The magic number is four. If the Sabres gain four points over the Hurricanes over the next few days, Buffalo will have secured a playoff bid.
The Sabres enter tomorrows game against Tampa Bay with a three point lead over the Canes. A Buffalo win, coupled with a regulation loss by Carolina, will keep the Canes from catching up in the playoff race. There are your four points. Continue reading
Cue the naysayers. Jhonas Enroth’s performance against the Rangers will bring every single Ryan Miller-hater out of the woodwork.
Forget the fact that Miller put up two huge shutouts and another strong two-goal game last week. He was named the first star of the week and was a major part of the Sabres establishing a strong foothold in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Of course he let in a few weak goals against Toronto that erased any good play that preceded the game. Continue reading
The NCAA’s two power conferences are represented in the 2011 Frozen Four as North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth will be representing the WCHA against Michigan and Notre Dame from the CCHA.
North Dakota has crazy depth and will face an incredible test against Michigan as the Sioux haven’t had many hiccups in the second half of the season. Minnesota-Duluth has taken a Cinderella-type run past Union and top-seed Yale. Notre Dame’s goaltending makes them a scary team for anyone to face.
With all but four teams still playing, now is the time of the season when college free agents become attractive to NHL teams. Just today Niagara forward and Hobey Baker candidate, Paul Zanette, was signed by Montreal to an AHL contract. One of the biggest names on the table, Paul Thompson (UNH) was picked up by the Penguins. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a few games with the big club at the tail end of the year, they’re in dire need of forward depth. Continue reading
The Terry Pegula era has been greeted with unbridled enthusiasm. I don’t blame anyone for it either. He, and Ted Black, have said all the right things and have made all the right moves thus far. They have added numerous facets to the in-arena and home viewing experience.
Many of the improvements have come from the Sabres Suggestion Box. One suggestion that has been addressed by one (or more) fans is to do something with the red wall that lines the 100 level at HSBC Arena. This is something that has crossed my mind before and cropped back up when the suggestion box debuted.
My idea is to add some art to the wall. I first thought of this when I caught a game at Air Canada Centre. The ACC has put a mural of old pictures around their wall. The pictures are made up of old pictures of fans from Maple Leaf Gardens. This adds a very cool aspect to the in-arena experience there. That is where the genesis of my idea was born. Continue reading
This is one of those weekends that you could bill as the biggest of the season, until the next set of back-to-back games rolls along. So I will refrain from dubbing tonight’s game against Florida and tomorrow’s against New Jersey as the two most important games of the year.
However, the Sabres are in a position of power and can tighten their grip on a playoff spot if they take at least three of four this weekend. In actuality they could split the weekend and maintain the same lead they have on Carolina going in to tonight. There are so many different ways this can play out you can nail down one option and say “this is how it has to be.” Continue reading
The Sabres introduced a new goal song last night – well, it was supposed to debut against the Canes – and they got to test it out eight times. The song is “Swords of A Thousand Men” by Tenpole Tudor. It is a perfect goal song, just ignore the strange video.
The only thing I noticed about the song last night is that it didn’t fit well with what the Sabres have been doing after goals lately. They currently try and squeeze RJ’s goal call in with the song before the ensuing faceoff. It is just a little too much. They should take a page out of the Blackhawks book and start the song just after the horn goes off. Using Jeanneret is a cool touch but a goal song that will get the entire arena signing is much more effective.
The Buffalo Sabres placed Craig Rivet on waivers this morning. I learned the info via Bob McKenzie’s twitter account. In addition to Rivet, former Sabre Ales Kotalik was waived by Calgary along with Nik Zherdev (PHI) and Marek Svatos (NSH).
Kind of crazy to see Svatos waived. The Preds poached the winger from St. Louis when they signed him out of the KHL earlier in the winter.
It is about time that Rivet was given some sort of out. He has been stuck in the press box for quite some time, he deserved better than the fate he was receiving.
I wonder what will come of the Rivet situation? Do they send him to the AHL? Or are they confident a team like Montreal, Vancouver or Toronto will claim him? Either way, the next 24 hours could be interesting to watch.
Darcy Regier made some waves today, more waves than he has made in a 24-hour span in quite some time, in fact.He waived hometown kid Tim Kennedy before signing veteran defenseman Shaone Morrisonn.
Upon Tim Kennedy arriving to sign his new contract (recently awarded by an arbitrator) he was waived by the team. This move is beyond surprising for a couple of reasons.
Not really. The Sabres officially announced another signing today, but it is even more underwhelming that the re-signing of Patrick Lalime.
The Sabres agreed to terms with tough-guy Tim Conboy. The 6’2″ 210lb right winger will spend the season in Portland, barring any unforeseen rash of injuries. Conboy has split time between the AHL and NHL the past few years but, I don’t see a spot for him on the Sabres roster.
Some die hards will remember him for inciting a gongshow at the first Pirates game at HSBC Arena in 2009. This was during my time with the Sabres and I’ll never forget the game because of the lengthy shootout (Portland lost 4-3 to Albany) and the numerous fights. Conboy stuck to the code when he decided Nathan Gerbe was the right dance partner for him that evening. We will see how well those two get together on the farm next year.
This has been the busiest week for free-agent signings for the Sabres this summer.
Darcy Regier went out and grabbed some Stanley Cup experience and grit with Rob Niedermayer and then had Mike Weber accept his one-year qualifying offer. In addition, Corey Tropp was inked to a three-year entry level deal. Then came the big one. This afternoon the Sabres announced that they had re-signed Patrick Lalime to a one-year deal.
Two in the Box 