Sabres Edge

Lesson learned (again)?

Lindy Ruff said it simply. The Sabres figured they were just going to come out and beat the Montreal Canadiens. They learned (maybe? for maybe the 10th time?) if they don't work, they aren't going to win. The 6-2 whooping by the Habs showed that.

"Maybe that comes on the heels of an 8-4 game, where all of sudden you think, 'We can get another eight,'" the Sabres coach said. "You're not going to get eight against them. You're not going to get eight against many people. I think we got caught in the jet wash of what looked like an easy game."

The 8-4 win over Nashville on Wednesday is already ancient history. This clunker replaced it.

The Sabres are clearly upset with their penalty kill, which has given up goals on six of the last 14 chances over three games. Those are numbers that will keep a team out of the playoffs. The breakdown is understandable. Jochen Hecht is out. Brian Campbell is gone. Tim Connolly can't practice because then he's too sore to play.

Expect some changes in either personnel or practice habits before Sunday's game against Detroit.

"I don't know if the way it's set up right now is going to work," Ruff said.

The Sabres also need to beat the teams in their division. They fell to 10-10-3 against the Northeast, and they play nine of their final 17 games within the division.

"It's a tough division, and I think we've got to do better," center Derek Roy said. "Those are huge points, and if we want to climb up the standings we've got to beat some good teams."

---John Vogl

Live from the Arena: Sabres vs. Habs

We haven't seen the Montreal Canadiens since Nov. 24 and a lot has certainly changed for both teams since then as they get ready to meet tonight in HSBC Arena.The biggest moves, of course, came on deadline day Tuesday when the Sabres dealt Brian Campbell to San Jose for Steve Bernier while the Habs dealt Cristobal Huet to Washington for a bag of pucks (OK, a '09 draft pick) and then anointed 20-year-old Carey Price as their goaltender.  Say what? Good thing GM Bob Gainey just had his number put to the rafters last week after his swing-and-a-miss for Marian Hossa. Price better look like Ken Dryden (vintage '71) or Patrick Roy (vintage '86).

Speaking of deadline day, thanks to all who have read and commented in this space this week. We may not have the page-view numbers of TSN (14.2 million on Tuesday!!!) but we've had nearly 75,000 views this week alone. Even if you think we're crazy -- or we think you're crazy. :) -- keep the chatter coming.

Pregame notes -- Surprise, surprise! The Sabres are in white tonight and the Habs are in their classic reds. Love seeing the visiting teams' darks. Wish the NHL would let it happen more. Drew Stafford and Maxim Afinogenov are on the ice for warmups. Clarke MacArthur is not and is expected to be a healthy scratch. One more decision for Lindy Ruff to make. Update: Andrew Peters is a scratch and Maxim Afinogenov is in for the first time since the Ice Bowl. Line combinations will certainly bear watching. Ryan Miller and Carey Price are the starting goalies.

---Mike Harrington

Third Period

17:21 left: The rout is on. Andrei Kostitsyn burns Miller with a backhand deke on a breakaway to make it 5-1. An assist for Plekanac makes it a four-point night. Time for most of you folks to head off to Chippewa Street.

14:00 left: The Montreal fans in the crowd have been singing that European soccer ditty ("ole, ole") all night. They've switched to the na-na-na-hey-hey-goodbye in honor of the Sabres. Annoying to say the least.

9:39 left: As if the Sabres needed this, Daniel Paille just limped off with what looked like a left knee injury after a hit by Mike Komisarek. Looked like a knee on knee hit that results in an interference penalty. Not good. This is probably the ugliest home game of the season.

8:57 left: Thomas Vanek nifty back pass feeds Tim Connolly for Buffalo's second power-play goal of the night. That makes it 5-2.

5:08 left: Another sellout of 18,690 was just announced. No way. Period. Sections 301 and 325 had all kinds of blue, nearly whole rows. Hard to tell now -- half of the crowd is already gone.

2:28 left: A 2-on-1 makes it 6-2 as Sergei Kostitsyn has an easy tap-in. You should see the mass exodus up the aisles now.

