NEWARK, N.J. -- NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman went out of his way before Game One to make sure how much he appreciated the passion fans in Buffalo have for hockey. He pulled me to the side and made his point after his news conference. It came as a surprise to me.
Bettman for years has been impressed with television ratings in Buffalo during the Stanley Cup final regardless of whether the Sabres are involved. The Sabres haven't reached the finals since 1999 but routinely are among the top three cities watching, usually after the two cities that have teams playing for the Cup.
"We have great fans in Buffalo,'' Bettman said. "It’s that simple. You have to remember, I knew that going back and I really had that reinforced when we ran the club during a difficult period. It’s a passionate, knowledgeable fan base. While they love the Sabres perhaps more than anything else, they’re also big fans of the game."
Bettman wasn't simply blowing smoke. He said it was important to him that Buffalo has done well because the support has been there from ownership and the fans.
"It’s always good to know that you have teams in a place where hockey really matters and the team is really important," he said. "Two, it also means we’re particularly pleased when we have good strong ownership, which we have in Buffalo.
"Terry [Pegula] is a terrific owner. I’m glad that someone like him, who has an onerous passion about a game, has a team in a market like Buffalo. I’ve been watching the [television] numbers long enough to not be surprised. I now expect it."
NEWARK, N.J. – NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and players’ association chief Donald Fehr sounded cautiously optimistic Wednesday before Game One of the Stanley Cup final about reaching a new collective bargaining agreement without labor strife that could lead to another work stoppage.
The tone during their separate news conferences sounded in stark contrast to rhetoric during the 2003-04 season, when Bettman became embattled in a bitter labor war with former NHLPA chief Bob Goodenow. The NHL ended up canceling the 2004-05 season and reaching an agreement the following summer. Goodenow ended up getting fired.
"We’re in a completely different situation," Bettman said. "There’s a new executive director who has gotten himself up speed, new people, new relationships. Time will tell how this all sorts out. I’m hopefully it sorts out easily. Labor peace is preferable to the alternative."
For the past seven years, the league and its players’ association have worked under a salary cap in which the players receive 57 percent of revenue. Speculation has been rampant that the NHL will be looking for more money after the NBA and NFL effectively convinced their unions to accept a smaller take before reaching agreements.
Bettman announced Wednesday that the NHL generated about $3.3 billion this season, a record amount and roughly a 50 percent increase from 2003-04.
"If someone is suggesting it, there’s something in the water, people have the NBA and NFL on the brain or they’re just looking for news on a slow day," Bettman said. "It’s nothing more than speculation. There can’t be any substance to it because there haven’t been any substantive conversations."
Bettman for months has been ready to begin preliminary discussions with Fehr, who was hired by the NHLPA to oversee negotiations after reigning over major league baseball’s union for more than two decades.
Fehr said talks with Bettman could begin with weeks after the Stanley Cup final is completed. He held an informal news conference about 30 feet from and about 10 minutes after Bettman held his own.
"You don’t have the kind of atmosphere going in that’s necessarily presage to conflict," Fehr said. "You don’t seem to have that. I’ve been in both situations before. Whether you have it not doesn’t predict the outcome.
"Gary has been through this a number of times. I’ve been through this a number of times. Hopefully, we’re both professional enough to treat it that way."
NEWARK, N.J. -- Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown this morning said he had no problem sleeping last night, the eve of Game One of the Stanley Cup final, but he's ready to start the best-of-seven series against the New Jersey Devils. The opener is set for 8 p.m. in the Prudential Center.
"I slept fine," Brown said. "The afternoon nap might be a little more difficult. It’s going to be more [emotional] when we get here tonight. It felt like any other morning to me. When we get here tonight, the nerves are going to pick up."
The Kings made quick work of the Canucks, Blues and Coyotes and lost just two games in the first three rounds to reach the finals for the first time since 1994. They've had plenty of time to relax in between series but have effectively been able to regenerate the energy and unity that carried them this far in the first place.
