Buffalo White Out (eichel)

Updated:

The Buffalo Sabres will dress in the road whites on home ice tonight to celebrate Fan Appreciation night at First Niagara Center.

I grew up in the '70s and '80s and loved watching Perreault, Martin, Robert, Gare, Luce, Ramsay, Korab, Schoney, Foligno, Playfair, Housley, Ramsey, Barrasso, Puppa, Turgeon, Hawerchuk, Andreychuk, May Day, Mogilny, Lafontaine and all of my heroes wear their sexy whites at home games at The Aud.

It was after the 2004-05 NHL lockout that teams starting rocking their darks at home.

Tonight, we go back to the future.

The Sabres and their loyal fans get to hug it out and make up for all the hard feelings that have been created during this most trying season of suffering.

It's great that the wicked witch called "Suffering" is FINALLY dead and buried. Its on to better days and the McEchel Era!

Check out the swag for Fan Appreciation Night:

To kick off Fan Appreciation Night, the Sabres will host a Party in Alumni Plaza, presented by Tops Friendly Markets, which will run from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., in the plaza outside of First Niagara Center. The party will feature live music from the band Disco Duck, appearances by Sabretooth and select Sabres alumni, Sabres merchandise giveaways, as well as face painting and activities for kids. Food and drink will also be available on the plaza, and Tops Friendly Markets and partners will be on hand with food sampling kiosks.

Two fan-favorite giveaways will also make their return to Fan Appreciation Night in 2015. Sabres players will again give away their game-worn jerseys to select season-ticket holders after the game in the “Jersey Off My Back… promotion. “Rowards… giveaways are back as well, with prizes courtesy of HARBORCENTER, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Perry’s, Subway, Tim Hortons and Tops Friendly Markets.

Two intermission contests are scheduled for the game as well. After the first period, one contestant selected at random will compete in the Delta shootout for a chance to win two round-trip tickets to anywhere in the U.S. 48 courtesy of Delta. Following the second period, two contestants selected at random will compete in the “Slide with Pride… shootout for a chance to win a suite night at a Sabres game during the 2015-16 season sponsored by First Niagara.

In a pre-game ceremony, the Sabres, along with their Gold Ring Partners, will be presenting the annual team awards as voted on by the players. The team will award its Most Valuable Player presented by First Niagara, Rookie of the Year presented by BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, Unsung Hero presented by Fallsview Casino and Resort and the 7th Man presented by Labatt.

During the game, the Sabres Foundation 50/50 raffle winner will receive a 2015 Lexus NX 200t, purchased from Northtown Lexus, valued at $35,000. Additionally, the winner will receive 50 percent of the raffle sales in excess of $70,000. The winner is solely responsible for any and all taxes and fees associated with this raffle prize.

Every fan in attendance will be treated to a Sabres “One Buffalo… handout, a 40 percent discount at the Sabres Store, as well as discounted concession prices including a cup of popcorn ($2), pizza slices ($4) and souvenir sodas ($3).

The team is also offering five times the normal amount of Fan Advantage points given for ticket scans and broadcast keywords announced throughout the game. There will also be bonus keywords available through all official Buffalo Sabres social media accounts.

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In case you were in a stuper and haven't heard the news, Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel are pretty good at hockeying.

McDavid scored more goals (5) last night than some guys ever do in their best season.

Eichel won the Hobey Baker Award on Friday afternoon.

One of these two generational players who will change the course of history for the Buffalo Sabres.

Exactly which one ends up in Buffalo remains to be seen. Now that the pressure and anxiety of losing 30th overall position in the standings have subsided in Buffalo , let's have some fun on Fan Appreciation Day.

McDavid or Eichel?

Who'd ya rather?

McDavid skates like Bobby Orr, scores like Wayne Gretzky, and creates like Sidney Crosby.

Not bad, eh?

McDavid has been the top ranked amateur prospect in the world all season long. He will be selected first overall by the team that wins the NHL Lottery next Saturday night. By virtue of their loss at Columbus on Friday night, the Buffalo Sabres now own the greatest odds (20%) of selecting the Newmarket, Ontario prodigy first overall at the NHL Draft in Sunrise, Florida in June.

Say hello, to greatness.

Thanks, ESPN

Jack. Freakin. Eichel.

Just. WOW!

If the Buffalo Sabres cannot win Connor McDavid in the NHL Lottery, they certainly want to draft Eichel with their second overall pick in the June NHL Draft.

He skates like Mike Modano, reads defenses and creates like Mario Lemieux, shoots like Brett Hull, and leads like Mark Messier.

This kid can do it all! He can do it all really well!

The best hockey player in the United States collected three points, including two goals, to help lead the Boston University men's ice hockey team to the program's 11th NCAA championship game with a 5-3 victory over North Dakota in a Frozen Four semifinal on Thursday night.

BU improved to 28-7-5 and will face Providence tonight (7:30 p.m.) in an all-Hockey East title brawl.

Eichel now has 26 goals and 34 assists in just 39 games played this season.

Tonight, he plays in the biggest game of his life: the 2015 NCAA Men's Hockey Championship game versus Hockey East rival Providence College.

Assuming the Sabres win the NHL DRaft Lottery next Sayurday night, who would you rather see Tim Murray select first overall?

McDavid?

Eichel?

Hanifin?

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Dear Buffalo Sabres arena DJ, please play Harry Nilsson's "Lottery Song" during warm-ups at tonight's season finale at FNC.

Great song. Great artist. Inspiring message.

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So, my pals over at Trending Buffalo ( @TrendingBuffalo ) have created their own line combos for the 2015-16 Buffalo Sabres. I have to say that I agree with most of their personnel groupings.

I see Tim Murray playing an ultra-aggressive role in picking off vets from cap-strapped teams this summer.

For example, I can see a day in the not too distant future where Murray parlays a first round pick, Mikhail Grigorenko and Nikita Zadorov for Colorado's Ryan O'Reilly.

I can also see Murray signing pending UFA veteran puck moving D Johnny Oduya away from the capped-out Chicago Blackhawks. Oduya has been a key cog in Chicago's two Stanley Cup wins in the past few seasons. Stan Bowman will have to say goodbye to veterans like Oduya, Patrick Sharp and Bryan Bickell because the monster contracts of Pat Kane and Jonathin Toews kick in next season. Oduya is a deft passer, skates like a freight train, solid defender, PP QB, and a great leader on and off the ice. He played with Zach Bogosian and Evander Kane for three seasons in Atlanta and Winnipeg. Oduya was an affordable $2.85M cap hit last season.

However, here are my recommendations for lines for 2015-16:

Trios:

L1: Ennis-McDavid/Eichel-Kane L2: Moulson-Ryan O'Reilly-Girgensons L3: Foligno-Reinhart-Gionta L4: Deslauriers-Larsson-Bailey

*Extra forwards: Kaleta

D Pairs:

Ristolainen-Johnny Oduya Gorges-Bogosian Pysyk-McCabe

*Extra D: Strachan

Goalies:

Robin Lehner Matt O'Connor

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