has been a monster so far in wildly fast-moving period. Outworked the Flyers for the puck again and fired one wide from the slot but McCormick takes it off the backboards and banks it in off the back of Bobrovsky's right leg. Sabres lead, 2-0. Shots are 12-3.

7:34 left: Weber for interference as the Flyers are starting to get their legs and give the Sabres trouble in their own end since the second goal. The lines have been Ennis-Hecht-Stafford, Vanek-Connolly-Pominville, Gerbe-Gaustad-McCormick.  Niedermayer and Grier floating with a double-shifting forward. Defense pairs are Myers-Sekera, Leopold-Montador, Morrisonn-Weber.

7:19 left: That didn't take long. Richards absolutely wipes out Hecht in the corner and Timonen's shot from the point is tipped home by Hartnell. Sabres lead, 2-1.

6:32 left: Finally a TV timeout. We've played 13 1/2 minutes in 21 minutes of real time. Lightning quick. There are no Terry Pegula sightings. He's not in the owner's box folks, so stop asking. He doesn't own the team. Yet. There are some folks in there but they could be contest winners or whoever. No one of note involved with running this operation.

2:31 left: A classic moment on the HD board? Very nice to see Mogilny's 76th vs. the Flyers in 1993. We've only waited a half season to get stuff like that in the 40th anniversary year instead of those ridiculous blooper reels. Applause from this end. About time. But I know the kisscam is looming.

1:27 left: Bobrovsky gets a piece of McCormick's laser from the slot, Buffalo's first shot in nearly nine minutes (the Flyers had six straight). Leopold then stopped from the point.

End-1st: Sabres lead, 2-1. Shots are 14-10.

The Buffalo Sabres released the following statement in an e-mail Tuesday afternoon: "Terry Pegula visited the Buffalo Sabres offices today for informal discussions. Neither the Sabres nor Mr. Pegula are available to comment on the visit."

The fact he was in the building, covering the details, is not a surprise. It appears the prospective owner of the team continues to do his due diligence.

Sources maintain the transaction will be completed near the end of the month, shortly after the All-Star Game in Raleigh on Jan. 30.

--- Bucky Gleason

The Sabres will not have a representative in the NHL All-Star Game Jan. 30 at Carolina as the rosters were completed today and no Buffalo player was named. Tyler Ennis will be the Buffalo representative, taking part in the skills competition on Jan. 29. The complete list can be found here. Teams will be formed Jan. 28 as part of the league's new fantasy draft. The Sabres, Islanders, Panthers and Coyotes were shut out of the selections.

As for tonight's game against Philadelphia, coach Lindy Ruff said defenseman Mike Weber will be back in the lineup after missing one game with a bruised finger. Ruff would not say for sure, but it's expected that the Sabres will scratch Chris Butler and a forward (either Nathan Gerbe or Luke Adam) and again go with seven defensemen.

"We've got a chance to play against the best team in the East and we're very much looking forward to this," Weber said. "They're a fast team. You can eliminate some of that speed with physical play down low but you can't run out of position and give them opportunities where they can jump by us."

The Flyers have seven forwards with at least 10 goals, led by the 21 of ex-Sabre Daniel Briere, who was snubbed in today's all-star picks. The Sabres have just two 10-goal fowards (Thomas Vanek has 16 and Drew Stafford has 14).

"They might have the best corps of offensive players," Ruff said. "They've been able to win tight games, been able to win shootouts. Their defense has played well too. Even with [Chris] Pronger out, other guys have stepped in and played well for them."

Asked if Philly's corps of centers are the best in the league, Ruff said, "I think it's pretty close. You might argue Detroit has a couple that are pretty good too. Overall on the offensive side, it's a very creative group."

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Mike Harrington delivers the latest updates from HSBC Arena, where injured Derek Roy spoke with the media today for the first time since tearing his quad tendon on Dec. 23.

--Lauren Nicole Mariacher

Injured center Derek Roy spoke to the media this morning for the first time since suffering his torn quad tendon Dec. 23 against Florida. Roy, who limped into the interview room and was walking with a cane, said surgery on the tendon went well and he's embarking on minor rehab work. The timetable remains 4-6 months although Roy refused to completely rule himself out if the Sabres made a deep run into the playoffs. Of course, the Sabres have a lot of work to do to ever get to that point.

Roy was injured when he was run into the boards by Florida's Dmitry Kulikov. His leg took blunt trauma as he slid into the boards.

