Underdog Amerks Can't Slay Wolves (sabres panthers murray tallon)

sabres panthers murray tallon

Underdog Amerks Can't Slay Wolves

By GARTH'S CORNER

May 4, 2014 • 8:27 pm

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The pesky, underdog Rochester Amerks came close to eliminating the favored Chicago Wolves. However, Jake Allen would not allow it to happen. The top prospect of the St. Louis Blues made two clutch saves-- one on Rasmus Ristolainen and the other on Mikhail Grigorenko-- in the final six minutes of regulation with the Wolves leading 3-2. Allen made both saves to thwart the Amerks' late surge.

The Wolves punched their ticket to the second round of the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs with a 4-2 victory over the Rochester Americans in Game 5 of their Western Conference quarterfinal.

The Wolves will meet the Toronto Marlies in one Western Conference semifinal. The regular-season champion Texas Stars face the defending Calder Cup champion Grand Rapids Griffins in the other.

Chicago scored first in Game 5. Amerks D Chad Ruhwedel turned over a puck on the half-wall in his end and Shane Harper scored just 2:02 into the game.

Brayden Irwin one-timed home a feed from Luke Adam for his third goal in the last two games with 4:39 remaining in the first stanza.

Adam then picked up his second goal of the series 2:01 into the second period to put the Amerks in front, 2-1. It was Rochester's second PPG in Game 5 and eighth of the series.

But the Wolves stole the lead back with two PPGs of their own in the last three minutes of the period.

After a wild scramble in front of the Amerks net, the puck came out to Brent Regner and he blasted it home to tie the score with 2:32 remaining. Then, Dmitrij Jaskin camped out in front and redirected a pass from Keith Aucoin past Andrey Makarov with 26.8 seconds to go, and the Wolves were up 3-2 after 40 minutes.

Taylor Chorney added an empty-net goal at 18:59.

That's where the Amerks' dreams ended.

Jake Allen, who was lifted from a start in Game 4 for the first time since October 12, 2012, bounced back with the season on the line and stopped 21 of 23 shots for the win. Earlier this week, Blues GM Doug Armstrong anointed Allen one of his two goalies for the 2014-15 regular season. Say goodbye to Ryan Miller, Blues fans.

Makarov made 32 saves on 35 shots for Rochester. Makarov stood tall and gave his team a the chance to win. He was clearly the best player for the Amerks in the Chicago series. His future is very bright indeed.

***

The underdog Rochester Americans’ quest for their seventh Calder Cup title continues this afternoon when they take on the Chicago Wolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals on the road in Chicago. Nobody saw the Amerks pushing the Wolves to the brink of elimination in this series. Chadd Cassidy's young squad shook off a Game 3 clunker and responded courageously by waxing the Wolves in Game 4 in the Wolf Den on Friday night.

Amerks fans in Buffalo and Rochester can watch the game on Time Warner Cable Channel ( 323 in Buffalo).

This best-of-five battle is dead-locked at 2-2 after the Amerks crushed Jake Allen and the Wolves 7-2 in Friday night's Game 4.

The Amerks haven't advanced to the second round of the AHL playoffs since 2005.

A loss tonight, however, would mark the fifth straight playoff appearance the Amerks would be eliminated in the opening round of the postseason dating back to their first-round exit in 2007.

The Wolves blanked the Amerks 4-0 in Thursday's Game 3.

Rochester erupted for four goals in the first period, including twice in the opening two minutes of the contest, to set the tone for a 7-2 victory in Game 4 Friday night. Finnish Force Joel Armia was voted the game's first star for his two goal-two assist performance. Crusty veteran Kevin Porter notched three assists and Brayden Irwin scored twice in the win. Nick Crawford and Johan Larsson and Freddy Roy also lit the lamp.

Makarov earned his fourth straight start in the postseason and stopped 28 of 30 shots he faced as Rochester snapped a six-game road winless streak in postseason play. Rochester’s power-play has been a dominant force throughout the series, scoring an AHL-best six goals on 23 man-advantage opportunities, including three times in Game 4. Operating at a 26.1% efficiency rate, the Amerks currently have the third-best power-play among AHL playoff teams and the third-best on the road.

