Also: was it a goal or not????

Playing their fourth game in six nights, the Sabres fell to the hard charging Washington Capitals 3-1 and in the process failed to take the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference race.

Leading the way for the Caps was Russian wunderkind and hockey demigod Alexander Ovechkin. Ovechkin increased his league lead in goals scored to 54 with a first period goal on a breakaway and got the clincher late in the third for the final goal of the game.

Ales Kotalik scored for the Sabres on the power play to even the score at one, but just minutes later superb rookie Niklas Backstrom found himself alone in front of the net and put one past Ryan Miller to make it 2-1, and that score would hold until Ovechkin’s second of the night.

But the game didn’t finish without some controversy, with under three minutes to go Jason Pominville appeared to have put the puck just past the red line amidst a scrum of players in front of the Washington net. After a lengthy review delay the referees determined that there was no goal and the game would end soon after without incident.

After the game the buzz was all about the disputed non-goal. Said Jason Pominville:” “The referee explained that the replay was nonconclusive. I’m not sure if it went in or not, I was just trying to see the replay… the guys on the bench told me it went in.” Chimed in Derek Roy,” “Well I told the ref to check it and he said that it didn’t go over the line. I told him to make sure and check it, then the league called and said the puck had gone in. From my point of view the puck went in before the whistle blew, but we have to trust the league’s decision on that.”

Slanted and biased personal opinion…the puck was in before the whistle blew. What’s the point of replay if they can’t figure this out?????

In the coach’s corner Lindy toed the line and immediately said that “the refs made the right call.” More than anything, Ruff appeared to be somewhat satisfied with the effort of a club that had played its fourth game in six nights. He noted that “I thought we really played solid in our own end……almost rock solid in our own end…. Were we smart at times…no.”

The Sabres remain one point out the eighth spot with the next game coming up on Saturday against Carolina.

The Sabres certainly seem to have a way of bringing a struggling team to life. It would be nice if the team in question would be Buffalo, but that would not be the case on this night.

The Detroit Red Wings came into the game with the league’s best record despite having lost ten of their last eleven contests, and for the Sabres this couldn’t have been a more perfect time to play a team of this caliber.

Unfortunately for Buffalo the Wings chose tonight to be the time to return to form as they dominated the Sabres throughout the first fourty minutes of play on the way to a 4-2 triumph.

“(We were) outraced, outmuscled, and it cost us again.” Said Lindy afterwards.

The Sabres did get the first goal of the game roughly three minutes into the first as Patrick Kaleta got his second career goal as the trailer on an odd man rush. From there the Detroit onslaught began in earnest as they fired eighteen first period shots at Ryan Miller. It would be a borderline miracle that the game would merely be tied at one at the end of the first, as many of the Wings scoring opportunities in that period came in the midst of a two man advantage.

Detroit broke open the game in the second with a pair of goals, the second of the two coming off the stick of Johan Franzen fed oh so nicely from Niklas Kronwall. At that point the momentum of the game made a two goal Wings’ lead seem like five the way the rythym of the game was going.

Hockey is a strange game sometimes, and despite being totally outplayed for virtually the entire game, the Sabres were able to make it a one goal game when Jason Pominville caught everyone off gaurd by racing toward the net with the puck while most others on the ice were involved in a burgeoning scrum near the penalty boxes. Pominville’s shot found the back of the net and how about that, 3-2.

The Wings would kill off any chance of a Sabre rally with their fourth goal with about four minutes left to seal the deal.

Other notes:

Jason Pominville is the latest Sabre to wear the “C” in the monthly rotation…..

A gi-normous game with Philadelphia is up next for Buffalo, safe to say that a loss there puts Buffalo’s postseason hopes in very dire straits….

Patrick Kaleta scored on former Sabre great Dominik Hasek, but the local boy made good didn’t seem too upbeat about it:”Right now I’m not worried about that, I’m more worried about the win.”

To add insult to injury, some loser Detroit fan rubbed salt in the wound by tossing an octopus on the ice during a break in the game’s final minutes.

Lindy Ruff’s quote above just about says it all doesn’t it.

If fans were expecting a continuation of the edge of your seat excitement spilling over from Wednesday night’s game, they would be disappointed. The Buffalo Sabres came out flat tonight against the Montreal Canadiens at HSBC Arena, and ended up taking it on the chin. Final score, Montreal 6, Buffalo 2.

Fans from Montreal Welland, Stevensville and Crystal Beach were in the building tonight, chanting “Go Habs Go” and singing the “Ole, Ole” song. Patrons were treated not only to pictures of soldiers in fatigues waving Sabres flags on top of tanks, but also a real live military guy in the house, getting his own standing O to the strains of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”. Oil at $103 a barrel, gas heading to four bucks a gallon, the greenback collapsing against world currencies, America heading into recession. Who the f**k cares! Let’s all stand and cheer and sing and spooge to the drumbeat of war war war!

But back to the game…The Sabres were outshot 12-6 in the first period and fell behind 2-0 after one. Tomas Plekanec scored a nifty power play goal on a cross ice pass shot from a bad angle, then Mark Streit added a goal midway through the period.

Buffalo would come back in the second period, when Thomas Vanek scored his 27th goal on the power play. Montreal then padded their lead with two goals, another power play goal by Plekanec on a cross ice pass which looked almost identical to his earlier goal, and then he scored his third of the night on another power play, this time from just across the blue line.