"I felt a sharp pain and started skating around and I said, "I might want to get off the ice,' " Roy recalled. "Once I started walking on it, it's a little different putting pressure on it. I came to the room and they couldn't figure out what was going on and spotted the tendon was gone."

"It's tough because you spend all summer getting ready for the season and 35 games into the season, you're out for the rest of it," Roy said. "... You run in the boards a lot and nothing happens. And all of a sudden that one time and you're out for the season. It's definitely tough."

The Sabres are back on the HSBC Arena ice for their first practice here since Dec. 22, prior to the World Junior Championships. Mike Weber, injured in San Jose, skated on his own before practice and we'll wait for an update from Lindy Ruff on his status.

(Post-practice update: Ruff said Weber is day-to-day and has not been ruled out for Tuesday's game against Philadelphia. Kaleta remains on the shelf.)

Click below for the complete audio of Roy's session with reporters.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Clearing the notebook now that the World Juniors are out of town and we can return to the NHL schedule:

---The Sabres return to practice today in HSBC Arena in the midst of a 4-0-1 run that has them back to .500 at halfway mark of the season (18-18-5). They're 10th in the East, eight points behind Boston and Montreal.

---The Penguins have one goal in two games without Sidney Crosby. And it's likely he'll be out a few more games as well so they have to figure out where to get some offense. They host the Bruins tonight on Versus.

---Things are no better for the Bruins with David Krejci underperforming, Milan Lucic slumping, and Marc Savard a shade of his former self. 

---Have you checked the Western Conference standing lately? Four points separate No. 4 Nashville from No. 12 St. Louis (From 4-12 in the East is an 18-point difference!). The defending champion Blackhawks have climbed from 12th to sixth just by winning the last two games. They beat the Islanders, 5-0, on Sunday and announced before the game that they'll put up statues for ex-Chicago greats Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull outside the United Center. Move over, Michael Jordan.

---Things are really bad in San Jose, where the Sharks were shut out again Sunday by the Ducks and have dropped to 11th place in the West. They've lost four straight games and have been shut out twice in the last three (by Ryan Miller and Jonas Hiller). Worse yet, they have just five goals in their last five games.

---In a last farewell to the World Juniors, the ratings for Wednesday's Canada-Russia final were astonishing north of the border. A record audience of 6.88 million viewers watched on TSN and its French counterpart, RDS. The audience peaked at 9.3 million viewers during the third period. The 6.23 million who watched on TSN marked the highest audience ever for the network, Canada's equivalent of ESPN.

If you missed any of our World Juniors coverage, be sure to check out our special section on this site.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- With the Sabres at midseason, here's your chance to give a shout for a few awards. (I used shout instead of vote because Otis Day and the Knights are playing after the Auburn pep rally today. Otis, my man!) 

---John Vogl

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Greetings again from sunny Scottsdale, where I'm just finishing up the Sabres' midseason report. They hit the halfway point Saturday night with a 2-1 overtime victory against Phoenix.

Here are a few stats through the first 41 games:

*Sabres rank 23rd in the NHL in points (41) and points percentage (.500).

*They rank tied for 21st in goals allowed (2.9) and 18th in goals (2.6).

*They are 22nd in one-goal games (9-7-5), and that includes a 4-0 record in shootouts.

*Their power play ranks 17th at 16.9 percent, though it has struck in four straight and nine of 12.

*Derek Roy, despite being lost to injury in late December, remains the top scorer. Drew Stafford, Jordan Leopold and Thomas Vanek have produced, while Rob Niedermayer, Nathan Gerbe, Paul Gaustad and Mike Grier have not.

*Ryan Miller ranks 24th in goals-against average (2.62) and 21st in save percentage (.913).

---John Vogl

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Technically, the Sabres are not .500. They are 18-18, but they also have five losses after regulation. Still, they haven't been even in the win-regulation loss columns since they were 1-1, so they'll take it after a 2-1 overtime win against Phoenix.

"It’s huge, not only to cap off our first big road trip, and also we’re back at .500 here," said Drew Stafford, who scored the winner with 1:48 left in OT to make the Sabres 2-0-1 on their road trip. "We had a good step there. It’s just a matter of carrying into home play next week."

The Sabres will have to do it for a while without defensemen Mike Weber, who was replaced by Chris Butler for tonight's game.

"Weber blocked a shot in the San Jose game and got hurt," coach Lindy Ruff said. "He’s going to be out a period of time. I don’t know exactly how long. It’s one of those upper body, outer extremity things."

