Reinhart Scratched; Kootenay Bound? (bruins)

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Reinhart Scratched; Kootenay Bound?

By GARTH'S CORNER

Oct 18, 2014 • 1:47 pm

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The end is near for Sam Reinhart in Buffalo. Ted Nolan has made the 18 year old second overall pick in the 2014 a healthy scratch for tonight's division game against the Boston Bruins.

I will be shocked if the Sabres bring Reinhart on the Western roadie this upcoming week. He will be better served playing top line minutes (22+ TOI) per game than playing five minutes (6 shifts_ per game trolling Buffalo's fourth line. Reinhart has absorbed some heavy hits this season, like the Jack Skille bomb from behind in the season opener against Columbus on October 9. Playing the kid against maulers like Boston, Anaheim, LA and San Jose will expose him to more physicality than he is used to dealing with at his young age.

Sunday will be the opportune to send him to Kootenay where he can crush The Dub for another 100 point season.

The rookie is in the midst of his audition with the Sabres, who have four more games to play him before the first year of his entry level contract kicks in.

Reinhart's ice time has dwindled to next to nothing in the past two games. He skated 13:37 vs. Columbus in the opener, 13:33 vs. Chicago last weekend, 11:12 vs. Anaheim on Monday. Then, he skated 6:39 against Carolina and 7:09 vs. Florida last night.

The kid is -1 and has registered just two shots on goal.

Nolan and his coaches are frustrated by Buffalo lack of offense. They have scored just eight goals in five games this season. They have scored just two goals on home ice in their three games in front of their home fans. They are 0-3 on home ice this season.

If Reinhart is sent back to Kootenay this weekend, might the Sabres recall Mikhail Grigorenko to take his place at center ice? Doing so would allow Nolan to slide Grigo to center and then move Cody Hodgson back to the wing. Grigo and CoHo played very well together in the preseason before he was demoted to Rochester before the season opener on October 9.

***

Just as I predicted. Bruins power forward Milan Lucic was contrite and apologetic regarding his sophomoric, gong show behavior at the end of the game in Montreal on Thursday night.

Looch hadn't spoken publicly about his gesture to the Montreal crowd until after this morning's skate in Buffalo.

His behavior no doubt sullied and tainted an otherwise great hockey game between to Original 6 powerhouse teams.

Selfish. Looch put himself above the team.

Well played, Looch. Taking the high road is the best thing right now for you. You have bigger fish to fry than to dump more gasoline on the inferno that you sparked by wanking the crowd.

Your boss, Mr. Jacobs will be in the building tonight and its best that you keep your nose clean

Lucic was fined $5,000 by the NHL for the obscene preamble to his Cup raising gesture.

I chose not to share the full frontal portion of Lucic's Magic Mike act in this space. I'm not going to validate goon behavior. Leave that to Bruins fans.

The Bruins power forward entered Thursday night's revenge game in Montreal pointless in his first five games of the young season. Lucic's overall play has left a lot to be desired by his head coach and teammates.

Perhaps a tussle with the hated Habs would thaw Looch's cold front. Maybe not.

In the hostile confines of the Bell Center in Montreal, Lucic lost his cool and then boarded Habs SD'er Alexei Emelin with a heavy body check from behind along the boards. At the time of Lucic's brain cramp, the Habs were leading 5-4 and there was 1:20 remaining.

Lucic ignored the conventional thinking to dog the puck, create a turnover and try to make a play to tie the game before the final horn had sounded. He instead opted to selfishly board Emelin who had taunted and tormented the Bruins in last spring's seven game series win by the Habs.

You'll recall that Montreal tough guy Dale Weise and Emelin were vocal about Boston's antics in the hand shake line when the Habs defeated the Bruins in Game 7 last spring. The Habs wisely scratched Weise from Thursday night's game to avoid another large scale flare up between the two hated rivals.

As he was entering the metal bar motel, Lucic inexplicably wanked the crowd, then dusted off Brad Marchand's Stanley Cup raising yoga move and proceeded to share it with the Habs fans seated directly behind the sin bin.

The Habs scored into the empty net that Lucic had created to make the final score 6-4 Habs.

Curious move by Lucic. He would have been better served using that creative license to score the game tying goal rather than assisting on the insurance goal that the Habs pumped into the open net that Lucic created with his dumb penalty.

*** The Boston Bruins don't like what they see here and are trying to get the funk out, to quote Boston rocker Nuno Bettencourt and his band Extreme.

The Bruins played well yet lost on Thursday night in Montreal after defeating Detroit on Wednesday night.

Their problem isn't effort. Its finding solutions in the form of new players to replace recently departed veterans Johhny Boychuk and Jarome Iginla. That, and shoddy goaltending from Tuukka Rask.

Boychuk was a salary cap casualty. He was traded to the red hot NY Islanders just before the puck dropped on the new NHL season on October 8. The Bruins and their fans did not want to lose Boychuk, however, he had to be sacrificed so that Peter Chiarelli could sign two important youngsters in forward Reilly Smith and D Torey Krug. The Islanders are 4-0 thus far and Boychuk is a huge reason why they are killing it 5 on 5 and on the PP right now. Who knew Boychuk was such a gifted offensive player having thrived for years as a shut down D in Beantown? Boychuk enters tonight's NHL action ranked #2 in D-man scoring with 2 PPGs and 4 assists, one point behind Tampa's Victor Hedman. Boychuk is +5 in 4 games played and is chewing up and spitting out 22:51 in TOI. He his 7 shots on goal and has scored on 2 of them. His shot percentage is 28.6%. The Bruins PP is ranked 17th in the NHL having scored 3 PPG on 19 attempts (15.8%).

