Sabres Notes

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-23-2019


There's not a Sabres writer out there who enjoys writing something akin to the following:  The Buffalo Sabres played an excellent game against the Boston Bruins and did everything but win. Buffalo outshot Boston 38-27 at TD Garden on Thursday night including a first period where they pumped 14 shots on goal before the Bruins registered their first shot (to a Bronx cheer from the home crowd) 12:11 into the game. The Sabres boasted a very robust 62.22% CF percentage with no individual player below 50% and totaled 69 shots directed at Boston goalie Tukka Rask (38 on-goal, 17 blocked, 14 missed) compared to the 44 shots (27+11+6) sent Linus Ullmark's way.

This was a game they should have won and would have won except for...Rask. The Boston netminder, and the game's deserved first star, stole one for the Bruins and the Sabres were left with this from defenseman Brandon Montour, "We played a little better," he said to the gathered media post game, "but in the end, it's another loss.

"We have to start winning some hockey games."

True dat.

Luckily, there isn't much time for last night's dual-debacles to fester

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-5-2017


For Team USA and Buffalo Sabres fans, it was about as bad as it gets yesterday as the Americans got swamped 4-2 in their IIHF World Junior Championships semi-final game versus Team Sweden, and in the main bought, the Sabres got smoked by the Minnesota Wild 6-2. And in both instances it wasn't as close as the score indicated.

After a lackluster performance by both teams in the first period Team Sweden seemed to find their legs with a powerplay goal with 6:30 left in the second. It was one of four penalties Team USA took through the first two periods. The Swedes would add to their lead early in the third then had to kill a penalty less than a minute later.

No worries, Team USA would pull of a perfect imitation of an early season Sabres game (at the NY Islanders) and proceed to give up two shorthanded goals on the same powerplay. At 4-0 with just over 11 minutes to play in the third period, the game was over.

The U.S. had a golden opportunity to tie the game late in the first period after Sweden got caught on a poor line change. Casey Mittelstadt lead a 3-on-0 break with less than a minute to play in the period but was stifled by Swedish goalie Filip Gustavsson, a second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins (2016, 55th-overall.) And to add insult to injury, USA's Kieffer Bellows (2016, 9th, NYI) was called for goalie interference.

Mittelstadt, who's tied for the tournament lead with 10 points (4+6) told the gathered media post-game, "To be honest I didn't even really know it was a 3-on-0. Someone was yelling 'Go' so I just kind of went and I didn't finish there and that's what it comes down to."

Gustavsson said he was focused solely on Mittelstadt the whole time. "It was more like calling his bluff there that he wasn't going to pass or give it to someone else," he said.

Team USA takes on Team Czech today at 4pm in the bronze medal game. As the defending champs, the Americans could be setup for another let down playing in the consolation game, but if they want to medal, they'll need to be on their game.

Although the Czechs got bombed 7-2 to Team Canada, they're hell-bent on bringing home a medal. Winger Filip Zadina, who scored both Czech goals last night and considered a top-five prospect in this year's draft, had this to say via ESPN's Chris Peters twitter feed, "I was glad to play well, but I’m so sad because we lost. My goals mean nothing. We will do anything tomorrow, we will die on the ice to bring a medal back to Czech Republic."

Zadina's seven goals is tied for the tournament lead with Bellows and Canada's Drake Batherson (2017, 121st, OTT,) who had the hat trick for Canada last night.


*****

All is not lost for Sabres fans as Team Sweden has two Buffalo prospects going for gold today.

Forward Marcus Davidsson (2017, 37th) has been solid in his fourth-line support role for Sweden and continued last night breaking up an American rush at the blueline and feeding his team mate for Sweden's fourth goal. Davidsson has a goal and two assists and is a plus-1 for the tournament.

Buffalo's first round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, Alexander Nylander (8th-overall,) continued to put up points with the primary assist on Sweden's first goal of the game last night. With Sweden on the powerplay, Nylander grabbed the puck on the right half-wall and sent a sharp, cross-ice pass to Elias Pettersson (2017, 5th, VAN) who ripped it home.

