After being off a week, David Oleksy and I take a look at the Kings and Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals and catch up on the lone Sabres news of Alexander Sulzer being signed with the team.

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With the 2011-12 Buffalo Sabres ending in disappointment and after a few weeks for us to gather our thoughts, it's time for us to issue our report cards on the season. Over the next few weeks, we'll grade every player that wore a Buffalo Sabres uniform in 2011 and 2012, from Luke Adam to Mike Weber.

Introduction: After the Sabres defense was overhauled in the offseason, Jordan Leopold was one of the few remaining members of the blue line. Leopold had been a member of the Sabres for only one season himself, signing a three year deal in 2010. His offensive stats dropped from 2010-11 to 2011-12 much like they have for most of the Sabres last season, but he was one of the most solid defenders the team had. Leopold had a solid defensive season though with his first plus season since his last full season with the Colorado Avalanche.

With the re-signing of Alexander Sulzer in the last couple of weeks, many Sabres feel that Leopold is an expendable piece to get rid of in the offseason, but it would be hard to replace the type of production that Leopold has brought to the Sabres in his two seasons on the ice for them.

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Dave Oleksy and myself present another episode of the Die By The Blade podcast where we discuss the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the impending CBA negotiations, and more hockey things. You can listen here:

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With the apparent contract extension of Alexander Sulzer, it leaves the Buffalo Sabres with another logjam at defense with seven NHL ready defensemen on the current payroll and another seemingly ready defenseman waiting in the wings. As we have seen in the past, having eight or nine NHL ready defensemen is not a bad thing with the string of injuries that the team has suffered in the past few years. With that said, it gives the team a chance to move a defenseman to clear up some cap space or make some moves to bolster the roster. Here are the defensemen that are most likely to be moved.

Jordan Leopold ($3,000,000 cap hit, UFA after 2012-2013 season)

Leopold seems like the ideal candidate for a team that would want a solid defenseman that can contribute 20 points a season. A nine year veteran, Leopold had 10 goals and 14 assists in 79 games last season for the Sabres. His offensive zone start percentage of 52.5% was third among defensemen that played at least five games for the Sabres.

Leopold will probably not be moved in the offseason, but depending on how the team performs next season, could be a good rental player for a team looking to contend for a playoff spot.

Mike Weber ($950,000 cap hit, RFA after 2012-2013 season)

Mike Weber has often been the odd man out in the Sabres defensive rotation as there have always seemed to be more credible defensemen to play in his spot. Weber has played no more than 58 games in a season, that coming in the 2010-2011 season. Last year, Weber had one goal and four assists in 51 games and was a team worst -19 as well.

Weber could be a useful young defenseman with some limited upside for a team looking to rebuild and could be a throw in piece as part of a deal to essentially sweeten the pot much like Chris Butler was in the Robyn Regher deal.

Brayden McNabb ($900,000 cap hit on entry-level contract, RFA after 2013-14 season)

Brayden McNabb made a little headway with the Sabres at the end of last season as he was an adequate defensive replacement when the Sabres ran through their string of injuries. At this point though, it would appear that McNabb would have to start the season in Rochester with the logjam at defense that already exists. In 25 games last year, McNabb had one goal and eight assists with the big club and in Rochester he had five goals and 25 points in 45 games.

For McNabb to be traded, the Sabres would have to be pursuing something big as McNabb is currently listed as the second best prospect in the organization according to Hockeys Future.

19:18

That was the average time on ice Alexander Sulzer had during his 15 games with the Buffalo Sabres. That is the highest average TOI among any of the teams that he has played for. His three goals is a career high and he had a career best two goal game as well for the Sabres. That offensive production will disappear next season has he will regress back to his average mean of possibly getting one goal in the season.

The Sabres shouldn't expect the same kind of production out of Sulzer next season. He has never scored more than one goal in a season and his cap hit is relatively small compared to all of the other defensive contracts. Sabres fans should expect no more than a solid defenseman that is going to play approximately 12-15 minutes a game. If the Sabres rely on him more than that, then there are some serious issues at work.

