Put-up time arrives for Briere

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At the start of practice Thursday, Lindy Ruff skated a few laps around the HSBC Arena ice with Daniel Briere. Ruff reminded his co-captain that these are the moments a hockey player lives for. He said the Sabres had worked hard to get to this point and should remember to have fun tonight in Game Five against the Rangers.

Ruff didn?t say if he issued a personal challenge to Briere, as he did before Game Six of the Carolina series last year. Ruff asked Briere to be like Mark Messier that day, a player who makes a difference in the biggest moments.

Well, it?s that time again, time for the stars to rise up and carry the Sabres through a crisis. That?s how it goes in sports. The great players need to perform in the biggest moments. It?s how titles are won and reputations made.

Briere is near the top of the list of Sabres who need to be better. He?s been OK. But he hasn?t played up to the stature of a man who made $5 million this season and will command a long-term contract in the $6.5 million range ? elsewhere, most likely ? when he becomes an

unrestricted free agent at the end of the playoffs.

That?s superstar money. It would be nice if he played like one. Briere needs to find a higher competitive level, to show more desperation, to play the way he did early in the season when he looked like a favorite for the Hart Trophy.

Briere has two goals and seven points in the playoffs. He hasn?t scored an evenstrength goal in the postseason. He leads the Sabres in postseason penalty minutes. After centering for Jason Pominville and Jochen Hecht all season, he was taken off his line late in Game Four and placed on Tim Connolly?s wing.

That reconstituted line was terrific in the final 10 minutes of Game Four. Briere almost scored in the closing seconds to send the game into overtime. Almost isn?t good enough now.

?For some reason, Jochen, Jason and I weren?t creating much,? Briere said. ?I don?t know how to explain it. It?s frustrating that it happens at this time of the year. The little I played with Tim and Al [Kotalik], we created a lot of chances. We found ourselves in the zone. We created at least three good scoring chances in the last minute there.

?I don?t care where I play. Whatever it takes for us to win.?

Ruff has been talking a lot about winning physical battles, particularly on the Sabres? woeful power play. Ruff said he talked about the power play during his little skate with Briere at practice, so you have to think at least some of the criticism is directed his way.

Briere is a little guy, generously listed at 5-10, 178 pounds. His size was perceived as a liability early in his NHL career, but he worked to become stronger and more suitable for the physical battles around the net. He became a genuine star in the post-lockout NHL, where smaller, swifter players were allowed to express their skills.

He led the Sabres in scoring with 95 points. But in the playoffs, Briere hasn?t created many chances around the net, where space tends to diminish. His speed hasn?t been a big factor. He has been physically overwhelmed at times. It makes you wonder if the Sabres really are too soft to survive a long Cup run.

Briere has been a fabulous clutch player. He responded to Ruff?s pep talk by scoring the overtime winner in Game Six of the Carolina series. It seemed every goal he scored early this season either won or tied a game. He?s an honest, engaging voice in the locker room and a popular presence in the community.

So it?s sad to think that Briere?s time in Buffalo could be near an end. The thing is, if he rises up now and carries his team to the Cup, his asking price will go even higher. It?s a dilemma, I imagine, that Sabres fans would gladly accept.

 

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Gaustad to play for Sabres tonight


The Goose is flying again.

Buffalo Sabres center Paul Gaustad will be back in the lineup tonight against the New York Rangers, completing an improbable journey from a partially severed ankle tendon. Doctors and General Manager Darcy Regier declared Gaustad's season over after it was determined he would need surgery in early February, but the gritty center refused to believe that.

His belief will be rewarded in Game Five in HSBC Arena.

"It's probably one of the most exciting games I've ever played," Gaustad said this morning.

Drew Stafford had been using Gaustad's corner locker stall, but Gaustad took that back today and will take Stafford's spot in the lineup.

The Sabres totaled just two goals in Games Three and Four as New York knotted the series, and co-captain Daniel Briere acknowledged that he, Chris Drury and Thomas Vanek ? the team's leading scorers ? need to supply more energy.

"We definitely feel like we need to take charge," said Briere, who added the team received a boost of confidence when it controlled play in the final 11 minutes of Game Four. "It's almost as if we had forgotten how good we could be on offense [before that]."

