The Sabres held a light practice this morning at HSBC Arena, which looked like an optional skate, and about 15 of the players participated, including all of the reservists (Paetsch, Paille, Peters). Also on the ice was recovering forward Paul Gaustad, wearing the red “non contact” jersey and he was the last one off the ice, participating for about 70 minutes of ice time.

Thomas Vanek said that the Sabres aren’t taking their opponents lightly. “They are a good team and they have been in every single one of these games because they have the talent to do so and have worked to get to that point.” Vanek said that the team has to play smarter and expects to see that on the ice tonight.

I also chatted with Paul Gaustad, starting with the same question he hears five times a day.. “How’s the ankle?” “It’s getting better every day and I am skating with more authority every time” Gaustad replied. His comeback schedule is still up in the air, and his doctors participate with him almost daily to evaluate his progress.

Gaustad admits that he is dying to get out there and compete in the playoffs. “It’s so tough just watching and being helpless to do anything” he said. “But my job and the other guys who aren’t dressing as well have a role to lift our teammates and offer support in any way we can.” Gaustad did make the trip with the team to the Island.

Has the team played its best game? “No”, was the unequivocal response by Lindy Ruff. “We can play a stronger all around game.” He gave props to his defense which he says is maturing nicely, and also shrugged off any questions about the video reviews. “I’m going to continue to stay out of it.”

Islanders Coach Ted Nolan has faced adversity all season, and when asked if the team thrives on the sudden elimination scenario, he replied “we know where we are and we know what we have to do.” He called out his big guns, Yashin and Satan and said he expects more. “Our hitters have to hit, our scorers have to score, everyone has a role.”

He spoke of the changing culture in the Islanders organization, bringing in players such as Sillinger and Smyth and the roles they play in the clubhouse. “That has helped in these do or die situations” Nolan said.

Couple rapid takes -
-Much of the Buffalo media camped out by the Satan stall waiting for his comments. We should have brought our ponchos instead and just joined him in his verrrrrrrry lengthy shower. That interview didn’t happen.

-Markerboardgate update: no lineups in the Isles room on display today, just the bus schedule to the hotel and the buffet time. Judging from the history here, if I’m an Islanders player and the display reads food at 2PM, I’d probably have the number of Jim’s Steakout as a backup plan.

-Chatted with Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star and Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun, both Leafs beat writers and now down here covering the Sabres run. I get the sense they are really rooting for our guys. Probably because they just want to see more hockey. I gave them advice on some good wing places and other restaurants; when I asked them to reciprocate and advise me on where to find a good $6 pitcher of beer in Toronto, one could hear the crickets chirping in the background.

Puck drops at 7:08 or so… I’ve got the pressbox chair tonight; Pete will be in the stands. Let’s hope the boys put an exclamation point on round one with a convincing wih tonight. My heart and my head tells me that will be the case.

NEWS ALERT 5 PM…
New York Islanders defenseman Sean Hill has been suspended 20 games for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program. The suspension begins with tonight’s Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Quarterfinal game against the Buffalo Sabres.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the suspension is accompanied by mandatory referral to the NHL/NHLPA Program for Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health for evaluation and possible treatment.

The Sabres take control of the series in another hard fought game at the Masoleum….err…Coliseum.

Chris Drury tabs a pair of goals for the second time in this series and Jason Pominville adds the critical insurance goal late in the third period as the Sabres survive another last minute Islander goal and a controversial “no goal” late in the third to defeat the pesky Islanders 4-2. With the win they boys in blue and gold take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

The Islanders struck first with a goal by Jason Blake, but the Sabres answered back with goals by Drury and Vanek. All seemed well heading into the opening period’s dying moments until Ryan Smyth was able to grab the puck to negate an icing call and next thing you know…Sillinger puts the puck in the net with a half minute left in the period. Hmmm, where have we seen that before…

But a penalty to Richard Park put the Sabs on the power play to start the second period and they converted with Drury’s second of the night to put them back in front.
The scoring remained that way until a scrum occured in front of the Sabre net with about two minutes left in the third resulting with the puck in the back of the net with what appeared to be the game tying goal….

