Buffalo Sabres captain Jack Eichel has been carrying his teammates on hiss shoulders for the past three months. Today, Eichel was names to hiss third straight NHL All Star Game.
For the third season in a row, Eichel has earned an invitation to the NHL's annual schmooze fest.
Eichel, leads the Sabres with 24 goals, 28 assists and 52 points. Eichel is going to destroy his previous career high in goal scored set last season (28).
Eichel is currently seventh overall in NHL scoring. He has an NHL-best 18 even strength goals, 24 G (T-3rdd), 35 EVP (T-3rd), 52 points (7th), 4 GWG, and 28 assists (T-11th)
Eichel authored an impressive 18-game consecutive points streak, which tied the Sabres' club record set by first ever draft choice Gilbert Perreault (1971-72). Eichel scored 16G,16A during hiss torrid scoing streak.
The streak was the NHL's fifth-longest personal point streak in the last decade, trailing only Taylor Hall (26 in 2017-18), Patrick Kane (26 in 2015-16 and 20 in 2018-19) and Sidney Crosby (25 in 2010-11).
Eichel's output through 40 team games currently has him on pace to finish the season with 50 goals and 108 points, which would be the highest goal and point totals by a Sabre since Pat LaFontaine (53+95) and Alexander Mogilny (76+51) in 1992-93.
Eichel also has already produced 15 multi-point games this season, tying for ninth-most in the NHL. He's second in the NHL with six multi-goal games and his eight multi-assist games are tied for fifth-most. And he's already recorded at least three points seven times this season, topping his previous career-high total (6) set in 2016-17.
With his 50th point of the season on December17 at Toronto, Eichel became the first Sabres player to reach 50 points in 35 or fewer games since 1992-93 (LaFontaine and Mogilny). He joins Martin as the only other player in franchise history to record at least 20 goals and 50 points in each of his first five NHL seasons.
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To say that the Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Lightning have beef between them is a mild understatement.
The last two times the Atlantic division rivals met, there was violence.
On November 25, Tampa defenseman Erik Cernak smashed the face of Sabres super sophomore defenseman and first overall pick in the 2018 NHL draft Rasmus Dahlin.
The idiotic actions of Cernak forced Dahlin into concussion protocol. Dahlin missed 8 games due to a concussion that could have and should have been avoided. Cernak was given a two games suspension by the Department of Player Safety.
The bad blood started to boil on November 9 in Stockholm when the Sabres and Bolts faced off in Stockholm, Sweden when Tampa rat Nikita Kucherov threw an egregious illegal check at Sabres forward Vlad Sobotka. Kucherov wasn't penalized for the greasy hit nor did DoPS contact the noted cheap shot artist for supplemental discipline. Sobotka suffered serious damage and his season ended when he had to have major knee surgery to repair the damage created by Kucherov.
The Bolts have won all three games against the Sabres this season. The two teams faceoff in Buffalo on Tuesday night.
Expect indoor fireworks at the rink on New Years Eve.
On Monday morning, Sabres general manager Jason Botterill caused quite the kerfuffle when he signed career minor league forward Dalton Smith to a two-way contract. His new pact allows for Botterill to call-up Smith to Buffalo, which is exactly what the GM did. Smith wore sweater #67 at Sabres practice on Monday afternoon. He is eligible to skate against Cernak, Kucherov and the Lightning on Tuesday night. Smith now has an average annual value of $700,000.
Smith, 27, has one goal, three assists,27 PIMs in 21 games with the Rochester Amerks this season.
The 6'2"and 210 lbs. forward signed a one-way AHL contract with the Amerks on July 1.
Last season, he scored 2G,6A and a team-high 111 PIMs in 48 games with the Amerks.
A native of Oshawa, Ontario, Smith was drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the second round (34th overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft.
I must admit that I like the idea of Ralph Kreuger having a heavy forward in the lineup to make life difficult for Kucherov, Cernak and the Tampa Lightning. The word is out that the Sabres are easy to play against on most nights. Opponents have been taking phyical liberties this season on Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner, Samson Reinhart, Victor Olofsson, Marcus Johansson, Rasmus Dahlin and other skilled players on the Buffalo roster.
The timing of Botterill's newfound urgency to sign and call up Dalton Smith comes at a time when the Sabres need not one bujt TWO two
top six forwards. Jeff Skinner was injured on Friday night in a collision with Boston sniper David Patrnak and now is lost for the next 4-5 weeks. When Skinner was healthy, Botterill was searching for a top six scoring forward.
I find it odd that Botterill went to great lengths to sign/call up Smith when he has two knuckle chuckers in Zach Bogosian and Colin Miller who could have asked Cernak and Kucherov to dance. What does Smith have that Bogosian and Miller don't have?
The best solution is for Sabres to settle their score with Bolts by winning on the game on the scoreboard.
Practice Trios:
Olofsson-Eichel-Reinhart
Sheary-Johansson-Asplund
Girgensons-Larsson-Okposo
Vesey/
Smith-Lazar-Rodrigues
Practice Duos:
McCabe-Ristolainen
Dahlin-Montour
Scandella-Jokiharju
Bogosian-Miller
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The Buffalo Sabres today announced that the start time for the team's game against the Florida Panthers this Saturday, January 4 has been
changed from 7 p.m. to 1 p.m.
The Sabres will celebrate " '90s Night " on Saturday afternoon, welcoming back more than 20 Sabres alumni from the decade.
"We are happy to announce this start time change so that all of our fans can enjoy the Buffalo Bills playoff game on Jan. 4 after our Sabres game," Buffalo Sabres Co-Owner and President Kim Pegula said. "Buffalo has a great tradition of all of our teams and fans supporting each other, and we want to make sure we can accommodate everyone the best way possible. We would like to thank the Florida Panthers organization for their understanding and willingness to change the start time."
The following alumni are scheduled to attend the game and will welcome fans in the concourse beforehand:
Donald Audette
Matthew Barnaby
Stu Barnes
Doug Bodger
Dave Hannan
Grant Ledyard
Clint Malarchuk
Brad May
Jay McKee
Scott Metcalfe
Randy Moller
Craig Muni
Michael Peca
Derek Plante
Wayne Primeau
Rob Ray
Darryl Shannon
Richard Smehlik
Pierre Turgeon
Rick Vaive
Dixon Ward
Rhett Warrener
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