Jason Pominville should drop down to the fourth line, with Adam Mair and Gaustad. Daniel Paille is out of the line-up with the return of Maxim Afinogenov, a healthy scratch in Game Four.

 

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Game Fives frighten fans of Sabres history


More food for thought for nervous Sabres fans: History has not been kind when the team is tied through four games of a playoff series.

Buffalo has won just three of 14 series that have been even at 2-2. The wins came over Philadelphia last year, Ottawa in 1997, and Montreal in 1975.

Two of the most gut-wrenching losses were the Cup finals of 1975 (Philadelphia) and 1999 (Dallas), which were tied at 2-2 before Buffalo dropped the last two games of each series.

After losing both games in Philadelphia last year, the Sabres returned home and posted a 3-0 win. Two nights later, they clinched the first-round series with a 7-1 rout in Philly.

?You only draw on the experiences you?ve had in the past,? coach Lindy Ruff said Thursday on the eve of Game Five of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Rangers. ?We played our best game [last year] when we came back. We?ve worked hard to get a fifth game here and I want them to have fun playing it.?

The only time the Sabres have dropped Game Five and still won a series was the ?97 thriller with Ottawa, which Buffalo took on Derek Plante?s overtime goal in Game Seven.

But here?s the nugget fans should hang on to: The Sabres have won 10 straight series in which they?ve captured the first two games. The last loss was a six-gamer in 1976 against the New York Islanders.

 

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'WILL' THEY OR WON'T THEY
DESIRE WILL DECIDE RANGERS-SABRES VICTOR


May 4, 2007 -- BUFFALO - In separate corners of the locker room, the two most experienced and decorated Rangers used the same word in anticipation of the remaining matches it will take to decide the Eastern Conference semifinal against the Sabres that resumes here with tonight's Game 5.

In one corner, Jaromir Jagr: "When you get to Games 5, 6 and 7 of a series, it's more about will."

In another, Brendan Shanahan: "It's about whose will overpowers the others'."

What will happen tonight in a fulcrum match of a series that's remained on serve through four games is unknown, of course. But the Sabres certainly will attempt to duplicate the urgency with which they played in the final 11 minutes of Tuesday's riveting 2-1 Game 4 at the Garden, while the Rangers will attempt to negate whatever momentum the losers might have brought back with them on their flight home.

Once Buffalo scored to get within a goal at 9:04 of the third period, they came at the Rangers in endless waves, with a speed and attack game that created relentless pressure and forced the Rangers to scramble in their own end until the final buzzer. It marked the first time the Sabres looked like the team forecast for this round.

"The question of whether there's a carryover usually isn't answered until the end of a series, but you do draw from past games," Shanahan said. "As much as they'll try to draw from watching the video of the last 10 minutes, we'll put every bit as much focus into learning what we can do better from that same video."

Not once all season had the Sabres been limited to one goal apiece in consecutive games. Indeed, a Buffalo team that hasn't been shut out in their 91 games had been held to one goal twice overall since their 32nd game of the regular season, Dec. 16.

But the Rangers have limited the Sabres to one goal in Games 3 and 4, winning each 2-1. This is nothing new for the Blueshirts, not at all, having won nine games by that score in the past 25 they've played.

"The end of that game should finally teach us we have to play the same way no matter what the score is," Jagr said. "Whether it's 2-0 or 1-0, we can't relax. That's my biggest concern.

"They get their confidence with scoring goals. Once they get one, they start to fly. Maybe we should just not let them get any. Is that too much pressure on Hank (Henrik Lundqvist)?"

The question was posed rhetorically and playfully by Jagr, who at times appears to be auditioning for the old "Seinfeld" time slot with a series of one-liners that spares no one in the vicinity.

Which, speaking of one-liners, here the Sabres will get their match against Jagr. That doesn't seem to faze No. 68.

"It's not like they have someone like Bobby [Holik] or [Jay] Pandolfo, who just concentrate on defense and think they are the No. 1 star if they didn't shoot at the net even once," Jagr said. "Playing against guys like that who put all their energy into defense is not easy."

But how about winning a game in Buffalo?

"It's [so] easy a caveman can do it," quipped Jerry, er, Jaromir.





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Michael Nylander did not skate yesterday, still bothered by after-effects of the flu. Jarkko Immonen, one of 10 recalls from Hartford, practiced with the club and was expected to make the trip in case needed in an emergency.