Just a short post to let our readers know that there will be no Sabres morning skate or game night coverage here at USRT for the next two weeks.

We notified the Sabres PR department today that we will not be in attendance at the next four Sabres home games, since we will be hitting the road on an extended Ultimate Sports Road Trip to Florida and back (more on that in the next day or so).

Puck Stop will appear in Artvoice this week as scheduled and we will chime in on the Sabres from time to time. We will both be back at the arena for the March 30 game against Boston and Pete will be covering that game.

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.

One could say that the Sabres stole a point in the ‘Canes games on Saturday night. As the saying goes, what goes around comes around as the Sabres failed to convert on multiple opportunities and lost 3-2 in a shootout to the New York Rangers.

Sure, the Sabres were extremely shorthanded on the blue line as they lost two defensemen to injury during the game, and Nathan Paetsch was shaken up a bit on a hard check from Sean Avery. Yet with the position the Sabres are in right now every point that can be had must be taken, and that didn’t happen.

Not that they didn’t have their cracks at it. To name a few….a five on three power play that went the full two minutes where Buffalo struggled at times to keep in their own end. In all there were six power plays for the Sabres in the first two stanzas with only one conversion on a Vanek deflection of a Pominville blast from the blue line.

In the third period, Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist mishandled a puck behind the net and Drew Stafford tried to sneak it into the empty net, no luck as the puck whizzed harmlessly through the crease. And when the game went to OT, Max found himself on a breakaway and couldn’t convert. It felt like game 5 of the Carolina series all over again.

And with the Sabres having such a hideous shootout record, one couldn’t help but think the Rangers were going to be the team coming away with the two points. They would on Scott Gomez’ shot past the outstretched pad of Ryan Miller near the left post.

So if there is a bright side, it’s that the Sabres did get a point and did close the gap to three on the eighth place Flyers(who do have a game in hand on Buffalo). But with time running out on the season, all that matters is getting the two points and climbing the ladder.

Useless notes:Thomas Vanek scored for the first time in five games(MTL 2/29). The Rangers sweep the Sabres for the season with the win, the complete opposite of last season in which Buffalo took all four contests. The loss was the fourth in a row at home for Buffalo.

Next up - @ Pittsburgh Wednesday, Carolina Friday, and that silly blue and white Canadian team on Saturday.

Time is running out….tick, tick, tick!!

Point - Counter Point

In this week’s Puck Stop, we take two very different viewpoints of the Campbell trade and which way the Sabres are headed now.

Check it out!

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.

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!

“Sabres and Rangers - The Battle Continues”

This week’s Puck Stop comes to you from New York City, where we covered last weekend’s Sabres/Rangers clash, and also take a look ahead to this Saturday’s rematch.

Check it out!

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. 

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.