Fist-bumps and head-taps all around tonight! #EDMvsMIN pic.twitter.com/k6sNLxxK2R
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) February 25, 2015
Thank you, Oilers.
Thank you for bailing the Sabres out of their self-inflicted McEichel standings crisis.
When the 30th place Sabres defeated the Blue Jax 4-2 on Tuesday night, they reduced their McEichel lead over the 29th place Edmonton Oilers to just 3 points.
Then, the Oilers defeated the Minnesota Wild 2-1 in regulation to restore Buffalo's 5 point McEichel Sweepstakes lead.
VICTORY! #Oilers hang on to beat #mnwild 2-1! Pouliot scores twice and @ben_scrivens makes 33 saves. #EDMvsMIN pic.twitter.com/sHLnTfNWay
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) February 25, 2015
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What about the Tank? #McEichel pic.twitter.com/Tru5ojmTsH
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) February 25, 2015Sabres GM Tim Murray traded Jhonas Enroth to the Dallas Stars on February 11. Earlier that day, Murray traded his #1 D Tyler Myers and his third leading scorer Drew Stafford and other assets to the Winnipeg Jets for Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian. Enroth was Buffalo’s starting goalie at the time of the trade. Murray’s critics bemoaned and chirped him for deconstructing his team on purpose in order to keep his team planted in the cellar of the NHL standings. They were is 30th place in the NHL standings on that cold February day. They held a six point lead on the
Edmonton Oilers in the McEichel standings.
Today, Buffalo’s “lead… on the Oilers is 3 points.
Sabres fans are freaking out because they would rather see Anders Lindback try his hand in the Buffalo net. Ted Nolan may want to mix in a start or two for Lindback to keep the wolves at bay. Neuvirth is the owner of a sizzling .952 save percentage in his six starts since Enroth was traded. Sabres fans are furious. Neuvirth is doing such a great job keeping the puck out of his net that its cost Buffalo five points in the McEichel standings in the past week. The Edmonton Oilers and Arizona Coyotes are too close for comfort right now. Neuvirth’s past six games have been exceptional in terms of his shots faced and overall save percentages:
Columbus: 47 save, .957 save % Nashville: 37 saves, .974 save % NY Rangers: 40 saves, .930 save % Philly: 36 saves, .947 save % NJ Devils: 34 saves, .971 save % Philly: 28 saves, .933 save %
The NHL trade deadline is on Monday March 2. Neuvirth is a pending UFA. Murray is in the process of preparing to trade away his players on expiring contracts. That means that Neuvirth, Chris Stewart, Torrey Mitchell, Tyson Strachan, Andre Benoit, and Andrej Meszaros will likely ne on the move.
Murray said Monday that he has not gotten any phone calls inquiring about Neuvirth’s availability for a trade. I don’t believe Murray. A few teams have been scouting Neuvirth this season including Montreal, Anaheim, and NY Rangers. Murray also said that he hasn’t reached out to Neuvirth’s agent yet. He said that IF Neuvirth is still with the Sabres after the March 2nd 3pm EDT trade deadline, he would open talks with the agent about an extension. Not exactly a glowing endorsement of Neuvirth.
Murray may want to trade Neuvirth in the next couple of days before pissed off Sabres fans storm the gates and invade the GM’s office.
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Bad news for the Sabres came in the form of injuries to their two leading scorers Zemgus Girgensons and Tyler Ennis.
Both forwards left the game in the second period. Neither finished the game.
The Girgensons injury appears to be more serious than that of Ennis.
Girgsensons blocked a hot with his right leg then crumpled immediately to the ice. He could not apply body weight to the injury while be helped to the Buffalo room.
Nolan says he's "concerned" about Girgensons injury, but hopefully prognosis comes back better than feared. #BUFvsCBJ
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) February 25, 2015
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