EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo

[NoSkillz]

High-Flying Sabres Outscore Wild 7-4

Buffalo News
January 27 2006 (St. Paul, MN) -
Buffalo Sabres scoresheets are starting to resemble those from 15 years ago.

Jochen Hecht notched his first career hat trick and Toni Lydman contributed 3 assists and a +5 rating in a 7-4 Sabres win over the Minnesota Wild last night at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Ales Kotalik, Thomas Vanek, Daniel Briere and Mike Grier also scored for the Sabres. Hecht (3g), Briere (1g 2a), Lydman (3a), J.P. Dumont (3a) and Tim Connolly (2a) had multipoint games for Buffalo.

Alexandre Daigle scored two goals for Minnesota, with singles going to Pascal Dupuis and Brian Rolston. Daigle, Rolston (1g 1a) and Filip Kuba (2a) had multipoint games for Minnesota.

Buffalo threw everything but the kitchen sink at Minnesota goaltender Brian Boucher, who turned aside 54 of 61 Sabres shots. Martin Biron manned the cage for the Sabres, making 27 saves.

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff was happy with the team's effort, especially considering the difficult travel schedule.

"For us to come out and play as hard as we did and get as many shots as we did, considering we played in Vancouver last night? Yeah, I'm a happy coach."

Ruff continued, "I would love for us to be tighter in the defensive zone but we've come to the realization that this is an offensively skilled hockey club and we're going to make some mistakes in our own end."

"As long as we keep scoring goals, I don't envision changes."

Maxim Afinogenov took the pre-game skate but was held out of the lineup for the seventh consecutive game due to his finger injury. Ruff also scratched winger Adam Mair and the ineffective Teppo Numminen in favour of Taylor Pyatt and Jeff Jillson.

Buffalo returns home to face the Dallas Stars at HSBC Arena on Saturday night. Game time is 7:00pm.

FINAL	1	2	3	OT/SO	TOTAL
Buffalo	5	0	2		7
Minnesota	2	2	0		4
FIRST PERIOD
SCORING
1. Buffalo - A. Kotalik 13 (C. Drury, B. Campbell), 3:08
2. Minnesota - P. Dupuis 12 (F. Kuba, B. Rolston), 6:52 (SH)
3. Buffalo - T. Vanek 24 (D. Briere, T. Connolly), 7:17 (PP)
4. Minnesota - A. Daigle 12 (M. Gaborik, F. Kuba), 19:06 (PP)
5. Buffalo - J. Hecht 14 (J. Dumont, T. Lydman), 19:18
6. Buffalo - J. Hecht 15 (J. Dumont, T. Lydman), 19:28
7. Buffalo - D. Briere 26 (T. Connolly), 19:40
SECOND PERIOD
SCORING
8. Minnesota - B. Rolston 15 (N. Schultz), 10:39
9. Minnesota - A. Daigle 13 (B. Pouliot, T. White), 13:11
THIRD PERIOD
SCORING
10. Buffalo - M. Grier 7 (T. Lydman, M. Biron), 8:31
11. Buffalo - J. Hecht 16 (D. Briere, J. Dumont), 12:05
GAME INFORMATION
SHOTS ON GOAL	1	2	3	OT	TOTAL
Buffalo	22	18	21		61
Minnesota	10	10	11		31
GOALTENDING
Buffalo	M. Biron (W: 17-9-0)
Minnesota	B. Boucher (L: 20-16-5)
POWERPLAYS		THREE STARS
Buffalo	1 - 7	1. T. Lydman (BUF) 3a +5
Minnesota	1 - 7	2. J. Hecht (BUF) 3g +2
ATTENDANCE	15501	3. D. Briere (BUF) 1g 2a +1

[NoSkillz]

Hunter Demoted to Rochester

Buffalo News
January 28 2006 (Buffalo, NY) -
Buffalo Sabres general manager Matt Bosela announced that winger Dylan Hunter has been sent down to the Rochester Americans of the AHL.

