Some horrible giveaways. Some unlucky bounces. A shorthanded goal. For a change, the Buffalo Sabres weren’t on the sorry side of this story, as they played a magnificent game, with passion and intensity, at both ends of the ice to throttle the Carolina Hurricanes, 7-1, before another sellout crowd at HSBC Arena.

Buffalo got rockin’ pretty early on in this one, as Daniel Paille began the scoring early in the first, and then Adam Mair made it 2-0 Buffalo just 22 seconds later on a cross ice pass.

Derek Roy scored a short handed goal at the 10:51 mark on a two on one break following yet another bad giveaway from Carolina at the other end. Paul Gaustad then made it 4-0 on a bouncer in the goal mouth. The Sabres penalty kill was solid, facing back to back to back calls which at one point would have made them two men short, had the Hurricane’s Matt Cullen not taken a stupid unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, after arguing being thrown out of the faceoff circle.

The Sabres scored two more goals in the second period to make it 6-0, first by Patrick Kaleta, his 3rd of the season as he crashed the net, then later in the period Derek Roy got his second of the game after Danny Paille worked the puck up to him on a nifty up ice play. Those looking for Kaleta’s trademark “Leap” were left a bit disappointed, however. “Yeah I kinda cut it in half” Kaleta explained after the game. “I wanted to celebrate the goal with my teammates and I was down on my knees when the puck went in.” Kaleta gave assurances that he has not abandoned The Leap.

It could have been worse for Carolina… Maxim Afinogenov was at the end of a tic tac toe move on the power play and had nothing but net, and shot the puck squarely on the post. Roy had a shorthanded breakaway opportunity but could not get the puck past ‘Canes reliever John Grahame.

Frustrations started to boil for the Hurricanes in the 3rd… Goaltender John Grahame earned a penalty for his dumb slash on Daniel Paille, then minutes later Tim Conboy took on Buffalo’s Adam Mair, and for a change it was Mair dishing out most of the punishment. Both earned 5 minute fighting majors, with Conboy earning an extra five minute major for “interference” as well as a well deserved game misconduct. Mair earned the game’s first star, scoring three points and being a force on the ice all night long.

Buffalo promptly went to snooze mode on that man advantage, and surrendered a goal on a two on one break to spoil Ryan Miller’s shutout bid. Ales Kotalik added a late power play goal into an open net, and this game would end 7-1 Buffalo.

The Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers both won tonight to keep pace one point behind the Sabres, while Buffalo pulled to within two points of idle Philadelphia. Think tomorrow’s game in Toronto against the surging Leaves isn’t HUGE? “Absolutely” said Toni Lydman, while Derek Roy said “At this point every game is huge.”

Lindy Ruff said after the game “I said this morning that tomorrow’s headline should read ‘desperate team wins game’. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be by far the more desperate team.”

Faceoff tomorrow night at the Air Canada Centre is 7:00PM, with TV coverage from our boys on MSG and viewers across Canada watching on CBC.

-Still beloved… Tonight’s “Spelling Bee” on the HD board asked fans to spell “Jeanneret”. Took about eight takes before someone got it right, and the fans gave Rick Jeanneret one of the loudest ovations of the night when they gave him an appearance on the screen. So what was up with the moron in the next booth flailing his arms and waving like an idiot? It’s not about you pal!

-Best dancer … The usher in the tunnel at Secs 310-311 was in rare form.

-Take off that shirt!… We got plenty of eye candy tonight on the video board, if your thing is bare chested 12 year old boys. Gotta ask - Is the video crew’s newest hire a member of Catholic clergy?

-Our awesome “D”… Andrej Sekera was a +5 and Mike Weber a +4. The Sabres beleaguered defense played a superb game with few glaring giveaways or mental mistakes. “That Mike Funk fella didn’t do too badly either” joked Toni Lydman, well within earshot of Funk, who occupies the next stall in the clubhouse.

-Sabres outscore Carolina 15-2 in two appearances at the H this season.

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