"Karma Police"

by Ryan



One of the coolest pictures I've seen all year. Still, this is the picture that matters:



Winner winner, chicken dinner.

Boston picks up a point, but we can still catch them. Maybe. Sort of. But hey, it's not over yet.


Philadelphia saw a lot of this:



And finished up looking like this:



The good news is that we are not eliminated from the playoffs yet. The bad news is that the Hurricanes won, which means Washington can't win the division without eliminating us in the process. We now want the Canes to win the Southeast and hopefully watch the Caps lose out.

Brad Riter of Buffalo Main Event has a good breakdown of what needs to happen, but here's the deal: two teams need to lose out. Still. Tonight was huge, but it only means we are alive for another 24 hours.

So far the Radiohead worked, but sleep well folks, things get even messier tomorrow.

3% of a Dream

by Ryan

Tonight is an off day if you are a Sabres fan. The team is more than likely on their way to Montreal for a game on Thursday, but while in transit their playoff hopes could be finally put to rest.

Boston @ New Jersey
Philadelphia @ Pittsburgh

These games are the most important non-Sabres games of the year, folks. If the Bruins or Flyers win, we have one less team to chase down.

My hopes for tonight lie in the illustrations presented by these two photographs:



This is part of an excellent collection of art by Kent Rogowski called "Bears". It is a very interesting premise, and something that we would like to see happen to the Bruins tonight. All year they have been able to trap the crap out of teams and settle for points (see Sunday night) and maintain a lead on us. For our sake, let's hope the Devils turn them inside out and return the favor.



The Pensblog is by far my favorite non-Sabres hockey blog on the web. That being said, I'm sure they won't mind if I steal that image from them and put my support behind them for tonight and Sunday against the Flyers. The Penguins are a downright scary team when healthy, but Philly always seems to play them tough.

The scoreboard matters tonight. Get ready to refresh your scores page, everybody. If you need something to listen to while you worry, I'd go with the obligatory Bon Jovi song on loop 300 times. If not, maybe something mellow like Radiohead's "OK Computer" will suit you.

Let's hope for "No Surprises" tonight.

Drury Can't Fail

Two teams left to chase if, you know, you're into that kinda thing.

If you are into that kind of thing (read: hopeless optimism), here are the two teams we have a crack at, as well as their remaining schedules.


Bruins, Currently 7th (91 points)

Games remaining:

@Devils (Wednesday)
@Senators (Friday)
Sabres (Saturday)



Flyers, Currently 8th (91 pts)

Games remaining:

@Penguins (Wednesday)
Devils (Friday)
Penguins (Sunday)

And now... what's on the table for the Sabres:


Sabres, Currently 10th (86 pts)

Games remaining:

@Toronto (Tuesday)
@Canadiens (Thursday)
@Bruins (Saturday)

Because the Sabres' max points is 92, to make the playoffs the teams above them (at least one of them) have to lose out. This is the time of year that overtime points make things tricky, because the second tiebreaker (total wins is first) will be head to head matchup (points earned in head to head games). Boston currently leads that tiebreak 10-8, while we beat Philly 7-3. If my logic on that is correct, the Flyers can gain a point in an overtime loss and we will still be ahead of them in the standings if we both wind up with 92 points. (Don't quote me here, I'm just a blogger...)

If you are wondering why I don't include Washington in all this, well, I'll get to that tomorrow. Just something to think about if you want to find something to believe in.

The Way It's Supposed to Be

by Ryan

Let's talk about Edmonton for a bit.



Arguably, Edmonton was an awful team for the majority of this year. They have injuries to star players such as Shawn Horcoff, mediocre goaltending, lots of young players on the roster, and a GM who may or may not be insane. Still, with two games left to play in their season they are tied for the final playoff spot in the West.



There's Sam Gagner, celebrating the game winner last night against Calgary. He's one of those guys called up from the farm team that has come up big. The entire team, it seems, has come up big since they were deemed well out of it around December.

The road ahead is tough, they have only two games left while Nashville and Vancouver have four. They will most likely need to win out and get some serious help, but it is still possible. Edmonton is surging, and even though they will more then likely miss the playoffs, they are playing like a team that deserves to make it.

We, however, are not. To watch a team like the Oilers come up big down the stretch and see the Sabres just... flounder; it's downright embarrassing to watch. Tonight should be the biggest game of the year, instead it is the last hope for those who still believe in mathematical elimination.

