I'll take my crow sandwich with Buffalo hot sauce and blue cheese, please.
In training camp, I was calling Reggie Sekera the 7th D. Boy, was I wrong. Tonight, he draws into the top 4 and will skate with Christian Ehrhoff. Regehr will stay with Myers. Leopold inherits the struggling Gragnani.
The difference, as I see it, in Sekera's game this season is that he is committing to pounding the body of enemy forwards. he's beeen very physical in most, if not all Sabres games this season. He's finishing plays on the wall, before they become scoring chances. He's also skating very well.
Sekera now leads the Sabres with a +7. He has 2 assists, and is making an impact in the offensive end, as well as in his own zone.
I'm thinking another so-so game by Gragnani tonight, may land him in the press box for the Flyers game on Wednesday. Mike Weber is foaming at the mouth and wants to play. Ruff will oblige him in the very near future.
Just made my way up the elevator. Saw Sabre Hall Of Famer, Craig Ramsay, monitoring his boys as they played soccer in the hallway. "Rammer" is a the new assistant to Kevin Dineen in Florida. I hate the fundamentalsthat the Winnipeg Jets new ownership screwed both Rammer and Rick Dudley from the head coaching job and GM position, respectively. He with the gold makes the rules, just ask "Occupy Wall Street".
Rammer is an excellent teacher of the fundamentals of hockey, and his thumbprint is evident on last season's Bruins Cup winner, to say nothing of the 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning Stanley Cup.
Dineen could not ask for a better associate coach and confidante than Ramsay.
Nothing quite like getting your first home win of the season.
The Sabres needed three attempts in order to send thir fans home from First Niagara Center with a smile and a victory.
Without a successful PP, the Sabres would have struggled to beat the Blue Jax.
The Buffalo PP was 2 for 3 in the win vs. CBUS. Brad Boyes has PPGs in consecutive games since being added to the special teams earlier this week by Lindy Ruff. Boyes seems to have found instant kharma with Vanek and Pominville.
Pommer got into the act as well:
Heading into the Jax game, Buffalo's PP was ranked 8th in the NHL, while CBUS was ranked dead last in PK.
Do the math: Top 10 PP should always defeat the 30th ranked PK. Sabres win skating away.
It'll be a different story tonight as the Florida Panthers bring their 5thranked PP into Buffalo. The Cats are 22.2% at home and 25% on the road. They've scored 9 PPG thus far into the young season.
Goose, Kaleta, Pommer, and the Buffalo PK enter tonight presently ranked #2 in Penalty Kill in the NHL. They successfully killed all six CBUS PPs on Thursady night, and now boast a 95% home PK success rate. They are 90.9% on the road. 93.6% overall. They've only allowed 2 PPG against this season.
To know the Cats, is to know that they rely heavily on the PP to keep them competitive in games.
They are 5-4 this season.
They've scored just 13 even strength goals in nine games.
They've potted 9 PPGs in 9 games.
Theodore and Markstrom have allowed a combined 22 goals against.
For every goal they score, they give one up.
The Buffalo forwards have to establish the fore check pressure early and cause the Cats D to cough up pucks like fur balls. Jovanowski will take dumb penalties, as will Campbell, Ellerby, and Gudbranson. When the ref's arm points northward, the Buffalo PP must convert on its PP chances. The Sabres are ranked 7th on the PP (21.4% overall / 25% at home). Buffalo have scored 6 PPG this season.
The Florida PK heads into tonight ranked 23rd (76.9%) in the NHL. They've allowed 6 PPG this season.
Buffalo skunked Florida, 3-0 on October 20th. In that game, Vanek scored on the PP.
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