2008–09 Buffalo Sabres season explained

League:	NHL
Season:	2008–09
Year:	2008
Team:	Buffalo Sabres
Conferencerank:	10th
Divisionrank:	3rd
Record:	41–32–9
Homerecord:	23–15–3
Roadrecord:	18–17–6
Goalsfor:	250
Goalsagainst:	234
Attendance:	Average: 18,533 Capacity: 99.2% Total: 296,522
Goalsleader:	Thomas Vanek (40)
Assistsleader:	Jason Pominville (46)
Pointsleader:	Derek Roy (70)
Plusminusleader:	Tim Connolly (+12)
Pimleader:	Craig Rivet (125)
Winsleader:	Ryan Miller (34)
Gaaleader:	Ryan Miller (2.53)

The 2008–09 Buffalo Sabres season was the 39th season of operation for the Buffalo Sabres in the National Hockey League, their 38th season of play.

Pre-season

In their second pre-season game, the Sabres played the Montreal Canadiens in Roberval, Quebec, the 2008 winner of the Kraft Hockeyville contest. In their newly renovated arena, Roberval hosted the preseason game on Tuesday, September 23, 2008. Montreal scored the first three goals, then held off Buffalo for a 3–2 win in at Benoit-Levesque Arena.^[1]

2008 Pre-season Game Log: 2–4–1 (Home: 1–0–1; Road: 1–4–0)
	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Recap
1	September 22	Buffalo	4–7				18,819	0–1–0	http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008010003
2	September 23	Buffalo	2–3	Montreal†			?	0–2–0	http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008010017
3	September 27		2–3	Buffalo	OT		14,629	1–2–0	http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008010051
4	September 28		2–1	Buffalo	SO		17,311	1–2–1	http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008010058
5	October 1	Buffalo	2–3			Miller	18,064	1–3–1	http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008010071
6	October 2	Buffalo	5–2			Lalime	11,314	2–3–1	http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008010079
7	October 5	Buffalo	0–3			Miller	15,983	2–4–1	http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008010099
†Game was played in Roberval, Quebec.

Regular season

Conference standings

Schedule and results

• Green background indicates win (2 points).
• Red background indicates regulation loss (0 points).
• White background indicates overtime/shootout loss (1 point).