Nylander is tied for 10th in the tournament in scoring with seven points on one goal and six assists.

Lest we forget him, Buffalo d-prospect Vojtech Budik (2016, 130th) is also on the Czech team fighting Team USA for the bronze medal. Although he and his fellow countrymen were run over by a dominant Canadian team, the 6'1" 193 lb. Budik enters today's final matchup with five assists and a plus-3 rating. Despite the route, Budik had an assist an even rating in 16:17 of ice-time against Team Canada last night.


*****

If you thought a 4-0 deficit was a bummer last night, the Buffalo Sabres were down 6-0 at the Minnesota Wild before they scored two meaningless goals in the third period.

To say it was ugly would be an understatement. Minnesota jumped on the Sabres early with two goals in the first 2:15 of play. They added another goal on a five-minute powerplay in the first period then added three more in the second period. Sam Reinhart scored early in the third period and Evander Kane scored with 1:01 left for the 6-2 final score.

For all the talk that there would be no post-Winter Classic hangover, it's exactly what happened. to put it in perspective, if Team USA was a half-step behind Team Sweden at the WJC, the Sabres were a full step behind the Wild. They couldn't fight out of a wet paper bag early on last night and if there was any hope of a comeback after quickly falling behind 2-0, the five-minute major and game-misconduct handed out to Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen at the 10:16 mark of the first period pretty much shattered any hopes of that.

Ristolainen got his shoulder high on a check to Miko Koivu at the Sabres blueline. Initially the refs called a two-minute interference penalty but after a conference, and maybe because Koivu was bleeding rather profusely around his mouth, the major and game-misconduct was assessed.

Sabres bench-boss Phil Housley did his best to distribute the minutes amongst his rear-guard but when Zach Bogosian is over 25 minutes of ice-time, Nathan Beaulieu's over 20 minutes and Justin Falk is logging 19:55, it doesn't make for the best of situations.

No word yet on any further disciplinary action against Ristolainen, so it looks like he'll be in the lineup tonight.

The Sabres head into Winnipeg to face the Jets tonight for their 41st game, or the halfway point of the season. Buffalo's 10 wins are tied with Arizona for the fewest in the league and their 29 points is only four more than the last place Coyotes. An abysmal October and November lead to a December of hope where they played much better but could only win one of five overtime games leading to a 4-5-4 record for the month.

Buffalo continued on with that theme on January 1, 2018 as the lost in overtime to the NY Rangers in the Winter Classic, but last night's debacle sent them back to their woes of earlier in the season. The Sabres haven't been trounced this bad since back-to-back games against the Pittsburgh Penguins December 1 and 2. They had a dog of a game against the Carolina Hurricanes just prior to the Christmas break, but at worst trailed by three goals en route to a 4-2 defeat.

The Sabres beat Winnipeg last season in both meetings, 3-1 in Winnipeg on October 30 and 4-3 at home last January 7 and are on a four-game win streak vs. the Jets. However, according to Sabres PR, Buffalo is only 5-5-0 in their last 10 vs. Winnipeg, 3-6-1 on the road and they're facing a Jets team that has only one regulation loss in their last eight games (5-2-1) and are 14-3-1 on the season.

A couple of quick notes, Reinhart's goal vs. the Wild was his second in as many games while Kane' goal was his first in five games and tied him with Jack Eichel atop the Sabres leaderboard with 35 points (16+19)

Also of note, defenseman Taylor Fedun is healthy again and was sent to Rochester. Fedun began the season in Rochester and played seven games in Buffalo before being felled by a lower-body injury. He returns to an Amerks team that's only two points behind the Eastern Conference-leading Toronto Marlies.

Mittelstadt/USA vs. Dahlin/Sweden at WJC. Sabres in Minnesota tonight

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-4-2017


The last time the IIHF World Junior Championships were held in Buffalo, NY, Russia defeated Canada for the gold medal and the U.S. defeated Sweden 4-2 for the bronze. Since then the Americans and Swedes have met twice in the medal rounds--in 2013 the U.S. beat Sweden for the gold medal in Ufa, Russia and in 2016 Team USA once again came out on top as they took home the bronze by thumping Team Sweden 8-3.

