One week ago the Sabres moved Olli Jokinen out of Buffalo. Today, OJ came back. Jokinen was an instrumental part of the Sabres success and was as fan favorite in Buffalo. Jokinen was seen exchanging words, smiles and greetings with former teammates Rob Blake and Kris Draper before warm-ups. However, once the puck dropped, it was business as usual.
After a scoreless 1st period of play, David Moss opened the scoring in the 2nd period with his 3rd goal of the season. Newly acquired Henrik Zetterberg extended the lead to 2-0 later in the 2nd period when he notched his 34th goal of the season. Doan would later add a goal in the 3rd period on a beautiful assist from Jokinen but it was too little to late.
One of the main storylines throughout the game was the Thrashers inability to capitalize on the PP, or Buffalo's ability to stop them. Newly acquired Jere Lehtinen began to pay immediate dividends as he lead the Sabres penalty kill unit to 8 consecutive kills against the top powerplay in the league.
However, the big story on the night, like most nights, was Sabres net-minder Martin Brodeur. Brodeur, the 1st star in the hockey game, stopped 30 of 31 Thrashers shots.
With 17 game left, the Buffalo Sabres extended their conference lead over the Thrashers to double digits.
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"With Sid on your team, anything is possible" - Mario lemieux
