TAKE THAT! Ryan Miller answers Sean Avery's trash talking. Miller pushes down Rangers trashtalker Sean Avery during second period after Avery threatened to injure Sabres and run Miller.

[AP Photo/David Duprey]

Suddenly, the Buffalo Sabres are awake again. It was evident in their 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers that the Sabres have rediscovered their passion once more.

The Sabres, who seemed to be sleep-skating through their first round series with the Islander, needed something to wake them up.

Lindy Ruff couldn't have found a better way to motivate his troops. He could have recited one of Marv's infamous Maxims like "Where would you want to be than right here, right now." Or he could have issued a challenge, hoping it wouldn't fall on deaf ears.

Nope, the Rangers did the Sabres and Ruff a great service in starting their war of bitter words even before the series started.. It is rumored that Lindy sent the Rangers a couple buckets of Buffalo famous chicken wings as a sign of gratitude.

The Rangers had the game plan. Get the Sabres off their game even before the puck dropped. Talk trash on how the Rangers were going to hurt the Sabres and how they weren’t impressed with the Sabres winning the Presidents Trophy. Sean Avery already had outlined how he was going to send Ryan Miller to the hospital and how he would personally take out half the team.

"I'm going to hurt them, I'm going to hit them," threatened Avery on Monday, two days before the opening faceoff for Game 1. "I'm going to be in their face as much as I can. Each check is going to be a little bit harder.

"Their speed isn't an issue to me. My game doesn't change. It's a long series. I'm going to try to punish their D."

The Rangers Battle Cry and war of words were shoved down their collective throats Wednesday night before yet another packed house in HSBC Arena. The Sabres made the Blueshirts eat their own words and it left a very bitter taste.

Scoring 3 goals in just over 4 minutes midway in the second stanza, the Sabres broke through the scoreless tie and never looked back. The Sabres roared to a 5-2 Game 1 victory and now have awoken. Avery and Rangers coach Tom Renney have now learned that it isn’t wise to awaken a sleeping giant. The Sabres offensive guns exploded with Vanek scoring a pair, with Ales Kotalik, Jason Pominville and Drew Stafford getting the other 3.

Renny had joined Avery in on the Bash Buffalo campaign on Monday, insisting the Sabres aren't "cream of the crop."

Said Renny, adding to the barbs directed at the Sabres Monday, "I don't say they're the cream of the crop right now. They're certainly one of eight teams left, and I'm not going to suggest I'm not going to give them credit, but I'm not going to pump their tires, either. We belong here, too."

Now with foot firmly planted in mouth, Renny better consult Islanders coach Ted Nolan on how to contain the Sabres attack. The Rangers, who are not a trappig team, will have to adapt quickly as they certainly cannot skate with the speedier Sabres. Losing 5-2, the Rangers must regroup and learn to let their sticks do their talking not their mouths.

All this rhetoric played right into the Sabres hands. After the last series, the Sabres seem to need something, anything, to light the fire under their skates. They played complacent, lackluster hockey most of that series and were lucky to come out of that series in just 5 games. Wednesday night’s result proves that the Renny and Avery may have just ignited the spark to propel the Sabres the rest of the way.

The Rangers came out flying and put a lot of pressure on the Sabres in the opening minutes. Sabres goalie Ryan Miller. Miller had to make a great save on Jaromir Jagr and a few minutes later Paul Mara bulled over Miller, drawing an interference penalty. In the first period, the Rangers got into penalty trouble, having to kill 4 penalties.

In the second period, New York took two more penalties with the Sabres capitalizing on the second one with Thomas Vanek scoring.

The Rangers tried to outskate the Sabres and failed miserably. When the Sabres exploded with 3 goals in around 4 minutes in the second period, the Rangers had to abandon their game and try to open it up even more.

"We don't like that," Renney talked about keeping up with the Sabres speed. "We want to stay away from the track meet. They're just too quick. Their transition game is excellent and they can score from any number of locations in their lineup."

The Sabres survived the Rangers full court press in the third period and came away with a 5-2 win to open up the second round. The overflow crowd in HSBC Arena, helped spark the Sabres into their big flurry of goals midway through the game and the Sabres continued to perplex the Blueshirts the rest of the way.

After Vanek’s first goal, Ales Kotalik scored on a slap shot that beat Henrik Lundqvist up high exactly two minutes later. To cap off a three goal flurry, Vanek scored his second one just 2:03 later.

"We have a team that can smell blood sometimes," Miller said. "We were doing a lot of things right and finally got rewarded."

In the third period, the Rangers ruined Miller’s shutout bid when Marcel Hossa scored at the 10:44 mark. Three minutes later, Jason Pominville scored a goal that was originally waved off by the ref as the goal came off its moorings, but it was reviewed and the goal was awarded. It was the third positive review the Sabres have had this postseason.

The Sabres and Rangers exchanged goals late in the game, with Brendan Shanahan scoring at 19:12 and Drew Stafford getting an empty net goal 22 seconds later.

The Sabres knew they had to solve the Henrik Lundqvist dilemma. He was outstanding in the series against Atlanta. The Sabres had to break his confidence and puncture a few holes in his armor.

The Sabres hope they can rattle his cage some more on Friday. If he gets back into the groove, he could steal some games.

"You want to burst his bubble," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "The more saves he makes, the better he feels about himself. A big save is almost like scoring a goal. Sometimes that momentum goes the other way."

Thomas Vanek will be a restricted free agent after the season. Normally, teams stay away from offering RFAs contracts as it will cost them a first round draft choice or more. However, Vanek would be worth losing 3 or 4 draft choices if it came to that for other teams looking for a bonafide sniper.

Vanek has now proven that he is playoff ready. Last season, Ruff benched him halfway through the playoffs for lack of production. Such a thing will not occur this year. Vanek scored two goals in the second period, sparking the Sabres huge offensive explosion.

"It’s been a learning year," said Ruff about Vanek’s season. "It’s been a growing year. It’s been a maturing year, and I still feel it is. That was a bigtime tip, and that was a big-time goal he came up with late in the second period."

Rangers must come up with new game plan

The Rangers need to get even more physical and use the trap to contain the Sabres from this point on. Buffalo has always had trouble against teams the use the trap and the Islanders used that to their advantage in the first round.

Jagr has to play with more desire as he can carry his team on his back when he’s interested in playing. The Rangers also have to kick up their physical game if they want to prevent the Sabres from taking a 2-0 lead in the series.

The Sabres, meanwhile, have to continue to play the more intense hockey that they had in Game One to prevent the Rangers from evening the series.

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