2008–09 Game Log
October: 6–2–2 (Home: 3–2–0; Road: 3–0–2) Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 1 October 10 1–2 Buffalo SO 18,690 1–0–0 2 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020012 2 October 13 Buffalo 7–1 13,523 2–0–0 4 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020033 3 October 15 Buffalo 3–1 Miller 18,200 3–0–0 6 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020044 4 October 17 2–5 Buffalo Miller 18,449 4–0–0 8 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020059 5 October 18 Buffalo 2–3 SO Lalime 14,091 4–0–1 9 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020068 6 October 21 2–3 Buffalo SO Miller 18,334 5–0–1 11 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020082 7 October 23 Buffalo 4–3 OT Miller 18,568 6–0–1 13 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020096 8 October 25 Buffalo 1–2 SO Miller 18,007 6–0–2 14 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020117 9 October 27 5–2 Buffalo Lalime 18,690 6–1–2 14 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020120 10 October 30 5–2 Buffalo Miller 18,690 6–2–2 14 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020136
November: 5–7–1 (Home: 4–3–1; Road: 1–4–0) Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 11 November 1 0–5 Buffalo Miller 18,690 7–2–2 16 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020152 12 November 3 Buffalo 2–0 Miller 10,567 8–2–2 18 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020168 13 November 7 5–4 Buffalo OT Miller 18,466 8–2–3 19 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020194 14 November 8 Buffalo 1–3 Miller 17,565 8–3–3 19 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020196 15 November 12 3–4 Buffalo Miller 18,690 9–3–3 21 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020221 16 November 14 6–1 Buffalo Lalime 18,690 9–4–3 21 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020237 17 November 15 Buffalo 2–5 Miller 17,132 9–5–3 21 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020247 18 November 19 Buffalo 4–7 Miller 15,623 9–6–3 21 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020268 19 November 21 3–0 Buffalo Miller 18,256 9–7–3 21 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020282 20 November 22 4–2 Buffalo Lalime 18,529 9–8–3 21 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020287 21 November 26 2–3 Buffalo Miller 18,326 10–8–3 23 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020309 22 November 28 3–4 Buffalo Miller 18,690 11–8–3 25 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020329 23 November 29 Buffalo 2–3 Lalime 21,273 11–9–3 25 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020338
December: 6–6–2 (Home: 3–4–1; Road: 3–2–1) Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 24 December 1 2–0 Buffalo Miller 18,690 11–10–3 25 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020350 25 December 4 Buffalo 1–2 Miller 13,123 11–11–3 25 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020371 26 December 6 Buffalo 4–3 Miller 17,154 12–11–3 27 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020387 27 December 8 Buffalo 4–3 Miller 16,976 13–11–3 29 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020400 28 December 10 2–4 Buffalo Miller 18,431 14–11–3 31 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020405 29 December 12 2–1 Buffalo Miller 18,211 14–12–3 31 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020424 30 December 13 Buffalo 4–2 Lalime 15,713 15–12–3 33 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020434 31 December 17 5–3 Buffalo Miller 18,690 15–13–3 33 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020455 32 December 19 0–5 Buffalo Miller 18,147 16–13–3 35 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020470 33 December 20 Buffalo 3–4 OT Miller 21,273 16–13–4 36 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020476 34 December 22 4–3 Buffalo OT Miller 18,690 16–13–5 37 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020490 35 December 26 Buffalo 2–3 Lalime 18,277 16–14–5 37 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020509 36 December 27 3–4 Buffalo SO Miller 18,690 17–14–5 39 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020516 37 December 30 4–2 Buffalo Miller 18,690 17–15–5 39 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020539
January: 9–4–0 (Home: 3–0–0; Road: 6–4–0) Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 38 January 1 Buffalo 4–1 Miller 19,176 18–15–5 41 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020556 39 January 3 Buffalo 4–2 Miller 17,565 19–15–5 43 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020565 40 January 6 2–4 Buffalo Miller 18,443 20–15–5 45 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020586 41 January 9 1–2 Buffalo SO Miller 18,385 21–15–5 47 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020610 42 January 10 Buffalo 1–3 Miller 20,066 21–16–5 47 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020620 43 January 14 Buffalo 1–4 Lalime 21,684 21–17–5 47 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020644 44 January 15 Buffalo 5–4 SO Miller 17,339 22–17–5 49 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020652 45 January 17 1–3 Buffalo Miller 18,690 23–17–5 51 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020663 46 January 19 Buffalo 3–2 SO Miller 12,480 24–17–5 53 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020681 47 January 21 Buffalo 3–5 Miller 15,611 24–18–5 53 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020696 48 January 27 Buffalo 10–2 Miller 16,839 25–18–5 55 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020710 49 January 28 Buffalo 2–5 Miller 19,289 25–19–5 55 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020713 50 January 31 Buffalo 2–0 Miller 16,253 26–19–5 57 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020739
February: 5–6–2 (Home: 4–3–0; Road: 1–3–2) Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 51 February 2 Buffalo 2–3 Lalime 16,874 26–20–5 57 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020747 52 February 4 0–5 Buffalo Miller 17,355 27–20–5 59 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020760 53 February 6 2–3 Buffalo Miller 18,161 28–20–5 61 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020772 54 February 7 Buffalo 2–3 SO Miller 18,452 28–20–6 62 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020781 55 February 11 3–1 Buffalo Miller 18,690 28–21–6 62 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020805 56 February 13 5–6 Buffalo SO Miller 18,690 29–21–6 64 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020820 57 February 15 3–0 Buffalo Miller 18,690 29–22–6 64 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020838 58 February 17 Buffalo 4–1 Miller 19,287 30–22–6 66 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020848 59 February 19 Buffalo 3–6 Miller 19,642 30–23–6 66 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020860 60 February 21 2–4 Buffalo Miller 18,690 31–23–6 68 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020879 61 February 24 3–2 Buffalo Lalime 18,690 31–24–6 68 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020894 62 February 26 Buffalo 1–2 SO Lalime 18,219 31–24–7 69 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020913 63 February 28 Buffalo 0–2 Lalime 14,198 31–25–7 69 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020928
March: 6–5–1 (Home: 5–1–1; Road: 1–4–0) Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 64 March 4 1–5 Buffalo Lalime 17,745 32–25–7 71 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020953 65 March 6 1–5 Buffalo Lalime 18,690 33–25–7 73 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020965 66 March 7 Buffalo 3–6 Lalime 18,444 33–26–7 73 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020973 67 March 10 Buffalo 2–5 Lalime 19,421 33–27–7 73 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020990 68 March 12 1–3 Buffalo Lalime 18,690 34–27–7 75 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008021004 69 March 14 4–3 Buffalo SO Lalime 18,690 34–27–8 76 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008021022 70 March 17 Buffalo 2–4 20,053 34–28–8 76 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008021042 71 March 20 6–4 Buffalo Lalime 18,690 34–29–8 76 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008021065 72 March 21 Buffalo 3–5 Lalime 18,200 34–30–8 76 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008021073 73 March 25 3–5 Buffalo Tellqvist 18,690 35–30–8 78 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008021096 74 March 27 3–5 Buffalo Miller 18,620 36–30–8 80 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008021111 75 March 28 Buffalo 4–3 SO Miller 21,273 37–30–8 82 http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008021118
April: 4–2–1 (Home: 1–2–0; Road: 3–0–1) Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 76 April 1 Buffalo 2–3 OT Miller 15,038 37–30–9 83 ^[2] 77 April 3 Buffalo 5–4 OT Miller 18,277 38–30–9 85 ^[3] 78 April 4 2–3 Buffalo Miller 18,690 38–31–9 85 http://www.nhl.com/ice/boxscore.htm?id=2008021165 79 April 6 1–4 Buffalo Miller 18,690 38–32–9 85 http://www.nhl.com/ice/boxscore.htm?id=2008021181 80 April 8 Buffalo 3–1 Miller 19,516 39–32–9 87 http://www.nhl.com/ice/boxscore.htm?id=2008021197 81 April 9 Buffalo 5-1 Miller 18,513 40–32–9 89 http://www.nhl.com/ice/boxscore.htm?id=2008021201 82 April 11 1-6 Buffalo Tellqvist 18,690 41-32-9 91 http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20082009/GS021218.HTM

