I'm really, really, really looking forward to the Buffalo Sabres skating into Toronto and dropping the hammer on the Maple Loafs on Monday night.
The tanking Laffs are ripe for the picking right now.
What a perfect opportunity for three Buffalo Sabres to score their twentieth goals.
Jack Eichel scored his 19th goal of the season on Saturday afternoon on a beauty power play one-timer. Samson Reinhart and Evander Kane each have 18 goals for. Kane could have scored a hat trick against the Wild had he finished the Grade A chanced that Eichel served up to him on a Tiffany silver platter.
I pity the Toronto starting goalie on Monday night. Kane took 11 shot attempts and landed 6 of them on Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk on Saturday. Kane could have and should have scored two goals in the game. After the game, he took sole responsibility for the Buffalo loss. . After the game, Kane said that he is paid to score goals and that he didn't do his job to the best of his abilities. Kane is going to be hard to handle on Monday night.
Jack Eichel is ripping the puck more often ever since ROR was injured. Jack now has 197 SOG. However, Evander has a team-high 228 SOG
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) March 6, 2016
Did you know that Reinhart has the best shooting % of players who have plated more than 8 games this season? 123 SOG, 18G, 14.6 shooting %
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) March 6, 2016
Eichel (19G, 25A) and Sam Reinhart (18G, 12A) are the first pair of Sabres rookies to reach the 30-point mark since Thomas Vanek (48) and Jason Pominville (30) did so in 2005-06. The Sabres haven’t had two or more rookies reach 35 points in the same season since Ray Sheppard (65), Pierre Turgeon (42) and Calle Johansson (42) each did so in 1987-88.
Reinhart and Eichel are also on pace to become the third pair of rookies in Sabres history to each record 20 goals in the same season. The last pair was Danny Gare (31) and Peter McNab (22) in 1974-75.
With 44 points (19G, 25A) in 66 games, Eichel is on pace for 55 points this season. If he reaches the 50-point mark, he will become the ninth Sabres rookie to record more than 50 points in a season. He would be the first since Derek Plante (1993-94) and the second-youngest to do so, trailing only Phil Housley (1982-83).
Jack Eichel leads the Sabres with 19 goals this season. If he finishes the season with the team lead, he will be the first Sabres rookie to lead the team in goals since Ray Sheppard did so in the 1987-88 season.
Entering play Sunday, Eichel is ranked in the top five among NHL rookies in goals ( tied for 2nd, 19), assists (3rd, 25), points (2nd, 44) and shots (1st, 197).
Eichel’s average ice time of 18:56 is the highest ever recorded by a Sabres rookie forward, topping the next highest (Cody Hodgson- 20 GP, 17:16) by more than a minute. Sam Reinhart (16:42 this season) is the only other Sabres rookie forward to top 16 minutes per game
What better place than tanking Tronna for three Sabres to score their 20th goals of the season?
The 30th place Laffs goalies are 23rd in the NHL with a 2.89 GAA.
Veteran Jonathon Bernier has a 3.14 GAA and an .898 save %.
Rookie Garrett Sparks rocks a .916 save % and 2.42 GAA.
At the lonely end of the rink, Robin Lehner’s .931 save % in his 18 games played is now third-best in the NHL among goalies with more than five games played.
In his last nine games, Lehner is 3-3-3 with a .946 save % and a 1.75 GAA, making it the best nine-game stretch of his career.
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Rasmus Ristolainen was ranked 11th in the NHL entering play Sunday with an average TOI of 25:17 per game. Only Alexei Zhitnik (four times) has averaged more minutes per game in a full season with the Sabres.
Ryan O’Reilly (21:51) led all NHL forwards in average ice time per game entering play Sunday and Evander Kane (21:06) ranked second. The pair currently own the two highest average career ice times by Sabres forwards. Michael Peca (20:18) is the only other forward with an average over 20 minutes.
With an average ice time of 23:36 per game in his 70 games played since joining the Sabres last season, Zach Bogosian owns the third-highest average ice time ever recorded by a Sabres player, trailing only Alexei Zhitnik (531 GP, 25:32) and Christian Ehrhoff (192 GP, 23:55).
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The Anaheim Ducks, who were 29th in the NHL on December 29, are now the hottest team in the NHL.
The Ducks are now 25-4-2 since the Christmas break.
Smoking hot hockey!
They defeated the LA Kings on Saturday and are now 37-19-8 (82 points). The Ducks hold a two point lead on Los Angeles (38-22-4) in the Pacific Division race.
The Ducks have now won a franchise best 11 games in a row.
The Ducks have now beaten the Kings twice in the past six days.
"It feels good, especially winning against this team," Rickard Rakell told the Ducks website on Saturday. Rackell had an assisted on the eventual game-winning goal and had his first career fight in the first period. "It was a battle the entire game. It feels really good."
Ryan Kesler, David Perron and Jakob Silfverberg scored for the Ducks.
Frederik Andersen got the win.