Montreal made it 5-1 in the 3rd period when Andrei Kostitsyn blew in alone on Ryan Miller and put the puck up high. That got the Habs crowd hailing from spitting distance the other side of the Peace Bridge in a real throaty mood, singing “Hey Hey Goodbye” while earning derisive boos from the Sabres faithful. Tim Connolly scored his 7th of the season on the power play in the middle of the frame, and then Sergei Kostitsyn completed the ugly night with Montreal’s 6th tally late.

Coach Ruff spoke about the failure of special teams and all the Montreal power play goals. “We have to dig in. I don’t know if this set up is going to work. All the power play goals that have scored on us in the last few games… we’re not going to win games like that.”

It was anticipated that Ruff would keep his lineup intact from Wednesday despite the health of Drew Stafford and Maxim Afinogenov. Ruff replied “I felt we would put our best lineup out there. They were ready to play. It’s easy to look back and say ‘we shouldn’t have changed’ and if we lost the game we’d say ‘we should have changed the lineup.’” Talking to Stafford, he was told after the morning skate that he would be playing tonight.

The final game of the homestand comes this Sunday at 6PM, when the Detroit Red Wings, the team standing in the way of back to back Sabres Presidents Trophy titles (yes I am being a comedian… thud!), come to town. Dominik Hasek has been out injured but did play tonight in their 3-2 loss to San Jose, so we might just get our chance to boo him come Sunday. Dave in Rocha over at Bfloblog thinks our guys can beat the Red Wings. Check out his takes on tonight’s game.

Side notes –

-Take that Don Cherry! All Montreal scoring tonight courtesy of Euros.

-Where are you Andrew Peters! Lindy Ruff put Maxim Afinogenov on the 4th line with Patrick Kaleta and Adam Mair tonight. Let’s just say that’s a failed experiment. “I thought Max turned the puck over too many times” said Ruff. Nooooooooooooo!

-Did they really announce 18,690??? Those yawning gaps of empty blue seats in the upper corners of the 300s suggest otherwise. Memo to Sabres: Gold game prices are too expensive!

A track meet. Plenty of offense. Penalty shot. Lots of scoring. A few fights. And a big Buffalo win. What more could one ask for in an evening of hockey?

Tonight at HSBC Arena the Buffalo Sabres got their first ever home win over the Nashville Predators by a score of 8-4.Steve Bernier would get his first goal as a Sabre at the 4:33 mark, as he and Derek Roy broke in on a 2 on 1 break. Roy slid the puck across to Bernier, who had nothing but net. Bernier then added his second goal later in the period, a slap shot off the top of the face off circle, scored on a delayed penalty to Nashville.

Early in the second period Predators center Scott Nichol was awarded a penalty shot when Jaro Spacek threw his stick on an apparent breakaway. Nichol’s attempt was stopped by goalie Ryan Miller. Daniel Paille would then make the score 3-0 Buffalo, taking the puck off a giveaway in the corner and putting it past Nashville goaltender Chris Mason.

But Nashville would come back with two quick goals to narrow the lead to 3-2, Ryan Miller would leave the game after the first Nashville goal, suffering a bloody nose from a puck which struck him in the helmet, and was replaced by Jocelyn Thibault between the pipes.

Buffalo got a two goal cushion back quickly, on a nifty goal by Andrew Peters, of all people, Peter’s first goal of the season. Peters was fed a pass from behind the net by Patrick Kaleta and sent a blistering shot into the net. Lindy Ruff mentioned Peter’s goal as a turning point - “That was a big shift for us. A great goal for us. Those guys don’t get mentioned often but the grit they showed is important for our team and sometimes goes unnoticed.”

Peters was ecstatic about scoring his first goal of the season, but was deferential towards his new teammate Steve Bernier. Said Peters, “I can’t say enough about the guy. He came in here this morning and was an instant hit in the locker room. Great guy, great personality and I could tell he was a real team guy. I’m just happy that the monkey is off his back and he went out and had a great game, and hopefully we can keep that line going.” Then Peters joked, “I’m just sorry I had to score and rain on his parade a little bit.”

Nashville cut the lead to 4-3 at the 7:53 mark on Jason Arnott’s second of the game and his 24th of the season. Miller then returned to the net around the 12 minute mark.

Jason Pominville would add to the Sabres lead at the 14:50 mark, on a great feed pass from Ales Kotalik, who waited and waited until his trailing center could get into position to take the shot. That goal chased Mason from the Nashville net in favor of back up goalie Dan Ellis. Derek Roy then made it 6-3, and that is how the period ended. Buffalo scored 4 goals in the second frame on just 6 shots.

In the 3rd period Nashville scored an early power play goal by David Legwand to again cut their deficit to two goals. Midway through the period there were back to back fights – Andrew Peters and Darcy Hordichuk traded blows, with Peters ending up in the bottom of the pile, then right off the faceoff Jordin Tootoo gave an old fashioned beatdown to Buffalo’s Adam Mair.

