Great Scott! (sabres leafs)

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There are many aspects to love and respect about the 43 year old Buffalo Sabres-Toronto Maple Leafs border war. The most intriguing thing to me is the element of unpredictability. No two games are the same. There's always a new hero and a new goat each game. There's fist fights, smack talk, face washes, and sweet dangles.

On Friday night, the Legend Of Big John Scott authored a new chapter in the four decades old brawl between the Sabres and Leafs when he scored his second ever NHL goal against Jonathon Bernier. Linus Omark's shot jumped off Bernier like a frozen tennis ball off of a garage door on a January day.

Scott scored his second career NHL goal in his 200th NHL game. The last time he scored in the 2009-10 season, he was a member of the Minnesota Wild. Scott's two career goals came 165 games apart.

Big John dunked his donut in Bernier's cup off java. Beauty!

Scott was tarred and fathered by Toronto media after he tried to goad Leafs lover/not fighter Phil Kessel into a scrap in a September exhibition game. "Scott's a three shift a night brawler", the Toronto media would scream from the rooftops. "He's a bully and a terrible hockey player, others would whine. Leafs heavy weight had just thumped then-Sabres welterweight Corey Tropp, causing the Buffalo forward a concussion when his head smashed the ice. Kessel flipped out and hacked Scott with his hockey stick. Kessel earned a suspension from Toronto's last three remaining exhibition games while Scott was given eight games for his first time offense. What a steaming pile of crap!

Poetic justice.

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Matt Moulson will celebrate a milestone of sorts when he plays in his hometown of Toronto on tonight. Moulson spent the three day Christmas holiday hiatus at home in Connecticut with his wife, daughter newborn son and close family and friends. Tonight, he returns to the town where his pro hockey dreams were born so long ago. Moulson appears to be comfortable in his own skin again. It took nearly two months for him to get acclimated to his new team, their structure and all of the changes that are occurring in real-time in Buffalo.

In a shocking move, the New York Islanders traded Moulson to Buffalo on October 27th. The Sabres also took ownership of a conditional first round draft choice (Garth Snow can opt to send Buffalo his 2014 or 2015 first rounder) and a 2015 second round pick in the deal in exchange for sniper Thomas Vanek.

The Cornell University-educated goal-scoring machine has been a Buffalo Sabre for exactly two months now. In the nine weeks since the trade to Buffalo, Moulson has had to adjust to his new surroundings. He has gotten to know two new coaches. He’s had a couple of different pairs of linemates. He’s had to come to terms on a prolonged goal scoring slump. Ron Rolston made Moulson a healthy scratch on a Western bender through Southern California and was fired along with Darcy Regier in early November. Pat LaFontaine and Ted Nolan assumed immediate control of the team and since that time, Moulson’s game has been trending upward. The 30 year-old Benicio Del Toro loo-a-like has been making great music with Tyler Ennis and Zemgus Girgensons . Nolan created the power trio three weeks ago. Moulson has taken an immediate liking to playing with the two youngsters and the sum of the 26-63-28 line is greater of its individual parts. . Moulson has found his game again while playing with Ennis and Girgensons.He has points in four of the past five straight games. Overall in Buffalo, Moulson has scored six goals and has chipped in 15 points in the past 24 games.

Begs the question whether or not Moulson likes what he sees in Buffalo these days well enough to sign a long-term contract extension. He will become a UFA on 7/4/14.

Moulson isn’t one to talk about is next contract. He always defers to his agent Wade Arnott for that stuff. Moulson has taken a real liking to Pat LaFontaine, Ted Nolan, The Pegula family, and his new teammates.

So, is Buffalo legitimately in the conversation for Moulson as he approaches unrestricted free agency?

"Definitely, I think there is," Moulson told CBC’s Tim Wharnsby in Toronto, after Buffalo’s morning skate on Friday. "I don't know what they think of me. I love playing for Teddy. "Like I said before, the organization has treated myself and my family incredibly well. The people of Buffalo are great fans and it has been a lot of fun growing with these guys. From where we were to where we want to be is obviously a process, but I think we've made some huge strides."

Moulson is a man with man options right now. He may opt for a trade out to a legitimate Stanley Cup contender like Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, or Chicago at or before the NHL trade deadline. Earlier today, the Penguins lost veteran forward Pascal Dupuis to an ACL injury that will require surgery to repair. His brother-in-law happens to be LA Kings goalie Jonathon Quick. The Kings made a huge mistake by letting Moulson get away years ago. They may want him back now that he is a perennial NHL 30-goal scorer.

With the NHL salary cap swelling to $71 million next season, more teams will have the required $6+ million per season salary to pay Moulson over a 4-5 year term. Alex Steen just signed for $5.8 million over three years. Nice two-way player, but his career goal scoring production doesn’t come close to that of Moulson.

