2003–04 Buffalo Sabres season

The 2003–04 Buffalo Sabres season was the 34th season of operation for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970.^[1] The Sabres failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

2003-04 Buffalo Sabres
Division	5th Northeast
Conference	9th Eastern
2003-04 record	37–34–7–4
Home record	21–16–4–3
Road record	16–21–3–1
Goals for	220
Goals against	221
Team information
General manager	Darcy Regier
Coach	Lindy Ruff
Captain	Rotating Miroslav Satan (Oct) Chris Drury (Nov, Mar-Apr) James Patrick (Dec) Jean-Pierre Dumont (Jan) Daniel Briere (Feb)
Arena	HSBC Arena
Average attendance	15,289
Minor league affiliate(s)	Rochester Americans
Team leaders
Goals	Miroslav Satan (29)
Assists	Daniel Briere and Jochen Hecht (37)
Points	Daniel Briere
Penalty minutes	Andrew Peters (151)
Plus/minus	Jochen Hecht
Wins	Martin Biron (26)
Goals against average	Martin Biron (2.52)
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

Regular season

On March 17, 2004, Derek Roy scored just 15 seconds into the overtime period to give the Sabres a 4–3 road win over the Atlanta Thrashers.^[2] Roy tied the Blackhawks' Mark Bell, who had also scored 15 seconds into the overtime period in Chicago's 4–3 home win over the Detroit Red Wings on December 11, 2003.^[3] Both goals would end up being the fastest overtime goals scored during the 2003-04 NHL regular season.^[4]

Final standings

Northeast Division^[5]

No.	CR		GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	2	Boston Bruins	82	41	19	15	7	209	188	104
2	4	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	45	24	10	3	242	204	103
3	5	Ottawa Senators	82	43	23	10	6	262	189	102
4	7	Montreal Canadiens	82	41	30	7	4	208	192	93
5	9	Buffalo Sabres	82	37	34	7	4	220	221	85

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^[6]

R		Div	GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Z- Tampa Bay Lightning	SE	82	46	22	8	6	245	192	106
2	Y- Boston Bruins	NE	82	41	19	15	7	209	188	104
3	Y- Philadelphia Flyers	AT	82	40	21	15	6	209	188	101
4	X- Toronto Maple Leafs	NE	82	45	24	10	3	242	204	103
5	X- Ottawa Senators	NE	82	43	23	10	6	262	189	102
6	X- New Jersey Devils	AT	82	43	25	12	2	213	164	100
7	X- Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	41	30	7	4	208	192	93
8	X- New York Islanders	AT	82	38	29	11	4	237	210	91
8.5
9	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	37	34	7	4	220	221	85
10	Atlanta Thrashers	SE	82	33	37	8	4	214	243	78
11	Carolina Hurricanes	SE	82	28	34	14	6	172	209	76
12	Florida Panthers	SE	82	28	35	15	4	188	221	75
13	New York Rangers	AT	82	27	40	7	8	206	250	69
14	Washington Capitals	SE	82	23	46	10	3	186	253	59
15	Pittsburgh Penguins	AT	82	23	47	8	4	190	303	58

