Until Thursday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Ryan Miller looked like he was out of the funk that plagued him all last season. He put it out of his head and worked on the things that went wrong last year. Miller was making great saves again, was confident in goal and was back to being on top in the shootouts. Last year was just an off year, or so many were starting to believe.

Then the slumping Lightning roll into town and Mr. Softie makes his reappearance just in time for Halloween. Three goals got past him that an average goalie would have no trouble stopping in the Sabres 5-2 embarrassment to the Lightning. That picture of Miller being beaten by a beachball comes back to mind like a nightmare.

"I would have liked to have the third one back, just bad time for the boys," reflected Miller after what had to be an humiliating performance. "I wasn't real thrilled with some of the goals, but that will happen from time to time."

While Miller can pass it off as just an off night, in the back of his mind and the minds of Sabres fans there is the haunting thought that this could be the re-emergence of goblins past.

"I'm pretty sure the coaches had a nice long discussion about whether to keep me in or not, and to keep me in there and let me work through it is probably going to be a lot bigger benefit than pulling me out and letting me snap a stick over a concrete wall."

Last year Miller had to start 76 games as his backup, Jocelyn Thibault, was not too reliable and Sabres coach Lindy Ruff lost faith in him. This year, the Sabres apparently have that problem resolved as Patrick Lalime has proven to be quite capable of being a dependable #2 man. This week seemed to throw some question marks on both goalies.

The Ottawa Senators made mince meat of their former starting goalie by scoring 5 goals on him before the third period. While Lalime's game wasn't as off as Miller's was against the Lightning, still it has to raise a few eyebrows that he may have some problems in the nets this season.

Miller needs to get more rest between games, as last year proved. Starting almost every game wore Miller out and Lalime is hopefully the answer to that. The two games in Buffalo this week against Ottawa and Tampa Bay in which the Buffalo goalies allowed 10 goals is quite disturbing. Miller cannot allow this one game to go to his head where he starts battling the puck like last season. 

In July, Miller signed a new $31.25 million contract extension for five-years. Miller, with one year remaining on his original contract, would have become a free agent after this season.

The Sabres felt they had to get this deal done as it would have been yet another distraction like the Briere, Drury and Campbell negotiations (or lack thereof) were. It was felt that with Miller locked into 6 years with the team (the 5 years plus his remaining year), he could concentrate on getting his game back, which he sort of lost last season.

It is still very early in the season and Miller & Lalime should get back on track, but the red flags have been raised. Now it's time for the goalies to put this bad week behind them and do what they're paid to do...stopping rubber in a big way.

Miller and Sabres rebound in rout over Caps

After two back-to-back 5-2 losses this week, Lindy Ruff was determined to get the Sabres back to the style they had been playing before their mini-slump. The Sabres were aggressive in forechecking and they were able to get the puck out of their defensive zone a lot better than they had in their two losses.

Miller also was determined to get back his A-game and concentrated in practice to correct those mistakes that cost him dearly against the Lightning. The result of this was a much better game by both Miller and his teammates in front of him as they blasted the Washington Capitals 5-0 Saturday night. It was Miller’s first shutout of the season and it was evident that he wanted to prove a point to Ruff, his teammates and the fans. All three were accomplished in Miller’s statement game and hopefully this week will prove a valuable lesson to the Sabres on what they have to do to win and make the playoffs this year.

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