"Ryan Miller, back in his emotional early years, treated every victory as cause for celebration and every defeat as another step toward Armageddon. The revelry in the wins and the angst of the losses has subsided through his maturation process, with the Buffalo Sabres goaltender not putting as much thought into the daily ups and downs of his win-loss record.

It's easy to see, then, why he had no idea he was on the cusp on a significant victory. Miller earned his 199th win Tuesday, and a victory at home tonight against Florida will make him the 67th goalie in NHL history to hit 200.

"Oh, I guess I didn't know," Miller said with a surprised look Wednesday. "It's pretty special. As you come up through the ranks, you're just happy to play in the NHL. Every win is amazing.

"As it stretches out a little ways, I guess you don't really expect when you're younger to be around that long. You just want to get your chance. I feel I'm fortunate to be in the net enough to have a chance to reach 200 wins. It's a pretty cool milestone."

There are 11 active goaltenders who've reached the milestone, with the most recent member of the club sitting next to Miller in the Sabres' dressing room. Backup goalie Patrick Lalime earned his 200th victory last season. The only team to have a pair of 200-game winners sharing its crease was the 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings, who had Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek.

"It shows a lot," Lalime said. "He's 30 years old. He's at the prime of his career right now, and he's playing great hockey. I'm looking forward to being a part of this. It's a huge accomplishment.""