Lindy the Line Tinkerer was at it again Saturday night. And you can look for the coach's shiny

new combinations to take the ice again tonight when the Buffalo Sabres meet the Toronto Maple

Leafs in Air Canada Centre.

With his offense doing nothing in the first period against the woeful Carolina Hurricanes,

Lindy Ruff dropped Thomas Vanek off the first line to the third line on the wing with Mike

Grier and Tim Kennedy. Jochen Hecht took Vanek's place with Derek Roy and Jason Pominville.

The second period was all Ryan Miller as the Sabres remained scoreless. The third period

was all offense.

Roy, Hecht, Grier, Clarke MacArthur and Vanek scored and 10 players had points as the

Sabres erupted for all of their goals in a 5-1 win.

"I liked the fact that Kennedy and Grier were real good down low in the first period and

felt the Roy line really struggled in the first period," Ruff said after Saturday's game. "So

I just flipped wingers on a hunch and those guys did a good job. I thought Kennedy was really

good down low and Thomas and Michael were doing a good job finding holes."

Ruff is no stranger to line shifts from game to game and even period to period. But

chemistry is a delicate thing and you don't often see such quick results. He kept his No. 2

line intact, with Tim Connolly centering MacArthur and Drew Stafford after Connolly had four

points Friday in Philadelphia.

Grier said he was thrilled to get the chance to play with an elite scorer.

"[Vanek] attracts a lot of attention," Grier said. "It makes it easier for Timmy [Kennedy]

and I to find a little bit of room out there. I was fortunate to get a bounce [for the tying

goal]. It's great. You know if you give [Vanek] a little room, he'll put it in the net but at

the same time if you can find an opening, he'll find you as well. It's always fun to play with

guys like that. ... For a guy like me, it's a nice treat."

Kennedy had a big weekend as a pest in the Sabres' wins over Philadelphia and Carolina.

Vanek was on the good side of the plus-minus ledger Saturday after going minus-9 in the

previous seven and collecting just one multi-point output in his last 10.

Vanek's goal was his team-high eighth. Hecht, meanwhile, finally got his third of the year

— and first against a goalie in 18 games — while Roy got No. 5 to end a six-game

drought.

"Any time you've got frustrated scorers, as soon as you get on the scoresheet, that's a

little bit of magic for you," Ruff said. It's a sigh of relief for the player, it takes the

pressure off and should help build a little bit of confidence.

"I heard Thomas in the second period when he missed an opportunity, I heard him say, "I got

no confidence.' We know he can do it. We get him on a roll and the Connolly line had a good

roll in Philly. There's some good things starting to happen."

. . .

The Hurricanes' collapse here Saturday — their second five-goal goal implosion in a

third period on consecutive nights — has really turned the heat up on coach Paul

Maurice. In the wake of the game here, General Manager Jim Rutherford gave Maurice the dreaded

vote of confidence Sunday.

"I stand firmly behind him," Rutherford told the Raleigh News & Observer. "We all have

contributed to what's happened. It's everybody, from me to the coaches to the players. We all

share in the responsibility. ... We'll just try to sort through it."

The Hurricanes (5-16-5) are the NHL's lone team without a road win (0-10-3). The last team

to go 13 straight from the start was the 2003-04 Columbus Blue Jackets (0-11-1-1).

. . .

The Sabres were off Sunday. Tonight is a Versus telecast and thus won't be on MSG. That's

bad news for folks on DirecTV, who still don't get Versus because of a carriage dispute

between the Comcast-owned network and the satellite network.