---John Vogl

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Greetings from the amazing desert, where we'll get to more about mountain climbing, Buffalo transplants and Twitter when I get caught up with the Sabres Notebook and other matters, but first some breaking news as the Sabres and Coyotes take the ice. The Coyotes are going with backup goaltender Jason LaBarbera rather than Ilya Bryzgalov, who was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy last season.

Bryzgalov missed the Coyotes' previous game for personal matters but was expected to play tonight. Instead, he's backing up LaBarbera, who shut out Colorado on Thursday.

More when the puck drops.

FIRST PERIOD

8:01 p.m.: Lineup sheet is out, with the Sabres making a swith. Mike Weber is out and Chris Butler is in. Nathan Gerbe is the healthy scratch, while Patrick Kaleta is out with his hand/wrist injury. Butler hasn't played since Dec. 18. Weber practiced Friday.

8:06 p.m.: The start of the game will be delayed briefly as the Coyotes salute defenseman Ed Jovanovski, who recently played his 1,000th game. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, who was Jovanovski's assistant coach in Florida, came out early to watch the ceremony while the Sabres stayed in the dressing room for most of it.

8:12 p.m.: Strong national anthem sung by Michael Wieser, who is a season-ticket holder. I guess that's one way to market hockey in the desert -- buy tickets, sing the anthem! Really, though, he was good. There will be a lot of noise for the Sabres --- puck drops and "Let's Go, Buffalo!" roars through.

There are a lot of Western New York transplants in the house, including good friends Tom and Tracy Doody, Jason Bohen, Sue Borczynski, Kim Lawrence and her fiance, Tony. Looking forward to a fast game so I can join them for sodas. Ha! Actually, a fast game would be good for deadlines, too.

8:20 p.m.: Wish granted early. Game is flying with few whistles. It's 0-0 with 14:39 left.

8:21 p.m.: Blue and Gold really took over the arena area this afternoon from all the blue and orange, and green, yellow and neon lime that Auburn and Oregon wear. Still a lot of that, too.

8:23 p.m.: First commercial comes with 13:09 left, score at 0-0 and the Sabres holding a 3-1 shot edge. So I wore an Auburn hat this afternoon while Tom and I climbed Camelback Mountain, and it got a lot of "War Eagle" shouts from the other climbers. And, man, was that mountain packed. There were more people on it today than the two other times I reached the summit combined (and then some). Very nice day for it, though, with sun blazing and temps in the high 50s. You work up a sweat, so that was perfect.

8:26 p.m.: Coyotes get the first power play, with Jason Pominville off for hooking with 12:05 left.

8:28 p.m.: Sabres kill the infraction with only one shot allowed.

8:34 p.m.: "Goooose" chant echoes as Paul Gaustad works the puck below the goal line with 6:52 left. No score. Shots are 5-2 Buffalo. 

8:37 p.m.: The Sabres get a power play with 4:40 left as Phoenix captain Shane Doan heads to the box. Shots are 6-4 for Buffalo. Just heard Seattle beat New Orleans.

8:39 p.m.: A Phoenix fan named Kasandra just got engaged on the Kiss Cam (hi RC).

8:41 p.m.: LaBarbera stops Andrej Sekera and Jason Pominville to help kill the penalty.

8:45 p.m.: Solid pressure by the Sabres, but the teams hit intermission scoreless. The Sabres hold a 13-6 edge in shots.

SECOND PERIOD

9:03 p.m.: And they're back. Some goals would be nice to allow me to get some running to have a story possibly ready by 10:20 deadline. Good thing Saturday nights are the latest deadlines of the week.

9:06 p.m.: Nice save by LaBarbera on Shaone Morrisonn with 18 minutes left.

9:10 p.m.: Still no score with 15:01 to go. Sabres' shot edge cut to 16-10.

9:13 p.m.: the Sabres head to the first commercial with a power play upcoming, with the Coyotes' Wojtek Wolski earning a tripping call with 13:34 left. So Doody and I hit the daily double today, with post-hiking lunch at my favorite restaurant in North America, The Mission in Scottsdale. As always, ridiculously good. Quality custom-made guacamole, decent mango and jimaca salad and fantastic pork shoulder tacos.

9:15 p.m.: The Sabres score just eight seconds in the power play. Jordan Leopold gets his career-high 10th goal, firing from the point through Thomas Vanek's screen with 13:26 to go.

9:17 p.m.: Miller keeps it 1-0 with a great golve save on a wide-open Shane Doan with 12:57 left.

