Sabres/Thrashers Gameday Preview

Lets take a trip down memory lane to October 28, 2006. Things were a much better time then. The Sabres were off to their best start in franchise history winning their first 10. They faced an equally good Thrashers team at that time who were second best in the conference. It was a high scoring game with both teams going back and forth. The final score, 5-4 Atlanta in a shootout to break the Sabres winning streak. Where am I going with this? The Thrashers come into town tonight after taking the Southeast Division lead from Carolina this past week. They are rising after their awful 0-6 start that led to the firing of coach Bob Hartley. They have claimed 5 out of their last 6 points against three good teams in Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Montreal. The Sabres on the other hand have lost their last 10. Everything about this team has been well documented so I won't rehash that, but the stars seem to be lining up tonight. Atlanta coming into town and the Sabres on a 10 game streak of some sort. I can see the Sabres finally breaking the streak tonight winning 5-4 in a shootout. Here are the stats for the game:

Buffalo Sabres Leaders
Goals: Hecht (14)
Assists: Campbell (26)
Points: Pominville (36)
Plus/Minus: Paille (+10)
Penalty Minutes: Gaustad (58)
Penalty Minutes/Game: Peters (1.7)
Minors: Lydman and Vanek (20)
Majors: Peters (7)

Atlanta Thrashers Leaders
Goals: Kovalchuk (37)
Assists: Kovalchuk (26)
Points: Kovalchuk (63)
Plus/Minus: Stuart (+6)
Penalty Minutes: Holik (58)
Penalty Minutes/Game: Thorburn (1.5)
Minors: Holik (24)
Majors: Thorburn (7)

Goalie Stats
Buffalo: Miller - 2.53 GAA, .911 SV%, 1 SO; Thibault - 3.24 GAA, .870 SV%, 1 SO
Atlanta: Lehtonen - 2.86 GAA, .913 SV%, 2 SO; Hedberg - 3.18 GAA, .899 SV%, 1 SO

Special Teams
Buffalo: Power Play (17.2%, 17th); Penalty Kill (84.5%, 8th)
Atlanta: Power Play (19.3%, 8th); Penalty Kill (79.0%, 26th)