It's amazing how much difference a week makes. The Sabres beat Montreal 4-1 last Friday November 16 and now just over a week later they are on a four game winning streak, beating Montreal three times and Ottawa once. Does this mean that the Sabres are out of their slump? I don't know for sure but they have been doing enough to win. They have scored some goals and the goaltending has been outstanding. Ryan Miller has been great and last night Jocelyn Thibault made 24 saves for the shutout. Last night was one of the best games the Sabres have played all season, to go into Montreal and win the second half of a home and home was a big step for this squad.
The funny thing about this little winning streak is that they haven't played that well in some of the games. The Sabres started out November losing six out of seven games but they weren't playing all that poorly. The two games that really come to mind are the Toronto game and one game against Boston, Buffalo was by far the better team but came out on the short end of both games. Andrew Raycroft was outstanding as the Maple Leafs beat Buffalo 3-0 and Tim Thomas made 45 saves in the Bruins 2-1 victory over Buffalo. Those two games really stand out because I thought the team played well but the fans and media started to really put the pressure on at this point.
This win streak shows us one important thing, this team will not quit. They could have easily folded their tents and packed it in when they were playing well and losing but instead they seemed to work harder. In the 4-1 win against Montreal last Friday Clarke MacArthur scored a goal to put Buffalo up 1-0 and that seemed to spark some confidence in this team and they haven't looked back.
The Sabres still sit in last place in the Northeast division but they have gone on a streak against the first and second place teams so they have obviously gained some confidence. It will be interesting to see how they respond to playing against the Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues. It is easy to get up for games against the Canadiens and Senators but this team can't afford to take nights off, they need to continue playing every night.