Author: Chris Ostrander

Double Minors: Special teams fall flat against Rangers

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Horrendous special teams doomed the Sabres last night against the Rangers. A pair of shorthanded goals put the Sabres behind and a late power play goal nailed the coffin shut.

All around the Sabres were average last night. They didn’t get the goaltending they needed, their shot selection was average and they missed the net on nearly every scoring chance they generated. Considering the way they played on Friday, it wouldn’t have been surprising to see the Sabres will a little extra gas in their tank. Unfortunately they had none.

Obviously the injury bug has bitten this team hard. While many will say that is no excuse, at some point there starts to be a significant drop off. With Mike Weber and Tyler Myers on the shelf, Marc-Andre Gragnani is forced into big minutes. Without a chunk of their forwards, nearly a third of the Rochester Americans are skating with the big club. Sure, Zack Kassian, Brayden McNabb and Corey Tropp have shown some ability to play on a regular basis at the NHL level. Yet, when Paul Szczechura is centering Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville, obviously something is off.

Perhaps the most disappointing portion of the loss – aside from the soft goals – was Buffalo’s inability to finish. This is a team that has struggled to put pucks in the net as of late and they showed exactly why. Twice Vanek put a chance high and wide, Tyler Ennis did a fine job marking up the crest of Marty Biron’s jersey and numerous other chances weren’t cashed. You can’t win games when you don’t score goals, it is a simple concept.

Buffalo has two games left on a homestand that is looking uglier by the day.

  • Jhonas Enroth needed to be better than he was last night, he said as much. Enroth’s numbers have regressed in a hurry since he took over when Ryan Miller was injured. He needs to reassert his confidence as it is fairly clear he is falling victim to the home woes too.
  • The Sabres special teams are horrendous. The numbers will tell a different story, but watching both units it is obvious. The penalty kill unit is missing a handful or regulars, so it makes sense that the unit has struggled recently. However, the power play couldn’t be more impotent. If a team applies any sort of pressure the passes become errant and sloppy, usually resulting in shorthanded chances against.
  • The only intact line at this point is the trio of Ennis-Roy-Stafford. Three players who appear disjointed on the ice. All three have struggled this season – save for Roy’s point streak in November – and haven’t produced the necessary secondary punch the team needs.
  • It is amazing that Marty Biron can continue to own the Sabres. Aside from his first trip with the Islanders, Biron has been stellar against his old team. Buffalo didn’t give him too much work last night, but Biron made the saves he needed to make. That is all you can really ask for from your goalie.
  • This team certainly looks tentative at times, almost as if they’re waiting for someone else to step in to make a play. It is safe to assume if they ever get healthy, the Sabres will easily right the ship. However, they need to take a few more points in the interim.

Three Stars

1. Carl Hagelin

2. Martin Biron

3. Ryan Callahan

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The Morning Skate: HBO cameras will be in the house as Rangers come to visit

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The Sabres may have to deal with a little bit more puck magic when the Rangers visit First Niagara Center. Marty Biron is expected to start in net for the Blueshirts and he has put on a few shows down on Perry Street since departing the franchise.

Buffalo managed to expel some of the ghosts that have been haunting them on home ice with an overtime win last night. However, they will be facing a rested bunch and the Sabres will be the ones coming off a big effort the night before.

Once again, First Niagara Center will be hosting HBO cameras for 24/7. The most brilliant TV product to grace the NHL (since ever) rolled into town with the Penguins last year. The city and the arena’s digs will be on display again as the Rangers prepare for the Winter Classic on January 2. It is always fun to see Buffalo displayed on these type of shows. The producers and cameramen usually find a way to showcase some of the nice portions of the city, rather than just showing the dreary drive from the airport to the city.

The Rangers have started to play some good hockey and are attempting to keep pace with the Penguins and Flyers – their Winter Classic foe – in the Atlantic Division. There is little surprise that both teams are choosing to start their backup goalies. Buffalo is in game two of a back-to-back set. Meanwhile, the Rangers are facing the Panthers tomorrow night, a battle with one of the East’s top teams.

Highlighted Matchup

Ville Leino vs. Brad Richards. Perhaps it is an unfair comparison given the difference in salary and role for both players. However, Leino was the player the Sabres had to settle for when Richards chose the Rangers. So the two big free agent scores for each team will surely be under the microscope this evening.

