Gameday - Bruins at Sabres
Nov 26, 2008 NHL
The Buffalo Sabres again play the (not a misprint) Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins tonight at home, with a 7pm start time. The Bruins come in on a 4 game tear, including that 7-4 whoopin’ they put on the Sabres a week ago. According to Mike Harrington at the Buffalo news, Max and Hank are back tonight, but no work yet on who sits. I agree that with the toughness that Boston possesses, you shouldn’t be taking out Peters or Kaleta, so it may be a different skilled forward out (Stafford?). Mancari should stay in, as he’s another big body who can stand up to the beating dealt out by the likes of Milan Lucic.
I’ll be recording the game, not sure if I’ll get to watch live as my wife will be home and I’m not sure what family obligations there will be with the holiday. Also, a reminder that tonight and Friday are both third jersey nights. Happy Thanksgiving, Sabres fans!
aside: I’m upset that Kevin Sylvester (or whoever took his dictation and made the blog post) didn’t use Jaro’s picture next to the bit where he mentioned shooting wide of the net.
Tags: boston, bruins, buffalo, Drew Stafford, Hockey, kaleta, mancari, Maxim Afinogenov, Milan Lucic, NHL, peters, sabres, tallinder, the kaleta, third jersey
Better Effort, Same Result
Nov 22, 2008 NHL
The Buffalo Sabres had a much stronger effort against the Flyers last night, but still ended up on the losing end of a 3-0 shutout by Biron. They generated a ton of shots (40) but the powerplay really did ‘em en, going 0 for 5, including a decently long 5 on 3. Unfortunately, as the last penalized player returned to the ice (Scott Hartnell), he got behind the D on a break and beat Miller. Philly would score midway through the third to ice it, followed by an empty netter (both by Jeff Carter).
The new-look lineup was pretty good from what I saw (too nervous to watch the whole thing), call-up Mark Mancari was not afraid to fire away, and Paetsch wasn’t on the ice for any of the goals against. By the way, the Buffalo highlight of the night might just be Peters’ performance in his fight with Josh Gratton:
Gratton starts throwing at Andrew Peters before he’s got his hands up, but Peters recovers and lands multiple solid shots (right around the :20 mark Gratton has a ‘Why did I do this again?’ look).
The Islanders come in tonight, with a whole laundry list of injuries and having lost the last three to the Sabres by a combined 14-5. I’m probably recording this one tonight so if there are any worthwhile videos to put on Youtube, I’ll be taking care of it.
Tags: buffalo, carter, flyers, gratton, hartnell, Hockey, mancari, Martin Biron, NHL, philadelphia, Ryan Miller, sabres
Gameday - Flyers at Sabres
Nov 21, 2008 NHL
The Buffalo Sabres host the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at the arena, 7:30pm start time. Buffalo is coming off a horrendous performance against the Bruins, where they took a 4-3 lead into the second period but messed around and lost 7-4. Miller’s been ordinary since his back to back shutouts, but some of the blame falls on the defense who are giving up odd-man rushes and letting guys camp the net like Boy Scouts at a Jamboree. Thomas Vanek, at least, is still playing well as he has 3 goals in the last two games.
Philly comes in hot, 3-0-1 in their last 4 despite having quite an injury list (including Danny Briere). Martin Biron has improved, allowing 6 goal in his last 3 games (he’s the 2-0-1 part of that). Riley Cote is out as well, so there goes one potential dance partner for Peters, but being the Flyers, I’m sure there’s someone else. Here’s hoping for a better performance tonight.
edit: Mark Mancari has been called up from Portland, and according to Mike Harrington, was skating with Paille and Gaustad at practice. Mancari has 11 goals and 14 assists on the big line for the Pirates…we’ll see who’s benched for tonight.
edit again: Harrington just updated the above link with lines, and the bombshell that Hank is on the shelf tonight as well. Paetsch, then?
Tags: briere, buffalo, cote, flyers, Hockey, mancari, Martin Biron, NHL, paetsch, philadelphia, Ryan Miller, sabres, tallinder, Thomas Vanek
Roster Cleanup
Oct 3, 2008 NHL
Eight more players were sent down to the Portland Pirates, including Tim Kennedy and Nathan Gerbe. Here’s the note from Sabres.com:
Heading to Portland are: forwards Mathieu Darche (pending waivers), Mark Mancari (pending waivers), Nathan Gerbe, Tim Kennedy, Dylan Hunter and Marek Zagrapan; and defensemen Chris Butler and Michael Funk.
That leaves 24 players on the roster, if you assume that Goose starts the year on IR. So there is one more move to be made. John Vogl over at the Buffalo News noted that Connolly was not on the ice today, but there’s time for him to get healthy yet.
Gerbe could probably be playing now, but there just isn’t roster room as of yet. I’m imagining him as the first forward recalled though, so with Timmy C still on the roster there’s a good shot at him seeing more than just a cup of coffee at some point.
Tags: buffalo, butler, connolly, darche, funk, gerbe, Hockey, hunter, kennedy, mancari, NHL, pirates, portland, sabres, zagrapan
MacArthur and Mancari Back
Jul 16, 2008 NHL
In further Sabres news, Clarke MacArthur and Mark Mancari both accepted their qualifying offers, meaning they will be back with the Sabres organization next year. MacArthur played with the big club 37 game last season with 15 points. Mancari led Rochester in scoring, and also displayed the hardest shot in the AHL skills competition.
Tags: buffalo, Hockey, macarthur, mancari, NHL, sabres, signing
Sabres Extend Qualifying Offers
Jun 25, 2008 NHL
Darcy Regier and the Buffalo Sabres announced that they have extended qualifying offers to all 5 of their restricted free agents. Steve Bernier, Paul Gaustad, Dan Paille, Mark Mancari and Clarke MacArthur are the players in question. In case you are wondering what that means:
By extending an offer, Buffalo retains the rights to each player and can match any offer extended to those players by other teams. Under NHL rules, other teams are allowed to make offers to restricted free agents. If the Sabres were to refuse to match the offer, they would be entitled to draft picks as compensation.
Shouldn’t be any blockbuster offers for any of these guys this year, so it shouldn’t be a stretch to think all will be back. I’ll be happier when Goose, Big Bear, The Little General and Key Lime are signed, though.
Tags: buffalo, gaustad, Hockey, macarthur, mancari, NHL, paille, sabres, signing, Steve Bernier
