Zack Kassian: Who can he be?

I've been lucky this week to have been able to go to two Sabres games in row, the Boston game and the Washington game. I got to see two players first NHL goals, Brennan and Kassian. Zack showed a lot of promise in his game on Saturday, and it got me thinking. What kind of player do we want Zack Kassian to become?

I thought about it for awhile, and came to an answer that may strike a chord with Sabres fans. I want Zack Kassian to be our Milan Lucic. Sure, he's got size. Kassian is 6'3'' and 214 lbs. But he's not a goon. He made team Canada in the World Juniors last season, and before the call-up lead the Rochester Americans in points. Kassian is the kind of guy that can make space for his line mates, which is why I loved him being on a line with Nathan Gerbe.

Kassian had a few famous "head shots" in his junior career. I'm at the point with the Sabres that I think they need a guy like that. This team has a reputation of being weak, wouldn't one slightly dirty player be a good thing for a team like that? There's a video on YouTube of a double fight for Rochester. On one side you see Kassian beating up a guy, on the other you see Foligno doing the same. I see that and think, "wow, this is the future of the Buffalo Sabres".

Kassian has a lot of potential, but is he ready yet? Many Rochester people have said he's still a project. He's getting a shot up here, as him and McNabb are the only two skaters that have not been re-assigned to Rochester. He may show us some signs of greatness. That being said, if he falters, don't get on him too fast. He's quite a project, and still only in his first season of professional hockey. Look at many players, sometimes a little time in the AHL can be a positive thing.

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Relentless attack.

Luke Adam came one away from getting his first career NHL hatter, and Jochen Hecht notched his 1st of the season as Buffalo took own Washington 5-1 tonight. Robyn Regehr and Drew Stafford both were added to the Sabres illustrious Injured list, prompting yet another Rochester recall.  Brayden McNabb and Paul Szczechura came up from the Genessee. Szczechura assisted on both of Adam's goals. It was "Sahara's" first NHL action in more than a year. Zack Kassian scored his 1st of his NHL career in the 2nd, beating Tomas Vokoun with a wrist shot. Jason Pominville scored 50 seconds after Adam got his first to give Buffalo a 2-0 lead. Adam scored his 2nd not 2 minutes in. Jason Chimera scored Washington's only goal on a penalty shot after Christian Ehrhoff tripped him on a breakaway and Jhonas Enroth had to go airborne to dodge him. But that was as close as the Caps would come. Jochen Hecht scored his first of the season on a shorthanded break away with about 5  minutes left in the 3rd. It was great to see him get one after all his time battling injury. It was great to see Buffalo iron out a well earned win. After getting smoked by Columbus on Friday night, they needed to win, and got a good one. Enroth made 26 saves , he looked very good too. Good Night and thanks for the read. Buffalo is back in action on Tuesday at home against the Islanders.

The "Plauge" of injuries strikes Buffalo.

Over the past few weeks, Healthiness has not been an adjective that could describe the Sabres.  The Sabres currently have 8 players that are either on the IR or battling nagging problems.  It all started with Tyler Ennis, who hasn't played since 10/22. He is on the IR with an ankle injury. The Sabres have not given an update on him so there can be no prediction made as to when he will return. Defenseman Mike Weber sustained an undisclosed upper-body injury on 11/16 against New Jersey. With Weber on the IR, Darcy Regier recalled 2007 First Rounder T.J. Brennan. Brennan quickly made an impact, notching the first of his NHL career Wednesday against Boston.

The injuries are only just beginning. Team enforcer Cody McCormick hasn't played since the 2nd period of 11/14's match-up against Montreal. It has been reported that he has an upper body injury, although Lindy Ruff hasn't disseminated that info to the public. Everyone knows what happened to Ryan Miller. Drew MacIntyre was recalled to replace Miller and saw his first NHL action on 11/16 against the Devils, coming in relief of Jhonas Enroth, who has been excellent in place of the 2010 Silver Medalist.

Jochen Hecht finally returned on Wednesday after missing the entire season due to a concussion sustained in training camp. Hecht played well, almost scoring on his first shift back, but it is doubtful if Hecht will play tonight. Maybe the most devastating loss to the injury list is Tyler Myers. Myers broke one of his wrists last Saturday against the Coyotes. He is going to miss a month at the least. Marc-Andre Gragnani returned to the line-up due to this after being a healthy scratch. Brad Boyes is unlikely to play tonight, due to what Sabres.com calls "difficulty after Dennis Seidenberg fell on his left leg on Wednesday. This prompted Regier to make the move that Sabres fans every where have been dreaming of for a while now. 2009 first rounder Zach Kassian has been recalled from the Amerks. Though it is unknown if Kassian will play tonight, I'm sure  his being here will make an impact.

Despite these injuries, the Sabres have not played badly at all. I expected them to be in big trouble after losing this many players. but luckily I was wrong. What do you think? Comment with your opinions!
Happy Black Friday! Be sure to watch tonight as Buffalo is in Columbus, playing the 'Jackets at 7:00.

Sabres lose, but respond.

