Let's get it started!

The banner was raised tonight in a short and sweet ceremony before the game. I'm sure many of the other Canes' blogs will regale you with pictures and all sorts of other things, so I'll get on to the important part - the game itself.

This was a coin-flip game between two excellent teams. The Canes came out hot, the Sabres countered, and it went back and forth all night. Both goalies were extremely solid - all four goals could not be reasonably stopped. Both Sabres goals were freaky deflections through traffic, Staal's I think deflected slightly off the heel of a defenseman's skate and Cole's was just nicely placed top shelf on a five on three. In the end, Danny "Frodo" Briere made a nifty move to the backhand in the shootout and the Canes couldn't respond.

Both teams are going to be very good this year. They have the same core group of players, they're very fast, very skilled, are well-coached, and have excellent goaltending. The first thing I noticed, however, was the Buffalo jerseys. I had been half-way keeping an eye on the "Buffaslug" scandal, but this was the first time I have seen the jerseys in person.

They're atrocious. Without even looking at the logo, I think they're kind of ugly. They look like rec-league jerseys, only I've seen better ones. The Buffaslug logo is just the icing on the cake. Whoever designed this jersey should not only be fired, but should be drawn and quartered.

The new players all made an impression. Tim Gleason is wonderful - he really is a solid player and he lead both teams in ice time (26:51) and tied Eric Staal and Chris Drury with seven shots on goal. He is a good, solid all-around player who doesn't appear to do anything poorly. Tanabe is Tanabe and doesn't appear to have changed much, although his off-season injury issues may have caused him to lose a step. Belanger will be really good once he gets into a groove, Letowski wasn't particularly impressive, and Walker was fun to watch - I think he'll be good with this group.

Hedican, for someone who is fighting lots of injury issues right now, played a hell of a game. The top line of Staal, Cole, and Whitney was excellent. When the other lines start producing, this team will start rolling again. The power play looked good, although they only converted 1 of 9 (Cole's 5 on 3 goal). The penalty kill was stellar, going 9 for 9, including several 5 on 3 chances.

The "official" three stars of the game were (I think) Ward (1), Staal (2), and Gleason (3). That Miller didn't get the first star (or any star, for that matter) just goes to show how many members of the media are not too bright. I wonder who they picked? Regardless...

The Penalty Killer three stars are:

1. Ryan Miller (.941, 1.85, 32/34) - It was a toss-up between the goalies and Miller gets the nod because he got the win. Miller played a very solid game and didn't give the Canes many open looks.
   
2. Cam Ward (.938, 1.85, 30/32, 1A) - Played an excellent game and the only goal he had a chance on was Briere's in the shootout and, to be fair, it was a sweet move.
   
3. Ray Whitney (2A, 1PPA, +1) - His pin-point passes made both Canes goals - a beautiful feed from the defensive zone to Staal in stride and the cross ice pass to Cole from the point on the power play.