Sabres Grind Out First Road Win (anaheim ducks)

anaheim ducks

Sabres Grind Out First Road Win

By GARTH'S CORNER

Oct 28, 2015 • 8:09 am

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Updated:

Let me clear my throat.

The Philadelphia Flyers are lucky that they were able to steal a single point off the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

The Flyers got all that they could handle from a motivated and improved Buffalo Sabres team.

The Sabres won their first road game of the 2015-16 season by landing 40 shots on Steve Mason and making his life miserable.

The Sabres were thrashed 7-2 by the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night. They lost their power forward Evander Kane to an MCL injury in their frustrating loss to New Jersey on Saturday night.

Dan Bylsma juggled his line trios and D pairs in an effort to find a winning combination in Philly.

In the end, the Sabres out worked and out chanced the Flyers.

I was really impressed with how chippy and persistent were after they lost their two goal lead. To a man, the Sabres dug their edges in and regrouped. No boo boo face. No panic. No "oh crap, here we go again" reactions by the q8 skaters and Chad Johnson. It was impressive. Very impressive.

For most of the game, the Sabres owned the puck and carried the play to the Flyers.

Buffalo dictated the terms and conditions all night long by landing 40 shots on Steve Mason. They missed the net 14 times and had another 25 shots blocked by the Flyers defenders.

Dan Bylsma's squad delivered 25 hits and blocked 21 shots en route to the much deserved first road win of the season.

The Sabres were relentless in their puck possession and shooting.

A Tyler Ennis trick shot back hander got the scoring started at the 6:36 mark of the first period.

Four minutes later Jamie McGinn tied in with a nice three way passing power play goal.

Chris VandeValde cut the Buffalo lead in have midway through the third period,

After a scoreless second period, Brayden Schenn tied the game at 2-2.

Jake McCabe gave the Sabres the 3-2 lead.

Then with 52 seconds remaning in regulation, Schenn tied the game.

At 2:29 of overtime, Zemgus Girgensons the OT game winner between Steve Mason's pads.

Moments before the Girgensons game winner, Chad Johnson made this ten-bell save on San Gagner to keep his team alive and kicking.

Johnson made 30 saves for his third win of the season.

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Like the Anaheim Ducks, the Calgary Flames are a struggling team that sure could use an infusion of energy and talent right now.

The Buffalo Sabres have looking to add a top four D for the past few months.

Might Calgary have what the Sabres are looking for?

Treliving has Dougie Hamilton, 22, locked up long term at $5.75 million per season until 2021. Mark Giordano, 32, will earn $4,020,000 this season then $6.75 million until 2022.

Hamilton and Giordano are not going anywhere. They are pillars of the Calgary D.

Treliving has a couple of assets that may be intriguing to Tim Murray.

Kris Russell is 28 and is earning $2.6 million this season. Russell will be UFA in July.

Flames GM Treliving surely would like to keep Russell in the fold but at what cost? Russell easily would command $4+ million AAV per season for multiple seasons should he reach the open market.

Problem being, there is only so much money to spread around in Calgary.

Dennis Wideman is 32 and carries a $5,250,000 cap hit for this and next season.

The younger, cheaper, more all around D Russell has the most trade value for Buffalo.

Wideman is long in the tooth and is more offensively wired. His foot speed is a concern though he has a bomb of a point shot. Sounds like Cody Franson Version 2.0.

I say no thanks to a trade to deliver a one trick pony D like Wideman to Buffao. The average age on the Sabres is 21.5 years old and Wideman doesn't fit into Tim Murray's paradigm.

Pierre LeBrun was a guest on AM 690 in Montreal on Tuesday afternoon where he talked about the Calgary Flames and Buffalo Sabres. The two teams have been chatting for the past few weeks.

“I really don’t really feel like Brad Treliving wants to make a panic trade here. I think he just wished his team could win a couple of games in a row and keep the wolves at bay, for now. But certainly teams are calling and teams are looking for D. And Calgary is one of the few teams in the league that has depth on defense.

“The Buffalo Sabres would love, absolutely love to add a Top 4 D. And Buffalo and Calgary have talked. But I don’t sense it’s gone anywhere at this point. Buffalo has talked to a lot of teams about D.

“So yeah. If you’re Calgary, is that the trade that you need? I don’t know.…

My take:

The only way I see Tim Murray making a trade with Calgary for a D-man is if he cannot complete a trade with Bob Murray and Anaheim first.

With Zach Bogosian still listed as "week to week" with his abdominal injury, the Sabres are without their most physical and all around D-man.

Rasmus Ristolainen and Josh Gorges are playing the big minutes in Bogosian's absence.

Murray has found a solid D pair in youngsters Mark Pysyk and Jake McCabe.

Cody Franson's lack of foot speed makes him a liability against faster teams.

The Sabres and Ducks have been communicating about player availability in recent weeks as well.

Tim Murray wants a true top four D in the form of Cam Fowler or Hampus Lindholm.

Fowler is a big lefty who is solid at both ends of the rink. He was the 12th overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft. At 23 years of age, he fits Tim Murray's player profile to a tee: young, in need of a change of scenery, and has term left on his deal. Fowler is a tidy $4 million cap hit for the next three seasons. Fowler is an uncharacteristic -9 in 8 game splayed this season.

Lindholm, 21, is a big lefty who would look great paired with Rasmus Ristolainen. Lindholm is as solid as a rock and can really wire the puck. He's a left and a pending RFA.He is a $1,744,166 AAV this season. Lindholm is -2 this season.

Fowler and Lindholm both average 23-24 minutes TOI per game. As they mature and as they wearn the trust of their coaches, both defenders will be able to increase their time on ice. I see the Ducks holding on to Lindholm and trading Fowler, who has spent time in and out of Bruce Boudreau's dog house the past two seasons. A change in scenery certainly could do Fowler a lot of good.

Sabres defensive coach Terry Murray has seen the maturation of Fowler having coached against him in Los Angeles for years before moving to Buffalo this season.

We are in wait-and-see mode right now regarding the Anaheim Ducks making a trade to send a massive shock wave through their locker room. The prevailing thought is that Bruce Boudreau is staying on as head coach for now. Bob Murray will trade a player or players in order to infuse life and winning back into his listless team.

A Ducks loss in Dallas tonight might light the wick on a giant stick of Ducks dynamite.

Stay tuned.

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In case you missed it, here is the video tribute that the Flyers produced for Danny Briere Appreciation night.

The Flyers did a terrific job capturing the true essence and the competitive fire of Briere .

I loved seeing Danny and his three boys on the ice with him for the ceremonial opening faceoff.

Seeing Danny and his boys on the ice took me back to better days when the former Sabres captain used to bring his lads with him to work with him. It was always a hoot to watch the boys play mini sticks in the hallways at the arena.

I'm proud of Danny. He was a great hockey player but he is an even better father and role model to his boys.

Enjoy your retirement, my friend. You've earned all of the accolades and praise!

Thanks, Flyers

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The Anaheim Ducks are screwed.

There's no other way to say it.

Trade rumors continue to swirl around the Ducks in rapid fire fashion. Head coach Bruce Boudreau's job is in certain jeopardy.

Their captain and #1 center Ryan Getzlaf is off to surgery to repair his appendicitis. He will be missed for up to 12 days.

The Ducks have sent Getzlaf home from Dallas where they will play the Stars tonight.

The timing of the injury could not come at a worse time as Getzlaf's Ducks are currently on a 1-6-1 losing skid to begin the their season.

The Ducks have scored just 6 goals in their 8 games played while allowing 20 goals against.

Getzlaf has yet to score a goal thi sseason.

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