Buffalo may have lost their game to the Bruins tonight, but they did something even more important than winning, they responded. Sorry for not posting in a while. I'll try to be back every night. Boston won the game, but Buffalo did something more important than winning in my book, they fought back(physically) against Boston, showing them that even though they didn't respond initially, they wouldn't accept what Lucic did to Miller. Paul Gaustad and Robyn Regher are the co-heroes of the game in my book. Gaustad challenged and fought Lucic the first chance he got, sending a message that I think the rest of the Sabres received. Then after Brad Marchand took a run at Nathan Gerbe, Gaustad railed him into the boards, starting a scrum that involved everyone except Tim Thomas and Jhonas Enroth, who lost his 1st career shootout. Zdeno Chara came over and got involved. Robyn Regher skated in and grabbed Chara, an extremely courageous move on his behalf, and they went at it. Gaustad and Regher also played extremely well in the game, helping Buffalo at least get one point out of the effort. The whole Sabres team played with more physicality, more edge, and more attitude. If they can play like this always, then they won't be pushed around anymore. Special Congrats to T.J. Brennan, who scored his 1st Career NHL goal in the 2nd Period.
Goodnight and Happy Thanksgiving!!
Stars of the Game: Paul Gaustad and Robyn Regher.

Warring back.

Back in February, Buffalo played Montreal in the Bell Centre. Jhonas Enroth was in goal for that game, as Buffalo overcame a 2-0 deficit and won 3-2. 9 Months later, it was almost a complete dejavu. Tonight, Enroth back stopped the Sabres, who overcame an early 1-0 deficit to win 3-2 in a shootout, except this time it wasn't 12 rounds. The Canadiens got goals from Erik Cole and Max Pacioretty in the 2nd after a scoreless 1st. Buffalo came back to life in the 3rd, with goals from Jason Pominville and Derek Roy coming just about 12 minutes apart. It was a game of strong defensive play from that point forward. Both team's defense was great. After both teams failed to score on PP chances into, Buffalo got a vote of confidence. Who wouldn't going into a shootout with arguably the best shootout goaltender in the league in your net?  Enroth stopped Montreal's first shooter, Tomas Plekanec. Thomas Vanek then came on and scored on a great low blocker wrist shot. Pacioretty shot next for Montreal, scoring. Brad Boyes showed that Buffalo wasn't going to quit after already coming back from 2-0. Boyes skated in and deked Carey Price out of his skates to give Buffalo a 2-1 edge in the SO. Brian Gionta was stopped by Enroth to give Buffalo the win. It was a great overall effort from the team, coming back from an early deficit and not giving up.  It was great so see them come back.
Star of the Game: Derek Roy

Insult to injury.

Ryan Miller hasn't had an easy go. I'm not even going to discuss the game, we all know what happened. Instead I'll discuss Lucic's hit on Miller.  Late in the 1st, Milan Lucic stole the puck from the point and skated in on a breakaway. Except he lost it at Miller came out to play the puck, and after he cleared it off  in the corner, Lucic ran right through him. There is no reason for Lucic's doing that. That was a dirty, deliberate hit. He went out of his way to do it, and he did  it with no other reason than to injure and disturb. I hate seeing that in hockey. I love seeing hits, but not when the guy goes out of his way to apply a dirty hit to someone not deserving of it. And as a result, Lucic only got 2 minutes for interference. He should have gotten 2 for interference, 2 for roughing, and a game misconduct. And don't say I'm biased because I root for the Sabres. I don't doubt that if that had been Kaleta doing that to Tim Thomas, than people all over Boston would be whining for hiim to be suspended another 4 games. if I were Lindy Ruff, I would've done exactly that, sent Kaleta at Tim Thomas. Let Boston see how they like it. I hate dirty hockey. Buffalo is back in action Monday at Montreal. Be sure to watch.

Who should be the Starting Goaltender?

Today I will discuss the major topic that surrounds the Buffalo Sabres right now: Who should be the Sabres number one goaltender at this point? Its not as clear as most would have predicted at the start of the season.

Ryan Miller is currently 5-5 with 1 Shut out. He has a .913 save percentage and 2.74 goals against average. Recently he has looked like a complete mess. Obviously the Philadelphia game was not the top of his game. Saying that, however, I do not blame the 5 goal preformance vs. the Jets on him. Most of the goals were caused by poor defending (i.e. Tyler Myers) and were not his fault. But, if you watch the Sabres often, you know how Ryan Miller gets. When he's off mentally, you can see it. And off is the best way I can describe his play right now. He just seems like a different player than the Ryan Miller we are accustomed to.

Jhonas Enroth has had a completely different start to this season. He's gone 4-0 with a .957 save percentage and a 1.41 goals against average. He's third in the NHL in both S% and GAA. He is the hot hand for Lindy right now. Many times this season he has stood on his head in games.

At this point, Ryan Miller should still be the starter of the Sabres. But its not nearly as big of a gap between the two goalies as many had expected. If Miller continues to play poorly and Enroth is winning, then we may have ourselves a goalie controversy.

Sabres ground the Jets in a barnburner.

