Why the Buffalo Sabres Will Beat the Ottawa Senators

In the movie "Bruce Almighty" Bruce admits he likes the Sabres' chances in the playoffs because the coach prays a lot. Maybe Buffalo's head coach Lindy Ruff has followed this strategy all season as his team captured the NHL President's Trophy with the best record in the league: 53 wins, 22 losses, 7 overtime losses. The new look Sabres led the NHL with 308 goals scored in the regular season. This was the first season they wore the blue and gold jerseys with the futuristic looking buffalo on the chest. An interesting color scheme to say the lease since the starting goaltender Ryan Miller played three years of college hockey for Michigan State. Michigan State's school colors are green and white while the rivals at University of Michigan Ann Arbor sport maize and blue colors similar to those of the Buffalo Sabres' new look.

Miller's play is one of the main reasons Buffalo could win the 2007 NHL Stanley Cup. His presence in net instills confidence in the offense to take more offensive chances. Their leading plus minus player on the team Thomas Vanek led the league with a +47 rating. Vanek also scored a team-high 43 goals. Team captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere provide the leadership dimension that is so important in team sports. Briere led the team with 63 assists. Drury led the team with 9 game winning goals. That does not include his game tying goal with 8 seconds remaining in game 5 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals versus the cross state opponent New York Rangers. Buffalo went on to win game 5 in overtime and they closed out the series by winning game 6 by a score of 5-4.

The Sabres will now face the Ottawa Senators, a rematch of last season's Eastern Conference semi-final. Ottawa remembers losing to Buffalo 4 games to 1. Buffalo capitalized on Ottawa backup goalie Ray Emery's lack of playoff experience. He had to step in to replace an injured Dominik Hasek. Hasek, a former Sabre often suffered injuries at crucial times when he played in Buffalo. But he took the Sabres the farthest they have gone in the playoffs in 1998. They lost in the Finals to Dallas. Buffalo also lost the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals to the Philadelphia Flyers 4 games to 2. Buffalo and Ottawa have played in three previous playoffs, with Buffalo taking all three.

To be fair, I will cover some ground on why Buffalo might now beat Ottawa. Ottawa won the eight game season series this season 5 games to 3. Sabres' goalie Miller had a 1-4 record with a 4.32 goals against average and a .882 save percentage. These numbers are way above his season averages. Ottawa was the only team Miller had a losing record against with a minimum of 2 games this past season. But in the playoffs statistics and match-ups can be thrown out the window. This series will be about discipline (staying out of the penalty box) and winning 50/50 battles. Both teams have talented offensive players with speed. It will be interesting to see who will win the Wales Trophy and face Anaheim or Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals.