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Stafford, Miller help Sabres cruise past Maple Leafs

Feb 18, 2009 - 4:49 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Thanks to Drew Stafford and goaltender Ryan Miller, the Buffalo Sabres are learning to play without injured All-Star Thomas Vanek.

Stafford netted a pair of power-play goals and Miller made 27 saves as the Sabres posted a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.

Daniel Paille scored a goal and set up another, Matt Ellis also tallied and Tim Connolly registered two assists for Buffalo, which had lost three of its previous four contests.

"Ryan played great and we were able to get the lead," Sabres right wing Jason Pominville said. "It is really important, obviously.

"We're missing an elite scorer and other guys are stepping in, playing bigger roles, different roles in different situations. It's a team game, it's not about one guy. We've done a good job since he's been out of the lineup."

Defenseman Pavel Kubina recorded a goal and rookie Justin Pogge turned aside 26 shots for the Maple Leafs, who have dropped three of four.

"In the second and third period, (Pogge) showed he's going to be a solid NHL goalie," Toronto coach Ron Wilson said. "I'm disappointed with some of our veteran defensemen who gave up some easy tap-in goals."

Buffalo improved to 2-2-0 without Vanek, who suffered a fractured jaw during a 3-2 shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators on February 7. The Austrian left wing leads the team with 32 goals and is not expected to return until mid-March at the earliest.

Miller, who has surrendered two or fewer goals in seven of his last 11 games, was supported by an offensive outburst in the first period in this one.

"The guys understand what these games mean," Miller said. "Tonight was a move toward fifth place, so we can hold on to that for at least the evening. In our book, it's about moving up and moving forward and we're as high as we've been in a long time this evening. We're pretty proud of the effort tonight."

Stafford opened the scoring with a power-play goal with 7:20 remaining in the first and Paille doubled the lead 99 seconds later by firing a slap shot from below the right faceoff circle.

"We started off slowly, but (Miller) kept us in there and made some unbelievable saves," Paille said. "We finally started to wake up, get some pucks to the net and after that, we just played it simple. (We) tried to maintain the lead; the effort was there from all of us and we're very satisfied with that win."

Ellis registered his fifth goal of the season with 2:16 left in the session, accepting a feed from Paille and lifting a wrist shot over Pogge while stationed on the left side of the crease.

"It was a pretty frustrating beginning to the game," Maple Leafs center Dominic Moore said. "We could have capitalized on some of our power-play chances, but that's how it goes sometimes."

Kubina cut the deficit to 3-1 at 7:28 of the second on the power play, when he wristed the puck past Miller to notch his ninth tally of the campaign.

However, Miller preserved the lead and Stafford secured the victory with the man advantage at 7:37 of the third by beating Pogge with a backhander.

"We came out pretty tight we had some good desperation saves from (Miller)," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "I thought we were fortunate to end up with the lead, but once we got our legs underneath us, we skated as well as we have in a long time."