Buffalo Rising Online

Mar 22nd 2007, 10:51am By Dave Staba

OK, so it was the Washington Capitals.

Still, consecutive goals with a man advantage showed there might be some life in Buffalo’s dormant power play, a cause for concern with the playoffs a mere 10 games away.

The Sabres’ 5-2 win Wednesday night, which included two more goals by Drew Stafford and a pair of assists by Dainius Zubrus, also put Buffalo past the 100-point mark, making them the second team after Nashville to get there this year.

The two points boosted Buffalo’s lead over New Jersey in the Eastern Conference to seven, creating a rather comfortable cushion heading into a home-and-home Friday and Saturday against Toronto, which is presently locked in a three-way death struggle for the last playoff spot with Montreal and Carolina.

The Sabres ended a three-game home losing streak after coming off a 2-0-2 road trip that bolstered their positioning in most of the international power rankings.

Scott Wraight of cnnsi.com restored Buffalo to the No. 1 position in a flip-flop with Nashville, while adding a couple of promising notes:

… have you seen what Daniel Briere has been doing? The veteran pivot has seven points in his past five games to move into the top 10 with 86. More good news: Tim Connolly, who hasn't played this season due tothe concussion he suffered in last year's playoffs, and a stress fracture of the knee, skated on his own Monday.

A few weeks back, a crack in this space regarding Phil Housley’s induction into the Sabres Hall of Fame drew withering criticism from several loyalists. Seems I’m not the only one who was less than overwhelmed by a defenseman whose finesse game used to draw cries from Aud denizens of “Hit him with your purse, Phyllis,” a delightfully juvenile taunt adapted from the one used to serenade Gerry Meehan in the early 1970s.

Brian Cazeneuve of Sports Illustrated smacked Housley around a bit in a column last week ranking the top American-born players, including awarding him the title of “Most Overrated.”

In a mailbag column in which some readers blasted his assessment, Cazeneuve added this gem:

A quick tale about Housley: I was covering a game in Madison Square Garden when he was playing for the Capitals. After the game that night, I ran into the official scorer whom I knew and started to wave to him. He seemed distracted and pulled two other off-ice officials into a corner. It seemed that Housley had complained about not being awarded an assist and the scorer wanted to reconstruct the play with the other officials to make sure he hadn't made a mistake. This was a game Housley's team had lost, by the way.

At FOXSports.com, Robert Picarello pushed Buffalo up two spots to No. 1, while Lyle Richardson (who feels the need to go by “Spector” when writing about the NHL) had a piece on the top free agents, including Daniel Briere, that should sound familiar to anyone who has heard experts speculate on Buffalo as a suitor of football players seeking a new home:

It's been suggested Edmonton may not be considered a prime destination for most free agents due to its location, which makes for bitterly cold winters and the lengthiest travel schedule of all NHL teams. If so, (Kevin) Lowe will have his work cut out for him, and might be forced to settle for second-tier free agents.

Wes Goldstein of Sportsline also returned Buffalo to the top of his list, followed by the Red Wings, Predators and last week’s No. 1, Anaheim.

ESPN.com keeps Buffalo in fourth, the only stability in an otherwise swirling hierarchy. Pittsburgh jumped all the way from No. 7 to No. 1, but the rankings were posted before Jaromir Jagr’s last-minute goal gave the New York Rangers a 2-1 win over his old team.

Buffalo slipped to No. 2 behind Detroit in ESPN’s Sportsnation fan poll, but you can help rectify that by voting again and again and again right here (note: you don’t see the current rankings until after you vote).

Buffalo got some love from the mathematical formula that does the rankings for TSN.ca, moving up two spots to No. 2. From where they look up at the new No. 1, Ottawa, though the Senators trail the Sabres by seven points at this writing.

Go figure.

And for those wondering whatever happened to Martin Biron, NHL.com offers an expansive look at how he’s adjusting to life in Philadelphia. Quite nicely, it turns out.

The former Sabres starter has the inside track to maintaining the starting job in Philadelphia. Through his first seven starts with the Flyers, he has a 4-2-1 record with a 2.65 goals-against average and an excellent .922 save percentage.

Sabres in Traffic... 3.10.2007 by Dellas