Buffalo Rising Online

Dave Staba

Let the playoffs begin.

For real.

If Buffalo’s five-game first-round dispatching of the New York Islanders lacked the drama, intensity and, yes, violence generally associated with postseason hockey, the Sabres’ Eastern Conference semifinal series against the New York Rangers, which starts at 7 p.m. tonight at HSBC Arena, promises to make up for it. And then some.

The well-documented tough talk from Rangers coach Tom Renney and Sean Avery – whose official position seems to be “instigator,” rather than “left wing,” according to most press accounts, except those that describe him as “agitator” – created plenty of fodder for fans and commentators with four-plus days to fill between games.

But while Avery, who piled up 174 penalty minutes during the regular season, will almost assuredly do something dumb at some point, the more meaningful suspense in this serie…

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Tonight the Buffalo Sabres look to close out the New York Islanders at home in game 5. Buffalo Rising's Dave Staba recaps the series thus far in a sideshow podcast. Photos provided by Joe Cascio.

Dave Staba

It wasn’t the game-winning goal (Chris Drury's second of the night and fourth of the series earned that distinction), but Jason Pominville’s bravura solo with little more than a minute left in Buffalo’s 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Wednesday demonstrated the superiority of the Sabres, who should author the conclusion to their first-round playoff series during Game 5 on Friday night.

The Islanders, trailing by a goal with about 80 seconds remaining, tried to push the puck out of their own end. Pominville swiped the puck from New York’s Marc-Andre Bergeron. Then he lost it to Bergeron’s defensive partner, Tom Poti. Then he took it back and scorched Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, effectively ending the game and the series. DiPietro acknowledged as much by smashing his stick against the goal post as the red light flared.

Pominville’s mixture of skill and …

Dave Staba

You know hockey’s playoff season has reached full speed when the whining starts.

Thankfully, for once, for now, the complaints about officiating aren’t coming from Buffalo’s locker room or coach, but from the opposition.

And instead of anyone trotting out the tired argument that National Hockey League executives spend time figuring out ways to deny the Sabres what’s rightfully theirs, New York Islanders coach Ted Nolan suggested quite the opposite after Buffalo’s 3-2 win in Game 3:

"Certain teams get certain calls, and that's life. Some people get breaks and some don't, and we're that group right now. We're not going to get any breaks."

Nolan was talking about the penalty calls that went against his team, as well as t…

Dave Staba

It looks as if the New York Islanders will have their very well-paid goalie back in net tonight at HSBC Arena for Game 2 of the first-round playoffs series against the Sabres.

Rick DiPietro, who signed a 15-year, contract extension last summer worth $67.5 million, skated this morning and declared himself ready to play:

"I feel good, I did everything I normally would before a game," DiPietro said. "I'm ready to play, but it's Teddy's call."

And Ted Nolan’s call was predictable:

"Once he says he's in, I say he's in, he's in. If he says he wants to play, he's going to play."

Buffalo dominated New York throughout Game 1, putting the offensively feeble Islanders away with two goals in the third period.

Whether DiPietro’s presence will make a…

Dave Staba

Poor Dubie, indeed.

The feel-good saga of New York Islanders goalie Wade Dubielewicz went splat last night, as his first playoff start ended with a 4-1 Buffalo win and the crowd at HSBC arena derisively sing-songing his rather obvious nickname.

Not that you could really blame the career minor-leaguer whose great week helped New York sneak past Toronto and Montreal to grab the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot, particularly since his skating teammates managed all of one shot in the first period and 21 obligatory attempts in total. If anything, Dubielewicz helped keep the Islanders in it for better than two periods, until Chris Drury’s second goal a little more than a minute into the third made it 3-1.

The way the Islanders were playing, as if Ted Nolan had ordered them to pretend that putting t…

Elena Cala Buscarino

Heading to the Game?

Get your colors on! The Sabres shop has everything. Along with jerseys, pucks, sticks, Tee's and sweatshirts, there are hats, blankets and pajamas too.

We spoke with Sabres’ Public Relations Director, Michael Gilbert, about the array of fan souvenirs in the gift shop at HSBC.

Find out why there is such a glut of pink Ryan Miller Tee-shirts, as well as which Rick Jenerette phrases are on his line of shirts and hats.

One Seymour H. Knox III Plaza HSBC Arena M - F, 10 to 5 and during games Toll Free at 877.855.4140 Local calls 716.855.4140

Dave Staba

It seems like a lot longer than two years since Drew Bledsoe left Buffalo, so it would have been easy to let his retirement announcement pass without comment, or maybe force it in as a note in the hockey post.

But while Bledsoe didn’t lead to the playoffs during his three seasons here, his arrival on Draft Weekend of 2002 did revive interest in a very dull team that lost in remarkably diverse ways while going 3-13 season in ’01.

And for a month or so at the start of his tenure in Buffalo, Bledsoe was as good a quarterback as the franchise has ever had. Let’s just leave it at that, out of respect for the retired.

Retiring after realizing that no team was going to give him a starting job serves as a quiet ending to what has been a more-than-disappoint…