A quick glance at the Buffalo Sabres' 2009-10 schedule makes one thing plainly obvious: If

the Sabres want to make the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2007, they better

get off to a fast start because they have a ton of home games early and a ton of road games

late.

That's the biggest impression you get from the 82-game slate released Wednesday by the team

and the National Hockey League. Buffalo opens play on Saturday, Oct. 3 against Montreal in

HSBC Arena and has five of its first six games at home.

That stretch includes an Oct. 13 visit by defending Western Conference champion Detroit and

an Oct. 16 game against the New York Islanders, featuring the Buffalo debut of No. 1 overall

draft pick John Tavares.

The Sabres play 12 of their first 19 games at home. When the calendar hits Jan. 10, they

will have played 26 of their 44 games downtown. Then things really start to turn.

Buffalo has a seven-game road trip in January and a five-gamer in March. The Sabres play

five of their six April games on the road — and 11 of their final 16 overall away from

HSBC Arena.

Under the NHL's scheduling formula, the Sabres play six games (three home, three away)

against the other four teams in the Northeast Division, four games (2-2) against the other 10

teams in the Eastern Conference, two games against Western Conference at-large opponents

Detroit, San Jose and Phoenix, and one game against the West's other 12 teams.

The most notable visit by a West team is the Dec. 11 game against Chicago, which will mark

the return of South Buffalo native Patrick Kane and the first visit to HSBC by longtime Sabres

defenseman Brian Campbell since he was dealt to San Jose in February 2008. Campbell signed as

a free agent with Chicago last summer.

On the day he was traded, one of his most memorable comments was to ask the fans not to boo

him when he returned like they have with former captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere. The

Hawks didn't come here last year so the question of how Campbell would be received was not

answered. We'll find out in Chicago's first game here since Dec. 15, 2007, when Kane scored

the only Hawks' goal in a 3-1 Buffalo victory.

The schedule is dramatically different than past seasons because of the break for the

Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The NHL will suspend play from Feb. 15-March 1 for the Olympics. The Sabres will have an

even longer break: Their final pre-Olympic game is a Feb. 13 visit to the arena by San Jose

and they don't return to action until a March 2 game at Pittsburgh.

The schedule will thus be more compressed, with Buffalo facing 15 games in December and 14

in January to compensate for only playing seven in February.

Speaking of Vancouver, pity the poor Canucks. They go 43 days without a home game (Jan. 27-

March 10) and play 14 straight on the road — eight before the break and six after the

Games. To compensate, they will have an eight-game homestand in December and play 10 of their

final 15 games at GM Place.

Some more nuggets from the Sabres' schedule:

Timing is everything

Friday night home games are at 7:30. The Wednesday, March 24 showdown against Montreal

also starts at 7:30, while all the others are at 7. Easy enough.

There are a few wrinkles to the road schedule, notably a 1 p.m. start in Philadelphia on

Nov. 27 (the day after Thanksgiving), a 3 p.m. game Jan. 3 in Montreal and 5 p.m. starts for

the March 21 game in Carolina and the April 11 finale in New Jersey.

Other marquee visits

Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh makes its two trips to Buffalo in a 10-day span, on Dec.

19 and 29. Hart Trophy winner Alex Ovechkin leads Washington to town on Dec. 9 and March 3.

Tavares and the Islanders are here Oct. 16 and Nov. 4.

The New York Rangers, featuring Drury and newly signed former Sabre Ales Kotalik, are here

Dec. 5 and April 6. Briere's Philadelphia Flyers come to town Nov. 6 and March 5.

Back to back

There are 18 sets of games on consecutive days — including an unusual four

Friday-Saturday combos with both contests at home.

They go like this: Oct. 16-17 (Islanders-Thrashers), Dec. 18-19 (Maple Leafs-Penguins),

Jan. 8-9 (Maple Leafs-Avalanche) and March 26-27 (Senators-Lightning).

Long trips

Here are the itineraries the Sabres will have on the see-the-USA junkets (with one game in

Canada thrown in):

January: 14, Atlanta; 16, New York Islanders; 18, Phoenix; 19, Anaheim; 21, Los Angeles;

23, San Jose; 25, Vancouver.

March: 13, Detroit 16, Atlanta; 18, Tampa Bay; 20, Florida; 21, Carolina.

Breakdown by days

Home: Friday (14), Wednesday (11), Saturday (9), Tuesday (4), Thursday (2), Monday (1).

Overall: Saturday (23), Wednesday (16), Friday (15), Thursday (8), Monday (8), Tuesday (7),

Sunday (5).

Long time, no see

The Dallas Stars appear in HSBC on March 10, nearly 4 years after their last visit on

Dec. 14 2005. The Edmonton Oilers (Nov. 11), Calgary Flames (Nov. 13), Colorado Avalanche

(Jan. 9) and Minnesota Wild (March 12) are all coming to town for the first time since

February and March, 2007.

The Sabres' Jan. 25 game in Vancouver — just 18 days before the Feb. 12 Opening

Ceremonies of the Olympics — will be their first in GM Place since Jan. 19, 2006. They

will travel to Nashville (Oct. 10) and St. Louis (Dec. 27) for the first time since December

2006.

For a driveable road game, Buffalo plays Feb. 6 at Columbus in its first trip to Nationwide

Arena since Jan. 26, 2007.