Hunter scored his first NHL goal and added an assist in his first three NHL games with the Sabres.

"Dylan did a great job for us in the three games and we look forward to his continued development as a hockey player in Rochester", Bosela would say.

Bosela also didn't rule out an eventual move to Stockton of the ECHL for Hunter if he didn't get enough ice time with the Amerks.

[NoSkillz]

GAME DAY PREVIEW
Dallas Stars at Buffalo Sabres
January 28, 2006
HSBC Arena, Buffalo, NY
Season Series:	First game in 2005-06
Last Meeting:	October 13, 2003 in Buffalo
	Buffalo wins 4-3, with Miroslav Satan scoring the winning goal past losing
	goaltender Ron Tugnutt
	Dallas	Buffalo
Overall Record:	35-12-4 74 pts	31-19-2 64 pts
Standings:	1st Western Conference	6th Eastern Conference
Last 10 Games:	8-1-1	6-4-0
Powerplay:	16.7% (T15th)	27.9% (1st)
Penalty Killing:	85.8% (4th)	77.0% (30th)
Goal Leader:	B. Guerin - 30	D. Briere - 26
Assist Leader:	M. Modano - 32	D. Briere & C. Drury - 37
Point Leader:	B. Guerin - 51	D. Briere - 63
Penalty Minute Leader:	B. Guerin - 94	A. Mair - 121
Goaltenders:	M. Turco (32-10-3 2.15gaa .925)	R. Miller (14-10-2 3.49gaa .887)
	A. Hedberg (3-2-1 2.24gaa .921)	M. Biron (17-9-0 3.35gaa .889)
Who's Hot:	J. Lehtinen (1g 4a in last 5)	D. Briere (5g 5a +6 in last 5)
Who's Not:	M. Tjarnqvist (1a +1 in last 5)	T. Pyatt (1g -1 in last 5)
Injuries:	None	None

[NoSkillz]

Suddenly Hot Sabres Dull First Place Stars

Buffalo News
January 29 2006 (Buffalo, NY) -
Five different scorers contributed to an all-around excellent 5-2 Buffalo Sabres victory over the Western Conference leading Dallas Stars last night at HSBC Arena.

Buffalo has now won four of five games and six of their last eight.

J.P. Dumont, Derek Roy, Teppo Numminen, Tim Connolly and Jochen Hecht all scored for the Sabres. Connolly (1g 1a) and Chris Drury (2a) notched multipoint games.

Sergei Zubov and Steve Ott scored for the Stars.

Martin Biron was excellent in goal for Buffalo, stopping 28 of 30 Dallas shots. Marty Turco was busy, as most Sabres opposing goaltenders are these days, turning aside 38 of 43 Buffalo shots.

"We didn't panic after they opened the scoring and that was key", coach Lindy Ruff said after the game. "We kept with the game plan and really played a solid game."

"I'm really happy with our defensive zone coverage as well and our penalty killing continues to improve."

Jeff Jillson and Taylor Pyatt were the scratches for Buffalo. Maxim Afinogenov returned to the lineup and played on the right wing with Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek.

Buffalo once again gets no rest, as the team flew to Washington immediately after the game in preparation for tonight's tilt against the Capitals. Game time at MCI Center is 7:30pm.