To be a complete cynic, it is a joke of a home finale to wind down this joke of a season. I hate for things like this to bring me down, but I just can't get excited anymore. I will watch and discuss, but after the week we've watched I just won't let them get to me.

Boston is good and deserves to be there. We do not. It sucks when you know this before the puck even drops, but that's just the kind of season we've had.



The Stress Buffalo stays on the shelf for tonight.

Roby's Advice for Tonight

"NO STUPID PENALTIES!"

Seriously, the Montreal power play is downright terrifying. If Vanek as much as sneezes I may have a stroke.

Thanks to a helpful link from James Mirtle, the Sabres currently have a 7.2 percent change of making the playoffs. If we win out, there is an 87 percent chance. I'm pretty sure you know what that means.

All or nothing tonight. There is no tired, no chance for redemption.



Do it.

For Those of You With Undying Hope...

by Ryan


Leafs @ Godless Killing Machines, 7pm.

Yahoo Sports will have the game on live if you want to torture yourself.




Atlanta @ Florida, 7:30pm.

Suddenly this one matters. If we don't get our "redemption" tonight say hello to 11th place.


Feel the love.

Caps @ Tampa Bay, 7:30pm.

Ovie's good for at least two tonight. On a slightly related note, I think Alex is good for the Hart Trophy hands down. It may be an East Coast Bias, but Iginla doesn't have the numbers and to say he deserves it because people aren't talking about him is just a bad argument.

I'm sure all three teams will help us out and lose tonight, right?

Picture and a Paragraph

Things you need to know about:


Bruins take on the Leafs at 7:30 tonight. We all still freaking hate them, but if Toronto wins we can at least give them a hat tip. Maybe.


Well this is awkward. Flyers @ Rangers, 7:30 on Versus. The Rangers are well out of reach by now, so Chris Drury has my permission to be clutch tonight. Really, NHL.com needs more articles about how clutch he is, especially now that he let my fantasy team down last week. Not cool, man, not cool.


Ovechkin takes on Hartford tonight. Okay, so the Whale doesn't exist anymore; but isn't it more fun to imagine Ovie with a harpoon?



The Stress Buffalo is on high alert tonight with Ottawa in town. Three games of import happening right alongside our own. If we lose tonight things get very bleak very fast, but if we get a lead I'd start checking the out of town scores. As always, we need a lot of help to make this possible, but let's worry about the Sabres taking care of their own end of the bargain first, shall we?

After a nap let's talk about Ottawa.

Updating the Picture

Ottawa (X2)
Montreal (X2)
Toronto
Boston (X2)

That's what we have left.

In that stretch, we realistically can lose just one game. In fact, Mirtle says we need to go 5-1-1 and I think that's being very generous. I think losing a game in overtime, especially to Boston or Toronto, would effectively kill this season, but those numbers don't take into account which opponent the games are against.

The last seven games are all within the Northeast division, something the scheduling gods thought would provide us with an exciting finish to the season. Now while they are right, it will also provide me with an untimely death when my heart explodes from watching the Bruins sometime this week. I guess you take the bad with the good.

Because of this unique finish to the season, Mirtle has put together the divisional records for each team. Where do the Sabres rank? Ironically, 9th, with a mediocre record of .500 (11-11-3). That pace isn't going to cut it, and if you believe the numbers the next few weeks will be very, very frustrating.

Still, things are so tight and everyone is playing everyone, so who really knows how things will shake out throughout the conference? We could be looking at a completely different playoff picture by this time next week. Will the Sabres be in it? Maybe not, but you can't tell me this isn't exciting.

If you want something "exciting" to watch, Versus will have Pens/Isles on at 7 tonight. Crosby may be back, but either way Pittsburgh is flying as of late and are a very fun team to watch. The Isles are out of the playoffs but have a kid prospect I've heard is some fun. There is nothing of importance for us to worry about, so why not just watch hockey for the sake of hockey? It seems we never get to do that...

Last Game Against the Bottom Feeders

The Sabres have played Tampa three times already this season. Let's review:

Oct. 27: Sabres 4. Lightning 3.
Overtime winner by Vanek.



Jan. 29: Sabres 4. Lightning 2.
Three point night for Pominville.



Feb. 20: Sabres 4. Lightning 3.
Vanek scores in overtime for his first career hat trick.



Tonight should be a good night, even if we are sitting in tenth.

Rangers are in New Jersey tonight and the Blackhawks are hosting the Capitals so if the Sabres take care of business and get some help, they'll be one point out of a playoff spot by sunrise. But let's play the game first...