Projected Goaltenders

BUF: Jhonas Enroth 16GP 8-5-1, 2.32 GAA, .935 SV%

NYR: Martin Biron 6GP 4-1-0, 1.94 GAA, .930 SV%

Last Game

3/30/2011, HSBC Arena, Sabres 1 – Rangers 0

*stats to come later*

Double Minors: At long last, a win at home

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Friday’s overtime victory certainly wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done. Two points on home ice is what everyone had been asking for. That is exactly what they got.

The Sabres and Panthers were content to let the other team roll through their system for the evening, yielding a low number of shots and fewer scoring chances. The Panthers, who beat Boston 2-0 the night before, didn’t force the issue during regulation. Their only two great chances came from Sabres turnovers. Their only goal came on a five-on-three resulting from a couple of borderline calls.

Buffalo couldn’t have generated more than five chances all night, two were goals. Both came on breakaways. Despite the lack of action, both goals were rink-long beauties.

Brayden McNabb pulled a Pominville on a harmless breakout but the rookie recovered well, took the puck off a Panther and kicked it to Tyler Ennis – all of this without a stick. Ennis connected with Drew Stafford who sent Derek Roy in alone. Jason Pominville’s winner came on a nifty feed from Paul Szczechura and Jordan Leopold.

The action between Roy’s first period tally and Pominville’s winner was certainly lacking. The Sabres did a good job bottling up a fatigued bunch and the Panthers were content with collapsing in zone and protecting the house.

Special teams were practically moot. The Sabres power play was disjointed – no surprise considering the number of skill players missing – they were 0-for-5 and could barely set up in the attacking zone, let alone generate chances. The penalty kill was sound, yielding the five-on-three goal was practically an inevitability given the time on both penalties. Although the special teams arrow pointed to the Panthers at the end of the day, it barely mattered given the way the contest played out.

  • Ryan Miller made 22 saves. Few were difficult tests, but it was a sound home effort. He had two beauties on the Panthers’ best opportunities; a partial breakaway in the first and a rebound chance on a three-on-two in the third. Good effort from your starter.
  • Marc-Andre Gragnani kept digging his grave with the F’N Center faithful. He had a few early gaffes, particularly on the power play, and looked tentative at many points. He had one bad turnover that was rang off the crossbar by Stephen Weiss. Gragnani is looking more like an AHLer than many of Buffalo’s call ups.
  • Paul Szczechura is one of those Matt Ellis-type players. He has some NHL tools, but there are attributes that hold him back. Regardless, he has three points in three games this year. I like what he brings to the table, definitely a serviceable extra forward.
  • Brayden McNabb was described as the best player on the ice for the Sabres by his coach. McNabb’s meteoric rise since his second-last year of junior is exciting. He is developing into a nasty force on the back-end and possesses the skating and puck skills to be a solid two-way threat. He looks like a player cast in the mold of Mike Weber/Robyn Regehr, just with more puck prowess.
  • It is easy to overlook Jordan Leopold, but he is a calming force on the ice. He plays such a simple game defensively and is beyond capable of contributing on the front-end. What a great signing he is turning into.
  • The walking woudned list may get a little longer. Corey Tropp missed most of the game after being labeled in the first period and Jochen Hecht missed the latter portion of the game after blocking a shot.
  • Something needs to be done about the Sabres’ top line. Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville have gone silent with Jochen Hecht as their center. If Lindy Ruff has to put Derek Roy between them, so be it. The top scorers from early in the season need to be shaken from their recent slumber.
  • Sadly the First Niagara Center resembled a library yet again last night. The music levels seemed low – which could have been a result of my seat location – and the choices were quite varied. The new intro video is fantastic, but the continued use of KISS 98.5 music choices is crowd killing. The use of  #Sabretunes is smart, but it needs to stop if it is the source of some of these questionable songs.

Three Stars

1. Jason Pominville

2. Derek Roy

3. Jason Garrison

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NHL justice system trending backward, not forward

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Hi, I’m Brenadan Shanhan. For the next three minutes I will attempt to make you fall asleep while explaining my latest suspension.

Ville Leino was sure to be suspended for at least one game for his errant elbow on Matt Read, Wednesday. This much is true. It was a blatant head shot and Leino showed little regard for Read as he chicken winged the rookie.