FINAL	1	2	3	OT/SO	TOTAL
Dallas	1	0	1		2
Buffalo	1	2	2		5
FIRST PERIOD
SCORING
1. Dallas - S. Zubov 12 (M. Modano, P. Boucher), 6:45
2. Buffalo - J. Dumont 21 (T. Connolly, D. Briere), 18:41 (PP)
SECOND PERIOD
SCORING
3. Buffalo - D. Roy 4 (B. Campbell, T. Vanek), 1:37
4. Buffalo - T. Numminen 2 (J. McKee), 11:54
THIRD PERIOD
SCORING
5. Buffalo - T. Connolly 17 (A. Kotalik, C. Drury), 9:09
6. Buffalo - J. Hecht 17 (C. Drury), 11:16 (PP)
7. Dallas - S. Ott 2 (N. Kapanen), 17:58
GAME INFORMATION
SHOTS ON GOAL	1	2	3	OT	TOTAL
Dallas	6	10	14		30
Buffalo	18	14	11		43
GOALTENDING
Dallas	M. Turco (W: 32-11-3)
Buffalo	M. Biron (W: 18-9-0)
POWERPLAYS		THREE STARS
Dallas	0 - 3	1. D. Roy (BUF) 1g +1
Buffalo	2 - 5	2. T. Connolly (BUF) 1g 1a +1
ATTENDANCE	17940	3. C. Drury (BUF) 2a +1

[NoSkillz]

GAME DAY PREVIEW
Buffalo Sabres at Washington Capitals
January 29, 2006
MCI Center, Washington, DC
Season Series:	Series Tied 1-1
Last Meeting:	January 15, 2006 in Buffalo
	Buffalo wins 5-3, as Tim Connolly scored once and added an assist in the
	victory
	Buffalo	Washington
Overall Record:	32-19-2 66 pts	21-22-10 52 pts
Standings:	6th Eastern Conference	T11th Eastern Conference
Last 10 Games:	6-4-0	3-6-1
Powerplay:	28.1% (1st)	13.8% (T27th)
Penalty Killing:	77.2% (T29th)	77.2% (T29th)
Goal Leader:	D. Briere - 26	A. Ovechkin - 33
Assist Leader:	C. Drury - 39	J. Halpern - 33
Point Leader:	D. Briere - 64	A. Ovechkin - 57
Penalty Minute Leader:	A. Mair - 126	B. Witt - 92
Goaltenders:	M. Biron (18-9-0 3.30gaa .891)	O. Kolzig (19-18-9 2.85gaa .908)
	R. Miller (14-10-2 3.49gaa .887)	M. Ouellet (2-4-1 3.55gaa .888)
Who's Hot:	D. Briere (5g 6a +6 in last 5)	J. Friesen (4g 1a +4 in last 5)
Who's Not:	T. Pyatt (1g -1 in last 5)	M. Stajan (0pts -2 in last 5)
Injuries:	None	J. Aulin (partially torn ACL)
		B. Sutherby (groin strain)

[NoSkillz]

Drury Comes Through in Overtime Against Capitals

Buffalo News
January 30 2006 (Washington, DC) -
Chris Drury scored 11 seconds into the extra frame to lead the Buffalo Sabres past the Washington Capitals 4-3 last night at MCI Center.

Tim Connolly, Thomas Vanek and Daniel Briere also scored for the Sabres. Briere (1g 1a) had a multipoint game for the Sabres. Ales Kotalik recorded an assist on Connolly's goal, giving him 100 career NHL points.

Maxim Kondratiev, Matt Stajan and Eric Fehr replied for the Capitals. Danius Zubrus recorded 2 assists in the loss.

Ryan Miller turned aside 35 of 38 Washington shots in the win while Olaf Kolzig was forced to stop 46 of 50 Sabres shots in a losing effort.

Coach Lindy Ruff was proud of his team's determination.

"The Capitals just kept coming all game", he said. "It would have been easy to fold our tent after Fehr's late tying goal but the guys were ready to rock before the overtime."

"This club doesn't need me to motivate them. They are an easy bunch to coach."

Taylor Pyatt and Jeff Jillson were the scratches for Buffalo on the night.

The Sabres get a five day break in the schedule and won't suit up again until Saturday night, when the Calgary Flames come to town. Game time on Saturday is 7:30pm.

