GM Darcy Regier has the team in full transition mode as Buffalo just traded their third defenseman, Robyn Regehr (TJ Brennan and Jordan Leopold.)
Buffalo's leading scorer Thomas Vanek is out tonight, as is Ville Leino. Defenseman Adam Pardy and forward Luke Adam have been called up from Rochester.
With the team in sell-mode looking towards the future, we take a look back at individual stats for the month of March. The Sabres went 5-5-5 in the month.
We'll start with the goaltenders, Ryan Miller and Jhonas Enroth.
Despite a poor team record, both Miller and Enroth played very well for the month, and it's safe to say that were it not for them, the team would be battling Florida for the worst record in the league.
Both Miller and Enroth lead the team in the 3-star rankings, earning stars in multiple games. The only other player on the team to do that was forward Tyler Ennis.
Enroth is really starting to pick things up. For the month he went 2-0-1 with a no-decision vs. New Jersey when he left the game with an injury. He earned a game star in all his appearances including the Devils' game.
His save percentage took a huge leap forward to .908 while he brought his goals against average down to 2.95.
Although Miller's stats went down slightly, he's been playing well including game-stars in losses.
Buffalo's goaltenders continue to face the most shots/game with one of the poorer defenses in front of them.
Speaking of their defense, as a whole they seem to be picking things up on offense with Christian Ehrhoff finding his game and leading the team in plus/minus for the month.
Andrej Sekera, despite losing coverage on both Boston goals this past Sunday also had a good month (relatively speaking) coming in at a plus-3.
Forward Steve Ott got himself going offensively in the month of March with two goals and seven assists.
Tyler Ennis is having a real good season. With 26 points in 35 games he projects out to around 20 goals and 35 assists over and 82 game season.
Not bad for his first year playing center full time.
The Sabres other top-six center, Cody Hodgson, is having a real good year as well.
He lead the team in points, was tied for the lead in goals, and was second in assists for the month of March.
Hodgson is on a pace for 25 goals and 35 assists for an 82 game season. It is his first season in a top--six center role.
Interesting note on Hodgson.
He was dropped to the fourth line between Patrick Kaleta and John Scott, both of whom have zero points this season, in their 2-0 loss to Boston.
Interim coach Ron Rolston implied that part of the reason for Hodgson's demotion was his defensive zone coverage.
Hodgson for the month of March was second on the team in plus/minus with a plus-4.
All-in-all there weren't too many positives for the past month.
Probably the best thing to come out of their 5-5-5 record was a clear look as to what this team really is and the direction the team is headed, which is--an NHL bottom-feeder with some talented players to build around for the future.
Points:
- January--Thomas Vanek-15; Jason Pominville-12; Cody Hodgson-6
- February--Vanek-12; Hodgson, Tyler Ennis--11
- March--Hodgson-11; Ennis-10; Ott-9
Goals:
- January--Vanek-6; Pominville-5; Hodgson-4
- February--Vanek-6; Ennis-5, Hodgson-4
- March--Vanek, Hodgson, Stafford, Foligno-4
- January--Vanek-3; Pominville, Steve Ott, Tyler Myers-1
- February--Vanek-2; Ennis-1
- March--Vanek-2; Hodgson, Foligno, Ott, Leino, Ehrhoff-1
Assists:
- January--Vanek, 9; Pominville-7; Christian Ehrhoff-5
- February--Hodgson-7; Vanek, Ennis-6
- March--Ennis-8; Hodgson, Ott-7
Powerplay Assists
- January--Vanek, Pominville-3; Hodgson, Tyler Ennis, Ehrhoff-2
- February--Ennis-2; Foligno, Ehrhoff-1
- March--Ennis-4; Pominville, Hodgson, Myers-2
Primary Assists--
- January--Vanek, Pominville-3; Drew Stafford, Ehrhoff-2
- February--Stafford, Ennis-4; Vanek, Ott, Jochen Hecht-3
- March--Hodgson, Ennis-5; Ott, Ehrhoff-4
Plus/Minus:
- January--Vanek +4; Alexander Sulzer, Mike Weber +3
- February--Ott +5, TJ Brennan +3; Ehrhoff +2
- March--Ehrhoff-6; Hodgson-4; Hecht, Sekera-3
- January--Stafford, Jordan Leopold -4; Myers, Mikhail Grigorenko -3
- February--Hodgson, Andrej Sekera -5; Stafford, Foligno, Regehr, Weber -4
- March--Stafford, Ennis, Ott -3
Three Stars (1st=5 points, 2nd=3 points, 3rd=1 point)
- January--Vanek (10); Ryan Miller (7); Pominville (6)
- February--Miller (18); Vanek (17); Gerbe (5)
- March--Miller (8); Ennis, Enroth (6)
Ryan Miller
- January--3-2-1; .920 sv % (20th); 2.64 gaa (28th); 0 shutouts
- February--8-12-1; .917 (26th); 2.83 (T-45); 0
- March--11-15-5; .911 (31st); 2.89 (54th); 0
- January--0-1-0; 856 sv % (49th); 5.00 gaa (T-56th), 0 shutouts
- February--0-2-0; .847 (73rd); 4.75; 0
- March--2-2-1; .908 (42nd) 2.95 (62nd); 0
No comments:
Post a Comment