WASHINGTON — Daniel Briere certainly caught Scott Hannan by surprise. Lindy Ruff? Not so much.

Briere blindsided Hannan on Monday after the Colorado player scored to give the Avalanche a 5-2 lead. It earned the Philadelphia Flyers forward a two-game suspension, the second of which will be served today when Philly hosts the Buffalo Sabres.

Hannan didn't see Briere coming. But Ruff thinks Hannan — and every other player — should always be wary.

"Danny flirts with the edge all the time," the Sabres coach said Thursday. "He does. He took the double-minor in the [Philadelphia] for high-sticking [Chris] Butler. Danny's had a lot of those.

"He snaps. He'll do something that you wouldn't expect he'd do. But that's part of what makes him an effective player, too. You don't quite know what you're going to get from Danny when you go up against him. You could get a stick across the chops. You can get a two-hander across the legs, and that's just part of his makeup. I think that's what buys him a little bit of time sometimes."

Briere is tied for the Philadelphia lead with 10 goals. The Sabres haven't been able to keep up offensively, so having an opposing star out is a break.

"I respect the decision," Briere told the Philadelphia Daily News. "I know what the league is trying to do with protecting players from unsuspecting hits. I get that.

"Every time I skate in that area of the ice [the slot], I know I'm going to get hit. All I was thinking is that I have to finish my check. In case he missed the net with his shot, I was thinking that we could have had a two-on-one rush the other way."

. . .

Another of the week's biggest hits came during the Sabres' 2-0 loss to Washington on Wednesday. Alexander Ovechkin boarded Patrick Kaleta, earning a five-minute major and a game misconduct.

That's enough punishment for Ruff.

"He got what he deserved, and let's move on," Ruff said. "It wasn't that he ran at him. He just finished him at a time he shouldn't have finished him. I didn't think there was any brutal force involved. He just caught him after Pat had made the pass, and Pat's head went into the glass."

. . .

The Sabres practiced in Washington on Thursday before taking an afternoon train to Philadelphia. The 16 dads on the trip joined the team on the ice at the end of practice and posed for pictures. They also grabbed sticks and shot at the goaltenders and empty nets, with Derek Roy's father, Felix, looking like a sniper.

"Mr. Roy has a better shot than I do," one player quipped.

The invitation to the fathers was done in part to give them a chance to see what daily life is like in the NHL.

"We're going to have them involved in our meetings for Philadelphia," Ruff said. "They get to watch the postgame breakdown of what the coaches saw. They get to understand that part. They'll get to see the pregame prep."

The train ride, though, was far from daily life. The Sabres bus to Toronto and fly everywhere else, so boarding Amtrak was a novelty.

"It kind of takes you back to the Original Six," Ruff said.

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The Sabres were scheduled to gather for a holiday meal upon arriving in Pennsylvania. Of course, it was a holiday only for the Americans on the team. Canada's Thanksgiving is in October, while several Europeans said they don't have a day that resembles the occasion.

"We only eat like pigs on Christmas," Finnish defenseman Toni Lydman said.