Shortly thereafter Buffalo got their three goal cushion back, as Tim Connolly took the puck in himself on a 2 on 1, executing the perfect deek. Later on Ales Kotalik would make it 8-4 on his 19th of the season. That would be it for the scoring, but not before Bernier gave Tootoo a nice licking after Tootoo cheapshotted Derek Roy. Peters said “That showed a lot of character on his part.” Ruff also heaped a lot of praise on Bernier’s debut. “It was great to see. He set up a couple great opportunities. He missed a chance when he walked in all alone. But it’s going to get tough for him. He made it look easy tonight.”

While this game had a lot of side stories and elements to it - all four goalies facing action, at least three fights and other scrums, 12 goals, it was Bernier’s night. He earned the game’s first star and when he skated out to take his bow he received a thunderous ovation from the Buffalo faithful who might be starting a love affair with their newest Sabre. Bernier admitted that he didn’t get much sleep since arriving. “I didn’t sleep much last night. When I wake up this morning it was a long time to the seven o’clock start. All day long I was thinking about the game. Then I did not sleep this afternoon. It really went well and this is the way i wanted it to go.”

The Sabres homestand continues on Friday as Marion Hossa and the Montreal Canadiens come to town, and yes there are still tickets available for this gold priced game. Puck drops at 7:35PM.

Side notes -

-On the Sabres DL and listed as day to day is none other than Sabres PR Director Mike Gilbert, who was spotted in the clubhouse wearing a sling as he suffered a slight separated shoulder while playing hockey yesterday. The cast should come off in a couple days. “Will take a lot more than this to knock me out of the lineup” Gilbert quipped.

-About half of tonight’s high school hockey players watching Lindy’s postgame press conference from the back of the room were wearing mohawk hairstyles! I was chomping at the bit to hear what Rob Ray would have to say about all this, but Ray entered the room and was speechless, and that left me feeling empty.

-Soupy gets an assist tonight in the Sharks 4-2 win over Columbus. Wow, probably means his price just went up. Do I hear $50 million?

Everything is the same today at the Sabres morning skate. Or is it?

Gone is Brian Campbell, and all traces of his presence, most notably his locker room nameplate, have disappeared as well. And this means that a fresh opportunity has been created for Nathan Paetsch, who will play as the 6th defenseman and will be teamed up with Nolan Pratt.

So is Paetsch excited? “Well my first thoughts are the loss of Brian who was an excellent player and a good friend, and we all wish him well” Paetsch replied. As for playing with Pratt - “Oh definitely I am excited when we played together earlier this season I thought we had good solid chemistry. He’s a steady guy and likes to give me the puck and let me go.”

Most of the focus today was on the newest Sabre - Steve Bernier, who arrived last night from San Jose and was barely down the BNIA terminal concourse when he was greeted by fans and well wishers who were welcoming him to Buffalo.

The well spoken Bernier, who hails from Quebec City and talks with a distinct French-Canadian accent, was basking in the glow of all the media attention. “I’m already nervous” Bernier admitted after his first morning skate with his new teammates. “I feel good. Very excited.” Bernier was very complimentary towards the fans of Buffalo. “It’s way different here than in San Jose. I love it. It’s a real hockey city and I’m excited to be here.” Continuing, he said “I grew up in Quebec City and followed the Nordiques. Every day on the paper, stories on every player and about Montreal. It’s fun being a part of things like that.”

Bernier will get a chance to show his stuff right from the get go, as Coach Lindy Ruff will place him on the first line with Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek.

Ruff also said that injured forwards Maxim Afinogenov, Drew Stafford and Jochen Hecht are “getting close” to returning. Max and Drew both skated this morning, with Max flying up and down the ice with seeming ease. Drew wore the red “no contact” jersey.

Lastly, got a chance to talk with Pete Weber, Buffalo guy through and through and Voice of the Nashville Predators. When I get face time with Pete, I don’t waste it on hockey talk and instead got into some baseball stuff with him as we chatted.

I asked Pete how things were going with the new downtown baseball stadium for the AAA Nashville Sounds. “It’s not” replied Weber very forlornly, and explained how a corporate funding scheme fell through, and now a $1-million dollar renovation of decaying Greer Stadium will happen instead. “If AAA decided to pull the team out of there I wouldn’t be at all surprised.”

Weber shared this story with me - “Back in 1995 when the Bisons came to town early in the season, (Bison player) Billy Ripken was so disgusted with the filthy conditions in the visitors clubhouse that he taped a symbolic band aid above his locker stall. When the team returned in June, that band aid was still stuck in the spot he had left it in months earlier.”

Puck drops tonight at 7:05PM, with two teams clinging desperately to playoff hopes in their respective conferences. These two teams haven’t met in Buffalo since 2003, and Buffalo is winless at home all time against the Predators in their four meetings here.

I’ve got the AV pressbox chair for this game and will have a postgame report later on tonight.

First the Rangers take two points from the Sabres on Saturday, tonight it would be the Sabres handing the hated Flyers two points on a night with plenty of drama on and off the ice.

The season has been full of occasions where Buffalo has blown many one or two goal leads only to wind up on the short end of things when the buzzer sounded. Tonight they found a way to take things one step further and choke away a three goal lead to fall to the Flyers 4-3 in shootout.

And take a wild guess who provided the game winning goal in said shootout..strong hint-see the title of this post.

