Game 56: Visiting Buffalo One Last Time

It’s amazing how much a week changes the feeling about your hockey team. One week ago we were entering a game against the Rangers, which we came out of with a 1-0 victory and 5 game winning streak and felt very strong about this team. We then lost in a shootout to St.Louis and didn’t feel awful about it as we got a point and let the other just slip away but coming off the performance against Florida on Saturday, I can say I certainly have a different feeling going into the matchup against the Sabres tonight than I did against the Rangers last week.

A quick look shows Buffalo sits in 14^th place in the Eastern Conference but a closer looks shows that they are 8 points out of 8^th. What’s that mean? If Buffalo wants to get into the playoffs, they are going to be playing hard desperate hockey which isn’t the type of team you want to play. Could be a dog fight tonight.

In the last 10, Buffalo and NJ are pretty even but it’s the 6-0 killiing of the Boston Bruins in Buffalo last Wednesday that stands out in my mind because for one night, the Sabres figured it out.

Last 10 Games – Buffalo  is 5-4-1 while NJ is 5-3-2

This is the fourth and final meeting this season. After the Devils won the first two games, the Sabres scored a 2-1 victory via the shootout on Jan. 24 at Prudential Center. 

So how do you beat the Sabres? Shoot the puck, that’s how. The Sabres defense is pretty pathetic and allows 31.3 shots per game, 5^th worst in the NHL. NJ generated 28 shots against the Panthers on Saturday and hopefully will put more on net tonight.

Hopefully NJ finds a way back to the win column tonight

The injury report is pretty much the same as it has been for NJ.  New Jersey – defenseman Adam Larsson has missed the last five games with a bruised lower back. Defenseman Henrik Tallinder (blood clot) and forwards Travis Zajac (Achilles) and Ryan Carter (broken finger) are on injured reserve. … Buffalo – forward Cody McCormick (upper body) is day-to-day. Forward Jochen Hecht (concussion) is on injured reserve.

When people talk about Buffalo, Pat Lafontaine is still the first thing to bounce into my head and when ever I think of Lafontaine, I immediately hear the La-la-la-la-la-la-Lafontaine call.