According to Capgeek, the Buffalo Sabres have re-signed Alexander Sulzer to a one-year, one-way, $725,000 contract. Sulzer was acquired by the Buffalo Sabres as part of the Cody Hodgson/Zack Kassian deal at the trade deadline last year. In 15 games with the Sabres, Sulzer had 3 goals and 5 assists, which are the most points Sulzer has had with any of the four teams he was a part of in his four seasons.

This leaves the Buffalo Sabres with seven defensemen under one-way contracts with Brayden McNabb now waiting in the wings with two years left on his entry-level deal. The team has three more restricted free agents to re-sign in Tyler Ennis, Patrick Kaleta, and TJ Brennan and a projected $5.7 million left in cap space if the salary cap does not change in the offseason.

With the 2011-12 Buffalo Sabres ending in disappointment and after a few weeks for us to gather our thoughts, it's time for us to issue our report cards on the season. Over the next few weeks, we'll grade every player that wore a Buffalo Sabres uniform in 2011 and 2012, from Luke Adam to Mike Weber.

Introduction: After posting seven points in seven playoff games in the 2011 NHL Playoffs with the Sabres, many fans had thought the Sabres had found the puck moving defenseman the team had needed in the past couple of years. Added with Christian Ehrhoff on the power play, the thought was that the two defensemen would be a dangerous combination in an area that needed help.

The one problem with that was that besides the power play, Gragnani was more of a defensive liability than he was an asset. His lackadaisical play during even strength was often derided by Sabres fans to the point that near the end of his tenure in Buffalo, Gragnani was only put in the lineup because of his special teams ability.

Gragnani was mercifully sent to Vancouver as part of the Cody Hodgson deal and played in a total of 14 games for the Canucks during the regular season. In those 14 games, Gragnani had 3 points, one goal and two assists, and never made the lineup for Vancouver in the playoffs.

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Dave Oleksy and myself take a look at a few more players in the report card series including Christian Ehrhoff, Tyler Ennis, Jhonas Enroth. Also, our thoughts on the impending conference finals.

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We've had a few other shows in the past weeks that you haven't had a chance to listen to so here are those shows:

Episode 9 - Rochester Americans Playoff Edition

Episode 10 - Our analysis of the first round

Episode 11 - More playoff talk, Daniel Briere, and discussing the first group of player report cards.

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Dave Oleksy and I take a look at the media controversy surrounded by the lack of a press conference and our thoughts on the early games in the first round.

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In this week's episode, we revisit the yearly Daniel Briere debate and talk about a couple of players in our report card series, highlighting Luke Adam, Brad Boyes, and TJ Brennan.

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Dave Oleksy and I take a look at the completion of the first round of the NHL playoffs and our thoughts on Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier

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Dave Oleksy and I take a look at the moves the Sabres made at the trade deadline and how it improved the team.

Dave Olesky and Zachary Zielonka take a look at the Buffalo Sabres as they head into the trade deadline. We examine what the team needs to do heading into the deadline.

Our first episode of our newest installment of our podcast series talks about our expectations for the team heading into the trade deadline. That is if you can suffer through my audio issues.

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Introduction: The legend known as Joe Finley started with the Buffalo Sabres on October 4th as he signed an AHL contract with the Rochester Americans. He impressed the Sabres organization enough that he earned a three year contract with the Sabres and was called up to the parent club on December 1st. Finley earned legend status with his large frame, 6' 8", and his propensity to throwing down whenever he's needed. During the past season with the Rochester Americans, Finley played in 57 games, had one goal and six points and 143 penalty minutes. That total led the Americans, but didn't crack the top 20 in total penalty minutes in the AHL.

In his brief NHL time, Finley appeared in five games with the Sabres and registered a -3 with 12 penalty minutes. Ten of those penalty minutes came in his first two career NHL fights, one against the Islanders's Matt Martin and the other against St. Louis' Ryan Reaves.

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With the 2011-12 Buffalo Sabres ending in disappointment and after a few weeks for us to gather our thoughts, it's time for us to issue our report cards on the season. Over the next few weeks, we'll grade every player that wore a Buffalo Sabres uniform in 2011 and 2012, from Luke Adam to Mike Weber.