Thanks, Amerks.com

*****

I’m hoping that Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray was in his pick-up truck and listening to Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Thursday’s drive home. I was listening intently as Florida Panthers GM Dale Tallon emphatically told host Bob McCowan that he is considering trading his first overall pick in June’s NHL Entry Draft which will take place in Philly on June 27.

"I definitely will (trade the #1 pick), especially this year," Tallon said.

Tallon said that the compensation would have to be great in order for him to trade his first overall pick in the draft.

Tallon isn’t bluffing, nor does he mince his words. He wanted his other 29 NHL GM counterparts to hear his message loud and clear. Rather than phone or text each one individually, he spoke openly and honestly to “The Bobcat….

"Well, why not?" Tallon said. "I'm looking at everything. I'm open for business. You have three options: You either take it, move back, or trade it. So that's what we're looking at. What's the best deal for our future, that's the key."

The Panthers have a brash new owner in Vinnie Viola, who has already committed to spending big money via this July. Viola has given Tallon the green light to go out and buy the top unrestricted free agents in the market. Don’t believe Viola’s intentions to turn around the Panthers. Let me remind you of the Roberto Luongo trade. Viola didn’t buy the Panthers just to allow Tallon to run them as an NHL door mat. Viola wants Tallon to build a winner. Now.

The Cats are no strangers to the NHL lottery. They have picked in the top 15 of the draft 15 different times in their 20-year history. Eight of those picks were in the top five, including Sasha Barkov, Jonathon Huberdau, Erik Gudbranson, Nathan Horton, Jay Bouwmeester, Stephen Weiss, Ed Jovanovski, and Rob Niedermayer. The franchise has held a top-three pick in four of the past five years, but hasn't picked No. 1 since selecting defenseman Ed Jovanovski in 1994. You’ll recall that the Buffalo Sabres lost the NHL Draft Lottery on April 14 to the Florida Panthers. Tim Murray owned the worst overall record in the NHL which automatically gave him a 25% chance of winning the lottery. Tallon and the Panthers had a 19% chance at winning the lottery. The lottery win gave the Panthers their third NHL lottery win in their two decades old franchise history. In 2013, Florida finished dead-last in the NHL, however, Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic and the Colorado Avalanche won the draft lottery and wasted no time selecting the amazing Nathan MacKinnon with the first overall pick in the entry draft.

Tallon knows a thing or two about winning the NHL Draft Lotttery. When he was GM of the then-bottom dweller Chicago Blackhawks in 2007, Tallon won the lottery and was rewarded with an NHL legend with strong Buffalo roots.

Tallon told PTS that he relishes the opportunity to pick first overall.

"I think it's a good omen for our franchise," said Tallon who delivered #88 to Chicago. "It was really a good thing for us, real positive thing. Like it was in Chicago, when we won the lottery to go from 5 to 1 and pick Kane, and the rest is history."

Back to Murray and the Sabres. They, like the 2012-13 Panthers, finished last overall in the NHL standings, however, were stiffed out of the first overall pick in the lottery. Murray now has a chance to right that wrong because he has a willing dance partner in Tallon to make a smart hockey trade with Tallon desperately needs to beef up his blue line in the worst way having invested so much of his entry draft resources in selecting high-end forwards like Barkov, Huberdeau, and Bjugstad the past few years. Tallon also made a heavy commitment to Roberto Luongo at the 2014 trade deadline. His forward ranks and goaltending are now solid. His biggest area of need is defensive depth. Enter Murray and the Sabres, whose organizational strong suit is defense with Tyler Myers, Rasmus Ristolainen, Nikita Zadorov, Mark Pysyk, Jake McCabe, and Chad Ruhwedel ready to take their games to the next level. Murray can now trade veteran Christian Ehrhoff to Florida with another prospect and his second overall pick in the June entry draft in exchange for Tallon’s first overall pick. The Cats can easily absorb the remaining term on Ehrhoff's current Buffalo contract. Ehrhoff's 10-year, $40 million contract started in 2011-12. He's a $4M AAV player. At age 31, he's played a lot of meaningful hockey games and has playoff successes on his resume. There's no point in Buffalo holding on to Ehrhoff while they have a stable full of young thoroughbreds who will need to play in 2014-15. Trading a valuable asset like Ehrhoff will open up minutes and a regular roster spot for a young D to play in Buffalo. Ehrhoff chews up 24-25 minutes TOI per game. Ehrhoff has shown over the course of his career that he can contribute offensively and play a steady game in his own end when paired with a smart, stay-at-home partner. Another factor is that Ehrhoff and Luongo are old Canucks teammates. Ehrhoff has a limited no trade clause, and in the past Sabres have asked him to furnish a list of teams that he chooses not to be traded to. Perhaps he'd endorse a move to Florida rather than a trade to say Edmonton or Calgary.

