Watch Buffalo Sabres vs Florida Panthers Live Online
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Watch Buffalo Sabres vs Florida Panthers Live Online
It's the first meeting this season between these two Eastern Conference rivals. Last season, Buffalo won the final three games of the four-game set between these two teams. Florida won the first game, 2-1 on Dec. 1. Buffalo will be looking to put Saturday's result out of their heads quickly and can make a case that it was a mere fluke by pointing to the fact that Atlanta has had the Sabres' number for the past few seasons, as well as the fact that backup Patrick Lalime, and not red-hot starter Ryan Miller, was in goal. Still, the loss clearly rankled many of the Sabres. "You want to win every game," Lalime said. "That's what we play for. Maybe it's just a way for us to look in the mirror and say, 'We're a good team, but we've got to make sure we battle every night and come out strong.' You cannot take any time off in this League. There's so many good teams, so you've got to be on your game all 60 minutes."
Four consecutive losses were enough for Florida coach Pete DeBoer, who switched things around significantly in the come-from-behind win against the Flyers. Rostislav Olesz was moved up to the second line and had a strong game. Cory Stillman was sent to the third line and fourth-line center Shawn Matthias was sent to the minors, replaced by free-agent signee Dominic Moore. Also, Scott Clemmensen was in net for the first time, replacing a struggling Tomas Vokoun. That was a move DeBoer was hesitant to make in fear that it would send a message that Florida's early-season struggles were Vokoun's fault. "The bottom line is Tomas has played some real good hockey for us," DeBoer said. "But we have won one of our first five games. It's not Tomas' fault. It's the group of 20 and the coaches."
