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SportsNovember 13, 2008

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres had a difficult time finishing off the St. Louis Blues after a fast start. Ryan Miller made 30 saves and Tim Connolly, Adam Mair and Henrik Tallinder each had a goal and an assist in Buffalo's 4-3 victory over St. Louis on Wednesday night...

The Associated Press
DAVID DUPREY ~ Associated Press<br>Buffalo's Andrew Peters, right, fights with St. Louis' Cam Janssen during the first period Wednesday in Buffalo, N.Y.
DAVID DUPREY ~ Associated Press<br>Buffalo's Andrew Peters, right, fights with St. Louis' Cam Janssen during the first period Wednesday in Buffalo, N.Y.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres had a difficult time finishing off the St. Louis Blues after a fast start.

Ryan Miller made 30 saves and Tim Connolly, Adam Mair and Henrik Tallinder each had a goal and an assist in Buffalo's 4-3 victory over St. Louis on Wednesday night.

Scoring three times before the game was 6 minutes old, the Sabres looked as if they were going to cruise to an easy victory. However, the spunky Blues battled back only to fall short in their spirited comeback bid.

"We weren't going to keep that pace up of three goals in 10 minutes for the rest of the night," Mair said. "They started to take more risks and found their legs. It's important to be able to play with that pressure sometimes. It creates positive and good habits that can carry you through."

After falling behind 3-0, the Blues narrowed the gap to 3-2 on Patrik Berglund's goal early in the second period, and began to take the territorial edge away from the Sabres. But they never got closer despite an impressive performance from backup goalie Chris Mason, who finished with 24 saves in relief of starter Manny Legace.

DAVID DUPREY ~ Associated PressBlues defenseman Jay McKee tries to block a shot in front of goalie Chris Mason during the third period Wednesday in Buffalo, N.Y.
DAVID DUPREY ~ Associated PressBlues defenseman Jay McKee tries to block a shot in front of goalie Chris Mason during the third period Wednesday in Buffalo, N.Y.
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Mason robbed Thomas Vanek on a second-period breakaway, and kept the Blues in it with a stop on Clarke MacArthur off a rush midway through the third.

"He made some great saves," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "We had some quality chances that could have put the game away for us."

Jason Pominville also scored to help the Sabres snap a two-game losing streak and improve to 9-3-3. The Sabres also stopped an eight-game home winless streak against St. Louis that dated to October 1995.

"We got the start we wanted, and we had plenty of scoring chances. We could have easily scored a few more," Pominville said. "It was a night where the goalies made good saves."

David Perron had a goal and two assists, and Lee Stempniak and Berglund had a goal and an assist each for the Blues. St. Louis is winless in its last six, with five regulation losses in that span, to drop to 5-8-1.

Legace was pulled after Pominville's goal at 5:18 of the first. Legace allowed three goals on just seven shots in making his second consecutive start after returning from a hip injury.

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