Buffalo got off on the right foot with a pair of goals coming just eleven seconds apart in the first period. First Derek Roy, then Clarke MacArthur in quick succession to send the arena into a frenzy. And when Jason Pominville made it 3-0 at the 14:16 mark of the 1st it appeared that the Sabres would be the next club to add to the Flyers losing streak. Maybe the Sabres were thinking this as well. They certainly started to play like this soon after.

Jeff Carter struck just moments later to get the Flyers on the board, and a second goal by Scott Hartnell later in the first stanza would close the gap further.Both the Sabres and Flyers failed to connect on multiple power plays during the second period, and for a time it seemed as if the 3-2 score may hold. Then came that darned over the glass delay of game penalty on Pominville. A penalty call that has bitten the Sabres many times over in the past and tonight would be no different as R. J. Umberger lit the lamp to tie the game at three.

The irony of it all, the man whose career has been defined by a hit from Brian Campbell ties a game that could, and probably is Soupy’s final game in a Sabres uni. But the irony would get even more sickening later on.

After a scoreless overtime the game made its way to a shootout. With the Flyers shooting second the score was even at one heading into the deciding round. Derek Roy barely got off a shot on Marty Biron, and coming into the game for the Flyers would be one Daniel Briere.One sprint up the ice followed by a fake of Ryan Miller and Briere’s shot landed safely in the net and the victory was complete. Umberger’s goal, Briere’s game winner, Biron outdueling Miller. It was tough to watch.

It was despondent to say the least aftward in the Sabres locker room. Lindy took far longer than normal to get to the podium and had a very quick conference. He didn’t say anything about overconfidence or anything of the type but did note that “we made some very casual plays” after going up 3-0 and basically “let them back in the game”.

Before leaving for the night the media got to talk with Campbell…..my personal thoughts after seeing him are that this guy is certain to be gone tomorrow. Yet seeing him answer questions I got the feeling that he really didn’t know particulars, i.e. where he’d be going to. When asked about Buffalo he talked by and large in past tense, yet wouldn’t rule anything out and certainly appeared as if he didn’t want to go anywhere. “I’ve grown up here and it’s been a lot of fun…..had a lot of ups and downs here and the fans have been great……I try not to think about it(his contract situation much….”.

Another one out the door, the dismantling of a once great team continues…

Useless stats:The Sabres blew a three goal lead and lost for the first time in nearly four years. The last time being a 6-5(OT) loss to the Maple Leafs on 3/15/04.

The win was the first via shootout in five tries for the Flyers. For the Sabres it would be their eighth shootout loss in ten attempts. All time the Sabres are 17-17 in the shootout format.

The game winning shootout goal by Briere was his first successful shootout attempt all season. It was his fifth attempt thus far.

The Sabres had a lot to overcome tonight.

It was bad enough that the team had to deal with a spate of injuries to mess up their lineup. But before the puck was even dropped to start the game, they would have to face more adversity.

Yes, in town to follow Doug Allen and the national anthems of our two countries, there he was – Ronan Tynan, the Irish tenor and the Sabres’ favorite jinx, to croon The Dead Fat Woman’s Song. The crowd loved it, from what I heard of the reaction. Since I was in the pressbox, I didn’t want to look like a total schmeck and sit during the song, which is what we always do in silent protest when we’re in the stands. So I took a quick walk and back once it was over, got settled, just shaking my head again. Why oh why does the Sabres management love this guy so much?

In the end, the Ronan Curse prevailed once again, as a late goal by the Rangers’ Sean Avery was enough to give New York a 4-3 win before 18,690 mostly disappointed fans at HSBC Arena.

The New York Rangers would take the early lead on their first shot on goal on a nifty tip by Jaromir Jagr. Buffalo would answer a couple minutes later when Ales Kotalik scored his 17th of the season off the point. The tie was broken shortly after when the Rangers Nigel Dawes hit a perfect one timer over the top of Ryan Miller’s shoulder.

As the period wound down Rangers bad boy Sean Avery and the Sabres Pat Kaleta dropped the gloves and went at it, with Avery landing the only meaningful punches. Both got five minutes for fighting. So what words did the two exchange before the fight? Kaleta replied “I probably can’t say it on camera. That’s just what my job is, to agitate a bit out there. We’re both doing our jobs and that’s what happens sometimes.”

Jason Pominville tied the game in the second period, and mid period Buffalo would take his first lead of the night when Kotalik got his 18th, a nifty over the shoulder shot which was placed perfectly. New York would tie it a minute later on a rebound by Brandon Dubinsky, after New York had numerous chances in the crease and Buffalo could not clear the puck.

Buffalo had many opportunities to takes the lead in the third, none more so than when forward Thomas Vanek broke in all alone on Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist but shot the puck right into the body. A short time later, memories of Kotalik’s two goal night were quickly erased when he sent a blind pass into the middle of the ice; the first shot was missed but the puck rolled over to Sean Avery who had nothing but net and the Rangers had themselves a lead.

Buffalo would pull the goaltender but didn’t develop much of a scoring threat in the closing minute. A 6 on 4 chance with less than 30 seconds to play resulted in no chances as the Rangers managed to successfully keep the puck moving along the boards and out of harms way.