"It has allowed us to enjoy what we accomplish in the series that just ended," Brown said. "On the flip side, a few days later, you hit the reset button and get that work mentality back. You want to keep playing. From a rest standpoint, to get where we are and have the rest that we’ve had, it’s definitely a positive."
Brown, 27, who grew up in Ithaca and played frequently in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse as a kid, is making his first appearance in the finals. It's hardly his first big game. He played for the United States in the 2010 Olympics, losing the gold medal to Canada. He's leading the Kings with seven goals and 16 points and is plus-13 in 14 postseason games.
"It’s important for some guys like myself and some younger guys to understand that we might not have this chance again and be ready to go from a playing standpoint," Brown said. "It’s nice to sit here and pat everyone’s back. At the end of the day, we haven’t done everything."
The NHL is one day away from the start of an improbable Stanley Cup final that will take hockey fans from coast to coast.
New Jersey hosts Los Angeles in Game One on Wednesday night. Starting on the road should be fine for the Kings, who have won all eight games away from L.A. en route to a dazzling 12-2 playoff record.
"If you told anybody, let alone us in the dressing room, that we'd have a place in the finals as an eight seed, I would have only told you that you were crazy if you said it took 14 games," Kings forward Justin Williams said.
L.A. captain Dustin Brown has 16 points in the 14 games and has been agitating the Kings' trounced opponents.
The Devils, though, have earned their spot in the finals and have plenty of reasons to feel good about bringing another Cup to New Jersey.
Yes, it's baseball season so I'm spending a good chunk of my time on the Toronto-Cleveland corridor, at Coca-Cola Field and over at the Inside Pitch blog, but there's been plenty of press box TVs tuned to the Stanley Cup playoffs the last few weeks as well. So here are a few ice chips I've collected:
Ilya Kovalchuk: Regulars here and on my Twitter feed know I was consistently pounding on the Devils for the Kovy deal, both for the way it circumvented cap rules and for the stupidity of handing that kind of money to a guy who didn't win a single playoff game in Atlanta in his career. I don't take it all back but I basically gotta take 95 percent of it back. Kovalchuk (right, after Game Six goal against Rangers) has been mostly brilliant this spring and the Devils are in the final. You get to the SCF and any kind of big-money deal has to be worth it now, right?
The Rangers: I never thought they had enough offense to win the whole thing and they were, frankly, lucky to get to Game Six of the conference final. Both the Senators and Capitals had good shots to get them in seven-game series in the first two rounds. Good thing they didn't win the Cup, by the way. We wouldn't want coaches to copycat that style either.
John Tortorella: I wonder which Rangers or NHL official got to him midway through the Devils series, when he finally stopped the sub-human act during his postgame pressers. That NEVER would have played had the team made the final. For those who ridiculously said "good for him," I remind you that dealing with the media is part of the head coach's responsibility to the league to promote the sport -- especially at this time of year. Lindy Ruff is one of the best in the league at it on most days. Every other coach in the playoffs was doing it. No excuse for Torts' act.
The Kings: Keeping the string alive of teams opening the season in Europe and making the final (remember how often we pulled that stat out on the Sabres?). They look awesome right now: Goaltending, defense, offense. Still baffling how they finished eighth in the West, baffling how they were 29th in the league in goals during the regular season. So many of you keep saying, "they were two points out of third" and that's true but they didn't get there. They were eighth in an 82-game schedule, no small sample. You can do that with any team -- the Sabres, remember, were four points out of seventh.
Coaches: It's now three of the last four years (Pittsburgh 2009, Philly 2010, Los Angeles 2012) where a team fired its coach during the season and made the SCF. And the Devils, remember, hired Peter DeBoer over the summer so he's in his first season. And the Sabres move on with the same coach who has won a playoff series in only two of the last 10 seasons -- including none in the last five -- and a coach who hasn't even made the postseason in six of those years. Just sayin'.
