Boyes Scores in Debut, Huge Two Points

Brad Boyes celebrates scoring a goal with his teammates.
(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Newly acquired Brad Boyes scored a power play goal during the second period of his first NHL game as a Buffalo Sabre.  Tyler Myers and Jochen Hecht also scored as the Sabres started off their seven-game road trip with the right foot forward.  Ryan Miller played a key role in last night's game making 29 saves on 31 shots; four of those saves coming in the crucial final minutes.  The goalie has stepped up his play drastically since his break two weeks ago.  "I got enough of it to trap it, and as it squirted behind I just threw my glove back," Miller said about reaching his glove back at the last second to stop the puck just before it crossed the goal line. "We held on tough.  It was important not to give them anything.  We didn't want them getting back into it."  Andrej Sekera also had a strong game with two assists, a +1 rating and two hits.  The last few games have left me cringing every time Sekera touches the puck but his play last night left me pleasantly surprised.

Tylers Myers' goal gave him 10 on the season.  Along with Jordan Leopold's 11 goals, the duo are the first pair of Sabres defensemen to each score ten goals in the same season since 1989-1990 when Phil Housley and Doug Bodger did it with 21 and 12 goals respectively.  Jordan missed his second consecutive game with an upper body injury.  The Sabres scored two goals on the power play for the first time since Feb. 5 and did it against a Rangers 6th ranked penalty kill (now 10th).  Boyes' goal came on the power play, just as he was brought in to do, and Tim Connolly also played a great game alongside him.  Can Brad Boyes be the key to regaining Connolly's confidence?  Check out what Die By The Blade has to say.

With the victory at MSG, the Sabres' playoff odds are up 8.2 to 56.8%.  Unfortunately, the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens also won Tuesday night.  The Sabres remain two points back of eighth place Carolina with two games in hand, but are now only three points back of the seventh place New York Rangers with three games in hand.  March is going to be an extremely busy month with 16 games on the schedule featuring five sets of back-to-back games; as Rob Crean of Sabres.com says "the March is on".  The Rangers will be in Buffalo at the end of the month for what could be another vital game in the east standings.  The Sabres improved to 3-0-1 under Pegula and 16-10-4 on the road this year.  They will be looking to improve upon those numbers even more as the road trip continues when they visit the Hurricanes tomorrow night in what can pretty much be viewed as a playoff game.  A Sabres win alone tomorrow can improve their playoff chances by as much as 11.5% according to Sports Club Stats.