@boosbuzzsabres
We've all heard about the "large thud" last February coming from the area of KeyBank Center where Buffalo GM Jason Botterill sits for home games . It turns out that was the sound of a taco bar taking the heat for yet another matinee clunker by his Sabres team. The Los Angeles Kings were in town during a Kid's Day promotion on February 17 and it seemed is if the hometown team was still asleep when they hit the ice. After 40 minutes of sleepwalking, Buffalo found themselves down 4-0 at the end of two periods and the game, for all intents and purposes, was over.
That was just one in a long line of Kid's Day clunkers by the 2017-18 edition of the Sabres. It started in October as they got crushed by the New Jersey Devils 6-2, although they came back later that month with a good performance, they lost to the San Jose Sharks 3-2. The Kid's Day game prior to LA Kings/taco bar incident saw the Sabres get thrashed 7-1 by the Dallas Stars.
In all the Sabres played six games during the Kid's Day promotion and went 0-5-1 losing by a combined score of 25-10. That is not the way you cultivate future fans of the Blue and Gold.
Buffalo headed into this season looking to bury the past (and keep the taco bar open.) Botterill got a lot accomplished this off season and it seems as if they're heading in the right direction. The acquisitions of left winger Conor Sheary (PIT) and Jeff Skinner (CAR) added speed and scoring to the lineup and with Lady Luck smiling on Buffalo (for a change,) the draft lottery was kind and Buffalo won the rights to select defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, who's taking blueline skill and mobility to another level for the Sabres.
The good thing for Buffalo is that they've got their first win of the season under their belt and did so by playing a strong game after being embarrassed in the home opener. After getting booed off of he ice in a 4-0 shutout loss vs. the Boston Bruins in the opener, the Sabres came back and beat Henrik Lundqvist and the NY Rangers 3-1 on Saturday. The win was punctuated by some play that hopefully is a harbinger of things to come.
Sheary scored Buffalo's first two goals of the season by burying two golden opportunities and did so against a top-notch goalie in Lundqvist. Its something that we haven't been able to say very often lately. The powerplay goals were great but equally important were the individual efforts leading up to them as centers Casey Mittelstadt and Jack Eichel set up the set-up.
On Sheary's first goal, Mittelstadt worked the wall at center ice and sent a deft backhand through traffic to a streaking Rasmus Ristolainen who was jumping in on the play. Ristolainen and Sheary went in on a clear 2-on-1 and Sheary beat Lundqvist for Buffalo's first goal of the season. And if anyone thinks the Sabres aren't important and that the fans won't get behind them, listen to the roar of the crowd on Sheary's goal (via sabres.com):
Early in the second period with the Sabres again on the powerplay, Eichel corralled the puck after his shot was blocked and proceeded to maneuver his way through a double-team on the half-wall before dishing to Sam Reinhart parked along the goal line. Reinhart fired a goal-mouth pass to Sheary who buried it past a sprawling Lundqvist.
(via sabres.com)
The Sabres are going to need all the speed and finish they can get today when they faceoff against the defending Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights at 3pm. Like the New Jersey Devils last season in Buffalo's first Kid's Day game, the Golden Knights possess a lot of speed and skill plus as a three-time Stanley Cup winner in goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
However, unlike last season when there was still a honeymoon phase with new head coach Phil Housley, they will be under no illusions. The Sabres definitely got faster as a team over the summer but they still have a long way to go to match wits with some of the best teams in the league. They were suffocated and left frustrated in the opener against Boston yet were able to rebound against a Rangers team that is in a transition phase just like they are.
This Vegas team that is just getting rolling after a magical 2017-18 season that saw them with the greatest (and probably never duplicated) inaugural season in hockey (if not sports) history. With that as a backdrop, they made two big off season moves to bolster the top-six when they landed Paul Stastny with a three-year free agent deal then trading for Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty whom they signed to a four-year contract extension.
A key cog is missing on their blueline as Nate Schmidt, who's serving a 20-game suspension for violating the league's anti-drug policy. Schmidt lead Vegas in ice-time averaging 24:25 through 20 playoff games.
Today's game is the third of a season-opening four-game homestand, the longest in franchise history. With a win today, the Sabres will be above .500 for the first time since January 24, 2013. Yes, you read that correctly. Over the past three seasons beginning in 2014-15 the Sabres first three games of the season featured records of 1-2-0; 1-2-0; 1-1-1; 0-2-1, respectively, and they never recovered.
The Kid's Day matinee today represents an opportunity to halt that dubious streak while also halting the nightmare that was Kid's Day last season.
Some words for the team
Wake up! There's a game today.
*****
Housley's looks to be sticking with a winning combination as there are no changes from Saturday night's lineup:
43 Conor Sheary - 9 Jack Eichel - 23 Sam Reinhart
53 Jeff Skinner - 10 Patrik Berglund - 21 Kyle Okposo
28 Zemgus Girgensons - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 72 Tage Thompson
81 Remi Elie - 71 Evan Rodrigues - 29 Jason Pominville
6 Marco Scandella - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
19 Jake McCabe - 26 Rasmus Dahlin
82 Nathan Beaulieu - 8 Casey Nelson
40 Carter Hutton
35 Linus Ullmark
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