Being an NHL captain includes perks and privileges. Unwarranted ice time is not among them.

That was part of the message the captain of the Buffalo Sabres delivered Wednesday.

Craig Rivet was obviously still stunned and stinging from being benched for most of

Tuesday's 3-2 loss to Boston. He nonetheless accepted his punishment. The captain said he

hasn't been good enough, which is why he skated just 8:58 of the 65-minute shootout setback.

"You need to earn your ice," Rivet said. "Right now I don't think I'm playing up to my

capabilities. I need to be better. I need to be better to help this team. It was an eye-opener

[Tuesday] night. I pretty much got sat for most of the game. If I have the opportunity, I'm

going to be better next game."

Rivet will get his opportunity Thursday night when the Sabres visit the Carolina Hurricanes. Coach

Lindy Ruff adamantly said his captain will skate when the team tries to end a five-game

winless skid.

"He's not coming out of the lineup," Ruff said after practice in HSBC Arena.

The situation could be construed as a tricky one for the coach. He relinquished his Sabres

captaincy and subsequently was traded to the New York Rangers after being scratched for a game

during the 1988-89 season. Though he now admits the seat was justified, it was unforgivable at

the time.

Rivet's benching, therefore, was an in-game option rather than a multigame proposition.

"There's times where if you're struggling as a player and you're hurting the team, you

can't play as much," Ruff said. "We're desperate to win. You have to play the guys that are

going the best. He was having a tough night."

It's actually been a tough stretch for the blue-liner. Rivet has been a plus player only

twice since the Christmas break and is minus-7 in the span. His offensive drought goes back

further. He has only one goal and three assists since Nov. 18, a 38-game dry spell.

As Rivet said, every slump gets magnified when a team can't earn a victory.

"We're battling through a tough time right now, and it takes everybody right now to win

hockey games," the 35-year-old said. "We need to have guys play up to their standards, and

there's some guys that aren't. There's some guys that are, and there's some guys that aren't.

We're going to work through this, and we're going to be a better team for it.

"I'm in the group that needs to be better. I'm going through a tough time right now, but I

know the only way to get out of things is to work your way through. That's what I'm going to

do."

Rivet tried punching his way out of the slide against the Bruins. He fought Shawn Thornton

during one of his 14 shifts.

"Well, I wasn't doing anything else," Rivet said. "When things go rough for you, you have

to try and do something to contribute."

Rivet has been paired with Chris Butler on the blue line for most of the season. They were

split up Wednesday, with Butler joining Toni Lydman and Rivet skating with Andrej Sekera.

Butler said he expects Rivet to be fine Thursday night, no matter the pairings.

"Everyone's going to have tough nights and tough spells," Butler said. "For whatever

reason, you may be working as hard as you can and things just aren't going your way. You make

a read and it doesn't work out, where nine times out of 10 it does.

"Because he wears the "C' he's a very important leader on this team and a very important

piece. At the same time, everybody kind of has a leadership role on this team, and that's

making sure that you're doing your job every night ... just showing that you want to play hard

and you want to play the way we need you to play."

The captain admitted to having a lull in confidence, which he planned to change by studying

his on-ice habits.

"It's a confidence thing," Rivet said. "In the game of hockey, so much of having success is

having confidence to be able to play and make the proper reads, play the game that's going to

give you success. Sometimes, when you struggle a bit, you tend to get away from some parts of

your game that give you success. This is something that I have to take a good long hard look

at what I'm doing on the ice, or lack thereof.

"I think sometimes you just need to take a step back and look back at the things that gave

you the success."