SABRES (1-4-1) at THRASHERS (3-2-0)

TV: MSG-B (HD), SPSO (HD)

Season Series: First of four meetings this season -- Buffalo makes both of its trips to Atlanta this month in a 10-day span. The Thrashers went 2-0-2 against the Sabres during the 2009-10 season. Derek Roy scored a pair of overtime goals inside of two weeks in January for Buffalo's two wins.

Big Story: The Sabres begin a stretch of three games in four nights badly in need of points. They have gone 0-4-1 since opening the season with a one-goal victory over the rival Senators. Ryan Miller, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, has been spectacular at times, ordinary at others -- he carries a 2.63 goals-against average and .911 save percentage into Wednesday's action.

Team Scope:

Sabres: At the very least, you can say Buffalo has been playing competitive hockey -- each of the Sabres' last four defeats have come by one goal. That includes a pair of losses to the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks by 4-3 scores. In their most recent game, at the United Center on Saturday, the Sabres took 2-1 and 3-2 leads they couldn't hold. Patrick Lalime spelled Miller in goal and stopped 17 shots.

"We deserved better," Lalime said. "We put a great effort tonight. We had a lot of chances, and they basically scored on the chances they had. That was the difference."

Thrashers: The sudden emergence of Anthony Stewart helped Atlanta salvage a split of its four-game road trip after dropping the first two in Tampa Bay and Los Angeles. Stewart, a former first-round pick of the Panthers and the older brother of Avalanche forward Chris Stewart, had 4 goals in 108 NHL games before recording a hat trick in the Thrashers' 5-4 shootout win over the Ducks and the tying goal in what became a 4-2 victory against the Sharks. The Thrashers rallied from two-goal deficits in both games.

"It feels great," Stewart said following the win in Anaheim. "I can't shut it down right now. I'm happy to contribute any way I can and I am still trying to prove myself in this League. So any way I can contribute is great."

Who's Hot: Drew Stafford has 2 goals and 5 points in the last five games for the Sabres. … Stewart is red hot for the Thrashers, while Chris Thorburn has 3 goals and an assist during a career-high four-game points streak.

Injury Report: Buffalo forward Jason Pominville has missed the last three games with a concussion and defenseman Shaone Morrisonn has missed the last two with a groin injury. … Atlanta goalie Ondrej Pavelec has been cleared to practice as he recovers from a concussion while defenseman Zach Bogosian is day-to-day with a shoulder injury.

Stat Pack: The Sabres' 19 shots in the first period Saturday were five more than the Blackhawks allowed in any period at the United Center last season. … Thrashers defenseman Tobias Enstrom tied a franchise record by playing in his 251st consecutive game on Saturday. Enstrom has never missed a game in his four-year career.

Puck Drop: Buffalo defenseman Tyler Myers, who seemingly did everything right in his rookie season en route to winning the Calder Trophy, has just a solitary assist through six games and a minus-7 rating -- tied for worst in the League with Jason Arnott of New Jersey, another team off to a 1-4-1 start.

"It's frustrating for sure but you just keep at it," Myers told the Buffalo News. "These six games have been tough for me, no doubt. But it's an 82-game season and I'm working to turn it around."

god and people think that stupid thrashers logo was better than the slug.

I'm with NYI on this one. Ruff has kind of called everyone out recently with his comments, plus the hard practice yesterday. Ya gatta think it's not like the boys are ok with losing these last few games and frustration has gatta be mounting. Hopefully they take it out on the Trash.

Maybe we're meeting these guys just at the right time? I only hope so. At the pace all the haters are going, not only the coaching staff, front office people and players should be traded/fired/hanged, next step is to fire all HSBC Arena staff and burn down the building. After that, they'll be calling for the heads of everyone in the city of Buffalo. It'll be a damn epidemic!

*sigh*

I've said "just win" for the last 3 games...clearly that's not working.

!SREKCUFREHTOM NIW TSUJ

/I got nothin'

I hope lindy's always gives them hard practices. They're athletes, they should be giving it their all in order to improve their game.