Not so fast, the referee had blown the whistle(and in later comments) because Miller was shoved into the net with possession of the puck. The play went to Toronto to be reviewed, but since the whistle blew it was considered a non reviewable goal(again, according to an NHL official).

Pominville then struck to ice the game, and down rained the bottles..at least it was better than game 3.

Nolan was adamant in the post game that the goal was a good one. You gotta feel for him, first the Vanek goal in Game 3 and now this. With his scrappy club fighting the top seed tooth and nail it must be frustrating not to get a break here and there.

At the end of the night though, Sabres lead the series 3-1 and head back to Buffalo to attempt to close it out.

Some random thoughts on tonight….

Saw Satan and Yashin arguing the “no goal” call.I think that’s the first time they’ve been heard from all damned series.

Exactly twenty years ago to the day Patty LaLa ends one of the longest postseason games in history with his OT goal to beat the Caps in Game 7 of their Division Semifinal series.

Some boarding call that was on Numminen, Blake got tapped from behind then jumped into the boards…..

Noticed the Tim Horton’s ad on the boards at the left end. Has the Horton’s empire reached the NY Metro area yet???

And the home ice swings back to Buffalo with a hard fought win.

All scoring took place in the second period with Danny Briere connecting on the five on three power play. The Islanders took advantage of some sloppy defensive play late to score a goal in the dying seconds of the period.

Adam Mair opened the scoring with a sweet feed from Chris Drury on a rush, Thomas Vanek made the score 2-0 by jamming the puck into the corner of the net. The play had to be reviewed(for an awful long time) before the officials signaled for the goal.

But the two goal lead disappeared quickly as Trent Hunter got one past Miller’s glove, players around the net seemed to slow up thinking that he had possession, but not Hunter. Briere’s goal came afterward as Max sent two different Islanders to the box on the same rush.

Nice to see that the Sabres kept up the pressure in the third despite not finding the back of the net, hopefully a direct result of the lesson learned from the end of the second.

Things got ugly in the stands as bottles and other junk came flying onto the ice after a penalty was called on Robitaille in the final two minutes. This coming just after an Islander went crashing to the ice(dude was trying to get a call after closer look).

Buffalo won the special teams battle shutting out the Isles while picking up a ppg(Briere) though 1 for 6 isn’t all that impressive and quite frankly one more late in the second or third would have slammed the door shut.

Game four is on Wednesday, hopefully Buffalo takes full control….

Maybe one problem is too many articles in the press like this one in today’s Buffalo News. Heck, even two of us predicted a Sabres sweep in this past week’s Puck Stop column. Perhaps we are just too full of ourselves and a game like this was a cold harsh dose of much needed reality.

But the Sabres blew one big time tonight, and have no one to blame but themselves. “We didn’t play at all for the first 18 minutes” said Lindy Ruff after the game, looking clearly disappointed at his team’s performance tonight.

The Sabres had no legs early on and spotted the Isles a 2-0 lead. Amazingly though, they got stronger as the game went on, and even managed to tie the game early in the third. Rick DiPietro looked very sharp in net however.

The winning goal happened on a power play, after Max Afinogenov got called for hooking Miro Satan on what looked like a very suspect call. After the game Max took full responsibility. “I made a bad choice, and it cost our team. Yes I did commit the penalty” said Max. Lindy would also hear nothing of any sour grapes about the call. “The rule is you don’t put your stick in that spot in the mid section. I don’t care if Miro grabbed it or not…. Hopefully in the course of a long series these types of calls will even themselves out.”

Couple side takes -

A crowd estimated at 1500 watched the game outside on a huge video board assembled as part of the “Party in the Square” event.

After the game we headed out for a couple pops with Matthew and Brian from Metro. Matthew pointed out that, contrary to earlier reports, he did not see Briere participating in the optional skate this morning, and the few guys who did skate seemed to be almost too relaxed and jovial, not the intensity we would hope to see at this point.