It's 2018, we're back in Buffalo and once again there is a U.S./Sweden matchup, this time for the opportunity to play in the gold-medal game.

Team Sweden, a favorite heading into the tournament, is the only remaining team to go undefeated in the preliminary round (3 wins and a shootout win vs. Russia) and is the top seed. Team USA has only one blemish on their record, a 3-2 loss vs. Slovakia the night before they were to play Team Canada in the tournament's first-ever outdoor game.

Today's matchup between the U.S. and Sweden at 4 pm is a faceoff between two strong teams and two of the tournaments top players--Casey Mittelstadt (USA) and Rasmus Dahlin (Sweden.)

Mittelstadt is very familiar to Buffalo Sabres fans as he was the team's first round pick (8th-overall) in the 2017 NHL Draft. The 6'0" 203 lb. center, who plays for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in NCAA D-I men's hockey, is leading the tournament in scoring with 10 points (4+6) in five games. He's also responsible for the goal of the tournament thus far (at the 1:18 mark of this USA Hockey video):



Sabres fans have been thrilled with Mittelstadt's play thus far. Not only has he scored the points, but many of them have been meaningful. The goal above tied the score at 2-2 with just over three minutes to play in the third period and in the game vs. Canada the next afternoon, Mittelstadt made two beautiful setups to help the Americans come back from a 3-1 deficit and eventually defeat Canada 4-3 in the shootout (he was inches away from a shootout goal that would have won the game.)

On the other side, defenseman Dahlin is the consensus first overall pick in the upcoming NHL Draft--defenseman. The smooth-skating, extremely poised 6'2" 183 lb. Dahlin has looked like a man amongst boys out there in the U-20 tournament, and he should be as he's spent the last two seasons in Sweden's top hockey league playing and succeeding against men.

With the Buffalo Sabres presently in 30th place in the league, many in Sabreland have visions of Dahlin in the Blue and Gold with some lottery luck.

Forgotten in the largeness of those two players are two other Sabres prospects playing for Sweden--forwards Alexander Nylander (2016, 8th) and Marcus Davidsson (2017, 37th.)

There hasn't been much fanfare with Davidsson as he was taken in the second round and very little is known about him as he plays a game far from the limelight. In is 2017 Sabres draft review, Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com/Sabres.com called him "hard-working, two-way forward who is excellent in the corners and in front of the net."

After yesterday's games, Baker had this to say about the 6'1" 198 lb. forward at Sabres.com, "The role Davidsson is playing for Sweden in this tournament is exactly the role he'll be expected to play when he arrives in North America. He's committed to the work in front of him on every shift, and in that regard he has proven himself quite well leading up to the semifinal round."

Nylander has been a bit of a different story. Like Ken Campbell of The Hockey News writes, "It’s far too early to write off Alex Nylander. But right about now might be a good time to start wondering a little about him."

Buffalo's first pick in the 2016 draft is on loan from the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League in part because of his struggles making the transition to the pro game. Last year the 6'0" 176 lb. winger had a difficult time for the Amerks as he scored 10 goals and added 18 assists in 65 games while charting a minus-24 plus/minus rating for a 26th place team. He suffered a groin injury early in the off season that kept him of the ice until mid-November and started the season in Rochester.

It's safe to say that it took a while for him to get up to speed after being off the ice for so long, but he had some difficulties leading up to the decision to let him play in the WJC scoring in only one of his last eight games (1+1.) The thought process that may have been involved in the loan was for him to regain his form against his peers but to date, it hasn't panned out as expected. Campbell points out that Nylander was "very, very quite" in Sweden's 3-2 quarterfinal win over Slovakia and quoted him as saying post-game, "I had a really bad game, which is unacceptable. I have to step it up a lot more next game. I’ve got to play a lot better. I wasn’t moving my feet and create more plays and use the stuff I’m good at, trying to get shots at the net and working hard. I’ve got to work harder.”

