Well, that was a fine how do ya do. I guess the 6 days off between 2 losses to the Isles was enoguh to teach the Sabres how to play team defense. A grand total of 20 shots (12 in the 3rd period) was all Atlanta could muster enroute to Ryan Miller's first shutout of the season. But that's not all! The special teams showed up in a way they haven't since the run to the ECF in 2005-2006 season.

4 powerplay goals, a shorthanded goal, and one at regular strength gave the Sabres a 6 - 0 win. The boys in Blue and Gold were 4 of 7 on the PP, while killing all 8 of Atlanta's PP opportunities. This was Buffalo's Achillies Heel in the playoffs last season, let's hope this has been remedied.

As for the lines, here was how it looked:
Hetch - Connolly - Pommenville
Vanek - Roy - Stafford
Kotalik - Gaustad - Afinogenov
Paille - Maire - Ryan (Peters was the scratch)

I really cannot give a good line by line breakdown. The refs called 15 penalties in this game; subsequently, there was little time for the lines to play against each other. I will say that the Sabres' 4th line looked excellent, scoring the lone even strength goal. I guess the jury is still out on Lindy's line changes (which I don't like), but they did get the job done tonight. There is no denying that.

Next game is Saturday night against the Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin. It will be interesting to see how the fans react to the AO, who laid a dirty hit on Danny Briere last season. He was booed every time he hit the puck last season, we'll see if the trend continues this year.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: lacaprup,

was it just me or did you notice how every PP goal went in from the point? its like atlanta didn't know *** the word BLOCK and SHOTS meant.

I did notice that. A huge part of that was Paul Gaustad laying some killer screens (he didn't register a point, but he made 3 goals happen), and Atlanta playing a soft zone on the PK. They Buffalo's point men shoot, and tried to deflect rather than block shots. It was really a lackluster effort from their entire team with the exception of Illa Kovalchuck.