Offense Stumbles, Hurricane Nears

Ryan Miller makes a save on a breakaway by Erik Cole.
(Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

Warning: Hurricane Watch.  After yesterday's action on the ice, a hurricane looms within the Eastern Conference.  The hurricane is threatening to overtake the city of Buffalo, and steal its spot in the post-season.  It could reach Buffalo as early as tonight, but if not, keep all eyes peeled for the upcoming weekend.

What I'm obviously referring to is the Carolina Hurricanes approaching Buffalo in the standings.  With the disappointing shutout loss last night, the Sabres couldn't expand their cushion on Carolina.  Carolina now sits two points behind us with an equal amount of games remaining.  The New York Rangers victory over the Islanders last night puts them two points ahead knocking us back into the 8th seed, but we still have a game in hand.  The Hurricanes walked away from HSBC Arena with heads held high and their first victory in five games.  Ryan Miller made plenty of exciting saves, like the one pictured to the right on Erik Cole's breakaway, but the offense proved to be no help.  The Sabres posted 40 shots on goal, 22 coming in the first period, but could not manage to sneak one by Cam Ward who was on top of his game.  Carolina coach Paul Maurice said "We feel we have arguably the best goaltender in the world.  For a one-goal hockey game, there was lots going on."  I agree there was a lot going on.  The game was action-packed despite what the score shows.  The crowd may have seemed quiet at times, despite rally towel day, but there was a very exciting game being played on the ice.  Half-way through the first, Mike Grier had a point blank pass to Steve Montador who deked and passed through the slot to Cody McCormick, but Cody made Cam Ward look too good when he shot it right into Ward's extended left pad.  The goal came with 42.3 seconds left on the clock in the first as Brandon Sutter jumped on a loose rebound in front.  With the clock ticking down in the second, Thomas Vanek broke into the offensive zone with a beautiful deke through the legs of Derek Joslin but shot the opportunity wide.  Early in the third, Ryan Miller preserved the one goal game with a spectacular glove save on rookie phenom Jeff Skinner.  Besides Miller's play, the positive side of the game for the Sabres was the team successfully killing off five more penalties, which are now 20 of their last 21.  But that was about it for the Sabres.  Something I thought was cool last night, though unrelated to the game, was how Terry Pegula sat next to team president Ted Black among the fans in Section 317 of the upper deck for the first period.  I love what this guy is doing to experience his new team.

Playoff odds are now down 14.0 to 67.6% following the loss.  Ouch.  That somewhat puts things into perspective about how important the game was last night.  Carolina is in action again tonight hosting the Leafs.  Keep an eye on this game and whether or not "the hurricane" will near.  The Sabres take three days off and return for back-to-back home games this weekend hosting the Atlanta Thrashers Saturday at 7:00pm EDT and the Nashville Predators Sunday at 5:00pm EDT.  In the meantime, take a second to vote in the poll to the right of this page.  I'm curious to see the results.  I'll be back Monday to chat.  Happy St. Patty's Day to all my readers.  I can't thank you enough for your time.  Sláinte.