Game 3 and 4 happen on the Island Monday and Wednesday… We return for game 5 on Friday, and hopefully our guys will get it all together by then. They’d better.

My cool downtown sports day comes to an end, 14 1/2 hours after I left my house this morning…

Tonight at HSBC Arena the Buffalo Sabres dispatched the New York Islanders 4-1 to take game one of the best of seven series.

Buffalo threw wave after wave of attacks early on, while limiting New York’s chances and allowing only one shot on goal in the first period. Brian Campbell and Chris Drury each netted a pair for Buffalo. New York’s only goal came on a breakdown by Derek Roy, who really should have left the ice for a shift change.

Who’s hot? Dainius frikkin’ Zubrus played like a house on fire tonight, making smart plays, setting up scoring chances and generally looking like the quality forward that Buffalo was hoping to get. “He’s just so happy to be back in the playoffs after a long absence” said Coach Lindy Ruff.

Who’s not? New York’s Miroslav Satan. You think he’d be chomping at the bit to have his top game going… Buffalo, Lindy, Darcy… instead he was a pile of puss out there.

Dubie! Dubie! Gotta tip the hat to Isles goalie Wade Dubielewicz, who faced 35 shots and did an adequate job, but this is not a Stanley Cup goaltender, not by a longshot.

The bombshell was dropped at the postgame press conferences - Goalie Rick DiPietro has been medically cleared to play and Coach Ted Nolan said he would be inserted in practice on Friday, and a decision will be made then on whether he is fit to start in game 2.

Lastly, the fans had their “A” game on big time - raising the roof with noise, waving yellow pom poms, and the traditional old “Ooh Ahh Sabres on the Warpath” chant got going late. The Sabres pregame montage, done to the song “Better Days” by the Goo Goo Dolls, had me choked up and I’m sure I was not the only one. And by the way - I did not spot a single Islanders fan in the stands. Oh how nice to own our building!

Game 2 goes Saturday at 7:30 PM… Pete will be covering, I’ll be in the stands and assisting him with post game… and hopefully our after the game outing over beer and wings will be a festive one!

It’s 4:30PM… my cool downtown sports day continues…

Bisons 2, Lynx 1 at Dunn Tire Park
After turning a strange 1-5-4 double play in the 6th following by Choo’s diving catch in right to end the inning, Manager Torey Lovullo had to be pleased. “After some of the defensive outings we’ve had here, it was nice to see that kind of performance. The lead out was the key out, and those plays essentially saved the ball game for us.” Offensively, solo home runs by Keith Ginter and Ryan Mulhern were the difference in this one.

The team now hits the road for sets in Columbus and Toledo before returning home (to hopefully better weather) on Saturday, April 21.

In between games…
So with the Sabres game not starting until 8PM, this means some time to kill, so I’m going to catch up on some writing and some web surfing until they shut down the pressbox here at the ballpark… then head down to the arena. I think I’m in the mood to check out the team store and buy some souvenirs, and maybe see if the pregame concert is still a go. The rain has started though.

Lotsa cookies, ice cream bars and popcorn…but no wi-fi.
Let me start by saying this… the Sabres media department are the best bunch of guys you would want to meet. Mike Gilbert, Chris Bandura, Kevin Snow and webmaster Brian Wheeler always cooperative, always professional, and a joy to interact and work with.

Unless… you have the temerity to ask them to jump on their wi-fi internet service. That’s when the Guardians of the Bandwidth and Lords of the Surf come harshly into play. Bottom line… I’d gladly take a reliable internet connection at the arena over the pressbox junk food buffet any day.

The Islanders were working it at their morning practice at HSBC Arena

Ted Nolan says the story is no longer about him, it’s about his guys who fought hard to get to this point.

Calm… businesslike… The Sabres went through a spirited morning skate at HSBC Arena, and the atmosphere on the ice and in the locker room seems to be relaxed and focused leading into the game tonight.