Introduction: Many thought that Jhonas Enroth was going to be the backup goaltending solution the Sabres were looking for the past few years. Enroth's strong finish in 2010-11 to help the Sabres clinch a playoff berth gave fans hope that he could give Ryan Miller a rest throughout the season and not have to give up points in the process. That didn't come to fruition as Enroth had his first losing season in North America in his career.

Enroth finished the season with a 8-11-4 record, 2.70 goals against average, and .917 save percentage. The goals against average and save percentage were NHL career highs for Enroth. His only better season was in 2009-10 with the Portland Pirates where he had a 2.37 GAA and .919 save percentage. He also finished that year 28-28-1.

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The Buffalo Sabres are surprisingly shallow when it comes to goaltending depth in the organization. The depth at the NHL level isn't under question with Ryan Miller signed until the 2013-14 season and his backup, Jhonas Enroth signed through the 2012-13 season. From there, the Sabres have some question marks.

Depth at the NHL Level

Ryan Miller - Signed through 2013-14 at a cap hit of $6.25 million

The debate is still out there whether Ryan Miller is the elite goaltender the Sabres need. There is no debate that if he is on the team, Miller will be the starting goaltender for the next two years for the Sabres. Miller has one Vezina trophy and his a career 252-147-49 record with a 2.57 goals against average and .915 save percentage.

Jhonas Enroth - Signed through 2012-13 at a cap hit of $675,000

Jhonas Enroth has had an interesting career arc with the Buffalo Sabres, saving the Sabres playoff chances during the 2010-11 season and having a disappointing season in his first full season as an NHL backup goaltender. Enroth went 8-11-4 last season with a 2.70 GAA and .917 SV%. In his career, Enroth is 17-14-6 with a .913 SV% and 2.75 GAA.

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In the slow news period of April and May, the Buffalo Sabres are quietly signing some prospects to entry level deals. On Saturday, the Sabres announced that they signed goaltender Nathan Lieuwen to a three-year entry level deal. According to CapGeek, the deal is worth $1.715 million if Lieuwen were to play in the NHL and $55,000 a year for an AHL contract.

Lieuwen played in five seasons with the Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League and led the Ice to a Memorial Cup appearance in 2011, eventually losing to the Saint Johns Sea Dogs of the Quebec Junior Major Hockey League. During the five years, Lieuwen 85-59-8-7 with the Ice and had his best season in 2010-11 where he went 33-16-4 with a 2.79 goals against average and .903 save percentage.

Lieuwen will most likely join the Rochester Americans next season as his eligibility for the Ice has run out.

37

37 is the number of playoff goals that Danny Briere has now scored since leaving the Buffalo Sabres. Six of them even came against the Sabres in the 2011 first round playoff series between the two teams. The Sabres as a team have a total of 33 playoff goals in just two series ever since Briere left. I know this because every time Danny Briere scores a playoff goal, there is a massive contingent that reminds of this fact.

There are two sides of this debate. There are a group of fans that love to remind us of this every time it happens because they are still bitter over the situation when he left town. Then, there is the other group that can't stand hearing about it because after five years they don't care anymore. You can count me in the latter group.

Joe Pinzone of Buffalo Wins has a good post about why he's annoyed at all of the people that harp on him over being angry over the situation. He has a good argument about why we should be annoyed over this situation that finishes off with this point:

That's why I tweet a snarky comment every time Briere scores a playoff goal. I think everyone should remember what it's like to have a real player in this town. That's what we should want for our team and players.

There is a inherent problem with this though. There is a breaking point after some point that people have to move on and start placing blame on the current situation. Sabres management bungled the situation badly and they still haven't recovered properly. But Danny Briere was only part of the problem. The Sabres lost Chris Drury in that offseason and thought that Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek were going to be the solutions. Obviously, that was an incorrect conclusion and the team is still trying to rebuild from those moves. Yes, the Sabres would probably be better off with Briere in the lineup, but I don't think that he solves all of this team's problems.

After five years, I'm ready to move on and blame everyone else.

