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Sabres second loss in last 15 games

Sabres 3 – Panthers 4 (en) After Buffalo shut out Florida in October the Panthers came into town to extract some revenge and Florida tied up the four-game regular season record at two games apiece with the win against Buffalo last night.

The Sabres Head Coach Ruff was behind the bench for his 1900th game (3rd all-time) coached as the two-time Stanley Cup champions spoiled his milestone.

Buffalo won most of the faceoffs, out hit, and out blocked Florida, while rookie (G) Ellis earned a .903% save percentage, it was close but eventually the Cup Champs won out…this time.

The Eastern Conference playoff hopefuls continue this Wednesday night in Buffalo at 7:30 pm EST as the Metropolitan Division third place Philadelphia Flyers faceoff against the second wild card seeded Buffalo Sabres in game three of the Sabres’ five-game homestand.

One team eliminated from playoffs

Here along the Lake After 14 weekly matchups Buffalo Winter is still tied atop of the Western Division and League with asher1961-1 each earning a 12-2 record and each beating the other once.

Unfortunately for the team manager of Liam’s Loud Team after earning one weekly matchup victory this season has been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but now is not the time to quit, valuable experience gained by continuing to manage can assist a manager in next season’s draft and weekly play contributing to the growth of their skill level and to be able to earn a playoff seeding.

The Eastern Division has two teams battling it out for what could be the only playoff seeding the division earns as the Western Division has the three top teams in the League.

There were four team managers utilizing the waiver wire to strengthen their roster since last Monday, being able to make seven transactions a week is vital for a team manager to continuously manage their roster by dropping/adding players that have gone cold, injured or taking personal time with productive point producing skaters, even a 1.7 or 1.8 point earner is still better than no points earned at all.

My current watch list, notice asher1961-1 took a player I was keeping tabs on but always remember that no matter how brilliant a team manager manages it is still up to the NHL players to perform and produce the points that make managers look good.

Buffalo’s recent 13-1-0 streak creates new Sabres standard

Sabres 5 – Ducks 3 (en) Two minutes into the first period Sabres (RW) Quinn scores the first goal of the game and Buffalo continued to outshoot Anaheim and ended the first period with the 1-0 lead.

At the finish of the second period Buffalo still held the edge in shots on goal, added another tally to go up on Anaheim 2-0 heading into the third period.

Buffalo (D) Byram records his 10th of the year assisted by a behind the net pass from (C) Thompson to give the Sabres a 3-0 lead that they held until five minutes remaining in the game when the Ducks scored to cut the lead to two goals, but Sabres (C) Quinn scored his second of the evening giving Buffalo what should have been an insurmountable 4-1 lead with just four minutes remaining in the game.

Chaos ensued as Anaheim continued to push and scored twice more creeping within one and with 48 seconds remaining and the Ducks goaltender pulled, Buffalo’s (RW) Tuch brilliantly skated behind the net and put his man to the ice, then took the puck went one way then reversed and tossed a backhand to (C) Norris in front of the net who between two defenders soft-touched a backhand into the empty net for the 5-3 lead and final.

The Buffalo Sabres second game of this current five-game homestand is tomorrow night at 7 pm EST versus the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

Sabres take a bite out of the Big Apple

Sabres 5 – Rangers 2 (en) The Buffalo Sabres have now won 12 of 13 games which last happened 20 seasons ago, ironically when current Rangers General Manager Drury led the Sabres with 12 points during their last 12 wins in a 13-game stretch during the 2005 Christmas season.

The Sabres scored the game’s first goal four minutes into the first period and kept the lead all game, rookie (G) Ellis was outstanding stopping 30 of the Ranger’s 32 SOG, Buffalo’s NHL premier penalty killers denied New York’s man advantages even when the Rangers had a four-minute power play.

Buffalo scored even strength, on the power play, shorthanded, and an empty net, the Sabres scored twice in the third period on only 3 SOG to take the 4-2 lead and eventually closing out New York 5-2 with the happy net goal, which ties up the regular season series between these two combatants at 1-1 with the rubber match not until April.

Buffalo is now the second seeded wild card in the Eastern Conference and begin a 5-game homestand this Saturday night versus the Anaheim Ducks at 7 pm EST as the Sabres look to solidify their playoff seeding.

Buffalo 11-1 in last 12 games

Sabres 5 – Canucks 3 (en) Buffalo skated to the front quickly as the Sabres scored first on their first shot on goal during the first period, then proceeded to score shorthanded and stopped all 14 Canuck shots on net to end the first period with a 2-0 lead.

The Sabres increased their lead in the second period to 3-0 as (RW) Tuck made it look easy as he put a wrist shot high into the net and (G) Luukkonen played his second period of shut out hockey.

Buffalo’s 27 years old (D) Metsa in his 12th NHL game scored his first goal giving the Sabres a solid 4-0 lead with 14 minutes remaining in the game, then the skate blades began to come off as Vancouver scored three times in five and a half minutes to make it a one goal game with just four minutes left.

Right after Vancouver scored their third goal HC Ruff called a timeout to calm the boys down, which worked because with 76 seconds on the clock Sabres (RW) Doan scored the empty net goal to seal a 5-3 victory for the home crowd.

Next stop for the Sabres is The Big Apple as Buffalo skates into New York City to take on the Broadway Blue Shirts this Thursday night at 7 pm EST.