Two games seemed to be an appropriate suspension for the act, NHL Czar of Discipline, Brendan Shanahan decided one was enough. His decision makes enough sense, Leino is a fairly soft player who has no history of cheap shots. So, one game works in this case.

Many in Buffalo are in an uproar over the lack of a suspension – or even a hearing – for Marc-Andre Bourdon. Bourdon put Nathan Gerbe into the boards with a hard check from behind. Gerbe’s numbers were showing the entire time, it wasn’t a case of the player turning into the check. Bourdon knew he had put a dirty check on the small winger as he was more than prepared to fight as he skated away. Yet, there was no supplemental discipline on, what appeared to be an equally egregious hit.

There isn’t any use in complaining or whining that the Sabres are getting shafted. They aren’t. Certainly there are reasons that Shanahan felt Bourdon did not need a hearing. However, it would seem that Shanahan is losing touch over the standards he attempted to set when he took over this role.

What this week’s suspensions seem to indicate (Kevin Porter was also suspended) is that Shanahan is attempting to keep the peace, but isn’t sticking to the standard he set in the preseason. Perhaps he saw the devastation that James Wisniewski’s eight-game ban brought upon the Blue Jackets, perhaps he is just softening up. Regardless, the NHL discipline system appears no more effective than when Colin Campbell was simply spinning the Wheel of Justice.

When Shanahan started Shanabanning players and came out with these shiny videos most were happy to see the change. However, the videos are beyond stale (Is there anyone who can sit Brendan down and tell him to add a little personality to these videos? He is just as bad as Joe Buck.) and there doesn’t seem to be much progress being made to truly make a statement.

One strong indicator was how he handled the Lucic/Miller and Tootoo/Miller incidents. While Lucic had a phone hearing, but no suspension, Tootoo had to sit for a pair of games. The explanation was that Lucic showed “no intent” to run into Miller, while Tootoo’s actions caused the collision. The tape is rather inconclusive, but if anyone showed more intent and had more room to move, it was Lucic. Still, it was a classic case of covering up after making a mistake to begin with.

In his defense, Shanahan hasn’t had to deal with any major incident’s like Wisniewski’s hit. Since that occurred, there have only been a handful of borderline violations. There hasn’t been anything close to Aaron Rome, Mike Richards or Matt Cooke. Perhaps another major incident will occur and he will answer the bell with an appropriate suspension.

He began the season showing that his reign would be far more rigid than Campbell’s. Yet, it has only taken two months for him to regress to the same level that Campbell operated on.

The Morning Skate: Sabres still searching for solution on home ice

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The Sabres seem to be slipping farther and farther into a coma on home ice. They managed to squander a 3-0 lead on Wednesday after taking every bit of momentum from the Flyers over the first 19:58.

Many point to the general lack of mental toughness on the Sabres roster. Although that is a difficult weakness to pinpoint, per say, many recent events point to anything but mental toughness as a major flaw with the roster. How that can be addressed is also a difficult task. A coaching change may yield some positive results, but eventually the same players will fall back to the same practices. While completely blowing up the team is out of the question, some transactions may prove effective.

Without turning a pregame story into a Steigerwaldian rumor-fest, some change is necessary on this roster. They proved that to be true on Wednesday and another loss tonight would push the needle further into the red.

Florida comes in tonight on the second half of a back-to-back set, they are not the same Panthers form years past. The two teams have split the season series thus far, but the Panthers are within striking distance of the top spot in the East. In fact, a win tonight would vault them to first place.

The Sabres, still clawing away in the sixth through ninth party, desperately need a good showing for themselves, the fans and their position in the standings. Buffalo has been lucky not to sink too far despite their inability to string together victories, they need to start a run of their own and it needs to start soon.

Highlighted Matchup

Special teams. Florida has gotten major contributions from Stephen Weiss and Brian Campbell this season. Both were somewhat afterthoughts in recent years, but have come on with increased minutes this season. Kevin Dineen has the Panthers power play clicking and the Sabres will need ot win the special teams battle in order to take two points.

