sabres

It Feels Eich The First Time

By GARTH'S CORNER

Sep 22, 2015 • 11:56 am

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October cannot come fast enough for Buffalo Sabres fans.

On Monday night in Minnesota, Jack Eichel gave Sabres fans a glimpse into their hockey future.

Man, oh, man! The immediate future looks sooooooo bright and promising for Eichel and the Sabres.

Eichel danced on air all night long.

Q: How many 18 year old pull off a spino-o-rama to escape pressure? A: Very few. Only the great ones can successfully attempt this maneuver.

The Boston University Terror collected a goal and an assist in his first professional exhibition game, including this jaw breaking shorthanded goal in Buffalo's 3-2 win over the Wild.

Thanks, Wild TV

Eichel also assisted on his line mate Matt Moulson's game tying goal in the third period.

Eichel was voted the game's first star for his two point performance.

The Moulson-Eichel-Girgensons trio was Buffalo's best line of the game. Eichel responded well to playing with two NHL wingers. At times, Eichel was seen talking to his linies to presumably coach them on the ice. Eichel was seen directing traffic to get Moulson and Girgensons into scoring positions.

Pure filth!

Credit to Dan Bylsma for having the faith to throw his skilled guys on the PK in a close game. Rare talents like Eichel are game changers who can impact the outcomes of games. Bylsma no doubt got to know Eichel's hockey IQ and his compete level while watching the teenager battled against NHL players for Team USA at the World Championships in Prague in May.

Unofficially, Eichel skated 17:26 TOI and scored on his only shot of the game. Eichel was all over the ice in his first professional game. He showed that he truly is a generational player.

Jared Spurgeon opened the scoring the first period, beating Chad Johnson for the 1-0 lead.

Nic Deslauriers scored to make it 1-1 after 20 minutes.

The Wild regained the lead about halfway through the second on Mikael Granlund's wrist shot.

Moulson evened the score when he buried an Eichel pass.

Just 4:08 later, Eichel salted away the game for the Sabres with his gorgeous turnover, breakaway, deke for the shorthanded goal.

Wild D and Team USA veteran Ryan Suter was impressed by Eichel's complete game.

Even though Buffalo finished regulation with the 3-2 win, the two teams played a five-minute 3-on-3 overtime period as part of a preseason experiment by the NHL. Zach Parise scored with 8 second remaining in the 3 on 3 OT session.

The Sabres will host the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night.

It will be great to see Robin Lehner and Tim Mureray stick it to their old team.

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I have to laugh at all of the bitching and moaning that clogged up my Twitter timeline on Monday night regarding the lack of TV coverage of the Buffalo-v-Minnesota exhibition game on Monday night.

The Sabres didn't televise the game, therefore, there was radio coverage only. The Sabres posted the highlight pack of the game in a timely fashion after the conclusion of the exciting end of the game.

I get that rabid Sabres fans want their team to assign a camera crew to document Jack Eichel's every skate stride, however, that's not the way things work in the real world. We all wanted to see real time highlights of Eichel's amazing shorty game winning goal. In a perfect world, we would have seen it immediately after the puck crossed the goal line. That's not how exhibition hockey works. The Sabres managed all expectations by clearly stating in advance that the game would be radio coverage only. They did a good job of getting the highlights posted to their Twitter feed after the game had ended. The barstoo,l prophets should cut the team some slack already. It's September.

Radio is theatre of the mind. Try it. You might like it.

I would caution the instant gratification, drive thru hockey fans to chill the hell out. You can't just drive up to the microphone and demand your triple-triple in the blink of an eye. The resources were not available for immediate distribution of highlights on Monday night as is EXHIBITION hockey, not the regular season.

The silver lining is that you will be able to watch Eichel and the Sabres play exhibition puck in the every near future. Take it from an old guy who grew up listening to Ted Darling and RJ broadcast games on his transistor radio. Let your mind's eye paint the picture for you in the absence of visuals. To that end, the Sabres have announced the broadcast schedule for the team’s 2015 preseason games. The October 2 game versus the Columbus Blue Jackets broadcast live on television on MSG.

In addition, the September 25 and September 29 games against the Toronto Maple Leafs will be broadcast on a tape-delayed basis twice each on the days after the games on NHL Network. The September 25 game will air on September 26 at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. and the September 29 game will be shown on September 30 at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Local blackouts will be lifted for these broadcasts so that local fans will be able to view the games.

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A full broadcast schedule for the team’s preseason schedule can be found below:

9/21: 8 p.m. at Minnesota - Radio: WGR 550 (Dan Dunleavy & Andrew Peters) 9/23: 7 p.m. vs. Ottawa - Radio: WGR 550 (Brian Duff & Rob Ray) 9/25: 7:30 p.m. at Toronto - TV: NHL Network* Radio: WGR 550 (Dan Dunleavy & Rob Ray) 9/26: 7 p.m. at Ottawa - Radio: WGR 550 (Dan Dunleavy & Rob Ray) 9/29: 7 p.m. vs. Toronto - TV: NHL Network* - Radio: WGR 550 (Brian Duff & Rob Ray) 10/1: 8 p.m. at Minnesota - Radio: WGR 550 (Dan Dunleavy & Rob Ray) 10/2: 7 p.m. vs. Columbus - TV: MSG - Radio: WGR 550 (Dan Dunleavy & Rob Ray)

*Next day re-air

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