To those who scouted Nylander, it's not too much of a surprise. There were quite a few who called him the most skilled player in the draft but as Kyle Woodlief of the Redline Report wrote post-draft, "[he] spends too much time on the perimeter and if he's not scoring, he's not helping."

This isn't the only game featuring Sabres prospects. In the nightcap, Sabres d-prospect Vojtech Budik and the Czech's will face off against Team Canada at 8pm. Baker said of Budik's game against Finland in the quarterfinals "[he] did a nice job throughout the contest using his size and long reach to break up plays and chip pucks off the boards" and "proved to be a calming influence in his 26:09 of action to help the Czechs reach the semifinals for the first time since 2005."


*****

The Buffalo Sabres will be in action tonight against the Minnesota Wild for the first time since dropping the 10th annual Winter Classic in overtime on New Year's Day. Coach Phil Housley said yesterday that, based upon the way his team practiced, he didn't think they'd suffer from a post Winter Classic hangover. And they better be sharp as the Wild have been hot at home. As Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News pointed out, Minnesota is 10-1-1 in their last 12 starts at XCel Energy Center and are 13-4-2 overall.

For their part, the Sabres are coming off of their most successful month of the season. However, as their 4-3-5 December record might indicate, it hasn't been that great of a season so far. Some have called it a stealth tank while others attribute their 30th place standing to an abysmal start complete with injuries and the look of a team finding out about themselves individually and finding their way around the way the NHL is being played these days as a team.

The Sabres have been playing their best hockey of the season lately and as mentioned after the 3-2 overtime loss to the NY Rangers in the Winter Classic, for maybe the first time this year they're looking like a group that's actually playing like a team.

Should they continue to progress like they have as of late, they could end up a bit higher in the overall standings and have a much less chance of winning the draft lottery and selecting Dahlin or even in the top-three. And for those entertaining playoff thoughts, the Sabres are presently 15 points out of a playoff spot with eight teams to jump. Although not impossible, it is highly improbable that they make a run like that.

Some of the focus tonight includes the return of defenseman Marco Scandella and forward Jason Pominville to Minnesota, the team that traded them to the Buffalo Sabres in the off season. Outside of that, it's a Buffalo team that looks as if it's turned the corner and is on an upward swing (however slow it may be) and a Minnesota team that's one point away from the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.

The Sabres lost to the Wild 5-4 back in November dropping them to 3-6-1 in their last 10 vs. Minnesota. In a weird quirk, Buffalo is 7-3-0 in their last 10 on the road in the series.

Housley seems to have found some good combinations for his top-nine up front and his top-four on defense and according to yesterday's practice he'll continue that formula with these projected lines and d-pairings:

Girgensons-Eichel-Reinhart
Kane-O'Reilly-Okposo
Pouliot-Rodrigues-Pominville
Larsson-Josefson-Nolan

Scandella-Ristolainen
McCabe-Bogosian
Falk-Beaulieu

Robin Lehner will probably get the nod in net.

Of note:  Housley was the head coach in 2013 when Team USA defeated Team Sweden in the WJC gold medal game and Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe was the captain of that team.


*****

The Rochester Americans are off until tomorrow night when they begin a back-to-back home set vs. the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NYI) and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (PHI) on Saturday.

Four Sabres prospects at 2017 World Junior Summer Showcase

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 7-29-2017


The Buffalo Sabres have a solid presence in Plymouth, Michigan as four players will take their first steps at trying to make their 2018 World Junior teams. Casey Mittelstadt (USA,) Cliff Pu (CAN,) Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (FIN) and Marcus Davidsson (SWE) begin play today in the 2017 World Junior Summer Showcase held in Plymouth, Michigan. The event runs through August 5.

Yesterday all teams held practices with a split USA team scrimmaging each other and the tournament will begin today in earnest as USA White takes on Finland at 1 p.m. For a full schedule see below.

The first game has plenty of intrigue for Sabres fans as two 2017 draft picks go head to head to kick things off with Mittelstadt (USA White) taking on Luukkonen (FIN.) Mittelstadt was selected eight-overall after falling to the Sabres while Luukkonen was taken by Buffalo in the second round at No. 54. Both had an extremely good development camp in Buffalo earlier this month as Mittelstadt lead Team White to the French Connection 3-on-3 Championship while Luukkonen showed off an impressive skill-set even stopping a sneaky Mittelstadt from in tight very early in the tournament.

