Westward Ho
St. Louis and Columbus. At home. Any doubt in your mind that should be four points?
But that's exactly the problem. The Sabres can't be thinking that way. Just look to last year. The Blues, who are here tonight, and the Blue Jackets (Friday's opponent) both came to town and left with the two points while the Sabres got nothing.
The Sabres' record against the West last year, in fact, was a key reason they didn't make the playoffs. They went 4-6 -- with losses to lowlights like St. Louis, Columbus, Phoenix and Los Angeles. The Blues, in fact, have never lost in HSBC Arena (6-0-2). The Sabres' last home win against St. Louis was in the Aud in 1995.
"We got off to a good start playing Vancouver (the win on Oct. 17) and we need to continue that," Lindy Ruff said after today's morning skate. "Just because we don't play them a lot, we can't take any of their players for granted. Sometimes last year, we took some shifts and some periods for granted and it hurt us. There's no easy games. Just because we don't see them enough doesn't mean that we can't dominate in some areas. "
---Mike Harrington
