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teppo is in... Based on what i read and hear (laviollette attending our morning skate, carolina players discussing their matchup with edmonton, discussing when the finals will begin, etc.) all things lead to a monumental collapse by the self annointed eastern conference champs carolina hurricanes. GO SABRES!

so some of my facts are off... either way, we win today.

Lady Luck will be on our side. SABRES IN 7 Gametime: 7:30pm TV: OLN, TSN (hd) Radio: 550AM Streaming audio: http://www.wgr550.com Sabresreport Chat: http://www.sabresreport.com/chat Sure, carolina has a 3 games to 2 lead, but this reminds me of the 1997 ottawa series. remember after game 5? We had a team of ragtag misfits, rookies, and a drunken quack all world goalie who happened to be injured... Not to make sh-- smell like roses, but things turned out all right for buffalo in that series. Win tomorrow, and its all or nothing in game 7. Win big tomorrow and buffalo has all the Mo. Cam Ward will start in goal, teppo may or may not play. fitz, janik, and jillson will be playing their 3rd straight game together, gaining confidence. miller is way pissed off... all things lead to a sabres victory tomorrow, and i'll expect nothing less. However, if things don't turn out rosey for the sabres tomorrow, i'm sure we'll all survive. this has been one hell of a season, that will at least go till thursday night! edit: Shut up, he's on a role edit v2.0: I simply assumed that the game would be on HNIC, apparently it isn't... if you're from canada, it will be on TSN, available in HD. DOn't know whether the "phenominal/boogadyboogadyboogady/sillylittlefairy" OLN broadcast will be in HD or not... Either way, the studio analysts, featuring Magnum P.I., Patrick Swayze, and Keyanu Reeves will still be choads... play some PS nhl 98 and live life like its the last day of school!!

Sabres at Hurricanes. 7:30 pm OLN sabresreport.com/chat www.wgr550.com My prediction: We come out and play inspired hockey, lead by the return of teppo numminen. Maxim Afinogenov records 2 goals and an assist, dumont nets the miro moment as the sabres win 4-1 and assume a 3 games to 2 lead heading home...

time to unpin this crap and forget about what happened last night. i've moved on, hopefully drury, briere, et al have too...

Shoop just reported that "sources" state that gerber will start tonight...

Carolina at Buffalo, 7:30pm TV: OLN, Radio: 550AM, Streaming audio, SabresReport Chat. Time to light the lamp. You know, i was scared horribly before this afternoon... I was the eternal optimist in my threads over the past 48 hours, but deep down, i was scared. Now that its gametime, i truly feel confident that the sabres will win tonight. They have nothing to lose. They've been written off due to tallinder's injury. Carolina will play hard, but they will be tight, knowing that the next goal kills the sabres. Miller needs to stand tall. If he can stand tall and we happen to get a lead in the 1st period, goodnight carolina. All the sabres need is a little confidence tonight, and then its back to business as usual. Drury and Grier will be huge tonight. Mckee will lay the body, and Campbell, yes The Brian Campbell, will finally light the lamp. Buffalo wins 5-1, canes come apart in the 3rd period, and teppo comes back sunday to insert the dagger. Eternal optimist? Sure... Is that a realistic outlook? Sure... Just remember, if you're going to play with fire, you better be ready to dance with the devil. GO SABRES!!!

ok, 4-3 final after coming on strong in the 1st, completely pwnening them in the 2nd, they let up in the 3rd and it resulted in a close game... It's on for friday now... They can seize this series if they keep up the intensity... Still waiting on word about tallinder though. that would be a huge loss, maybe bigger than teppo... Jillson? great game for a playoff debut, eh? Danny Briere? Way to show up big guy! Dumont? You're showing signs of waking up... maybe game 4 will be your game Afinogenov? Roy? stop the 2nd move and just shoot the puck. AWESOME AWESOME VICTORY. Friday is a statment game. stick the dagger in and twist.

ok, after 2, its 4-2 buffalo with buffalo taking complete control of the game, and the body. they absolutely umbergered every single hurricane for about a 3 minute period... not to mention the 30 shots on goal overall, and the 3 PP goals. wow... unbelievable period. I'll take the timely goals and HUGE hits over 9 finesse goals anyday... Wow... For the 3rd period... Look for the sabres to fall back from the forecheck, but to keep hitting hard in the neutral zone and backchecking. Oh, and lindy, please call out briere after every game???

ha pa... anyways, its 1-1 after 1 same score as game 2, except this time the sabres are kicking some major ass. There was no letdown after the fluke carolina goal off of mckee. We got it back, now we have a PP on fresh ice for about 1:55. The sabres NEED to score a goal here to make the canes think. If the canes survive, or start to take over the play, the sabres will be in major trouble. Lindy must preach that they have to get the first goal in the 2nd period. With that said, i was very impressed with the play of the team. Despite all the penalties and 4 on 4 situations, they held the canes to minimal chances. The sabres, on the other hand, dominated play throughout the first. They just HAVE TO SCORE FIRST AND EARLY IN THE SECOND. get it done guys!

Ok, i obviously wrote the above bit early this morning. 5:48am... wow... anyhow, now that i know about the novotny for vanek, roy moving to the drury/grier line, kotalik moving to the afinogenov +novotny line, and jillson for janik (two guys i know nothing about besides that jillson apparently is bigger and has a better shot), i believe the sabres will come out and match the carolina game #2 physical style. I also think that roy benefits from being with drury and grier. Grier is the guy to clear the net, and roy seems quicker than kotalik down low, looking for the pass from drury. Now that captain float, aka thomas vanek (a guy who i can't even remember since his dean youngblood shootout move on hasek months ago) is off the ice, maybe max will pick up his game on that novotny line. Which brings me to novotny--he's slower than vanek, but in the chances he's had, novotny brings heart and grit. He's a PK guy, and a banger. He's obviously fresh, and very hungry. Now, carolina is still not a pushover like philly and ottawa were, so i expect this to not be lopsided, but i see the sabres coming out with at least a HUGE effort. Huge efforts usually equal goals for the sabres. Oh yeah, lindy has called out briere, dumont, and hecht so expect them to at least show up tonight?? Well, i have class till 7 w ith a 30 minute drive to home... i'll be racing to get home before the puck drops. GO SABRES!