With the 2011-12 Buffalo Sabres ending in disappointment and after a few weeks for us to gather our thoughts, it's time for us to issue our report cards on the season. Over the next few weeks, we'll grade every player that wore a Buffalo Sabres uniform in 2011 and 2012, from Luke Adam to Mike Weber.

Introduction: Matt Ellis is one of those players that you have to admire because no matter what game it is in the regular season, whether it be the first, the last, or a random game in the middle of January, Matt Ellis brings his 'A' game to the ice. Ellis' 'A' game may not be the flashiest thing on the ice nor the prettiest thing but as a fan you know that he is leaving everything on the ice.

In terms of the offensive production, eight points isn't going to break the bank much. In fact, I probably would bet you that you didn't realize that Ellis played in 60 of 82 games this season. Ellis is signed through next season for an affordable rate, but the contract becomes a one-way contract in the final year.

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Heading into the 2011-2012 Buffalo Sabres season, Luke Adam's emergence at the start of the season had some Sabres fans hoping that Adam may be part of the solution to the lack of quality centers the Sabres had on the roster. At the end of the season, the question is now whether Adam could crack the lineup as a center.

The Sabres have three centers on the current roster that are most likely slotted ahead of Adam in Derek Roy, Cody Hodgson, and Cody McCormick. Tyler Ennis found his niche playing as a center at the end of the season and should probably move over to center to start the 2012-13 season. That means unless there are some injuries, Adam is going to have to play his way onto the roster to start the season.

This is all contingent on the Sabres not moving Roy for someone else besides a center. If the Sabres decide to move Roy and go with another center, the depth chart doesn't change. If they exchange for a winger, that leaves Cody Hodgson as the team's number one center and Tyler Ennis and Luke Adam fighting for the second and third line center role with McCormick playing center on the checking 4th line.

The depth chart behind Adam isn't all that challenging at the moment. According to Hockey's Future, there are four listed centers in the pipeline. They are Daniel Catenacci, Kevin Sundher, Steven Shipley, and Phil Varone. Only Varone was playing with the Americans last season and is ranked 4th on the list with a ceiling of the possibility of being a second to third line forward.

Phil Varone was Rochester's leading point scorer last season with 52 points in 76 games and was rewarded with a three year entry level contract that is set to start next season. He was never called up to the Sabres due to the fact that he was just under an AHL contract. The Sabres signed Varone to an entry level deal late last season. Kevin Sundher will join the Americans after scoring 75 points (26 goals and 49 assists) in 58 games for the Victoria Royals and Brandon Wheat Kings. In the playoffs, Sundher had a goal and two assists in nine games.

Luke Adam needed to find his game again in Rochester at the end of this past season and he's going to need to find it rather quickly in the preseason of next season or he is going to be toiling back down in Rochester again to start the season. That's the way the roster stacks up at the moment.

With the 2011-12 Buffalo Sabres ending in disappointment and a few weeks for us to gather our thought, it is time for us to issue our report cards on the season. Over the next few weeks, we will grade every player that wore a Buffalo Sabres uniform in 2011 and 2012, from Luke Adam to Mike Weber.

Our first report card starts off with the rookie Luke Adam.

Introduction: Luke Adam came into the season with a lot of promise as many Sabres fans were interested in seeing what Adam could bring to the team. He started the season hot with five goals and 11 points in the first eleven games of the season. In the final 41 games of the season, Adam scored five goals and nine points; was shuffled around in the lineup; and eventually demoted to Rochester to find his game.

In Rochester, Adam had 4 goals and 13 points in 27 games played and added another assist in three playoff games against the Toronto Marlies. Adam went from one of the hottest rookies in the league to start the season and an all-star representative to a hockey player that lost all confidence in his game that eventually needed to be demoted to find a scoring touch.

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The Rochester Americans' Calder Cup run ends just as quickly as it started with a three game sweep at the hands of the Toronto Marlies. Game three saw the Americans go scoreless as the Marlies cruised away with a 3-0 win at the Blue Cross Arena. It was the first time in the 13 games between these two teams this season that the margin of victory was greater than one goal.

