Sabres hope to build on victory
Craig Rivet was asked for his thoughts on the Buffalo Sabres team he captains. A smile spread across his face. Then a bit of a grimace appeared.
Yup, that pretty much sums up the season.
The Sabres will try to fashion their first winning streak in more than three weeks tonight when Pittsburgh visits HSBC Arena. They snapped a five-game losing skid with a win over Boston on Wednesday, and Rivet knows how easy it would be for his team to slip up again.
“The NHL season is going to be an absolute grind from start to finish,” Rivet said Thursday. “There’s no easy games. That’s the difference between 10 years ago, when you could kind of almost take a night off and still win. In today’s game, it’s extremely difficult to win hockey games and very, very easy to lose.”
It certainly won’t be easy tonight against the Penguins, who are 8-1-1 in their past 10 games. But after 21 games with his new teammates, one thing Rivet is sure of is the Sabres think they can win.
“The guys in this room have done a great job of just keeping their minds in the right form . . . the focus and the passion to get back into the winning column,” he said.
Rivet just wishes the focus on winning translated into consistent focus on the ice.
“It takes a full team effort and focus to win hockey games. I think that’s one thing we can be better at,” the captain said. “[Coach] Lindy [Ruff] is giving us a system that works. When we play it, we’re a very, very dangerous team. When we get away from it, you can see all the mistakes, all the breakdowns. It’s just a snowball. That’s where we need to be better mentally, to stick with the system.”
Rivet is eager to see how his team plays when healthy. The way things are going, he may never find out. The Sabres have dressed the lineup they envisioned this summer in just four games. Everyone was healthy from Nov. 7 to Nov. 14, when the team went 1-2-1. Tim Connolly and Ales Kotalik will each miss their fifth straight game tonight.
“People tend to forget we’ve never really had a full lineup on the ice,” Rivet said. “It just seems like two guys out here, two guys out there, and the guys that are big parts of our team. It seems like right from Day One.
“It’s been a bit of a struggle that way, and I’m just hoping that guys can get back healthy because I think we have a really, really solid team with good things to come.”
The Sabres narrowly avoided a serious injury to another vital player. Thomas Vanek missed part of the second period Wednesday with a lower-body injury, but he returned for the third period. He skipped Thursday’s practice and walked with a limp, but he wants to play tonight.
“I came back and finished the game, so there’s no reason I shouldn’t play,” said Vanek, who was hit along the boards by Boston bruiser Milan Lucic. “I just dumped the puck and didn’t see him coming. I felt like I was in a little bit of a vulnerable position, but there’s nothing you can do.”
Vanek was one of the first players off the ice on Friday morning, and Ruff said Vanek "should be able to go."
The Sabres received more good news on the injury front from Kotalik. The winger practiced with linemates for the first time since suffering a hamstring pull Nov. 14. He said he’ll definitely be in the lineup Monday when Nashville visits and possibly Saturday when the Sabres go to Montreal.
He would be welcomed to a team that is trying to smooth out its roller coaster season.
“We’ve certainly had our ups and downs,” Rivet said. “We’ve played some real, real good hockey, and some hockey that we’re obviously not so proud of.
“I think that we’ve shown when we do have a healthy lineup, have all our guys going in the right direction and playing good defense, we’re a very, very tough team to play against.”
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments