Archives for February 11, 2002

In what was the most crucial game so far this season, the Buffalo Sabres came up flat. Being on the verge of being completely eliminated from playoff contention, the Sabres played one of their worst games of the season as the New Jersey Devils beat the Sabres 4-1.

'To date, Rasmussen has four goals and eight assists in 44 games. Ruff knows when Rasmussen is on his game, things go well for the Sabres.'

'Buffalo trails New Jersey and the New York Rangers – each of whom have 61 points – by eight points in the Eastern Conference standings.'

'The Sabres, who are trying to fight their way back into the race for one of the final Eastern Conference playoff spots, looked out of sync from the start. Buffalo is a blue-collar team that gets its points by wearing down an opponent, but the Devils came ready to play a hard, physical game.'

'Petr Sykora is hoping that his bruised ribs will not keep him out of the Olympics. Sykora suffered the injury late in Saturday's victory over Pittsburgh, and had to sit out Sunday's game against Buffalo. The Devils are off today, so he won't test it again until Tuesday morning in Buffalo.'

'"It's a nice confidence booster," said Arnott. "But the two points were even bigger."'

'They improved to 4-1-1 under Constantine, and moved to four games over .500 for the first time since Nov. 10.'

'The Sabres, who came in on a five-game unbeaten streak, and the Penguins, whom the Rangers beat yesterday, are on the verge of falling out of the playoff picture.'

'The Devils broke the game open with a pair of goals 49 seconds apart in the second.'

'They looked like a playoff team.'