Marc-Andre Gragnani picked the perfect time to score the first goal of his NHL career.   The defensemen, up because Jordan Leopold has a broken hand, was credited with the game-winning goal in overtime as the Buffalo Sabres came out of the victorious end of a huge 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes Sunday at the RBC Arena.

With the victory, Buffalo moved three points ahead of Carolina in the Eastern Conference playoff race and a point ahead of the New York Rangers.  The Sabres reside in seventh place with just three games to play in the regular season.

Jhonas Enroth started his third straight game in place of Ryan Miller (upper body injury) and was spectacular; stopping 35 shots including a handful of golden Carolina opportunities.   To be frank, the Sabres stole a point as Carolina dominated the majority of the game but couldn’t beat Enroth, who improved to 7-2-2 on the season.

Continue reading ‘Sabres Get Gigantic OT Victory At Carolina’

The Buffalo Sabres earned a point in Washington on Saturday night.   They came very close to earning a second point.  Hopefully, they won’t end up needing it.

Buffalo was leading the Capitals, 4-3 with under  minute to play in regulation.  Then while on the power play and a pulled goalie to give them a two-man advantage, Jason Arnott scored with 52 seconds left to send the game to overtime for Washington.  During extra time, Alex Ovechkin scored his 30th goal of the season to give Washington a 5-4 victory over Buffalo.

Carolina defeated the New York Islanders Saturday, 4-2 to pull within two points of Buffalo.   The Sabres are currently in seventh place with 88 points, but just one point ahead of the eighth place New York Rangers and two ahead of Carolina for the eighth spot.

Drew Stafford scored twice to give him 30 goals for the season for Buffalo.  Thomas Vanek and Paul Gausted also scored.

Buffalo has perhaps its biggest game of the season to this point when they face Carolina Sunday at 5pm.