Buffalo Daily News

Just over one week after the Buffalo Sabres were pushed to the brink of elimination by the Carolina Hurricanes, they completed a sweep of the division rival Ottawa Senators. In the end, the Senators were just no match for the powerful Sabres lineup. Henrik Zetterberg explained, "we simply just woke up." The Sabres outscored the Senators by a total of 23 to 6 in the four game series. The three stars of the series are 1) Jarome Iginla 2) Anze Kopitar 3) Sidney Crosby. Iginla had only 1 goal but added 7 assists in the four games against Ottawa; he was also a team high +6. Kopitar scored a team high 3 goals and added 2 assists. Sidney Crosby continues to impress in his first ever postseason as he is tied for 3rd in playoff scoring- teammate Jarome Iginla leads all scorers with 18 points in 11 games.


After being asked what was the reason for the drastic turning, coach Tom Renney said, "As you know we have a lot of great young kids on the team, but I just think they were playing tight; they played loose all season, and then once the stakes were raised they just stopped skating and gripped the stick a little harder. They tried to do too much instead of just going out there and playing like they played all 82 games which got us here. With that being said, they sure figured it out in a hurry this series, didnt they?" The Sabres plan to take two days off before heading back to the ice.


Midway through the press conference GM Luke Wile took the time to thank GM Rob Botham, Coach Dave Tippett, and the rest of the Ottawa Senators organization for being consummate professionals and as Wile described, "a class act."


When being asked who theyd rather play, Dustin Brown responded by saying, "Both are great teams, both have great goaltending, scoring, and defense. I guess all you can ask for is a long physical series, and that looks like its going to happen." The Sabres have had moderate success against both the Flyers and Thrashers this year with a 2-0 record versus both, but expect a long Eastern Conference Final. If it wasnt clear by now, it is now, the Buffalo Sabres are back.




-- Edited by Sabres_Luke at 11:27, 2008-05-16