Sully on Sports

Welcome to the chat. Let's roll.Thanks for chatting and have a Happy New Year. Talk to you next week.

I'll be doing a chat at 1 p.m. today. It'll be conventional version only. Tim Graham is under the weather today and can't participate. It's a short week and I have to work on Sunday column (my annual ode to Tom Brady), so I'll hold it to around 90 minutes.

Tonight's game against Washington is the 21st of the season for the Sabres at First Niagara Center. That means they'll be more than halfway through their home schedule at the end of the night. They're 8-9-3 in their refurbished home, hardly the record you would expect from a Stanley Cup contender.

So it's not early anymore, and the time for excuses is over. The Sabres are 11th in the Eastern Conference. They need to make a move soon or they'll be fighting for their playoff lives in the tightly bunched East. They haven't won consecutive games since Nov. 8-11. Tonight begins a stretch of four games in six nights after the Christmas break. Brad Boyes and Jochen Hecht are expected back from injury. Thomas Vanek should be ready to play. This would be a good time for them to hit their long-awaited stride.

"You hope," Lindy Ruff said after the morning skate. "We really do  have to put a run together. I think getting some bodies back should help. It starts with one game. I thought the Toronto game here at home was a pretty good indication. This game tonight, it's going to be a big game for us."

The Sabres are mired in a three-game losing streak, their first three-game regulation skid of the season. The Capitals, whose underachieving ways got coach Bruce Boudreau a pink slip, are one point ahead of the Sabres in the East with 36 points. These are the sort of games that can be decisive in a conference where teams are separated by just a few points.

It would be nice if the Sabres had any discernible advantage in front of their home crowd. Really, how can you take a team seriously when it loses 60 percent of its home games?

Sorry for the late notice. Tim Graham and I will be doing a one-hour video chat at around 1 p.m. today.

Bring it.Thanks for chatting. Not sure if we'll do one next week due to the holiday. Maybe a shorter version.

I'll be chatting live from the News today at 1. Bring your best stuff. I hear there might be divine intervention at work today. I'm figuring a solid two hours at least.

Time to chat.

Thanks for chatting. We'll do it again next week.

I'll be doing a live chat today at 1 p.m. from the News. Tim Graham is off, so it'll be a print only version. Lots of interesting things to discuss -- and you can bring up the Bills, too, if you insist.

The weekly live video chat with Tim Graham and the subsequent regular chat will return next Friday, Dec. 9.