Lindy Ruff has been saying for a week that Brad Boyes will be the first of the injured Sabres to return to the Buffalo lineup.
Tonight, Brad Boyes will make his return. Jochen Hecht will also transition from the trainer's table to the Sabres bench. Thomas Vanek skated this morning, and will also play tonight.
Boyes hasn't played an NHL game in four weeks. Wonky ankle has been a problem for the mercurial winger. Buffalo need secondary and tertiary scoring in a bad way. Boyes better provide offense. He'll need a few shifts to get himself back in-tuned with the speed, stops and starts of the pro game.
He spoke after this morning's skate:
Thanks, sabres.com
Hecht was playing well before he suffered a foot injury blocking a shot. He'll roll out agian tonight.
Thanks, sabres.com
Boyes and Hecht will play tonight. Lets do the math. 72 or 58 have to sit out, right?
Thanks, sabres.com
Caps bench boss, Dale Hunter, is ready for a good old fashioned hockey game tonight. He tips his bucket to Lindy Ruff.
Thanks, capitals.com
****
Fast Facts:
For the second time in a month, the Sabres will meet the Capitals after having gone three straight games without a win. Other thanthese two stretches, the team has not gone three games without a win since the three games preceding Terry Pegula’s Feb. 22 purchase of the team. Buffalo has not gone winless in four straight since Oct. 26 to Nov. 5, 2010 (0-4-1) and hasn’t lose four in arow since Feb. 1 to Feb. 6, 2010 (0-4-0).
Buffalo and Washington have met on Dec. 26 twice since the lockout, with the Sabres dropping a 3-2 decision to the Capitals in2008 and defeating the Capitals, 6-3, in 2006. The 6-3 win was the last time Buffalo won their first game after the holiday break.
Derek Roy leads all Sabres with 23 points (10+13) in 25 games against Washington, including points in each of his last six (1+6).
Buffalo has six players on IR and another two who sat out their last game with an injury. In all, 16 Sabres have missed at least one game with injury this season entering tonight's game. Buffalo’s total of 141 man games lost after 34 games is 63more than they had
at that point last season, but their record (16-15-3) is better than last year’s (14-16-4).
Due to the injuries, the Sabres have recalled 10 players from the Rochester Americans this season. Seven of these players had no NHL experience prior to this season. Due to age restrictions (players 26 years of age or older cannot be considered rookies), Buffalo
has dressed nine rookies this season, the highest total dressed by the team in a single season since 2006-07, when the team dressed 10. Buffalo dressed a franchise-record 12 rookies in the 1995-96 season.
****
Updated 10:10am EDT:
Thomas Vanek is on the ice and skating right now, according Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News.
Hecht, for the first time in a long time, is skating with HDTV and Pommer. Hecht has been hobbling about with a protective boot on his foot, the result of a shot block gone bad.
Brad Boyes is skating with Roy and Stafford. Chances are good that Boyes will play tonight.
Ennis skating wiith Ellis and Kassian. Is Ennis ankle feeling better?
Its Boxing Day. Too bad you can't return the Sabres past ten games for ten winning ones.
There should be no tolerable excuses for a slow start tonight in Buffalo. The team hasn't skated since 10am on Friday. Annually, the NHL goes dark on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Captain Jason Pominville, huddled up his troops, and hosted a brief, albeit mandatory team meeting at the end of the hour long practice on Friday at First Niagara Center. His team had lost in Toronto the night before. Their third "L" in a row. Pommer's troops have only one win in their past six games. 3-5-2 in their past ten, the Sabres are in need of some holiday magic. The goal scoring drought continues, The D-zone mistakes are mounting. The goaltending has been ok. The 133 man games lost to injury are ridiculous.
Talk about perfect timing from the NHL grind.
Pommer would not go into specifics about what was discussed, but his message was clear. He wished them a Merry Christmas, and bid them all adieu for the holidays.
"This break has to be an advantage for us to re-group, re-focus and re-energize ourselves for what's ahead of us," said Pominville.
The Sabres (35 points) are the 11th place team in the Eastern Conference right now. The Caps (36 points) are the 10th place team.
"We didn't play a bad hockey game in Toronto, we worked extremely hard, we put a lot of effort into it,"said Pominville.
"I think the frustrating part is when you put that much effort into it and you don't get the results you want."
"Obviously the couple days rest here is going to be nice to spend time with our families and maybe not think about hockey -- think about other things," Pominville said of the Christmas hiatus.
"But we wanted to end this on a pretty good note. The effort was there, the results weren't and if we keep putting efforts on like this and limit those little (mental mistakes) a little bit, we're going to get on a roll here."
Buffalo has just one win in their last six games.
We'll know more about the health and well-being Thomas Vanek later this morning after the Sabres skate. HDTV not answer the bell for the third period in after re-aggravating an upper body injury in Toronto on Thursday night. Vanek was first injured in Pittsburgh on December 17. True to his warrior spirit, Vanek has sucked it up and played through the pain that is associated with his ailment. Vanek has chosen to tape a Tylenol to it, rather than sit out when his team needs him the most. Without Vanek, the Sabres would be doomed right now.
Lindy Ruff did not update Vanek's status on Friday, nor would he speculate as to the nature of the injury.
Ruff would only say: "Not being able to finish the game is not good, he's going to see our staff today on really where he is at,".
Brad Boyes went full-go on Friday and may make his return tonight. Tyler Myers has been skating and is getting closer to making his long-awaited return to the starting lineup.
Ennis, Hecht, Gerbe and Leino are all on the mend and will not be available tonight.
The Caps fired former coach, Bruce Boudreau on November 28. The Sabres had just pasted the Caps, 5-1 in Buffalo. Ovechkin and his co-conspirators were pathetic that night in Buffalo. They played like they wanted to get their coach fired.
The Capitals are 5-5-1 under Dale Hunter following Friday's 4-3 shootout loss to New Jersey.
****
I'm eagerly looking forward to watching a ton of the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championships in the coming week. All The World's a stage right now. I love this tournament!
I'll be watching how Sabres prospect, Joel Armia, leads his Team Finland in this tourney.
You love Thomas Vanek, and you are going to love Armia the same way!
Whats not to love? Look at the way he torments this unsuspecting Dman. Dangle! Incredible balance and silky mitts for a big man!
I predict that Armia will be the offensive MVP of this World Junior Championships!
Armia is playing his second season in the Finnish Elite league. I'm told that the Sabres brass are serious about wanting Armia to complete one more season befopre transitioning to North America. Who knows, the kid could have a monster World Juniors and impress the Sabres to the point that they want him to report to Rochester to begin his pro career.
Imagine fellow Finn, Ville Leino, on a line with Armia. There's a lot to be excited about with this kid. He's a special player.
****
2012 IIHF World Junior Championship - NHL Network Broadcast Schedule 12/26 - 01/05/12
Date Game Time (EST)
Mon., Dec. 26 Canada vs. Finland 3:30 p.m / USA vs. Denmark 8 p.m.
Tues., Dec. 27 Denmark vs. Czech Republic 8 p.m.
Wed., Dec. 28 Finland vs. USA 3:30 p.m / Czech Republic vs. Canada 8 p.m.
Thurs., Dec. 29 Canada vs. Denmark 8 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 30 Czech Republic vs. USA 3:30 p.m / Finland vs. Denmark 8 p.m.
Join the Discussion:
»