Nobody Loves An Ex-Loser Like Buffalo

On December 15, the Buffalo Sabres finally fired general manager Kevyn Adams, and no, there wasn't some kinky backstory. As Comrade Theisen explained, owner Terry Pegula just got kind of sick of him, or more properly, his results. When he was hired, the Sabres had already missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for 10 consecutive years, and never saw them in his five years and change in the leather chair. That he was fired on a three-game winning streak out west seemed not to matter; hope had been abandoned years ago, and attendance reflected that truth. The town only has the Bills and the Bulls, the Division 1 college team, and lost its pro women's hockey team, the Beauts, three years ago, so the Sabres stood out for not standing out, or up.

But an odd thing happened when Adams was excused from further migraines. The Sabres stopped sucking. They came home and beat Philadelphia and the New York Islanders, and other than the very occasional hiccup have won ever since. Thursday night they outlasted Montreal, 5-3, for their 15th win in 17 games.