Archives for April 9, 2001

Savor the year you have seen, Sabres' fans. Just because it would take another miracle on ice to get by the Flyers should not prevent us from appreciating the Sabres' accomplishments and their promise for the future.

'Can the Sabres beat the Flyers? Absolutley. What they will have to do is to fire the puck from all angles, make sure they challenge Philadelphia's larger defensemen in front to screen him and create traffic, and avoid shooting with a Flyer defenseman charging, as they are very adept at blocking shots.'

'…the series will be over in no more than six games, and the Sabres will be on to the second round of the playoffs again to start what this year should be a bit more than a little run.'

Dominik Hasek not even waiting for the playoffs to choke is the worst possible sign that this postseason could be a very short one.

'Flyers coach Bill Barber didn't seem particularly enthralled with home-ice advantage. Not that he won't take it. "I don't know if there's any edge," Barber said. "You still have to win games on the road. That's the bottom line when you get into playoff hockey. For a team to be successful you have to find ways to win. "Home-ice advantage – we have it. What does it mean? I don't know."'

'So that's where the Buffalo Sabres find themselves, with the postseason upon them and the Flyers in possession of their heads. The Sabres failed on Sunday to dent Cechmanek's mystique. They failed to achieve the goal their own netminder, Dominik Hasek, established at the beginning of the season: home ice in the first round of the playoffs.'

'The Buffalo Sabres coach has officially decided not to name anyone team captain for the postseason.'

'… there seems an uneasiness throughout Sabre land that this hockey season will come to another crashing if not disappointing halt at a minimum of four games and a maximum of seven.'

'Tight checking. Low scoring. Solid goaltending. That's the ticket to this NHL matchup between the two teams when the Eastern Conference quarterfinals open Wednesday at the First Union Center.'

'What kind of playoff series can the Flyers expect from the Buffalo Sabres? Flyers general manager Bob Clarke didn't have to think long to answer. "It's going to be tight checking," Clarke said yesterday at the HSBC Arena. "You can never predict these things, but when you have the top two goalies in the league, you figure it's going to be low scoring. . . . The teams are pretty evenly matched."'