The Sabres: Don't agree with those who say it's no biggie they didn't get in because they wouldn't have done anything anyway. Their four games against the Rangers were a 4-1 win, a 4-1 loss, a 1-0 shootout loss and a 4-3 overtime loss. Seems pretty tight to me. They had whacked the Caps on the road in the final 10 days of the season -- and Washington took out Boston. Certainly, they were up against it without Christian Ehrhoff and Tyler Myers and it's all speculation how Ryan Miller would have played (stop Joey Crabb on a breakaway, please) but Darcy Regier said plenty of times this was a year for a low seed to maybe win the Cup.
Lo and behold, we've got a 6 and an 8 in the Cup final just as Regier said. Just get in. This isn't the NBA where bottom seeds almost never win. Major miss coming in ninth.
The pick: I've got Kings in six. Devils, remember, needed double overtime in Game Seven just to get out of the first round in Florida. The Kings are on a roll we've almost never seen before, especially on the road. I don't see them cooling off in bucolic Newark.
Canadiens captain Brian Gionta watched on television from his home in Rochester while his kid brother, Stephen, scored the first goal and set up Ryan Carter for the winner to lead the Devils over the Rangers in Game Five of the conference finals.
Hockey fans for years have known about Brian Gionta, the former Boston College star who won a Stanley Cup with the Devils in 2003 and has played 647 NHL games. Stephen spent six years in the minors, had no goals in 12 NHL games before scoring in his first and only contest this season. It was enough to stay with the big club for the playoffs.
Stephen has three goals and six points in 17 postseason games for the Devils. He's been playing on the fourth line with Ryan Carter and Steve Bernier, and they've had a big impact on the series. The Devils can reach the Stanley Cup final with a win in Game Six over the Rangers -- and his childhood buddy, Blueshirts Ryan Callahan.
"He’s finally getting some recognition for himself for something he’s doing," Brian said today by telephone. "Unfortunately, at times, it’s probably been difficult on him going to BC and being in New Jersey. It was tough being in that shadow. It’s nice seeing him stepping out of that and getting some recognition for himself."
For more, read my column Friday in The Buffalo News.
Los Angeles began the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Western Conference. The Kings will finish the postseason as one of the top two teams in the NHL.
The Kings eliminated Phoenix with a 4-3 overtime victory Tuesday night, earning just the second Stanley Cup finals appearance in franchise history. They became the second No. 8 seed to reach the finals, joining the 2006 Edmonton Oilers.
"It means everything," Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. "You grow up your whole life wanting to be in that Stanley Cup final."
The Kings won their eighth straight road game in the playoffs, becoming the first team to head to the finals unbeaten away from home. They'll start the Cup on the road at either New York or New Jersey next Wednesday.
"There will be some frustration for a few days," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "But ultimately I think our players should look back and feel good about a lot of the things that they accomplished this year."
"The right center ice is a priority," Regier said in First Niagara Center. "The real unknown here is what the trade market will hold. Nothing has started. It doesn’t get started until after the playoffs. Teams begin to talk, and then it really builds as you go into the draft.
"It’s tough to know what will be available, but if we can find the right centerman it would help."
The Sabres' top three centers are Derek Roy, Cody Hodgson and restricted free agent Tyler Ennis, who has or will receive a qualifying offer from the Sabres.
"The qualifying offers are out, but we’ll take our time there," Regier said. "We’ve got plenty of time on that. We qualified and will qualify everyone."
To hear Regier talk about Sulzer, Roy, Hodgson and Andrej Sekera, click the audio file below.
Alexander Sulzer spent nearly five seasons trying to fit in with an NHL team. After getting dealt to the Buffalo Sabres in February, the defenseman finally found his match.
The Sabres felt the connection, too.
Sulzer and the Sabres have agreed to a one-year contract extension worth $725,000. Sulzer, who was set to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, earned $700,000 last season while splitting time between Vancouver and Buffalo.
His season took off when he was shipped to the Sabres with center Cody Hodgson for right wing Zack Kassian and defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani at the trade deadline. Sulzer had been a healthy scratch for more than six weeks for the Canucks, but an injury allowed him to join the Buffalo lineup.
