Week One - Still No Luck

With many integral parts of the team having never worn a Sabres jersey before, fans were hoping that the first week would bring with it an end to the colossal losing streak they'd racked up over the last year, going fully twenty-five games without a single win after beating Colorado in February. Hosting Chicago at the HSBC Arena seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so - the Blackhawks, like them, were coming off a poor season and had some significant holes in their line-up. Nobody wanted to say that it was a sure thing, but the odds were quite high of getting the precious two points. Surprisingly, it was former Amerk Mattias Thorssel who started the game off well for Buffalo, putting the puck between Joe Palmer's legs to put Chicago on the back foot; however, the momentum couldn't be kept up and Ralph Rosger equalised a few minutes after, taking advantage of a missed interference call by the referees on Cam Barker. Tomas Kaberle kept protesting after the goal and earned himself two minutes in the box for it.

Despite starting the second period short-handed, Rick Nash made a clear statement why he deserved a bigger, better contract, scoring once to put the Sabres back in the lead then setting up Sid Sorensen just moments after to stretch the lead to two, even if it was for a depressingly short time. Thorssel took a pair of penalties in quick succession, and on the second, Leo Bisaillon cut the scoreline from 3-1 to 3-2, then with just seconds left in the period, Martin Erat sprang up to equalise. From there, it was all downhill- the late goal had taken the wind out of the Sabres' sails, and when Premysl Navara put the Blackhawks up 4-3 right out of the gate,it was game over. Daniel Ryder added a fifth to pad the score when Ryan Miller was pulled, and the Sabres stayed winless.

Unlike the Chicago game, nobody expected Buffalo to do anything but suck and die against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings; while the Sabres had one line of undeniable quality, the Kings had four, and little was expected other than a massacre. Naturally, it came as no surprise to see the Kings come out swingin, with goals from Joe Thornton and Brad Stuart giving Los Angeles a comfortable 2-0 cushion in the first period, both coming from powerplay situations - when offseason acquisition Michael Ryder put away Mike Cammalleri's pass with a few seconds left, it was only seen as a minor irritation by the Kings fans who'd made the trip, and most of the Sabres fans in attendance were jaded enough to see it only as a consolation goal already. These naysayers were quieted through the second period - where the Sabres had been responsible for all five of the penalties in the first, the third and fourth lines were given some time to irritate the Kings where possible, and came away with four penalties on Los Angeles, two of which were on perennial scoring threats Shane Doan and Sidney Crosby. The second period was scoreless, and it looked very much like the Kings would eke out a win solely by restricting the amount of shots Buffalo had - just ten in the first two frames combined.

To this, it came down to former King Cammalleri. With time ticking down on what looked like another Kings victory to join the pile, the man affectionately known as the Dyslexic Squid bulldozed Vincent Lecavalier in the neutral zone, showing surprising strength in the hit, and set up Jay McClement. McClement's shot rebounded off Dan Blackburn, as did Rick Nash's that left the goaltender sprawling. Ben Shutron and Cam Barker fought for the puck, but neither got to it before Cammalleri skated in and blazed his slapshot deep in the net. Thankfully, the score stayed at 2-2 until the end; anyone scoring after that would just bring down the mood.

Current Record: 0-1-0-1 [Wins-Losses-Overtime Losses-Ties]
Player of the Week: Mike Cammalleri - 1 goal + 2 assists = 3 points