FINAL	1	2	3	OT/SO	TOTAL
Buffalo	2	0	1	1	4
Washington	2	0	1	0	3
FIRST PERIOD
SCORING
1. Buffalo - T. Connolly 18 (A. Kotalik, T. Lydman), 0:41
2. Washington - M. Kondratiev 2 (D. Zubrus), 9:14
3. Buffalo - T. Vanek 25 (M. Afinogenov, D. Roy), 9:36
4. Washington - M. Stajan 3 (J. Friesen), 14:05
SECOND PERIOD
SCORING
No Scoring
THIRD PERIOD
SCORING
5. Buffalo - D. Briere 27 (J. Hecht), 9:14
6. Washington - E. Fehr 10 (D. Zubrus, T. Fleischmann), 17:24
OVERTIME
SCORING
7. Buffalo - C. Drury 16 (D. Briere), 0:11
GAME INFORMATION
SHOTS ON GOAL	1	2	3	OT	TOTAL
Buffalo	17	16	16	1	50
Washington	10	11	17	0	38
GOALTENDING
Buffalo	R. Miller (W: 15-10-2)
Washington	O. Kolzig (L: 19-19-9)
POWERPLAYS		THREE STARS
Buffalo	0 - 5	1. C. Drury (BUF) 1g +2
Washington	0 - 5	2. D. Briere (BUF) 1g 1a +2
ATTENDANCE	17011	3. D. Zubrus (WAS) 2a +1

[Young Drachma]

Wow...this is a really well put together dynasty.

[NoSkillz]

January 2006 Summary

Eastern Conference

POS		TEAM	GP	W	L	OTL	PCT	GF	GA	PTS
1st		Tampa Bay	55	39	14	2	0.727	194	155	80
2nd		Pittsburgh	54	35	15	4	0.685	159	137	74
3rd		Ottawa	53	33	15	5	0.670	197	153	71
4th		Philadelphia	55	32	15	8	0.655	154	134	72
5th		Buffalo	54	33	19	2	0.630	216	186	68
6th		Toronto	54	32	19	3	0.620	168	161	67
7th		NY Islanders	53	29	19	5	0.594	174	157	63
8th		Montreal	55	27	21	7	0.555	147	146	61
9th		Boston	54	26	21	7	0.546	150	145	59
10th		Florida	54	23	21	10	0.519	127	136	56
11th		New Jersey	53	24	23	6	0.509	146	152	54
12th		Washington	54	21	22	11	0.491	142	166	53
13th		Carolina	54	19	23	12	0.463	142	176	50
14th		Atlanta	57	22	30	5	0.430	154	191	49
15th		NY Rangers	53	21	26	6	0.453	122	143	48

Western Conference

POS		TEAM	GP	W	L	OTL	PCT	GF	GA	PTS
1st		Detroit	55	34	13	8	0.691	171	136	76
2nd		Dallas	53	36	13	4	0.717	157	121	76
3rd		Vancouver	57	35	17	5	0.658	189	152	75
4th		Colorado	53	34	15	4	0.679	178	137	72
5th		Nashville	54	30	17	7	0.620	163	141	67
6th		Edmonton	56	30	21	5	0.580	146	154	65
7th		Calgary	54	27	18	9	0.583	129	131	63
8th		Los Angeles	57	26	21	10	0.544	161	166	62
9th		Columbus	56	26	28	2	0.482	152	179	54
10th		Minnesota	56	23	25	8	0.482	132	158	54
11th		Anaheim	54	24	25	5	0.491	156	165	53
12th		San Jose	54	22	25	7	0.472	136	154	51
13th		Chicago	54	20	27	7	0.435	128	154	47
14th		Phoenix	52	17	30	5	0.375	129	170	39
15th		St. Louis	53	15	34	4	0.321	115	178	34