He responded by playing 15 games for the Sabres, recording three goals, eight points and a plus-2 rating. Sulzer, who turns 28 next week, spent most of his time skating alongside fellow German Olympian Christian Ehrhoff.
Sulzer missed the Sabres' final two games after getting called home to Nashville for a personal emergency.
"I did meet with Alex after the season, and he expressed a hope to be back," Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier said last month. "He is someone we would like to bring back as well. That’s something that we’ll look to do."
The 6-foot-1, 204-pound Sulzer has played 89 NHL games with Nashville, Florida, Vancouver and Buffalo. He has four goals, 12 assists and 16 points.
The signing gives the Sabres eight defensemen under contract for next season: Tyler Myers, Robyn Regehr, Ehrhoff, Jordan Leopold, Andrej Sekera, Mike Weber, Brayden McNabb and Sulzer. Blue-liner T.J. Brennan will be a restricted free agent.
TORONTO -- Reports that first surfaced late Friday night in British Columbia have been confirmed this morning with multiple outlets reporting the death of former Sabres winger and first-round draft pick Paul Cyr at the age of 48. Cyr, a diabetic, apparently died of a heart attack.
The feisty Cyr was selected ninth overall by the Sabres in the 1982 draft and was one of the team's three first-round picks that year during the reign of Scott Bowman. But the other two, Phil Housley and Dave Andreychuk, went on to have much more productive careers.
Cyr had 101 goals and 241 points in 470 NHL games for the Sabres, New York Rangers and Hartford Whalers. His best seasons in Buffalo were a 22-goal campaign in 1984-85 and a 20-goal output in 1985-86, when he put up a career-best 51 points.
Here's a good recap of his Buffalo career, which makes reference to one of the stranger offseason incidents in Sabres history: Cyr was shot in the abdomen in the Dominican Republic in the summer of 1987 but survived even though his hockey career was never really the same after that. Reports at the time were that he was an innocent bystander but the incident was the subject of rumor and innuendo for many years after. Wonder how it would have played out in today's social media world.
Cyr played only 20 games for Buffalo the next season before being traded to the Rangers in a deal that included a draft pick the Sabres eventually turned into Alexander Mogilny. CHEK Television in British Columbia has a full report on Cyr's death below.
Slovakia needed to do well at the world championships to secure a spot in the next Olympics. Canada, ranked as the fifth-best hockey playing nation in the latest IIHF ratings, wanted to show that hockey's birthplace is still No. 1.
Only Slovakia succeeded.
The Slovaks eliminated Canada this morning in the quarterfinals at the world championships, the third straight quarterfinal defeat for The True North. Sabres defenseman Andrej Sekera's power-play point shot was tipped by Michal Handzus with 2:28 left in regulation to give the Slovaks a 4-3 victory.
The other three teams for Friday's semifinals will be decided today. Russia is playing Norway now on NBC Sports Network. The channel will also have live coverage of the United States visiting Finland at 11:30 a.m. Sweden and Czech Republic finish the slate of games.
Coming out of the lockout in 2005, the NHL had nearly all the leverage over the NHL Players' Association. The league worked that dominance to its advantage, virtually dictating the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement. Players took a 24 percent salary cut, among other things.
Now the league wants out of the deal it created, according to two reports.
The Hockey News and Sports Business Journal are reporting the league has informed the players that it intends to terminate the CBA when it expires Sept. 15. Each side had to inform the other 120 days before the expiration if it wanted to modify or terminate the agreement.
The players would have liked to keep a CBA that has seen the salary cap (and salaries) rise dramatically every season. The league, despite dictating the terms, felt the agreement was no longer in its favor.
The sides will need to negotiate a new deal before next season or another lockout is likely.
The Kings continue to look like the NHL's most dominant team. The way they're going, they may not get a chance to extend their record road winning streak until the next round -- which, by the way, is the final round.
Los Angeles dropped Phoenix again Tuesday night, earning a 4-0 victory to take a 2-0 series lead over the Coyotes in the Western Conference finals. Games Three and Four will be in L.A. on Thursday and Sunday.
