Roster Cleanup

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.

Sabres Win In OOOOOOOVERTIME

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.

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