The Buffalo Sabres held off the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday night in the Wachovia Center and the Flyers rebounded by holding the Sabres' place in the NHL record books Monday.

Philadelphia's 3-2 win over New Jersey snapped the Devils' road winning streak from the start of the season at nine games — one shy of the Sabres' NHL record of 10 straight that started their 2006-07 Presidents' Trophy season.

"You've got to give them a lot of credit," coach Lindy Ruff said of the Devils after Tuesday's practice in the Amherst Pepsi Center. "Any time you can string that number of games together on the road, it's not easy. They've had some key injuries and are playing real good hockey."

The Sabres won five of the 10 games during their streak in overtime or shootouts. It ended exactly three years ago tonight with a 4-1 loss at Ottawa.

"It's a tough league. For them to win nine in a row on the road, that's impressive," Ruff said. "It's tough to win night after night, let alone win that amount of games on the road. You've got to be fortunate sometimes.

"Sometimes you need your goaltender to steal you a game or save you a game. Sometimes you can catch a team at the right time. There's a lot of things that can fall into place. It's not an easy task."

Added goaltender Ryan Miller: "We're proud to be able to accomplish that at one point, but this season it doesn't mean a whole lot. [If it were a division game], maybe we would have been a little more antsy to see them lose. When they're out East beating on each other, it's probably just good it wasn't an overtime game. All those little points here and there, 60 games from now will start adding up. So we'll take the loss."

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Ruff said Drew Stafford (hip flexor) will be back in the lineup tonight against Florida. Mike Grier (groin) skated on his own on a side rink with a few teammates and then stayed for just a few minutes of the main practice before leaving. He will miss his second straight game tonight and seems like he could be out a while.

"We're at the point where we don't want to make it any worse," said Ruff.

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Stat to file if the score is tied after regulation tonight: Florida has gone overtime in its last three games and is 4-2 in extra time this year — with all six games decided in shootouts. The Sabres are 3-1 in OT this year (2-0 in shootouts and 1-1 in deciding goals).

The Panthers have made big strides in shootouts, even though they lost one Monday to Los Angeles. Their four wins this year are tied with Pittsburgh for the most in the league.

Florida was just 10-22 in the previous three seasons, including a 3-8 mark last year that proved to be its undoing in the playoff race.

Florida finished tied for eighth in the East with Montreal but lost the battle for the last playoff spot on the head-to-head tiebreaker. Reversing just one of those shootout losses would have put the Panthers in the postseason.

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Ruff on Miller's NHL Third Star of the Week Award: "Very well deserved. He's just been rock solid for us. Anytime we've broken down, he's been there."

Miller allowed just four goals in the three games last week and leads the league in wins (12), goals-against average (1.77) and save percentage (.939).

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The Sabres continue to sell their $99 Holiday Gift Pack, featuring Rick Jeanneret holiday card with a pre-recorded audio holiday greeting, a $20 Sabrebucks Card and two 300 Level II tickets to a select Silver level game. Packs can be ordered at the arena box office, on line at Sabres.com or by phone at (888) 467-2273.

Silver games available are Jan. 1 (Atlanta), Feb. 5 (Carolina), March 3 (Washington), March 12 (Minnesota), March 24 (Montreal), March 26 (Ottawa), March 27 (Tampa Bay) and April 6 (New York Rangers).