It wouldn't be a surprise if the Kings sweep. They look that good.
""We really want it right now," forward Dustin Penner told NHL.com. "We want the first goal. We want the next goal. It's that intensity and that passion that drives us. It's that good type of fear that stops you from letting games get away from you and continues to push you forward. We use that fear of losing to motivate us as opposed to shrinking to it."
The Kings are 7-0 on the road and have won their last nine away from home dating to last season.
Besides falling behind on the scoreboard, the Coyotes lost two players. Shane Doan and Martin Handzal were kicked out for boarding, and the league will review the incidents.
"There's no question there's going to be frustration, especially when you get down in a game like that, guys try to finish their checks on the edge," said Coyotes and former Sabres forward Taylor Pyatt, who had three shots and three hits. "We've got to try and find some positives and get things turned around in Game Three."
"We've got to be better," Rangers captain Ryan Callahan said. "We know that. We've got areas in the game that we need to improve on and we need to work on. We'll be ready."
Los Angeles won its sixth straight road game Sunday night, 4-2 in Phoenix, and in the process opened a 1-0 lead over the Coyotes in the Western Conference final. L.A. rolled up a 48-27 shot edge to pull within one road win of the NHL record for a single postseason.
"Their whole team was better than our team," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett told reporters. "We weren't close in that game. We got beat in every facet of the game. Hopefully, we take some lessons from it and get better for the next game."
Meanwhile, the puck drops on the Eastern Conference final tonight. The New York Rangers host their neighbors from New Jersey.
"This is a great time in everybody's lives," Devils goalie Martin Brodeur said. "We need to really take it all in. You never know when you're going to get back in the situation that you're going to play for a chance to go to the Stanley Cup finals. And playing against our biggest rival kind of puts a cherry on top."
Madison Square Garden is one of the best arenas in the NHL for a regular game. The atmosphere should be off the charts Saturday.
The Rangers host Washington in Game Seven of their Eastern Conference semifinal. The winner faces New Jersey for the right to advance to the Stanley Cup finals. The loser joins the Flyers in a second-round exit.
The Rangers are 4-0 lifetime in Game Sevens in the Garden. The last win came in the opening round against Ottawa. The Capitals won at home in Game Six and hope to do the same on the road Saturday.
"Our goal was do-or-die, win Game Six -- the same goal as for Game Seven," Capitals defenseman John Carlson said.
General Manager Don Maloney and coach Dave Tippett are getting credit for bringing the previously orphaned Coyotes to within four wins of their first Cup appearance.
"You look at what he's done with our team, he's taken us from the basement to the top of the league," Yandle said of Tippett. "I'm sure every team will tell you that they don't like playing against us, especially in the regular season. You've got to tip your hat to Tip with the way he's been able to come in here and take over this team and get us where we want to be."
In Philadelphia, the Flyers didn't get to where they wanted. After a convincing first-round dismantling of the Pittsburgh Penguins, they went out in five games against the Devils.
A lot of the blame is going to goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who underperformed after getting a nine-year, $51 million contract. The talkative netminder stayed away from locker cleanout day.
"Did he play as good as I expected this year?" Holmgren asked. "I'd probably say, no."
The United States won its first two games at the world championships, dropping France in an easy opener and downing archrival Canada in overtime. The Americans are back on the ice today. They play Slovakia in Finland, with a local puck drop of 1:15 p.m. The game will be on NBC Sports Network.
Thomas Vanek made $6.4 million this season, which ranked second on the Sabres. Among athletes from Austria, however, it was No. 1.
ESPN the Magazine tracked the best-paid athletes from 200 countries, and its report has Vanek as the top earner from Austria. He is one of five NHL players to lead a country in athletic earnings, joining Pittsburgh's Craig Adams (Brunei Darussalam, $725,000), Minnesota's Mikko Koivu (Finland, $7.29 million), Winnipeg's Nik Antropov (Kazakhstan, $4.25 million), Philadelphia's Ilya Bryzgalov (Russia, $10 million) and Boston's Zdeno Chara (Slovakia, $8.5 million).
