Sabres Begin Season Effectively

The Buffalo Sabres looked promising today as they kicked off their 2011-2012 quest for the Stanley Cup against the Anaheim Ducks overseas in Helsinki Finland.  Rick Jeanerette called the opening face-off out on the broadcast as a "brand new Pegula season."  The Sabres have nothing but success in mind this season and failure is not an option.  The players are as focused as they have ever been and tweaks to the lineup have this team, with the entire city of Buffalo backing them, thinking they can win it all.  You could just see it on each player's face as the camera panned around during the United States and Finland national anthems... Determination.

The Sabres' starters stand next to youth hockey players as the national anthems
of the United States and Finland are sung prior to face off.
(Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Buffalo Sabres current roster is constructed of 15 draft choices, 4 from trades, 3 free agents and 1 acquired off waivers.  The starting lines for today's season opener were as follows:

Vanek | Adam | Pominville

Stafford | Roy | Gerbe

Ennis | Leino | Boyes

McCormick | Gaustad | Kaleta

Regehr | Myers

Ehrhoff | Leopold

Gragnani | Sekera

Ryan Miller of course got the nod between the pipes with Jhonas Enroth supporting from the bench.  At first, I was surprised to see Luke Adam centering the top line but he proved he belonged there with great all-around play resulting in two assists to show.  The top line played well generating eight points, five coming with the man-advantage.  Thomas Vanek, who was the game's first star, led the way with two goals, both coming on the power-play.  The Sabres went 2-4 with the man-advantage overall.  Anaheim's power-play finished last season ranked second overall, but they were shutout on five attempts by a determined Sabres penalty-kill today.

The Sabres first goal of the day came four minutes into play when Regehr drew a penalty early on to give the Sabres the man-advantage.  The power-play looked much improved from last season as they maintained high pressure in the offensive zone not allowing the Ducks to make a change.  Luke Adam threw the puck at the net and the rebound went to the stick of Vanek, who tapped it home.  Vanek tallied 9 of the Sabres' 25 shots on goal in the game.  The second Sabres goal came four minutes later and again was the result of hard work down low in the offensive zone to put a great deal of pressure on the Ducks.  This time, the defense, particularly Andrej Sekera, played a big role in the goal.  Sekera showed how important it is to throw pucks at the net when his decision allowed newly acquired Ville Leino to pounce on a bouncing rebound and score his first goal as a Sabre.  Leino, born in Savonlinna Finland, sparked a cheer from the crowd in his native country.

Four minutes into the second period, Anaheim got on the board with their only goal of the day that resulted from a face-off win in Buffalo's zone.  The puck was dropped back to the point and immediately fired towards the net, taking a few deflections on the way, giving Nate Guenin his first career NHL goal.  This was the lone tarnish on Ryan Miller's great game in net.  Miller made 29 saves on 30 shots missing the shutout by a mere deflection goal.  He made more than a few remarkable saves with his most notable one coming late in the second period when he stretched across the crease to rob a wide open Bobby Ryan point-blank.

New captain Jason Pominville brought the two-goal lead back a minute after Anaheim's goal when he snuck a shot through two defensemen and Vanek's screen from the right face-off circle.  Pominville's goal came again as result of the Sabres keeping the pressure on down low, this time led by Luke Adam.  Adam controlled the puck behind the net buying some time for the rest of his team to get in place.  The Sabres brought the lead to three where it would stay for the remainder of the game when an own goal was credited to Vanek, although it was earned by his presence in front of the net.  Vanek lost control of the puck in front, but it was fortunately kicked in by an Anaheim defenseman.

Although the Sabres were held without a shot in the third, the period showed how Buffalo can really crack down on defense and protect a lead now with the help of their defensive upgrades in Robyn Regehr and Christian Ehrhoff.  Regehr played a strong game defensively breaking up a two-on-one perfectly late in the game.

The Sabres season continues tomorrow in Berlin at 2:00pm EST when they face the Kings.  On a positive side note... a ceremony was held earlier in the day where the Sabres organization donated hockey equipment to the youth hockey players of Finland.  A few of those players had their picture taken (above) when they joined the teams on the ice for both national anthems prior to the start of the game.