The goaltender is your best penalty killer and Ryan Miller certainly backs up that theory. So

does Patrick Lalime, the way he's played in his last five games.

But the Buffalo Sabres have been so good at killing penalties in recent games, it's not

just great goaltending getting the job done.

It's great work by everyone.

"Guys are taking pride in doing that job," forward Mike Grier said after Tuesday's practice

in HSBC Arena. "Guys are feeling good about it and they're doing little things like blocking

shots, getting good clears and battling on [opponents'] dump-ins. You've got to have

confidence in it. You have to go out there believing you're going to kill the penalty and do

the work to kill the penalty."

Heading into Thursday's game in Atlanta that opens a seven-game road trip, the Sabres have

killed 17 straight penalties and 29 of the last 30. Since Thanksgiving, they're 68 for 76.

For the season, Buffalo is tied for fourth in the NHL at 86 percent. It's second at home at

90 percent — allowing just nine goals in 90 shorthanded chances.

Buffalo is 18th on the road, but still at 80 percent there and the numbers are improving:

The Sabres are 10 for 12 the last five games.

"We have a pretty good system and it all comes down to positioning and everybody working

off each other," defenseman Henrik Tallinder said. "It's really that simple."

The main reason for the success, of course, is the Sabres have such faith in their

goaltenders. With Miller and Lalime in net, there's no pressing need for players to be diving

all over going for shot blocks.

"We give up what we want to give up," coach Lindy Ruff said. "We've leaned on giving up a

few more shots from the perimeter than trying to deny those type of shots to stay inside [the

box], which has given our goaltenders the ability to challenge more. And we've done a good job

protecting them, letting them make the save through traffic and protecting their back side."

Grier and Paul Gaustad form one tandem that gets a lot of penalty-killing time. Tallinder

and Tyler Myers get the bulk of the time on defense. But it's not a four-man show.

Up front, Derek Roy and Jason Pominville see plenty of work, as do Jochen Hecht and Tim

Connolly. So do defensemen Craig Rivet and Chris Butler.

Ruff said he could throw even more forwards into his rotation. Thomas Vanek has seen some

PK work and Patrick Kaleta scored short-handed goals in back-to-back December games.

"He keeps guys fresh, and the fresher you can be out there when you kill penalties is key,"

Tallinder said. "Then you can think more about where to be and what the opponent is going to

do. When you're tired, you tend to leak on your position and try to do much when you don't

need to."

Ruff is also cognizant of not shorting some of his top players of ice time if the team runs

into penalty trouble. That's a main reason when Vanek and Drew Stafford, among others, will

see some ice when there's been a run of penalties.

"You never know who will end up in the box and if you have a four-minute penalty, you can't

just rely on four or five guys," Grier said. "It keeps everyone in the game, too. You don't

want to have guys sitting for long stretches of time. It's good he works them in, too, so

they're comfortable in it."

The Sabres took seven first-period penalties in the last three home games and the PK unit

killed all of them. And Buffalo also killed a last-minute penalty to Steve Montador in

Saturday's shootout loss to Colorado, preserving a point in a game in which it wiped out a

two-goal deficit.

Now comes the long, winding road trip.

"You go on the road, it's another test," Ruff said. "The kill we had in the last minute the

other night [against Colorado] was a rock-solid kill. We gave up nothing. It's an important

part of the game. Every night you'll have to kill off three or four and usually you can get

momentum off of it."

. . .

Ruff was noncommittal when asked if Kaleta was returning to the lineup Thursday now that

the team's six-game winning streak is over. That's because, he noted, the Sabres are now

working on an eight-game point streak.

"Pat's not going to like hearing that," a grinning Ruff said. "We'd like to get him in.

Right now, we're healthy and we know that could change but we'll get him in."xleg

. . .

The Sabres spent their 45-minute workout practicing largely in the five-man units that flew

over the boards in the third period of Saturday's game. Buffalo scored twice, had a 15-4

advantage in shots on goal and gave up no scoring chances in that period.

The Hecht-Connolly-Pominville line skated with Tallinder and Myers. Roy, Vanek and Stafford

skated with Butler and Toni Lydman. Grier, Tim Kennedy and Clarke MacArthur were with Rivet

and Montador. The remaining forwards skated with spare defensemen Nathan Paetsch and Andrej

Sekera.

"We're going to talk about trying to keep it maybe for 10-minute segments of the game to

roll into that five-man look," Ruff said. "It will help you offensively and it may help you

defensively, too."