The Marlies got the scoring started early in the first period as Philippe Dupuis scored his first goal of the series just 3:59 into the game. Nicolas Deschamps and Mark Fraser got the assists on the goal. That would be all of the scoring in the period as the Marlies got a 9-6 advantage in shots and just looked like the better team in the period. The Amerks started throwing the body around at the end of the period and tried to carry that momentum into the second period.

In the second, the Amerks got shots off early and often, getting eleven on net in the first eight minutes of the period and seventeen overall in the period. But it would be Amerk killer Jerry D'Amigo scoring his fifth goal of the series just 1:36 into the period to give Toronto a 2-0 lead. The Americans would get a couple of good scoring chances including a good feed from Derek Whitmore to Corey Tropp in front of the net but couldn't beat Ben Scrivens.

The third period saw more of the same from the Marlies. Nazem Kadri got his first goal of the series on a botched drop pass from Corey Tropp. Kadri then worked the puck into the zone with Jerry D'Amigo and Greg Scott and finally outdeked David Leggio for the goal. The Marlies would play shut down defense for the rest of the period as the Amerks would only manage five shots on goal in the period.

Overall, the Amerks just looked gassed and the Marlies looked like the better team in the playoff series finale. David Leggio looked shaky early but settled in and made 23 saves in the losing effort while Ben Scrivens had a solid night making 29 saves to earn the shutout. The Marlies will wait to face their opponent as the Connecticut Whale is the only team that has moved onto the second round. The Americans will retool and look ahead to next season.

The Rochester Americans are now on the brink of elimination as they lost their second straight one goal decision against Toronto. In fact, Game Two played out pretty much like Game One did with a few variations. The Americans lost a 4-3 game with Jerry D'Amigo scoring two goals and the game winning goal late in the game.

In the first period, the Marlies got the scoring started early as Jerry D'Amigo got started right where he left off with a goal 1:44 into the game. The lone assist on the goal came from Philippe Dupuis, his only point of the night. Toronto would increase the lead to two goals on their lone power play goal of the night from Mike Zigomanis. The Americans looked like they were in serious trouble as the Marlies looked like the dominant team in the first period, but Rochester ended the period outshooting Toronto 10-6.

The second period saw the first major shift in the game as Nazem Kadri almost put Toronto up 3-0 as he had David Leggio down and out and put the puck off both posts and watched it tiptoe along the goal line but never fully cross it. The Americans took advantage of this several minutes later as Marcus Foligno scored his second goal of the series to work the Marlies lead down to one. Three minutes later, Phil Varone scored just seconds after the Americans were coming off the power play to tie the game up. That tie would not last long though as Nicolas Deschamps gave Toronto a 3-2 lead with 1:38 left in the second period.

Rochester found their offensive legs a bit more in the second period, but Toronto had a bunch of quality scoring chances that looked like sure goals that were either saved by posts or never crossed the line. The Marlies came out of the period outshooting Rochester 11-9, bringing the shot totals to a 19-17 Rochester advantage through two periods.

TJ Brennan tied the game up for Rochester again three minutes into the third period from another awkward angle. Brennan has scored twice in this series with both goals coming from between the icing line and the top of the left faceoff circle. That would be the last goal the Americans would score though as Jerry D'Amigo scored the game winning goal with 1:50 left in the game to give Toronto another 4-3 victory.

The series shifts back to Rochester for the next two games with Game Three coming on Monday night. This season, Toronto went 4-0-0-1 in Rochester this season.

The Toronto Marlies struck first on home ice as they took a 4-3 victory over the Rochester Americans in Game one on Thursday night.

In a playoff matchup that faces two divisional rivals that know each other very, very well, the first period of this game saw two teams try and feel each other out and work out the playoff jitters. There were four Amerks who had never played in a playoff game before. Corey Tropp took the game's first penalty of the game with a tripping call against Nazem Kadri. The Marlies couldn't convert on the chance nor the couple of turnovers the Amerks gave up in the first half of the period.