Coach Lindy Ruff was visibly angry during his short postgame press conference. “The first of the play was going down the ice and not shooting the puck. We turned the puck over in the offensive zone when we could have had a great scoring chance. Second part was our goaltender could have frozen the puck. We didn’t have to throw it away against that line. And the third part was Al’s (Kotalik’s) turnover.” Ruff insisted that the Sabres were the better team, the more desperate team. “I like the way we played.” Ruff lamented Vanek’s breakaway opportunity in the third, throwing a small crumpled piece of paper on the lectern as he spoke.

With the loss, the Sabres cling to 8th seed in the East, thanks to losses today by the Islanders and the Flyers, who trail Buffalo by a point. The reeling Flyers come to town Monday to face the Sabres, who will play 4 home games in 7 nights this coming week.

Chris Drury watch:
Drury received loud and almost universal boos when his name was announced as part of the starting lineup. He was mostly a non factor in the game, earning one assist, and fans saved their scorn for Jaromir Jagr and Sean Avery.

Behind the scenes stuff that you’ll only read here
For each game the Sabres hosts a high school hockey team up in the pressbox. The youngsters view the action from the auxiliary box in the corner and get to watch Lindy’s conference from the back of the interview room.

As I walked into the room tonight, there was Rob Ray, microphone in hand ready to do his MSG intro, he is cracking jokes with the players, and at one point calls out one of the teammates for his shaggy mop of long hair. I’m sitting a few feet away, and Rayzor turns to me and says “what are you smirking about?”

I reply…”Just wondering if you will critique my haircut?” He then pays me the ultimate compliment - “You’ve got a fine haircut, very professional.” At that moment WGR Radio’s Nick Mendola walks in. If you had seen Nick this morning, he had the full beard going to match his scruffy hair, but by tonight he was shorn and shaven and sporting this choir boy look. “How ’bout Mendola?” I call out to Ray. He apparently approved, telling the young hockey players “See this guy? Now that’s what a good looking haircut should look like.”

My partner Pete just got his first haircut in nine months. He would have savored the moment.

The stakes are huge tonight.

The Buffalo Sabres and the New York Rangers are locked in a 3 way tie for the 6th through 8th seeds in the East, and the loser of tonight’s game could find themselves out of the playoff seedings after today’s play is concluded.

So the team went through its morning skate today, and all the players who were absent yesterday with various ailments skated, save one - Jochen Hecht. Coach Lindy Ruff said that Hecht is “doubtful”, nursing a leg injury, and also admitted that there is no timetable for his return. Add the fact that Michael Ryan will be out for several weeks with a groin injury, Tim Connolly is up for one game gone the next, and Drew Stafford is still on the sidelines, and the Sabres are dealing with a mess o’ injuries.

Coming to the rescue? Marc Andre Gragnani, the latest callup from the Rochester Americans, who will dress tonight and wear #17. Gragnani has played primarily as a defenseman, but will play the forward position in his NHL regular season debut.

Gragnani learned of his callup last night, when he was pulled out the lineup at the Amerks game by Coach Randy Cunneyworth, and at first he thought that he was in the doghouse for something. “I went into the game and they told me ‘you’re not playing’ and I wanted to know why. I said why. I felt bad obviously and then they said ‘you’re going up’” said Gragnani, who was very excited to hear that news. He admitted he was nervous about tonight, but was going to follow the example of some his ex-Amerk teammates, including Clarke MacArthur, Patrick Kaleta, and Nathan Paetsch who have made their own transition to the NHL as seamless as possible. Gragnani also admitted that it has been a difficult year playing in Rochester, with the team in last place in the league and all the off ice distraction about the franchise’s financial difficulties and a pending affiliation switch taking its toll on the team.

Gragnani was a third round selection in the 2005 NHL draft, and was signed to a three year entry level contract by the Sabres last spring. In his last two seasons in the juniors (P.E.I. Rockets in the QMJHL) he led all Q defensemen in scoring with 139 points (38 goals and 101 assists) in 127 games.

While Gragnani was the object of all the media attention in the Sabres clubhouse, some other guy across the hall was also getting some pub. Chris Drury will be in the building tonight, making his first return to Buffalo since bolting for the New York Rangers as a free agent last July 1.

With Drury’s return, the tight playoff standings, the injury news, not to mention the looming trade deadline this Tuesday, it should be high drama and excitement at the H tonight as the Sabres try to get their first points off of the Rangers this season. I’ve got the Artvoice chair and will be covering tonight. Pete is staying home to watch the big Memphis-Tennessee college hoops game. Call me crazy, but I think I’ve got the better end of the deal!

Hope all of you idiots who spent good money to watch the first fifty five minutes of play at the arena tonight got your money’s worth.

Yes I’m talking to you, the ones who left after Vaclav Prospal lit the lamp to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead with under seven minutes to go in regulation.

I’m guessing that right about now you’re feeling a bit silly. For if tonight’s game doesn’t prove the old adage that “It’s never over ’til it’s over” and that one should NEVER leave a game until the final buzzer sounds, then I guess beating traffic is simply more important to you than the pile of currency spent wasted on not witnessing the most important part of the game live. So be it.

And while I’m at it, let me bust on all of those fans out there that have been hammering on Thomas Vanek. Overpaid? Probably. His fault? not one bit. Lit the lamp ten times in the last seven games? Yep. Team’s leading goal scorer? You betcha.

