The Sabres continue to struggle against teams that are close to them in the standings. It is frustrating to watch this team manhandle the Boston Bruins and drop a 2-1 decision just three days later. The stats are listed below...if you dare.

The Stats

Shift Charts

Head-to-Head Ice Time

Corsi/Fenwick Numbers

Scoring Chances - after the jump

Continue reading this post »

The Buffalo Sabres played a great game and they were rewarded with a 3-2 shootout win against the Dallas Stars. It was one of those games when you felt like they were going to come out on the short end despite playing a really good hockey game.

Buffalo trailed 2-0 in the third period against a team that doesn't give up the lead very often. Thomas Vanek deflected a beautiful pass from Jason Pominville to get Buffalo on the board on a rare power play opportunity. Dallas looked like they were going to run out the clock, but Derek Roy punched in a rebound after a nice faceoff win by Paul Gaustad with under a minute left in regulation.

Buffalo looked like they were going to win in overtime but Kari Lehtonen made a miraculous save with one second left. After the near miss in overtime there was a feeling it wasn't meant to be for the Sabres but they eventually came through in the shootout to finish off a big win.

The Stats

Shift Charts

Head-to-Head Ice Time

Corsi/Fenwick Numbers

Scoring Chances - after the jump

Continue reading this post »

The Buffalo Sabres are 24-24-6, the first time they have been psuedo .500 since January 13th when the team's record was 19-19-5. They accomplished this with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Dallas Stars. Nathan Gerbe scored the game winning goal in the shootout.

The Stars were able to take advantage of the first two periods, getting out to a 1-0 lead in the first period. Cody McCormick was called for a roughing penalty at the 17:15 mark of the period and Michael Ryder converted 38 seconds later on a tip in. That would be the only goal that both teams would score in the first two periods. Kari Lehtonen had a handful of impressive saves during the first two periods, including one were he stoned Drew Stafford in front of the net with the glove.

The Dallas Stars are dangerous when heading into the third period with a lead. They came into this game 16-0 when leading after two periods. It looked like they would make it 17-0 when Tomas Vincour found the back of the net 4:17 into the period. Back to back games may have taken a toll on the Stars though as the Sabres tied the game up less than a minute later with a Thomas Vanek power play goal. Derek Roy tied the game with 39 seconds left as he wrists a shot past Lehtonen.

In overtime, it looked like it was going to be all over as Thomas Vanek had a fantastic look in front of the net with a few seconds left but Lehtonen lifted the leg in time and stoned Vanek. In the shootout, Brad Boyes and Nathan Gerbe were able to score for Buffalo while it was Jamie Benn for the Stars.

The Sabres now sit 11th in the conference with 54 points, eight points behind eighth place Toronto. The Sabres have to leapfrog ninth place Washington who have 61 points and 10th place Winnipeg who have 58 points. They have a game in hand on the Maple Leafs and two games in hand on the Jets. While the Sabres have won

Here are your daily Buffalo Sabres links, served up hot and juicy for your viewing pleasure.

- The Sabres continued their winning ways last night, beating Dallas in a shootout. [NHL.com, Defending Big D, Sabres.com, The Buffalo News, WGR]

- It's nice to have Thomas Vanek in the lineup, and he returned to his scoring ways quickly. [The Buffalo News]

- Is it time to send down Luke Adam? Kevin O. from the Rochester D&C thinks so. [D&C]

- Taking a look at the chips the Sabres have to trade with. [Disciples of the Sword]

- The Sabres have partnered with Great Skate to teach parents about buying appropriate and safe hockey equipment for their children. [Sabres.com]

Continue reading this post »

The Buffalo Sabres are coming off their best victory of the season, a 6-0 victory against the Boston Bruins, and next on the docket are the Dallas Stars.

Nothing should change for the Sabres from Wednesday night and that includes the coaches behind the bench as well. Head coach Lindy Ruff was in good spirits when he talked to the media after the game on Wednesday. During that conference, he had mentioned that he isn't able to coach behind the bench due to his inability to yell the lines out. That means that James Patrick will continue to serve the role as in game head coach.

As for the roster, the only possible change comes with winger Thomas Vanek. Vanek has missed the last three games with an upper body injury and worked out with the team on Thursday in practice. Vanek is looking to get himself back in the lineup but it may not be in his normal spot on the first line, which he joked about with the Buffalo News:

"Geez, life goes on," he said slowly with a smile. "The line's been playing well. The three games I missed the team played great. For me, it's just to try and find a spot in the lineup then work myself up again."

The Stars are coming into this game having defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 on Thursday. Jamie Benn scored twice for Dallas and Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves in the winning effort. Due to the back-to-back situation, we expect the Stars to start Richard Bachman in net. Bachman is 6-3-1 this season with a 2.72 goals against average and. 912 save percentage. Bachman is 0-2-1 in his last three decisions though with his last victory coming on January 7th against the Edmonton Oilers. The only major injury for the Stars has been Brenden Morrow who has been out for the last week with an upper body injury.

The stars may be aligning for the Sabres tonight as well. The Stars are 0-8-1 this season in the second night of a back to back situation and they haven't won a regular season game in Buffalo since October 7, 1997. Game time is 7:30 pm.

Let's change things up a bit once again and hope it translates into another Sabres blowout, this time against Dallas tonight.

Here's a preview of tonight's game [NHL.com] and hopefully we'll see the return of Thomas Vanek. [Sabres Edge]

Buffalo's offense is on a mini-hot streak [TBN] while their assistant coaches are doing a great job filling in for Lindy Ruff. [TBN]

Jhonas Enroth has a new mask. [Sabres.com]

Jochen Hecht is going to have neck surgery, but may still return this season. Hm. [WGR]

Some folks aren't happy that the Sabres have decided to start winning [Swordplay] or are just having trouble rooting for them at all. [DGWU Sports]

Amerks blogger Keith Wozniak is really liking the way that Marcus Foligno is shaping up [Let's Go Amerks] and a bunch of prospects scored last night [Sabres Prospects]

Continue reading this post »