what life demands

life has a funny way of knocking you down when you're too full of yourself, just ask buffalo bills wr, stevie "tweetman" johnson...

it also allows for redemption, but it'll make you work for it...and just when you thought you had worked hard enough to reap the rewards, life'll knock you down again just to make sure you got the message...

and so goes the buffalo sabres season:

• the hubris of an opening-night win at ottawa begins the fall
• the injuries to key players including ryan miller make matters worse
• the late-october/early-november plunge to the bottom of the eastern conference
• the 5-1-1 stretch where another coach said, [the sabres] "were more hungry"
• the 1-3 finish to november which put them at .500 for the month

a strong start to december

the sabres have won in a variety of ways to open up the month of december beginning with a drop-your-gloves slug fest vs. the surprising columbus blue jackets followed by a lock-down, 1-0 shoot-out victory over ottawa...were it not for some well-documented, egregious mistakes, the sabres could have walked out of boston with a win in regulation, or possibly a win, period, but instead they ended up with an o.t. loss...they followed that up with a very strong performance in a 6-3 win vs. the san jose' sharks last night... although it did become interesting twice as the sabres lapsed into a bit of complacency on a couple of occasions and allowed them to pull within one goal...

some thoughts as the sabres ready themselves for the penguins:

• mike weber is pretty damn good with the puck in the corner...last night he put the moves on while using the boards to protect the puck, just like the game before in boston...unlike that game, when he gift-wrapped a goal by nathan horton with a tape to tape pass in the slot, weber chose the safe route along the boards and the sabres were out of trouble...good for lindy ruff for keeping him in the line-up, good for weber as he continues to grow into an nhl defenseman...
• thomas vanek is really heating up...he seems to have found new life on the right side since moving there beginning with the november 13 game vs. washington...9 goals, 6 assists in the 12 games since...
• derek roy seems to have found his niche as a set-up man...the "dipsy-doodle derek" and "poor man's danny briere" monikers seem to be fading as he settles into his role beside vanek...
• the experiment with nathan gerbe on the top-line with vanek and roy should come to an end...tyler ennis needs to be back up there, regardless of how often he does "the max curl"...he needs talent that he can play with...
• chris butler is looking solid, andrej sekera looks better because tyler myers is emerging from the dreaded "sophomore slump" and is bringing up his d-partner's game...steve montador and jordan leopold, both together and individually, seem to be leveling off...
• with the way the game is being played during the regular season, the immobility of shaone morrison and craig rivet is a hindrance to the team and the sabres are best served with those two taking the optimum time to return to the line-up (like march)...
• ryan miller is doing what he does best, instilling a strong sense of confidence into the skaters...he's 3-0-1 for december including back-to-back shutouts to open the month...since returning from his injuries he's 6-2-1...

a real test tomorrow vs. the scorching hot penguins

yes, they are...an 11-game winning streak with (arguably, and i've always agreed) the game's best player coming to town--sidney crosby...although the sabres have been able to keep the opposition big-guns in check, crosby is torching the opponent during his current 17-game point streak to the tune of 20 goals (including two hat tricks) and 15 assists...if that weren't bad enough, goalie marc andre-fluery is on a 10-game winning streak giving up more than two goals only once...since getting pulled vs. phoenix on nov. 6 (one day after his last regulation loss) fleury is 12-0-1...

simple fact is, after the horror that was october and a "meh" november, the sabres have the opportunity to not only end the pens hot streak, but attain a visual .500 and gain an immense amount of confidence...

win or lose, though, they need to leave it all on the ice...that's what life demands