Archives for October 24, 2006

'Why are the Sabres so good? Because they do everything right.'

‘The Buffalo Sabres burst out of the gate with a stellar 9-0 record, including a 4-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens on national television last night, and have blossomed into the NHL’s finest team in the season’s first month.’

‘It’s a good time to be a hockey fan in Western New York.’

'Think about it: When the Leafs set the mark, they did it under the rules of the day. Have the Sabres done anything different? It's not their fault that there are new rules in the game. All they did was play by them and in so doing they've won nine straight from the start of the season. Should they win a tenth — either in regulation, overtime or a shootout — they will have done so playing by the rules of the game at the time. That's what the Leafs did.'

‘”If there is an unwritten key to this special chemistry, it most likely hovers around the first two lockers one passes on the left side when you enter the dressing room. Their occupants are goaltenders Martin Biron and Ryan Miller.”‘

'In what may well have been their most complete, start-to-finish, all-around best effort of the season, Buffalo broke the franchise record for most consecutive wins to start a season and edged ever closer to immortality in the NHL record books by using their usual weapons of mass destruction: opportunistic scoring and strong defense, anchored by solid goaltending and fearless shot-blocking.'

'"That group of guys in the room are responsible for each other and keeping their feet on the ground," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "They're hearing a lot of accolades on how well they're playing, and you wonder how they're going to react, and I think it really falls on their shoulders. They've done an extremely good job of it."'

‘Last night, the Sabres showed a little bit of all the things that make them so formidable. They defend with speed, they attack with speed. They have the offence to get into shootouts, but they also have the speed to shut you down when they pay attention to defence.’

Canadiens outclassed by razor-sharp Sabres (Montreal Gazette)

NHL’s best swamps CH with speed (Montreal Gazette)

Canadiens’ game plan backfires (Montreal Gazette)

Lies All Lies (HabsWorld.net)

Buffalo runs win streak to nine (Toronto Globe and Mail)

‘Buffalo moved to within one victory of tying Toronto’s league record of 10 straight wins at the start of the 1993-94 season. The Sabres matched their previous record of eight, set in 1975-76, with a 6-2 win in Boston on Saturday.’