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Skinnseltown

October 20, 2018, 9:18 PM ET [2 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT




Prior to Saturday afternoon, the last time the Buffalo Sabres beat the Los Angeles Kings in their barn was 5-1 victory on October 23, 2003, when Buffalo snapped a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) in road games against the Kings that had dated back to March 13, 1996 (6-2 Sabres win).

It took them 15 years, but the losing streak in LA is over.

The Sabres dethroned the Kings 5-1, improving to 4-4 on the season and 2-2 on their current Western Conference gauntlet.

On Tuesday night in Vegas, the Sabres were blitzed 4-1 by the Golden Knights. On Thursday night, the Sabres dropped a 5-1 decision to the San Jose Sharks.

After the loss to the Sharks, I turned off my TV at 1:45 am EDT. I was exhausted from a long day that concluded with having to watch in it's entirety a bad performance by the Sabres.

I promised myself I wouldn't overract to the one-sided losses to Vegas and San Jose. We're talking about losing games against legit Stanley Cup contending teams. The Sabres crushed the Knights in Buffalo on October 8 and the Knights were ready to repay the favor 8 days later. Playing against former teammate Evander Kane for the first time since he left the Sabres left Jack Eichel and his platoon mates trampled under foot by the NHL All Star team also known as the San Jose Sharks.

Relax, I said.

Stay in control, I advised.

The losses to Vegas and San Jose dropped Buffalo to a 3-4 record. Not the end of the world, right?

Well, listening to Buffalo sports radio on the way to my office five hours after the game ended, you would have thought the Sabres were an 0-82 team and in 31st place in the standings.

Fire Houlsey because he's too soft. The players are lazy. Bring up all the kids from the minors and waive the veterans the callers screamed......


(insert eye roll here)


Breathe. Relax. Don't freak out.

The NHL season is a marathon, not a sprint. Rather than panic and scream bloody murder like the lunatic fringe, I kept my promise to myself. That is, don't evaluate the roster until I've seen all players play for 15-20 games.

Judge the body of work, not the mistakes.


Housley plans his work and he works his plan.

On Friday afternoon in El Segundo, Housley broke out his hammer and started busting up hiss line.


Seeking a solution to his team's lethargy and lack of goal scoring, Phil Houlsey wasted little time making wholesale changes to his starting lineup for the matinee in Tinseltown.

In so doing, Housley place a strip of silver duct tape over the mouths of the haters and doubters who questioned his coaching acumen and his appetite for winning.

I love that the wholesale changes on the fly that Housley, Steve Smith and Davis Payne made yielded immediate, measurable results.

Maybe, just maybe, Phil Housley knows what he is doing behind the Buffalo bench.






Jeff Skinner recorded a hat trick and now leads the Sabres in goal scoring with four skins.

Skinner leads all Sabres with 4 goals and 2 assists in the first four games played on this western roadie.

Veteran Jason Pominville chipped in a goal and two assists while Jack Eichel added three assists.






The newly minted 53-9-29 trio paid huge dividends for Phil Houlsey who trusted his gut and demoted Conor Sheary and Samson Reinhart to the third line to make way for Skinner and Pominville on the top line.

At the end of the Saturday afternoon matinee, the Skinner-Eichel-Pominville trio created 9 points, 11 shots on goal, 13 shot attempts and were a combined +11 on the day.

Talk about strong performances! Captain Jack Eichel was and is the locomotive that is pulling the train in Buffalo. Eichhel is averaging a point a game this season with 3 goals and 5 assists.






Linus Ullmark improved his season record to 2-0 with the win. Ullmark now has a 0.50 GAA and .982 SV%. Ullmark has made 55 saves on the 56 shots he has faced in his two starts.


TRICK OR TREAT!




Jason Botterill might want to get Skinner's name on a long term contarct extension now, before his annual average value sky rockets with each goal he scores between now and the end of the seaosn when the 26 year old 30-goal scorer becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Skinner is a $5.725M AAV this season and will be looking for an Evander Kane contract of $7M AAV x 7 years. Botterill and the Sabres will have no problem paying Skinner that kind of scratch as long as he pops 30 corks on 30 champagne bottles this season.






That doesn't suck too bad, does it?


Housley silenced his critics. But only for a day. It was a convinving victory over the Kings. Howwever, it will mean more in the grand scheme of things only if the Sabres can defeat the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night. With wins in Arizona and LA, losses in Vegas and San Jose, Housley needs a win in Anaheim to give his team a 3-2 record on a brutal five game Western roadie. I have zero problems watching Sabres compete, claw, scratch, battle to remain at or above .500 this season. It’s a helluva lot better than watching an inconsistent Sabres team fam out of contention before U.S. Thanksgiving.

Talk about a building block for success. If Houlsey and his newly formed forward lines and D pairs can beat the Ducks on Sunday, they will head home with a helluva lot of confidence moving into week four of the 2018-19 NHL season.

Of the 18 goals the Sabres have scored in 8 games this season, five different defsneman have scored for Buffalo.

Jack Eichel now has 8 points (3G,5A) in 8 games played.

Skinner now leads the Sabres in goal scoring with 4 skins.










Were I a fan of the LA Kings, I would be very, very concerned.


The Kings are an older, slower team that appears to be a step or two behind young, speed teams like the Sabres. The Kings want to chip, chase and bang their opponents int submission to stop them from skating. Problem being, the Kings have very little foot speed on the current roster. Also, the cupboards are bare in AHL Ontario.











After their work day was done, Eichel and the Sabres stayed at Staples Center to watch Lebron James and the Lakers ball out. Eichel and teh boys went to see Bron and a hockey fight broke out...





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