Nick Foligno played his 300th NHL career last week. Tonight, he'll be on the ice with his "little" brother Marcus, who will make his NHL debut for Buffalo in Ottawa. Marcus is 6'4 220, and is considerably bigger, and some would say badder, than his older bro.
After this morning's game day skate, Nick spoke about how special it is to have his little brother make his NHL debut tonight. Proud Papa and Sabres legend, Mike, will be in attendance for the auspicious event. 30 or so Foligno family members will be in the arena to watch the two brothers go head to head for the first time in the NHL.
Should be an emotional night for the Foligno Famiglia.
Marcus spent yesterday flying from Texas to Ottawa, after playing three games in three nights in Texas with his Amerks. He arrived in Kanata just before 11pm EDT Monday night.
Knowing what I know about Marcus, he would not miss the opportunity for anything in the world! He's worked his whole life to achieve his dream of playing in the NHL. Tonight, he'll get his first taste of the sweetest ice!
My friend, Kevin Snow of sabres.com (@kwsnow), is at the game day skate in Kanata, and he's reporting that Lindy Ruff has reunited the 26-9-29 trio. Some of you Sabre fans like this idea, many of you don't.
For example my Twitter followers (@SabresBuzz) are NOT in favour of adding Roy to the red hot Vanek-Pommer duo.
VanekIsntLazy tweeted:
@SabresBuzz Roy renders his linemates useless and doesn't get pucks deep nearly enuf. But given injuries what choice does Ruff have? #PlanD
@SabresBuzz Great now Roy will carry the puck more, which means Vanek will have it less. You want your leading scorer to always have it.
Pommerzgal tweeted:
No we didn't RT @SabresBuzz: You wanted Vanek-Roy-Pominville. Now you got it. Roy has to get his act in gear.
BLMC88 tweeted:
@SabresBuzz I didn't. He didn't look any better (or worse, really) when centering them so far this season.
@rummy 15 tweeted:
@SabresBuzz Nooooo...get Roy away from them #cancer
Like it or not, its Lindy's job to get Roy up off his duff and back onto the scoring sheet on a regular basis. Roy always seems to play well in his hometown, Ottawa. This trio has had success on the ice together over the years and Ruff appears to be looking for two things: For Vanek and Pommer to wake Roy up from his deep freeze, and, for the Sabres to fill the Ottawa net.
Roy has been snake-bitten in recent games. He's getting shots and chances that he is isnt burying.
Roy is OVERDUE. he's the team's #1 centre and he needs to start lighting the lamp and assisting on goals. Enough is enough already!
Feels so good!
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The other lines are:
Adam-Stafford-Szczechura
Foligno-Gaustad-Kassian
Whitmore-Ellis-McCormick
Foligno will wear #82, like he did in training camp. Whitmore will wear #71.
Foligno's proud Papa, Mike, was a beauty! Marcus and his brother, Nick, have big skates to fill by way of paying homage and carrying on Dad's famous goal celebration:
Today after the Sabres skated, Lindy Ruff said:
"If Marcus scores, I'll do the leap. Put the camera on the bench, boys.".
CLASSIC!!!!
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Marc Andre Gragnani is the odd blue line man out.
Brayden McNasty is back where he belongs.
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Brad Boyes, Pat Kaleta, and Tyler Myers all skated this morning. None will play tonight. Kaleta and Boyes may make it back to the lineup for the game in Toronto on Thursday night.
More on that later....
I told you yesterday afternoon that Ryan Miller and Jason Pominville admitted that they had not heard about owner Terry Pegula's pointed comments. The Vezina goal tender and the team captain obviously did not read the Buffalo News on Sunday or Monday. Pominville admitted that he had not heard the comments. Ditto Miller. One thing is for certain: the Sabres players do not read the newspaper.
In case you missed it, Mr. Pegula told the Buffalo News:
"We saw some great goaltending tonight, didn't we?" Pegula said sarcastically. "If they think they played well, we've got more problems."
I waited around the arena to listen in on Miller's scrum on Monday afternoon. Miller didn't come into the room until 12:33pm, roughly 30 minutes after most of his teammates and most of the media had departed. Most of the Sabres had packed their bags and showered while Miller was still on the ice working on shooting drills and competing in a game of "Showdown" with his mates. Miller was generally in good spirits by my account. He genuinely seemed surprised when Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News asked him for his reaction to Mr. Pegula's the assessment of the team's goal tending in the Pittsburgh game.
