Hallelujah, they scored 2 goals (kind of)...and won too (Anders Nilsson, Cal O'Relly, Taylor Fedun, William Carrier)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-20-2016


Buffalo Sabres forward Cal O'Reilly's stat line for last night's game reads like this:  0 goals, 0 assists 0 points, but the final score reads Buffalo-2, Pittsburgh-1, SO. O'Reilly scored the game-winning goal for the Sabres last night in their victory but the only player to score in regulation or overtime for Buffalo was William Carrier, so technically the Sabres scored only one goal last night for the third time in a row and the sixth time in seven games. Add in the game where they were shut out against Boston and the Sabres have scored one goal or less in seven of eight games.

That's a bit disconcerting as Buffalo is averaging a league-low 1.78 goals per game, but right now, who cares? At this point in time, the Sabres got themselves a desperately needed win by beating the defending Stanley Cup Champion Penguins. For the first time in the last nine games, no less. It was a huge win for a bedraggled group of Sabres that featured no less than five players who began the season with the Rochester Americans in the AHL and in the process they snapped a six-game winless streak.

Also included in the happiness in and around KeyBank Center were a couple of firsts.

Carrier scored his first NHL goal on a nice play where he found open space after a Pittsburgh turnover in their own end. Buffalo defenseman Taylor Fedun, appearing in his second game of the year for the Sabres, sent a shot from the point that Carrier deftly redirected past Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to put the Sabres up 1-0 just over eight minutes into the game.

Both players began the year in Rochester and Carrier told the gathered media that the redirect was something they've worked on at practice. "Me and 'Feds' have been practicing that play in Rochester and we've been practicing it at every morning skate," he said. "It's pretty nice to get that one."

Pretty nice for Sabres bench boss Dan Bylsma to get that win as well. It was the first time in four tries he was able to beat his former team and although he probably was ecstatic he finally beat the team he lead to the 2009 Cup, for him it was simply an important win for the team right now. "It doesn't really matter who it's against," he told the media post-game, "[It was] a win we desperately needed."

Perhaps the team has finally figured out a way to grind out a low-scoring win or perhaps the Sabres finally have the personnel to play and win such a game. Buffalo has been without their top two centers in Jack Eichel and Ryan O'Reilly, two cornerstones for the fast, up-tempo style of play Bylsma would prefer to play. Buffalo is also without two top-four d-men in Zach Bogosian and Dmitry Kulikov both of whom can get up-ice and move the puck well.

With four of their top-10 skaters out of the lineup, Bylsma's been trying to grind out wins. However, he's been trying to do it with young players like Nicolas Baptiste and Justin Bailey plus other, somewhat older players with very little NHL experience like Casey Nelson and Evan Rodrigues. That didn't work out very well as prior to the game last night, the Sabres had lost three in a row by a combined 12-4 score with each opponent scoring four goals against the Sabres.

The parade of call-ups continued on Saturday with 30 yr. old Cal O'Reilly and 28 yr. old Cole Schneider made the trip to Buffalo. O'Reilly has 134 NHL games to his credit and played over 500 total games at the AHL-level. Although Schneider has played in only five NHL games, he's played in over 300 in the AHL.

That duo joined  defensemen Fedun with over 300 pro games (14 in the NHL) and Justin Falk who's played in 176 NHL games plus over 300 AHL games. Both of those players are also 28 yrs. old.

Although none of those four should be considered upper-level NHL'ers, there's a lot to be said for grinding out a hockey career over the course of many years in the AHL. Individually they may only be able to have an impact on a very limited basis, but as a group, they managed to add some stability to the Buffalo lineup, giving Bylsma the low-scoring, grind-it-out game he's been forced to play.

Which was the plan going into the game against the high-flying Penguins.

"The game-plane was keeping the game 0-0, trying to win it 1-0," said Carrier. "They've got a lot of skill over there so we were just trying to keep it 0-0."

"It's kinda how we want to play the game," said Bylsma, "We wanted to play a tight game and we wanted to be comfortable in a tight game.

