There are six guys on the Buffalo Sabres' top two scoring lines. Their game-by-game scoring stats are all filled with zeroes.

If the best snipers aren't scoring, it's no wonder the team isn't.

The Sabres took Sunday off, fitting considering their offense did the same the night before.

The Sabres were blanked, 2-0, by the lowly New York Islanders. The shutout came 13 days after

the Sabres were stymied, 3-0, by Carolina and one game after the Hurricanes held them to one

goal in a 2-1 shootout loss.

The search for the source of the woes doesn't take long. The trouble starts at the top. Each

of the six players on the top scoring lines is in a slump:

Jason Pominville has one goal in the last 25 games.

Jochen Hecht has one goal in 13 games.

Tim Connolly is in a 10-game drought.

Drew Stafford has two goals in the last nine contests, and both came in the same game.

Derek Roy has three goals in 15 games.

Ales Kotalik has five goals in 29 games.

Throw in third-liner Clarke MacArthur, who has nothing in 18 games, and it's clear something

needs to click before the Sabres host Montreal on Wednesday. The only Sabres in the top 60 in

league scoring are Roy and Thomas Vanek, and Vanek has missed the past nine games with a

fractured jaw.

"Our skill guys have got to make plays," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "That's just the bottom

line."

The last goal came from Patrick Kaleta. The hottest weapon has been Paul Gaustad, who has

points in four of the last five games. Both are among the Sabres' most honest, hardest-working

players. They'd also be among the first to say if they're the top scorers, the team needs

help.

The duo may have laid the blueprint to follow. They combined on the goal in Carolina when

Gaustad raced to a loose puck and threw it at the net. Goaltender Cam Ward fumbled it, and

Kaleta charged the crease for the rebound.

Nothing tricky there.

"It's details," Sabres forward Adam Mair said. "You want to get as many pucks to the net as

you can. The only way you're going to score is throwing things there.

"Looking at our goal in Carolina, when Pat Kaleta got it, it started with almost an impossible

angle shot from the corner by Paul with guys going to the net. We've got to be better in that

area."

The scoring dilemma would be unbearable if it weren't for the Sabres' power play. Buffalo is

fourth in the NHL with 58 power-play goals. The man-advantage units have done their share

during the last 10 games, scoring 11 goals.

Five-on-five play continues to be a season-long problem. The Sabres have 11 even-strength

goals in the last 10 games, part of their 108-goal season that ranks tied for 19th in the

league.

"We've just got to go to practice and try to score, go to the net, get more pressure, more

traffic in front, and that's basically it," defenseman Jaroslav Spacek said. "You've got to

come and score two, three goals, maybe four. Three goals will give us always a point, and

usually two points, and that's what we're looking for."

Spacek and all those cliche writers may be on to something. The third time is a charm, and

good things come in threes. The Sabres are 25-4-3 when scoring at least three goals. In 12 of

the last 14 games, Buffalo's goaltenders have kept the opponents to three goals or fewer.

But the magic numbers haven't coincided. The Sabres are 6-6-2 during their goalies' run. The

Sabres were held to two goals or fewer in eight of them.

"It's not good enough," Mair said. "We need to find ways to put the puck in the back of the

net."