The rest of the period saw both teams work the jitters out and get some quality chances. The Amerks would score the first goal of the game as Phil Varone scored his first career playoff goal off a deflection in front of the net. The initial shot came from Nick Crawford and the secondary assist came from Luke Adam. In the regular season series between these two teams, Rochester would score the first goal six times. The period would finish with the Amerks leading 1-0 on the scoreboard and the Marlies would outshoot the Amerks 12-6.

The second period saw the game open up with more end to end action. The Marlies were able to tie the game up with a Jerry D'Amigo backhand goal on the doorstep of David Leggio. That would be the lone goal for Toronto even as they outshot Rochester 18-7 in the period.

Both teams found their scoring touches though in the third period as Matt Frattin gave Toronto its first lead of the game 1;10 into the period. He scored on a really nice one-timer through traffic and right between the legs of David Leggio. The Marlies would bring their lead to two goals as Nazem Kadri would draw his second penalty of the game, this time on Travis Turnbull, and Mike Zigomanis would convert on the power play.

Rochester wouldn't back down though as they tied the game up with Marcus Foligno scoring the Americans' first power play goal of the night and then TJ Brennan would tie the game four minutes later as each team skated with four skaters. That wouldn't last long though as Jarry D'Amigo would score his second of the game on a two on one breakaway coming off a Mark Fraser penalty.

The Amerks would valiantly try to tie the game up, but the Marlies and Ben Scrivens turned away the final few shots to preserve the 4-3 Marlies lead.Scrivens finished the game with 20 saves for the win while David Leggio had 34 saves in the loss.

Toronto has now given themselves a 1-0 series lead in the best of five series. Game two is Saturday afternoon in Toronto.

While the Buffalo Sabres sit idly at home with the NHL playoffs going on, their brethren down the Thruway in Rochester have managed to find their way into the AHL playoffs. They face off against division foe Toronto in the first round. The Americans and Marlies faced each other 10 times in the regular season, so to say that these two teams are old foes is an understatement. The Americans had a 3-4-3 record against Toronto this season and Toronto won three of the last five matchups in the regular season.

The Marlies were led in scoring by Mike Zigomanis this season. Zigomanis has 19 goals and 42 assists in 68 games played. In the series matchup between these two teams, Zigomanis led all players on the ice with 11 points, three goals and eight assists. Nazem Kadri has seen a lot of time with the Toronto Maple Leafs this season, playing in 21 games for the parent club. During that time, Kadri had five goals and two assists. During his time with the Marlies this season, Kadri has 18 goals and 22 assists in 48 games.

On the Rochester side of the ice, two players to keep an eye on are Luke Adam and Marcus Foligno. Adam spent most of his season with the Sabres, getting off to a torrid pace before hitting a cold streak and getting sent back to Rochester at the end of the season. In 27 games with the Amerks this season, Adam had four goals and nine assists, but no goal was bigger than the game winner against the Lake Erie Monsters last Saturday night to clinch the win for the team. Marcus Foligno was a stud for the Sabres at the end of the season and is coming into this series riding a three game point streak. He didn't get much playing time against against the Marlies this season with one goal and two assists in five games played.

The schedule for the playoff series is below. The series is a best of five so Games four and five are played if necessary:

The Buffalo Sabres aren't having a year end press conference. That on the surface might not be all that surprising, but slightly odd. Almost all teams put their general manager and coach in front of the media so the media has a chance to get their final questions in about what happened last season and the plans for next season. Instead of going the traditional route, Black decided to take phone calls on the Sabres' flagship station and answer questions directly from the fans.

This did not sit well with the lone newspaper in Buffalo. The media members, well Mike Harrington, went on the offensive, (warning, Buffalo News video chat link)

All of this comes after Ted Black went to the Associated Press with the affirmation that Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff would be coming back to the team. Terry Pegula made a statement to ESPN about the Penn State situation before going to the News as well. The Sabres are trying to control the message as much as they can. It is not a coincidence that the News is getting shut out of many of the statements after Terry Pegula was critical of the newspaper's handling of the team when he took over the team.

