Marek Zagrapan

Though he still did not look all that comfortable on the ice, he did score a goal and get a shift late in the game against Sidney Crosby. I expect him to be in Rochester, but he is certainly making strides.

Interview

Sabres v. Penguins

SABRES 6, PENGUINS 5

Jocelyn Thibault (photo: Getty Images)

The Buffalo Sabres won their third game of the exhibition season in dramatic fashion. After 59 minutes of a seesaw battle and with the score knotted at 5-5, the Sabres hottest center continued to light-up the opposition.

Derek Roy, who had already registered a goal and two assists in the game, streaked up the right wing and one-timed a rebound into a wide-open net to give Buffalo the 6-5 lead with only 28 seconds remaining in regulation.

Evgeni Malkin nearly forced overtime in its waining moments after his one-timer from the right elbow found the twine. But an official review confirmed that the puck hadn't crossed the goal line before the final horn sounded.

In the Sabres wildest game so far, 11 different players recorded points. Roy led the way with four, while Brian Campbell added a goal and an assist. Henrik Tallinder, Thomas Vanek and Marek Zagrapan also lit the lamp.

Mike Ryan recorded a pair of assists for his first points of the preseason.

Jocelyn Thibault dropped to 1-2 after facing his former team. Thibault, who appeared in 22 games for Pittsburgh as Marc-Andre Fleury's backup last season, allowed five goals off 21 shots. Three of the Penguins tallies came during six man-advantage opportunities.

Sidney Crosby led the Penguins with a pair of goals and an assist, while Ryan Whitney complimented him with two helpers.

Erik Christensen and Ryan Malone each tallied two points - a goal and an assist.

The home-and-home series will shift to HSBC Arena tomorrow to conclude the exhibition season for both teams.

The Sabres will be holding an autograph session following Saturday night's contest and tickets for children 12 and under are half price. Click either link for more details.

In my opinion the 3 stars were definatley selected correctly, with Derek Roy the 1st star, Sidney Crosby the 2nd star, and Evgeni Malkin the thrid star. Marek Zagrapan got his first NHL goal.

Preseason Sabres v. Leafs

Sabres 7, Maple Leafs 2

Jason Pominville scored Buffalo's third goal just 37 seconds into the second period. (photo: Getty Images)

Derek Roy scored three goals and added three assists to help the Buffalo Sabres rout the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-2 on Wednesday night.

Henrik Tallinder, Drew Stafford, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek also scored for Buffalo.

RELATED LINKS

Feature: Derek Roy's Wild Night Audio: Derek Roy Post-Game Audio: Lindy Ruff Post-Game Photos: Sabres 7, Leafs 2

Held scoreless in the first period in their first three exhibition games, Buffalo's emphasis was getting to fast starts against the Leafs.

Mission accomplished as the team scored in the opening two minutes of play in all three periods.

"We said it before the game, we want to go out and set the tone on the first shift," said Roy. "We had some good shifts and good cycles in the zone and got some pucks to the net."

Pavel Kubina and Chad Kilger had goals for the Maple Leafs.

Tallinder opened the scoring at 1:24 with an even-strength marker, while Stafford made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 7:52.

Buffalo's power-play unit converted on two of five opportunities in the game.

Pominville converted a cross-ice pass from Clarke MacArthur 37 seconds into the second period, and Vanek made it 4-0 at 1:12 with a slider that went through Staffan Kronwall's legs and then Toskala's.

Roy then went to work, scoring at 17:08 while Buffalo had a two-man advantage. He added his second goal early in the third period and finished the scoring with a short-handed goal at 6:30.

"We didn't have a lot of puck control in the previous game and a lot of careless turnovers that remind you a lot of inter-squad games and summer hockey," said head coach Lindy Ruff. "We started off by getting pucks deep, getting pucks to the net and we shot pucks when we had opportunities."

Ryan Miller remained undefeated in the preseason after turning away 20-of-22 shots.

Buffalo will return to action this Thursday as they start a home-and-home series with the Pittsburgh Penguins in Mellon Arena to close their exhibition schedule.

Tune to Sabres.com's new video player to watch a free internet broadcast of Thursday's bout. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Highlights

Jim Lorentz

Rick and Jim. It will be tough not being able to hear that again. Rick had his antics and wild announcing, but Jim had a quiet, philosophical way about him. When great plays were made (Drew Stafford's goal against Washington, Thomas Vanek's shootout slapshot, or Ryan Miller's save on Mara in Boston) you could always hear Jim just give a short, quiet "Oh". He always gave very intelligent comments and never let himself takeaway the spotlight from Rick. I'm not sure who is going to replace him, but I know that it won't be the same.

Preseason Sabres v. Blue Jackets

Sabres 3, Blue Jackets 2, SO

Ales Kotalik scored Buffalo's opening goal and flipped a backhander over Pascal LeClaire in the shootout.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -Ryan Miller stopped both Columbus shooters in the shootout as the Buffalo Sabres completed a rally and beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 in a preseason game on Sunday.