Tonight the Sabres rallied to defeat the Lightning by virtue of Thomas Vanek’s natural hat trick with all goals coming in the game’s final 4:46(2:21 of 3rd and 2:25 of OT). But prior to that, the game was looking somewhat similar to Sunday’s match against the Penguins. Plenty of shots on goal and opportunities by the wayside resulting in a Sabres loss. So when Brad Richards gave the ‘Ning a 2-0 lead early in the third all signs appeared to be pointing to another tough loss. The Sabres were in the midst of a scoring slump that had seen them score just three goals in its last eleven periods and didn’t seem like things would change soon.

“It felt like we weren’t gonna score again” quipped Lindy Ruff afterward.

Derek Roy would notch his 22nd of the season two minutes later to cut the deficit in half, but even that didn’t expel the general feeling that this just wasn’t going to be the Sabres’ night. So for many out there, the goal by Prospal seemed to be the icing on the cake. No way these guys could rally from a two goal lead in such a short span of time, right??

In stepped Vanek, with help from Tim Connolly as he assisted on both the tying and winning goals by Vanek, with the tying goal being a sweet pass through the offensive zone catching Johan Holmqivst out of position. Said Vanek of Connolly: “He’s unbelievable…his expertise, his passing game and he showed it again tonight.”

Vanek would score the game winner on a power play in the with 2:35 left in the OT.The win keeps Buffalo in a three way tie for the final two spots (they’re at the bottom of the tiebreak thanks to less victories than Boston and Philadelphia) and head to Toronto for their next game tomorrow night against the Leaves.

Useless notes…..A hat trick in 4:46! Quick, but not a team record. That belongs to Don Luce who did the feat in 3:49 against Washington on December 22, 1974. Two hat tricks in eight days by the same person! Again, done quicker. Most recently two seasons ago when Derek Roy had a pair within six days (3/3 Toronto, 3/9 Tampa Bay).

One more useless note: This is the third season in a row that Buffalo has victimized Tampa Bay with a hat trick.

Here we are in the Big City! It’s a crisp and chilly but sunny day here in New York, and traffic from New Jersey and through the Holland Tunnel was surprisingly light and stress free. We got down to the Madison Square Garden neighborhood and the next challenge was scouting out parking.

In Manhattan, that is no easy task. Private lots are few and far between, the ones that are available are very pricey ($25+) and on street parking is metered every day but Sunday. But we checked around are eventually found a location on 26th and 8th, about 6 blocks from the arena for $15. We snapped a few pics, got our credentials, had a nice brunch, and here we are in the north pressbox, halfway up the seating bowl sitting right amidst the fans.

1st period:

0:10 - Game is underway, and 10 seconds in Sean Avery buries a rebound past Ryan Miller. Just like that it’s 1-0 New York and fans are on their feet clapping and chanting a cool “oh oh oh oh hey hey” song. Not the beginning we wanted.

4:31 - First whistle in the game and we already got our first “Potvin sucks” chant. Get over it Rangersfan! Martin Straka then gets an assist to make it 2-0 Rangers, his 700th career point.

9:05 - %$%#@!!!! I think we may be seeing Jocelyn Thibault before long….arrrgh.

12:25 %$%#@!!!! And here comes Thibault……useless USRT stat: The Sabres have been outscored 18-4 in the last four games that we’ve been in the press box for, including two yankings of Ryan Miller. Blame us….go right ahead we can take it.

:40 - Final minute of play….can’t come quickly enough here and shorthanded as well.
sog’s NY 11 - Buf - 7. I can see the Knicks here anytime if I wish to see my favorite team get hammered. Not good, not good….

2nd Period

15:00 - No Ranger goals, hey that progress. And now I’ve finally got internet back up and running, sorry folks. I’ve just been reminded by the fans that Dennis Potvin still sucks here. Losers….they’re just irked knowing that they’re already fourteen years into their nexty fifty four year Stanley Cup hex.

12:37 - Break in the action to gush about MSG. While it’s the fifth MSG that’s been in use, the venue still is one of the older venues in the NHL(oldest in use in the NBA). So if you like old school sports from the days of fuzzy color photos this is certainly a place to soak in.
Well, except if your team is getting hammered right about now……

Still, the banners, the visuals of Willis Reed hobbling onto the court here. Multiple Big East tournament/St. John’s games. Yes, and Messier holding aloft the Cup.

12:13 - %$%#@!!!!! Ya know, I’m getting really sick of this whoa-oh-oh-oh! song…..and then Pratt heads to the box. Uglier than….than….ummmm….just ugly.

5:48 - noticeable 1st period stat: Campbell(-4) if I could pick Darcy’s brain off to my right here…..6M…..5.5M…..5M….down…….hmmmm.

Press box note- the people who are in charge of passing out game notes generally fall into two categories. A- smoking hot interns for the traditional male(Buffalo falls under example A) and B. Old codger usher who’s been employed by the team since their inception. Unfortunately tonight falls into category B.

End of 2: Rangers 5, Buffalo 0 Sog’s Rangers 12(23) Buffalo 9(16). Still an ass kicking, and worse yet, !@#$ing Sean Avery is just one goal away from a hat trick. I’d rather lose 30-0 than see that happen.

3rd period

3:17 - sighting of an endangered species - Buffalus Sabris powerplayus.

