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PA Parenteau answered the call to arms on Wednesday night in Buffalo, The Montreal native scored 19 seconds into the third period to tie the game. He later scored the shootout winner to give the Canadiens a desperately needed 2-1 win.
The Canadiens entered the Buffalo game having given up 14 goals in its past three games, all losses, including a 5-0 shutout in Chicago on Tuesday and a 6-2 drubbing at the hands of Calgary on Sunday.
Canadiens goalie Dustin Tokarski stopped 31 shots through 65 minutes and two out of three shootout attempts.
Neuvirth made 31 saves for the Sabres.
Sabres winger Drew Stafford tied the game 1-1 on the power play at 3:14 of the third. Habs rookie Jiri Sekac foolishly boarded Sabres rookie Nikita Zadorov from behind. Sekac sat down, then Stafford deposited a Tyler Myers pass behind Dustin Tokarski. Both of Stafford's goals this season have come on the PP. Stafford has both of Buffalo's PPGs.
Tyler Ennis notched his milestone 100th NHL assist on the Stafford goal.
The Sabres are 2-2-2 in their past 6 games. Goaltending has been strong. The defense and forwards are breaking the puck out cleanly and the offense is starting to come around.
Tyler Myers was a tower of power and he likes the way the forwards and D are meshing in the past week and a half.
"We've focused on supporting each other more. The D supporting forwards & vice versa. We're making good progress".
Watching the Detroit and Montreal games live in person, I notice that the forwards are coming back to their zone and are dipping below the faceoff circle to receive the breakout passes from the D. For the first three weeks of the season, the Buffalo forwards were getting caught flying the zone, causing opposing forwards and D to intercept the long, aimless passes that were converted to zone time for the opponent.
Ted Nolan liked his team's effort and compete level.
Thanks, Sabres.com
The Sabres will host the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.
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The Montreal Canadiens need a win. Badly. Their GM Marc Bergevin and AGM Larry Carriere are in the house tonight.
They were trounced 6-2 by Calgary on Sunday night. They were hammered 5-0 in Chicago on Tuesday night.
Carey Price will take the night off tonight and Dustin Tokarski will attempt to turn the tide for the Habs. The Habs blue liners and forwards are guilty of soft play in recent losses. They better pick up their pace and urgency against Buffalo. Former Habs leaders Josh Gorges and Brian Gionta are now Sabres and their losses to the Montreal lineup are being felt right now.
Tonight's two points will not be a two foot tap-in putt for Mike Therrien's struggling club. The Sabres are 2-2-1in their past 5 games. They played extremely well and earned their 3-2 shootout win against Detroit on Sunday afternoon.
My prediction: Either the Habs will stink this joint out tonight, or, they will smash the Sabres.
Michal Neuvirth will assume the Buffalo net.
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The Sabres are playing well of late, which means that teams are scouting them.
Tonight will be no different as Detroit, Anaheim, Boston, Nashville, NY Rangers, Colorado, Edmonton, Ottawa, Philly and Chicago will have scouts in the house.
One assumes that Detroit and Anaheim are keeping tables on Tyler Myers.
The Ducks may also be in the market for a goaltender (see Neuvirth) to get them through the injuries to John Gibson and Frederik Andersen.
Neuvirth is a UFA to be and is a $2.5 million cap hit this season. The Ducks have gotten a great look at Neuvirth already this season as he has faced them twice. In two losses, he was peppered and has made 77 combined saves against Getzllaf, Perry and the Ducks.
John Gibson is out at least 6 weeks with his groin issue.
The Ducks are hoping that Andersen's "leg tightness" concern corrects itself. In the meantime, they are leaning on 34 year old suitcase Jason LaBarbera, who is not a long term solution.
The Ducks called up prospect Igor Bobkov on Monday. Today, they reassigned Bobkov to the Norfolk Admirals, Anaheim’s primary development affiliate in the American Hockey League.
The Ducks have reassigned goaltender Igor Bobkov to the Norfolk Admirals, Anaheim’s primary development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL).