Projected Goaltenders

BUF: Ryan Miller 13GP 6-6-1, 2.96 GAA, .907 SV%

FLA: Scott Clemmensen 3GP 3-0-0, 2.33 GAA, .916 SV%

Last Game

10/29/2011, First Niagara Center, Sabres 2 – Panthers 3

Double Minors: Sabres squander lead on the road to another home loss

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It was all too similar of a script. The Sabres opened a 3-0 lead, suffered a defensive breakdown late in the first to make the score 3-1 and it was all downhill from there. It ended with a Philadelphia overtime victory in a game Buffalo should have had well in hand.

The Sabres came out with the vigor they needed to show against a team with significantly more talent and grit than the Sabres lineup for the evening. Buffalo engaged physically and potted three goals before the period was up. Yet, the lead didn’t last and Buffalo was trailing by the end of two periods.

It was yet another defensive embarrassment for the Sabres, from the brutal turnovers on the Talbot and Hartnell goals to the bantam-level pass attempted by Marc-Andre Gragnani in the third period. That particular turnover led to the winning goal. Nathan Gerbe started the turnover party and Tyler Ennis continued it later. Simple plays in zone usually yield the best results. The level of ineptitude shown by this team defensively goes far beyond the five goals scored. It is a top-to-bottom failure that resulted in a 10-3 edge in shots through 15 minutes turn into a 25-18 drubbing. For those playing at home that is a 22-8 turnaround in one period of play.

The Sabres were victimized by some rough bounces. The second Philly goal looked like a pinball and Hartnell’s goal would have been an easy pad stop had it not ramped off Ehrhoff’s stick. Yet, the fourth and fifth goals were rather cut and dry, you need Miller to make a stop there.

Buffalo built a lead with impressive hockey, they sat back on their work thinking one of the most dangerous teams in the NHL wouldn’t manage a response. They paid mightily, they were lucky to steal a point after Drew Stafford played Johnny on the Spot with the goaltender pulled.

At least some of these problems have to be traced back to the core of this team. Many comments on Twitter were in agreement at the lack of mental toughness on the Sabres roster, particularly from the core players. A coaching change might illicit some change, but by and large it will be the same players making the same mistakes.

  • Ryan Miller had all the makings of a sterling performance going until he took that puck to the melon. You wonder if that had something to do with the floodgates opening up. Miller was facing a firing range for most of the night and was keeping his team around. Yet, allowing five goals is exactly what it sounds like. Five goals. You can’t have that from your franchise goalie at home. He needed one, maybe two more saves – especially on those final two goals.
  • You could almost see Christian Ehrhoff’s reaction of “did he really just do that?” on Gragnani’s egregious giveaway in overtime. Ehrhoff was slow to respond, not that he would have caught Giroux. Still, for a guy who has been seeing big minutes as of late, tonight was a definite regression from the high level from which he had been performing.
  • Gragnani belongs in the AHL, there is no getting around it. Were he not concussed, T.J. Brennan would serve in a far better role than Gragnani. Of course, Gragnani won’t be going anywhere, but he certainly deserves a promotion. He has been average to bad all season and has show no signs of improving.
  • Zack Kassian is showing signs that he may need to stick around for good. Two points and an absolute snipe for his third goal in six games. He is putting on quite a show.
  • Corey Tropp threw some absolute bombs on Zac Rinaldo. Suffice it to say Rinaldo may have bitten off more than he could chew.
  • Ville Leino scored, that makes four points in his last three and five-in-five. He has started to bloom skating with Adam and Kassian. He will also likely sit for a few after that blatant elbow in the third.
  • Between the two games Leino will likely get and Gerbe’s apparent concussion, the Sabres may need to call up one forward from Rochester. Twitter indicates Stuart or Whitmore.
  • Thomas Vanek got back in the goal column. A big step as he had cooled. Shocking that his goal totals dropped when Lindy Ruff put Hecht at center on that line. Coincidence?

Three Stars

1. Claude Giroux

2. Zack Kassain

3. Drew Stafford

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The Morning Skate: Flyers present stiff test as homestand begins

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The Sabres’ current run of games – in which they play 12 of 15 at home – has not been too kind to them. Saturday’s victory in Nashville was just their second in their last five games.

Buffalo closes this stretch with a five-game homestand, it will be crucial for the Sabres to finish this run with a high points percentage. They certainly won’t get many breaks, beginning tonight. The Flyers are in town for their second, and final, visit to the First Niagara Crypt Center just over a month removed from when they came and exerted their will on the Sabres early in November.

