Sabres Goaltending A Concern Going Into Postseason

The Buffalo Sabres have been abysmal in what has clearly been their worst stretch of games in the entire 1993 season. While just days ago it was looking like a battle to the end of the season to see whether the Buffalo Sabres or Toronto Maple Leafs would claim the top seed in the Wales Conference, the last 10 games for Buffalo going 4-6-0 has taken them out of the conversation. In fact, in a turn of events that would have seemed completely out of the realm of possibility not long ago, the Sabres are in jeopardy of losing their 3rd seed spot to the Hartford Whalers if they are unable to right the ship!

Last night, the Sabres lost another close game to the New Jersey Devils that seemed like one they should have easily won. Devils starting goaltender Kirk McLean was rested yet again and Pete Peeters did not look good against the Sabres the other night. Mike Palmateer had been battling fatigue along with mediocre play so Bob Froese was given the net for this one. Froese didn't keep it for long, as he surrendered 5 goals on 25 shots before being replaced by Mike Palmateer. Some good news was Mike Palmateer was solid in a limited sample size, stopping 6 of the 6 shots he faced in relief.

The Sabres have one more game against the Quebec Nordiques and New Jersey Devils this week, and those games are followed up by a trio of games against the Calgary Flames and one against the Montreal Canadiens. These are all teams that are quite a bit below the Sabres in the standings, so the expectation within the organization should be that Buffalo come out of this stretch with a perfect 6 and 0 record. Nothing is ever certain in the game of hockey, however. One thing is for sure - the Sabres goalies need to figure things out and they don't have much time before it's more crucial than ever.

-Buffalo, NY