The losing streak is over. And how. Final score… Buffalo 10, Atlanta 1. 

Maybe it was some freaky karma… Lindy Ruff opting out of the morning skate and letting his assistants do the work. Or perhaps it was a pregame event lineup change, with State Trooper Dan Brown bringing down the house singing the national anthems, looking and sounding much like Ottawa’s famed Lyndon Slewidge.But throw out silly superstitions and it was Buffalo’s determined play right from the get go…it was 3-0 Buffalo after 6 minutes, and 4-0 after 10, with “Mr. September” Derek Roy netting two goals. Atlanta goaltender Johan Hedberg was then pulled in favor of Kari Lehtonen, although Hedberg would return in the third period. 

Buffalo would add to their lead in the second., with Jochen Hecht getting his 15^th goal of the season. Derek Roy then made it 6-1 with his third of the night, a tip in while airborne in the crease, although he was not credited with this goal until after the game. Roy had not yet learned of his hat trick feat when we spoke afterwards. “Yeah I was trying for that third goal late, just saying to myself if it happens it happens” said Roy. Thomas Vanek, who had one of his best games in a long long time, then added a power play goal late in the period to make it 7-1. The other highlight of the period was a fight between Sabres defenseman Nolan Pratt and the Thrasher’s Chris Thornburn. Thornburn had intervened in the initial war of words between Pratt and Garnet Exelby, and Pratt managed to land the majority of punches on Thornburn. 

In the third period, the Sabres killed off a 5 on 3 disadvantage for almost two full minutes, before Buffalo made it 8-1 on Stafford’s second of the night. The hats then flew a few minutes later when Stafford scored again to make it 9-1 with just over 8 minutes to play.By then the throaty crowd dispensed with the “1..2..3…” goal countdown and went the short route… “We want 10! We want 10!” Buffalo was awarded a full 4 minute 5 on 3 advantage after Eric Boulton was tossed for taking out two Buffalo players on six cheap shot punches. Buffalo played around with the puck and even had Vanek on the point for a portion of the power play, but got nothing out of it. A subsequent penalty was called on Atlanta giving yet another 5 on 3, and this time Ales Kotalik’s one timer made it 10-1 and that would be all the scoring for the night. 

The locker room felt like a mix of jubilation and relief, with big smiles all around the room. “We really needed this one to set the tone” said Nathan Paetsch. “I think we can head into Toronto now with a good feeling and kind of have the monkey off our back.” Paetsch admitted that he is looking very forward to the first game of the year at the Air Canada Centre tomorrow. “Hockey Night in Canada was a mainstay of my growing up years. The game is on across Canada tomorrow isn’t it?” (Yes it is Nathan.) 

Lindy Ruff was very matter of fact about the entire team’s effort during this excruciating streak which ended tonight. “I wish some of those bounces were a week ago… a few days ago” said Ruff. “we got some breaks tonight… Derek (Roy) gave us a big boost… It was an ugly streak but it was not an ugly effort during that streak.” When asked about why he started the Mair-Ryan-Kaleta line, Ruff replied “I wanted some energy right off the bat. I wanted to get the building into it.” One bit of bad news… Michael Ryan took a hit to the face in the last minute and was immediately taken to the dressing room. He took some stitches and has vision problems and will be examined by an ophthalmologist tomorrow. He may end up missing some time. 

So the Sabres head to Toronto tonight and will take on the Leaves in the first of four matchups at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday. This will be the start of a seven game road trip across the continent, and we won’t see the boys back home until February 6. But if you’re really desperate to see some action on the ice, Disney’s “High School Musical” comes to the H for seven performances!  

RSS 2.0 Respond Trackback