My trade proposal is a win-win for both organizations. Murray would get his hands on Kingston Frontenacs center Sam Bennett, who has earned NHL Central Scouting's #1 ranked skater since January. The more I see of Bennett, the more I love his game. I give him the edge over Sam Reinhart and Leon Draisaitl as the best center available in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Drafting Bennett would help Murray to expedite the rebuilding of Buffalo. In many ways, Bennett could be the Patrick Kane-like piece that the Sabres are in desperate need of. Dale Tallon drafted Kane first overall in 2007 and the kid infused immediate offense, creativity, and leadership. In exchange for trading the first overall pick in the 2014 draft to Murray, Tallon would get his defenseman Aaron Ekblad with the second overall pick. Tallon would also get a veteran blueliner in Ehrhoff who will help stablilize the Panthers’ D, can kill penalties and run one of their PP units. Ekblad was named the OHL's best defenseman this season and he will fit perfectly in Florida’s D corps for the next 10-12 seasons.

There are some who give thumbs-down to my Ehrhoff trade proposal. Others would replace Ehrhoff with Tyler Myers to add more intrigue to the trade. Imagine the allure of a Myers-2nd overall 2014-prospect in exchange for Florida's #1 overall pick in 2014.

Could Tim Murray pull off such a trade that would deliver both Aaron Ekblad and Sam Bennett to the Sabres on draft draft day 2014. I'd sign off on that deal. How 'bout you? Big question now is whether or not Tim Murray and Ted Nolan are willing to part with Tyler Myers, who showed flashes of his former self after Nolan became head coach last season.

Murray's strategy has changed in the past month in terms of his flexibility and options that he will have available at the June entry draft. Murray won't have three first round picks in the 2014 NHL entry draft like he thought he might have. Its appearing more and more like Garth Snow and the NY Islanders will be using their 2014 first rounder, thus Buffalo will get the the NYI 2015 first rounder. Its not looking good in terms of the St. Louis Blues re-signing pending UFA Ryan Miller to a long term contract after they were bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the Chicago Blackhawks.

Murray's always talking about needing a dance partner. He now has a ready, willing, and able one in Dale Tallon. Its time to make a big, bold move to lift the Sabres out of the NHL dungeon and into the ranks of respectability.

Here are the top 10 picks in the 2014 entry draft:

1. Florida Panthers 2. Buffalo Sabres 3. Edmonton Oilers 4. Calgary Flames 5. New York Islanders 6. Vancouver Canucks 7. Carolina Hurricanes 8. Toronto Maple Leafs 9. Winnipeg Jets 10. Anaheim Ducks (from Ottawa Senators)

Murray may want to move to #1 to insure that his targeted played (ie: Bennett) will not be picked off by another aggressive team.

The Buffalo Sabres have only ever drafted first overall twice in their 44 year NHL history.

In 1987, Buffalo selected center Pierre Turgeon first overall out of the QMJHL Granby Bisons.

In 1970, Buffalo selected Gilbert Perreault first overall from the Montreal Junior Canadiens.

The second overall pick in the 1970 NHL entry draft was none other than Dale Tallon, who went to the Vancouver Canucks.

You see, Tallon has a history of playing second fiddle to the Buffalo Sabres.

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