Happy New Year! (26/12/11 - 01/01/12)

Buffalo Sabres 4 - 3 Philadelphia Flyers

In their first game with Jay Byers back in the saddle - after being washed up on a California beach, discovered by a now-traumatised child and declared stupid on the scene by the Los Angeles police department - the low-flying Sabres delivered an impressive performance to derail the Atlantic Division leaders in spite of some surprisingly poor individual performances. While Robert Nilsson and Jay McClement proved the key factors on offense (Nilsson had a goal and an assist, McClement had two helpers), it was Ryan Miller who won the game for Buffalo, withstanding a barrage of shots from the Flyers and even adding an assist on Nilsson's powerplay goal. While Philadelphia had 38 shots - fully twice Buffalo's 19 - Miller stood strong with 35 saves to take a victory away from the misfiring Rick DiPietro.

Buffalo Sabres 3 - 2 Boston Bruins

Before the season began, this game was projected to be one in a series that would eventually determine which of these teams finished bottom of the Northeast Division; Buffalo had their toughness problems and Boston an implacable goaltending conundrum. While the Sabres might still be a little too soft for comfort, Boston general manager Chris Jennings traded for Miikka Kiprusoff to alleviate their problems in net and help Jonathan Bernier bed in in the ITC. Unfortunately, Bernier had the misfortune to meeting a Sabres team on what counts as a tear for them - Miller delivered another first-star performance, making 27 saves in all, while Sid Sorensen and Marian Hossa both had goals to down the Bruins and Mattias Thorssel ended a goal-less streak that stretched 31 games before then.

New York Islanders 1 - 2 Buffalo Sabres

Even with star rookie Rich Castellanos' good performance so far in the season, the New York Islanders looked to be heading swiftly towards another top-five draft pick to go with him and, unshockingly, Ryan Miller was again almost perfect. Gustav Kostuik's first-period was the only shot of the Islanders' 19 that pierced his defenses, and that was quickly denied by Martin Havlat earning his tenth of the year. Even Josef Esser, Long Island's favourite thug, beating Rick Nash in a fight couldn't deter Buffalo as Marian Hossa wiped New York from the ice with a second-period goal to take the Buffalo unbeaten streak to five games.

Buffalo Sabres 2 - 4 Ottawa Senators

The winning streak obviously couldn't last, but it was a particularly bitter pill to swallow that it had to end at the hands of a divisional rival. Nikolai Zherdev was the driving force in the Ottawa victory with his two goals, but Havlat's poor performance was an equal reason for the defeat - he had been complaining of low ice-time previously, and his morale was basically shot with the rumours that he would soon be traded. For yet another game, Buffalo was outshot, and this time Miller couldn't do all the work, conceding four times on 29 shots.

Current Record: 14-17-2-4, 34 points
Player of the Week: Marian Hossa - 3 goals + 2 assists = 5 points