Playoffs

The Buffalo Sabres failed to qualify for the 2009 NHL Playoffs.

Player statistics

Goaltenders

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Sabres. Stats reflect time with Sabres only.
^‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Sabres only.

Awards and records

Milestones

Regular Season
Player	Milestone	Date achieved
	100th NHL assist	October 13, 2008
	200th NHL point	October 15, 2008
	400th NHL win	October 15, 2008
	400th NHL appearance	October 27, 2008
	1st NHL goal	November 22, 2008
	1st NHL game	December 6, 2008
Nathan Gerbe	1st NHL assist	December 13, 2008
		1st NHL game 1st NHL assist	December 19, 2008
		1st NHL game	December 27, 2008
		100th NHL Goal	February 13, 2009
		100th NHL Point	February 13, 2009

Transactions

Trades

June 20, 2008	To Buffalo Sabres 1st-round pick (12th overall) in 2008	To Los Angeles Kings 1st-round pick (13th overall) in 2008 3rd-round pick in 2009
June 21, 2008	To Buffalo Sabres 3rd-round pick (81st overall) in 2008 4th-round pick (101st overall) in 2008	To Los Angeles Kings 3rd-round pick (74th overall) in 2008
July 4, 2008	To Buffalo Sabres Craig Rivet 7th-round pick in 2010	To San Jose Sharks 2nd-round pick in 2009 2nd-round pick in 2010
July 4, 2008	To Buffalo Sabres 3rd-round pick in 2009 2nd-round pick in 2010	To Vancouver Canucks Steve Bernier
March 4, 2009	To Buffalo Sabres Mikael Tellqvist	To Phoenix Coyotes 4th-round pick in 2010
March 4, 2009	To Buffalo Sabres Dominic Moore	To Toronto Maple Leafs 2nd-round pick in 2009
March 4, 2009	To Buffalo Sabres 2nd-round pick in 2009	To Edmonton Oilers Ales Kotalik

Free agents

Player Former team Contract Terms 2 years, $2 million 1 Year, $500,000

Player New team New York Rangers

Claimed from waivers

Draft picks

Buffalo's picks at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa, Ontario.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior Team
1	12	Tyler Myers	D		Kelowna Rockets (WHL)
1	26	Tyler Ennis	C		Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
2	44	Luke Adam	C		St. John's Fog Devils (QMJHL)
3	81	Corey Fienhage	D		Eastview High School (USHS-MN)
4	101	Justin Jokinen	RW		Cloquet High School (USHS-MN)
4	104	Jordon Southorn	D		P.E.I. Rocket (QMJHL)
5	134	Jacob Lagace	LW		Chicoutimi Sagueneens (QMJHL)
6	164	Nick Crawford	D		Saginaw Spirit (OHL)

See also

• 2008–09 NHL season

Farm teams

On June 11, the Buffalo Sabres signed a three-year deal with the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League, ending a 29-year affiliation with the Rochester Americans.^[4]

Notes and References

1. http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?service=page&page=Recap&gameNumber=17&season=20082009&gameType=1 Montreal defeats Buffalo in Hockeyville, CA
2. Web site: NHL.com - Recap: Sabres @ Thrashers - 04/01/2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090405062031/http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008021145 . April 5, 2009 . live . April 2, 2009 . mdy .
3. Web site: NHL.com - Game Boxscore: Sabres @ Capitals - 04/03/2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090406015217/http://www.nhl.com/ice/boxscore.htm?id=2008021160 . April 6, 2009 . live . May 9, 2009 . mdy .
4. News: Sabres end 29-year affiliation with Rochester, switch to Portland. ESPN . ESPN . June 11, 2008 . June 11, 2008 . Associated Press .