New York Rangers

The Morning Skate: Sabres final skate prior to deadline

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The Buffalo Sabres have been able to roll together an impressive run of hockey as of late. Looking back to early January, they were on a major skid, couldn’t score goals and weren’t supporting their goaltenders. But as the All-Star break approached they began turning things around. A couple sets of five-game stretches have kept the playoffs within reach and the Sabres can take another step forward tonight in New York.

Well, maybe it will be a lateral step.

Each team the Sabres are chasing are in action this evening. A pair (Toronto and Washington) play each other. Since Buffalo won’t be able to get too much help in terms of gaining ground, they will need to be content with keeping their head above water.

Getting wins last night and Tuesday all but guarantee the Sabres won’t be selling at the deadline. Consider Paul Gaustad safe from any suitors that may come calling. Derek Roy and Drew Stafford probably fall into the same category. Darcy Regier is in a position where he needs to make a few significant moves, but his team is in a position where those moves could potentially be detrimental.

The Sabres will not only see one of the league’s best teams tonight, they will also need to deal with one of the best goaltenders. I won’t be surprised if Ryan Miller is in net to face Henrik Lundqvist, but Lindy Ruff should know Miller needs to rest prior to next week’s road trip. Continue reading →

Double Minors: Scoring changes everything

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Even a clean sheet from Ryan Miller couldn’t get the job done against the Rangers. Miller certainly helped steal a point for the Sabres, but his counterpart stole a pair.

Miller and Henrik Lundqvist put on a clinic all evening as both the Sabres and Rangers traded blows through a scoreless regulation and overtime. It took a five-round shootout for the Rangers to nab the bonus point and the 1-0 decision.

Both teams had their chances. The Sabres carried the play late, fueled by a raucous crowd – a rarity this season. New York also had their fair share of chances. The Blueshirts had some glorious chances early in the game, before the Sabres turned the territorial tables.

The Sabres gave a great effort, their third-straight. It is no mistake that three strong efforts have given this team five out of six points. It seems as if their win in New Jersey instilled some confidence which has shown as of late. Buffalo has been desperate for some positive play, they got some more last night. Unfortunately, the scoring wasn’t there. Continue reading →

The Morning Skate: East leading Blueshirts come to town

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The Sabres finally have strung together a pair of wins. Now they begin one of the league’s toughest schedules to close the season (couldn’t find the Tweet).

Tonight the New York Blueshits Rangers are in town fresh off a shootout loss in New Jersey last night. Henrik Lundqvist is expected to be in goal tonight and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see Ryan Miller back in for the Sabres. Miller has put together a string of solid outings and the rest he received during the All-Star break will likely sway Lindy Ruff to start him. As for any other lineup changes, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Luke Adam given a chance to right his recent wrongs; but Ruff hates to alter a winning lineup.

Tonight will be a difficult test for the Sabres. Their last two wins were low scoring affairs as the offense is still struggling to find their way. In addition, Thomas Vanek is expected to miss time after being injured last night. That is probably for the best, I feel that he has been nursing a few injuries over the past few weeks.

Buffalo will also need to contend with the East’s best, a team that embarrassed them during their last visit. The Sabres have finally found some good mojo, it will be important to keep that rolling. Continue reading →

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

NHL Links

Game Summary

Event Summary

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*

2ITB NHL preview: The East

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Another NHL season is upon us after a summer that was filled with more Buffalo hockey news than you could shake a stick at. The entire Eastern Conference saw a shake up over the summer and the conference could see a similar playoff race, with seeds 7-12 all within shouting distance of each other. I think the same playoff cast will return this season, but with a few minor changes: Continue reading →

Farewell Captain Clutch

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In case you hadn’t heard, Chris Drury played in, and won, the Little League World Series. No fooling.

In a related note, Captain Clutch is calling it a career. After an underwhelming and injury plagued tenure with the New York Rangers, Drury was bought out earlier in the summer and has decided to retire from professional hockey all together.

What this tells me is his degenerative knee condition is more severe than originally expected in July. There were many who figured he would find his was onto a contender’s roster at discounted rate for the 2011-12 campaign. After all his face off skills, penalty killing and other intangibles would be very attractive to a team making a Cup push.

Alas, his injuries likely played a large role in this decision.

Drury was, and will be, one of my favorite players of all time. Ever since his first seasons with Colorado I was a fan of his style and skill. When he was acquired by Buffalo I was ready to do back flips.

Drury was part of some of the best Sabres hockey in the history of the franchise. He, Daniel Briere and the rest of the core players carried the team to the Eastern Conference Finals in back-to-back years in what was one of the most memorable runs I can think of with this team. Then, of course there was the goal. Who else?

And here is an even cooler angle

Continue reading →

Running tally of the current free agent signings

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Roughly two hours into free agency and there haven’t been any monumental signings. The Jaromir Jagr deal to Philadelphia was strange, to say the least. Otherwise there hasn’t been much action from any of the big-name players.

TSN.ca has a killer UFA tracker that updates with all of the current signings from the day.

I touched, quite briefly, on the Jagr contract. The Flyers gave him $3.3 million for this season in hopes that he still has enough magic to help fuel a cup run. I really don’t understand their point of view on this one. By committing just over $3 million to Jagr, the Flyers are further handcuffing themselves in regards to signing a guy like Ville Leino.

Add to that the fact that Max Talbot was just given a five-year deal worth $9 million from the Flyers. If Philly is happy moving forward without Leino, so be it. I was under the impression that he was a guy they wanted to keep around to be part of their up-and-coming core.

I say oh well. If the Flyers falter due to these signings, I won’t be mad. In fact, I will be very happy. As for the Sabres, the only major player the fans are watching is Brad Richards. From everything I have read and heard, the white whale will make his decision tomorrow, at the earliest. I think the Sabres do have a very real shot at getting him. Of course the Rangers may have the best shot based on the most recent word to come down. New York will have the ability to match any contract that is offered to Richards. Personally, I think that is pretty lame. Does that mean that the Rangers won’t make him the offer he wants? Or does it mean that Richards wants to hear offers but would ultimately like to play for the Rangers? I understand his train of thought. His old coach is in New York, it is a big city with plenty to do. However, there is a lot of media coverage and Richards did want to shy away from that if possible.

Could Drury return to Buffalo?

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When news broke this morning that Chris Drury would be bought out by the New York Rangers, the fans and media in Buffalo exploded with the though/theory that Captain Clutch might return to the Queen City.

I had a few thoughts on the matter early on regarding the matter. When the news originally broke I didn’t think much of Drury’s impending UFA status other than what he could bring to the table. However, now that everyone and their brother is throwing their opinion in the ring, I feel like I have more thoughts on the matter.

It is my contention that Drury can help the Sabres, for the right price. His current deal runs for a $7M per season, his performance with the Rangers shows he is due for a pay cut. If he is looking to make more than $3M per season, no thank you. If he is willing to take a deal in the $1.5-$2.5 neighborhood then there is room to work. Continue reading →

Chris Drury to be bought out by NYR

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It appears as if the New York Rangers will buy out the final year of Chris Drury’s massive contract when the NHL buyout period begins on June 15.

Drury’s $7M cap hit on his $35M deal is a crippling contract for the Rangers. He is part of a group of questionable signings that is not limited to guys like Wade Redden from a big free agency summer of 2007. Sabres fans enjoy booing him because he bolted for a king’s ransom from the Blueshirts. Often they forget he had reached a deal, in principle, but paper work and a certain owner kept the contract from being signed. Continue reading →