[blazinsabrez61]

its safe to say that the sabres played their best in a disappointing overtime loss to altanta yesterday 4-3. the sabres now have 99 points, 3rd in the league, but over the weekend officially clinched a playoff spot (coming as no surprise to the buffalo hockey nation). whats even better is that buffalo picked up 6 out of a possible 8 points on their 4-game road trip and earned at least 1 point in each of those games.
the goals of yesterday's game came from the sticks of roy, stafford, and vanek, who had a 7-game goal drought coming into the game. buffalo, for the first time in who knows how long, also recorded 30+ shots contrary to 16, 18 shots a game that they were averaging the past few games. i liked the show-up of offense yesterday in a critical game for the sabres and thrashers - there were more odd-man rushes, shots, and pressure in the zone which is good to see and an improvement from their losses.
miller did a pretty good job in net too, cuz most of the goals that he let in were tough slapshots. he was there when the saves needed to be made and its good to know that hes becoming more consistent. however, i would like to see him get a shutout! hes only had 1! come on miller!
a look ahead to this week: sabres play washington on wednesday @7, a home game, when they get to play former sabre jiri novotny for the 1st time. after beating the lightning 7-1 (r u kidding me?), the capitals will probably come out flying but im expecting the sabres to come out and dominate the majority of the game. to finish up the week, a home and home series against the bitter rivalry, the maple leafs, who will do anything to get enough points to clinch the 8th spot. well they need all the points they can get cuz WERE ALREADY IN!! (no offense to any maple leaf fans ). conklin will probably start in one of those games and i hope he does cuz i rly like him - hes very consistent in net and can make a lot of big stops.
expect a lot of great hockey from the sabres this week! and ill update on every game they play so GO SABRES!!!