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Its a good thing the Sabres have depth in their forward ranks in Rochester. Three forwards are now on the shelf for at least a week due to injuries. Its bad enough that Steve Ott, Matt Moulson and Cody McCormick were traded earlier this week.
Thankfully Ted Nolan is a positive, glass-half-full coach.
Girgensons, Mitchell, Stewart all out for at least a week, #Sabres Interim Coach Ted Nolan says.
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) March 9, 2014Stewart and Mitchell played very well for Buffalo on the Florida roadie. Each were lost to lower body injuries. Stewart was jacked up by a knee on knee hit deliver by Tampa goalie Anders Lindback on Thursday night while Mitchell injured his foot while blocking a shot in Florida on Friday night.
Girgensons appears to be the most likely candidate of the three injured forwards to return to the lineup first.
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Great news for Pat Kaleta. The Sabres say that PK36 skated on his own this morning.
I love this news. Good to see Patty up and about after his season ending knee injury and ensuing surgery.
Patrick Kaleta was on the ice at @FirstNiagaraCtr for the first time in months this morning; he skated by himself. #Sabres
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) March 9, 2014Talk about a Ted Nolan and Tim Murray kind of guy.
I can see Kaleta playing a solid leadership role on this young Sabres team next season, after all of his rehab and exhaustive physio-therapy is successfully completed.
If ever a player with a reputation needed a coach/supporter like Ted Nolan, its Pat Kaleta.
I sincerely believe that Kaleta is made of the stuff that will allow himself to change the way he plays the game. In a good way. Nolan is the perfect leader and mentor to help harness the Kaleta aggression and to channel it in positive aspects of the team concept.
No secret that I'm an unabashed, card carrying member of the Pat Kaleta fan club.
I'm glad that he's back up on the beam and on his road to a fully recovery.
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Missing from the Buffalo skate are injured Sabres Chris Stewart, Torrey Mitchell, Zemgus Girgensons, and Alex Sulzer.
Chad Ruhwedel was recalled from the Amerks on Saturday night.
Cory Conacher is on the ice ready to debut tonight..
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Nice to see Kaner back at the crib tonight.
Pat won't be the only #88 Buffalo rock star tonight.
Former Canisius College scoring ace Cory Conacher, also #88, will make his long-anticipated debut for the Sabres. Tim Murray claimed Conacher off waivers from Ottawa on Wednesday.
Conacher couldn't play in Tampa or Sunrise due to visa and immigration red tape.
He's legal now, and is all good to make his debut in front of friends, family and Canisius bros and alums tonight!
The Irish eyes will be a smilin' for South Buffalocnative Patrick Kane, who has accumulated six points (3G, 3A) in seven matchups against his hometown team.
Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook have six career assists apiece in eight games against Buffalo.
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The Blackhawks will play their first game in Buffalo since October 11, 2010, on Sunday, a span of more than three seasons without an appearance at the First Niagara Center. Former captain Jason Pominville suffered a serious concussion in that game as a result of a nasty, illegal hit from behind by Hawks D Nik Hjalmarsson. The Hawks enter tonight's with a four-game winning streak against the Sabres, including a 2-1 victory at the United Center on October 12, 2013.
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With Marian Hossa on the shelf due to injury, the Blackhawks were forced to shuffle their lines, but it didn’t seem to slow down Jonathan Toews’ line in the slightest, despite having two new linemates. All the teaming of Toews, Brandon Saad and Andrew Shaw did in Thursday’s 6-1 win over Columbus was combine for four goals and an assist, with Toews and Shaw netting two goals apiece. The moves also allowed Head Coach Joel Quenneville to spread out some of his other scoring: Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane were reunited on the second line, and the team also got production from role players such as Bryan Bickell, Marcus Kruger and Kris Versteeg.
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When the Blackhawks and Sabres last played on October 12, Buffalo’s roster still included the recently departed Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek, Steve Ott and Cody McCormick.
