Sabres

hell yes.

 

will you still feel this way when they lose Miller and go on a 9-10 game bender?

 

It's not all Miller, they've got 4 players in the top ten in scoring. (But I think half these points may have come in that Philly blowout)


NHL Scoring Leaders PP PK
RNK NAME POS GP G A PTS +/- PIM ATOI SOG SPCT P A G A
1 Marian Hossa, ATL RW 9 10 5 15 3 2 21:57 28 35.7 7 3 0 0
2 Chris Drury, BUF C 9 10 4 14 4 2 18:30 28 35.7 6 1 1 0
Maxim Afinogenov, BUF RW 9 5 9 14 3 12 16:01 21 23.8 1 3 0 0
4 Martin Havlat, CHI LW 7 7 6 13 7 8 21:20 28 25.0 0 4 0 0
Petr Sykora, EDM RW 8 6 7 13 5 4 15:43 19 31.6 1 5 0 0
Thomas Vanek, BUF LW 9 6 7 13 11 2 15:26 25 24.0 2 1 0 0
Michael Nylander, NYR C 8 3 10 13 3 4 20:14 18 16.7 2 2 0 0
Jaromir Jagr, NYR RW 8 2 11 13 0 12 22:17 33 6.1 0 6 0 0
9 Brian Gionta, NJ RW 8 7 5 12 1 4 21:10 36 19.4 3 1 0 0
Ilya Kovalchuk, ATL LW 9 5 7 12 3 2 22:13 49 10.2 3 4 0 0
Slava Kozlov, ATL LW 9 3 9 12 7 2 21:00 25 12.0 0 6 0 0
Daniel Briere, BUF C 9 2 10 12 5 10 18:41 20 10.0 0 7 0 0

 

no doubt they have firepower, but rarely do offenses stay red-hot all season (Edmonton back in the day was one of the rare cases)....Buffalo is good, but they ain't winning them all....so far so good for them, though.

 

Canes took the Sabres to the wire both times WITHOUT Stillman and Kaberle. Not using injuries as an excuse, but we will get those guys back, and when we do, I like our chances.

 

Sabres said the same in the playoffs--their entire D corps was so banged up it was almost comical

 

Not a huge worry there. Miller's save percentage and GAA is closer to middle of the pack than top notch. Biron has played well in his two games. I've watched all but three or four games (taking my daughter to the Nov. 20 game vs. Tampa) and they're damned good. The speed and passing is incredible and there's little if any dropoff between lines one and three. Buffalo has the weapons to outscore anyone and on two or three occasions they've used that to overcome a subpar goaltending effort. If anything, I'd be most worried about a defenseman or two going down. We saw how that affected the team in last year's playoffs (although I can't imagine five of the top six defensemen going down at once).

 

Stillman/Kaberle = Tim Connolly

 

Big difference in my opinion is that Buffalo should have beefed up before the trade deadline and added some blue line talent. I call that a management miscalculation. You cannot really fault the Canes for not having Kaberle or Stillman, as they will be back by Christmas.

I see these two clubs as mirror images (high speed/high skill with up and coming goalies) that are on a collision course come playoff time (and I still like our chances).

 

Let me get this straight. You saying Buffalo should have planned on losing five of six defensmen to injury during the playoffs and traded for their eventual replacements before the deadline?

:newsmile63:

that's about as retarded a comment as I've read hear in a long time. The Sabres group of defensemen was had as deep and talented as any entering the postseason.