Malkin, Semin Help the Cause

by Ryan

In case you come here for actual news, here's what happened today that matters:



A tap in for Pittsburgh, 7-1. Flyers looked craptacular.



2-1 shootout win for the Caps. Boston gains their 692nd overtime point of the season.

What it means for us? The Sabres are one point out of a playoff spot for real now, with no "games in hand" for either team. Boston's salvaging a point today gives them a 4 point cushion along with the Rangers, but NYR has one of those mythical game coupons to be redeemed later.

I would show the standings in the post but they will be outdated by the time someone finds this page searching "Emperor's Club Coupons" in google. Peep the sidebar for the real story. One point out. Washington is also only two points out, something I would have welcomed with open arms if Boston didn't take that third point.

A lot of people have been talking about how much three point games suck, but Buffalo has 11 points due to OTLs, most in the conference. I know it is soul-crushing to come home to box scores and see that little "F/OT" or "F/SO" icon, but we've been doing it all year. Still, with the remaining schedules focused heavily on inter-division and conference play, I know we'd all like to see it stop.

With nothing to watch from the boys until Wednesday we need to really focus on the other teams ahead of us. Here are the games over the next few days that will really matter to Buffalo:

Monday
- Nothing, unless you want to catch the Western playoff push with Colorado/Minnesota on Versus. (7pm)

Tuesday
- Penguins/Rangers (7 pm): This is the "game in hand" NYR currently has. Big if they lose because we officially have three teams we could "catch."

- Atlanta/Philadelphia (7 pm, Versus): If you care at all you will watch this game. If the Flyers win we must keep pace with them on Wednesday. If they lose...

- Washington/Nashville (8 pm): This is big because Washington is making that final push as well. As much as their beating Boston today helps us it hurts because a slip up puts them in front of us. I don't know about you but I don't like the number ten this time of year.

---

So how do we watch these games? Scoreboard watching in the traditional sense is following the "out of town scores" while actually at the game, but since none of us will have that chance we will re-apply the term here. Since the Philly game is on Versus the majority of us are covered. The other two are a bit trickier.

For the record, NHL's Center Ice package is only $59 for the rest of the year. However, if you can't afford that or simply don't want to pay, you may be able to find some help here. Maybe. If you need any help getting that to work, you may be able to email us and we will help you as much as we can. Maybe, but you didn't hear it from us.

Another option is NHL Radio, something I used last year to follow the Isles gain the 8th seed when in Ohio for Easter. It's a bit delayed but a much better experience then hitting "refresh" 4,000 times. Otherwise watching an internet page update will be your best bet. Box scores are an okay go of it but our voice of experience (Chris) says NHl.com's Live Gametracker (Found on the scores page) is a nice option.

All this rooting against Boston, Philly, and the Rangers is fun and all, but let's not forget that the prerequisite to all this is that the Sabres win their games as well. Still, we're close once again and there is reason to hope based on this weekend. With March Madness coming and this little situation we have here, this could make for an interesting couple of weeks.

I'd get some sleep tonight, the next week is going to take it out of you.

In the Mix

by Ryan


It was one of those nights that just started well and didn't go all to hell. You kept waiting for it to happen, bracing yourself when Toronto would make a push, but the goaltender was there when you expected it and the team came through.

A win like this in November is just a good road game, but when you go in and blow the doors off a team suddenly breathing down your neck it is a great, spiritually uplifting win. The last 48 hours could have broken us all, squashed the last possible hopes of making even a peep in this conference full of big talkers. It may have taken a while, but 13 goals in two games is more than enough to prove that this team can roar when it wants to.



The question remains, is this a fluke or the final, oft-delayed push to the playoffs? One of my major problems with this team has been a lack of consistency and motivation, something I have blamed on coaching. Whether it is the case or not, Lindy made a statement to this team before Friday's game and the change is evident. If it will continue is up to those same players, but they won't have anything to say about it until Wednesday.

Standings will change and all we can hope is that their attitude will remain the same. Know this, tonight we are closer then we've been to the 8th spot in quite some time. No matter what those standings look like come Wednesday, remember this feeling. If the attitude stays the same we will be this close again. Hope is a powerful thing, and as close as those numbers have been we haven't had a reason for hope in some time.

It's not often we get a chance to root for Malkin and Ovechkin on the same day, but tomorrow we have that chance. Pens/Flyers at noon on NBC and Caps/Bruins at 3. We shall master the art of scoreboard viewing together, my friends.

One game at a time.

