Archives for February 2, 2008

'The problem for Buffalo this year is clear, the void left by Drury and Briere down the middle has been too much for the team to deal with this season. Derek Roy is the team's top centerman this year and is having a solid season with 42 points (19 goals, 23 assists) in 47 games. Yet, Roy was a third-line center at best while Drury and Briere were members of the Sabres.'

‘Despite the good news, Miller did not practice on Saturday morning, nor did Jaroslav Spacek with an upper-body injury. Tim Connolly and Brian Campbell also did not skate; Campbell was simply getting a rest. Drew Stafford did practice on a limited basis with no contacT.

‘Miller was hurt with 5:35 left in the second on Thorburn’s goaltender interference penalty, but he finished the period. He failed to appear on the ice or the bench in the third and declined comment after the game. There was no initial diagnosis, and he will be evaluated today in Buffalo.’

‘“He’s, I hope, all right,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “I don’t think it’s serious.”’

‘I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve randomly encountered members of the Western New York diaspora. Each time, the connection was made through whatever Bills or Sabres gear I was wearing at that moment.’

Thrashers get payback with win over Buffalo (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Kovalchuk set to start workouts (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Analysis: Thrashers 5, Sabres 4 (SO) (AtlantaThrashers.com)

Photo gallery (AtlantaThrashers.com)

Photo gallery (Sabres.com)

'"I saw it at the last second," said Thibault of Enstrom's shot. "I didn't have enough time to stop it. I would have liked to get that extra save for the team."'

'"I'm angry at the loss," said Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff. "Those late penalties killed us. We took a couple of stupid penalties that cost us the game. We started reall poor, played really poor for the first 15 minutes of the game, after that we played well. But we got into penalty trouble and that hurt us."'

'Buffalo took two late penalties and with Hedberg out of the net the Thrashers had a 6 on 3 man advantage. Right off the face off Tobias Enstrom ripped a shot through traffic past Thibault with just 18 seconds left to send it to overtime.'

'Meanwhile, injured defenseman Teppo Numminen underwent an ankle procedure to correct an ailment that's developed over the course of his career. The surgery shouldn't necessarily be considered a setback for Numminen, who elected to have the surgery in part because he's inactive as he continues his extended recovery and rehabilitation after heart surgery.'