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The Sabres all alone in the NHL basement with a less than stellar 19-36-8 record. The glass half full view is that they will be selecting twice in the top five of this June's entry draft and will haul home an Ekblad, or a Bennett, or a Reinhart, or a Draisaitl, or a De La Colle to help ease the burden and pain of a re-build.
The Sabres now are owners of 11, 1st or 2nd draft picks over the next three drafts.
Murray will follow the same template that his mentors and friends Rick Dudley and Dale Tallon taught him in Florida. That is to re-build your team though smart, aggressive drafting. Then augment you core with solid, reliable, character free agents.
Murray will own the stage on draft day for the next thee seasons to come.
It will not take him long to deliver the Sabres back to a level of high respectability inside the NHL .
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Ryan Miller is now 4-0 with the Blues and he'll be a huge pain in the ass to Kaner, Towes, Sharp, and the Chicago Globetrotters for years to come.
Jhonas Enroth is now the man in Buffalo's crease. Since Feb. 28th, Enroth has gone 2-1-0 in his three starts since the deal, allowing just six total goals while making 115 saves, good for a .950 save percentage. Enroth’s most recent victory, a 3-1 win in Tampa Bay, saw the netminder make 43 of 44 stops; he is now 3-0-3 all-time in games where he’s faced 40 or more shots.
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Enroth-v-Crawford tonight.
7:30 pm start.
Be there or be square!
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Emotions of all types, good and bad, were running high when the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars locked horns in Big D on Saturday night.
The Dallas Stars lifted Mike Modano's trademark #9 to the rafters in a touching pregame ceremony.
Then, a gunfight broke out.
Journeyman rifleman Erik Cole goal took down the Wild with one of his patented kill sots, sending the Dallas faithful home with smiles on their faces.
Cole buried his breakaway attempt with 4:49 left in regulation to give the Stars a ginormous 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild.
After the game, Lindy Ruff acknowledged the Dallas fans for their part in the victory.
"I know these guys really wanted to play hard for him. All the activities outside the game were awesome and these guys wanted to cap it off and make it a real special day for him," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said of Modano. "It's the biggest day, I think one of the biggest days in franchise history when you put a guy like that up in the rafters and then you cap it off with that type of game."
Modano and his 1999 Stars put the kills shot on the Buffalo Sabres in the Stanley Cup Finals. Though it paines me to say this, Modano deserves to have his #9 immortalized for posterity for his countless contribution on the ice for the Minnesota and Dallas Stars, as well as for Team USA in international play.
The win now places Dallas within only three points of the Wild for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Tyler Seguin had a goal and two assists for Dallas, which lost starting goaltender Kari Lehtonen 6:37 into the third period after a hard collision with Minnesota center Erik Haula.
Haula went hard into the crease and collided with Lehtonen, knocking off the goalie's helmet and drawing blood. He was assessed a charging major and a game misconduct. Seguin tied the game during the long power play.
Ruff told stars.com was none too pleased with Haula's act of aggression against the Stars' goalie. Ruff was pissed off about the goon play and wants Haula suspended for it.
"He went in hard, [Lehtonen] hit the crossbar hard," Ruff said. "Likelihood it's a concussion on just a dirty play. He should be suspended. Fourth-liner takes out our goaltender."
Good thing the Stars traded for veteran back stop Tim Thomas earlier this week for such an insurance policy reason.
Thomas was acquired Wednesday at the NHL Trade Deadline in a trade with the Florida Panthers, made his Dallas debut in relief of Lehtonen.
"In a certain way, [it was] one of the easiest wins I ever got in my career," Thomas said. "But it was great to see the team come back. They deserved it. When the going got tough, we found a way to win and it's really nice to see [Erik] Cole score that goal."
Props to former Sabres sniper Matt Moulson for recording his first point as a Wild in his first games with his new team. Moulson assisted on a Charlie Coyle goal.