And here's more from our written recap, which you can read here.
With the deadline less than a week away (3 p.m. on Monday), the Sabres general manager affirmed that he's continuing to pursue options to improve the roster while also expressing confidence in the current players and coaching staff.
"We've had a lot of conversations going on," Botterill said. "Whether those things come to fruition over the next couple days, it's always hard to predict. As I think we saw last year, sometimes you look at the draft and then things can move into July 1 and things can move into the summer.
"... We are always looking to make moves that are going to help our group," Botterill said. "I'd also say we're going to trust our players, we're going to trust our group."
Nine of the Sabres' victories during their 10-game streak in November were decided by one goal. All five of their losses in February have been one-goal games in the third period; they're simply coming out on the other side.
"We're putting players in roles that they're not used to," Botterill said. "Some nights they're going to succeed in those roles, sometimes they're not. I think you've seen our blueprint. You've seen when we played well, when we've played assertive in the offensive zone, we've gotten to the front of the net in the offensive zone, we've played good defensive hockey, we've received results. … We haven't done that enough on a consistent basis."
Botterill complimented coach Phil Housley and his staff for their communication with players throughout the season.
"I've liked the interaction, two-way interaction, with our players coming to coaches," he said. "You look at after practice, on the ice, off the ice, our coaches interacting with our players from a standpoint of their individual games and as a team concept, to me those are the things that are at least allowing us to be in the situation to win games in the third period."
You can read the full story here.
