MVN - Most Valuable Network

Ex-Sabres Finding Success in Playoffs

First off, I’d like to thank Mr. Goldman for the chance to come on and write with him for the past year. It’s unfortunate that he will be leaving MVN, but I wish him all the best in his new pursuit at the Brighton-Pittsford Post. As for the future of Dispatches from the Aud, I am going to take over as the sole writer for the time being.

A couple of former Buffalo fan favorites are back in a familiar spot; the Eastern Conference Finals.

Daniel Briere and Marty Biron, now both donning the Orange and Black of the Philadelphia Flyers, have played key roles in getting the Flyers within a step of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Briere is the Flyers leading post-season scorer, tallying 8 goals and 6 assists in 12 games played with a +1 rating. This after a down year where Briere scored 72 points (31 goals, 41 assists), and was an abysmal -17. Compare that to his last season in Buffalo when he tallied a career-best 95 points on 32 goals and 63 assists with a +22 rating. Don’t get me wrong, 72 points is a very good offensive year, but what stood out was the poor +/- rating.

Briere, however, has turned up his game in the playoffs. He has all but matched his post-season production during the Sabres 06-07 playoff run (15 points on 3 goals and 12 assists) but has played in 4 fewer games this post-season. His points per game average during the Sabres back to back Conference Finals run was exactly 1; 34 points in 34 games played.

Perhaps the change of scenery did Briere good. He has come alive in the playoffs for the Flyers this time around, and appears hungry to get his hands on Lord Stanleys Chalice.

The ever talkative Marty Biron has also played a key role in propelling the Flyers into the Conference Finals. He had a solid regular season, going 30-20-9 with a 2.59 GAA and a .918 Save Percentage. For anyone that is interested, both the GAA and Save Percentage were better marks than Ryan Miller got this year (2.59 v. 2.64, and .918 v. .906). Marty has solid post-season numbers in his first ever NHL post-season action. He holds an 8-4 record with a 2.72 GAA and a .914 Save Percentage. His last playoff action was in 1998-1999 with the Rochester Americans of the AHL, where he went 12-8 with a 2.15 GAA and a .934 Save Percentage while leading the Amerks to the Calder Cup Finals before losing in 5 games to the Providence Bruins.

I am glad to see these two finding success this year. As hard as it is for me, I have to throw my support behind the Flyers, because seeing Marty and Danny get their hands on the cup would be nice.

Stay tuned, as I recap the Sabres season and figure out what they should focus on at the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. It will be a busy summer for the Sabres, and I look forward to bringing it to you here at Dispatches from the Aud.

Well, it has been fun…

Hey Guys,

Unfortunately, I will be stepping down as the writer for the Bills and Sabres pages here at MVN.com. It’s been a lot of fun writing and interacting with you readers over the past few years, but it’s time for me to move on. I’ve officially graduated from Northeastern University and have accepted a full-time position with Messenger Post Newspapers.

I really appreciate those of you who have taken the time to read my thoughts on the Bills and Sabres over the years. I will continue to be a Bills and Sabres fan of course, but I just won’t be writing about them for now.

Thanks again,
Dan Goldman

Pominville a Lady Byng Finalist

Finalists were announced today for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, and Sabres winger Jason Pominville was among the group.

The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, established during the 1924-1925 season, is awarded anually to the player in the league “adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.”

Only one Sabres has won the award; Gilbert Perrault, during the 1972-1973 season.

The two other finalists are Pavel Datsyuk, who has won the last 2 years, and Martin St. Louis.  The NHL awards ceremony is June 12th.

Why did the Sabres stumble in 07-08?

As I sat at home watching the NHL Playoffs this weekend, I began to wonder how the Sabres managed to not even qualify after winning the President’s Trophy the year before?

That’s going from 113 points (53-22-7) to 90 points (39-31-12), a difference of 23 points. So, what happened?

First of all, some of the Eastern Conference’s basement dwellers really improved. The three worst teams in the East last year, Boston (76 points), Washington (70) and Philadelphia (56) all made the playoffs this year with 94, 94 and 95 points respectively. The Canadiens also improved greatly in 2007-2008.

Then there are the players Buffalo lost. Most notably, the Sabres lost their co-captains, Daniel Briere and Chris Drury. You can make fun of Briere for his minus-22 rating, but he did finish second on the Flyers with 72 points (31 goals, 41 assists). He currently is the top scorer for Philly in the playoffs with five goals, four assists and a plus-5 rating.

Drury didn’t score as many points as he did the last two years in Buffalo, with 25 goals and 33 assists and he managed to finish in the negative with a minus-3. Captain clutch did lead the Rangers in shorthanded ice time during the regular season and has already scored a game-winner in the postseason.

You can see some of that difference in the goals scored stats. In 2006-2007, Buffalo led the league with 298 goals. Despite losing the two stars, the team still managed to finish fourth with 251. However, those 47 goals could have been the difference in the playoff run. In 2006-2007, the Sabres ranked 13th in goals allowed with 238, but dropped to 22nd this season, allowing 233.

You could point to the Brian Campbell trade. In the final 20 games, Soupy scored 3 goals and dished out 16 assists for San Jose. In those games, the Sharks went 16-0-1 before dropping their final two. Meanwhile, Buffalo faced a desperate situation on the blue line due to injuries.

The last big reason I have is the difference in backup goaltending. Jocelyn Thibault just wasn’t very good for Buffalo. He went 3-4-2 with a 3.31 GAA and .869 save percentage. Meanwhile, Ty Conklin, who the Sabres could’ve retained, went 18-8-5 with a 2.51 GAA and .923 save percentage for Pittsburgh. Thibault’s incompetence required Ryan Miller to play in a career high 76 games, where he clearly wore down late in the season.

That’s my explanation for the fall from the top. Over the off-season, Justin and I will evaluate all the Sabres and discuss what should be done in free agency.