2005–06 Buffalo Sabres season

Regular season

On January 14, 2006, the Sabres defeated the Los Angeles Kings at home by a score of 10–1. Jochen Hecht and Jason Pominville each had hat-tricks in the game. It was the first time that the Sabres had scored 10 goals in a regular-season game since February 24, 1993, when they defeated the Detroit Red Wings at home by a score of 10–7.

Season standings

Playoffs

Main article: 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs

The Buffalo Sabres earned the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Buffalo defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in the first-round of the 2006 playoffs in six games. In the second round, the Sabres defeated top-seeded Ottawa in five games. A total of three victories in the series came in overtime, including the series-clinching Game 5, which was won on a short-handed goal by Jason Pominville to send Buffalo to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes. It was the first time in NHL history that a series had been decided on a short-handed overtime goal.

Despite being without some or all of their four top defensemen (Teppo Numminen, Dmitri Kalinin, Jay McKee and Henrik Tallinder), and their top powerplay scorer, Tim Connolly, who had 11 points in eight games in the playoffs, for much of the series, the Sabres fought back from a three-games-to-two deficit to force a seventh game by way of a 2–1 overtime win in Game 6. Buffalo led the Hurricanes 2–1 going into the final period of the deciding game but blew the lead early in the third and gave up two more late goals for a 4–2 final score.

Schedule and results

Regular season

|- | 1 || October 5 || NY Islanders || 4 – 6 || Buffalo || || Miller || 15,702 || 1–0–0 || 2 || |- | 2 || October 7 || Boston || 1 – 4 || Buffalo || || Miller || 13,771 || 2–0–0 || 4 || |- | 3 || October 8 || Buffalo || 0 – 5 || Ottawa || || Miller || 19,661 || 2–1–0 || 4 || |- | 4 || October 10 || Pittsburgh || 2 – 3 || Buffalo || OT || Miller || 12,050 || 3–1–0 || 6 || |- | 5 || October 13 || Buffalo || 4 – 3 || Tampa Bay || SO || Miller || 20,184 || 4–1–0 || 8 || |- | 6 || October 15 || Buffalo || 2 – 3 || Florida || || Miller || 17,426 || 4–2–0 || 8 || |- | 7 || October 20 || Buffalo || 4 – 3 || Boston || || Miller || 14,525 || 5–2–0 || 10 || |- | 8 || October 22 || NY Rangers || 1 – 3 || Buffalo || || Miller || 16,346 || 6–2–0 || 12 || |- | 9 || October 26 || Washington || 3 – 2 || Buffalo || || Miller || 8,552 || 6–3–0 || 12 || |- | 10 || October 28 || Buffalo || 2 – 3 || New Jersey || || Miller || 12,378 || 6–4–0 || 12 || |- | 11 || October 29 || Buffalo || 6 – 4 || NY Islanders || || Biron || 13,226 || 7–4–0 || 14 ||

| Legend:

Playoffs

|- | 1 || April 22 || Philadelphia || 2 – 3 || Buffalo || 2OT || Miller || 18,690 || Sabres lead 1–0 || |- | 2 || April 24 || Philadelphia || 2 – 8 || Buffalo || || Miller || 18,690 || Sabres lead 2–0 || |- | 3 || April 26 || Buffalo || 2 – 4 || Philadelphia || || Miller || 19,984 || Sabres lead 2–1 || |- | 4 || April 28 || Buffalo || 4 – 5 || Philadelphia || || Miller || 20,092 || Series tied 2–2 || |- | 5 || April 30 || Philadelphia || 0 – 3 || Buffalo || || Miller || 18,690 || Sabres lead 3–2 || |- | 6 || May 2 || Buffalo || 7 – 1 || Philadelphia || || Miller || 19,967 || Sabres win 4–2 ||

| Legend:

Player statistics

Scoring

• Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Sabres only.*

Goaltending

• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Sabres only.*

Awards and records

Awards

Milestones

Transactions

The Sabres were involved in the following transactions from February 17, 2005, the day after the 2004–05 NHL season was officially cancelled, through June 19, 2006, the day of the deciding game of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals.

Trades

Players acquired

Players lost

Signings

Draft picks

As there was no 2004–05 season to set the order for the draft, a lottery was held in which teams were assigned a number of balls, between one and three, based on the number of playoff appearances the team had had in the past three seasons. As the Sabres had missed the playoffs three consecutive seasons, they were one of only four teams which had the full allotment of three balls in the lottery. Despite this advantage, the Sabres only ended up with the 13th overall pick.

Buffalo's picks at the 2005 NHL entry draft in Ottawa, Ontario:

Notes

References

References

1. National Hockey League. (2010). "The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book/2011". Triumph Books.
2. "2005-06 NHL Summary".
3. "Los Angeles Kings at Buffalo Sabres Box Score — January 14, 2006".
4. "Detroit Red Wings at Buffalo Sabres Box Score — February 24, 1993".
5. "2005-06 Buffalo Sabres Schedule".
6. (June 22, 2006). "Ruff Wins Jack Adams Award".
7. (December 26, 2005). "Marian Hossa Named NHL Offensive Player Of The Week".
8. (February 6, 2006). "Defensive Player of the Week".
9. "2005-06 NHL Debuts".
10. "Hockey Transactions Search Results".
11. (July 30, 2005). "Three defencemen, two goalies, two forwards and a Sutter".
12. (August 24, 2005). "Kennedy: One Step Closer".
13. (August 25, 2005). "Sabres Acquire Lydman".
14. (October 4, 2005). "Leighton, Bartovic dealt".
15. (March 8, 2006). "Noronen Traded To Canucks".
16. (August 4, 2005). "Thursday roundup: Avs to keep Tanguay, Sauer".
17. (August 1, 2005). "Free Agents List".
18. (February 24, 2005). "Amerks’ Botterill retires".
19. (August 3, 2005). "Oilers strike again, acquire Isles' Peca for York".
20. (August 8, 2005). "Thrashers Sign Unrestricted Free Agent Forwards Eric Boulton, Ramzi Abid and Scott Barney".
21. (August 18, 2005). "Lightning sign four".
22. (August 31, 2005). "AMERKS RE-SIGN SMITH & DUFRESNE".
23. (September 8, 2005). "TRANSACTIONS".
24. (September 10, 2005). "Leafs move on from Marchment, ink D Brown".
25. "TOM ASKEY".
26. "Danbury Trashers - United Hockey League - team transactions".
27. (July 29, 2005). "TRANSACTIONS".
28. (July 30, 2005). "TRANSACTIONS".
29. "Taylor Pyatt Stats, News, Video, Bio, Highlights on TSN".
30. (August 8, 2005). "Grier accepts one-year qualifying offer from Sabres".
31. (August 12, 2005). "Biron Accepts Qualifying Offer".
32. (August 12, 2005). "Miller and Campbell Accept Qualifying Offers".
33. (August 15, 2005). "Eleven Players Accept Qualifying Offers".
34. (August 15, 2005). "Hecht Agrees to Three-Year Deal".
35. (September 10, 2005). "McKee rejoins Sabres for one year at $1.6-million".
36. "SEAN MCMORROW".
37. "Mark Mancari Stats, News, Video, Bio, Highlights on TSN".
38. (May 3, 2006). "Sabres Sign Drew Stafford".
39. (June 5, 2006). "Sabres Sign Four Players".
40. "2005 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".