10:55 - Another useles USRT stat: The home team/team we want to win in the three games we’ve witnessed on the current roadie have gone over 117 minutes without scoring a goal. For the good of the team, this may be the final Sabres road game that we sit in the press box for.

13:03 - Damn I’m good at reverse jinxing! The streak ends at 121 minutes and 7 seconds when Thomas Vanek lights the lamp. Right about now I’m looking for some “let’s send a message to those guys” type of scrums….

16:30 puck gets caught in netting just out of the reach of a fan. The peanut gallery boos him mercilessly until he reaches jusssst a big further to get it by the fingertips. Welcome to New York! The things you notice when a game is a snooze….

18:00 Guess we’re too far behind to pull the goalie..

19:00 - Final minute….couldn’t come soon enough.

20:00 - finito. 5-1 Rangers. Sog NY 9(32), Buf (30)…to the dressing rooms I go. 4 and a half hrs to face off in Bridgeport….

It never gets old.

The Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs clashing at HSBC Arena. Thousands of fans of the Leaves making the trip down the QEW, clad in their blue and white, some waving those tin foil Stanley Cups. Ahh those Stanley Cups. How many of these people were actually alive last time the Leaves won it all?

Tonight at HSBC Arena, both teams engaged in a sultry snoozefest. Plenty of missed opportunities but a scant few scoring chances. Both goaltenders, Toronto’s Vesa Toskala and Buffalo’s Ryan Miller, came up when they had to. But in the end it was Miller coming out on top, stopping all 35 shots he faced as the Sabres beat Toronto 1-0. The win now places Buffalo as 7th seed in the east standings, a point ahead of the idle New York Rangers.

Buffalo finally broke open the scoring almost midway through the third, when Paul Gaustad took a feed pass from behind the Toronto net from Dan Paille to stuff the puck through Toskala. “I was so glad to see Gaus get one tonight” said a smiling Ryan Miller. “He’s been having a tough time of late and this one had to feel good.”

Forward Jason Pominville said that fatigue might have become a factor late in the game, as the Sabres were coming off back to back games, but the key was to play smart. “We tried not to make any dumb mistakes late in the contest, but really there was some fatigue but nobody wanted to show it.” A tired but happy Paul Gaustad added “We’ve got two days off now? That’s going to seem like a vacation.”

Lindy Ruff stated that he was not too concerned about fatigue, but rather that Buffalo minimize mistakes. “We didn’t give a lot of scoring situations, we didn’t give up odd numbers, we even managed to control a good part of the play, even in the third period.”

Toronto got a late power play opportunity thanks to a tripping call on Brian Campbell at the 17:23 mark, and with the goalie then pulled a 6 on 4 skater advantage. When asked what a team does to counter such an attack in that game situation, Ruff replied “Pray”, drawing a hearty laugh. “You get a bounce. You can’t be as aggressive up top. You just sit in the shot lanes and make the guys shoot around you. It almost becomes like a 5 on 3 situation.”

The Sabres now head to New York for a huge showdown game against the Rangers (at this point with the standings as tight as they are, what game isn’t huge?). The Leaves head home and now get to enjoy a five game homestand.

As I headed home, I popped my head into Washington Square Lounge, our favorite postgame hangout, and Bob the owner was busy serving up the suds and platters of wings to plenty of hungry and thirsty Leaves fans. Hey Toronto Nation! We hope y’all had fun here in B-Lo! Come back again on March 21 and spend your loonies on steroids… and hope your ride back up the QEW is as somber then as it is tonight.

Be advised that some of this is a bit tough to watch. 

As sports fans we tend to invest plenty of time, emotion, and money into sports, their leagues, and the teams and players that we follow. We celebrate long into the night after a big win. We lose sleep and feel sick to our stomach for days at a time following a gutwrenching loss. We bitch about a team that seems to be underacheiving and can’t hang onto late two goal leads, and we worry intensely about losing our pro football team. We spend hours poring over the successes and failures of our fantasy football teams, and plenty more filling out a gazillion bracket pools come every March. I could go on and on.

And every now and then, these same athletic events give us a moment in time that makes all the above seem incredibly irrelevant and somewhat silly by comparison.One of those moments took place in tonight’s game at about the halfway point of the third period of a tie game as Panther Olli Jokinen fell weirdly to the ice and in the process slashed the neck of his teammate Richard Zednik with a skate.

It happened so quickly that one would have to have been following closely to see it. The play had moved further down the ice when a huge collective gasp came from the crowd as Zednik raced frantically toward the Panther bench covering his neck as best he could while leaving a gory trail of blood from the spot where he had been slashed. It was a frightening scene better left for a horror flick, or maybe at the Aud about 1989ish.

I’d never heard the building so quiet, you could hear a pin….hell, you could hear a feather hit the ground at that moment. The game was delayed obviously, if nothing else to clear the ice of its newfound red color.

After about fifteen minutes the PA announcer stated that Zednik was stabilized and that brought a big cheer and standing ovation from the sellout crowd. A salute from the gallery for those who went right to work to keep a catastrophic injury, if not worse from occurring.

The game ended soon after, and it was easy to see that players’ minds weren’t fully on hockey at that moment. None moreso than Jokinen who clearly seemed to be shaken and despondent about it to the point where he went off at a reporter for asking a question “how scared were you” deemed unworthy by him.

