The month of March began with plenty of skepticism regarding the Buffalo Sabres and their ability of winning the Northeast Division. February was by far the worst month of the season for the Sabres and March began where February left off. The Sabres struggled in games against the Pens and Caps coming off the Olympic break but they have turned things around in a big way in recent weeks.
The Sabres are now comfortably ahead in the Northeast Division and they currently sit in second place in the Eastern Conference. The best sign for the team is getting production from their top players. All season we wondered where the high priced players were and they have responded in recent weeks.
March Goal Scoring
| 5-on-5 | 5-on-4 | 5-on-3 | 4-on-4 | 4-on-3 | 3-on-3 | 3-on-4 | 3-on-5 | 4-on-5 | EN | PS | |
| Goals For | 32 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Goals Against | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 |
| Home | Away | |
| Games | 8 | 8 |
| Goals For | 28 | 26 |
| Goals Against | 20 | 18 |
| PP Goals | 6 | 4 |
| PP Goals Against | 3 | 5 |
| SH Goals | 0 | 1 |
| SH Goals Against | 0 | 0 |
Individual Stats
| # | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PPG | SHG | Corsi | Corsi/Game | Corsi +/- Last Month |
| 4 | Steve Montador | D | 15 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 3.07 | 44 |
| 5 | Toni Lydman | D | 16 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0.44 | 25 |
| 9 | Derek Roy | C | 16 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 33 | 2.06 | 24 |
| 10 | Henrik Tallinder | D | 16 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 1.50 | 33 |
| 13 | Tim Kennedy | C | 16 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -15 | -0.94 | 9 |
| 17 | Raffi Torres | LW | 8 | 0 | 5 | 5 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1.13 | – |
| 19 | Tim Connolly | C | 13 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.38 | 2 |
| 21 | Drew Stafford | RW | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.30 | -6 |
| 22 | Adam Mair | C | 16 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 24 | 0 | 0 | -21 | -1.31 | -25 |
| 25 | Mike Grier | RW | 16 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -9 | -0.56 | -10 |
| 26 | Thomas Vanek | LW | 14 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0.71 | -6 |
| 28 | Paul Gaustad | C | 11 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0.64 | -11 |
| 29 | Jason Pominville | RW | 16 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 2.06 | 40 |
| 34 | Chris Butler | D | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1.00 | -37 |
| 36 | Patrick Kaleta | RW | 13 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | -41 | -3.15 | -41 |
| 37 | Matt Ellis | LW | 15 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0.73 | 4 |
| 41 | Clarke MacArthur | LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 4 |
| 42 | Nathan Gerbe | LW | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 5.50 | 11 |
| 44 | Andrej Sekera | D | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -21 | -1.75 | -30 |
| 52 | Craig Rivet | D | 16 | 0 | 3 | 3 | -3 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.63 | 5 |
| 55 | Jochen Hecht | LW | 16 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 54 | 3.38 | 57 |
| 57 | Tyler Myers | D | 16 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 2.44 | 52 |
| 63 | Tyler Ennis | C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 6.00 | 18 |
| # | Player | Pos | GP | W | L | OTL | MIN | GA | GAA | SH | SV | SV% | SO |
| 31 | Ryan Miller | G | 13 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 729 | 29 | 2.38 | 368 | 339 | 0.921 | 0 |
| 40 | Patrick Lalime | G | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 231 | 8 | 2.07 | 105 | 97 | 0.924 | 0 |
The Positives
The overall performance of the team is at an all time high and that is in large part because their best players have been their best players. All season we wondered when Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville would start contributing offensively and they have done that in the month of March.
In addition to the play of the key guys we can not discount the impact of Jochen Hecht (7 goals in the month), Tyler Myers (14 points in the month) and Adam Mair (4 goals in March). Myers has been a key component of the team since October but March may have been his best month of the entire season. So much for him suffering from fatigue in his first NHL season.
Jochen Hecht was a key player for the Sabres in past years but after a disappointing year he didn’t have high expectations this season. He has been one of the most consistent players in 2010. He had seven goals last month and hit the 20 goal mark for only the second time in his long NHL career.
The Negatives
It’s difficult to find too many negatives with the way the team has been playing but the slow starts are an obvious concern. They have fallen behind in the early going too often and come playoff time it might not be as easy to come back from a one or to goal deficit.
It may not be a reflection of the teams on ice performance recently but the recent injuries are an obvious negative. Other players have stepped up in recent games but Tim Connolly, Thomas Vanek and Patrick Kaleta will all be counted on in the playoffs if the Sabres hope to advance deep into the spring.
Player of the Month
Jason Pominville
#29 / Right Wing / Buffalo Sabres
6-0
186
Nov 30, 1982
Monthly Stats: 16GP 8G-8A-16PTS