The highest-paid athlete in 2011, according to the report, was boxer Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines. He made $50 million in two fights. Antagonist and fellow fighter Floyd "Money" Mayweather topped U.S. athletes by making $40 million for one fight.
(Mayweather will fight Saturday night for the junior middleweight title held by Miguel Cotto. A long-awaited Mayweather-Pacquiao fight would undoubtedly keep the duo at the top again, but it unfortunately remains a long shot.)
Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso tied Mayweather for the No. 2 spot by topping Spain's list at $40 million. Soccer players dominated the 200-country list by taking the top spot 117 times.
Jhonas Enroth wants to impress the home folks. Andrej Sekera and Miroslav Satan hope to earn an Olympic berth for their country. Ted Nolan is coaching a small European nation respected for its love of hockey.
The world hockey championships don’t get the recognition bestowed up on the Olympics or world juniors, and only two members of the Buffalo Sabres are participating. But there are still story lines as the 16-nation tournament starts Friday in Finland and Sweden.
Enroth is one of the three goaltenders for co-host Sweden. The Buffalo backup is the only one with NHL experience and is hopeful of significant playing time in his hometown of Stockholm.
Sekera joins Boston captain Zdeno Chara and former Sabres forwards Satan and Milan Bartovic on a motivated Slovakian squad. Slovakia is ranked 10th by the International Ice Hockey Federation, and only the top nine countries will secure an automatic berth to the 2014 Olympics in Russia.
As usual, the American and Canadian teams feature NHL-laden lineups. Former Buffalo defenseman Chris Butler is on the U.S. squad, but Sabres left wing Nathan Gerbe dropped out with a lower-back injury.
Nolan, the previous coach of the Sabres, will lead Latvia for the first time after being hired last summer. Nolan is the first North American coach for the country since 1939. The nation of just more than 2 million has advanced to the last 16 world championships but has only four quarterfinal appearances.
Other former Sabres participating include Russia’s Dmitri Kalinin, Czech Republic’s Jiri Novotny and Germany’s Felix Schutz and Philip Gogulla. NHL notables include Daniel Alfredsson and Henrik Zetterberg of Sweden, and Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk of Russia.
Teams can add to their roster up until two hours before each game, which conclude with the gold-medal championship May 20 in Helsinki, Finland. For the first time, two countries will host the tournament. Sweden and Finland will split the preliminary round and quarterfinals, then the semis and medal round will be held solely in Helsinki.
All 64 games can be viewed for free at YouTube.com/ice hockey. NBC Sports Network will televise all the U.S. games and the medal round. The Americans open the tourney against France at 5:15 a.m. Friday.
Lancaster sophomore Josh Gabriel was selected by the Tri-City Storm in the second round of the United States Hockey League's future's draft, making him the top player selected from Western New York. Orchard Park's Charlie Manley also was selected.
Gabriel, a forward. was the first pick of the second round (16th overall) after playing last season for the Buffalo Junior Sabres 16-under team. He has been among the most dominant players in his age group for the past several years while playing for West Seneca and the Regals.
Manley, of Orchard Park, was selected by Waterloo with the second pick of the third round (32nd overall). He played youth hockey for the Regals and spent last season playing for Selects Hockey, a program in Connecticut. The smooth-skating defenseman plans to eventually play for RPI.
The future's draft was for players born in 1996 or later. The USHL Entry draft will be held May 22.
Gary Roberts is still passionate in his defense of Cody Hodgson. But he said today he shouldn't have used the word "moron" while fighting back against Hodgson's former general manager.
Speaking with Sportsnet 590 The Fan in Toronto, Roberts said he's sorry for his word selection while sticking up for Hodgson against comments made by Canucks GM Mike Gillis.
"I absolutely apologize," Roberts told the AM radio station. "It’s a long story. I apologize for using that word. I should not have used that word. Obviously, emotion was part of my game, as you guys know, and sometimes I didn’t always make the right choice. As you can see, I’m still not making the right choices in maybe that word selection.