Wharnsby notes that since the 2009-10 NHL season, only 11 players have scored more goals than Matt Moulson.

He’s in some very elite, A-list company:

Steven Stamkos 199 goals, 311 games Alex Ovechkin 182 goals, 312 games Corey Perry 151 goals, 327 games Patrick Marleau 144 goals, 331 games Phil Kessel 136 goals, 321 games Jarome Iginla 131 goals, 327 games Bobby Ryan 128 goals 330 games Jeff Carter 127 goals, 285 games Sidney Crosby 126 goals, 219 games Patrick Kane 125 goals, 323 games John Tavares 125 goals, 329 games Matt Moulson 124 goals, 328 games Daniel Sedin 124 goals, 303 games

"Whatever happens is out of my control," said Moulson.

Phil Kessel recently signed an 8-year, $64 million contract extension. In my opinion, Matt Moulson is worth every penny of Kessel’s new deal.

The Sabres may well be offering Moulson the same amount of annual salary and term to stay in Buffalo. Today, the Sabres have $28 million in cap space to get to next season’s $58 million cap floor. To get to the $71 million cap ceiling, the Buffalo’s new GM will have upwards of $41 million in available cap space to get to the 2014-15 spending limit.

If the Sabres opt to trade the UFA to be, they can use the Jason Pominville trade model as their comparable: First and second rounder (Nikita Zadorov) and two prospects (Matt Hackett and Johan Larsson)

Money talks. Wade Arnott is listening while Moulson continues to produce.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins lost 5-0 to the Ottawa Senators on Monday night.

Today, the team announced that Dupuis, who was injured in the loss when he collided with Sidney Crosby, is about to undergo anterior cruciate ligament surgery.

Here’s the freak injury:

Dupuis has scored 7 goals and 20 points in his 39 games played this season. He scored 20 goals last season.

His loss will be sorely missed through the Penguins lineup.

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The Sabres, 4-4-2 in their last 10 games, roll into The Big Smoke feeling pretty good about themselves, having won three for their past four games. “Butt Goal… sent the Sabres home to their families for their three with a warm feeling in their bellies and a smile on their faces. They don’t ask how. They ask how many. “Butt Goal… was a reward for Buffalo’s blue collar work ethic vs. Phoenix on Monday night.

The Sabres are making vast improvements in their overall game, and have showed steady, positive progress ever since Ted Nolan took over the coaching reigns from Ron Rolston in early November. The Sabres have grown into a team that competes for every square inch fo ice. Gone are the days when they are getting showed off pucks and when they are the team that blinks first on 50/50 pucks. Nolan has empowered all of his forwards and D to play their particular game and to maximize his own strengths within the team concept, and its paying dividends. Ryan Miller has been stupendous for the Sabres. Forget about his win-loss record. The guy continues to battle to keep his teammates in games. The Leafs on the other hand are not getting great performances from goaltenders Jonathon Bernier and James Reimer. When you are roughly 40 games into a season and the head coach hasn’t hitched his wagon to one starting goalie and delegated the other guy to being the back-up, issues will creep up in the room, on the bench and on the ice. Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle is trying to win with a two man rotation and it hasn’t been working for his team. In my opinion, I’d give Bernier the next 10 games, including the Winter Classic, to show me what he’s got as the starter. If he succeeds, he keeps the net. If he fails, then Reimer gets the net for good. Further to that point, the Leafs’ goaltending issues are not being helped by having a lackluster D corps. With the lone exception of captain Dion Phaneuf, who is +11 this season, the Leafs’ blueline is average, at best. Rookie Morgan Rielly is –12, Mark Fraser is –7, Cody Franson is –5, Paul Ranger is –5, John Michael-Liles is –2,. Jake Gardiner is +1 and Carl Gunnarsson is +6. As the Leafs D goes, go goes the team. Unfortunately, Carlyle cannot play Phaneu 30-40 minutes per game. He needs more defensive stps from his other D and he’s just not getting them.

Thanks, Leafs TV

The Buffalo Sabres and Leafs will play five times this season. This is match-up number four. Christian Ehrhoff’s OT GWG gave the Sabres the win on November 29. Buffalo have won two of the first three meetings between these two bitter rivals.

Ryan Miller has been red hot vs. Toronto this season. He has a 1.49 GAA and .947 save %.

Miller-Bernier in the respective cages.

More to come….

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I commend Fred Roy for using his Twitter account to apologize for his behavior.

Roy let his emotions get the better of him after he was ejected from Thursday’s Spengler Cup game between his Rochester Amerks and the Geneve-Servette club.

With 19 seconds remaining in regulation, Roy and Geneve-Servette forward Cody Almond were involved in a chirping-facewash-glove punch fest. Things escalated when Almond punched Roy when the two combatants were being restrained by the linesmen. Roy was kicked out of the game while Almond was not.

The Amerks play CSKA Moscow this afternoon.

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