Kevin's Watch

yep those Sabres just keep rolling along...

and my Leafs just keep rolling down the hill ... three third period losses in a row.
Confidence is absolutely shot!
They played like timid grannies in the third ...!

hey you're only some 15 points behind the Sabres.

Sabres defenseman Teppo Numminen is out indefinitely because of a broken toe. The veteran of 18yrs was injured Thu during a 3-1 loss in Fla. X-rays confirmed the break, the Sabres said Sat. the 38-yr-old native of Finland hopes he'll only miss 2 games but was unsure when he'd return. "If you break a bone, it's 4 to 6 weeks," Numminen said. "I don't know what it is but with a toe you can see how it feels in the skate. I haven't talked to the doctors yet, but I'm sure it's not going to be that long." Numminen had no goals and 15 assists while playing in Buffalo's first 28 games this season.
Andrej Sekera was called up from Rochester of the AHL on Saturday and made his NHL debut against Montreal.

and there is another Sabre out with a groin strain too now, no?....
I have a feeling the Sabres could have half their team out with injury and still pull off a 5-1 victory over any team...

no that was Miller I think. Tallinder broke his arm and Conolly has a concussion. we play the Devils tonight.

Buffalo 3, New Jersey 2

N.J. (AP) -- Daniel Briere and Buffalo Sabres made the most of rare mistakes by the New Jersey Devils.
Briere set up all three Buffalo goals as the Sabres took a comfortable lead and then held on in the final minute for a 3-2 victory over the Devils on Tuesday night.
New Jersey, one of the NHL's top defensive teams, twice turned the puck over to Briere in the third period. He made them pay for the errors.
"We knew coming in that we weren't going to get too many odd-man rushes," Briere said. "They play it tight, they play it tough. We were able to connect on our few odd-man rushes. Against the Devils, that's the way you've got to beat them."
Jochen Hecht, Maxim Afinogenov and Jason Pominville scored as the Eastern Conference-leading Sabres improved to 14-3 on the road. Ryan Miller got his first win in five decisions against the Devils despite giving up goals to Eric Rasmussen and Brian Gionta 21 seconds apart in the final minute of the game.
The Sabres cooled off one of the NHL's hottest home teams in a building where they had lost eight in a row to the Devils. New Jersey fell to 11-2-1 at home and had a five-game winning streak overall snapped.
Hecht gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 12:05 of the second when he started and finished a scoring play. Hecht fed a pass to Briere, who shot from the slot. Martin Brodeur made an arm save, and Hecht pounced on the rebound for his seventh goal.
Briere twice victimized Devils defenseman Brian Rafalski as the Sabres extended the lead to 3-0 in the third.
Briere stripped the puck from Rafalski along the boards to trigger the break that produced Afinogenov's goal at 3:12. Briere nudged the puck away from Rafalski at the Sabres blue line to key the rush that Pominville finished at 5:29.
"That last goal sealed the deal for them," Brodeur said. "They capitalized by putting pressure on our defense. They went for that third goal when it was 2-0 and they got it. Give them credit. They got another break and they put it in."
Miller seemed to have his fourth shutout in hand until Rasmussen scored with 39.1 seconds remaining. Rasmussen chopped the puck out of the air and into the net, forcing a video review before the goal was ruled good.
"I thought he hit it with a high stick," Miller said. "They took long enough, so hopefully the review went to Toronto for the right call. Shutouts come and go. The most important thing is that we came in here and got the win."
Gionta closed the scoring with 19 seconds remaining.
the Devils outshot the Sabres 15-8 in the first period and had the two best scoring chances. Jamie Langenbrunner hit the post about six minutes in and Gionta couldn't deposit a rebound into a wide-open left half of the net in the final minute.
"I thought the first period was as good as we've had," Devils coach Claude Julien said. "Later, we had a few breakdowns. They made us pay dearly for the mistakes we did make."

The Sabre juggeraught keeps rolling along....

And on the lighter side of things... the Leafs broke a 7 game (yes, S E V E N game) losing streak by beating the Lightning 5-4 ...

(whew)
I think Sundin's bank shot goal off Tucker's butt may prove to be the turnaround play they needed ....

How are the Avs doing? Still in last place? At least we beat the Habs the other day...

Avs! Man, they really stink this year (sorry). What's up with that? I will confess, if it is not Vancouver, Edmonton or Calgary I don't pay close attention to West teams.
Is it management? Bad players/trades? What happened to the Avalanche?...

Sabres lost?! And to the Sens?... well I guess it had to happen once this month...


And Leafs on a three game win streak! Creamed the Rangers 9-2!
BWA HA HA HA HA!!!!

Look out Lord Stanley!... Here come the Leafs ....

yah, right.

