2002–03 Buffalo Sabres season

The 2002–03 Buffalo Sabres season was the 33rd season of operation for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970.[1] The 72 points accumulated in the regular season was the lowest total for the franchise since the 1986–87 season.

2002-03 Buffalo Sabres
Division	5th Northeast
Conference	12th Eastern
2002-03 record	27–37–10–8
Home record	18–18–5–2
Road record	9–27–5–6
Goals for	190
Goals against	219
Team information
General Manager	Darcy Regier
Coach	Lindy Ruff
Captain	Stu Barnes (Oct-Mar) Vacant (Mar-Apr)
Arena	HSBC Arena
Average attendance	13,776
Team leaders
Goals	Miroslav Satan (26)
Assists	Miroslav Satan (49)
Points	Miroslav Satan (75)
Penalty minutes	Eric Boulton (178)
Plus/minus	Jochen Hecht and Curtis Brown (4)
Wins	Martin Biron (17)
Goals against average	Mika Noronen (2.42)

Off-season

Regular season

Final standings

Northeast Division

No.	CR		GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	1	Ottawa Senators	82	52	21	8	1	263	182	113
2	5	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	44	28	7	3	236	208	98
3	7	Boston Bruins	82	36	31	11	4	245	237	87
4	10	Montreal Canadiens	82	30	35	8	9	206	234	77
5	12	Buffalo Sabres	82	27	37	10	8	190	219	72

[2]

Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
         Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.

Eastern Conference[3]

R		Div	GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	P- Ottawa Senators	NE	82	52	21	8	1	263	182	113
2	Y- New Jersey Devils	AT	82	46	20	10	6	216	166	108
3	Y- Tampa Bay Lightning	SE	82	36	25	16	5	219	210	93
4	X- Philadelphia Flyers	AT	82	45	20	13	4	211	166	107
5	X- Toronto Maple Leafs	NE	82	44	28	7	3	236	208	98
6	X- Washington Capitals	SE	82	39	29	8	6	224	220	92
7	X- Boston Bruins	NE	82	36	31	11	4	245	237	87
8	X- New York Islanders	AT	82	35	34	11	2	224	231	83
8.5
9	New York Rangers	AT	82	32	36	10	4	210	231	78
10	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	30	35	8	9	206	234	77
11	Atlanta Thrashers	SE	82	31	39	7	5	226	284	74
12	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	27	37	10	8	190	219	72
13	Florida Panthers	SE	82	24	36	13	9	176	237	70
14	Pittsburgh Penguins	AT	82	27	44	6	5	189	255	65
15	Carolina Hurricanes	SE	82	22	43	11	6	171	240	61

Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast, SE – Southeast

P – Clinched Presidents Trophy; Y – Clinched Division; X – Clinched Playoff spot

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 10, 2002	5–1	New York Islanders (2002–03)	1–0–0–0
2	W	October 12, 2002	6–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (2002–03)	2–0–0–0
3	L	October 13, 2002	0–3	@ Chicago Blackhawks (2002–03)	2–1–0–0
4	T	October 17, 2002	4–4 OT	New York Rangers (2002–03)	2–1–1–0
5	L	October 19, 2002	2–3	Phoenix Coyotes (2002–03)	2–2–1–0
6	W	October 22, 2002	2–1	Philadelphia Flyers (2002–03)	3–2–1–0
7	L	October 25, 2002	1–2	New Jersey Devils (2002–03)	3–3–1–0
8	L	October 26, 2002	2–5	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (2002–03)	3–4–1–0
9	T	October 29, 2002	1–1 OT	@ Vancouver Canucks (2002–03)	3–4–2–0
10	L	October 31, 2002	0–3	@ Calgary Flames (2002–03)	3–5–2–0
11	T	November 1, 2002	1–1 OT	@ Edmonton Oilers (2002–03)	3–5–3–0
12	L	November 3, 2002	2–3	@ Columbus Blue Jackets (2002–03)	3–6–3–0
13	L	November 7, 2002	0–2	@ Carolina Hurricanes (2002–03)	3–7–3–0
14	L	November 9, 2002	4–6	Atlanta Thrashers (2002–03)	3–8–3–0
15	L	November 12, 2002	3–4	Boston Bruins (2002–03)	3–9–3–0
16	L	November 15, 2002	2–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (2002–03)	3–10–3–0
17	L	November 16, 2002	1–4	@ Ottawa Senators (2002–03)	3–11–3–0
18	OTL	November 19, 2002	3–4 OT	@ New Jersey Devils (2002–03)	3–11–3–1
19	W	November 22, 2002	5–4	Columbus Blue Jackets (2002–03)	4–11–3–1
20	L	November 23, 2002	1–4	@ Boston Bruins (2002–03)	4–12–3–1
21	T	November 27, 2002	1–1 OT	Tampa Bay Lightning (2002–03)	4–12–4–1
22	L	November 29, 2002	1–4	Pittsburgh Penguins (2002–03)	4–13–4–1
23	L	November 30, 2002	1–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (2002–03)	4–14–4–1
24	W	December 4, 2002	4–0	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2002–03)	5–14–4–1
25	W	December 6, 2002	4–1	@ New York Rangers (2002–03)	6–14–4–1
26	W	December 7, 2002	4–3	Washington Capitals (2002–03)	7–14–4–1
27	L	December 10, 2002	2–4	Ottawa Senators (2002–03)	7–15–4–1
28	T	December 13, 2002	1–1 OT	Chicago Blackhawks (2002–03)	7–15–5–1
29	L	December 14, 2002	0–2	@ Philadelphia Flyers (2002–03)	7–16–5–1
30	W	December 18, 2002	4–2	Boston Bruins (2002–03)	8–16–5–1
31	L	December 20, 2002	0–3	Florida Panthers (2002–03)	8–17–5–1
32	L	December 21, 2002	2–6	@ Montreal Canadiens (2002–03)	8–18–5–1
33	L	December 23, 2002	2–5	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (2002–03)	8–19–5–1
34	L	December 26, 2002	2–3	Ottawa Senators (2002–03)	8–20–5–1
35	L	December 28, 2002	3–4	Minnesota Wild (2002–03)	8–21–5–1
36	L	December 30, 2002	3–4	@ Washington Capitals (2002–03)	8–22–5–1
37	OTL	December 31, 2002	0–1 OT	New York Islanders (2002–03)	8–22–5–2
38	W	January 3, 2003	6–3	Carolina Hurricanes (2002–03)	9–22–5–2
39	W	January 4, 2003	2–1 OT	@ Ottawa Senators (2002–03)	10–22–5–2
40	L	January 7, 2003	2–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers (2002–03)	10–23–5–2
41	W	January 10, 2003	4–2	Boston Bruins (2002–03)	11–23–5–2
42	W	January 11, 2003	3–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (2002–03)	12–23–5–2
43	W	January 14, 2003	1–0	@ Minnesota Wild (2002–03)	13–23–5–2
44	T	January 16, 2003	2–2 OT	@ San Jose Sharks (2002–03)	13–23–6–2
45	W	January 18, 2003	1–0	@ Phoenix Coyotes (2002–03)	14–23–6–2
46	T	January 21, 2003	0–0 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins (2002–03)	14–23–7–2
47	W	January 24, 2003	4–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (2002–03)	15–23–7–2
48	OTL	January 25, 2003	3–4 OT	@ Ottawa Senators (2002–03)	15–23–7–3
49	L	January 27, 2003	1–5	Nashville Predators (2002–03)	15–24–7–3
50	OTL	January 30, 2003	1–2 OT	@ St. Louis Blues (2002–03)	15–24–7–4
51	L	February 4, 2003	1–4	@ New Jersey Devils (2002–03)	15–25–7–4
52	L	February 7, 2003	2–4	Vancouver Canucks (2002–03)	15–26–7–4
53	L	February 8, 2003	1–3	@ New York Islanders (2002–03)	15–27–7–4
54	L	February 11, 2003	2–3	St. Louis Blues (2002–03)	15–28–7–4
55	L	February 13, 2003	2–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (2002–03)	15–29–7–4
56	W	February 15, 2003	5–4	New York Rangers (2002–03)	16–29–7–4
57	OTL	February 17, 2003	3–4 OT	@ Atlanta Thrashers (2002–03)	16–29–7–5
58	W	February 19, 2003	2–1 OT	Montreal Canadiens (2002–03)	17–29–7–5
59	L	February 21, 2003	1–4	Los Angeles Kings (2002–03)	17–30–7–5
60	W	February 23, 2003	4–1	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (2002–03)	18–30–7–5
61	T	February 24, 2003	2–2 OT	@ Florida Panthers (2002–03)	18–30–8–5
62	L	February 26, 2003	2–3	@ Washington Capitals (2002–03)	18–31–8–5
63	W	February 28, 2003	5–3	Dallas Stars (2002–03)	19–31–8–5
64	OTL	March 1, 2003	1–2 OT	@ New York Islanders (2002–03)	19–31–8–6
65	L	March 4, 2003	1–2	Washington Capitals (2002–03)	19–32–8–6
66	W	March 6, 2003	4–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (2002–03)	20–32–8–6
67	W	March 8, 2003	4–0	@ Florida Panthers (2002–03)	21–32–8–6
68	T	March 9, 2003	1–1 OT	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (2002–03)	21–32–9–6
69	OTL	March 12, 2003	2–3 OT	Carolina Hurricanes (2002–03)	21–32–9–7
70	L	March 14, 2003	2–4	Tampa Bay Lightning (2002–03)	21–33–9–7
71	L	March 15, 2003	3–5	@ Atlanta Thrashers (2002–03)	21–34–9–7
72	W	March 18, 2003	5–2	Philadelphia Flyers (2002–03)	22–34–9–7
73	L	March 19, 2003	0–3	@ New York Rangers (2002–03)	22–35–9–7
74	OTL	March 22, 2003	2–3 OT	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (2002–03)	22–35–9–8
75	W	March 24, 2003	4–3 OT	Colorado Avalanche (2002–03)	23–35–9–8
76	W	March 26, 2003	2–1	Florida Panthers (2002–03)	24–35–9–8
77	W	March 28, 2003	4–1	Montreal Canadiens (2002–03)	25–35–9–8
78	W	March 29, 2003	3–1	@ Carolina Hurricanes (2002–03)	26–35–9–8
79	L	March 31, 2003	0–3	@ Dallas Stars (2002–03)	26–36–9–8
80	W	April 2, 2003	4–3	Atlanta Thrashers (2002–03)	27–36–9–8
81	L	April 5, 2003	5–8	@ Boston Bruins (2002–03)	27–37–9–8
82	T	April 6, 2003	2–2 OT	New Jersey Devils (2002–03)	27–37–10–8

