2006 – 07 Buffalo Sabres season The 2006 – 07 Buffalo Sabres season began with the team attempting to rebound from a disappointing end to the 2005 – 06 season , in which the Sabres advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing in seven games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes . With the best regular - season record in the NHL , the Sabres were awarded the Presidents ' Trophy for the first time in their history , and they also earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs . They defeated the New York Islanders and New York Rangers in the first two rounds of the playoffs . In the Eastern Conference Finals , however , the Sabres ' season came to an end when they were defeated in five games by the Ottawa Senators . Offseason . The team lost several veterans to free agency , including J . P . Dumont , Jay McKee and Mike Grier . Conversely , the team signed only one new player to the roster : defenseman Jaroslav Spacek . The team planned to rely on young players from their own organization - - Jiri Novotny , Paul Gaustad and Nathan Paetsch , to name a few — to fill the holes left by the departing players . Controversy swirled around the team ' s logo and jersey , meanwhile , as the look was changed . The team ' s colors were reverted back to blue and gold , which they had worn from their addition to the league as an expansion team until 1996 – 97 , when the colors were changed to black and red . The new logo , though , was said to resemble to many a slug or a wig . There were strong efforts to prevent the team from wearing this new jersey , although none were successful . The team ' s new third jersey , meanwhile , featured the team ' s original logo . Despite the controversy , however , the NHL reported that sales of Sabres merchandise were up approximately 1170 % from the 2005 – 2006 season . Regular season . The Sabres were very successful early in the season , tying an NHL record by winning their first ten games , before finally suffering a shootout loss to the Atlanta Thrashers . They did not lose a game in regulation until exactly one month into the season , in their thirteenth game , when they lost to Toronto . The Sabres also set an NHL record by winning their first ten road games of the season , not losing outside of HSBC Arena until November 18 in Ottawa . On January 9 , it was announced that three members of the Sabres had been voted to start the All - Star Game for the Eastern Conference : forward Danny Briere , defenseman Brian Campbell , and goaltender Ryan Miller . It was the first All - Star appearance for each . In addition , as the Sabres had the best record in the Eastern Conference as of the end of All - Star voting , head coach Lindy Ruff was assigned to coach the Eastern Conference team . Briere recorded a goal and four assists in the game , and was named Most Valuable Player of the game . Thomas Vanek was also invited to All - Star Weekend to play in the YoungStars game . On January 13 , Jason Pominville recorded his 20th goal of the season , becoming the fourth Sabre ( after Chris Drury , Thomas Vanek and Maxim Afinogenov ) to record 20 goals before the All - Star break . At the time of Pominville ' s 20th goal , no other team in the NHL had more than two players with 20 goals . Danny Briere became the fifth Sabre to record 20 goals as he scored a hat trick on January 30 against the Boston Bruins . With the feat , the Sabres became the first team since the 1995 – 96 Pittsburgh Penguins to have five 20 – goal scorers before February . Four Sabres would go on to reach the 30 - goal plateau . For the first time in 12 years , Buffalo was not shut out in any of their 82 regular - season games . Moreover , the Sabres led the NHL in goals scored and became the first team to score at least 200 even - strength goals during the regular season since the 2000 - 01 New Jersey Devils . In February , the Sabres found themselves battling injury problems . Forward Tim Connolly had been on the long - term injury list all season , and he was joined by Paul Gaustad when a tendon in his leg was sliced on February 7 against the Ottawa Senators . Jaroslav Spacek broke his left hand soon thereafter , and the Sabres lost Maxim Afinogenov , who broke his left wrist , and Jiri Novotny with a high ankle sprain . Ales Kotalik was next to go down , with a knee sprain , and forward Daniel Paille broke his finger . Against the Ottawa Senators on February 22 , captain Chris Drury was injured by a blow to the head by Chris Neil , sparking a wild brawl which saw a fight between Martin Biron and Senators goaltender Ray Emery , and later between Emery and Sabres enforcer Andrew Peters . The Sabres were the last team to be involved in a trade in the 2006 – 07 season . On the day of the NHL trade deadline , though , they made four trades . Goaltender Martin Biron , who had been the longest - tenured Sabre , was sent to Philadelphia for Philadelphia ' s second - round pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft . Buffalo ' s fifth - round pick in that draft was sent to Columbus in exchange for another backup goalie , Ty Conklin . Jiri Novotny was sent along with Buffalo ' s 2007 first - round pick to Washington in exchange for Dainius Zubrus and Timo Helbling . Finally , the Sabres sent their fourth - round pick in 2007 to Nashville for Mikko Lehtonen , a minor league defenseman . Due to injuries , many Sabres prospects were called up from the team ' s American Hockey League affiliate , the Rochester Americans , and made their NHL debuts during the season ; Mike Card , Michael Funk , Patrick Kaleta , Clarke MacArthur , Mark Mancari , Michael Ryan , Andrej Sekera and Drew Stafford all played their first career NHL game during the 2006 – 07 season . Game log . October . Record for month 10 – 0 – 1 ( Home 4 – 0 – 1 Away 6 – 0 – 0 ) November . Record for Month 9 – 3 – 1 ( Home 4 – 2 – 1 Away 5 – 1 – 0 ) December . Record for Month 9 – 4 – 1 ( Home 5 – 2 – 0 Away 4 – 2 – 1 ) January . Record for Month 6 – 7 – 1 ( Home 4 – 3 – 0 Away 2 – 4 – 1 ) February . Record for Month 8 – 2 – 1 ( Home 5 – 0 – 1 Away 3 – 2 – 0 ) March . Record for Month 8 – 5 – 2 ( Home 5 – 3 – 0 Away 3 – 2 – 2 ) April . Record for Month 4 – 1 – 0 ( Home 1 – 0 – 0 Away 3 – 1 – 0 ) Playoffs . The Sabres earned the # 1 seed in the Eastern Conference by virtue of finishing with the highest point total in the conference . Eastern Conference Quarter - finals : vs . ( 8 ) New York Islanders . The Sabres faced the New York Islanders in the first round of the playoffs . Eastern Conference Semi - finals : vs . ( 6 ) New York Rangers . The Sabres faced the New York Rangers in the second round of the playoffs . The Rangers advanced by sweeping the Atlanta Thrashers , the number three seed , in the first round . Eastern Conference Finals : vs . ( 4 ) Ottawa Senators . The Sabres faced their division rivals , the Ottawa Senators , in the Eastern Conference Finals . The Senators advanced by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round and the New Jersey Devils in the second . The Sabres lost the series , 4 games to 1 . Player stats . Scoring Leaders . " Note : GP = Games played ; G = Goals ; A = Assists ; Pts = Points ; + / - = Plus / minus ; PIM = Penalty minutes " Thomas Vanek . Thomas Vanek finished the season with the best plus / minus rating in the entire NHL with a + 47 . Goaltending . " Note : GP = Games played ; TOI = Time on ice ( minutes ) ; W = Wins ; L = Losses ; OTL = OvertimelLosses ; GA = Goals against ; SO = Shutouts ; SV % = Save percentage ; GAA = Goals against average " Roster . Goaltenders : • Defensemen • • • • Forwards • • • • • • • • • Draft picks . Buffalo ' s picks at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver , British Columbia . The Sabres had the 24th overall draft pick for their success in the 2005 – 06 NHL season . References . < div class = " references - small " >