The Sabres knew from the start that Craig Rivet had the qualities of a strong leader. They saw it when Rivet led the way in skating drills before the season at the Pepsi Center, and when he stood up for his mates in the first home preseason game. They affirmed it by voting him permanent captain.

Still, Rivet admits it hasn't been easy fulfilling the role. It's hard for an athlete to lead from the trainer's room. Two weeks into his first season in Buffalo, he had knee surgery and missed five games. Then, just as he was finding his stride, the 34-year-old defenseman suffered a shoulder injury and missed a month.

"I came in here with high expectations of myself and of the team," said Rivet, who assisted on the first goal in the Sabres' 5-0 victory over Toronto on Wednesday. "I think when you have injuries it sets you back."

But since his return in early January, Rivet has been the rock-solid defenseman and leader the Sabres expected when they acquired him from San Jose last July. It's a good thing, because the Sabres desperately needed a steadying presence on the blue line at a time when veteran D were dropping faster than your 401(k).

Teppo Numminen went down just before the start of a six-game road trip. Then Henrik Tallinder and, finally, Jaroslav Spacek. Andrej Sekera had been out since mid-January. So when the Sabres reached Anaheim, they had three rookies — Chris Butler, Mike Weber and Marc-Andre Gragnani — playing regular minutes against the Ducks.

Despite all the injuries, the Sabres went 3-3 on the trip. The Sabres are 10-5 in the new year and looking to move up in the East. Rivet and Toni Lydman have helped keep a ravaged defensive corps together during a difficult stretch.

"Craig has meant a lot," coach Lindy Ruff said. "We paired Gragnani with him. I thought he settled him down some. We have a veteran guy who has played with young guys and brought some young players along in San Jose. I thought he did a nice job with Butler, too. Craig has their ear on the bench, and he has their ear in practice. He's been a good example for them."

Maybe it's no coincidence that the Sabres' resurgence began around the time Rivet came back from his shoulder injury. The Sabres have a 20-14 record when he plays, 7-11 when he doesn't. Draw your own conclusions.

Rivet was brought in to add veteran toughness to a young Sabres team that often played soft a year ago. There are still times when they want it to come easy, but in recent weeks they've been establishing a sharper competitive edge.

Surely, some of it has to do with Rivet. In Anaheim, he made it clear that the Ducks were not going to push his teammates around without consequence. Rivet got into two fights, one a prolonged tussle with Steve Montador. He scored his first goal of the year to pull them within one. The Sabres lost, but they went down with a fight.

"Toughness is measured in a lot of different ways," Rivet said. "We want to be a physical, hard-nosed team that teams don't want to play against. That's not something you gain right away. You gain that with confidence and the style you play. To be honest, I think we've played some better hockey the last month and a half."

Rivet said he hasn't played his best hockey yet. But he's getting there. He has gone 10 straight games without a minus performance, eight of them on the road. He logged nearly 24 minutes a game on the six-game trip.

Friday, it will be exactly one month since his return, his first month uninterrupted by injury since the opener. So the best should be ahead.

"It's been a difficult start for my beginning here," Rivet said. "But it's better to finish strong than start strong. I'm looking to be a big part of this team in the stretch."