Sabres Face Devils Tonight

Marilyn Sarvis, Buffalo Sabres Correspondent

The Buffalo Sabres are showing a work ethic that hasn’t been seen from this team in two years.

The offense is scoring and the defense is protecting their zone. They have only allowed the first goal scored on them 3 times so far this season- a dangerous trend that became common for them last season, having to play catch up hockey.

Not this season. These Sabres are better defensively- no one on the team has a plus/minus rating worse than -1. Miller has been spectacular, and has a record of 6-0-1, with a goals against average of 1.69 and a save percentage of .940- better in both categories than Martin Brodeur, who has a goals against average of 2.42 and a save percentage of .915.

This team had a promising roster before the start of the season- the core of young players that have grown together- now they’re off to a good 6-1-1 start, it’s not the 10 game winning streak they put together at the start of the 06-07 season, but the Sabres don’t want to burn themselves out. They don’t want to overachieve when the goal of the season is to play longer than just the beginning of April.

The biggest story from the Sabres locker room is obviously rookie Tyler Myers, and, as expected, the Sabres management has remained silent on the situation- whether or not Myers will compete for the Calder here in the NHL or go back to the WHL. Management is obviously impressed with Myers’ play.

He’s been the Sabres best defenseman. He has 2 goals and 3 assists in 8 games, and is a plus 8, and there hasn’t been nearly anything in his play to make anyone look at him like he’s a rookie- one hiccup in the Atlanta game won’t make or break the decision to keep him in Buffalo- the rest of the Sabres say he’s been the best defenseman in the early season, and it’s true. There’s not much thought about him going back to the WHL- fans are impressed with him, and he looks like he’s forced management’s hand to keep him.

It’s a good problem to have, but the Sabres still have a cautious management, one who wouldn’t be above sending their best defenseman down to the WHL in order to keep his progression slow paced, just to be cautious with his career.

The Sabres face the New Jersey Devils tonight, and look to break the Devils three game winning streak tonight at the Prudential Center, and if they continue their strong play, there shouldn’t be a reason why the Sabres don’t skate away from the Rock with a win, as this team has shown that when they play their best, there isn’t much the other team can do.

Still, though, with the Devil’s defensive mindset, this game looks like it will be a close one. Last season against the Devils, the Sabres never had two more or two less goals than the Devils.

The Devils look to improve their home record, as of right now they’re 1-3-0 at home, not a very impressive show to their fans- meaning the Sabres should be aware that they will be playing a team hungry to move their home record towards .500.
Even with an away record of  3-0-0, the Sabres need to keep on their game and try to get a goal before the Devils do, or be forced to face a strong defense once the Devils get ahead in the game.

Posted by Marilyn Sarvis on Oct 28 2009. Filed under Buffalo Sabres, Northeast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.