FanHouse Bill Masterson

NHL Network is replaying last night's Pens-Flyers game right now, which means I got to watch Braydon Coburn get smacked in the face one more time by a deflected puck -- an injury that was as gruesome as it was avoidable.

After all, as Greg Wyshynski pointed out this morning at Puck Daddy, all it may have taken to keep Coburn in the lineup for Philadelphia was a clear plastic visor, a seemingly simple safety measure that more than a few NHL players continue to eschew despite the obvious benefits. But the question nobody seems to be asking is why so many players not only decline to wear a visor, but why the players as a whole through the NHLPA continue to resist making their use mandatory around the league?

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

Sports fans in Buffalo have been kicked in the balls far too many times (No Goal! Wide Right!), so losing is nothing new and unusual to the people in that wintry city.

That said, the Buffalo Sabres' current problems must be enough to give more than a few Buffalonians a monster case of heartburn. With last night's 2-1 loss to the downstate New York Rangers, the Sabres have now lost TEN games in a row, and are falling from playoff contention with each passing day.

The Sabres are 0-5-5 in their last 10 games. They haven't won since Dec. 22 in Philadelphia and, in fact, are the only team in the NHL without a win in the 2008 calendar year.

"We didn't make a lot of good plays," coach Lindy Ruff said. "We didn't make good decisions and Al [Kotalik] pounded the puck right into Betts every time. I can't yell, 'Don't shoot it,' but you have to bury your head and move it around those guys. We didn't and that was a disappointing part of the game."

Perhaps Lindy and assistant James Patrick ought to lace 'em up and give directions from the ice. At this point, the Sabres need some creative ideas if they are to put a W in the win column some time this calendar year.