(WGR 550) -- There are positive and negatives to most situations, but Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff lists no vagueries among the reasons his team is struggling.
"We just haven't been quite good enough in every area of the game," Ruff said during his weekly 8 a.m. Tuesday appearance on The Howard Simon Show.
In his last three games Ryan Miller has given up 12 goals and lost all three. Miller got the night off in Columbus on Saturday and the whole team got Sunday off. Today he worked hard before and during the 70 minute practice.
After two substandard Sabres losses and a stirring Sunday third period between the Capitals and Penguins, Nick Mendola thinks Buffalo needs to make a big move to get right for April and/or May.
After starting eight straight games and giving up 13 goals in his last three efforts, Ryan Miller is getting a break. Patrick Lalime will get the nod in net when the Buffalo Sabres visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. Lalime hasn't started since January 19th when he gave up four first-period goals, and had to be replaced by Miller, in an eventual loss to Anaheim.
WGR 550's coverage of Buffalo-Columbus begins at 6:00 p.m. Rick Jeanneret and Harry Neale have the call at 7:00 p.m.
The Sabres were not a player in the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes. Sabres GM Darcy Regier told Mike Schopp and the Bulldog on Friday why his team was not interested in a blockbuster deal.
“He’s a rental player. You are going to spend a lot of your youth or future on a rental player. For us to make a move it needs to be a hockey trade that is not only going to help
Sabre fans may have noticed that Mike Robitaille was not on the team's most recent game broadcast. The Sabres released the following information:
"Mike Robitaille will be absent from the Sabres broadcast team until after the Olympic break because he was in a minor car accident on Wednesday evening. In his absence, Rob Ray will replace Mike and work with Kevin Sylvester."
(WGR 550) -- After dogged competition versus Pittsburgh and Ottawa this week, the Sabres might want to thank the West that they aren't facing another hot team, albeit one mired at the bottom of the standings.
The Carolina Hurricanes are in town for a 7:30 p.m. Friday tilt, and the cellar dwellers had a nice four-game winning streak going before heading to the road this week. Buffalo fans will get another look at Ray Whitney, the veteran forward being dangled as deadline lure for contenders.
(WGR 550) -- If Buffalo Sabres fans are having nightmares about the Ottawa Senators, they aren't alone.
Lindy Ruff said Wednesday's 4-2 loss to Ottawa cost both him and his team some sleep. The Sabres bench boss spent most of the practice working two separate units on the power play, and several players spent 20 extra minutes on the ice after the majority of skaters had left the sheet.
Unfortunately, 82 isn't divisible by three, so 55 games is as close to two-thirds of the way through the Sabres season as you can get (besides 54). Even after back-to-back losses to Pittsburgh and Ottawa, should we be having a positive discussion about this team?
Yes, but not without it's share of negatives. Nick Mendola gives the Sabres grades on games 28-55, and looks ahead to what's next on the plate for the blue-and-gold.
Daniel Alfredsson notched the game-winning goal with one minute remaining at the HSBC Arena, and then tallied an empty-net goal seconds later as the Ottawa Senators continued their dominance over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday 4-2. The victory, Ottawa's 10th straight and 8th in a row over the Sabres, puts the Sens just three points behind Buffalo in the Northeast Division.
TSN in Canada is reporting that Thrashers forward Ilya Kovalchuk could be traded soon. The network reports that Thrashers GM Don Waddell met with Kovalchuk on Wednesday and told him to expect a trade within a few hours or days.
(WGR 550) -- The Ottawa Senators are red-hot in every facet imaginable coming into Wednesday's 7 p.m. contest at HSBC Arena. They've won nine games in a row to pull within five points of the Sabres' Northeast Division lead, and Buffalo has a pitiful 8-20-3 record in their last 32 games against Ottawa.
(WGR 550) -- The Sabres' 5-4 Monday loss to the Penguins may have been the recipe for an entertaining broadcast, but head coach Lindy Ruff said that sort of a hockey requires a lot of risk, and takes coaches to the brink of insanity.
"That is the nightmare scenario," Ruff said during his weekly 8 a.m. Tuesday appearance on The Howard Simon Show. "It was kind of a..."
(WGR 550) -- If you're on any sort of message board or radio talk box today, chances are you're reading/hearing a lot about how Brian Burke acquired two key pieces to the Maple Leafs' rebuilding puzzle. Dion Phaneuf and J.S. Giguere are massive stabilizing blocks in the wobbly tower that is Toronto.
But if you're one of those thinking/writing that the Sabres and other teams were sleeping on the deal, you're sorely mistaken.
To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 1 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy tips.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 2 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy tips.; tournament; WGR; Jeremy White; Golf; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 3 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy tips.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 4 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 5 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 6 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 7 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala; To prepare you for the WGR Celebrity Golf Tournament 2008, this video focuses on Hole 8 at Tri-County Country Club's course. Video hosts Jeremy White and Steve Warzala will share each hole's layout and strategy.; Golf; WGR; Jeremy White; Tri-County Country Club; Steve Warzala;