Bobkov did not make an appearance with Anaheim prior to today’s roster move. Bobkov has posted a 20-23-2 record with two shutouts, a 3.05 goals-against average (GAA) and a .905 save percentage in 46 career AHL games with Norfolk and Syracuse. Bobkov split the 2013-14 season between Norfolk and Utah (ECHL), going a combined 22-11-5 with two shutouts, a 2.13 GAA and a .920 SV%. The 6-6, 238-pound goaltender ranked second among ECHL netminders in GAA (2.04) and fifth in SV% (.921), while also earning ECHL Goaltender of the Month honors for February and March.
Boston and Ottawa are presumably going to be watching Chris Stewart and/or Drew Stafford.
The Rangers have lost D Ryan McDonagh and Kevin Klein to injuries. Perhaps they are looking at Andrej Meszaros as a stop gap answer to their blue line questions.
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While visions of McEichel dance though the heads of the respective fans of the Sabres, Canes, and Coyotes, there are other notable quotables who are moving up the top prospects charts.
ISS Hockey has Noah Hanifan at #3, Matt Barzal at #4, and Dylan Strome at #5 of this month's draft eligible prospects.
Having seen Strome play live a couple of times this season, I really love this kid's complete game. He is thriving as Erie's #2 center behind McDominator. On any other junior team, Strome is easily the #1 pivot. It would not surprise me at all if Strome is selected #2 overall ahead of Eichel at the June entry draft.
Strome is THAT good!
ISS ranks the top 200 skaters, along with the top 15 goaltenders, as evaluated and ranked by ISS Hockey’s worldwide network of scouts.
Below is the ISS Top 30, highlighting the rankings for the top 30 prospects, which are released on the first Wednesday of every month during the hockey season.
Rank-Name-Position-Team-League
1 - McDavid, Connor - C - Erie - OHL
2 - Eichel, Jack - C - Boston University - H.E.
3 - Hanifin, Noah - LD - Boston College - H.E.
4 - Barzal, Mathew - C - Seattle - WHL
5 - Strome, Dylan - C - Erie - OHL
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6 - Werenski, Zack - RD - Michigan - BigTen
7 - Kylington, Oliver - RD - Farjestad - SweJr
8 - Zacha, Pavel - C - Sarnia - OHL
9 - Crouse, Lawson - LW - Kingston - OHL
10 - Konecny, Travis - C - Ottawa - OHL
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11 - Connor, Kyle - C - Youngstown - USHL
12 - Rantanen, Mikko - RW - TPS Turku - FinE
13 - Marner, Mitchell - C - London - OHL
14 - Greenway, Jordan - LW - USA Under18 - NTDP
15 - Bittner, Paul - LW - Portland - WHL
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16 - White, Colin - RW - USA Under18 - NTDP
17 - Bracco, Jeremy - RW - USA Under18 - NTDP
18 - Sprong, Daniel - RW - Charlottetown - QMJHL
19 - Svechnikov, Evgeny - RW - Cape Breton - QMJHL
20 - Provorov, Ivan - LD - Brandon - WHL
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21 - Carlsson, Gabriel - LD - Linkoping - SweJE
22 - Spencer, Matthew - RD - Peterborough - OHL
23 - Roy, Nicolas - C - Chicoutimi - QMJHL
24 - Korostelev, Nikita - RW - Sarnia - OHL
25 - Harkins, Jansen - C/LW - Prince George - WHL
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26 - Gropp, Ryan - LW - Seattle - WHL
27 - Roy, Jeremy - RD - Sherbrooke - QMJHL
28 - Knott, Graham - LW - Niagara - OHL
29 - Fischer, Christian - C - USA Under18 - NTDP
30 - Boeser, Brock - C - Waterloo - USHL
Connor McDavid's blistering hot start to the season places him at #1. McDavid has 42 points in his first 14 OHL games. He has scored 14 goals and added 28 assists. He has more points than four OHL teams have goals scored at this point in the season.
His Otters teammate Dylan Strome has leap frogged from #9 to #5 in the November ISS ranking. Strome’s big center stature, stick handling skills and outstanding hockey sense helped him establish himself as an elite prospect for the 2015 NHL Draft.
"McDavid and Strome have led the Erie Otters to an impressive 13-0-0-1 record to start the season”, says ISS Hockey Director of Scouting Dennis MacInnis. “Strome is often overlooked because of McDavid but may be one of the most improved players in the Ontario Hockey League this season.”
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