That's it: Sorry for any of you who paid full Gold pricing for that stinker. It was U-G-L-Y and there were no alibis.

Second Period

16:04 left: The Sabres get a badly needed power play goal from Thomas Vanek just eight seconds after Saku Koivu goes off from tripping to make it 2-1. Vanek's blast from the high slot sailed over the net, but freakily bounced off the glass, hit Price in the back and dribbled into the net.

14:26 left: Tomas Plekanac gets his second on a virtually identical power-play goal to make it 3-1 after the Sabres had a couple chances to clear. Perfect pass, one-timer to Miller's left. Same play. It came with Paul Gaustad in the box for boarding Koivu on a borderline hit from behind. That's five power-play goals against Buffalo in the last three games.

11:21 left: Andrei Markov is down and out after taking a shot from Patrick Kaleta in the corner. Looks like he's cut around the eye and nose. The Habs aren't happy on the ice and coach Guy Carbonneau is chirping at Kaleta from the bench. Bears watching how much of a target Kaleta is the rest of the night.

3:34 left: The Kaleta hit certainly has put the Habs in an ornery mood. Maxim Lapierre wanted to go with Kaleta and Nolan Pratt just did with Guillame Latendresse. Adam Mair also drew an interference penalty so it's on to the power play again.

3:10 left: That's 3 for 3 for Plekanac on the power play as he makes a perfect tip of Mark Streit's shot over Miller's glove to make it 4-1 and get his first career hat trick.

0:00 left: It's 4-1 through two. Montreal has a 23-20 advantage in shots and is in complete control of this one. Forget what I said this afternoon when talking about the standings. I was delusional.

First Period

18:36 left: Plekanac puts the Habs up, 1-0, on a power-play goal with Ales Kotalik off for tripping after 20 seconds. A nifty one-timer under the crossbar from Miller's left, coming nine seconds after Miller robbed Andrei Markov on a similar play to his right. The Habs came into the game leading the NHL on the power play (24.4 percent) and it was easy to see why. Crisp diagonal passing led to two super chances.

13:22 left: This one's not a sellout, thanks I'm sure to Gold pricing ($68-$203). There are a few hundred empty seats, most in the 100 ends and 300 corners. For DanP and all, here are the Sabres' lines: Connolly between Kotalik and Pominville, Roy between Vanek and Bernier, Gaustad between Paille and Stafford and the odd trio of Mair between Kaleta and Afinogenov.

9:45 left: This has started in disastrous fashion. Defenseman Mark Streit strips the puck from Vanek in front, dekes Miller down and drives it into the empty net for a 2-0 lead. Shots are 8-1.

8:03 left: The Sabres just introduced a fan on the HD Board who's heading off to serve in Iraq TOMORROW. Super gesture and the crowd responds with a standing ovation. (I missed his name. My bad).

5:32 left: The Sabres complete a ridiculous first power play. No shots. Am I supposed to be happy Afinogenov is back?

0:00 left: Glad I didn't pay Gold level pricing to watch that period. The Habs hold their 2-0 lead through one. They also had a 12-7 edge in shots but it was 8-1 at one point. The Sabres were a little better the last five minutes and Price made one dandy point-blank stop on Daniel Paille.

Stunner from the standings

Here's a pie-in-the-sky thought heading into tonight's game with the Canadiens. Dare to dream it.

We're all obsessing about the Sabres finishing eighth in the East. But if they beat Montreal tonight, they would be just five points behind falling-apart Ottawa for the Northeast Division lead. Five points! And the division winner, remember, is going to be a No. 1 or 2 seed in the playoffs. Oh, how all those shootout losses are causing trouble for Buffalo in the standings.

Thursday was a bad night for the Sabres, however, as Boston, Philadelphia, the Rangers and Islanders all won. There are a lot of teams to pass and to hold off in this race.  You just have to keep winning.

By the way, are you laughing at the collapse of the Senators as much as I am? They started 15-2-0 and are 21-21-6 since. You knew Brian Murray was watching John Paddock and thinking he could do a better job himself. But that coaching change didn't do much last night in Philly.