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

Z – Clinched Conference; Y – Clinched Division; X – Clinched Playoff spot

Schedule and results

2003–04 regular season^[7]
October: 6–5–0–0 (home: 2–2–0–0; road: 4–3–0–0) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 1 L October 9, 2003 0–2 @ Philadelphia Flyers (2003–04) 0–1–0–0 Recap 2 L October 11, 2003 0–6 New York Islanders (2003–04) 0–2–0–0 Recap 3 W October 13, 2003 4–3 Dallas Stars (2003–04) 1–2–0–0 Recap 4 L October 16, 2003 1–4 @ Edmonton Oilers (2003–04) 1–3–0–0 Recap 5 W October 18, 2003 2–0 @ Calgary Flames (2003–04) 2–3–0–0 Recap 6 L October 20, 2003 1–6 @ Vancouver Canucks (2003–04) 2–4–0–0 Recap 7 W October 23, 2003 5–1 @ Los Angeles Kings (2003–04) 3–4–0–0 Recap 8 W October 24, 2003 5–2 @ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2003–04) 4–4–0–0 Recap 9 W October 26, 2003 3–1 @ Colorado Avalanche (2003–04) 5–4–0–0 Recap 10 L October 28, 2003 1–3 Minnesota Wild (2003–04) 5–5–0–0 Recap 11 W October 30, 2003 5–3 Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04) 6–5–0–0 Recap
November: 5–6–2–1 (home: 4–1–1–1; road: 1–5–1–0) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 12 T November 1, 2003 1–1 OT @ Ottawa Senators (2003–04) 6–5–1–0 Recap 13 L November 5, 2003 4–7 Atlanta Thrashers (2003–04) 6–6–1–0 Recap 14 W November 7, 2003 2–1 Montreal Canadiens (2003–04) 7–6–1–0 Recap 15 L November 8, 2003 0–3 @ Montreal Canadiens (2003–04) 7–7–1–0 Recap 16 T November 12, 2003 2–2 OT New Jersey Devils (2003–04) 7–7–2–0 Recap 17 OTL November 14, 2003 1–2 OT Pittsburgh Penguins (2003–04) 7–7–2–1 Recap 18 W November 17, 2003 2–1 @ Ottawa Senators (2003–04) 8–7–2–1 Recap 19 L November 19, 2003 1–4 @ New Jersey Devils (2003–04) 8–8–2–1 Recap 20 W November 21, 2003 5–0 Carolina Hurricanes (2003–04) 9–8–2–1 Recap 21 L November 22, 2003 1–2 @ Tampa Bay Lightning (2003–04) 9–9–2–1 Recap 22 L November 24, 2003 1–2 @ Florida Panthers (2003–04) 9–10–2–1 Recap 23 W November 26, 2003 5–2 Washington Capitals (2003–04) 10–10–2–1 Recap 24 W November 28, 2003 4–3 Florida Panthers (2003–04) 11–10–2–1 Recap 25 L November 29, 2003 1–4 @ Nashville Predators (2003–04) 11–11–2–1 Recap
December: 4–8–1–0 (home: 2–5–1–0; road: 2–3–0–0) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 26 W December 3, 2003 3–2 @ Chicago Blackhawks (2003–04) 12–11–2–1 Recap 27 L December 4, 2003 2–3 Phoenix Coyotes (2003–04) 12–12–2–1 Recap 28 L December 6, 2003 1–3 Tampa Bay Lightning (2003–04) 12–13–2–1 Recap 29 L December 10, 2003 2–7 Detroit Red Wings (2003–04) 12–14–2–1 Recap 30 L December 12, 2003 1–3 New York Rangers (2003–04) 12–15–2–1 Recap 31 L December 13, 2003 2–3 @ Minnesota Wild (2003–04) 12–16–2–1 Recap 32 L December 16, 2003 1–2 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (2003–04) 12–17–2–1 Recap 33 L December 19, 2003 2–5 New Jersey Devils (2003–04) 12–18–2–1 Recap 34 T December 23, 2003 2–2 OT Ottawa Senators (2003–04) 12–18–3–1 Recap 35 W December 26, 2003 3–1 Carolina Hurricanes (2003–04) 13–18–3–1 Recap 36 W December 27, 2003 3–1 @ Washington Capitals (2003–04) 14–18–3–1 Recap 37 L December 29, 2003 1–2 @ Carolina Hurricanes (2003–04) 14–19–3–1 Recap 38 W December 31, 2003 7–1 Washington Capitals (2003–04) 15–19–3–1 Recap