2005-06 Goals

POS	PLAYER	TEAM	GP	G
1st	Martin St. Louis	Tampa Bay	55	43
2nd	Todd Bertuzzi	Vancouver	56	42
3rd	Marian Hossa	Atlanta	57	37
T4th	Alexei Yashin	NY Islanders	53	33
	Ilya Kovalchuk	Atlanta	48	33
	Alexander Ovechkin	Washington	49	33
	Markus Naslund	Vancouver	57	33
T8th	Vincent Lecavalier	Tampa Bay	54	32
	Martin Havlat	Ottawa	53	32
	Zigmund Palffy	Pittsburgh	54	32
	Daniel Alfredsson	Ottawa	53	32
12th	Alex Tanguay	Colorado	48	31
13th	Bill Guerin	Dallas	53	30
T14th	Jeff O'Neill	Toronto	53	29
	Scott Walker	Nashville	54	29
	Alexei Kovalev	Montreal	54	29
	Radim Vrbata	Carolina	54	29
T18th	Glen Murray	Boston	54	28
	Valeri Bure	Los Angeles	54	28
	Richard Zednik	Montreal	55	28
T21st	Daniel Briere	Buffalo	54	27

2005-06 Assists

POS	PLAYER	TEAM	GP	A
T1st	Joe Sakic	Colorado	53	46
	Henrik Sedin	Vancouver	57	46
3rd	Joe Thornton	Boston	54	45
4th	Saku Koivu	Montreal	55	44
5th	Markus Naslund	Vancouver	57	41
T6th	Rod Brind'Amour	Carolina	53	40
	Martin St. Louis	Tampa Bay	55	40
	Todd Marchant	Columbus	56	40
	Pavel Kubina	Tampa Bay	55	40
T10th	Brad Richards	Tampa Bay	54	39
	Jason Spezza	Ottawa	53	39
	Chris Drury	Buffalo	54	39
	Daniel Briere	Buffalo	54	39
	Sergei Fedorov	Anaheim	54	39
	Oleg Tverdovsky	Carolina	52	39
	Nicklas Lidstrom	Detroit	55	39
17th	Mattias Ohlund	Vancouver	57	38
T18th	Alex Tanguay	Colorado	48	37
	Tomas Kaberle	Toronto	54	37
	Mats Sundin	Toronto	54	37

2005-06 Points

POS	PLAYER	TEAM	GP	PTS
1st	Martin St. Louis	Tampa Bay	55	83
2nd	Todd Bertuzzi	Vancouver	56	78
3rd	Markus Naslund	Vancouver	57	74
4th	Joe Sakic	Colorado	53	69
5th	Alex Tanguay	Colorado	48	68
T6th	Marian Hossa	Atlanta	57	67
	Alexei Yashin	NY Islanders	53	67
8th	Daniel Briere	Buffalo	54	66
T9th	Vincent Lecavalier	Tampa Bay	54	65
	Brad Richards	Tampa Bay	54	65
11th	Daniel Alfredsson	Ottawa	53	64
T12th	Ilya Kovalchuk	Atlanta	48	62
	Saku Koivu	Montreal	55	62
T14th	Scott Walker	Nashville	54	59
	Richard Zednik	Montreal	55	59
	Sergei Fedorov	Anaheim	54	59
17th	Martin Havlat	Ottawa	53	58
T18th	Alexander Ovechkin	Washington	49	57
	Radim Vrbata	Carolina	54	57
	Jeff O'Neill	Toronto	53	57

Players of the Month -
Offensive: Alex Tanguay (COL) 13GP 13g 9a 22pts +9
Defensive: Mathieu Garon (LA) 13GP 7-2-3 2.51gaa .909sp
Rookie: Dennis Wideman (ANA) 14GP 5g 9a 14pts -3

Players of the Week -
Week Ending 1/02/06: Offensive - Pavel Datsyuk (DET); Defensive - Lubomir Visnovsky (LA)
Week Ending 1/09/06: Offensive - Todd Bertuzzi (VAN); Defensive - Ty Conklin (EDM)
Week Ending 1/16/06: Offensive - Joe Sakic (COL); Defensive - Chris Therien (PHI)
Week Ending 1/23/06: Offensive - Jeff O'Neill (TOR); Defensive - Dennis Wideman (ANA)