Mike is right though, having a press conference would give the outlets that regularly serve the team a chance to have finality on the season. That includes the bloggers who get the chance to head down there as well. But, publicly complaining about the lack of a press conference just makes the news outlet look petty and entitled.

This whole situation turned into a major pissing match between the newspaper and the radio guys with the fans pretty much caught in the middle. The pissing matches have escalated over the last week, with arguments happening over all sorts of aspects of the Sabres. At one end of the spectrum, we have the radio outlet that is going to get certain access because of their status as the flagship station for the Sabres. There is a certain line that they won't cross for fear of losing their radio rights on top of their access to the team. On the other end, there is the Buffalo News, the lone newspaper in town, and their insistence to spin the story to fit their agenda whatever it may be.

What does this all mean for fans? It shows the glaring need for more major media outlets in Buffalo. Bill Hoppe does good work for the Niagara Gazette and Olean Times Herald, but there really is only one major newspaper in Buffalo and they drive many of the conversations about the team. If fans don't want to go the newspaper route, they turn to the lone radio station in town to talk about the team. Local television is starting to cut their sports departments beyond recognition so they are becoming less and less of a factor in how the team is covered. There are plenty of good fan sites, or bloggers but I tend to despise that term more and more, but their access to the team is cut off at the knees by the organization. The inroads that the organization made this season was a good start, but it is no where near where it is with other organizations have done with their credentials with bloggers.

The Sabres are trying to control the message as well as they can and the media is getting their gripes in about how it affects them. All in all, the fans suffer as they have to sit through the whining without any real results.

The Rochester Americans got the help they needed on the last day of the regular season to get in the playoffs. They helped their own cause as they took care of business on Saturday night against the Lake Erie Monsters. Luke Adam scored at the 4:14 mark of the third period to give the Americans a 2-1 lead. That goal would end up being the game winner as Rochester catapulted themselves to 5th in the Western Conference.

Rochester got the scoring started in the first period as Paul Sczechura scored the game's first goal at 7:52 of the first period. Marcus Foligno extended his point streak to three games with an assist and Brayden McNabb was credited with the other assist. Lake Erie tied the game ten seconds into the second period on a Patrick Rissmiller power play goal. That would be the score heading into the third period when Luke Adam scored the game winner four minutes into the period.

Rochester's David Leggio looked solid again as he made 35 saves on the night and earned the game's second star of the night. Leggio finished the regular season with a 28-24-2 record, 2.63 goals against average, and .917 save percentage. At the opposite end of the ice, Cedrick Dejardins took the loss on a 24 save night.

With the Milwaukee Admirals/Charlotte Checkers game ending in regulation, the Americans clinched a playoff spot and will most likely finish 7th in the Western Conference. That means a matchup against the Toronto Marlies, a team that the Amerks faced 10 times in the regular season.

The Rochester Americans have a chance to do what their parent club, Buffalo Sabres, couldn't quite manage doing. They could make the Calder Cup Playoffs. If the Americans win tonight against the Lake Erie Monsters, no matter if it comes in regulation or overtime, they will clinch a playoff berth. Rochester last made it to the playoffs in the 2009-2010 season where they lost in seven games to the Abbotsford Heat in the first round.

How muddled are the Western Conference standings in the AHL this season? Here are the standings in the final weekend. As a reminder AHL teams play 76 games in a season.

The Americans set themselves up in this situation after a 5-1 victory over the Syracuse Crunch on Friday night. Marcus Foligno had two goals and an assist in the game, his first three point game in the AHL this season. David Leggio made 30 saves to get his 27th win of the season. Colin Stuart, Evan Rankin, and Nick Crawford each had a goal of their own as well. Mark Bell scored the lone Crunch goal and Igor Bobkov had 32 saves in the losing effort.

They travel to Cleveland to take on a Lake Erie team that they have beaten four out of five times this season. The lone Americans loss came on February 18th at the end of a home and home for the team and in the middle of a three game weekend. The Monsters are trying to keep themselves in the playoff hunt as well as they are among the cluster of teams looking to try and clinch a spot.

Game time is at 7:30 pm and can be seen on the AHL website for a fee.