Carolina at Buffalo... I had to make the thread early. I've got class till 7:00pm tonight, and its tight getting home in time to just watch the game. Anyhow my thoughts on the game?? I was scared, very scared on monday night. The sabres lost, and the canes looked pretty dominating in their win. However, we did take control of the 3rd period, and the canes were unable to wrestle control from us till the clock struck 0:00. The sabres will come out hard and strong, however, the canes are not the senators. they're no pushover. Look for a 3-2 sabres victory tonight... However, miller traditionally gets a shutout or a 1 goal game after letting in 4 or 5, so it could be a lopsided victory tonight. However, if the sabres let up for one bit, it the canes can easily win this game... We've never seen the sabres down in a series, so we don't know if they have the heart to come back. I certainly don't want to find out. GO SABRES!

Sabres at Hurricanes, 7:30pm, OLN, WGR550am, http://www.wgr550.com http://www.sabresreport.com/chat you guys know the drill... GO SABRES

Well, i haven't figured out ward yet. I don't know if he's really that good or really that lucky... We find out tonight though. 3-1 buffalo

Game 1, Sabres at Hurricanes, 2:00pm, NBC. The game will be broadcasted locally on WGR 550 AM radio, http://www.wgr550.com for the streaming audio. Again, to synch with the TV broadcast, you'll need to do some creative tivoing. Please join us in the chatroom today to discuss the game. Log on this morning and let your computer sit. This way if there's any glitches, you're not fumbling around during the beginning of the game. http://www.sabresreport.com/chat If you are going to the game, do not forget to do the "Let's Go Buffalo" chant at the 18:00 mark of the 1st period... That's 2 minutes into the game, for those who cannot do math. I have absolutely no way to predict this game. It could go either way. Sure, its cliche to say, but it really could go either way. I can see both teams hitting a wall and being swept... I could see this game going to 6 or 7 on either side. The skaters are pretty much equal on both sides. Buffalo may have a slight edge in goaltending, but that's pretty much a wash too... The "x" factor though is coaching. Peter Laviolette is a fine coach, but lindy ruff is establishing himself in a different league than ALL the other coaches in the league. I'm not going to go out on a limb and predict it, but i like Buffalo in this series, WINK! GO SABRES! Oh, and on a LAMP note, i'll come back with some pictures of the pre, during, and postgame today. I may be getting together with DCSabres, so there'll be plenty to share when i return tonight.

Thank you all for contributing to the "preview" thread. Since it's gameday, i'm going to unpin this thread. I won't close it, but it may not be at the top of the page. Feel free to add to it as you may. In any event, i'm going to the game, i have my ipod loaded with 3 hours of rick jeannerett and i have BEER!!! GO SABRES!!!

TSN's Series Preview

welcome cardiac canes by the way... This will be a very good series.

This will be one hell of a series. Carolina vs. Buffalo is the dream matchup. I think the senators were pretenders, but carolina, and obviously buffalo are both the real deal. Buffalo was a very young team, but they learned to play smart when the opponent played dirty. They learned to not let up. They learned to close out a series. They learned to not buy into the hype. They learned they can roll 4 lines. They learned they have an all star,clutch goalie. Now they have to learn to get to the Finals. This will be a big series. I think the sabres are deeper and faster, with a better goalie than the canes. The sabres also have a better coach. Sabres in 6. Discuss... Also, add links and such to this thread so it will all stay in one place for ease of reference...

4-1 is 4-1, no matter how you cut it. we were outshot, out special teams, but we were not out scored and that's all that matters! It's not how many numbers you get, its getting her to spend the night!

Buffalo 3, Ottawa 2, Buffalo wins series 4-1 Utter domination with the exception of a fart for game 4, period 1 and 3. Now, lets relish in this for at least 24 hours... Remember, we weren't able to relish after the philly series due to the montreal OT game that ended about 16 seconds after the flyers series. Get some rest, and GO SABRES!

Buffalo 1, Ottawa Referees 1 I'm pretty content. we got the first goal, stayed strong throughout the first, and the only goal against us was on a JOBBED 5 on 3 attempt for the refsenators.

if this is true, hopefully vanek for novotny will make afinogenov better... Not to mention that vanek will probably be pissed off for having to sit half this series...

PA, i was resigned in the fact that the series would not end last thuirsday. I may have posted and said otherwise, but i knew deep in my heart that there'd be a weekend game. I was SCARED thursday night... Reality hit me friday, and today i feel the exact opposite i felt on thursday afternoon. This team has found a way all season, they saw what happens when they come out flat on thursday. The sabres will advance tonight.

Tonight is a huge night for Buffalo. The entire game depends on how they come out. Forget the senators. They can play however they want... Desperate, giving up, floating, coming to win, bla bla bla... We've seen their best and we've beaten their best. It's all on Buffalo to show up, come out strong, and choke the life out of ottawa. The team did not finish its chances thursday. Afinogenov missed that wide open net. We took too many penalties. We lost the game, just like the senators lost game 2. Tonight is the night! By the way, its on OLN nationally, MSG locally, on http://www.wgr550.com for the streaming audio, and game chat is open at http://www.sabresreport.com/chat GO SABRES!