9:22 p.m.: The Coyotes will return from the second commercial with a power play. Luke Adam is called for tripping with 9:35 left. The Sabres' shot edge has been trimmed to 19-18.

9:27 p.m.: Hard-charging Coyotes tie the game with 7:29 to go, just after Adam's penalty expires. Adrian Aucoin's shot from the point bounces off Miller's pad directly to Scottie Upshall, who buries it into an open net. Coyotes take a 20-19 shot edge.

9:29 p.m.: The Sabres head into the final commercial tied, 1-1, with 5:40 left. Phoenix now has a 22-19 shot edge.

9:38 p.m.: The Sabres limp into the dressing room still tied at 1-1. The Coyotes took 19 of the period's 26 shots.

THIRD PERIOD

9:54 p.m.: The Sabres are 4-1-4 when tied after two periods. The Coyotes are 1-1-3.

10:01 p.m.: Big rise from the crowd of 13,905 as Mike Grier buries Doan with 15 minutes left. It's still tied.

10:07 p.m.: It's still 1-1 with 11:48 left. Shots are 29-24, Phoenix. I can tell already because of the time crunch my Twitter story will have to wait till another game, unfortunately.

10:11 p.m.: Solid scoring chances by the line of Drew Stafford, Jochen Hecht and Tyler Ennis, but it remains 1-1 with 8:48 to go.

10:16 p.m.: Leopold goes for hooking with 6:48 to go.

10:22 p.m.: Butler heads to the penalty box with 2:36 after getting a high-sticking call. The Coyotes hold a 32-28 shot edge in the 1-1 game.

10:27 p.m.: It's off to overtime, 1-1. Shots still 32-28.

OVERTIME

10:29 p.m.: So long, first edition. Hello, OT.

11:21 p.m.: Oooops, Stafford scores with 1:48 left to give Sabres a 2-1 win.

---John Vogl

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Sabres will use this morning to meet and rest as they prepare to face Phoenix and attempt to close their road trip with a 2-0-1 record. There will be no morning skate.

Although there's a game, not many folks out here would notice. The painted desert has turned shades of orange and blue, and green, yellow and neon lime. The area is pigskin crazy as college football's national championship game is Monday between Oregon and Auburn (War Eagle! says the guy who spent 18 months just down the road from the Loveliest Village on the Plains and covered the Tigers for the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer in 2000).

It should be an interesting few days, for sure (and yes, I'm staying for the game). First, though, my fellow Frontier grad Tom Doody and I will climb Camelback Mountain for the third time in three years. Gotta love the NHL schedule makers!

As for other hockey news:

*Jochen Hecht will enter Jobing.com Arena on one of the best runs of his career, a six-game point streak that overlaps the Sabres' four-game unbeaten streak. He's been getting increased minutes in the middle with Roy gone, and for the most part he's making it work.

*Lindy Ruff would eventually like to be a general manager, but the short-term goal is to win No. 501 as a coach tonight against the Coyotes, which would push Ruff into a tie with Pat Burns for 14th place. Ruff reached 500 wins in 1,024 games, all with the Sabres.

"That longevity with one team speaks for itself; 500 wins speaks for itself," Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said to the Arizona Republic. "He's one of the top coaches in this league. The ability of a coach to change his message, make sure he's got all his players on board, that's a lot easier said than done.

"For one coach to stay in one place that long, deal with a lot of the same players over that length, that speaks volumes about his ability to a interact with people, to coach different kinds of people and find wins with people."

*Vancouver, which beat Edmonton, 6-1, set a franchise record by going unbeaten in regulation for 15 games (13-0-2), and established a new mark for its best 20-game stretch at 17-1-2. The Canucks remain first overall in the NHL with 59 points, and host Detroit (57 points) today with top spot on the line.

*Clarke MacArthur didn't want the game to end. He was having too much fun. "It was one of those games when every shot is going in," he said after the Toronto Maple Leafs' 9-3 rout of the Atlanta Thrashers on Friday night. "Everything worked against them."

*Although he traded his captain, Jamie Langenbrunner, to the Dallas Stars for a conditional second-round draft pick on Friday, New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello dismissed talk that the last-place team is in a rebuilding phase.

"I despise the word 'rebuilding,'" Lamoriello said in a conference call. "We have to look at the reasons why we're in this position. Maybe it's talent. Maybe it's chemistry. We have to be very careful and look at the big picture."

