Ronan Tynan singing "God Bless America" before the Sabres and Rangers face off in Game 2 Friday night.

BUFFALO (LGS) —  Unlike the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night, Ronan Tynan didn't falter early in his performance. He was magnificent from the time he opened his mouth. But, just like the Sabres, he did save his best for last.

Reaching the final word of "God Bless America," a song he dedicated to American and Canadian troops watching live in the middle of the night in Afghanistan and Iraq, Tynan paused after "sweet," closed his eyes and filled up his chest.

Then he emptied himself into the final note, bringing a roar from the crowd and more than likely, a few tears.

It took them almost two hours, but after a long pause of their own, the Sabres finally took some inspiration from their Irish tenor, leaving nothing in the tank in the third period as they brought home sweet victory number two of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

They did it behind an international lineup, Americans Drury and Stafford and Miller, Canadian Campbell, Lithuanian Zubrus, Finn Lydman, and all the rest who will unfairly receive short shrift in this space.

And they did it in front of fans making diverse fashion statements, from home and away slugs, to classic crossed sabres, to even a few goatheads sprinkled in between.

What they weren't wearing were the white T-shirts with corporate logos the Sabres organization has been handing out in an unsuccessful attempt to recreate the "whiteout" of past playoff seasons. Apparently few fans want to cover up all that expensive new merchandise.

Maybe the T-shirts should have had this message printed on them instead: "The will is inside you." Then the fans could do what some of the players do: put on the Tynan-inspired T-shirt and cover it with the sweater. Play for the crest on the front and layer the inspiration next to the heart.

The slogan, as you probably already know, refers to the heartfelt words Tynan offered the team in December of 2005, one of the first times he sang before a Sabres game.

“The will is inside you. You just have to bring it out... The team player gets the result. Not one man. If the team is together in thought and spirit, then you have an army," he told them that night, the words now inscribed inside glass by the entrance to the lockerroom, not far from the photo of the Stanley Cup.

To have an army, you need a supreme commander and field generals and battlefield leaders, but mostly you need worthy men in the trenches. Good soldiers. Team players.

In Game 2, the Sabres brought all of the above to the third period of a war they were badly losing, despite trailing by only a goal. The will was there, somewhere, but it was buried under fabric, only a slogan. They just had to bring it out, give the words life.

They found that will in the lockerroom during the second intermission and carried it to the bench, passing the shrine to Tynan's words on the way.

In his warroom before the third, the commander, Lindy Ruff, took a pencil to his battle plans, deciding to go with three lines to try and spark an offense that had generated just nine shots through the first two periods. Pulled off the front line were Maxim Afinogenov, Tim Connolly and one of his best players this postseason, Adam Mair. Afinogenov had mishandled the puck time and again the first 40 minutes, looking very much like the Max of old, and Ruff had seen enough.

To start the third, Ruff had one of his field generals launch the attack. Chris Drury, wearing the C on his uniform, willed his team to the tying goal just 24 seconds into the period. He won the faceoff at center and, after Toni Lydman's no-look pass to Ales Kotalik on left wing allowed the Sabres entry, worked his way into scoring position. When Lydman aimed a careless turnover right for Drury's stick, hand to hand and into the back of the net, the game was tied.

And don't forget Dainius Zubrus working hard down low to win the puck and help create the pressure that led to the giveaway in the first place.

Not one man.

The Sabres had early momentum, but the war was far from won.

Like Afinogenov, Drew Stafford had struggled early and found himself consigned to the fourth line, even though no one likes to call it that anymore. But given a chance with old linemates Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek in the third, Stafford rediscovered his game.

Half a period after Drury's goal, the rookie was playing defense, getting back quickly to break up a rush and take Blair Betts into the boards. Forty-one seconds later, Stafford made the pass of the season through Betts' legs and onto the stick of Vanek.

Vanek's individual rush in the second period was spectacular and yielded nothing, but when he scored off that gorgeous Stafford pass, feasting off his teammates' hard work, he won a Stanley Cup game. On the bench, Afinogenov stood and cheered, as he did throughout the period, together in thought and spirit with his teammates, even if he got only one shift.

And don't forget Brian Campbell, who turned himself into a piece of poster board to avoid a sandwiching hit behind the New York net, emerging unscathed to send a pass out front that bounced to Stafford.

Not one man.

Enter the grunt, the man in the trenches, the ferocious warrior, Zubrus, who in the game would lay big hits on Jaromir Jagr and Sean Avery. Knocked to his knees with six minutes to go in a scrum for the puck behind Henrik Lundqvist, Zubrus got back up. It wasn't the puck in his skates, it was the Stanley Cup, and no one was taking it from him. Instead he was the thief, stealing away 17 precious seconds from the Rangers.

Yes, one man.

There was a single hero left, the quiet one with the skull cap and the searching eyes. Ryan Miller would make one more awe-inspiring save on a night of many, sprawling to get his blocker on Jaromir Jagr's sharp redirect from the slot with two minutes to go.

Vanek was right beside him to block Matt Cullen's attempt to scoop the rebound over the fallen goaltender and tie the game.

Not one man.

Miller said after the game that the Sabres wanted to bail out Daniel Briere, who had taken a cross-checking penalty seconds after the save. The team ended up bailing out Miller, who had given them a chance to win with 20 saves in the first two periods. The Rangers could barely break the center of the Sabres' line, let alone flank them, and Miller had to make only a single save with New York up two men for the final 1:52.

And so with a coalition of the willing and a commander who fought to the end, even after the Rangers signed the armistice, the mission was accomplished one man, one play, at a time.

It was the kind of game you have to win sometimes, Miller also said, the tough grinding kind when things don't go well at first and the faithful begin to doubt. The bleary-eyed troops could probably relate.

And, all comparisons between hockey and war aside, that brings us back to reality, to the men and women the sellout crowd cheered during the tenor's song when the troops — some of whom might return home to walk on prosthetic legs like Tynan himself — appeared on the Jumbotron proudly displaying their Sabres colors. When military personnel showing their Rangers' allegiance were shown first, there was not a single boo.

For that, I say God bless America.

And Canada and Lithuania and Austria and Russia and Finland and Sweden and the Czech Republic and Germany and Slovakia, birthplace of the Rangers' Marcel Hossa.

It turned out to be a hockey game after all.

Not a war.

Even if we were witness to an army.