Sep

23

Toronto Maple Leafs (2) vs. Buffalo Sabres (3) – Win (Pre-Season)
Buffalo Sabres (2) vs. Washington Capitals (1) – Win (Pre-Season)
Buffalo Sabres (3) vs. Detroit Red Wings (1) – Win (Pre-Season)

Quite the nice record for the Sabres thus far! Hopefully their success will carry over to the actual season. I haven’t had the opportunity to actually watch a game, but from what I’ve heard and read, there aren’t too many things for me to complain about. Ryan Miller has been much better than par in his two starts. Our offensive lines have also been picking it up, outscoring opponents throughout large portions of the game. And when those shots are taken, they count. Even getting the puck somewhere the net usually leads to a scoring chance. Buffalo has that figured out!

The Sabres have two more pre-season games to go: 7:00 PM on September 26th at the Montreal Canadiens and 7:00 PM on September 27th at the Toronto Maple Leafs. Only a few more weeks until the 2009-2010 NHL season begins!

Sep

19

I needed my daily dose of laughter for the day, and found this commercial from the 2008 Winter Classic starring Ryan Miller. How did I not find this sooner? Enjoy!

Sep

18

Washington Capitals (4) vs. Buffalo Sabres (3) – OT Loss (Pre-Season)

After an off-season that started off too early and seemed to last forever, the Buffalo Sabres returned to action last night against the Washington Capitals in their pre-season opener. I was busy losing my mind watching Quarantine, which is one scary movie, no matter how many times you see it! If only there were some hockey players involved… But I digress.

Die By The Blade has a very thorough recap of the game. An overtime loss is one of the worst losses in hockey: Especially when your team was winning in the third period and took two penalties to be finished off. However, this is the pre-season, and the majority of the game seems to have been played well by the Sabres. But a well-played game compares to nothing if the final minutes are played poorly. Buffalo needs to work on being able to play a complete game and capitalize on winning opportunities. Defensively, I’ve always been the one to say that the Sabres need to concentrate on performing in their own zone. The scoring woes of last season were troublesome, to say the least. Yet being able to shut down an opponent’s offense and control your own zone is a priceless skill that I hope the team has together this season.

I think that last night’s game had a lot of promising aspects, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the Buffalo Sabres have to offer this season! For the video highlights from last night’s pre-season opener, take a few minutes to watch this video, courtesy of Double Edged Sabres.

(On a quick note, Sabres Center Ice is coming back to life for the 2009-2010 season! I finished up my MBA earlier this year, and now have the time to watch most of the games. Night classes have their definite downsides during any sports season. Hockey, here I come… Again!)