Lindy was more matter of fact in his post game comments. “We’re going to have to finish…I don’t if you
(the players) can put yourself in the right mindset because after that, it wasn’t about the game.”

The Zednik incident overshadowed what was a darned good effort by the Sabres in getting a 5-3 win over the Panthers. Special teams were successful in converting three power play goals, two of them coming in the third stanza to break a 3-3 deadlock. And Patrick Kaleta scored his first career NHL goal on a tip in of a blast from Adam Mair. Said Kaleta “When I heard the buzzer go off I did a little swoop to the ice and did a Lambeau Leap into the boards”.

At last report, Zednik is in surgery at Buffalo General in stable condition.

The W keeps the Sabres just one point out of eighth place in the standings, next up is a road game in Ottawa.

Final score: Boston 3, Buffalo 2 in a shootout.

This one hurt. The Buffalo Sabres blew an excellent opportunity to stake their claim in the playoff hunt, which they would have done by beating the Boston Bruins in regulation. By blowing a 2-0 lead and then losing in the shootout, the Sabres failed to force an 8th place tie with the Bruins for the final playoff spot, and fell three points behind Boston in the chase.

“We didn’t deserve a point. Ryan (Miller) got us a point. I think we all realize that” fumed Lindy Ruff after the game, where he called out the entire team for their lackadaisical effort. “Third period? We didn’t play well in with the third or first periods” said Ruff. He specifically mentioned the lack of capitalizing on scoring chances, and in particular described Boston’s tying goal late in the third. “We turned a 3 on 2 into a 2 on 1 and almost a breakaway…. We have to find out why, find out why our energy level was so low.”

Both teams got off to a pretty sluggish start, with choppy play and few scoring chances on either side early on, although the Bruins seemed to carry most of the play as the period went on.

Buffalo got on the board in the closing seconds of the first period, a nifty one timer from Jaroslav Spacek on the power play. The team would add to its lead in the second, with Thomas Vanek getting his 16th goal of the season, stuffing in his own rebound on the doorstep through Bruins goaltender Alex Auld.

Things got interesting in the 3rd period when the Bruins cut the lead to 2-1. Around the 15 minute mark of the game, Defenseman Brian Campbell leveled P.J. Axelsson with a huge open ice hit at the Boston blue line, and Glen Murray’s retaliatory hit drew a penalty, but Buffalo could not convert or get a decent scoring chance. Describing the hit, Campbell said “It was a hit, just a play in the game. I’m just trying to hit guys when I can, it’s not like I’m trying to hurt him or anything.”

The Bruins would tie it at the 16:10 mark with Marco Sturm putting on the burners and beating Ryan Miller over the shoulder. Buffalo did not register a shot on goal until with just under 3 minutes to go, and were outshot 17-1 for the period. At the end of regulation, the boos cascaded from the rafters from the fans who saw this golden chance for a regulation win slip away. Derek Roy was pretty blase about the whole thing: “Well, we passed on a couple opportunities to put the puck on net, we weren’t skating very well, the ice was pretty rough out there and didn’t get the bounces.”

The five minute overtime generated few scoring chances by either side, and the game went to a shootout.

Two nights ago the Sabres dazzled the fans with an electrifying shootout win, but tonight Alex Auld would stonewall the Sabres with saves on Ales Kotalik, Henrik Tallinder and Derek Roy. Tallinder tried the deek but came up empty. Boston got one goal on a deek by Phil Kessel and that proved to be the game winner.

More bad news as Drew Stafford left the ice limping in the third period with an ankle injury, the same ankle that had him on the sidelines for a couple of games last month. There was no word as to how severe this injury is or if he will miss any time.

The Sabres have two days to wipe the stench of this one off of them, and will face the Florida Panthers at the H on Sunday at 6PM.

Just about everybody was on the ice this morning at HSBC Arena as the Buffalo Sabres get ready to face the Boston Bruins tonight in a showdown game.

Just how important is this game? “Every game is important” said Coach Lindy Ruff to the media following the practice. But this one looms large. Given up for dead just three weeks ago, the team could forge a tie for 8th place tonight with a regulation win, and that puts the boys right back in the playoff mix.

Tim Connolly skated today, and Coach Ruff reported that they had a long meeting with Connolly just yesterday, and are monitoring his progress very closely. From the looks of things, Connolly might be ready to go in time for Sunday’s game against Florida. Maxim Afinogenov, however, is a whole other story, and it looks like his recovery has actually regressed.

The other guy on the sudden “sick list” is Dmitri Kalinin, who did not practice this morning and is apparently under the weather. Ruff stated that Kalinin should be OK for tonight, but if not then Nathan Paetsch will be pressed into service on the blue line.

One of the guys adding a huge physical presence on the ice is Patrick Kaleta, and if the Sabres suddenly become totally healthy, he might be sent back to Rochester, and from where I’m watching, that would be a bad thing. His style of play is rubbing off on the entire team.

Ryan Miller will be looking for his 100th career NHL victory tonight… he got 99 in Wednesday’s shootout win over the Devils. And speaking of that shootout, Henrik Tallinder made history with his awesome goal, when he became the first blueliner to ever attempt a shot in a shootout, and obviously, the first one to ever score a goal.

There are only a few scattered singles remaining, so look for another sellout tonight for a 7:30 start.