Lamoriello did not rule out future deals, but did emphatically deny any thoughts of trading All-Star goaltender Martin Brodeur, who has been a careerlong Devil and led the franchise to three Stanley Cup titles.

---John Vogl

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Greetings from the beautiful Phoenix area, where the Sabres held a brief practice today. Nothing to report from their session in Glendale, with status quo expected for their game Saturday against the Coyotes.

The Sabres are 3-0-1 in their past four games, and the wins are part of a six-game point streak for Jochen Hecht (three goals, four assists).

"I put the work in, and to finally get rewarded is a nice feeling," he said today. "It’s helped the team get a little bit of a winning streak going."

---John Vogl

SJC -- Good morning -- good early morning -- from San Jose Airport, where they gouge you $3.49 for a Vitamin Water. That's easily the worst of the 29 NHL airports (plus the large number I've hit through leisure travel). I should've gone to SFO.

Anyway, here are some notes sent by one of the finest media relations staffs in the league, the Sharks (Boston and Washington are up there, too), about Thursday's 3-0 win by the Sabres:

*Dany Heatley set a franchise record with 11 shots on goal. The previous record for shots in a game was 10, most recently achieved by Devin Setoguchi on Nov. 11, 2008 vs. Nashville.

*Ryan Miller’s shutout (20th of his career) is the first shutout for Buffalo against San Jose in the all-time series (28 games).

*Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan: “Let’s talk about the first period, we go back a couple days I sat in that locker room and I listened to a group of players and coaches talk about their team and how important starts are and how they were going to come prepared, and we get that, that’s pretty disappointing.”

“That sums up our game the first team that played the first period unacceptable, after that not a bad effort but way too late, it’s that simple.”

“When you’re sloppy defensively and you’re not committed defensively you usually don’t execute offensively.”

---John Vogl

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Lindy Ruff is thrilled his 500th win came during a convincing 3-0 win over San Jose, one in which the Sabres showed they can be a really good team when they play from start to finish.

"That might be one of our best games of the year in all-out compete level," said Ruff, who became the 16th coach to get halfway to 1,000. "It means I’ve had a lot of good players to get to that point. To get 500 with [General Manager Darcy Regier] at the same time and be with one organization, the organization I grew up playing in is special."

Ryan Miller was at his best since early December, but he credited the team for his third shutout of the season.

"We had a nice night," he said. "No real odd-man rushes, no tough chances on their power play. They had a few looks, but when you have help around you, I can commit to my reads and it turns into a night when our zone is a little more organized."

The Sabres are 3-0-1 in their past four games and head to Phoenix to play the Coyotes on Saturday.

"I think we’ve played pretty well for the last four or five games," Rob Niedermayer said. "It was pretty complete efforts. We’ve just got to keep pushing like this and give ourselves a chance every night."

---John Vogl

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- I'm not going to complain because it's been a great day in San Francisco/San Jose, but really ... middle of Silicon Valley and Internet takes 30 minutes to work?

Anyway the game's already started so ...

FIRST PERIOD

10:44 p.m.: It's 0-0 with 16:20 left and the Sabres are about to kill a Shaone Morrisonn interference call. Same lineup as last two games, with Nathan Gerbe and Chris Butler scratched. Craig Rivet is the seventh defenseman.

10:46 p.m.: Morrisonn draws one with 14:49 to go, as Torrey Mitchell goes for tripping.

10:50 p.m.: Sabres get 12 seconds of a five-on-three as Joe Thornton goes for hooking.

10:51 p.m.: It's back to five-on-four for the Sabres, who got the second power play with 13 minutes left.

10:52 p.m.: The Sharks' Logan Couture almost scores short-handed with 12:08 left after streaking toward Ryan Miller, who makes the save. The power play is over, though, as Drew Stafford was called for hooking on the odd-man situation. It'll be four-on-four for 1:09 when they come back from commercial.

10:53 p.m.: While the penalties are getting killed so far, one thing that didn't get killed today was my wallet, surprisingly. The San Francisco Giants are one of only two sports teams I like (the University of Michigan is the other), and I figured I'd spend a ton at AT&T Park today. Nope. No good sales, but got five cool World Series champs things nonetheless.

10:56 p.m.: Active end-to-end sequence with the Sharks' Antero Niittymaki making a pad save on Andrej Sekera, and Tyler Myers sweeping away a Patrick Marleau poke chance that was headed toward the Buffalo net with 10:35 to go.