I'll just enjoy the short ride for now .. K?...

The Senators have handed the Buffalo three of its six regulation losses this season. ...

and Toronto isn't really doing that badly are they?

we like to gripe about the Leafs. It's the number 2 conversational pasttime second only to weather...

kind of like the Red Sox before '94.

yah.
It's scary to think of what will happen if the Leafs ever win The Cup ...
Well, going for win #4 in a row tonight vs the Panthers.
And Sabres vs the Habs! --- one of the good things about being in Toronto, is that you get to see the Montreal games on one of the French language channels, flipping back and forth between the Leafs ...

you speak French? I spoke French before ENglish, but my folks stopped because I didn't know enough English. and now I speak no French.

I know exactly how you feel. I learned all through grade school until grade 12. I had a pretty good grasp. Could read very well, and speak faily well.
Now, over 20 years later with little (or no) practice, it has left me. I am trying to learn Spanish (as my wife is from Ecuador) and keep getting the two languages mixed up ...

Still, all you need to know in French when watching hockey is:
"Il tire. Il marque! Le But!"

he shoots, he scores?

oui, et "A goal!"

Leafs got creamed last night, and Habs beat the Sabres ... grrr, no happiness on either side of the border, eh?...

OOO we beat Edmonton last night and jumped up to 2nd place in a division that nobody seems to want to win.

Usivius wrote:Is it management? Bad players/trades? What happened to the Avalanche?...

...trades and the strike had something to with it...first Roi retires then Forsberg ends up on Philly and three other key players disappear. Yes, there was rumor of temporary brain damage in the front office, as well.

Buffalo 7, Nashville 2

a nice rebound.

Buffalo 6, Washington 3

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Chris Drury and the Buffalo Sabres got back at Alex Ovechkin the best way they knew how -- by beating him and the Washington Capitals on the scoreboard. Drury scored twice and added two assists, sparking a six-goal first period in Buffalo's 6-3 win over the Capitals on Tuesday night. It was a satisfying blowout for the Sabres after Ovechkin leveled Buffalo co-captain Daniel Briere with a blind-side hit when the teams last met in Washington's 7-4 win on Dec. 2.
The Sabres didn't forget, either.
"Most of all we were concerned about getting back at their team in general. They took it to us pretty good in Washington," Drury said. "We were extremely motivated." It was much more personal for Briere, who tumbled headfirst into the boards but escaped serious injury after getting nailed by Washington's star forward. Even though Ovechkin was ejected from the game, the Sabres were unhappy that the NHL did not suspend him for being reckless. "I know I was pretty excited in the first period the way we came out swinging," Briere said. "To be honest with you, it's a lot more fun coming out like that and showing them how we played than going out there and trying to get into a fight." Ovechkin did score Tuesday, cutting the Sabres' lead to 6-2 late in the second period. But even he was impressed by how Buffalo opened with six goals on nine shots. "They shoot, they score. They shoot, they score. It was like some magic," Ovechkin said. Ales Kotalik had a goal and two assists, Maxim Afinogenov and Thomas Vanek added a goal and assist each and Brian Campbell also scored for Buffalo, which upped its league-leading total to 144 goals. The game was decided before it was 11 minutes old. That's when Vanek, from the right circle, banked a wrister in off Capitals defender Brian Pothier in front with 9:03 left in the first period. Buffalo scored four times in a 5:39 span, including two goals 15 seconds apart, and six in a span of 9:06. Remarkably, the six-goal first period wasn't even a season best for the Sabres, who scored seven times in a 7-2 win over Tampa Bay on Nov. 20. The Sabres (26-7-3) improved to 2-2-1 in their past five games, including a 3-2 overtime loss at St. Louis on Saturday. Chris Clark and Kris Beech also scored for the Capitals (16-13-7), who had a four-game road winning streak snapped while opening a stretch of four games in five nights. All eyes were on Ovechkin, though, who was booed every time he stepped on the ice and then incensed the sellout crowd further when he put his hand to his ear after he scored. "It's OK," he said about being jeered. "I like when fans do that because I get emotional." Sabres goalie Ryan Miller wished he could have stopped Ovechkin's snap shot that beat him over the left shoulder. Miller, though, didn't mind the player's celebration. "He's a proud kid. The fans have been on him all night and he has to say something back and that's the only way he can do it," Miller said. "To each his own." Olie Kolzig prevented a blowout, allowing two goals on 33 shots, in replacing Capitals starter Brent Johnson, who was chased after allowing four goals on six shots. Johnson shattered his stick across the crossbar and heaved what was left of his shaft down the ice as he left the game. He then threw his mask down the hallway leading to the team's dressing