the 8th place sabres look to climb in the east

ryan miller is 7-3-2 for the month of march including key victories over the ny rangers (to open the month,) philadelphia, and boston in the first half of the month...during that time the team went 3-2-1 in his six games...he gave up 18 in those games...

beginning with the carolina game on march 15, miller has played six in a row and the team has gone 4-1-1...during that span his goals against has been cut in half to nine goals against...

you may have noticed miller way outside the crease challenging shooters, like he always does when he's on top of his game--like last year when he won the vezina trophy...why, all of a sudden, is he playing like that again?...

from last night's post game, miller talks about it, "We're doing a good job supporting each other...I can tell when we're playing a good, solid defensive style...I can commit to either a shot or a one-option on a pass...that's when i can really come out of my crease and the percentage is gonna go up with me making the save, when I can get there early, be set, get my body in the way..." 

wgr's paul hamilton elaborates, "He's much, much better when he's not worried about that back-door play. How many times did we see those back-doors for tap-ins in the beginning of the year?...when he's on top of his game he's up on his crease, he's not worried about that stuff because he knows his teammates have his back."

it's a team philosophy that head coach, lindy ruff, has been teaching (or trying to teach) for years...over the non-playoff years you've seen the team win when they play as a team and lose when they get too fancy and play an individual game...people mock lindy ruff all the time for his system when the team loses and laud the success of teams like the wings with mike babcock and the devils with jacques lemaire...but it's the same system, using different players with different talent-levels...

bucky gleason has a great article on "good friends" ruff and lemaire in today's buffalo news "It's getting the guys to play together, getting the guys to believe in themselves, getting the guys to play as a team," Lemaire said. "Lindy knows exactly what he has on his hands and how to deal with it."

what lindy ruff has is an excellent goalie that's hard to beat when his team mates do their job...that's how you get two shutouts in the last three games as you charge up the standings in the eastern conference