The Buffalo Sabres absolutely dominated one of the NHL's best faceoff teams. It should be

interesting to see what they do against one of the worst.

The Sabres trounced the New York Islanders on draws Wednesday, winning 39 and losing eight.

Despite the lopsided defeat, the Isles still ranked sixth in the league Thursday with a 51.9

percent success rate.

Tonight, the Sabres host the Philadelphia Flyers, who were tied for 20th at 48.2 percent.

It seems like a chance for the Sabres to improve their fourth-place ranking and 52.6 percent

success rate.

"Let me tell you, it's a lot easier game when you don't have to chase down the puck all

night," captain Craig Rivet said Thursday.

The Sabres' lineup was filled with faceoff winners during the previous game. Derek Roy led

the way by going 14-0, and Clarke MacArthur (5-0) and Tim Kennedy (4-0) were also perfect.

Paul Gaustad, who leads the league by winning 69.9 percent of his draws, went 13-4.

The centers were quick to give credit to their wingers. On the Sabres' first goal, for

example, left wing Thomas Vanek entered the circle immediately after the puck was dropped and

pushed it back to the point.

"The wingers helped because that puck gets tied up there sometimes," Kennedy said. "If Van

doesn't go in there, they probably get the puck, and it's out of the zone and we're chasing

again. Stuff like that helps.

"It's just key because if you win that draw then you don't spend the first 20 seconds of

your shift trying to get that puck back."

. . .

Three Sabres skipped practice Thursday. The two with groin strains, defenseman Toni Lydman

and goaltender Patrick Lalime, are out for tonight's game. The other, defenseman Andrej

Sekera, is questionable.

"We'll see how he's doing," coach Lindy Ruff said. "He was a little under the weather after

the game [Wednesday] night and wasn't feeling that well [Thursday] morning. Flu-like,

possibly. Maybe not like the other guys [Patrick Kaleta and Gaustad were too sick to travel to

New York last weekend], but you've got to let it run its course."

Lydman has missed the past five games but had been skating in most off-day drills. The

Sabres have elected a different treatment method.

"Toni we've decided just to rest for a couple days," Ruff said. "He's close, but the

doctors felt with maybe a couple days' rest and then going back and skating, it might be a

better approach than fatiguing it on a continuous, day-to-day type scenario."

There is no time table for Lalime's return.

. . .

The Sabres are holding a "hat surprise" tonight in HSBC Arena. For a $20 donation to the

team's foundation, fans will receive a New Era cap signed by a Buffalo player. The Sabres'

annual holiday kettle drive to benefit the Salvation Army began Wednesday. ... Practice on

Thursday was shorter than usual because the players had a meeting about the league's

substance-abuse policy.

. . .

The Flyers will start Ray Emery in goal. Emery, who spent last season in Russia, is 7-3-1

with a 2.42 goals-against average and .916 save percentage.

"He got off to a good start," Ruff said. "He's the type of guy that can lock in and win

games single-handedly."

No matter how well he plays in net, Emery always will be remembered in Buffalo for fighting

Martin Biron and Andrew Peters during the legendary brawl with the Ottawa Senators in 2007.

"We don't have Petey anymore to fight him," said Ruff, referring to the enforcer who has

moved to the New Jersey Devils.