Game preview
Sabres stay cool during sizzling start
Ryan Miller doesn't want people to get the wrong idea. He's having fun. So are the rest of the Buffalo Sabres. Just because they aren't patting each other on the back as they win night after night, don't think for one second they aren't enjoying themselves.
"We're happy," the Sabres' goaltender said. "I don't want to give people the impression we're not happy."
It seems they could be happier. The Sabres have every right to puff their chests out a little farther each day. They've won three straight games and seven of their past eight. They head into tonight's game against Toronto in HSBC Arena as one of the NHL's biggest success stories, one of the major surprises of the opening month of the season.
Yet despite a 7-1-1 start and earning 15 of a possible 18 points, each win is accompanied by the same statements. It's early. There's a long way to go. We've just got to keep working and good things will happen.
What gives?
Well, it seems this time the Sabres are sticking to their preseason mantra of maintaining an even keel no matter what happens.
"It's a lot more fun winning than losing, but you recognize there's a lot of road ahead of us yet," General Manager Darcy Regier said Thursday. "We've all learned from good starts and good finishes, and we recognize that it's a long haul and you have to do it over a course of 82 games."
As Regier noted, they are only nine games into the season, so they have to run the same stretch of games another nine times. It really is too early to be ecstatic, even if the situation seems to warrant an abundance of smiles.
"There's been a lot to be excited about," coach Lindy Ruff said after a workout in the Amherst Pepsi Center, "but as we talked about at the end of practice today, it really is about just putting the extra work in to maintain, to take advantage of situations when you're going this well."
Ruff's chat Thursday was a continuation of his comments following Wednesday's 4-1 victory in New Jersey.
"You're going to have to take advantage of situations inside games," he said. "You're going to have to take advantage of situations where you dominate maybe a 10-minute span or a period."
The Sabres have been able to do that, which is why they are winning. They were better than the Devils in the first 20 minutes, opening a 2-0 lead they never relinquished. It was similar last week in Florida, where they pounced on the Panthers for five first-period goals. They got a lucky goal in the closing seconds in Tampa Bay to tie the game, then took advantage of the break by winning in a shootout.
"In the past we were a team that created a lot offensively and were doing a lot of good things, but we weren't able to close on those tight games," right wing Jason Pominville said. "As a team we feel comfortable about the way we are playing."
They know they won't be better than every team during every period of every game. But if they continue to capitalize whenever they are, there's little reason for this run to stop.
"We know that there's going to be a steady improvement by every team over the course of the season, and with this team we're going to have to show improvement every night as well," Miller said. "As long as we can go out there every night and establish a game, we're going to be in it every night. We're going to have some nights that won't go our way, but at least we're going to be playing some hockey."
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