With just under five minutes remaining in regulation, the Sabres' Brian Campbell sent a pass to Jason Pominville at the back post for an easy tap-in to tie the score.

Miller did the rest with an assist from Maxim Afinogenov and Ales Kotalik.

The winningest goaltender in the NHL during shootouts last season, Miller denied both Adam Pinault and Sergei Fedorov on Columbus' opening two attempts, while Afinogenov and Kotalik each lit the lamp for Buffalo.

Miller won 10 of 14 shutouts last season.

Fedorov had scored from close range at 2:59 of the third period to give Columbus the 2-1 lead.

Kotalik netted the opening goal for the Sabres (1-1), who have faced only the Blue Jackets in the preseason.

Derek MacKenzie opened the scoring for the Blue Jackets (2-3) when he stole the puck from defenseman Nathan Paetsch and put it past Miller just 2:48 into the game.

Kotalik made it 1-1 on the power play at 5:13 of the second period, firing in a slap shot from the left circle.

Buffalo's power play, which struggled through most of last season, registered five shots on goal in eight opportunities.

Preseason Game 1 v. Columbus

VISITOR 4 COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS Game 4 Away Game 2

Event Summary Friday, September 21, 2007 HSBC Arena Start 7:11 EDT ; End 9:47 EDT Game 0041 Final

HOME 1 BUFFALO SABRES Game 1 Home Game 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -Gilbert Brule scored twice, leading the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in a preseason game Friday night.

"You can definitely see it [the difference between the AHL and NHL]," said Dylan Hunter, who was appearing in his first career NHL preseason game. "Just the speed and strength of guys in the corners, how quick you have to make plays, every level seems to get faster and faster."

RELATED MULTIMEDIA

Video: Jochen Hecht Post-Game Video: Lindy Ruff Post-Game

Kris Russell and Rick Nash added goals for Columbus, which improved to 2-2 in the preseason.

Clarke MacArthur scored for Buffalo, in its first preseason game.

"Everybody in the lineup is working hard and knows what they have to do," said Jochen Hecht. "Drew Stafford was up last year scoring goals and Pat Kaleta is finishing his hits and playing tough. Everyone's having a good camp."

Jason Pominville led Buffalo with five shots on goal, while Thomas Vanek tied Kaleta for the team high in hits with a pair.

Buffalo goalie Jocelyn Thibault, the Sabres' lone free-agent signing of the offseason, made 18 saves. Steve Mason stopped 20 shots for Columbus.

"We still have a lot of guys here and we can change the lineup quite a bit," said Hecht. "We need to get some rest and play a couple of games in a short time frame, but it makes you ready for the season."

The Sabres will play the tail end of the home-and-home with Columbus on Sunday night at the Nationwide Arena and then ship out to Ralph Englestad Arena to meet the Minnesota Wild at the University of North Dakota Monday.

Russell and Brule scored power-play goals 25 seconds apart in the second period to give the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead. Columbus started the second period with a two-man advantage carried over from the first period, and Russell scored 49 seconds in on a deflection. Brule then snapped in a shot from the left faceoff circle with 1 second remaining in the power play.

Nash scored six minutes into the third, backhanding in a loose puck after Thibault stopped Rostislav Klesla on a backhand shot. Brule netted his second of the night six minutes later on a tip-in.

Training Camp Thoughts

I was down at the Arena today to watch the Sabres scrimmage. For the most part, I thought that the team looked pretty good. Maxim Afinogenov and Derek Roy played very well together. Jason Pominville and Jochen Hecht played very well together, especially when they were paired with Paul Gaustad ( who leveled Ben Breault). I thought that Marek Zagrapan played well, scoring two goals in the scrimmage, but he still seemed kind of sluggish and lazy. Ryan Miller made some good saves. Nathan Paetsch really surprised me with how fast he really is, skating stride for stride with Afinogenov on one rush and drawing a penalty. I think Lindy Ruff might have to talk with Pat Kaleta again as he was hitting everything that moved. One surprising player that stood out was 2007 second round pick Drew Scheistel. He really moved the puck well and seems to have a bullet of a slapshot. TJ Brennan was cut in the face but skated off on his own power.

Several players including Tim Connolly, Thomas Vanek, Daniel Paille, Dimitri Kalinin, Drew Stafford, Toni Lydman, and Henrik Tallinder did not scrimmage, as they were on the practice squad.

Teppo's Heart

According to WGR550, Darcy Regier has said that Teppo Numminen will need heart surgery. I do not know how long he will be out, but it seems as though Nathan Paetsch has guaranteed himself a place on the team.

Tickets Outside

I can't wait for tickets to go on sale for the outdoor game at Ralph Wilson Stadium. It should be a great game. Ryan Miller already has outdoor experience from his days at Michigan State. Training camp starts this Thursday and the Sabres will be having several open-to-the-public scrimmages. By the way Phillipe Gogulla had 2 goals and an assist in a 6-3 win by Cologne over Hamburg. Looks like the Sabres might have another good European prospect.