Playoffs

The Sabres failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Miroslav Satan	LW	79	26	49	75	20	-3	11	1	3
Chris Gratton	C	66	15	29	44	86	-5	4	0	2
Ales Kotalik	RW	68	21	14	35	30	-2	4	0	2
Jean-Pierre Dumont	RW	76	14	21	35	44	-14	2	0	2
Stu Barnes	C	68	11	21	32	20	-13	2	1	2
Curtis Brown	C/LW	74	15	16	31	40	4	3	4	4
Taylor Pyatt	LW	78	14	14	28	38	-8	2	0	0
Jochen Hecht	LW	49	10	16	26	30	4	2	0	2
Tim Connolly	C	80	12	13	25	32	-28	6	0	2
Dmitri Kalinin	D	65	8	13	21	57	-7	3	1	0
Alexei Zhitnik	D	70	3	18	21	85	-5	0	0	1
Brian Campbell	D	65	2	17	19	20	-8	0	0	1
Adam Mair	C	79	6	11	17	146	-4	0	1	1
James Patrick	D	69	4	12	16	26	-3	2	0	1
Henrik Tallinder	D	46	3	10	13	28	-3	1	0	0
Daniel Briere	C	14	7	5	12	12	1	5	0	1
Vaclav Varada	RW	44	7	4	11	23	-2	1	0	0
Maxim Afinogenov	RW	35	5	6	11	21	-12	2	0	2
Rhett Warrener	D	50	0	9	9	63	1	0	0	0
Eric Boulton	LW	58	1	5	6	178	1	0	0	0
Jason Botterill	LW	17	1	4	5	14	1	1	0	0
Jay McKee	D	59	0	5	5	49	-16	0	0	0
Rory Fitzpatrick	D	36	1	3	4	16	-7	0	0	0
Chris Taylor	C	11	1	3	4	2	-1	0	0	0
Jason Woolley	D	14	0	3	3	29	-1	0	0	0
Denis Hamel	LW	25	2	0	2	17	-4	0	0	1
Norm Milley	RW	8	0	2	2	6	-2	0	0	0
Milan Bartovic	RW	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Martin Biron	G	54	0	1	1	12	0	0	0	0
Paul Gaustad	C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Radoslav Hecl	D	14	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Doug Houda	D	1	0	0	0	2	-2	0	0	0
Doug Janik	D	6	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0
Jaroslav Kristek	RW	6	0	0	0	4	-2	0	0	0
Sean McMorrow	LW	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ryan Miller	G	15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mika Noronen	G	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rob Ray	RW	41	0	0	0	92	-5	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T/OT	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Martin Biron	3170	54	17	28	6	135	2.56	4	1468	1333	.908
Ryan Miller	912	15	6	8	1	40	2.63	1	410	370	.902
Mika Noronen	891	16	4	9	3	36	2.42	1	411	375	.912
Team:	4973	82	27	45	10	211	2.55	6	2289	2078	.908

[4]

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Awards and records

Awards

Regular Season
Player	Award	Awarded
Miroslav Satan[5]	NHL Player of the Week	December 1–7, 2002
Ales Kotalik	NHL Rookie of the Month	January 2003

Transactions

Roster

Draft picks

Buffalo's draft picks at the 2002 NHL Entry Draft held at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	11	Keith Ballard	United States	University of Minnesota (WCHA)
1	20	Daniel Paille	Canada	Guelph Storm (OHL)
3	76	Michael Tessier	Canada	Acadie-Bathurst Titan (QMJHL)
3	82	John Adams	United States	Boston College (Hockey East)
4	108	Jakub Hulva	Czech Republic	HC Vitkovice Jr. (Czech Republic)
4	121	Marty Magers	United States	Omaha Lancers (USHL)
6	178	Maxim Shchevyev	Russia	Elemash Elektrostal (Russia)
7	208	Radoslav Hecl	Slovakia	Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
8	241	Dennis Wideman	Canada	London Knights (OHL)
9	271	Martin Cizek	Czech Republic	Slavia Prague Jr. (Czech Republic)

Farm teams

See also

• 2002–03 NHL season

References

1. National Hockey League (2010). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book/2011. Triumph Books. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-60078-422-4.
2. Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2009). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book/2010. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 163.
3. "2002–2003 Standings by Conference". National Hockey League. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
4. "2002-03 Buffalo Sabres Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
5. "Awards and Honors". Sabres.nhl.com. NHL.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2012.