2013 overtime gave the Buffalo Sabres a 2-1 win against the Phoenix Coyotes at First Niagara Center on Monday.

Strange goal by Pysyk gives Sabres OT victory

**SInce I watched the replay over..and over..and over again. If you look at it from the refs standpoint, he sees the puck in the air, and as it drops there are players all around the goalie, so he(the ref) assumes the puck hit the ice, not go in his pants. And as soon as Smith backed up into the net the Sabres pointed out that the puck was in the back of Smith ,pants which clearly crossed the line. There was no whistle to blow the play dead cause the refs assumed that the puck was still in play and hit the ice.

**I really think if Smith hadn't dove right away into the back of the net (why did he do that btw) that this goal wouldn't have counted but the 1st thing he did was go right into the net, what a dumb play.

**If this was already answered, I apologize; I thought once a puck was out of play the puck was dead. Sure you can see it, but it is not playable. If someone shoots the puck on the back of the net, it is dead, but you can still see it. Why doesn't the same rule apply?

**Glad to see buffalo win one, always liked this team even though there in the same conference. Hopefully within the next couple of years this team can get back to being the team that had me very aggravated when they played the flyers a few years ago.

**You know what else should not have counted? Hull's OT goal in '99 against the Sabres. But it did so get over it.

**To me, it appears that the Coyote player was the one who hit the puck over the line. Seems like the linesman thought so as well and as such decided that Rule 83.1 applied, which says, in part, that: "...If a player legally carries or passes the puck back into his own defending zone while a player of the opposing team is in such defending zone, the off-side shall be ignored and play permitted to continue."

**Phoenix should have won this game by sheer numbers. Buffalo had 4 guys out due to the flu, and were down 5 after Drew Stafford elbowed Ekman-Larrson in the 2nd period. Having one of the best (if not the best) goaltender in the world surely helps. But the Yotes were a single mistake/turnover from seeing themselves in a tie game. And that's what happened. Sure, Buffalo got lucky in OT but this isnt the only time luck has played a role in a sporting event. (ex. Eli Manning's miracle catch in BOTH of his final drives during BOTH superbowls) Merry Christmas, fans of the NHL.

**Merry Christmas to you as well. After all the Sabres have been through, it's nice to see them finally getting things together as it seems, as they've won 3 of their last 4. And yeah, in my opinion Ryan Miller is the best goalie in the world, even playing behind not the greatest defense ( I mean no offense ). For a team that's 30th in the NHL, Miller's stats are incredible ( especially his save % ). I think the Sabres could start winning a lot more, if only they could start to score more goals.

**I'm not a Sabres fan, not a Yotes fan. However, how is that a good goal? Was the puck playable? I don't think so. The play should have been frozen. Couldn't he otherwise just put the puck in his pants and hold it in there for 50 minutes after his team gets the lead?

**Nothing questionable on the Coyotes goal. The stick looked under the cross bar and the ref had no proof that it wasn`t over. If you can prove that the call is wrong, the call on the ice stands

**Hey, the Sabres have been on the wrong end of questionable goals for a while so they deserve to have one go their way. *Cough* '99 *Cough* Dallas *Cough* Wow, the air is dry in here.

**from the standpoint of the refs, the puck goes up and drops down, but as soon as the puck starts to drop from the air, there are several players around the net, so they can't see if it went into Smiths pants. So they have to assume that it hit the ice, cause thats what happens 99.% of the time when the puck goes in the air like that. So in that case they didn't blow the whistle, so its a good goal, no matter how awkward or weird it is.

**Okay, I will get laughed at here but HOW IS THAT A GOOD GOAL?!!! He was out of the crease, puck in his pants so unless you start hitting the goalie like a pinata waiting for the candy, the puck could no longer be played. Should it not have been b-l-o-w-n d-e-a-d? For instance. I have seen pucks get caught between a goalie's knee and his pads....stuck in equipment....play b--l-o-w-n d-e-a-d. so why not this. is there a rule its playable in someone's backside?

**Blowing the whistle at that point is totally on the refs. To me this is a clear goal because he brought the puck inside the net. U can see the puck physically in the net. This is similar to when a goalie saves the puck with his glove but he brings his glove inside the net for a goal.

**The whole play took about 2 seconds from the time the puck landed in his pants to when Smith was in the net. The ref was trying to establish where the puck actually was and if he had no intention to blow the play dead then it is a good goal.

**from the standpoint of the refs, the puck goes up and drops down, but as soon as the puck starts to drop from the air, there are several players around the net, so they can't see if it went into Smiths pants. So they have to assume that it hit the ice, cause thats what happens 99.% of the time when the puck goes in the air like that. So in that case they didn't blow the whistle, so its a good goal, no matter how awkward or weird it is.

**The "moderation" is a robot mod, and they just remove posts that they deem offensive. Last year you couldn't get away with having the name Crawford in your post, even when he was playing in the SCF. They have some really strange words black listed in there.

**Sabres want young, plus I don't think they want another goalie because they got Enroth and two potential star goalies in Hackett and Markov. Plus the way Miller has been playing his value has increased and Buffalo will be asking a 1st round pick for him.

**That looked a lot worse than it really was, the Phoenix player really embellished that one. Stafford is by no means a dirty player, I'm not sure what got under his skin on that one.... And finally, have you ever been hit in the face with a padded elbow? It's no different than the gloved punches that you see that go uncalled several times a game (I played and Officiated for years). He'll probably get 5 games for it, if only they started giving out games for embellishment, Hockey is starting to turn into soccer!!!!

**He started the game on defense until Stafford got ejected from the game. He looked good tonight. He also came out between the first and second period to play hockey with the kids that came up to about his knees. Nice gesture by him, that people watching TV didn't see, for the kids.

**MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL 2013. And To All A Good Night QUACK QUACK