Dave Andreychuk put up a lot of numbers in Buffalo while, by his own admission, playing on several underachieving Sabres teams in the 1980s. But when he was inducted into the Sabres Hall of Fame before Friday's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the HSBC Arena crowd responded with a big standing ovation for big No. 25.

"That was somewhat unexpected to be honest with you," a beaming Andreychuk said as he spoke to the media between periods. "I went on to bigger and better things from here [including a Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2004] and I always felt I cheated the fans for some reason. After winning, you realize what it does for the community. It's just too bad really I couldn't be a part of it here."

Andreychuk was inducted along with Milt Ellis, the public-address announcer during Buffalo's 26 seasons in Memorial Auditorium. Andreychuk spent 12 seasons in Buffalo (1982-93 and 2000-01) and is second in franchise history in points (804) and assists (436) and third in goals (368). He finished his career 13th in NHL history with 640 goals.

"When I got the call, I was very honored with all the guys that are in there," he said. "I look back and the numbers are pretty good here."

Andreychuk rued Buffalo's seven-game playoff loss to Boston in 1983, the five-gamer to Quebec in 1985 and the seven-game defeat to Pittsburgh in 2001. He said all of those teams were capable of making deep playoff runs but he finally got to the finals in '04, as the Lightning went from a nonplayoff team to a champion by beating Calgary in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup finals.

"I had really kind of given up on that," he said of his Cup quest. "I was just trying to turn around an organization but after being there for a year with the coaching staff and young players I realized we had a chance. There were a lot of key ingredients that were there."

Andreychuk, now a community relations rep for the Lightning, and Ellis both received framed photos and silver sabers as part of their inductions. Ellis took the microphone and gave the crowd a laugh by perfectly invoking his baritone to announce a phantom 40th goal of the season by Andreychuk.

"That was very cool," Andreychuk said.

"They wanted me to say something so the people could recognize the voice," Ellis said. "I figured this is Andreychuk's night so why not do an announcement of him scoring a goal? It just seemed to flow."

Ellis, who left the microphone in 1997 after doing some games in the first year at then-Marine Midland Arena, said he was floored to receive the team's highest honor.

"It never crossed my mind," he said. "I always felt those that go into a hall of fame are players or maybe somebody from the front office. But an announcer? No way. So I'm flattered that the only other announcer in it is [former broadcaster] Ted Darling."

Both men said it's tough for them to see the dilapidated state of the soon-to-be demolished Aud.

"I feel very sad," Ellis said. "I was comfortable in the Aud. Everybody was. It was like a second home."

"That's too bad," Andreychuk said. "I'm a guy who played in all those old buildings and we do miss something as a game without them."

. . .

Andreychuk was one of four members of the Sabres' top 20 in scoring in the building Friday. Also on hand were Penguins forward Miroslav Satan (10th with 456 points), Sabres forward Maxim Afinogenov (tied for 18th with 323 points) and Penguins assistant coach Andre Savard (20th with 305 points).

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As with the parent club, injuries are piling up for the Sabres' farm team in Portland, too. Forward Dylan Hunter has missed 12 straight games with a broken bone in his foot, defenseman Mike Card has missed four straight after taking a puck to the face and Matt Ellis is now out with an unknown lower-body injury.