Who would have thought that I would choose to write about the Sabres rather than the Bills on a Monday? Since the Bills loss has me feeling physically ill, I figure I should stick to less emotional topics.

The Sabres beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 Sunday night, finishing a six game road trip at 4-2. That brings Buffalo to 5-4 on the year, marking the first time since last October that the Sabres have had a winning record.

The Sabres luck with opposing goalies continued in Colorado, as the Avalanche gave someone named "Phil Sauve" his second career start. Add him to the list of unknown goalies to start against Buffalo such as "Cristobal Huet" and "Ty Conklin". Is it possible that the teams normal goalies are indeed starting, but the coaches are generating random names for them to avoid the shame and notoriety that would follow losing to the Sabres?

In actuality, we here in Buffalo are indeed familiar with Phil Sauve. His father, Bob, was a goalie for the Sabres from 1975-1985, winning the Vezina along with Don Edwards in the 79-80 season. Phil was born here in Buffalo and followed the same career path as his Dad, as both played for the Hershey Bears in the minors. Talk about a tough situation...your father is a Vezina trophy winner and you have to play in Colorado the year after the (widely regarded) greatest goalie ever retires from there. Nope, no pressure there.

Chris Drury scored the game winner against Colorado with 2:29 remaining, continuing his penchant for scoring big goals late in games, a reputation he established while playing in a Colorado uniform. Ales Kotalik and JP Dumont (empty net) also scored for the Sabres.

Some other notes:

Rumor has it the Avalanche are looking for an experienced goalie to back up Aebischer. Does Martin Biron have enough experience?

The #1 line of Drury, Briere and Pyatt has been on fire of late. Pyatt recorded back-to-back two goal games on the road trip, Briere had three assists against LA, and Drury leads the Sabres in points with nine. That takes the pressure off Miro Satan and Ales Kotalik.

Tomorrows game against Minnesota is Rob Ray appreciation night. So is Thursdays game against Toronto. The Sabres will give away 10,000 comemorative pucks for the fans to step on. Seriously, I like Rob Ray as much as the next guy. He was great in the community and was always entertaining. He sacrificed his body for the good of the team, and routinely got his ass kicked by real goons. But Rob Ray appreciation night? Twice? Just so everyone knows, he averaged 2.9 goals per year over his 14 seasons, and he had a great start since he scored on his first shift as a Sabre. Well, whatever puts the teenage girls in the seats, I guess.

There have been 24 shutouts in the NHL through Saturday, or 1.33 shutouts per day. That means the Sabres aren't the only team being shut out!

Miro Satan needs one goal to be the 10th Sabre to score 200 goals.

The Sabres play Minnesota tomorrow at home. Minny is still without holdout Marian Gaborik, who has clearly gone insane in asking for a three year $18.5 million deal. I'm sure Minnesota can't wait to give a three year player, with one good year, $18.5 million with a salary cap (excuse me, cost certainties) coming up next year. The Wild did sign LW Pascal Dupuis yesterday and he will play tomorrow.