Miller said that he had not heard the comments. After he processed the quote from his owner, Miller said:
"He owns the team. I guess he wants to see a little bit better play. I don't know."
Miller continued:
"It's for us to come to the rink and work to get better. Everybody has been making comments like that a lot lately, but that's all you can really say because that's the job: Come to the rink and try to improve every day regardless if you're winning or losing.
"I'm trying to get better and put my best game out there and I obviously didn't have a very good game. That's pretty apparent. I got pulled twice. I mean, come on. That's pretty bad".
Miller eluded to the deep roots that Pegula has in the Pittsburgh area.
I'm sure Terry wanted to see us play better in Pittsburgh. I guess we owe him one."
That goes without saying. The owner had higher expectations for his team on Saturday night. The team didn't play to the owner's satisfaction. The game was a clunker and its time to move on".
Do I think Miller and Enroth are better than their combined efforts on Saturday night? Yes, I do. I also think that they will bounce back with better efforts. I like that Miller put in the extra thirty minutes after the[practice on Monday. He talked about having fun and smoothing out the rough spots in his game. I give Miller the benefit of the doubt. He's better than the performance against the Penguins. I'm looking for him to bounce back with a strong effort in Ottawa tonight. Miller's an ultra-competitive guy. He hates losing. He hates slumps. He despises imperfection and strives for perfection. He'll be ok.
Is Miller chapped by Pegula's comments?
I don't think so. Miller gets it. He has high expectations for his own preparation and performance. I think that Miller is secure in his own abilities and is supremely confident in his belief that he will turn his game around and help his team to win games and to remain competitive in the Eastern Conference standings. Getting pancaked by Milan Lucic has had a negative impact on Miller's game. Its understandable. The injury that Miller sustained was serious in nature. He's had to recover from and deal with two head injuries in the past eight months. I defy you to do your job and to perform your daily duties at a high level after you've been dinged twice.
I give Miller the benefit of the doubt. I don't think that he's too far off his trademark winning form.
Fast forward through the >indy comments to catch Miller's comments from Monday afternoon. Thanks to WGRZ TV for their video.
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Marcus Foligno and Derek Whitmore will play their first NHL games, respectively, in Ottawa on Tuesday night.
Excellent local angle on this story.
Foligno was born in Buffalo, while Whitmore was born in Rochester.
One man's loss is another man's gain.
Two great stories.
Marcus has NHL pedigree. Pro hockey and toughness is in his DNA. He's the son of former Sabres Captain, Mike Foligno. His big brother Nick, plays for Ottawa. Bro on bro warfare in Ottawa! Would be great to see a "Primeau Brothers" battle.
Love it!
I make no bones about the fact that I am a HUGE Marcus Foligno fan. He's a great kid who has earned his way up the ranks in juniors and now in pro hockey. Marcus is not a gifted, skilled player. His calling card is that he works his ass off because he wants to be the best player that he can be. What he lacks in talent, he more than makes up for in blood, guts, and effort. He is his father's son! Last December, Foligno was a long shot to make Team Canada's World Juniors team, and he wound up being one of Canada's best players in the WJCs in Buffalo. Great story.
You wanna play, you gotta pay!
Whitmore is a 27 year old veteran of the AHL. He recently scored four goals in a game for the Amerks. Whitmore has paid his dues and has earned his call to The Bigs.
You read it first here yesterday morning that Marcus Foligno and Derek Whitmore would be recalled for the Ottawa game.
Foligno has scored 9 goals this season in Rochester and he's played a rugged, hard style of hockey. Marcus, if called upon, will play against his older brother, Nick. Maybe they fight like the Primeau Brothers did. One can only hope. I'll take Marcus in a scrap over Nick.
Whitmore has potted 13 goals and is scoring on a consistent basis.
When Terry Pegula bought the Amerks, he did it with one thing in mind:
That the Sabres management, coaches, players, and organization would have share their exact culture with the youngsters on the farm. the proximity makes it advantageous for the Sabres scouts and coaches to share information and to travel back and forth to the Lilac City in order to chart the progress of the prospects.
Ted Black calls it "Sabres University".
School is in session!
Lets count the Amerks in the present lineup:
McNabb
Kassian
Szczechura
Foligno
Whitmore
Injured Amerks:
Tropp
Stuart
TJ Brennan and Joe Finley have also performed well for Buffalo this season.
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