Sabres have tough act to follow

The Buffalo Sabres talked for two days about making a statement, about showing character. The Calgary Flames are a tough team, they said, but we can be, too. They have a world-class goaltender, but so do we. The Sabres made their statement Friday night. They were a little bit tougher, a little bit better. Ryan Miller edged Miikka Kiprusoff in the matchup of Olympic goalies, and the Sabres stood up to one of the NHL's toughest teams to earn a 2-1 shootout victory in HSBC Arena. "That was probably as hard as I've seen us play," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We talked about it for two days. We're going to get under people. We're going to go through people. We're going to try to be hard on every puck, and I think we surprised them right off the bat. "It's painful to win in this game. You've just got to go that little bit extra." They'll have to do it again tonight. The Sabres flew to Philadelphia immediately following the game and visit a Flyers squad that dealt them their worst loss of the season, a 5-2 setback Nov. 6. "These two games are going to be good challenges for our team to see where we're at," said Sabres forward Jason Pominville, who scored the shootout winner. Given the level of competition, the Sabres' first period may have been their best of the season. They were extremely shaky in the opening 75 seconds, allowing the Flames to swarm the net and giving Daymond Langkow a point-blank goal with just 1:04 gone. After that, it was the Sabres' show. They bombarded the Flames with an 18-5 shot advantage. Derek Roy tied the game with his fourth goal in five games. "We could have had a lot more than one," Roy said. "Things didn't seem to be going our way right off the bat, but we stuck with it and got pucks to the net." Buffalo outhit Calgary in the period, 13-11. Adam Mair had a long fight with Brandon Prust. Patrick Kaleta had four scrums, including two with Calgary captain Jarome Iginla. "We competed hard. You had to, to be in the game," Sabres left wing Clarke MacArthur said. "If you don't want to battle against a team like that, they're going to eat you up. I thought we rose to the occasion there. I didn't see anyone backing down. We had some good fights there, and we definitely showed them that we could play that gritty game, too." The second period belonged to the officials and the Flames. Buffalo, which went to the penalty box five times during the second period of Wednesday's 3-1 victory over Edmonton, gave the Flames three power plays in the middle period. Calgary controlled play, but it didn't change the score. Despite a 12-3 edge in shots, the Flames couldn't beat Miller. The Sabres didn't get their first shot until only 4:29 remained, and Roy's attempt received a huge mock cheer. The cheers were legitimate from the Sabres' portion of the 18,690 during the shootout. Kiprusoff (32 saves) and Miller (25) combined for 57 saves heading into the extra session, and it took two quality moves by the Sabres to send the Flames out with their first loss in five games. Roy went to his backhand, waited for Kiprusoff to try a poke check, then returned to his forehand for the first goal. Olli Jokinen followed with a backhand that slipped through Miller's pads. When the session got to the fourth shooters, Pominville fired five-hole while Miller stoned Rene Bourque for the second time on the night. It gave the Sabres their second straight win. "We were willing stick with the battle," Miller said. "It comes down to the shootout, and it's good to see us get a couple [points.]" e-mail: jvogl@buffnews.com