Consistent Mediocrity

by Ryan

Ottawa did us a favor and beat Boston in regulation for once. Philly squeaked out a point and got back that lead. As of right now, that's all that matters anymore. We can't catch anyone else, let alone dream of getting higher than 7th place. That cushy 6th place finish we've been eyeing is impossible, and right now we are looking at missing the top eight all together.

To be honest, I said and still believe that this season was lost a week ago after the Washington game. It was just too much of the same old same old, too much consistent mediocrity. The numbers were still there to do it, but that spark just didn't seem to be coming anytime soon.

The last two games have proven to be the collective efforts of a team hanging on by a thread. Two points in two games, yes, but still missing out on huge opportunities. When will the final push over the edge come? To be honest, tonight may be that final push; a game against a hungry team vying for the top seed in the East. With an injury plagued roster, a team teetering on the brink of the postseason has one last chance to beat a team they just can't seem to beat. Wow, sounds a lot like Monday.

As negative as the above sounds, this game and the run needed isn't impossible. Pittsburgh and a few other teams have had their share of injuries as well and who knows what can happen if a team above us gets cold. Just a few weeks ago the Flyers were leading the Atlantic, today they are objective #1 for any team outside of the playoff picture. Who knows what the next two weeks will bring.

So what do we need? Well, to play better then 3-4-3 in our last ten for sure. Realistically we need to win at least 9 of 12, a win percentage of +.750. Anyone remember the last time we had that going for us? Last year, even?

The point is this: it's going to take a whole lot of things to work at once to get this team into the 8th seed. Philly/Boston have to lose a lot of games, we need to win a lot of games, and we need to get/stay healthy. Oh, and no more overtime games. Bonus points are the Devil from here on out. Those are a whole lot of needs and very little time to get them taken care of.

Twelve games. Four points to gain back. No matter how depressing it looks this is an exciting time. This is what you live for as a sports fan, the dead heat to the finish line. Their players against ours. City against city. That sidebar is going to be moving nightly and we'll be here to keep you in the loop with scoreboard watching, but tonight the most important game for us is in the Igloo.

Let's go, boys.

One point but not enough

Remember 2003-04? The last season the Sabres tried this rotating captaincy thing? The Sabres just missed the playoffs and it wouldn't be until after the lockout when everything came together. You all know the rest of the story.

Tonight the Sabres stole a point, sure. They probably should have walked out of Carolina down five points to Philadelphia for that last place spot. Instead they're down four points with 13 games left to play.

Eighteen points should put them in a very good place. The playoffs.

Monday against the Rangers, Wednesday at Pittsburgh, Friday against Carolina, Saturday against the Leafs. Three of those four games should be very winnable, but we never know what team is going to show up every night.

Will it be team that looks like it cares (Nashville game) or the team that coasts through 48 minutes and hopes they can do enough in the other 12 to take two points (Washington last Wednesday)? We just don't know.

They've been a streaky team all year, winning four losing three, winning eight, losing 12...on and on and on. The 2007-08 Sabres have been inconsistent and mediocre. That's why they're going to be fighting for their lives to earn that eighth seed.

Fighting for their lives. Bold statement. It's what we all want to see from them, but do we even know they're capable of doing that? We're almost 70 games into the season and all we know is that we don't know what we're going to get from this team night in and night out.

Just looking at tonight's game, the defense was atrocious and, for the most part, the offense wasn't much better. Dmitri Kalinin has been mostly an embarrassment. He's supposed to be able to step up and be a top four defender and he hasn't been able to do that. When Brian Campbell was traded and no one else was brought in, you could look at that as a message from the front office to Kalinin to step up and play for a contract. He's failed miserably at that and the whole team is suffering from that backfire. Nathan Paetsch hasn't been much better and with Tallinder out and both of those guys in the lineup, you're going to see this team give up three, four goals a game.

I liked Afinogenov's game a lot tonight. Personally, I'm not the biggest supporter of Max but he's been one of the Sabres best players in the last three games. It's only a matter of time before he slips into "Old Max" and starts putting his teammates offsides again, so enjoy this stretch while it lasts.

Having Hecht back in the line up helped too. He played a strong game tonight which can't be said for many of his teammates. He played a huge part in Lydman's goal, winning the faceoff and being a presence in front of the net, where it's usually Vanek causing a disturbance.

And speaking of Vanek, where was he? Tonight was one of the few games during this latest stretch where he was noticeably invisible. Not a good sign for Atlas if he wants to live up to that promise.

Four points out with no games in hand. Which Sabres will show up on Monday?