January: 8–6–2–0 (home: 5–1–1–0; road: 3–5–1–0) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 39 W January 2, 2004 5–2 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2003–04) 16–19–3–1 Recap 40 T January 3, 2004 3–3 OT @ Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04) 16–19–4–1 Recap 41 L January 6, 2004 1–3 @ Montreal Canadiens (2003–04) 16–20–4–1 Recap 42 T January 7, 2004 1–1 OT Philadelphia Flyers (2003–04) 16–20–5–1 Recap 43 W January 9, 2004 3–2 Ottawa Senators (2003–04) 17–20–5–1 Recap 44 L January 12, 2004 3–4 @ Boston Bruins (2003–04) 17–21–5–1 Recap 45 W January 13, 2004 6–2 Philadelphia Flyers (2003–04) 18–21–5–1 Recap 46 L January 15, 2004 0–1 Boston Bruins (2003–04) 18–22–5–1 Recap 47 L January 17, 2004 2–4 @ New York Islanders (2003–04) 18–23–5–1 Recap 48 L January 20, 2004 1–4 @ Atlanta Thrashers (2003–04) 18–24–5–1 Recap 49 W January 22, 2004 3–2 @ Boston Bruins (2003–04) 19–24–5–1 Recap 50 L January 24, 2004 1–2 @ Philadelphia Flyers (2003–04) 19–25–5–1 Recap 51 W January 25, 2004 4–2 @ Carolina Hurricanes (2003–04) 20–25–5–1 Recap 52 W January 27, 2004 4–1 Montreal Canadiens (2003–04) 21–25–5–1 Recap 53 W January 30, 2004 3–1 @ New York Rangers (2003–04) 22–25–5–1 Recap 54 W January 31, 2004 3–1 New York Rangers (2003–04) 23–25–5–1 Recap
February: 5–5–1–0 (home: 4–2–1–0; road: 1–3–0–0) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 55 L February 5, 2004 2–6 Boston Bruins (2003–04) 23–26–5–1 Recap 56 W February 10, 2004 2–1 San Jose Sharks (2003–04) 24–26–5–1 Recap 57 W February 13, 2004 8–3 Los Angeles Kings (2003–04) 25–26–5–1 Recap 58 W February 14, 2004 6–4 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04) 26–26–5–1 Recap 59 W February 16, 2004 7–2 Atlanta Thrashers (2003–04) 27–26–5–1 Recap 60 T February 18, 2004 1–1 OT Florida Panthers (2003–04) 27–26–6–1 Recap 61 W February 20, 2004 4–3 OT Tampa Bay Lightning (2003–04) 28–26–6–1 Recap 62 L February 21, 2004 1–4 @ New York Islanders (2003–04) 28–27–6–1 Recap 63 L February 25, 2004 2–8 @ New Jersey Devils (2003–04) 28–28–6–1 Recap 64 L February 27, 2004 2–4 New York Islanders (2003–04) 28–29–6–1 Recap 65 L February 28, 2004 1–7 @ Ottawa Senators (2003–04) 28–30–6–1 Recap
March: 9–2–1–3 (home: 4–1–0–2; road: 5–1–1–1) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 66 W March 3, 2004 4–3 Ottawa Senators (2003–04) 29–30–6–1 Recap 67 W March 6, 2004 5–1 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04) 30–30–6–1 Recap 68 L March 7, 2004 1–5 St. Louis Blues (2003–04) 30–31–6–1 Recap 69 W March 10, 2004 6–0 @ Washington Capitals (2003–04) 31–31–6–1 Recap 70 OTL March 11, 2004 2–3 OT Boston Bruins (2003–04) 31–31–6–2 Recap 71 OTL March 13, 2004 2–3 OT @ Boston Bruins (2003–04) 31–31–6–3 Recap 72 OTL March 15, 2004 5–6 OT Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04) 31–31–6–4 Recap 73 W March 17, 2004 4–3 OT @ Atlanta Thrashers (2003–04) 32–31–6–4 Recap 74 L March 18, 2004 1–3 @ Tampa Bay Lightning (2003–04) 32–32–6–4 Recap 75 W March 20, 2004 2–1 @ Florida Panthers (2003–04) 33–32–6–4 Recap 76 W March 24, 2004 2–1 Montreal Canadiens (2003–04) 34–32–6–4 Recap 77 W March 26, 2004 5–1 Pittsburgh Penguins (2003–04) 35–32–6–4 Recap 78 T March 27, 2004 2–2 OT @ Pittsburgh Penguins (2003–04) 35–32–7–4 Recap 79 W March 29, 2004 6–0 Columbus Blue Jackets (2003–04) 36–32–7–4 Recap 80 W March 31, 2004 4–3 @ New York Rangers (2003–04) 37–32–7–4 Recap
April: 0–2–0–0 (home: 0–1–0–0; road: 0–1–0–0) Game Result Date Score Opponent Record Recap 81 L April 2, 2004 0–2 Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04) 37–33–7–4 Recap 82 L April 3, 2004 3–6 @ Montreal Canadiens (2003–04) 37–34–7–4 Recap
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)   Overtime loss (1 point)