Thomas Vanek seems to be excited to be back at this point, and is not taking the Islanders team lightly. “All 16 teams that are in the playoffs are there because they deserve to be there.” Vanek also called on the fans to help the team out. “Hopefully the crowd will be there doing there thing and we can get an early jump on ‘em” said Vanek.

“Excited” is the word Jason Pominville used to describe the mood of the team. Pominville knows what it’s like to be in this situation, and admits that even with a year of experience, there are still butterflies.
“Sure it does, but we’ve been through this before, and just hitting the ice and the cheering of the fans will be a good feeling, and for now we’re just excited to be getting it going.”

Lindy Ruff was anxious to get the jitters out of the way at the morning skate, but sensed none of that among his team. “I didn’t see none of that. I think the guys are focused and they’re ready to play.”

Some random observations…

-A way of telling what is going on with the team roster is by looking at the stalls in the Sabres locker room. There are only a limited number so if you’re on the DL or otherwise indisposed, your stall is forfeited and your name plate removed. So who has a stall and equipment all set up? None other than Paul Gaustad. Might we yet see Gaustad back this season?

-While his guys were stretching at center ice, I watched Islanders coach Ted Nolan just staring at the rafters, his gaze transfixed for about 15 seconds. And what was he looking at? Well, his stare was pointed straight at the 1996-97 division champion banner. Would have loved to know what was going through his head at that very moment.

-In the Islanders locker room… one of those felt tipped marker boards and listed there were the Sabres projected lineups and line pairings. Listed there… Tim Connolly - injured. Dan Paille and Clarke MacArthur, 4th line. WTF???!!! This got more than a few snickers from the Buffalo media.

“We’re gonna walk all over the Islanders!”
Sure about that?

“We’re the President’s Trophy winners! They just snuck in!!”
Ummm, yea….and??

“We’re more talented! There’s no way they can match up with us! We have too much depth, we’re better in goal! This will be a cakewalk!!”
Sorry pal, history says something totally different. Frankly…

The above quotes seem to be the prevailing sentiment here in town about the upcoming series with the Islanders. The superior talented Sabres will have their way with the injury plagued Islanders filled with enigmatic players such as Miro Satan and Alexei Yashin. Sure they’ll play under coach Ted Nolan, but his will will be of little difference in the Sabres eventual walkover of the Long Islanders. I’m here to tell ya that after a little research, that scenario while somewhat possible is not a certainty…not even close.

On a lazy Tuesday night before the playoffs, Taro hit the books to get a looksee at the results of Stanley Cup series pitting #1 vs. #8 seeds. If history holds true to form, yes the Sabres could walk away with a quick series win. That possibility is about as likely as the Islanders walking out of this one on top.

Think I’m joking? Take a look at this:

Since the advent of the current format in 1994 (24 series total):

The number 1 seed has won in 4 or 5 games a total of 8 times. This is one better than the amount of times the 8 seed has won outright (7 times).

Every time a 1/8 series has reached seven games, the 8 seed has won. Not a good thought if this one goes the distance (and you are contemplating that now, aren’t you).

The other 9 series’ went six games obviously…and while I won’t run them all down, there were a few doozies in that group…all involving Detroit. No reason why…

‘04: Nashville roughs up the Wings
‘02: Wings rally from down 2-0 to stun Canucks. Who remembers the goal from the blue line in game 3???
‘96: The White Noise howls one last time in Winnipeg.

Just saying folks, I thinks that a quick and easy series is the last thing that Sabres fans should have on their minds.

Taro Sez….”Simon says: Sabres win in a Dubieous six game set.”

This series will make the most arduous of Nolan fans despise him….

Time Warner acquires rights to broadcast Versus in high definition, according to this news release issued yesterday. Whether Time Warner’s WNY systems will add the channel is yet to be determined.