Tuesday night's game was undoubtedly one for the record books. The Sabres hall of fame added 2 more illustrious members, with the induction of Rick Jeanneret and Dale Hawerchuk. Both inductees gave speeches that had the sellout that was FN Center on its feet. And the excitement was just beginning. For the first time since 1995, the Sabres dropped the puck against a team from Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was the Jets who got off to a flying start (no pun intended).  Mark Flood and Bryan Little both scored roughly 2 minutes apart in the early 1st. It looked as if Ryan Miller was going to get smoked again. But, this time, his offense came to the rescue. Derek Roy continued his recent tear, scoring on the Power Play to cut the score to 2-1 with about 10 minutes remaining. Then, about 11 seconds later, call-up Corey Tropp found the back of the net for the first time in his NHL career. Congrats to Corey for that! Then the see-saw continued as Tanner Glass connected on the PP to give the Jets their lead back again. But the Sabres battled back again. The Sabres Penalty kill continued to dominate, as Paul Gaustad got the puck at center and did a spin-o-Rama and passed to Jason Pominiville, who tapped it right in. It is arguably the best pass I've ever seen. The seesaw battle raged on. Ultimately leading to a 5-5 tie at the end of regulation. Winnipeg killed their chances of winning with how many penalties they took. Blake Wheeler took a penalty with less than a minute left in OT, setting up Jason Pominville's blast that went in of Thomas Vanek's skate to win it for Buffalo. It was a great game in my opinion. Thanks for reading!
Star of the Game: Thomas Vanek.

Enroth continues shootout dominance.

Buffalo and Ottawa provided an entertaining, back and forth, seesaw battle tonight as the Northeast division foes met in Scotiabank Place.Milan Michalek opened the scoring in the 1st, dekeing through Tyler Myers and going above Jhonas Enroth's glove for his 9th. In the 2nd, Derek Roy made his hometown return even better, deflecting Ville Leino's point shot for his 2nd. Then Jordan Leopold scored on a hard working shift from Nathan Gerbe to give Buffalo a 2-1 lead. This didn't last long ,however, as Erik Condra scored his first on a break away. The ensuing back and forth game resulted in a tie through out 65 minutes, setting the stage for  Enroth to star in his signature situation. Enroth allowed the first two shooters for Ottawa,  Michalek and Jason Spezza, but stopped the next four. Thomas Vanek and Brad Boyes kept Buffalo alive in the first two shootout rounds, allowing Enroth time to shake off the rust and dominate.  After Ottawa's last four shooters were stopped by Enroth, Nathan Gerbe, Jason Pominville, and Drew Stafford all came up short. This provided Derek Roy a rare chance, to score a game winner in his home town. And he delivered, firing into the top left to beat Craig Anderson and winning Buffalo its second straight. I can imagine it was a fun trip home for Roy.
Goodnight and thanks for the read. Buffalo is back in action Tuesday when Winnipeg comes to town. Be sure to watch!
Star of the Game: Derek Roy.

Goaltender duel for the ages sees Buffalo emerge victorious.

On Friday night, Jhonas Enroth and Henrik Karlsson combined to give the fans at First Niagara Center one of the best combined Goaltender performances that I've ever seen. Enroth and Karlsson faced a combined 74 shots on goal, and stopped a combined 71. Both goalies made phenomenal saves through out the game, but it was Enroth who won the battle, despite that I honestly think Karlsson was the better of the two. Drew Stafford opened the scoring, which was scarce, in the first, with a "slap-snipe" that went in the top right corner. It was Stafford's 4th with great assists from Andrej Sekera (3) and Derek Roy (4). Nathan Gerbe gave the Sabres a 2-0 advantage early in the 3rd on a funky goal.  It looked as if Calgary was about to clear the puck from the zone, but Marc-Andre Gragnani held it in and passed to Gerbe, who was wide open with more than enough time. That would prove to be the difference maker seeing as Alex Tanguay brought the Flames to within one less than four minutes later. It was a goal Enroth could do nothing about, as it was deflected by Calgary's leader in goals before it reached Enroth. Calgary is my 2nd to favorite team, so I will honestly admit they played well, but not well enough. Their goaltender was amazing, he definitely held them in it.
Star of the Game: Henrik Karlsson.

Sabres fight valiantly, come up short.

Ryan Miller got smoked. Plain and simple. He got smoked. He was beaten on the first 2 that he faced and was pulled not even 10 minutes in. The goals he let in weren't bad ones, but atill, he let them in. however, his defense didn't give him much help on the first one. Jhonas Enroth came in and provided a heroic relief in net,stopping all 15 shots he faced. But the 3-0 deficit drawn by Miller proved to be too much to overcome.  Andrej Sekera and Luke Adam scored to give Buffalo a semi-rally, but that was all the offense to muster. I must commend Buffalo's effort however. They fought back valiantly and stole back the momentum from the Flyers, who got off to a potent start in the 1st. Despite the loss, they gave a fantastic effort, which was starting to become a real problem. Buffalo faces Calgary on Friday night. Be sure to watch.
Star of the Game: Jhonas Enroth.