All accounts say James vanRiemsdyk will be back in the lineup for Philly. However, they will be missing their captain as Chris Pronger sits with a bum knee. No matter, on paper the Flyers have the make up of a team that can push the Sabres around. If Buffalo is to start slow again, it will be a very long night. If they expect to get by on less than 20 shots on goal, they have another thing coming.

This very well may serve as a statement game for the Sabres. If they can give the same effort they did against Boston in the “atonement game” – well at least their first period effort – they will skate right with the Flyers. If they come out flat, like they have so many times this season, they will get booed out of the building.

Highlighted Matchup

The Sabres youth vs. the Flyers youth. Both teams have an abundance of young talent. JVR and Matt Read are talented and Claude Giroux is scary good. The Sabres youth, unfortunately is of a different brand. The rash of injuries to this lineup have forced numerous call ups and there is a serious lack of experience throughout the Buffalo line up. The Sabres will need their rookies to play above themselves in order to stay competitive tonight.

Projected Goaltenders

BUF: Ryan Miller 12GP 6-6-0, 2.78 GAA, .912 SV%

PHI: Ilya Bryzgalov 18GP 10-5-2, 2.83 GAA, .900 SV%

Last Game

11/2/11, First Niagara Center, Sabres 2 – Flyers 3

Tootoo suspended two games for hit on Miller

Chris Ostrander1 Comment

The NHL didn’t give Lindy Ruff another chance to hammer on the justice process. They suspended Jordin Tootoo for two games based on his actions on Saturday against the Sabres.

Surely there are Sabres fans up in arms over this ruling, but it is an appropriate sentence for the play.

Realistically, Tootoo’s sentence is right in line with the play from Saturday. You might even say Tootoo probably shouldn’t have had to answer beyond his five minute major and game misconduct on Saturday had the NHL gotten it right the first time. The NHL’s reasoning behind giving Lucic a pass was he didn’t show intent to hit Miller, despite what looked like obvious evidence to the contrary. In comparing the two incidents one could conclude there was plenty more intent from Lucic than Tootoo.  Regardless, Lucic’s actions deserved a few games in the press box, the NHL didn’t see it that way and it left the door open for further incidents.

To Tootoo’s credit, he looked to be giving some effort to avoid Miller while also throwing his body at the superstar. Yes, a major contradiction. But it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say Tootoo was hoping to hit Miller while avoiding him, one of those accidentally on purpose things. So, the Shanahammer made his “statement” and gave Tootoo a couple of nights off in order to appease the masses.

Will this end all of the huffing and puffing? Not by a long shot. This was nothing more than a slap on the wrist and won’t send the message that players will miss significant time if this is to continue. This play wasn’t as violent as the Lucic hit, so the league was in a tough spot. It was a lose-lose situation but they seem to have lost big time with the choice they made. For what it’s worth, the days of gongshow hockey and freight train attacks on goalies are few and far between. Still, for this to happen to Miller in each of his last two outings looked to be more than a coincidence and something needed to be done.

The league didn’t do itself any favors with an elementary school punishment. The play certainly didn’t warrant 15 games, but a two-game sentence harkens back to the days of Colin Campbell. It certainly doesn’t signal a serious change in the way the league hopes to operate.

New conference alignment a radical change for NHL

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It was expected that this week’s board of governors meetings would spawn the new conference alignment for the NHL. It happened a whole lot sooner than expected. It was announced tonight that the NHL will move to a four-division (or mega-conference) format beginning next season.

The divisions will look like so (names via @RooseBill):

Pacific: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver.

Central: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis,Winnipeg.

Northeast: Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto. 

Atlantic: Carolina, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington.

There is a lot of good and a lot of bad in this version. Unfortunately the bad just might outweigh the good. Continue reading →

Sabres assigned numbers, make it stop

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42, 57, 54, 72, 63, 78; this is not the starting defensive lineup for the Buffalo Bills, it is a listing of numbers assigned to prospects in the Buffalo Sabres system.

A few of the numbers above now belong to regular roster players and this season has shed some light on even more quirky numbers (81 for Brayden McNabb) which have been assigned to Buffalo’s prospects. This is something that myself and Eric (from 3rd Man In) have both bemoaned simply because the players look ridiculous. Continue reading →