The fans used to count the number of goals they would want when the Sabres were scoring a lot in a game. If the Sabres had 5, they fans would count to 5 and then say "we want 6!"

Now they could do the opposite...."1,2,3,4,5,6 we DON'T want 7!"

Another game, another player on the shelf. This makes 6 in 5 games. The Sabres are at the point of being over the shock of it and are even making jokes about it like what Daniel Briere said "We're lucky we only lost one guy tonight, so it's not bad at all."

The Ottawa Senators may be doing some headhunting Thursday night when they invade HSBC Arena. With still a chance to catch the first place Sabres, the Sens may pin their hopes of overtaking the Sabres on inflicting some more injuries.

The Sabres lost to the Bruins 4-3 in a wild shootout which featured 16 shooters (8 per team) before the Bruins finally got one past Sabres goalie Ryan Miller.

The Sabres who called up Drew Stafford along with Clarke MacArthur are running on fumes as they are being stretched thin by the rash of injuries. When Stafford went to the dressing room with an apparent injury just minutes after Kotalik left, the Sabres fans didn't know what was next. Thankfully, Stafford was able to return and play the rest of the game. The same wasn’t true for Kotalik.

"I twisted it and heard a little crack," explained Kotalik. "It's an MCL sprain, but I'm not sure about the grade. Hopefully, it will be good in a couple weeks, and I won't miss much. But we don't know."

"I know it's not an easy injury," reflected Kotalik, who had a similar injury during the lockout when he played in Europe. "I missed a lot of time in the lockout. I hope it's not going to be that bad and I'll be back as soon as possible to help the team. It's a frustrating situation we're at. To be down another pair of legs is frustrating. But there's nothing you can do."

Darcy Regier on the MSG broadcast between periods said that the team will probably stand pat and not make any big moves at the trade deadline.

If this injury streak continues, in a week, the Sabres won't have any regulars in the lineup. In fact, there aren't enough players on the Sabres AHL Rochester Amerks team to fill the roster.

Just what are the Sabres going to do to fill the squad with at least adequate NHL players? They don't have any players to trade to help the team out until the wounded get back into the lineup. The only course would be to start trading away all their upcoming draft choices.

This situation is now officially just as bad as what happened to the Sabres in the playoffs last season. Remember the anguish that the Sabres and their fans felt when the loss of Jay McKee to an infection in his leg left the Sabres without 5 defensemen for game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes? Without their top blocking defenseman, the Sabres succumbed to their fate and the Canes advanced to the Stanley Cup finals and eventually won the Cup.

Now the Sabres have 6 players out again. Tim Connolly is the only constant between the two injury scenarios. He was hurt before anyone else was injured last season, and Connolly is still trying to recover from his second major concussion. The Sabres are short 4 forwards and 1 defenseman with the Kotalik injury.

The Sabres are short on players both on the ice and as trade material and Regier will have to perform some magic with smoke and mirrors to keep the Sabres from sinking in the standings.

The Sabres fans are pulling their hair out with each and every injury recently. Many fans went bald last spring when they lost 5 defensemen along with Tim Connolly. Now with 5 players out of the starting lineup in 4 games, the fans are pushing the panic or trade buttons right now. However, this is a perfect opportunity for the youngsters who want to strut their stuff in the NHL and prove that they belong.

This was a goalie duel of the century! It reminded one of two great pitchers going head-to-head in a no hit game being pitched by both hurlers. This battle however was on the ice and Ryan Miller stared down Tim Thomas, save for save. It wasn't until the 16th shooter, Petr Tenkrat snuck a puck past Miller, who had his glove extended and he thought that he had it stopped. Instead, the puck trickled along his pads and over the goal line.

"I thought I could change his mind and throw an early poke check," said Miller after the game. "I think he shot as a last resort because I took his space away. I don't know how it went in ... still. It must have dropped down and rolled."

Watching the two goalies stonewall the shooters, people must have been thinking it was going to go on all night. However, as fate would have it, the Bruins won their second shootout victory over the Sabres this season and it kept the injured-ridden Sabres from extending their winning streak to 5.

The Sabres had come back from a 2 goal deficit late in the second period, capitalizing on a couple 5-on-3 powerplays to tie it 3-3. The third period was scoreless as both Thomas and Miller put on goaltending clinics from the third period on through the overtime and the extended shootout session.

The Buffalo Sabres find themselves in a quandary with the salary cap in the light of all the injured players who won't be ready until near the end of the regular season. If players such as Tim Connolly, Maxim Afinogenov and now Ales Kotalik were medically evaluated to be finished for the regular season, then the Sabres would be able to deduct their salary cap figures to acquire players to fill the holes.

Under the NHL CBA rules, if a player has any chance of returning before the regular season ends, the team won't be able to fill that hole with a trade if they go over the salary cap figure in the process. In the playoffs, there isn't a salary cap, so teams could skirt the system and keep injured players out until the playoffs just to get more depth on the team.
With the Sabres down 6 players (5 injured in 4 games), the Sabres find themselves wedged against a rock and a hard place.

Regier addressed the tricky CBA rules governing the bringing back injured players after the regular season ended to skirt the salary cap.

"Based on all the medical we have, all the other players will return by the end of the season," explained Regier. "If you went and bought different players, even though you could fill with their money, the [injured] players would be ineligible to come back.

"You have to go by the medicals. If you say (certain players will be out until the playoffs) based on the medicals right now, you'd be lying."

Only Paul Gaustad’s money can be used on acquiring another player via trade.

"The only thing we're definite about right now is Paul Gaustad," Regier indicated.

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