Gameday - Sabres at Wild
Oct 23, 2008 NHL
The Buffalo Sabres face off against the Minnesota Wild in a matchup of unbeaten-ish teams. This will be the first game for the Sabres without Craig Rivet, out for 2+ weeks after getting his knee scoped. Nathan Paetsch steps back into the lineup across from Teppo Numminen. As Kevin mentioned over at BfloBlog, the Wild have had injury issues of their own.
Miller should get the start tonight, which is at 8pm. Also, if you are interested, RJ is featured on ‘Voices’ on the NHL Network at 7:30pm (in case you missed my post yesterday).
Tags: buffalo, Hockey, minnesota, NHL, numminen, paetsch, rick jeanneret, rivet, sabres, wild
Rivet On The Shelf
Oct 22, 2008 NHL
Craig Rivet is out for approximately 2 weeks after having knee surgery according to Sabres.com. The Sabres captain has 3 points but had been bringing a physicality to the game that made the team a lot better. I imagine Nathan Paetsch will get into the lineup for the first time. H/T to Kukla.
Vanek And Sabres Beat Rangers
Oct 16, 2008 NHL
The Buffalo Sabres handed the New York Rangers their first loss of the year, winning 3-1 at MSG. Scott Gomez got the blueshirts on the board first with a deflected goal in the first period, but the Rangers couldn’t generate many more chances in the first two periods.
Ales Kotalik had the first Sabre goal early in the second period, when Lundqvist stopped a shot but Al found the puck and slid it in under the pads. It marked the first goal given up on the power play by New York this season. Vanek would give the Sabres the lead for good on another power play midway through the period, on the rebound of a Derek Roy shot. Paul Mara got hit by Patrick Kaleta, and immediately dropped his gloves and started swinging. Mara was injured by a The Kaleta! hit last year, which required facial surgery. Mara was given a game misconduct and a 5 minute major for fighting.
Seconds into the third period, Craig Rivet took a 4 minute double-minor for high-sticking, giving the Rangers a chance on a long power play of their own to tie it up. However, Vanek came through again, with he and Paille streaking into the Rangers zone. Key Lime drove hard to the net, pulling Lundqvist out of position, setting up yet another short-handed goal for Vanek with a nice pass across. The Rangers continued to pepper Miller with shots in the third, but he was up to the task.
Beyond Vanek and Paille, I would like to give some recognition to Teppo Numminen. He was top 5 in ice time, had his third assist and has been overall very steady. So great to see him out there.
Buffalo plays next at home on Friday night, against the Vancouver Canucks at 7:30pm EDT. There are still some seats available to so get in now if you want to see the Sedin twins, Steve Bernier and Roberto Luongo.
Tags: buffalo, gomez, Hockey, kaleta, kotalik, lundqvist, mara, new york, NHL, numminen, paille, rangers, rivet, roy, Ryan Miller, sabres, the kaleta, Thomas Vanek
Sabres Destroy Islanders
Oct 14, 2008 NHL
I have the game on my PVR, and am going to watch tonight. Mostly because of this bit from the recap:
NY Islanders fighting - 5 min 8:43, S. Bergenheim
NY Islanders game misconduct - 10 min 8:43, S. Bergenheim
NY Islanders fighting - 5 min 8:43, B. Witt
NY Islanders game misconduct - 10 min 8:43, B. Witt
NY Islanders fighting - 5 min 8:43, N. Thompson
Buffalo fighting - 5 min 8:43, C. Rivet
Buffalo game misconduct - 10 min 8:43, C. Rivet
Buffalo game misconduct - 10 min 8:43, C. Rivet
Buffalo fighting - 5 min 8:43, P. Kaleta
Buffalo misconduct - 10 min 8:43, P. Kaleta
Buffalo fighting - 5 min 8:43, A. Mair
Buffalo game misconduct - 10 min 8:43, P. Kaleta
NY Islanders misconduct - 10 min 8:43, N. Thompson
Buffalo misconduct - 10 min 8:43, A. Mair
Lalime got the start and played well by all accounts. Vanek had two goals, including a shorty. Hecht left with an apparent injury to his hand, I’ll be checking on that today. I’ll have more once I’m able to watch it this afternoon.
Tags: buffalo, Hockey, islanders, kaleta, lalime, macdonald, mair, new york, NHL, rivet, sabres, Sean Bergenheim, Thomas Vanek, thompson, witt
The Sabres Roster Is Set
Oct 8, 2008 NHL
The Buffalo Sabres roster is now at the league limit of 23, thanks to Mike Weber being sent to Portland and Paul Gaustad starting the season IR due to his thumb injury. Weber could still be sent freely to the Pirates, and there were 8 defensemen still on the roster, so he was the obvious choice. You know they will be bringing him back asap if there are injuries. He can go be our Rivet for the Pirates until needed.
Tags: buffalo, Hockey, NHL, pirates, portland, rivet, sabres, weber
Wow - Craig Rivet Named Buffalo Sabres Captain
Oct 8, 2008 NHL
Lindy Ruff named Craig Rivet (acquired in trade from the San Jose Sharks) the Buffalo Sabres Captain today.
Ruff said the players voted on the choice of Rivet and the coaches then endorsed it.
“It shows the players showed a lot of instant respect for him and what he’s done,” Ruff said. “Was I a little bit surprised? Yes. .‚.‚. To garner that much trust and respect from his teammates says a lot.”
It sure does. I like the pick, hopefully the team can feed of his toughness and move forward this year. Pominville, Numminen, Hecht and Spacek will be the alternates (switching off home/road).
