ANAHEIM, Calif. — Steve Montador joined the Anaheim Ducks in 2008, a year after they

won the Stanley Cup. Though he wasn't around to experience the championship, the residual

effects of the title lingered. He was smart enough to notice and absorb them.

Montador, traded by the Ducks near the end of last season, returned to face his former team

Tuesday as a member of the Buffalo Sabres. The game did not end in time for this edition; see

buffalonews.com for complete coverage.

Though Montador was with the Ducks for only 65 games, the stay had an impact.

He noticed the confidence his teammates had. They'd been through the grueling playoff

tournament and succeeded, so they knew a small slump, one-goal deficit or hard-charging

opponent was something they could handle.

The Sabres have shown that type of faith in finishing off teams and winning close games

this year. They have a ways to go to walk with the swagger of a champion.

"The biggest thing that I drew from the guys that were there, because there were so many

players that did win, there's just a collective belief that even though we struggled at times

... they're dangerous any night just because of the personnel that they have," Montador said.

"It's kind of a bit of a swagger that you walk with, an edge that you play with, a chip on

your shoulder that you see people have because they know what it takes to get it done. The

only way to get that is to actually do it."

The surprising Sabres entered Honda Center with a winning attitude. They were 8-0-3 in

their previous 11 games, one shy of the NHL's longest streak of games with a point this

season. They were 2-0-1 through the early portion of their seven-game road trip, impressive

considering how worried some folks were about the grueling two-week jaunt.

Montador, though, looked back at his time with the Ducks and shrugged off the Sabres'

travel plans as a one-and-done occurrence.

"I don't think some guys realize how good [the travel] is just because they don't know

anything else," the defenseman said.

Trips filled with long flights and short breaks are commonplace in the Western Conference.

Teams in the East, including the conference-leading Sabres with a long list of homegrown

players, have it easy.

"It's completely night and day," Montador said, echoing earlier statements by fellow

blue-liner and former Calgary Flame Toni Lydman. "Where all of our flights are 45 minutes to

an hour, for the most part, the majority of these flights are two-plus. Right away, you've

doubled your travel, and that makes it more challenging getting up for games; I don't mean

readiness as far as [intensity but as] physical prep, how you practice and how you take care

of yourself. That's where your body will break down, your health will break down. You get

sick. Your injuries can persist.

"Getting home and being in bed by midnight, 1 o'clock from a lot of road games [with

Buffalo] is a hell of a lot different. Albeit there's time changes coming back, numerous times

in Anaheim we'd get back at 2 or 3 in the morning and we'd have to drive from LAX to home,

which is 45 minutes to an hour, so you get home at 4, 5 o'clock in the morning sometimes.

"Trade 10 of those a year to the 15, 20 times we're home at midnight or 1, it does add up.

It really does."

Like many of his teammates, Montador boarded the plane for the first time last week looking

forward to Buffalo's seven-city adventure.

"No question it's a nice break for us," he said. "I don't think this trip could have come at

any better of a time. We don't have a lot of road trips, a lot of time where we get to spend a

ton of time together in situations that are on the road. Two weeks can really bring a team

together.

"At the end of it I think it can be a good steppingstone with lessons that we can learn."

Learning is something he's done before in Anaheim.