Flyers-Sabres Preview
Associated Press

In his first appearance for the Buffalo Sabres since leading the United States to an Olympic silver medal, Ryan Miller picked up right where he left off with another stellar game. Unfortunately, Buffalo was unable to provide the same offensive support he enjoyed in Vancouver.

The punchless Sabres hope the addition of forward Raffi Torres can help their sluggish offense get on track Friday night when they host the Philadelphia Flyers.

Despite allowing an overtime goal to Sidney Crosby in a 3-2 loss to Canada in Sunday's gold-medal game, Miller was still selected the tournament MVP after posting a 5-1 record with a 1.35 goals-against average in the Olympics.

Miller became an instant hero for the U.S. and received a 45-second standing ovation from the hometown fans before Wednesday's game against Washington. He continued his impressive play from the Olympics by stopping 37 of 39 shots against the high-powered Capitals, but it wasn't enough as the Sabres lost 3-1.

Buffalo (33-20-9) is fifth in the Eastern Conference - six points ahead of sixth-place Philadelphia (33-26-3) - but has been slumping, going 1-6-2 since Feb. 1.

"It's frustrating," said Miller, who didn't play in Tuesday's 3-2 loss at Pittsburgh. "It comes down to attitude. The attitude can't be, 'We hope we're going to win, we hope we're going to do our jobs so we don't get yelled at.' It's got to be take control, dictate play, and trusting the system."

Miller is among the league leaders in GAA (2.16) and save percentage (.931), and is regarded as the key to the Sabres' chances of making a deep playoff run this season. Still, to become a legitimate playoff threat, Buffalo needs its offense to come to life.

The Sabres have scored two goals or fewer in nine of the last 13 games, averaging 2.2 goals in that span. In the Olympics, Miller was backed by an offense that averaged 4.0 goals.

In a bid to shake up the team and bolster its offense, Buffalo acquired Torres from Columbus for a second-round draft pick before Wednesday's trade deadline. With 19 goals this season, Torres immediately becomes the Sabres' leading scorer.

Even with Torres expected to play on the same line with Derek Roy and Jason Pominville, Buffalo's offense could still run into trouble against a Philadelphia team that has been playing well defensively, its last game notwithstanding.

The Flyers' five-game winning streak was snapped with Wednesday's 7-4 loss to Florida, the first time in 10 games the team allowed more than two goals.

Despite Philadelphia's disappointing defensive performance, the offense again came out strong and has amassed 17 goals in the last three games.

Jeff Carter notched his team-leading 29th goal Wednesday and has scored in six consecutive games, tying New Jersey's Zach Parise, Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos and Ottawa's Jason Spezza for the longest streak this season. The Flyers center has 10 goals in his last 11 games against the Sabres, but only one in three meetings this season.

Miller has stopped 60 of 64 shots in winning the last two games against the Flyers - both in Philadelphia - after allowing four goals in a 5-2 home loss Nov. 6. The Sabres have lost four straight to the Flyers in Buffalo since a 3-2 win Dec. 21, 2007.

RUFF SPEAKING VOLUMES AT PRACTICE
Thursday, 03.04.2010 / 2:54 PM / News
By Erin Pollina - Sabres.com

While there may not have been 18,000 fans at HSBC Arena on Thursday afternoon, it was still relatively noisy as the Buffalo Sabres hit the ice.

Head Coach Lindy Ruff had returned for his first non-game day practice following a two-week Olympic break. And after back-to-back losses to Pittsburgh and Washington, the boss wasn’t too happy with what he saw from his players:

Break downs in the system and overall loss of cohesiveness were partially to blame, but the chief concern was loud and clear – a lack of communication.

“Do the Slovaks talk?” Ruff asked Andrej Sekera. “Are you ready?” Ruff barked to another. “I said, are you ready?” He harped on players to get to the front of the net and demanded others talked to their linemates. When they didn’t – his response was simple: “Louder!”

“Part of our play in the first 30 games stem from; puck support, knowing where people are at, hearing another guy’s voice,” Ruff said following the 45-minute workout. “Watching the game again this morning, I would swear half the team had muzzles on.

“It makes it tough. When you’re under pressure, the only thing you can trust is somebody else’s voice, and the fact that he has to be in a certain place for us. The support has to be there.”

But is the message getting through?

“They get it,” Ruff said. “We’ve got a meeting with our core group after this. There is concern, but we know we’re a good team. We know we’ve got a goaltender that can win us games, we’ve got a group of forwards that can put the puck in the net enough to win games and we’ve already proven that we can defend with the best teams, and against the best teams.”

Ruff opted for a new look to help the team do so.

Tim Connolly centered Thomas Vanek and Drew Stafford while Tim Kennedy was bumped up a line, in between Jochen Hecht and Mike Grier.

The Sabres’ newest addition, Raffi Torres, skated alongside Derek Roy and Jason Pominville, while Adam Mair, Matt Ellis and Pat Kaleta rounded out the fourth unit. “Its been two weeks off,” Ruff said in returning. “I’ve been gone for 10 days of practice and I don’t care what you say, when the substitute teacher is there when you were in school, you goofed off. “Now its back to focus and determination to play the system… and play it hard.”

The Sabres play the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night, 7:30 p.m. at HSBC Arena. The Sabres are encouraging fans to Go Red For Women. For more information click here.

SAVE US RAFFI!

Is it sad that I think of the TMNT when reading that?

did you guys see the photoshopped pic of him in a Sabres sweater after the trade, during the phone interview? He kinda looked like a turtle. Kinda fitting to think of TMNT, if you ask me

Can't say I saw it.. can you find a link to it anywhere.. i think it would be fun to see

go sabres.