In the second game today Davidsson and Sweden will take on USA Team Blue at 4:10 p.m. Davidsson was also a second rounder (37th) in 2017. Davidsson didn't make the 2017 World Juniors but Kris Baker of Sabresprospects.com/Sabres.com said that after spending a year playing professional hockey against men, Davidsson will be "a shoe-in" to make Team Sweden in 2018.

Pu is the elder statesman of the bunch. The 2016 third round pick of Buffalo (69th) is 19 and will be entering his fourth year at London with the OHL's Knights. Baker points out that even though Pu had an outstanding year in London (35 goals and 51 assists in 63 games, the Canadian squad is loaded with talent up-front and he may not be a shoe-in for the Team Canada when the 2018 WJC hits Buffalo in late December. That said, a strong Summer Showcase will go a long way in convincing Hockey Canada that they need to find a place for him.

Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin heads a list of 2018 draft eligible players that includes, according to NHL.com's  "forwards Brady Tkachuk and Oliver Wahlstrom, and defenseman Quinton Hughes for the U.S., Sweden center Isac Lundestrom and Finland forward Jesse Ylonen."

Both the US and Canada will combine their split squads for the final games.

Below is the full schedule of events from USAHockey.com:

Saturday, July 29	Finland Practice	8:15-8:45 a.m.
	USA Blue Practice (Olympic Rink)	9:00-9:30 a.m.
	Sweden Practice	9:00-9:30 a.m.
	USA White vs. Finland	1:00 p.m.
	USA Blue vs. Sweden	4:10 p.m
Sunday, July 30	Finland Practice	8:15-8:45 a.m.
	USA White Practice (Olympic Rink)	9:00-9:30 a.m.
	Sweden Practice	9:00-9:30 a.m.
	Canada Practice	10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m
	USA Blue vs. Finland	1:00 p.m.
	USA White vs. Sweden	4:10 p.m.
Monday, July 31	USA Blue Practice	9:30-10:30 a.m.
	USA White Practice	10:45-11:45 a.m.
	Canada Practice (Olympic Rink)	11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
	Finland Practice	12:00-1:15 p.m.
	Sweden Practice	1:30-2:45 p.m.
Tuesday, August 1	Canada Red Practice	9:00-9:30 a.m.
	Canada White Practice	9:45-10:15 a.m.
	Finland Practice (Olympic Rink)	12:00-1:30 pm.
	Sweden Practice (Olympic Rink)	1:45-3:00 p.m.
	Canada Red vs. USA White	4:08 p.m.
	Canada White vs. USA Blue	7:18 p.m.
Wednesday, August 2	Finland Practice	8:15-8:45 a.m.
	USA Practice (Olympic Rink)	9:00-9:30 a.m.
	Sweden Practice	9:00-9:30 a.m.
	Canada Practice (Olympic Rink)	10:00-11:15 a.m.
	Canada vs. Finland	1:08 p.m.
	USA vs. Sweden	4:18 p.m.
Thursday, August 3	Canada Practice (Olympic Rink)	8:00-11:00 a.m.
	Finland Practice	10:00-11:15 a.m.
	Sweden Practice	11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
	Canada Practice	1:00-3:30 p.m.
Friday, August 4	USA Practice	9:00-9:30 a.m.
	Finland Practice (Olympic Rink)	9:00-9:30 a.m.
	Canada Practice	9:45-11:00 a.m.
	Sweden vs. Canada	1:08 p.m.
	Finland vs. USA	4:18 p.m.
Saturday, August 5	Sweden Practice	9:00-9:30 a.m.
	Finland Practice (Olympic Rink)	9:00-9:30 a.m.
	USA Practice	10:00-10:30 a.m.
	Canada Practice	10:45-11:45 a.m.
	Sweden vs. Finland	4:08 p.m.
	USA vs. Canada	7:18 p.m.

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