Sabres in spotlight on NBC versus Sidney Crosby and the Pens

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


In just over a week the NHL's trade deadline will be upon us and in one week from today, the Sabres will have gone through another particularly tough part of their schedule.

Back in November, Buffalo faced the top two teams in the Western Conference at the time--the league-leading Dallas Stars and the St. Louis Blues--in a six day span. Needless to say the schedule-maker did the young Sabres no favors with that four-game stint as Buffalo finished 0-3-1. This afternoon they begin another tough six day stretch when they play an afternoon game that kicks off Hockey Day In America on NBC.

Buffalo will host the Pittsburgh Penguins at 12:30 p.m. After that, the national spotlight turns to Minneapolis, Minnesota as the Wild host the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks in a 3:00 p.m. outdoor game at TCF Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers. NBC and NBCSN finish off their triple-header with the Detroit Red Wings travelling to Madison Square Gardens to take on an Original Six foe in the New York Rangers at 7 p.m.

After today's game, the Sabres then hit the road for a West Coast swing to take on the surging Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, travel up the coast to face San Jose at the Shark Tank then head back down to Orange County in Southern California for the second game of a back-to-back against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.

They'll be back in Buffalo next Sunday and after having adjusted to Eastern Standard Time, on Monday they will be wrapping their heads around the possibility that the team could be in flux once again as Sabres GM Tim Murray works the 3 p.m. trade deadline phones. Although it won't be anything close to the scale of the last two deadlines, barring surprises, there will still be some turnover as the team is clearly in seller mode.