---Mike Harrington

Trade winds blow through notebook

In the wake of the trading deadline and two days off, I have a lot on my mind to unload this morning as the Sabres prep for tonight's game against the Canadiens.

---Even before we saw Steve Bernier play Wednesday night, you had to like what Darcy Regier got for Brian Campbell. But Regier took the deal from the Sharks at 11:30 a.m. If he had waited closer to the 3 p.m. deadline, could he have squeezed even more from San Jose or someone else? Look at the haul Atlanta got from Pittsburgh in exchange for Marian Hossa just under the wire.

---Speaking of Hossa, how sick do you think the Pens feel that he hurt his knee in his first game Thursday and will be out at least a week? Yikes. How about Brad Richards giving the Stars five assists in his debut Thursday?

---Less than two months later, the Ice Bowl already has a remember-them feel. Both goal scorers in regulation (Campbell and Pittsburgh's Colby Armstrong) were dealt at the deadline.

---Former Campbell defense partner Jaro Spacek had an interesting thought Wednesday about how Campbell will find it tougher in the Western Conference. Sure enough, in his first game Wednesday in Columbus, Campbell (left) got mugged by BlueJackets center Rick Nash and new defense partner Douglas Murray had to jump in and rescue him.

---The Sabres' three-year offer was a joke and Campbell's tears were genuine but it's hard for me to get all misty-eyed when a guy simply can't take $17.75 million. Especially when he keeps insisting the players' union didn't put any pressure on him. Right. All the tears we saw the last two weeks were the sign of a tormented guy getting squeezed on both sides, from his own emotions and the demands of his union and agent.

---Wow, was that Hockey News cover with Campbell in a Sharks jersey prophetic or what? Couple weeks ago in New York restaurant, Campbell ran into some Sharks players and old buddy Joe Thornton joked with him to come over and meet his new teammates. Wishful thinking at the time.

---The Sabres got manhandled in December in Anaheim and LA and their toughness was certainly in question. No questions anymore, especially with what we saw in the late going of Wednesday's slugfest against Nashville. Adding Bernier certainly helps in that area and so does Nolan Pratt's regular turn on defense. And how would you like to be playing against a fourth line of Adam Mair, Patrick Kaleta and Andrew Peters? Keep your head up!

---We don't see the Predators much at all, in person or on TV. Fine with me. What a bunch of chippy hacks.

---Speaking of the Ice Bowl, it's the last time we saw Maxim Afinogenov on the ice. Isn't it kind of odd to you that he's suddenly healthy two days after the deadline? The way he'd been playing before he got hurt, the Sabres would have almost certainly been looking to unload his bloated contract.

---Mike Harrington

(Photo: Associated Press)

Decisions, decisions

Lindy Ruff is getting closer to having a problem every coach would want. Drew Stafford and Maxim Afinogenov have been cleared to play tomorrow night against the Montreal Canadiens, but that doesn't mean Ruff is going to insert them into the lineup.

Ruff has a history of not making changes after a victory. The Sabres are coming off an 8-4 victory over the Nashville Predators. It's why he was leaning toward not touching a thing.

In practice today, though, the Sabres had some interesting line combinations. Derek Roy was between Thomas Vanek and newcomer Steve Bernier. Jochen Hecht was with Ales Kotalik and Jason Pominville with Afinogenov also wearing the same jersey. Paul Gaustad was with Daniel Paille and Stafford and Clarke MacArthur was between Andrew Peters and Patrick Kaleta.

Tim Connolly and Adam Mair sat out the workout, and Hecht left early while still nursing a pulled groin muscle. If everybody is healthy, does Lindy take out Peters and/or Kaleta on his fourth line, giving him four skilled lines but less grit? Or does he keep toughness in his lineup and go with more skill?

It could depend on the opponent. No matter, the Sabres, assuming everybody can either get healthy or stay healthy, have plenty of options going down the stretch.

