Archives for January 23, 2004

'Taylor sat out Thursday's 3-2 win at Boston and had five goals, including two in his last four games, and five assists in 45 games with Buffalo this season. The team also announced that forward Jason Botterill was assigned to Rochester, a move the Sabres made prior to their game against Boston.'

'A letdown, emotionally and physically, after two highly charged challenges, playing a last-place division rival they had beaten twice last week. It must have been.'

'With the win, Buffalo’s record is now 19-24-5-1 and 1-2 on the current road trip. The Sabres desperately need to finish off the trip with two wins to keep pace with the playoff teams.'

'"That's a team that is battling to stay in the playoff race," said Sullivan. "We knew they would be a determined team. I felt we could have had a better start than we did. We brought the urgency that we needed in the third period. But it wasn't enough."'

'Boynton also thought the Sabres deserved some of the credit for the problems the Bruins had. "They seemed to be everywhere, and they got their sticks on an awful lot of our shots and passes," said Boynton. "A lot of our shots never got to the goalie (Martin Biron). We really didn't play well tonight and they played a good, smart game."'

'When Buffalo follows its game plan, it waits for a break, and then lives as long as possible off the moments in which it doesn't have to try to score any more goals. It's awful for almost anyone to watch, but the Sabres found what happened last Monday at FleetCenter even worse: They led, 3-1, with 25 minutes to play, but by the time only seven minutes were left, they'd fallen behind for good.'

'"We fought through 10 minutes of adversity in the third period and showed a lot of character in coming back to win the hockey game," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We really could have ran away with the game in the first 40 minutes. We missed a lot of great opportunities."'

'No one in the American Hockey League has been better than Bartovic in the past couple of weeks. He's carrying a 10-game points streak, recording 10 goals and four assists during the stretch. He was AHL Player of the Week last week.'

'"They really didn't give us much skating room," said Raycroft, who had 26 saves and kept the Bruins in it in the early going. "We came out hard in the third but it just wasn't enough."'

'“It could have been a bit of a letdown,'' said Raycroft, who made 26 saves in a brilliant performance, even as his six-game personal winning streak ended. “I thought we were going to come out a little harder. But give them credit: They clogged up the middle right from the start. We played against a desperate team.'''