It took them 96 days to get back to hallowed ground, however, the Sabres have persevered and are now back in the top eight in the Eastern standings. They now are the sole occupant of eighth place, by virtue of their 3-1 win over Minnesota.
The Sabres have six games left (the Capitals have 7, however, host Minnesota at 5pm Sunday afternoon) and haven't been in the top eight in their conference since December 20.
Keep rollin, rollin, rollin!
Lindy Ruff liked the end of the game better than he liked the beginning of it
thanks, sabres.com
Marcus Foligno was large and in charge once again for the Sabres. He now has 6 goals, 4 assists and is +10 in his past 9 nines since the recall from Rochester. He's making the most of his 15 minutes of ice time per game.
thanks, sabres.com
Ryan Miller made 24 saves on 25 shots. talk about being in the zone!
thanks, sabres.com
Corey Tropp is adding value to his line and his team
thanks, sabres.com
***
Travis Turnbull scored his first NHL Friday night in Gotham.
He scored his first NHL KO by smoking Nick Johnson
***
Buffalo enters the day tied for eighth place after beginning the day on Feb. 17 in 14th place in the Eastern Conference and 10 points out of eighth in the Eastern Conference. Since then, they’ve gone 12-2-4 (.778), trailing only Pittsburgh for the league's best record
during that stretch.
The Sabres have gotten a point in eight of their last nine games (6-1-2) and 16 of their last 18 (12-2-4).
Buffalo is seeking their first home win against the Wild since the first time the teams met, a 3-1 win on Nov. 17, 2000. The Wild have also only won one home game in the series, a 3-2 win on Dec.13, 2003.
Four Sabres have scored at least a point per game in their careers against Minnesota: Thomas Vanek (4+2 in 5 GP), Ville Leino (3+2 in 5 GP), Drew Stafford (2+1 in 3 GP) and Andrej Sekera (0+3 in 3 GP) Buffalo’s line of Tyler Ennis, Drew Stafford and Marcus Foligno has combined for 14 goals and 33 total points in the last seven
games.
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Sabres scratches tonight:
Kaleta, Weber, Gerbe, Ellis.
***
1st Period:
No surprise here: Ryan Miller gets the start.
Miller has played out of his skull since the All Star Game. He's 16-3-5 with a 1.90 goals against average, and gawdy .936 save %.
Josh Harding gets the pipes for Minnesota.
****
1-0 Wild
Kampfer buries a cross-slot feed at 6:50 mark.
Myers laid out but couldn't knock down the pass.
***
Slow start for Sabres. Mineesota is the better team as they are winning the one on one battles.
**
Wild have 8 hits to Buffalo's 3. Sabres have to get pucks to the dirty areas and banging, slash and hack for rebounds. Wild D and forwards kept Buffalo forwards to the outside for the first twenty minutes.
P1 Shots: 16-11 Wild
***
2nd Period:
Lindy must've ripped his team a new ass in the intermission because they emerged from the room like storm troopers from Hell. They landed the first five shots of the period.
1-1
Hodgson-Tropp-Vanek penetrated the Wild D and jammed the puck to Harding's crease. Vanek bullied his way to the blue and batted in the loose puck for his 24th goal of the season.
The goal is Vanek's first in his last 8 games.
Assist to Hodgson, who now has 2 goals and 3 assists in his last 4 games. Hodgson now ranks 5th fifth among NHL rookies with 38 points.
***
****
@TravisTurnbull scored his first ever NHL goal in Gotham on Friday night.
He scored his first NHL KO after a beauty scrap with MIN's Nick Johnson. Turnbull hit Johnson with so many uppercuts that he was begging for a right cross to the jaw.
****
Sabres take the edge in shots after 40, 28-21.
***
3rd Perod:
2-1 Sabres
At 1:45 of period three, Tyler Ennis won wall battle and recovered puck, that he promptly sent up top to Myers, who ed at Harding... tip Foligno.
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