In Colorado, Iginla is just now starting to finds his skating legs. He's still gal less, however has 2 assists and is showing signs of improvement. The Av's have suffered through losses due to injuries to goalies Semyon Varlamov and Reto Berra and are playing a more structured, defensive style until they can get their goaltending in line. Iginla added grit and leadership to the Bruins last season and his presence in the room and on the ice is sorely missed. He's a puck possession power forward who wins wall battles and can create zone time and scoring opportunities for his linemates by holding on to pucks and clolgging the slot with his big body and active stick.

The Bruins have struggled mightily to find replacements for Boychuk and Iginla inside their organization.

Boychuk scored 5 goals (2 PPG) , added 13 assists, and was +31 last season while eating up 21:11 TOI per game.

Iginla scored 30 goals (4 PPG), 8 of them game winners, added 34 assists and was +34 last season. He averaged 18:12 TOI.

Rask brings his .870 save % and 2.90 GAA into Buffalo tonight. He's 2-3, has faced 108 shots and has allowed an uncharacteristic 14 goals against. He's clearing missing Boychuk's shot blocking prowess. Julien had to go to his bullpen 47 minutes into the 6-4 loss at Montreal on Thursday after Rask allowed 5 goals on 23 shots against.

The 2-4 Bruins sat in their hotel rooms and watched the Florida Panthers shutout the 1-4 Buffalo Sabres 1-0 on Friday night. Claude Julien must be licking his chops to get a solid 60 minute effort from his team, who will face San Jose at home on Tuesday night.

NHL teams can't earn a playoff berth in the month of October. However, they sure can lose ground in the divisional and conference standings and could end up not qualifying for the playoffs due to a slumber party in the months of October and November.

The Bruins enter tonight's game having scored just 11 goals while allowing 17 goals against. Being -6 in goal differential is foreign territory for Julien's team in the Stanley Cup era to be in. They are always a plus team on the goal differential table.

You would expect the Sabres to be a minus team right now, and they are. In fact they lead the NHL with a -10 goal differential. Getting shutout at home to Florida Friday night doesn't help that cause.

My guess is that Lucic and the Bruins will be in a surly, pissy mood tonight.

Buffalo better be ready for a hard push from the B's in the first 10 minutes of the game.

***

The Sabres are coming off a 1-0 loss to the Florida Panthers on Friday night.

Sounds like a broken record, but Jhonas Enroth played well again in the loss, kicking out 34 shots.

You'll likely see Michal Neuvirth in the cage after he was flogged for 5 goals against by Anaheim on Monday afternoon.

Buffalo is in a polar vortex offensively at home in three games this season. They are 0-3 in front of the home fans. . They have scored only two goals in three games at First Niagara Center. Four players account for 7 of their 8 goals for : Foligno, Zemgus Girgensons, and Tyler Ennis each have two goals, while Mitchell has one.

The Buffalo PP is till pitching goose eggs at opponents. Its now 0 for 15 and counting.

***

Mikhail Grigorenko and the Rochester Amerks finally get to hit an opponent after being off since last weekend. They will play the Toronto Marlies at 3pm today at the Richoh Coliseum in the Big Smoke.

The Amerks (1-1-0-0) enter the contest on the heels of a tough 6-4 home loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs a week ago at The Blue Cross Arena.

Akim Aliu scored twice against his former team, but the Bulldogs would score three unanswered goals in the final three minutes to erase a 4-3 deficit on their way to handing Rochester its first loss of the young season. Fourth-year forward Luke Adam earned two assists in the loss, with the first representing his 100th point as an Amerk. Third-year forward Johan Larsson and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel emerged as Rochester’s top point-getters through opening weekend, each scoring a goal with three assists as the Amerks totaled a league-high 10 goals to open the new campaign. The duo enters play tonight tied for second in scoring in the AHL, while Ruhwedel, who opened the season with three points (1+2) in the Amerks’ 6-1 rout over Adirondack, the most lopsided home-opening victory in eight years, currently leads all defensemen in assists and points. Aliu’s two goals against Hamilton on Saturday puts him in a tie for fourth place and veteran defenseman Nick Petrecki comes into the matchup ranked sixth in the AHL with a team-high 19 PIMs.

***

Rochester’s defensive corps received a significant boost on Thursday with the unexpected arrival of defensemen Mark Pysyk and Jake McCabe, who were reassigned to the Amerks from the Sabres. Both were injured during the Sabres’ preseason, but Pysyk is expected to make his regular season debut this afternoon against the Marlies. McCabe, meanwhile, comes to Rochester after wrapping up his collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned First-Team All-Big Ten honors. The Eau Claire, Wisc., native, also made his NHL debut for the Sabres last season, recording one assist in seven games with Buffalo.

McCabe is like Jake From State Farm:

He's a kickass insurance man who has gotten to a better state:

The State of New York.

Thanks, Amerks.com

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