"But I felt that the time that I’ve spent with Cody Hodgson these last three years, to see the type of person he is and the commitment he’s made to getting healthy and being the player that everybody expected him to be, I really felt strongly to make a stand for that young man the other day."
While discussing the February trade that sent Hodgson to Buffalo for Zack Kassian, Gillis said last week he "spent more time on Cody's issues than every other player combined on our team the last three years."
Roberts, who is entering his third summer of training Hodgson, defended the center during a phone interview with The News over the weekend.
"I talked to Cody after this came out with Gillis," Roberts said. "I know he's on vacation, and I said, 'Hey, I know you went through a lot of stress. How are you feeling about some of those comments?' He said, 'Gary, I've dealt with a lot of stuff there in the last three years, and I'm just going to take the high road.'
"For me, I'd like to be the guy that looks at Mike Gillis and says, 'You're a moron.' It doesn't really do anybody any good other than the fact that Mike Gillis looks like, as they say on TSN, a dud."
Roberts told the radio station today: "I didn’t mean to cause anybody any grief other than the fact I didn’t even refer to that word, to be honest with you. It was kind of taken, 'I would like to be the guy that says that, but really that’s not doing anybody any good,' is how I phrased it, and it came out differently, and so I apologize for that word. It should not have been used."
The score in the playoffs since July 1, 2007? Danny Briere 36, Buffalo Sabres 33.
That's right, since being let go by the Sabres and signing with Philadelphia, Briere has outscored Buffalo in the postseason. Briere has 36 goals and 69 points in 64 playoff games with the Flyers. The Sabres, meanwhile, scored 18 times against Philly in their first-round loss last year and found the net 15 times against Boston in 2010.
Also, Briere has nine game-winning goals. The Sabres have five.
"I don't think you spend $63 million to build your team around Danny," Larry Quinn said in February 2011 when he and fellow owner Tom Golisano sold the Sabres. "[Ryan] Miller is more of a guy, [Tyler] Myers is more of a guy. Tom's point is if you'd made those decisions you couldn't be paying [Tyler] Ennis, Myers, Miller, [Thomas] Vanek. You couldn't, so we made a choice. We'll see if we're wrong. It's not over yet."
I'd say it's over, especially after watching Briere put up seven goals in seven games this spring, including the overtime winner Sunday.
"He has his ups and downs, but he just picks it up in the playoffs. And that's what matters," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette told reporters. "He's a guy who consistently gets it done."
An overtime-filled first round came to a close Thursday night in the only way possible -- an overtime game. This one needed two OTs.
New Jersey rookie Adam Henrique scored 3:47 into the second overtime to give the Devils a 3-2 win over Florida in Game Seven.
"Exhausting," Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. "A fitting end to the series."
The sixth-seeded Devils will play the fifth-seeded Philadelphia Flyers in the second round, with Game One on Sunday.
The New York Rangers also advanced with a Game Seven victory, holding off the eighth-seeded Ottawa Senators for a 2-1 win.
"We found a way," Rangers coach John Tortorella said. "We were fortunate. I'm very happy with the group, and they should be real proud of themselves - for about an hour."
The top-seeded Rangers will play the No. 7 Washington Capitals starting Saturday.
There will not be a repeat winner of the Stanley Cup. The Bruins are done.
Washington's Joel Ward scored 2:57 into overtime Wednesday night to lift the Capitals into the second round with a 2-1 victory over Boston. The Bruins' elimination keeps the 1998 Detroit Red Wings as the last repeat winners of the Cup.
Washington's Braden Holtby made 31 saves. All 18 of Washington's playoff wins in the last four years have been by a rookie goalie, the Associated Press wrote.
Two players will join Ward with series-winning goals tonight. The final two first-round victors in the Eastern Conference will be determined in Game Sevens.
The eighth-seeded Ottawa Senators visit the top-seeded New York Rangers at 7 p.m. The third-seeded Florida Panthers host the sixth-seeded New Jersey Devils at 8:30 p.m.
