Several media cohorts and I were waiting for the Buffalo room to open after the dramatic OT win over the LA Kings.
I asked:
Where would the Buffalo Sabres be without Ryan O'Reilly?
The consensus opinion:
Up bleeps creek without a paddle.
Ryan O'Reilly is the captain that is piloting Buffalo's rebuilt ship.
I shutter to think of where this team would be right now without the day-in-day-out leadership and on-ice production of the kid that his father and close friends call "Snook".
Not since the Danny Briere and Chris Drury days have the Sabres had a leading man who craves the spotlight during stressful, game changing situations.
Others skate like their hair is on fire away from the burden of leadership and accountability. Not O'Reilly. He basks in it. He craves it. He demands it.
O'Reilly commands the moment like no other Sabre since Briere and Drury.
I still ask myself:
What the Hell were Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic thinking when they traded The Irish Mafia of Ryan O'Reilly and Jamie McGinn to Buffalo last June in exchange for Mikhail Grigorenko, Nikita Zadorov, JT Compher and the 31st overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft?
O'Reilly is having a Hart, Selke, and Lady Byng Trophy trifecta season.
His 10 goals and 17 assists put him in 19th place overall in NHL scoring.
ROR leads the Sabres in scoring and TOI.
Hell, he leads all NHL forwards in TOI with 21:51 minutes per game. ROR also leads the NHL in faceoff win percentage with a 58.6% win rate.
O'Reilly is the most complete player that the Sabres have seen in a decade.
McGinn may well be the comeback player of the year thus far in the NHL after recovering from off season surgery that limited his play in Denver last season.
With his deft backhand PPG vs. Enroth, he brawny power forward now has eight points (3G, 5A) in his last eight games.The Sabres are now 8-for-23 (34.8%) on the power play in their last seven games.
Grigorenko and Zadorov are barely registering on Colorado's radar right now.
Tim Murray should be arrested for wearing a ski mask to the ROR-McGinn trade. Murray committed grand larceny on the Avs.
On Saturday night, O'Reilly channeled his inner "Braveheart" when he led his team to victory over the big, nasty, gnarly LA Kings.
O'Reilly's gravity defying game winner was exactly what the doctor order to put an end to the three game losing streak that the Sabres brought home from last week's jaunt to to Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.
O'Reilly's OT heroics resulted in his 100th career NHL goal 1:41 remaining in three on three overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres a 2-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings looked gassed in the OT. They defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in the shootout on Friday night.
With an overtime goal and an assist on Jamie McGinn’s goal, O’Reilly has extended his point streak to seven games (3G,7A), one game shy of his career high, set from March 14 to 30, 2015.O’Reilly’s goal was the 100th of his career and his 14th game-winner.
Defenseman Jake McCabe and Evander Kane busted in on a 2-on-1 breakaway when O'Reilly past Jhonas Enroth for his 10th goal of the season.
Marian Gaborik gave the Kings a 1-0 lead 4:47 into the first period. Gaborik received a pass from Anze Kopitar on a 2-on-1 against Sabres defenseman Mike Weber and took a one-timer that got past goalie Linus Ullmark for his sixth goal of the season.
Jamie McGinn made it 1-1 at 7:19 iof the first period with a power-play goal. McGinn picked up loose puck that bounced off Kings forward Tanner Pearson and defenseman Brayden McNabb and took a no-look backhand that beat Enroth for his sixth goal of the season.
Ullmark made 20 saves; Enroth made 28.
Sabres have wins in three straight home games. It is their longest such streak since the team won six consecutive home games from November 28 to December 15, 2014.
The Sabres extended their longest-ever home winning streak against the Kings to seven games, having outscored Los Angeles 33-9 in home games since the last Kings win in Buffalo on February 21, 2003.
Buffalo improved to 13-1-1 (one tie) against Los Angeles since Dec. 17, 1993. During this stretch, the Sabres have outscored the Kings 61-22 on home ice.
**
Speaking of Swedish goalies, Robin Lehner is still 3-4 weeks away from returning from his high ankle sprain injury, according to Sportnet's Damien Cox. Lehner suffered a setback while skating last week and now his return appears to be a month, or more away. Lehner injured his ankle while playing goal in the second period of his Sabres debut on opening night on October 8.
Cox also noted that the 6'5… Lehner check in at 255 lbs. when training camp began in September. It's understandable that Lehner's hockey conditioning would be suffering considering he was off the ice from February 14 until he skated in captain's practices in Buffalo in early August.
Thanks, Sportsnet
If Cox's story is correct, the Sabres won't be seeing Lehner until mid-January or possibly later. Lehner would will need to get himself back into NHL goaltending condition. The Sabres will likely send the hulking Swede to AHL Rochester for a few conditioning games.
In the meantime, Tim Murray is still pondering making a goalie trade.
Murray is not keen on making a trade that will only earn the Sabres 4-6 points in the standings. However, he is concerned about his 27th place standings. The Sabres enter this ball buster of a week only two points out of 30th place in the standings. The Sabres will play in Detroit on Monday night. They will face New Jersey on home ice on Tuesday night. Then Anaheim will be in Buffalo on Thursday and Chicago will play a matinee in Pat Kane;s hometown on Saturday afternoon. The NHL will shut down for the Christmas holidayfrom 12/20 to 12/26. Boston will play in Buffalo on Boxing Day. Washington will be in Buffalo on 12.28 and the NY Islanders will be the opponent on New Years Eve.
My take:
I've been concerned about the play of Linus Ullmark and Chad Johnson for some time now. The alarming three game losing streak out west last week opened my eyes to a few deficiencies in the Buffalo goaltending and D corps.When faced with a heavy fore check, the Buffalo D broke its contain structure and that led to long puck possession shifts by Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary. Both goalies stood strong at times yet allowed some soft goals that should have been routine saves. See Chad Johnson on the game winner in Calgary.
Is Murray content to play .500 hockey until Lehner returns> Or, are he and Dan Bylsma eager to attack an otherwise average Eastern Conference? Face it. The Sabres have left a ton of points on the table in the past nine weeks that Lehgner has been in a walking boot.
Lehner's recent setback(s) should be a concern for Murray and Bylsma.
The original timetable at the onset of his high ankle sprain pegged Lehner's return at 8-10 weeks. We are 9 weeks into this confusing matter and are no closer to a solution. Lehner may not start a game for the Sabres late January or early February.
Frankly I don't want to wish and hope that Ullamrk and Johnson can carry the lead for another 5-6 weeks. I feel like it is too much to ask of an NHL rookie and a career NHL backup to carry the mail for that long a period of time.
What happens if Ullmark or Johnson, or both suffer injuries between now and the time that Lehner sets skates back in his crease? Rochester Amerks goalie Nathan Lieuwen is not a long term solution.
I still think that Murray and Anaheim GM Bob Murray are having dialogue about a left shot veteran D and a goalie. Bob Murray is looking to add a top six forward. The Ducks will be in town on Thursday. The NHL trade freeze will kick in on 12/19 and will end on 12/27.