Tags: buffalo, captain, hecht, Hockey, NHL, numminen, rivet, sabres, Spacek
Buffalo Sports Recovery Day
The Bills trailed the Rams 14-6 at one point, but came back to win 31-14. After struggling through the first half, the Bills showed their skill at second half adjustments, driving down for a Fred Jackson TD midway through the third quarter. It should’ve been tied, but there was a penalty on a successful 2 point try. Buffalo took the lead on the first play of the fourth quarter, with Jabari Greer returning an interception for a TD. A Bills field goal and a Lee Evans TD pass rounded out the scoring. Most troubling was Terrence McGee going down with a sprained MCL. However, as has been the norm for the Bills of the past 2 seasons, the next guy stepped in and played well. In this case, it was Leodis McKelvin, who had a forced fumble when he crushed Dane Looker. The Bills are now 4-0, with the Buzzsaw coming in, a team that just gave up 56 to Favre and the Jets.
Jochen Hecht has the Sabres’ only goal as the Wild beat Buffalo 2-1 in the shootout. Patrick Lalime was solid in the start, stopping 18 of 19 in regulation and OT. By the way, what happened with Gaustad/Paille/Bergeron? I only heard that part on the radio so I’m not sure how bad the hit on Key Lime was, but I’m glad Goose and Rivet are stepping up to protect their teammates. I wish Tim Kennedy had been able to score a shootout winner for the home crowd, but what can you do?
Tags: bills, buffalo, evans, football, gaustad, greer, hecht, Hockey, jackson, kennedy, lalime, looker, mcgee, mckelvin, minnesota, NFL, NHL, paille, Patrice Bergeron, rivet, sabres, wild
Sabres Win In OOOOOOOVERTIME
Sep 28, 2008 NHL
Thanks to the AP.
Ales Kotalik scored a minute into the overtime period to complete the rally, as the Sabres beat the Leafs. Toronto scored 2 power-play goals in the third period, but Buffalo responded with two of their own to tie it with 5 seconds to go (Gaustad!). I missed all of that, or course, after Thomas got tired an wanted to leave after the second period. :) Kids! Oh, and of course, we forgot the camera.
I thought Ryan Miller had a great game. Both he and Pogge (the Leafs rookie) were standing tall, Pogge in particular in the first as Buffalo came out firing. Speaking of firing, Craig Rivet will very quickly become a fan favorite if he continues to fire punches the way he did last night in his scrap with Ryan Hollweg. The RAV line had a good night, Max had assists on all 3 goals, Roy scored the Sabres first goal, in part due to he and Vanek working in tight to the net.
You could tell that Lindy was trying to get a feel for some of the youngsters, especially the ones the team will be relying on this year. It seemed like Sekera was on the ice all night, one second short of 30 minutes of ice time. Part of that might’ve been Mike Weber getting a game misconduct for a cross-check to the back of the head on a Leafs player. Gogulla and and Zagrapan also had a good number of shifts. Tyler Myers played well, he had maybe one play that was bad, and was very solid the rest of the time. Seeing him work up close, he skates VERY well for a guy his size. I like his game.
The Sabres play at home again tonight, against the Minnesota Wild. I’ll probably have the radio on as I watch football tonight.
edit: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention The Kaleta! and one monster shift in particular, he nailed 3 Leafs players and drew a penalty when someone came over to him and retaliated.
Tags: buffalo, gaustad, gogulla, Hockey, hollweg, kaleta, kotalik, maple leafs, myers, NHL, pogge, rivet, roy, Ryan Miller, sabres, sekera, the kaleta, Thomas Vanek, toronto, weber, zagrapan
Things People Think That May Not Be True
Aug 19, 2008 NHL
Interesting bit from Craig Rivet, whom the Sabres acquired from the San Jose Sharks (from the North Bay Nugget):
I’ve spoken to a lot of players who have played there previously and every single guy I talked to has loved it there. I’m really looking forward to getting down there.
I can’t imagine he didn’t ask guys like Mike Grier and Brian Campbell, guys he played with in San Jose. Hmm. It could just be a bit of the “talk nice about the place that just traded for you” but that’s a far cry from a more generic “I’ve heard great things about Buffalo” comment you’d expect. H/T to SabresReport.
Tags: buffalo, campbell, grier, Hockey, NHL, rivet, sabres, san jose, sharks
Lines
Jul 7, 2008 NHL
Now that things have settled a bit, I thought I’d look at the potential line combinations for this year. Keep in mind I’m not 100% sure who can be sent to Roches…er…Portland to start the season. Anyway, what the lines will most likely look like:
Hecht - Connolly - Pominville
Vanek - Roy - Afinogenov
Paille - Gaustad - Stafford
Peters - Mair - KotalikTallinder - Lydman
Spacek - Rivet
Paetsch - SekeraMiller
Lalime
That 4th line left wing is fluid, but with all the forwards that will still be on the team (barring other deals) I can’t see Kaleta or MacArthur starting the season with the big show. I’d like MacArthur in that spot, though, with Kaleta as the first injury call-up. Heck, I’d have Kaleta up and playing just for his agitation and energy though I know not everyone agrees with that. Any better ideas?
Tags: buffalo, connolly, Drew Stafford, gaustad, hecht, Hockey, kaleta, kotalik, lalime, lines, lydman, macarthur, mair, Maxim Afinogenov, NHL, paetsch, paille, peters, pominville, rivet, roy, Ryan Miller, sabres, sekera, Spacek, tallinder, Thomas Vanek
