Archives for 2001

Some trades stick out in our minds more than others. Like March 23, 1999. Somehow, either through hypnosis, blackmail or use of a shotgun, Darcy Regier convinced Florida G.M. Bryan Murray to take Mike Wilson off our hands and give us Rhett Warrener and a draft pick in return. What a day! Regier had pulled off one of the most lopsided trades in franchise history. … [Read more...] about Rhett Warrener: A natural born leader

'Any piece of mail sent to players at HSBC Arena always had been screened before being delivered. The level of scrutiny has been raised even more. "They're monitoring it for us," Warrener said. "That kind of takes it out of our hands." … [Read more...] about Fan mail getting extra attention

The cards were stacked against Lindy Ruff's team. So far this season, the Buffalo Sabres have won every game.... that is every even numbered game. Buffalo lost its opener to Atlanta, then Ottawa, promptly lost to the Rangers, won against Philly, lost in Detroit and finally beat the Penguins on Sunday. This was the odd night out for Ruff's Sabres. Another … [Read more...] about Little Spark in Sabres' tie

'"We don't have enough guys to call up to bench everybody," Ruff said after his team rallied from a two-goal deficit to salvage a 3-3 tie with the Nashville Predators. "I think if you look at the game, it was a collective effort. . . . We didn't skate very well, we didn't think very well. We may have seen some of the dumbest all-time plays … [Read more...] about Upon further review, Ruff fit to be tied

'"I don't think I worked hard the last game that I played. That's why I didn't play (Sunday or Tuesday)," Kalinin said, adding that the coaches expect him to be "working hard and finishing checks, and doing my job."' … [Read more...] about Benched Kalinin says he deserved to sit

'"When you're up 3-1 with 10 minutes to go, as a team, you've got to put those games away," Predators goalie Tomas Vokoun said. "We lost the same way to Edmonton. We could have had four points in the last two games and instead we have one. That's a huge difference."' … [Read more...] about Predators tied after losing 2-goal lead again

'Predators center David Legwand had dinner Monday night with Sabres center Tim Connolly. The 21 year-old Legwand and 20 year-old Connolly competed against one another in juniors for years, and have teamed several times on U.S. national junior squads.' … [Read more...] about History earns Vokoun a start

'Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff was happy with the Sabres' comeback. He found it troubling that they trailed by two goals in the first place.' … [Read more...] about Predators 3, Sabres 3

'The Nashville Predators suffered their second straight third-period collapse as Vyacheslav Kozlov and Richard Smehlik scored 92 seconds apart to lift the Buffalo Sabres into a 3-3 tie.' … [Read more...] about Nashville 3, Buffalo 3 (OT)

'The road team has won all five games in this series and Nashville was 12-7-3-0 against the Eastern Conference last season.' … [Read more...] about Today's Predators capsule

'When the Nashville Predators visit HSBC Arena tonight (7: Empire; 107.7), Barnes - who spent the first five games of the season at left wing - will again play at center between the two Russian dynamos. That puts Chris Gratton, who had been centering the line, on the fourth line with center-turned-winger Denis Hamel and Rob Ray.' … [Read more...] about Barnes goes to center to pep up Sabres' attack

'Buffalo is one of just two teams, along with Toronto, without any rookies on the roster.' … [Read more...] about Sabres vs. Predators

A week that brought us against the team that we eliminated from the playoffs with an 8-0 win, a former teammate who still brings about heated debates and the team that dumped us out of the playoffs is over. … [Read more...] about Sabres put past behind them o well, almost

'Biron and Kozlov were stars of this game, which had three bizarre goals, two by Buffalo. Both of Kozlov's goals were of the fluke variety. Meanwhile, Biron played a stellar game, making 25 saves, and had it not been for another fluke goal would have had his first shutout of the season.' … [Read more...] about This time the Sabres get the lucky bounce

'Coming into this season, most NHL observers predicted that the Sabres would drop off from their 46-win total of last year. The main knock was their goaltending. Not that the experts think Biron's bad, he's just not Dominik Hasek. Biron's not the goalie Hasek is. But he's still pretty good.' … [Read more...] about Biron comes up big for the Sabres