Key Transactions -

• LA trades Jason LaBarbera to ATL for 2nd Rd pick
• NAS trades Teemu Lassila and 2nd Rd pick to ATL for Greg de Vries and Scott Lehman
• WAS trades Stephen Peat to PHO for 4th Rd pick
• SJ trades Rory Fitzpatrick and Eric Grasso to NAS for 3rd Rd pick
• PHI trades Antero Niittymaki to STL for 2nd Rd pick, 3rd Rd pick and 4th Rd pick
• BUF trades Chris Taylor to PIT for 5th Rd pick
• NYR trades Darius Kasparaitis to MIN for Pierre-Marc Bouchard
• NYR trades Tom Poti to EDM for Danny Syvret and 2nd Rd pick
• MON trades Andrei Markov to ATL for 2nd Rd pick and 4th Rd Pick
• STL trades Eric Brewer to PIT for Maxime Talbot and Kristopher Letang
• NYR trades Michael Nylander to SJ for Christian Ehrhoff
• CLB trades Aaron Johnson to CHI for 3rd Rd pick and 4th Rd pick
• FLA trades Derek Boogaard to CHI for 4th Rd pick
• MTL trades Mathieu Dandenault to CLB for Derek Reinhart
• TOR trades Carlo Colaiacovo to FLA for Stefan Meyer and Denis Stasyuk
• TOR trades Brendan Bell to CHI for Evan Brophey and Jakub Sindel

[NoSkillz]

Geez. Whatever changes they made to this board sure the hell aren't good for cutting and pasting.

I'll reformat this when I get some time...

EDIT: Ok..that's about the best I can do...damn.

[NoSkillz]

2005-06 BUFFALO SABRES
AS OF JANUARY 31 2006
P	PLAYER	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM
F	Daniel Briere	54	27	39	66	20	76
F	J.P. Dumont	54	21	34	55	13	42
F	Chris Drury	54	16	39	55	7	44
F	* Thomas Vanek	52	25	26	51	3	12
F	Jochen Hecht	54	17	34	51	5	34
F	Tim Connolly	54	18	24	42	-10	18
F	Maxim Afinogenov	47	23	17	40	-5	36
F	Ales Kotalik	49	13	22	35	3	16
D	Dmitri Kalinin	54	6	29	35	2	66
D	Brian Campbell	49	9	22	31	-2	12
F	Adam Mair	53	5	12	17	-3	128
D	Toni Lydman	45	1	15	16	23	22
F	Mike Grier	54	7	9	16	0	28
D	Jay McKee	52	1	14	15	12	69
D	Henrik Tallinder	42	1	11	12	14	10
F	X Jason Pominville	26	7	3	10	4	14
F	Derek Roy	27	4	6	10	-8	35
F	Taylor Pyatt	45	6	3	9	-4	8
F	* Paul Gaustad	17	4	4	8	6	18
D	Teppo Numminen	37	2	6	8	-9	16
D	Jeff Jillson	33	2	5	7	-4	10
F	* Dylan Hunter	3	1	1	2	0	2
F	* Sean McMorrow	3	0	1	1	-2	24
D	* Doug Janik	8	0	1	1	1	11
G	Martin Biron	31	0	1	1	-	0
F	* Michael Ryan	1	0	0	0	-2	0
F	X Andrew Peters	1	0	0	0	0	0
D	* Nathan Paetsch	4	0	0	0	-2	2
G	* Ryan Miller	30	0	0	0	-	0
GOALTENDING
P	PLAYER	GP	W	L	T	GAA	S%
G	Martin Biron	31	18	9	0	3.30	0.891
G	* Ryan Miller	30	15	10	2	3.48	0.889
	* - Denotes Rookie
	X - No Longer With Team

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Wow...this is a really well put together dynasty.

Thanks for reading DC!

[NoSkillz]

Hunter Going Back to Stockton of ECHL; Other Sabres Notes

Buffalo News
February 3 2006 (Buffalo, NY) -
Dylan Hunter will get to finish what he started in the East Coast Hockey League.

