1. The Hurricanes, playing for the third time in four nights, opted to start John Grahame, and seeing the backup in goal for the second time in a little over a week just might have angered the Sabres enough to trigger an avalanche.

2. John Grahame has a blonde bombshell painted on his mask — not a 10 but most certainly an 8.

3. NHL replay officials don't use speed dial when calling down to ice level, opting instead to punch one number at a time, slowly, the old-fashioned way — who would have figured that?

4. Ryan Miller was robotically good again, flashing his left glove to rob a kneeling Matt Cullen in the second period and stopping pest Chad LaRose with a "bitch please" save in the third before, of course, losing the shutout late in the game yet again.

5. Derek Roy scored the Sabres' fourth shorthanded goal of the season, to none allowed, another indication of the dramatic special teams turnaround from 06-07.

6. The Sabres went 2-3 on the power play to run their torrid streak to 7-19 since the return of Tim Connolly, a stretch that has vaulted them into the Top 10 in the league.

7. If you want something to not like about an 8-1 win, how about only two shots on goal in 15:42 in the first period after the Sabres took a 2-0 lead and four shots in 15:32 in the second period before Adam Mair put Buffalo up 3-0?

8. The Sabres scored the first goal for the seventh game in a row, after allowing it in 14 straight.

9. "1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... We want 9!" is the sweetest chant in hockey.

10. The Hurricanes predictably dominated on the draws, winning 63%, the third game in a row the Sabres have struggled, but no one could have predicted Paul Gaustad's abuse of Rod Brind'Amour that preceded Adam Mair's tap-in goal.