does november equal a "fresh start?"

"ahh say, ahh say, this team's more mixed up than a featha in a whirlwind"



"Right now is a very difficult time for this team. We're trying to grasp the style of play that we want to play, which I don't think we've found yet."--Craig Rivet

words from buffalo sabres captain craig rivet after being afforded the opportunity to watch the last two games from the press box as a healthy scratch...yup...been the same thing for the last 3+ seasons as the team said goodbye to the run 'n gun, feel-good days of the immediate post-lockout buffalo sabres...

that's to be saved for another day...right now, as the team heads into november, a quick look back at some individual stats for the month of october:

• points--derek roy, 13...jordan leopold, tim connolly, thomas vanek, drew stafford, 7
• goals--roy, 6....vanek, connolly, 4
• power play goals--vanek, myers, 2...roy, leopold, 1
• assists--roy, 7...tyler ennis, steve montador, 5
• power play assists--roy, 4...eight with 1
• primary assists--ennis, roy, montador, 4
• plus/minus--montador, +9...ennis, +4...stafford, goose, +3
• plus/minus (bottom)--myers, -10...vanek, -5...morrisonn, -4

forwards avg. toi:

• total--roy, 19:37...stafford, 16:48...vanek, 16:38
• even strength--roy, 15:04...stafford, 13:18...vanek, 13:06
• power play--roy, 3:32...vanek, 3:25...stafford, 3:14
• penalty kill--mike grier, 3:17...jochen hecht, 2:17...connolly, 2:05

defensemen avg. toi:

• total--jordan leopold, 23:56...tyler myers, 23:26...montador, andrej sekera, 19:08
• even strength--leopold, 17:36...myers, 16:44...montador, 16:39
• power play--myers, 3:15...leopold, 3:11...sekera, 2:48
• penalty kill--myers, 3:26...morrisonn, 3:23...leopold, 3:09

goaltending:

• ryan miller--3-5-2...277 sa, 27 ga.......gaa, 2.71...sv. percentage, .903...shutouts, 0
• patrick lalime--0-2...62 sa, 6ga......gaa, 4.03...sv. percentage, .871...shutouts, 0