Player statistics

Scoring

• Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
• † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Sabres only.
• ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Sabres only.

			Regular season
No.	Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
48	Daniel Briere	C	82	28	37	65	−7	70
81	Miroslav Satan	LW	82	29	28	57	−15	30
17	Jean-Pierre Dumont	RW	77	22	31	53	−9	40
23	Chris Drury	C	76	18	35	53	8	68
55	Jochen Hecht	LW	64	15	37	52	17	49
45	Dmitri Kalinin	D	77	10	24	34	0	42
61	Maxim Afinogenov	RW	73	17	14	31	−4	57
44	Alexei Zhitnik	D	68	4	24	28	−13	102
12	Ales Kotalik	RW	62	15	11	26	−1	41
37	Curtis Brown‡	C	68	9	12	21	2	30
24	Taylor Pyatt	LW	63	8	12	20	−7	25
22	Adam Mair	C	81	6	14	20	−3	146
9	Derek Roy	C	49	9	10	19	−8	12
16	Chris Taylor	C	54	6	6	12	−2	22
8	Rory Fitzpatrick	D	60	4	7	11	−5	44
3	James Patrick	D	55	4	7	11	11	12
51	Brian Campbell	D	53	3	8	11	−8	12
10	Henrik Tallinder	D	72	1	9	10	5	26
15	Milan Bartovic	RW	23	1	8	9	1	18
25	Mike Grier†	RW	14	1	8	9	10	4
5	Andy Delmore‡	D	37	2	5	7	−5	29
74	Jay McKee	D	43	2	3	5	6	41
28	Jason Botterill	LW	19	2	1	3	0	14
26	Eric Boulton	LW	44	1	2	3	−2	110
34^[a]	Jeff Jillson†	D	14	0	3	3	−3	19
76	Andrew Peters	LW	42	2	0	2	−3	151
43	Martin Biron	G	52	0	2	2		10
4	Brad Brown†	D	13	0	2	2	3	12
35	Mika Noronen	G	35	1	0	1		0
33	Doug Janik	D	4	0	0	0	0	19
30	Ryan Miller	G	3	0	0	0		0
19	Norm Milley	RW	2	0	0	0	0	2
38	Domenic Pittis	C	4	0	0	0	−1	4
29	Jason Pominville	RW	1	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

		Regular season
No.	Player	GP	W	L	T	SA	GA	GAA	SV%	SO	TOI
43	Martin Biron	52	26	18	5	1442	125	2.52	.913	2	2972
35	Mika Noronen	35	11	17	2	821	77	2.57	.906	2	1796
30	Ryan Miller	3	0	3	0	73	15	5.06	.795	0	178

Awards and records

Awards

Type	Award/honor	Recipient	Ref
League (in-season)	NHL Defensive Player of the Week	Martin Biron (October 27)	^[8]
	NHL YoungStars Game selection	Derek Roy	^[9]

Transactions

The Sabres were involved in the following transactions from June 10, 2003, the day after the deciding game of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 7, 2004, the day of the deciding game of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals.^[10]

Trades

Date	Details		Ref
June 27, 2003	To Nashville Predators 3rd-round pick in 2004	To Buffalo Sabres Andy Delmore	^[11]
July 3, 2003	To Colorado Avalanche Rights to Keith Ballard	To Buffalo Sabres Steven Reinprecht	^[12]
July 3, 2003	To Calgary Flames Steven Reinprecht Rhett Warrener	To Buffalo Sabres Steve Begin Chris Drury	^[12]
March 8, 2004	To Minnesota Wild 4th-round pick in 2005	To Buffalo Sabres Brad Brown 6th-round pick in 2005	^[13]
March 9, 2004	To San Jose Sharks Curtis Brown Andy Delmore	To Buffalo Sabres Jeff Jillson 9th-round pick in 2005	^[14]
March 9, 2004	To Washington Capitals Rights to Jakub Klepis	To Buffalo Sabres Mike Grier	^[15]

Players acquired

Date	Player	Former team	Term	Via	Ref
July 12, 2003 (2003-07-12)	Joel Bouchard	Pittsburgh Penguins	1-year	Free agency	^[16]
July 14, 2003 (2003-07-14)	Domenic Pittis	Nashville Predators	1-year	Free agency	^[17]
July 15, 2003 (2003-07-15)	David Cullen	Minnesota Wild	1-year	Free agency	^[18]
August 22, 2003 (2003-08-22)	Brian Chapman	Manitoba Moose (AHL)	1-year	Free agency	^[19]
	Rick Mrozik	Calgary Flames	1-year	Free agency	^[19]
October 17, 2003 (2003-10-17)	Scott Ricci	Milwaukee Admirals (AHL)		Free agency	^[20]