Hunter was reassigned to the Stockton Thunder yesterday and will join fellow Sabres prospect Mark Mancari. Hunter was with the Rochester Americans for a few games after playing three successful contests with the parent Sabres.

"Dylan had tremendous success in his early season stint with Stockton and we look forward to him continuing his development with the Thunder", general manager Matt Bosela said in a statement yesterday afternoon.

Hunter still leads the entire ECHL in point scoring with 54 (27g 27a) in only 32 games. He was recently named ECHL Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month for January despite playing in only seven contests. He had 18 points in the month (8g 10a).

In other news, Sabres goaltending prospect Adam Dennis has been assigned to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs of the CHL. Dennis has had much difficulty getting into games this year and it's hoped the Mudbugs will utilize Dennis frequently in the coming weeks.

"We really would like to see Adam get a run of starts to see what he can do", Bosela said. Dennis played four games with the Stockton Thunder, going 1-3 with a 3.00 goals against average.

[NoSkillz]

GAME DAY PREVIEW
Dallas Stars at Buffalo Sabres
February 4, 2006
HSBC Arena, Buffalo, NY
Season Series:	First game in 2005-06
Last Meeting:	October 18, 2003 in Calgary
	Buffalo wins 2-0, with Mika Noronen picking up the shutout victory and
	Ales Kotalik scoring the winner
	Calgary	Buffalo
Overall Record:	27-18-9 63 pts	33-19-2 68 pts
Standings:	7th Western Conference	5th Eastern Conference
Last 10 Games:	9-0-1	7-3-0
Powerplay:	16.3% (18th)	27.6% (1st)
Penalty Killing:	82.7% (12th)	77.7% (29th)
Goal Leader:	J. Iginla - 21	D. Briere - 27
Assist Leader:	D. Langkow - 23	D. Briere & C. Drury - 39
Point Leader:	D. Langkow - 38	D. Briere - 66
Penalty Minute Leader:	J. Wiemer - 134	A. Mair - 128
Goaltenders:	M. Kiprusoff (25-16-7 2.35gaa .913)	R. Miller (15-10-2 3.48gaa .889)
	B. Johnson (1-1-1 2.89gaa .887)	M. Biron (18-9-0 3.30gaa .891)
Who's Hot:	J. Iginla (5g 2a in last 5)	D. Briere (5g 5a +4 in last 5)
Who's Not:	S. Yelle (0pts -1 in last 5)	R. Miller (1-1 5.19 .864 in last 5)
Injuries:	C. Kobasew (MCL sprain)	None

[NoSkillz]

Gaustad Leads Charge in Huge Win Over Flames

Buffalo News
February 5 2006 (Buffalo, NY) -
Paul Gaustad is just thrilled to be in the NHL after spending the majority of the year with Rochester of the AHL.

He better get used to the feeling.

Gaustad had a career-high 3 points, scoring once and adding two assists in an 8-2 Sabres destruction of the Calgary Flames at HSBC Arena. J.P. Dumont scored twice for Buffalo, with Mike Grier, Maxim Afinogenov, Jochen Hecht, Thomas Vanek and Ales Kotalik adding singles.

Gaustad, Dumont (2g), Vanek (1g 1a), Hecht (1g 1a), Afinogenov (1g 1a) and Brian Campbell (2a) all had multipoint games for Buffalo. The Sabres scored seven times alone in the decisive second period.

Tony Amonte and Chris Simon replied for Calgary, who hadn't lost in regulation in 10 games prior to this contest.

Martin Biron was excellent in net for the Sabres, stopping 29 of 31 Calgary shots. Brent Johnson was dismal, getting pulled after allowing six goals on 23 shots. Miikka Kiprusoff replaced him and allowed two more goals.

Lindy Ruff was able to utilize his third and fourth lines more than usual due to the large lead.