10:58 p.m.: Ryane Clowe, who was mad at his team this week and blasted its effort, takes out a lot of frustration on Mike Weber. Clowe obliterated him in the one-sided fight with 9:40 left, with Weber skating to the penalty box with a bloody mouth and jersey. Weber did better against George Parros of Anaheim recently, and he lost that one, too, so you can imagine how bad this one was.

11:01 p.m.: Tyler Ennis keeps his stick out of the way this time as Luke Adam scores to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead with 9:17 left. Niittymaki makes pad save on Cody McCormick blast, and Adam backhands the rebound home from the slot.

11:05 p.m.: Miller makes a nice blocker save on Jamal Mayers with 5:52 left to keep it 1-0.

11:06 p.m.: Last commercial comes with Sabres holding a 1-0 lead and 10-8 shot edge with 4:54 to go. So did the usuals in San Fran (walked Golden Gate Bridge, stopped for some quick Dungeness crab in Fisherman's Wharf), but also made a trip to somewhere new -- the aptly named Grand View Park. If you get the chance, go. It's high atop a hill in the middle of the area, and you look down at downtown on the right, the Golden Gate straight ahead and the Pacific Ocean on the left. Awesome.

11:08 p.m.: Rivet raps one off the post with 4:47 left.

11:11 p.m.: It's 11:11 -- make a wish. If you wished for Jochen Hecht to give the Sabres a 2-0 lead with 3:24 to go, nice job. Hecht comes off the right boards to the slot, shoots past a diving Niclas Wallin and past Niittymaki.

11:14 p.m.: Steve Montador gets called for high-sticking with 1:56 to go.

11:15 p.m.: The power play lasts just 16 seconds as Dan Boyle gets whistled for holding the stick with 1:40 left. It's four-on-four again.

11:18 p.m.: The Sabres head to the dressing room with a 2-0 lead, as both teams have 12 shots.

SECOND PERIOD

11:35 p.m.: The teams are back, and after 20 seconds they are both back at full strength.

11:38 p.m.: The Sabres, faced with a tired fivesome on an icing, call timeout with 17:52 to go.

11:40 p.m.: Boyle trips his buddy Mike Grier with 17:13 left to give the Sabres another power play.

11:42 p.m.: The Sabres strike again to take a 3-0 lead with 16:29 to go. It's similar to the power-play goal from last game, with Jordan Leopold feeding Drew Stafford along the goal line, and Stafford quickly finding Thomas Vanek at the top of the crease for the goal.

11:51 p.m.: A longgggggggggggggggggg run without a whistle finds the Sabres still up, 3-0, with 8:58 to go. The spirited run got the fans going. Miller made a nice blocker save on Benn Ferriero alone in front with 11:25 to go, and he also stymied nemesis Dany Heatley with 9:35 left.

11:57 p.m.: It's starting to get cold in here, but we'll be Phoenix in the morning! There's 7 minutes left.

12:02 p.m.: The final commercial comes with 3:22 left and Hecht headed to the box for interference. It's still 3-0, with the Sharks holding a 23-17 shot edge.

12:07 p.m.: Sabres kill the penalty.

12:10 p.m.: Sharks exit to boos and a 3-0 deficit. They do have a 25-17 shot edge, not that it matters so far.

THIRD PERIOD

12:27 a.m.: The Sabres are 10-1 when leading after two periods. Game on.

12:32 p.m.: Sellout crowd of 17,562 cheers as Mike Grier heads to box for delay of game with 16:51 left. Miller immediately stones Heatley again.

12:36 p.m.: Grier sits the whole two minutes as the Sabres kill the penalty.

12:40 p.m.: Niittymaki stops Vanek's blast with 9:45 left to keep it 3-0. Again, few whistles as teams are flying.

12:45 p.m.: Miller's best performance since his back-to-back shutouts in early December has the Sabres 5:34 away from a 3-0 victory.

12:55 p.m.: The Sabres, who despite getting outshot played well from start to finish, run their unbeaten streak to four games (3-0-1) with a 3-0 victory.

---John Vogl

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks are finishing their morning skate for tonight's game against the Sabres, and it appears Antero Niittymaki will get the start in goal. Fellow netminder Antti Niemi is still on the ice getting extra work with the Sharks' scratches.

Niittymaki is 12-4-3 this season with a 2.44 goals-against average and .905 save percentage. He is 0-3-2 in seven appearances against the Sabres, with a 4.33 GAA and .851 save percentage.

Niemi's only career appearance against the Sabres was the Sharks' 6-3 loss in Buffalo in December.

---John Vogl