This season, though, the team is off to a 6-4 start. Not bad overall, but pretty sad considering that they were 5-1 before a homestand that saw them go 1-3.
Individually, Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville are smokin' hot. Vanek is second in the league in points (15) and fourth in goals (8) while Pominville is tied for sixth in points (14) and tied for fifth in assists (9.) They've been playing so well that rookie Luke Adam, who was centering their line for the month, is tied for second in rookie points with nine and tied for first in assists with six.
All that will be changing, at least to start the new month, as it's been reported that Ville Leino will be centering Vanek and Pominville in order to jumpstart his poor production (1g, 1a.) Adam, for his part will be heading over to the left wing with Derek Roy and Drew Stafford, both of whom have gotten off to slow starts.
Lindy Ruff has some work to do as he sorts out his lines to get things going for certain individuals (Leino.) He already worked a little magic with Brad Boyes. Since Ruff put Boyes on the first unit PP three games ago, the forward has responded with a goal and two assists on that unit.
Nathan Gerbe is off to a much better start this year over last. Tyler Ennis did not register a point in the seven games he played in before being injured. Oddly enough, the Sabres went 5-2 with him in the line-up and he seems to have leaned towards the Selke Trophy end of the equation by registering a +2.
On defense, Christian Ehrhoff is working on getting his shot off while missing asignments on d. He has one goal and is a team-worst minus-6. Tyler Myers has not gotten off of the schneid, although this seaason he's clocking in with a plus-1. Last season he was scraping the bottom and ended the month of October a minus-10.
Robyn Regehr was brought in for a little stay-at-home stabilization. He's done that going zero's across the board including the +/-. He was also brought in to rattle some opposition bones with thundering checks and my oh my, has he done that.
Interesting to note that the not one defensman was named one of the game's 3-stars yet.
Goaltending has been very solid. Ryan Miller is ahead of his Vezina-2010 pace, and back-up Jhonas Enroth has given Ruff the opportunity to focus on other areas as the second-year netminder has worked a little magic on his way to a 2-0 start.
It's a long 82-game hockey season, but 10 games in here are the Sabres individual stats leaders for the month of October.
Points:
- October--Thomas Vanek, 15...Jason Pominville, 14...Luke Adam, 9
Goals:
- October--Vanek, 8...Pominville, 5...Drew Stafford, Adam, 3
PP Goals:
- October--Vanek, 3...Pominville, 2...Brad Boyes, Stafford, 1
Assists:
- October--Pominville, 9...Vanek, 7...Christian Ehrhoff, Adam, 6
PP Assists:
- October--Pominville, 4...Vanek, Boyes, 2
Primary Assists:
- October--Vanek, 6...Pominville, 5...Gerbe, 4
Plus/Minus:
- October--Andrej Sekera, +6...Nathan Gerbe, +5...Vanek,+4
Plus/Minus (bottom):
- October--Ehrhoff, -6...Ville Leino, -4...Cody McCormick...-2
3-Stars (1st=5 points, 2nd=3 points, 3rd=1 point):
- October--Vanek, 16...Pominville, Adam, 10
Time On Ice/Game-Forwards
Total:
- October--Pominville, 18:00...Vanek, 17:42...Roy, 16:54
Even Strength:
- October--Vanek, 13:47...Gerbe, 13:33...Roy, 13:30
Powerplay:
- October--Vanek, 3:12...Pominville, 2:57...Adam, 2:16
Penalty Kill:
- October--Paul Gaustad, 2:56...Patrick Kaleta, 2:40...Pominville, 2:13
Time On Ice/Game-Defensman
Total:
- October--Ehrhoff, 24:32...Myers, 21:28...Jordan Leopold, 21:06
Even Strength:
- October--Ehrhoff, 19:21...Leopold, 17:12...Myers, 16:21
Powerplay:
- October--Marc-Andre Gragnani, 3:03...Ehrhoff, 2:59...Myers, 1:57
Penalty Kill:
- October--Robyn Regehr, 3:12...Myers, 3:09...Ehrhoff, 2:12
Goaltending
Ryan Miller:
- October--4 wins, 4 losses, .930 sv.% (ranked 9th,) 2.14 gaa (ranked 21st,) 1 shutout
Jhonas Enroth:
- October--2-0, .946 sv % (8th,) 2.00 gaa (13th,) 0 shutouts
No comments:
Post a Comment