"It was nice to be able to give Gaustad, Mair and Grier some powerplay time", Ruff enthused. "It's a long season and it is pretty much necessary to find some rest time for the top liners when you can."

Jay McKee left the game late in the second period with a finger injury. Ruff says that he stubbed it along the boards and for precautionary reasons was held out the rest of the way.

"With the lead we had, I saw no reason to risk further injury", Ruff said. "The doctors say it's nothing serious so hopefully we can have Jay back for the Rangers game on Monday night."

Taylor Pyatt and Jeff Jillson were scratched once again for the Sabres.

Buffalo travels to New York to take on the Rangers Monday night. Game time at Madison Square Garden is 7:30pm.

FINAL	1	2	3	OT/SO	TOTAL
Calgary	1	0	1		2
Buffalo	0	7	1		8
FIRST PERIOD
SCORING
1. Calgary - T. Amonte 19 (S. Reinprecht, R. Regehr), 1:49 (PP)
SECOND PERIOD
SCORING
2. Buffalo - M. Grier 8 (P. Gaustad, A. Mair), 0:18
3. Buffalo - J. Dumont 22 (B. Campbell, D. Briere), 5:16 (PP)
4. Buffalo - M. Afinogenov 24 (T. Vanek, B. Campbell), 9:39
5. Buffalo - P. Gaustad 5 (J. McKee), 9:53
6. Buffalo - J. Hecht 18 (P. Gaustad), 10:13
7. Buffalo - T. Vanek 26 (M. Afinogenov), 12:12
8. Buffalo - J. Dumont 23 (J. Hecht), 18:58
THIRD PERIOD
SCORING
9. Calgary - C. Simon 12 (J. Leopold, D. Langkow), 3:13 (PP)
10. Buffalo - A. Kotalik 14 (T. Connolly, D. Kalinin), 13:57
GAME INFORMATION
SHOTS ON GOAL	1	2	3	OT	TOTAL
Calgary	10	9	12		31
Buffalo	11	14	8		33
GOALTENDING
Calgary	B. Johnson (L: 1-2-1) 17/23; Kiprusoff 8/10
Buffalo	M. Biron (W: 19-9-0)
POWERPLAYS		THREE STARS
Calgary	2 - 5	1. P. Gaustad (BUF) 1g 2a +3
Buffalo	1 - 5	2. J. Dumont (BUF) 2g +1
ATTENDANCE	17174	3. J. Hecht (BUF) 1g 1a +3

[NoSkillz]

GAME DAY PREVIEW
Buffalo Sabres at New York Rangers
February 6, 2006
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Season Series:	Buffalo leads 1-0
Last Meeting:	November 23, 2005 in New York
	Buffalo wins 4-2, as Daniel Briere scored twice to lead the way
	Buffalo	New York
Overall Record:	34-19-2 70 pts	22-26-6 50 pts
Standings:	5th Eastern Conference	15th Eastern Conference
Last 10 Games:	8-2-0	5-2-3
Powerplay:	27.5% (1st)	14.5% (27th)
Penalty Killing:	77.3% (T29th)	80.0% (23rd)
Goal Leader:	D. Briere - 27	J. Jagr - 25
Assist Leader:	D. Briere - 40	S. Rucchin - 25
Point Leader:	D. Briere - 67	J. Jagr - 45
Penalty Minute Leader:	A. Mair - 137	J. McKenzie - 123
Goaltenders:	M. Biron (19-9-0 3.25gaa .892)	K. Weekes (16-21-4 2.77gaa .912)
	R. Miller (15-10-2 3.48gaa .889)	H. Lundqvist (6-5-2 1.89gaa .930)
Who's Hot:	D. Briere (3g 5a +3 in last 5)	S. Rucchin (1g 6a +2 in last 5)
Who's Not:	R. Miller (1-1-0 5.19 .864 in last 5)	D. Moore (0pts -2 in last 5)
Injuries:	None	F. Tyutin (partially torn ACL)