NHL
Road trip a welcome sign for Sabres
by MATT KRUEGER Reporter

Buffalo defenseman Nathan Paetsch clears out the puck in front of a sprawling Ryan Miller during the Sabres' 3-2 loss to New Jersey Saturday at HSBC Arena. Photo by Mike Lynaugh

The Buffalo Sabres may be the hottest ticket in town, but the past week provided less than exciting results for the fans at HSBC Arena.

With three straight losses to Colorado (3-2), Minnesota (5-1) and New Jersey (3-2), the Sabres left the fast lane they had been traveling in and merged with the other teams in the league.

Buffalo had been 9-1-1 in its previous 11 games, before hitting this little bump in the road.

But after Saturday's frustrating loss to the New Jersey Devils, in which the Sabres faced a defensive trap that many more teams will throw at them in the playoffs, the mood in the locker room was not one of desperation. Instead, the Sabres shrugged it off and almost welcomed the adversity.

"It's not going to ruin the season," said goalie Ryan Miller, who took the loss in all three games. "I think you learn lessons. I'd rather go through it. We've got a lot of new faces in here. We need to go through a stretch like this, because they weren't here the last time we had to bounce back and rattle off some big games in a row. Those guys are part of it right now. It's up to everybody to get out of this."

The skid wasn't bad enough to drop Buffalo out of the top spot in the Eastern Conference, but as of Tuesday, the Sabres were just one point ahead of New Jersey. Buffalo (44-19-5) had long held the best record in the league, but Nashville (46-18-6) Anaheim (42-17-11) and Detroit (43-17-9) have all sped past the Sabres.

Buffalo now faces a four-game road trip, which was scheduled to start Tuesday in Pittsburgh, after The Bee went to press. And the Sabres are hoping a few wins will erase that poor showing at home.

"Before that we had a great homestand," defenseman Nathan Paetsch said. "Then we had three games when we lost two of them by one goal. Besides that, we were on a roll before these last three games. The road is going to be a fresh start for us. It'll be nice to get out there and get together and bond a little."

Against New Jersey Saturday, the Sabres ran into that defensive trap that seems boring to many fans in this high-scoring new age of the NHL - New Jersey has scored fewer goals than 13 of the other 14 teams in the Eastern Conference and has allowed the second fewest goals in the league. That trap, perfected by New Jersey, is similar to what Buffalo saw against Colorado and Minnesota.

"Teams are going to play like that against us," Paetsch said. "Obviously, they're going to want to control our offense. We've scored the most goals in the league, so they're trying to find ways to beat us. We just have to find a way to work through that defensive shell teams are putting up against us."

Buffalo had opportunities against New Jersey, including a four-minute power play in the second period, but couldn't quite solve the defense or goalie Martin Brodeur, who leads the league in wins and shutouts and is second in save percentage and goals-against average.

Only Dainius Zubrus's wrist shot from outside the left circle in the first period, and Daniel Briere's tip-in on Paetsch's shot, found the back of the net.

"The effort was good (Saturday)," winger Jason Pominville said. "We missed a few good opportunities, and we just have to make sure we capitalize on them and keep doing the simple things. I'm sure we'll be fine."

With just five goals in the past three games, the Sabres fell well below the five-goal average they had the two weeks prior to the homestand. But you can bet on the Sabres bouncing back and generating that high-powered offense again.

"We've done it before," Paetsch said. "This team is very resilient. We've been playing hard and we're trying to work through it. Pucks are going to start going in for us."

e-mail: mkrueger@beenews.com