Sabres do best when D pushes O
by MATT KRUEGER Reporter

The Buffalo Sabres run more lines than Walt Disney World.

With four legitimate scoring trios, it's easy to see why Buffalo was the only team to top the 300-goal mark during the regular season and has averaged 3.25 goals per game in the playoffs.

But don't forget about those blue-liners. As they did all through the season, Buffalo's defensemen have pushed the offensive action on the opposite side of the ice. And when they do, Buffalo is at its most dangerous.

With Brian Campbell, Toni Lydman, Dmitri Kalinin, Teppo Numminen and Henrik Tallinder adding their names to the scorecard, the Sabres have shown far more weapons than most people knew they had.

"It's been key to our attack all year long," coach Lindy Ruff said. "We've looked for those guys to get involved. We've preached a lot of this five-man attack. At the same time, it's important for them to be in good position defending, but we also encourage them to be involved."

Through Buffalo's eight games in the playoffs - The Bee went to press before Tuesday's game - the defensemen have contributed five goals and 12 assists. The most active blue-liner has easily been Campbell, who skates on the first power-play unit as the lone defenseman with four forwards.

Campbell is fourth among NHL defensemen with seven points in the playoffs. His three goals and four assists place him behind only Detroit's Nicklas Listrom (three goals, six assists), Anaheim's Chris Pronger (two goals, seven assists) and New Jersey's Brian Rafalski (two goals, six assists). Campbell had six goals and 42 assists during the regular season to garner a plus-28 rating.

Campbell's penchant for pushing the action in the offensive zone shown brightly in Game Two of Buffalo's Eastern Conference semifinal series against the New York Rangers Friday. Not only did Campbell put Buffalo on the board first with his blue-line blast midway through the first period, but he forced the play in the third period as well. With the score tied, 2-2, the red-haired defenseman carried the puck across the blue line and behind the Rangers' net. A quick pass to rookie winger Drew Stafford, who slipped the puck backward between his own legs to Thomas Vanek, set up the game-winning goal.

"You look at the amount of skill he has, it definitely works to our advantage for him to jump up on the play and make some plays, create something, especially in that time of the game when we needed a spark," Stafford said.

Campbell scored two goals in Game One of Buffalo's quarterfinal series against the New York Islanders, a 4-1 victory, while Lydman and Kalinin each netted a goal in a 3-2 loss in Game Two.

"It's great, I think more so even from the bench when we see a two-on-two turn into a three-on-two and the third guy's a D," co-captain Chris Drury said. "I think it excites everyone and kind of lays it out in front of us as to what can happen when the D jump in."

Lydman (one goal, two assists), Numminen (three assists), Kalinin (one goal, one assist) and Tallinder (two assists) have all taken advantage of opportunities to get involved in the attack.

"We've been carrying the forwards all playoffs," Campbell joked after the Game Two win.

Through the first eight games, Buffalo got goals from 12 players, with Drury and Vanek leading the way at five each..

"Obviously, our depth is our main strength," Vanek said. "We don't look for one or two guys. We look for 12 guys offensively, six guys defensively and two good goalies."

e-mail: mkrueger@beenews.com