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Hodgson's Home Debut

March 7, 2012, 10:39 AM ET [377 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Updated 11:40am:

Is Ruff playing poker with Kirk Muller and the Canes regarding his line trios for tonight's game?
When asked if the lines from the skate will be the lines for the game, Ruff answered:

"I'm still chewin' on that one."


thanks, sabres.com


Toe drag.

Ruff's not one to show his cards early on game days.

Betcha he starts Hodgson at centre for Vanek and Pommer.


Hodgson will have friends and family inside th earena tonight and he'll be amped up to be playing his first home game as a Sabre, in front of the home fans.

I can see Ruff bumping Roy with Ennis and Stafford, and, promoting Hodgson to the top line to get the two funk brothers out of their slumps and onto the score sheet again.

Vanek says its a game of confidence:


thanks, sabres.com

Derek Roy





More will be learned after warm-ups at 6:30EDT.


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With Miller will be starting his 20th game out of the past 21 tonight start. He'll need a break.

Enroth will have to be given a game in the very near future. Lindy likely to play Enroth in Boston on Thursday night, with Miller getting the start in Ottawa on Saturday night.

Enroth vs. Turco sounds interesting to me.


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Robyn Regehr will play.

Marcus Foligno, he of the inflated frequent flier miles to Western Canada, has been sent home to Rochester.

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A good night's sleep in his own bed appears to have rejuvenated the understandably exhausted Buffalo starting goal tender.

Ryan Miller was the first goalie off the ice this morning. A sure "tell" that he's starting tonight at home vs. Carolina.

Miller will start tonight.

Miller is 6-1-1 in his last eight games with a .952 save percentage and a 1.60 goals against average, and 11-3-3 in his last 18games with a 1.78 goals against average and a .942 save percentage.


Bigger question:

Who starts in goal for Buffalo in Boston Thursday night?


Curious move as Jhonas Enroth is 2-0-0 with a 0.49 GAA and a .986 SV% against the Hurricanes

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The Sabres hit the ice at 10:15am for their game day skate. Not much time at all to re-set lines or to play around with new combinations.

***
Lindy Ruff is icing all of the same line trios that skated in Winnipeg.

Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News tweeted that Derek Roy, the subject of line movement rumours, skated with Vanek and Pommer at in line rushes.


Hodgson centred Ennis and Stafford.

Leino centred Gerbe and Kaleta.

Ellis played pivot for Tropp and Boyes.


Are these lines set in stone? Not necessarily, however, if Lindy was to make a change, he'd have done it this morning.

Perhaps Lindy's thought process is to play the same line together that went 3-1 on the Western roadie. Maybe he's chalking up Monday night's loss to the Jets as a night thathis team ran out of gas at the conclusion of a grueling and emotional four game roadie.


Its a calculated risk to scramble up the personnel on three effective lines in order to get the 26-9-29 line going in the right direction. My guess is that Lindy has pulled aside the 26-9-29 line and laid down the gauntlet that more is being expecting of the top group from an offensive contribution standpoint.



We'll wait and hear what Lindy says after the skate.


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The Canes did the Sabres a huge solid last night by beating the Capitals in OT. Cam Ward made 46 saves for his team in the.

I would not be surprised to see Carolina's back-up, Justin Peters, in their cage tonight.


Ditto Enroth.


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HURRICANES at SABRES

-This is the fourth and final meeting between the Sabres and Hurricanes this season.
-Last meeting: Carolina defeated Buffalo, 4-2, in Carolina on Jan. 6.
-The Sabres are 4-4-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Hurricanes; 6-4-0 at home.
-This is the 182nd game all-time between Buffalo and Carolina; Buffalo leads the series with a 95-63-24 record. They are 53-29-8 at home against the Hurricanes.

STORYLINES
The Sabres are 9-2-5 in their last 16 home games, dating back to Dec. 13. They have won their last three at home, tying the season’s best stretch, and have points in their last four at home (3-0-1).

