Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) -- As the Sabres were going through their first drill of this morning's skate, the power went out in the arena. The players stopped for a few seconds, starting laughing and then continued with the only light illuminating the ice coming from the Press Box and the hallways. Don't panic folks, nobody was taking high shots that could hurt Ryan Miller. Lindy Ruff joked afterwards that they asked them to turn the lights off so the Bruins coaches couldn't watch them practice their power play. They finished the skate under the auxiliary lights which took a good five minutes to come on. Power was restored by the time the Bruins hit the ice.
Steve Montador was back on the ice. Ruff hopes to have him available Thursday in Carolina. He'll be scratched along with Nathan Paetsch and the injured Patrick Kaleta.
Despite losing four straight and going 2-7-1 lately, the Sabres are still in first place by one point over Ottawa in the Northeast with two games in hand. As far as the conference goes, Buffalo only trails second place New Jersey by three points with one game in hand. The Devils are idle tonight while the Sens host Calgary.
The Sabres have gone three games without a Power Play goal going 0-for-14. That has sent them from 11th to17th in the NHL. Despite giving up two Power Play goals to Columbus, the Sabres still lead the NHL with Boston second. Buffalo kills off 91.2 percent of its penalties at home.
Boston beat Montreal on Sunday 3-0 breaking a ten game losing streak. It did pick up four loser points during the streak. The Bruins had only won one of 14 before that. Tuukka Rask made 36 saves for the shutout. He's started three straight giving up four goals. Overall, Rask is 2-1-0 vs Buffalo with a 1.68 goals against and .937 save percentage. Tim Thomas has given up nine goals in his last three starts.
Former Sabre Miroslav Satan has no points in his last eight games and no goals in ten. That's playing six of those games with Marc Savard who has six assists since missing eight games. Another former Sabre Dan Paille is pointless in seven games. Marco Sturm has three points in two games. Milan Lucic has one goal in 16 games with that only goal coming against Buffalo. Andrew Ference is back after missing 14 games. Mark Recchi has two goals in 15 games. Savard enjoys playing the Sabres scoring 39 points in 38 games against them.
Join Schopp and the Bulldog at 6:00 for the pregame when they'll be joined by Ruff, Miller and either Drew Stafford or Mike Grier.
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