It is being called the Save of the Series. It could possibly be the Save of The Career! Miller performed magic in the last seconds of Game 5 Friday night. With the Islanders pounding at his door, Miller slammed the door shut with a spectacular save Satan.

Satan skated through the defense and right in front of the crease. He put a shot that was headed for the left corner and Miller made a sprawling glove save, only to have Alexei Yashin bang at the rebound. That too was stopped by Miller and the Sabres were able to hold off the islanders to squeak out yet another 1-goal win over the stubborn and more desperate Islanders to win the first round series in 5 games.

A collective sigh of relief flowed out of HSBC Arena and the Sabres had survived the Islander Storm.

Maybe Ted Nolan has taught the Buffalo Sabres a lesson they will not soon forget. Nolan's Islanders, down 3-0 going into the third period, staged a miraculous comeback, scoring 3 goals and coming close to forcing overtime.

The never-say-die Islanders fought tooth and nail with the Sabres the entire series. Nolan, when he coached the Sabres, brought a work ethic to the team where they were labled the "hardest working team in hockey." Now the Islanders are a shining example of Nolan's philosophy and the team never gave up.

Heading into Friday's game, the Isles were down 3 games to 1, but it could have easily been reverse if a few breaks had gone their way. There were two disputed goals in the two previous games. Thomas Vanek had scored a goal in game 3 that only a late video angle revealed the puck had clearly crossed the goal line. In Game 4, the Isles thought they had scored the tying goal late in the game, only to have the ref waive it off. Some say that the FSNY feed showed the goal should have counted, but even that one wasn't conclusive enough to overturn the officials decision on the ice.

The Sabres have a lot of issues to straighten out before their next round. A couple players, like Daniel Briere and Maxim Afinogenov have to play much better than they did against the Islanders. And the Sabres cannot sit back on a big lead. No lead is safe when they go into a defensive shell.

The fans and media were predicting a sweep of the Islanders. While Buffalo did win in 5 games, the Sabres by no means dominated like most predicted. In fact, the Sabres certainly didn’t look like the Presidents Trophy team that a lot of experts predicted to go all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Sabres struggled against the Islanders, and struggled badly at times. The teams that play the trap seem to be able to knock the Sabres off their game. New York frustrated the Sabres endlessly and kept them off stride.

If the Sabres want to reach their goal, they will have to play much better than they did against the 8^th seed Islanders. There are several areas that need immediate improvement.

Outside of Dainius Zubrus, not too many Sabres threw their weight around. That is quite the opposite of the Ottawa Senators, who suddenly took the form of a battering ram, slamming Penguins into the boards and playing a physical game not seen in Ottawa. The playoffs is when teams start ferocious forechecking and the play is much more physical. The Sabres are known for their passive checking and lack of a real physical punch.

Chris Drury scored 4 goals and was one of the better offensive threats on the Sabres. Outside of him, there wasn’t much. In the first two games, Drury was the only forward who scored for Buffalo. Daniel Briere, he of the $5 million contract, had one goal and 4 assists. Jason Pominville had two goals.

"I definitely don't think we're playing our best hockey," admitted Briere. "I think everybody will agree on that. But at the same time, what we've done is found ways to win."

The biggest bust in the last round was Maxim Afinogenov. Afinogenov didn’t seem to get his wheels going against the Islanders, but then he was a no-show last year in the playoffs also. It is feared that Afinogenov may be one of those players who can’t handle the playoff pressure and chokes. The Sabres definitely need his speed and masterful skating to get their offense clicking in the next round. Afinogenov got the winning goal on Friday, but he has to get his jets going if the Sabres are to reach their offensive potential.

The Sabres just didn’t display the desperation the Islanders had in the last round. At times, they seemed to rely on their accolades instead of their working hard like the Isles did. The Isles knew that they would have to work hard to upset the Sabres and did just that. Every opponent gets tougher in the playoffs and the Sabres have to put more heart and desperation into their game.

"We know we can be better," put in Pominville. "Throughout the series, when the game was on the line, most of the time, we found a way to win, That's usually the sign of a good team."

Ted Nolan knows how to fight for his life. He has done it throughout his coaching career, as he had done during his playing days. Nothing comes easy for Nolan and after waiting ten years to finally get his chance to coach in the NHL again, he embraced his chance to get his message across again. His never-say-die attitude has rubbed off on every team he has coached.

That workaholic, desperation attitude was very apparent in the Islanders comeback Friday night in Buffalo. Down 3-0 going into the third period and without key defenseman Shawn Hill because of an earlier 20-game suspension handed down by the NHL, the Isles had their backs up against the wall. They never blinked.

The Isles came back and former Sabre Miro Satan broke Ryan Miller's shutout bid. Maxim Afinogenov scored his first playoff goal of the season to give Buffalo a 4-1 lead. That should be the back-breaker, right? Not with Nolan behind the bench.

His troops rallied and put the Sabres fans on the edge of their seats when the Isles drew to within one goal with two more tallies. Only a fantastic Miller save with 12 seconds to go on both Satan and Alexei Yashin prevented the Islanders from forcing an overtime and a possible return to Long Island.

"The one thing we've never questioned is the character of this team," Nolan said. "We didn't play certainly the way we wanted to at the beginning, but we certainly fought back hard."

"You never underestimate the power of grit and character and strong-willed people that know how to compete," said Nolan in his post game press conference. "It doesn't matter how fast you are. But if you're a competitive son of a gun, you'll win your share of games."

Hill had been suspended by the NHL just 4 hours before the game as he failed a test the checked for performance-enhancing substances. That presented another hurdle for Nolan to jump over.

"Certain things, you've got to live with," Nolan replied when questioned about it. "It was just one of those things that happened and we played with the people we had."

Nolan was well liked in Buffalo and he did an outstanding job during this series in getting his team to play so well against such formidable odds. The Isles got the last seed in the playoffs in the very last game of the season, winning in a shootout. Then they lost Hill, one of their top defensemen before the game. Being down 3-0 after two, they didn’t give up. People have to acknowledge Nolan and give his Isles tons of credit for standing up to the Sabres in round one.

Many Sabres fans were upset when Nolan was replaced with Lindy Ruff 10 years ago. However, Ruff has proved to be one of the best, if not the best, coach in the NHL right now. With that being said, there are some aspects that Nolan brings out in his players that seems lacking in the Sabres. His teams always were the "hardest working team(s) in hockey." They usually play over their heads and the work ethic is very strong. The Sabres, meanwhile, seem to rest on their laurels too many times. They took that 3-0 lead Friday night and then played in a defensive shell the rest of the game, instead of finishing off the Isles. During the season, having such a big lead in the standings played into the Sabres talking nights off. No one ever sees that in one of Nolan’s teams.

Maybe, just maybe, the Sabres will learn a lesson from Nolan and the Islanders and play a much more intense, physical game in round 2.

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