Sabres Play Near-Perfect Road Game In 1-0 Shutout

Ya gotta love playoff hockey.

And ya gotta love what the Sabres pulled off last night. The Flyers applied all kinds of pressure for nearly the entire game and the Sabres held their ground.

Philadelphia had five powerplays (Buffalo had one) including a five-on-three for :38 and the Sabres held their ground.

The Sabres blocked 16 shots including one by Paul Gaustad, who was without his stick on the penalty kill, on a shot from the point.

Buffalo played a near-perfect road game last night. They took care of their own end, they clogged the shooting lanes and the forwards didn't cheat up-ice.

Not to say that it was a flawless game. The Sabres did turn the puck over, were hemmed in their own zone often and they also had a bit of luck as an early James van Riemsdyk shot beat Ryan Miller five-hole only to glance off of the post. They couldn't generate much of a forecheck either as their offensive zone presence was minimal.

But that's to be expected, especially in the playoffs.

Shoutouts:

• Chris Butler--"Buts" was rock-solid all night logging a game-high 26:04 of ice-time including all of the :38 five-on-three against. The 24 yr. old d-man seems to have passed through a thresh-hold and has taken his Nik Lidstrom-type game to another level.
• Marc-Andre Gragnani--"Grags" was basically thrown into the fire and he looked like a vet out there. You may of forgotten but Grags was making a strong pitch to be on the roster out of camp before an injury scuttled that.

• Pat Kaleta- Kaleta was shutout by the Philly media on the Three Stars Of the Game ballots, but drove to the net to pounce on a big Sergei Bobrovsky rebound for the game's only goal. He also played a disciplined, hard-checking game including leveling Flyers forward Ville Lieno at the Flyers blueline.
• Paul Gaustad--Honk for the "Goose!" He did it all including getting the puck to a wide-open Grags in garnering the secondary assist on the only goal of the game.

• Ryan Miller--He set the tone early by face-washing Philly's captain, Mike Richards early on. He was challenging shooters all night, his positioning was stellar and he, unlike Bobrovsky, did not give up the big rebound.

Special shoutout to Tim Connolly. Much maligned all season for his less than stellar offensive play, the Sabres center was a monster--yes, monster--in his own zone. He (along with other Sabres forwards) was helping out his young defenseman (as well as the two vets who were playing like rookies) all night. Connolly was out there with Buts and Tyler Myers for the entire :38 of five-on-three against as well. And, he was 11 of 18 (61%) on the face-off dot.

Sabres Head Coach Lindy Ruff
post-game after his team's 1-0 game one victory.

The Sabres have now beaten the Flyers for three consecutive games beginning with a come-from-behind 5-3 victory on March 5th when the Sabres were in the middle of a seven-game road-trip and battling to get into the playoff picture.

Buffalo is also on a five-game winning streak, it's longest of the season.

Finally, I love this picture. It was taken as the Sabres were headed into the Wells Fargo Center for the opening game of the series. A picture is worth a thousand words, and you look at the players, their clothing and demeanor and it says a lot about the four players.