Nikita Kucherov's dirty hit on Sobotka and what it might mean for the Sabres

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-9-2019


Tampa's Nikita Kucherov will never be misconstrued as a Cro-Magnon, Milan Lucic-type player who's main purpose on the ice is to use his animal instincts to intimidate the opposition. Kucherov couldn't be further from that as he's a brilliant offensive player for the Lightning and unlike the hulking Lucic, he's all of 5'11" 180 lbs. However, the dirty hit that took out Sabres forward Vladimir Sobotka tapped into that type of mindless intimidation.

Sobotka was low-bridged by Kucherov late in the first period of Buffalo's 3-2 loss in yesterday and unlike challenging a 6'3" 231 lb. Lucic, any number of Sabres players on the ice at the time could have come at the smaller Kucherov with little fear for their personal safety. But they didn't:

--Casey Mittelstadt had a front row seat for the hit, as did the official who did not call an interference penalty on the play (at least.) He's 6'1" 199 lbs.
--Defenseman Colin Miller was on the ice and had the same view. He clocks in at 6'1" 193 lbs.
--At 5'11" 195 lb. Jeff Skinner is about the same weight-class as Kucherov but had his back to the play. Skinner has shown enough gumption in the past as to not take something like that lightly, so one would assume that if he saw what happened he'd have been all-in
--Henri Jokiharju is 6'0" 195 lbs. He was on the ice too.

Size-wise, none of them had anything to fear but, they all went about their business as if nothing of note had happened, even with Sobotka laying on the ice in obvious discomfort clutching his leg.

Game-day...finally: BUF/TBL at 2 p.m. ET on NBCSN

Published byhockeybuzz.com, 11-8-2019

Can anyone in Sabreland remember Buffalo's last game? Sure you can go to the scoreboard and see that the NY Islanders defeated the Sabres 1-0 and you might remember that the Islanders scored early before playing lockdown, 90's trap-hockey to secure the win. 

Buffalo hasn't played a game since that Saturday night loss at KeyBank Center and that's OK. The National Hockey League tabbed them to play in their Global Series over in Stockholm, Sweden against the Tampa Bay Lightning which is an honor, especially for six Sabres players who made the trip and are returning to their homeland as a part of an NHL team. Hats off to Sweden-natives:

D, Rasmus Dahlin

F, Marcus Johansson

F, Victor Olofsson

F, Johan Larsson

G, Linus Ullmark

D, Lawrence Pilut

Sabres headed to Sweden as part of 2019 NHL Global Series (very interesting)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-21-2019

The Buffalo Sabres are headed to Sweden next season as a part of the NHL's 2019 Global Series according to the League. Buffalo will face off against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday, Nov 8 and Saturday, Nov. 9 at Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden. It makes for a very interesting connect-the-dots situation when it comes to their head coaching situation.

Phil Housley is still the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres and will likely be so until the end of the season. However, general manager Jason Botterill, along with possible input from owners Terry and Kim Pegula, will need to decide Housley's fate as this season turned south in December and there were no signs that Housley could, or even knew how to, pull this team out of the muck.

And it continued last night.

The Toronto Maple Leafs swept the season series with a 4-2 win last night, have now won five in a row against the Sabres and according to Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News, the Leafs have now won three in a row at Buffalo for the first time since 1972. Housley's team got run over last night and only Carter Hutton kept this from being a laugher on the scoreboard.

The Sabres are hitting marks that don't bode well for Housley's future in Buffalo. The Sabres were coming off of a solid win vs. the St. Louis Blues on Sunday and were looking to make it two in a row for the first time since Dec. 11-13. That in and of itself should tell you the struggles this team has been having and that stretch is also the reason that the Buffalo Sabres will be only the second team in NHL history to have a 10-game winning streak and miss the playoffs in the same season.