Buffalo Sabres

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Streaking Sabres still struggle at halfway mark

The Buffalo Sabres reach the halfway mark of the NHL season tonight when they host the New York Rangers in HSBC Arena. So far, they’ve been utterly average, with 20 wins and 20 losses (adding regulation and overtime/shootout defeats).

The Sabres will be trying to win their fourth straight game tonight for the first time since they opened the season with four in a row en route to a 6-0-2 start. Since those heady days of October, however, it’s been a nightly struggle for consistency.

(Updated: 01/09/09 9:03 AM )

Vanek earns trip to All-Star Game

In a no-brainer choice announced Thursday afternoon, Buffalo Sabres winger Thomas Vanek was added to the Eastern Conference team for the NHL All-Star Game.

Vanek has 27 goals and entered Thursday’s play tied for the league lead with two of his fellow East reserves, Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin and Philadelphia’s Jeff Carter.

(Updated: 01/09/09 6:38 AM )

Bite-sized controversy gets NHL's attention

Those wild and crazy Sabres and Senators. Seems like something bizarre always happens lately when they hook up in HSBC Arena. The famous brawl of '07. An enraged Adam Mair getting turned away from the Ottawa dressing room in the hallway in October.

Now comes Tuesday night. ESPN has already dubbed it "The Bite Me Game." Just another wacky entry for one of the NHL's nastiest rivalries.

(Updated: 01/08/09 12:42 AM )

Butler may be victim of numbers game

Craig Rivet returned from a shoulder injury Tuesday and Toni Lydman is fine after a one-game bout with the flu so he will be in the lineup Friday when the New York Rangers come to HSBC Arena. With six healthy defensemen available, what will the Buffalo Sabres do with rock-solid rookie blue-liner Chris Butler?

It looks like the former University of Denver standout is heading back to Portland of the AHL — only because of the numbers crunch and not because of his play.

(Updated: 01/08/09 6:27 AM )

NHL suspends Ruutu for biting

The National Hockey League has suspended Ottawa Senators forward Jarkko Ruutu two games for biting the thumb of Buffalo Sabres enforcer Andrew Peters during Tuesday night's game in HSBC Arena.

Replays showed Ruutu biting Peters' gloved right thumb during a confrontation near the Ottawa bench with 6:47 left in the first period of Buffalo's eventual 4-2 win.

(Updated: 01/07/09 3:45 PM )

Sabres' Miller slams the door on Senators

Ryan Miller allowed the Buffalo Sabres' nemesis into the game. There was no way he was going to let them win it.

The Sabres goaltender made a mistake that gave life to the Ottawa Senators, the one team that doesn't need help to make Buffalo sweat. He made up for it. Miller stopped the final 19 shots he faced after a bad 32-second shift, and the Sabres beat their archrival, 4-2, in a game that had plenty of bite.

(Updated: 01/07/09 12:19 AM )

Ruutu sinks his teeth into rivalry

There’s been no shortage of teeth to the hostile Buffalo-Ottawa rivalry in recent years, especially when you recall the teams’ playoff matchups in 2006 and 2007 and the infamous brawl during the ’07 regular season.

Now we have the latest bizarre entry. And “teeth” was an intentional choice of words.

(Updated: 01/07/09 1:44 PM )

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Jerry Sullivan Ruff’s not coaching to make friends

Sabres Edge

Hey, I'm going to try to get through the first paragraph of the Sabres-Rangers live blog without mentioning. ... Dmitri Kalinin!!!!!! (Gotcha). OK, maybe only the first sentence without mentioning Chris Drury but he's here for tonight's interesting matchup in HSBC Arena. Kalinin is a team-worst minus-12 and is 1-7-8 in 42 games. Drury is 12-16-28-minus-4. Henrik Lundqvist is in the house as well but the Rangers somehow all-star goaltender -- with a 2.67 GAA and .908 sv% that are both worse than Ryan Miller -- is getting the night off. Steve Valiquette will get the call against Miller and...

Chris Butler is going to sit out tonight's game against the Rangers as a healthy scratch but Lindy Ruff said he will stay here -- and will go to Detroit with the team for Saturday night's game as well. Boo to this. Butler is not only one of the team's top six defensemen right now, he's probably one of the top four. He should be playing in the NHL every night. And if, for whatever reason, he's not going to play he should be in Portland getting 20-25 minutes. The defense pairs tonight will be Spacek-Sekera, Lydman-Rivet, Tallinder-Numminen. The forward...