Football follies

The Sabres will host Montreal Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. — the same night as the

Bills-Jets game in Toronto's Rogers Centre.

The team will also go head-to-head with Monday Night Football on four consecutive weeks

with road games at Toronto (Nov. 30, Dec. 21) and Montreal (Dec. 14) and a home game against

New Jersey (Dec. 7).

Around the rink

The team will announce its ticket prices and game designations for its variable pricing

plan later this month. ... The preseason schedule will also be finalized shortly. The Red

Wings have announced they will host Buffalo on Sept. 19 and the Capitals say they'll meet the

Sabres in a home-and-home Sept. 21 in Verizon Center and a date to be announced in HSBC. ...

In other Sabres news Wednesday, Angola native Patrick Kaleta accepted the team's qualifying

offer and signed a one-year deal for $550,000, a 10 percent raise over his $500,000 salary

from last year. Kaleta had four goals, five assists and 89 penalty minutes in 51 games last

season.

2009-10 Buffalo Sabres schedule

DayDateOpponentTime

Sat.Oct. 3 Canadiens7:00

Thu.Oct. 8 Coyotes7:00

Sat.Oct. 10 @ Predators8:00

Tue.Oct. 13 Red Wings7:00

Fri.Oct. 16 Islanders7:30

Sat.Oct. 17 Thrashers7:00

Wed.Oct. 21 @ Panthers7:30

Sat.Oct. 24 @ Lightning7:30

Wed.Oct. 28 @ Devils7:00

Fri.Oct. 30 Maple Leafs7:30

Sat.Oct. 31 @ Islanders7:00

Wed.Nov. 4 Islanders7:00

Fri.Nov. 6 Flyers7:30

Sat.Nov. 7 @ Bruins7:00

Wed.Nov. 11 Oilers7:00

Fri.Nov. 13 Flames7:30

Sat.Nov. 14 @ Flyers7:00

Wed.Nov. 18 Panthers7:00

Fri.Nov. 20 Bruins7:30

Sat.Nov. 21 @ Senators7:00

Wed.Nov. 25 @ Capitals7:00

Fri.Nov. 27 @ Flyers1:00

Sat.Nov. 28 Hurricanes7:00

Mon.Nov. 30 @ Maple Leafs7:00

Thu.Dec. 3 Canadiens7:00

Sat.Dec. 5 Rangers7:00

Mon.Dec. 7 Devils7:00

Wed.Dec. 9 Capitals7:00

Fri.Dec. 11 Blackhawks7:30

Sat.Dec. 12 @ Rangers7:00

Mon.Dec. 14 @ Canadiens7:30

Wed.Dec. 16 @ Senators7:30

Fri.Dec. 18 Maple Leafs7:30

Sat.Dec. 19 Penguins7:00

Mon.Dec. 21 @ Maple Leafs7:00

Wed.Dec. 23 @ Capitals7:00

Sat.Dec. 26 Senators7:00

Sun.Dec. 27 @ Blues6:00

Tue.Dec. 29 Penguins7:00

Fri.Jan. 1 Thrashers7:30

Sun.Jan. 3 @ Canadiens 3:00

Wed.Jan. 6 Lightning7:00

Fri.Jan. 8 Maple Leafs7:30

Sat.Jan. 9 Avalanche7:00

Thu.Jan. 14 @ Thrashers7:00

Sat.Jan. 16 @ Islanders7:00

Mon.Jan. 18 @ Coyotes7:00

Tue.Jan. 19 @ Ducks10:00

Thu.Jan. 21 @ Kings10:30

Sat.Jan. 23 @ Sharks10:30

Mon.Jan. 25 @ Canucks10:00

Wed.Jan. 27 Devils7:00

Fri.Jan. 29 Bruins7:30

Mon.Feb. 1 @ Penguins7:00

Wed.Feb. 3 Senators7:00

Fri.Feb. 5 Hurricanes7:30

Sat.Feb. 6 @ Blue Jackets7:00

Tue.Feb. 9 Bruins7:00

Thu.Feb. 11 @ Hurricanes7:00

Sat.Feb. 13 Sharks7:00

Tue.Mar. 2 @ Penguins7:30

Wed.Mar. 3 Capitals7:00

Fri.Mar. 5 Flyers7:30

Sun.Mar. 7 @ Rangers7:00

Wed.Mar. 10 Stars7:00

Fri.Mar. 12 Wild7:30

Sat.Mar. 13 @ Red Wings7:00

Tue.Mar. 16 @ Thrashers7:00

Thu.Mar. 18 @ Lightning7:30

Sat.Mar. 20 @ Panthers7:00

Sun.Mar. 21 @ Hurricanes5:00

Wed.Mar. 24 Canadiens7:30

Fri.Mar. 26 Senators7:30

Sat.Mar. 27 Lightning7:00

Mon.Mar. 29 @ Bruins 7:00

Wed.Mar. 31 Panthers7:00

Thu.Apr. 1 @ Maple Leafs7:00

Sat.Apr. 3 @ Canadiens7:00

Tue.Apr. 6 Rangers7:00

Thu.Apr. 8 @ Bruins7:00

Sat.Apr. 10 @ Senators7:00

Sun. Apr 11 @ Devils5:00