Sabres/Devils Preview

The Sabres looked impressive again with their win last night against the 8th place Bruins. Paille has really matured over the last couple of years, keeping up a good work ethic during the 10 game winless streak and scoring 2 last night. The Hecht-Pominville-Paille line has really gelled and is taking shape. Here is hoping it continues.

The Devils come into tonight grabbing the win from the Penguins on Monday night. They came back from 2 goals down to tie it up and win the game in overtime. Parise ended scoring the game winner. The Devils are fifth in the Conference with 63 points, two points behind the division leading Flyers one game up. The Sabres are tied for 10th with the Capitals and Panthers and are 4 points behind the 8th place Bruins with game in hand. The Bruins and Sabres meet up again Friday night. Miller should be playing tonight, but don't be surprised to see Thibault in net sometime during this week. MacArthur will be in tonight after missing last night's game with possible food poisoning.

Here are the possible lines for the Devils for tonight's game:
Parise-Gionta-Elias
Madden-Pandolfo-Clarkson
Lagenbrunner-Zubrus-Zajac
Pelley-Brylin-Rupp

White-Mottau
Martin-Oduya
Rachunek-Vishnevski

Brodeur

Here are the stats for the game:
Buffalo Sabres Stats
Goals: Roy (19)
Assists: Pominville (32)
Points: Pominville (45)
Plus/Minus: Paille (+13)
Penalty Minutes: Peters (65)
Majors: Peters (9)
Minors: Lydman (24)

New Jersey Devils Stats
Goals: Parise (20)
Assists: Parise (28)
Points: Parise (48)
Plus/Minus: Martin and Oduya (+13)
Penalty Minutes: Clarkson (121)
Majors: Clarkson (15)
Minors: Clarkson (23)

Goalie Stats
Buffalo: Miller - 2.43 GAA, .914 SV%, 2 SO; Thibault - 3.78 GAA, .855 SV%, 1 SO
New Jersey: Brodeur - 2.23 GAA, .916 SV%, 4 SO; Weekes - 2.63 GAA, .906 SV%

Special Teams
Buffalo: Power Play (17.6% - 17th); Penalty Kill (83.9% - 9th)
New Jersey: Power Play (16.7% - 20th); Penalty Kill (82.0% - 13th)

Devils Thoughts

Since I never actually posted a gameday post, I should post some remarks about this game.

• This team must have lost its confidence in the effectiveness of shooting the puck. They just get way too damn cute trying to make the goal look good, instead of just scoring the damn thing. This team needs to get back to basics with shooting and just shoot first instead of shoot last.
• Kaleta was a good callup in terms of a hitting and physical spark that this team needed, but is Kaleta really ready to play full seasons here. I really don't think so in that he brings a great physical game but really not much else. He can hit, but also has a tendency to turtle in the face of confrontation. So while he may bring a spark, I can't see him cracking the lineup everyday.
• Miller was pretty much the only shining point throughout most of this game. He looked really good in net, besides the shootout, and made too many saves to keep this team in the game in the first point. He earned the point and lost the other one by really not being set on the Elias goal and just looking almost startled and way out of position.
• Can this team stop giving away the puck. Ever? Giveaways were 8-1 for the Sabres. 8 giveaways led to countless breakaway situations and just stupid chances. The first thing this team needs to do to break out of this streak is stop giving away the puck.