Televised hockey is such a natural for this technology… why the Sabres haven’t gone to high definition telecasts on MSG and why games in high definition are an occasional curiosity instead of the broadcast standard is a mystery to me.

You gotta love Buffalo Sabres fans, who raised the roof today cheering on the team at the Verizon Center.

The Buffalo Sabres today took their spot as the best team in the National Hockey League, beating the Washington Capitals 2-0 at the Verizon Center, and the score is a bit deceiving. Buffalo took early control of this game, and when the Capitals finally made a bit of noise in the 3rd period, Ryan Miller came through with a couple clutch saves to preserve the shutout.

We watched this one on TV… some rapid fire takes…

-Tim Connolly gets his first goal in his first game back! And he pretty much played a regular shift, logging over 13 minutes of ice time.

-Ryan Miller get his 40th win of the season.

-Derek Roy gets his 20th goal of the season, but Jochen Hecht was denied his 20th. Jochen had a golden opportunity to nail an empty netter with less than minute left, but his shot went wide.

-Buffalo Sabres fans once again took over the Verizon Center… loud and proud! How funny was it hearing Ovechkin get boo-ed every time he touched the puck?!

-Drew Stafford was sent down to Rochester, to clear cap room… yes that’s how tight the budget is. Will Drew play for the Amerks at Syracuse tonight? We know he will be back in Buffalo on Monday.

The President’s Trophy is now ours, and with it home ice advantage throughout the playoffs, and another banner to hang next fall. Tomorrow the guys head to Philly to close out the season, with nothing but pride on the line, a chance to have some fun and face Marty Biron in the Flyers net.

We’re eagerly watching as to who will be Buffalo’s opponent in Round 1. Here are the scenarios:

MONTREAL–
Controls its own destiny.
Win over Toronto in regulation or OT/SO and they are IN.

Loss in OT/SO means they are IN if the Islanders do not win both their games.

TORONTO–
Win over Montreal in regulation and if the Islanders do not win both their games and they are IN.
Toronto MUST beat Montreal in regulation. An OT/SO win means they are OUT.

Loss in OT/SO to Montreal and they are OUT.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS–
Win over Philadelphia Sat and win over New Jersey Sun a must.
AND
Toronto must W over Montreal either in regulation or OT/SO.

Schedule:
SAT: NYI at PHI, 1pm; MON at TOR 7pm
SUN: NYI at NJD 1pm

Ya think every TV set in Buffalo is going to be tuned into Hockey Night in Canada on CBC this Saturday?

The team came onto the ice to a thunderous ovation, and they departed the ice to an even more thunderous ovation. On this, the final home game of the regular season, the Sabres came back from their 10th two goal deficit of the season to take care of business and defeat the Boston Bruins, 4-2. It was the Sabres’ 41st sellout of the year… that’s right, all 18,690 tickets were sold for every single game this year.

Thomas Vanek is just a sophomore, but in a few years he is going to own this league. He scored two tonight, including the game winner in the third period, where he took it to the net himself and shoved the puck in on the backhand. He later set up a beautiful goal to Derek Roy to put this one away.

In his first game back Maxim Afinogenov looked like his old self, and seemed to gain more confidence as the game wore on, with his patented end to end rushes and his magical stickhandling. Imagine what this team can be like if he shows up for the playoffs.

Coach Lindy Ruff and several of the players took the opportunity to acknowledge the fans and thank the community for their support all season. “You feel it everywhere. You feel it at Tim Horton’s, at the gas station, The fever is everywhere… we’re living it… We’re just trying to stay grounded.” said Ruff after the game. Brian Campbell also said “Many a time it has been like a playoff atmosphere in here this year”. Maxim Afinogenov enjoyed the postgame salute “It was great for us to be able to show our appreciation to the great crowd tonight.”

So now the team hits the road for the final two… at Washington Saturday and then at Philadelphia Sunday, both afternoon games. Still at stake is the President’s Trophy, and it is now between Buffalo and Detroit to determine the winner. More great news for Buffalo - Chicago defeated Detroit in a shootout tonight, depriving the Red Wings of a precious point. Buffalo’s magic number to clinch the President’s Trophy is down to 2.

At the end of the game, the entire Sabres team skated onto the ice to salute the great Buffalo fans for their season long support.

Apparently this 23 year old, 5′4″ redhead would do plenty.

Check out this personals ad on Craigslist.

I sent this little diddy over to Mike Gilbert and John Sinclair at the Sabres. They emailed me back; and they are getting quite a kick out of this.

Back on day one in October the Sabres beat Carolina 3-2 to claim their first 2 points and a share of the conference lead… two nights later they added to that lead, taking over first, and from there they never looked back.

Tonight at Mellon Arena the Buffalo Sabres clinched the 2006-07 Northeast Division crown and first seed overall in the conference with a convincing 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville opened it up in the third period with goals..bam! bam!..and just like that, the team’s appointment with destiny was all but a matter of a few minutes away.

Some glimpses from around the arena…

-Just a small sprinking of Buffalo fans in the crowd tonight, but they made their presence known throughout the night.

-Cool contest on the videoboard from the “Let’s Make A Deal” days… contestant gets to pick either a small box or a big box, and wins the contents inside. Constestant “Marian” chose the small box, winning a bag of Buffalo hot pretzels, igniting boos from the crowd… the big box contained an autographed jersey of Sergei Gonchar. Hey Marian, as far as we’re concerned you got the better end of the deal!

-Brush with greatness!… Sitting right next to us in the pressbox were Maxim Afinogenov and Tim Connolly… and yes, these guys do cheer and pump their fists every time Buffalo scores. (albeit quietly!)

-High temperature in Pittsburgh today… 83 degrees. Projected high Thursday in Buffalo for the Bisons’ opener… 29 degrees!

-And speaking of Max and Tim, Pete is sporting some NASTY flu symptoms just acquired today… So if either of these two guys delay their return to the ice because of fever, sniffles etc…. you know who’s to blame!

OK… shutting down the laptop and heading down for postgame… and then a very happy three hour ride back to B-Lo!

This score is deceptive… the game was over early and the Sabres were all over the New York Islanders from the get go. Want some ugly stats? How about 5 first period goals on 10 shots, chasing Islanders goalie Mike Dunham after one period. With Rick DiPietro out of the lineup with headaches, the Isles were then forced to turn to AHL journeyman Wade Dubiliewicz (by the way we saw him in net back in January when we visited Worcester, as he was playing for the Isles farm team Bridgeport Sound that night). For the final two periods it was mop duty.

Two of those goals by Buffalo were scored shorthanded… and Daniel Paille was skunked on three point blank opportunities, including two breakaways, otherwise it would have been uglier.

New York then got two goals early in the third to cut it to 5-3; Lindy called a time out to refocus the team and they played with a bit more conviction the rest of the way.

With the win the team goes to 107 points and retakes the overall league lead. With one more win they will clinch the East and first seed… maybe tomorrow night in Montreal!

Other observations from the game:

-Was that Nicholas Picholas wearing #81 for the Isles tonight??? Just kidding, but actually, Miroslav Satan was such a non factor in the game that Buffalo fans didn’t get much of a chance to boo him.

-Philadelphia lost tonight, meaning they officially clinch 30th and last place in the standings. That means that Buffalo will have the 31st overall pick in the 2007 amateur draft, the pick we got in the Biron trade.

-The whole “Teddy Nolan comes to Buffalo” thing is yesterday’s news. The fanfare and salute should have happened back in January. Tonight it would have come across as idiotic.

-You almost have to feel sorry for the Islanders…yeah they are still in the mix in the six way race for the final three spots, but with DiPietro out and Ryan Smyth injured, one can’t like their chances.

-And last, Detroit lost in a shootout tonight, meaning a loss of one point in the President’s Trophy race. Detroit’s remaining schedule? Home and homes vs Columbus and Chicago. Ugh!