--- Bucky Gleason

Redefining the blue line

The new pairing of Jaroslav Spacek and Dmitri Kalinin became the blue line's workhorse duo in the first game following the trade of Brian Campbell. Spacek logged just shy of 24 minutes, while Kalinin came in at 22:24. Coach Lindy Ruff didn't shy away from his third pairing of Nathan Paetsch and Nolan Pratt, with Paetsch playing 16:15 and Pratt 15:09. That's not far off the totals of Henrik Tallinder (17:24) and Toni Lydman (17:50). Interesting that at the end of the second period Paetsch had played just eight seconds less than Lydman despite being a scratch in 15 of the last 16 games.

--- Bob DiCesare

Welcome, Steve Bernier

Now that's how you make a debut. You wow the crowd, then you humbly say it's just one game and there's a lot of work to do.

Buffalo, say hello to Steve Bernier.

The right winger scored twice, added an assist and stuck for a fallen teammate, the type of things that get a player in the good graces of the Queen City immediately.

"It's fun to win the first game," he said after the 8-4 win over Nashville. "I'm just happy right now."

He should be.

XXXX

So, this Steve Bernier guy looks pretty good so far, huh? Less than 15 minutes into his first game, he's already got two goals.

Ryan Miller took a shot off the mask three minutes into the second period, and the goaltender stayed down as blood dripped from his nose. He was helped to the dressing room and was replaced by Jocelyn Thibault.

The Predators scored on the rebound when Miller went down, and they scored again 34 seconds later to cut the Sabres' lead to 3-2.

Andrew Peters just scored to give Sabres a 4-2 lead. Yes, you read that right.

Miller returns to standing ovation with 8:58 left in second period.

8:36 p.m.: It's Nashville's turn to change goalies. Jason Pominville makes it 5-3 Sabres, sending Chris Mason to the bench for Dan Ellis.

8:40 p.m.: Bernier assists on give-and-go with Derek Roy to make it 6-3. Goal countdown begins as fans want seven!

8:43 p.m.: Sabres score four goals on six shots in second period to take 6-3 lead after 40 minutes.

9:06 p.m.: Preds score on power play to make it 6-4 with 16:56 remaining. This is one interesting game.

9:15 p.m.: Back-to-back fights. Peters and Darcy Hordichuk draw, while Jordin Tootoo annihilates Adam Mair. Mair manages to throw a few punches from the ice, though.

9:19 p.m.: Tim Connolly scores a goal that only Tim Connolly can score. Toni Lydman gets his fourth assist on the goal.

---John Vogl

Ottawa REALLY unhappy

General Manager Bryan Murray is back behind the bench for the Senators, firing coach John Paddock. The GM, who got some flak for not doing enough to help the team Tuesday, has decided to take over the coaching duties for his struggling team.

I think it's the right move. Paddock, though praised by the Ottawa media for being honest, was too laid-back and, yes, boring. Murray is a quipster with bite who led the team to the Stanley Cup finals last year. He can get the players' attention better. Plus, he might be able to get Ray Emery's head back on straight, though that might be the toughest job of all.

---John Vogl

Bernier on top line

Coach Lindy Ruff is going with the old adage that if you get a new player, put him in the best spot to succeed right away. Steve Bernier, acquired by the Sabres on Tuesday for Brian Campbell, will play on the top line tonight against Nashville. Bernier will play right wing with center Derek Roy and left wing Thomas Vanek.

In the other moves brought about by the Campbell deal, Dmitri Kalinin will join Jaroslav Spacek and Nathan Paetsch will be inserted to play alongside Nolan Pratt.

---John Vogl

Ottawa unhappy

As the cover of the Ottawa Sun shows, the people in Canada's capital weren't all that thrilled with deadline day. The Senators' only move was getting Martin Lapointe (though they did get Cory Stillman and Mike Commodore before Tuesday).

The Sun quotes Senators GM Bryan Murray as saying he went after the Sabres' Brian Campbell. The paper says the team may have offered prospects Nick Foligno (son of Sabres Hall of Famer Mike Foligno), Ilja Zubov or Alexander Nikulin and a pick. Instead, Sabres GM Darcy Regier sent Campbell to San Jose for Steve Bernier and a pick.

"I felt like what I offered Darcy was better than what they got from San Jose, but Campbell wasn't going to stay in the East. The Sabres wanted him to go West," Murray told the paper.

Bernier is more of what the Sabres need.

---John Vogl