Buffalo enters tonight’s game four points out of a playoff spot after going 6-1-2 in their last nine games. During that stretch, the Sabres have allowed only 1.67 goals per game.
The Sabres return tonight from a five-game road trip on which they went 3-1-1. After tonight’s game, the team will fly to Boston for a matchup tomorrow night with the Bruins, before traveling to Ottawa for a game on Saturday.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Buffalo is 25-3-2 when allowing two or fewer goals and 21-4-3 when scoring three or more… Buffalo has scored first in their last four home games… The Sabres are 12-4-3 with Corey Tropp in the lineup… Brad Boyes has four points (2+2) in his last four games…
Buffalo has seen 11 of their 34 home games go to overtime this season, tying Florida for most in the league.

LEADING THE WAY AGAINST THE HURRICANES

Derek Roy leads all Sabres with 13 goals and 29 points in 26 career games against the Hurricanes… Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek each have three points (2+1) in three games against Carolina this season… Jhonas Enroth is 2-0-0 with a 0.49 GAA and a .986 SV% against the Hurricanes, his best numbers against any team.

WEATHERING THE STORM
The Sabres have a record of 13-6-4 against the Hurricanes since their seven-game series in the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals.

Entering this season, Buffalo had gone 2-1-1 against Carolina in every year since sweeping the season series against the defending champs in 2006-07. The Sabres are 1-2-0 against the Hurricanes this season and looking to avoid losing the season series for the first
time since going 1-2-1 in 2005-06.

HOME SWEET HOME

Jason Pominville is ranked fourth in the league with 39 points (15+24) in 34 home games. Pominville, who didn’t record a point in Buffalo’s last home game on Feb. 24 vs. BOS, has not been held without a point in consecutive home games since back-to-back
games on Feb. 25 and 26, 2011.


RESTING UP

Buffalo has played eight games this season against opponents who had played the day before while the Sabres had the day off. They are 7-1-0 in those games and 33-12-3 (.719) in these games since the lockout. The Hurricanes –who were in Washington last night–are 2-6-2 this season in 10 games as the non-rested team. They are 30-37-7 in these games since the lockout.

LET'S PLAY TWO
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s 19th of a league-high 21 sets of back-to-back games this season. The Sabres are 11-7-0 in the first game and 6-7-5 in the second. The Sabres’ points breakdown in back-to-back sets is as follows: four points (3), three points (2), two
points (9), one point (3) and zero points (1). The team continues this set tomorrow night at Boston.

FINISHING STRONG AFTER THE BREAK
Buffalo is 535-399-183 (.561) all-time in games after the All-Star break. This includes a record of 84-46-21 (.626) in those games since the lockout. The Sabres are 9-4-3 (.656) since the 2012 NHL All-Star Game. These totals do not include games after breaks for the
Olympic Games.

IT’S MILLER TIME

Ryan Miller is 6-1-1 in his last eight games with a .952 save percentage and a 1.60 goals against average, and 11-3-3 in his last 18games with a 1.78 goals against average and a .942 save percentage.

BATTLING BACK

The Sabres began the day on Feb. 17 in 14th place in the Eastern Conference and 10 points out of a playoff spot after a 7-2 loss at PHI the night before. Since then, the team has gone 6-1-2, allowing only 1.67 goals per game. Only one team in NHL history has overcome
a 10 point deficit this late in the season, when the New York Islanders rallied from a 10-point hole on Feb. 18, 1994 to snag eighth place in the conference.MEET THE NEW GUYS

*Cody Hodgson has 33 points (16+17) and a plus-10 rating in 67 games this season. He is a plus-2 and has averaged 16:59 TOI per game in four games with the Sabres after averaging 12:44 in 63 games with the Canucks this season.

Hodgson’s 16 goals are third-most among NHL rookies this season, and his 33 points rank fifth among all rookies. A native of Toronto, Ontario, Hodgson was selected by Vancouver in the first round (10th overall) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.



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Last night in Washington OT win, Canes capo, Eric Staal, set the franchise record for longest assist streak (11 games –2/10-3/6: 6g, 14a), and the Carolina record (since relocation) for the longest point streak (12 games –2/8-3/6: 7g, 14a).



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