Players lost

Date	Player	New team	Via^[b]	Ref
July 2, 2003 (2003-07-02)	Radoslav Hecl	HC Slovan Bratislava (SVK)	Free agency (UFA)	^[22]
July 5, 2003 (2003-07-05)	Denis Hamel	Ottawa Senators	Free agency (UFA)	^[23]
August 11, 2003 (2003-08-11)	Peter Ratchuk	Frankfurt Lions (DEL)	Free agency (VI)	^[24]
August 18, 2003 (2003-08-18)	Francois Methot	Washington Capitals	Free agency (VI)	^[25]
August 27, 2003 (2003-08-27)	Doug Houda		Retirement (III)	^[26]
October 3, 2003 (2003-10-03)	Steve Begin	Montreal Canadiens	Waiver draft	^[27]
	Joel Bouchard	New York Rangers	Waiver draft	^[27]
April 5, 2004 (2004-04-05)	Domenic Pittis	Kloten Flyers (NLA)	Free agency	^[28]

Signings

Date	Player	Term	Contract type	Ref
June 30, 2003 (2003-06-30)	Brian Campbell	1-year	Option exercised	^[29]
July 3, 2003 (2003-07-03)	Rory Fitzpatrick		Re-signing	^[30]
July 10, 2003 (2003-07-10)	Jason Botterill	1-year	Re-signing	^[31]
	Chris Taylor	1-year	Re-signing	^[31]
July 31, 2003 (2003-07-31)	Steve Begin	1-year	Re-signing	^[32]
	Tim Connolly	1-year	Re-signing	^[32]
	Dmitri Kalinin	1-year	Re-signing	^[32]
	Adam Mair	3-year	Re-signing	^[33]
	Taylor Pyatt	1-year	Re-signing	^[32]
August 1, 2003 (2003-08-01)	Eric Boulton	2-year	Re-signing	^[34]
	Henrik Tallinder	1-year	Re-signing	^[35]
August 7, 2003 (2003-08-07)	Tom Askey	2-year	Re-signing	^[36]
	Andrew Peters		Re-signing	^[36]
August 8, 2003 (2003-08-08)	Curtis Brown	1-year	Re-signing	^[37]
	Ales Kotalik	1-year^[c]	Re-signing	^[38]
August 25, 2003 (2003-08-25)	Chris Drury	4-year	Re-signing	^[39]
September 15, 2003 (2003-09-15)	Norm Milley	1-year	Re-signing	^[40]
September 24, 2003 (2003-09-24)	Jay McKee	multi-year	Re-signing	^[41]
September 29, 2003 (2003-09-29)	Miroslav Satan	2-year	Re-signing	^[42]
October 17, 2003 (2003-10-17)	Nathan Paetsch		Entry-level	^[20]

Draft picks

Buffalo's draft picks at the 2003 NHL Entry Draft held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee.^[43]

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	5	Thomas Vanek	Austria	University of Minnesota (NCAA)
2	65	Branislav Fabry	Slovakia	Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
3	74	Clarke MacArthur	Canada	Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
4	106	Jan Hejda	Czech Republic	Slavia Praha (Czech Republic)
4	114	Denis Ezhov	Russia	Lada Togliatti (Russia)
5	150	Thomas Morrow	United States	Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)
6	172	Pavel Voroshnin	Russia	Mississauga IceDogs (OHL)
7	202	Nathan Paetsch	Canada	Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL)
8	235	Jeff Weber	Canada	Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
9	266	Louis-Philippe Martin	Canada	Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL)

See also

• 2003–04 NHL season

Notes

1. Jillson wore number 5 in his Sabres debut.
2. In parentheses is the player's free agency group on July 1 if applicable.^[21]
3. Club option for a second year.

References

• "Buffalo Sabres 2003–04 roster and statistics". The Internet Hockey Database. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
• "2003–04 Buffalo Sabres Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 8, 2022.

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22. Radoslav Hecl at Hockey-Reference.com, retrieved May 11, 2022
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40. . TSN.ca. Archived from the original on January 28, 2004. Retrieved May 11, 2022. 15-Sep-03: Re-signed by the Buffalo Sabres.
41. . Buffalo Sabres. September 24, 2003. Archived from the original on October 10, 2003. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
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