Keeping it a tight game would have been impossible without the stellar netminding of backup goalie Anders Nilsson. The game's first star stopped 46 of the 47 shots the Penguins threw at him in regulation and overtime plus stopped Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang in the shootout. The Penguins didn't score until the third period and it was the first time since November 14, 2003 that Pittsburgh went into the third period without a goal against the Sabres according to ROOT sports.

Nilsson increased his record in Buffalo to 2-1-2 with a 1.74 GAA and .951 Sv%.

This was a great, hard-fought win for the Sabres but all will be for naught if they cannot keep it going. They finish their four-game home-stand with visits from the Calgary Flames on Monday and the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday. The walking wounded should start returning in the latter part of this month with an expected return by Eichel before December 1.

That said, the Sabres can't rest thinking that Eichel will float down from heaven to relieve them and their fans from all the suffering that's been going on so far this season. They haven't even hit the quarter-pole yet and if they want any chance of making a run at the playoffs it needs to begin now by consistently winning without Eichel and Ryan O'Reilly and Zach Bogosian and Dmitry Kulikov.

Last night was a good start and winning with only one regulation goal is quite the feat. But methinks they'll need to score a little bit more if they want to head into Thanksgiving on a roll.

Rivalry Saturday (Akim Aliu, Mark Pysyk)

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Both the Rochester Americans and Buffalo Sabres face familiar foes today as the Amerks hit the road for a game with the Toronto Marlies while the Sabres play host to the Boston Bruins.

Rochester kicks things off at 3 pm with a match in Toronto. The Marlies swept the Amerks in the playoffs in the 2012 and 2013. Last season the teams split their 10 game series winning five apiece. The Amerks have won two of the last three.

Forward Johan Larsson and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel lead the team in scoring with four points apiece (each with a goal.) Mark Pysyk, who was sent to Rochester yesterday along with fellow defenseman Jake McCabe, should be in the lineup this afternoon. Pysyk played extremely well last season with both Buffalo and Rochester and looked like a lock to make the Sabres opeining roster. He played one shift in his first game of the preseason and went out with a shoulder injury.

Pysyk's assignment to Rochester should be deemed nothing more than a conditioning stint. When he's ready he'll be back up in Buffalo. Tonight he'll be on the top pairing with Drew Bagnall.

McCabe isn't expected in the lineup until the Amerks begin a three games in four night stretch on Wednesday in Rochester vs. the Rockford Ice Hogs.

A tale of two teams (Akim Aliu,Tyler Ennis, Tyler Myers)

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Before we get to hockey, for the first time since 1960, the Buffalo Bills will officially have a new owner at kickoff.

Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula and his wife Kim were approved as owners of the Bills on Wednesday and will be in the owner's box today as the Bills take on archrival New England for first place in the division.

The question asked often is what will the Pegula's do with the management structure and coaching staff? Will they keep them or will they clean house and bring in "their own people."

About the only thing we can hope for is that the Pegula's are intent upon having the best minds possible to run the team. If the best minds happen to be President and CEO Russ Brandon, GM Doug Whaley and head coach Doug Marrone, so be it. I happen to like Whaley and Marrone, but I'm pretty sure that the Pegula's investment of $1.4B to purchase the Bills might just trump this bloggers opinion.

Six Sabres' (including one former Sabre)....Brayden McNabb, Corey Tropp, Marcus Foligno, T.J. Brennan, Travis Turnbull, Zack Kassian)

...have scored their first NHL goal this season with the former Sabres being Zack Kassian.

Here are the videos in chronological order:

Corey Tropp 11-8-11




TJ Brennan 11-23-2011




Zack Kassian 11-26-2011





Brayden McNabb 12-26-11




Marcus Foligno 3-10-2012




Travis Turnbull 3-23-2012





The "new core" is rising.

News, Notes and Thoughts From the 2011 Draft Weekend (David Leggio, Joel Armia, Robyn Regehr)



The Robyn Regehr acquisition was
big for the Buffalo Sabres, but
there was plenty to talk about
at this year's draft weekend.

Before we delve into a weekend that featured the un-Sabre-like trade for Calgary Flames defenseman Robyn Regehr, among other things, we'll go back to something which occured this off-season that will start paying dividends, maybe huge dividends, a few years down the road:  The Sabres Draft Combine.

"Starting today, there will be no financial mandates on the Buffalo Sabres hockey department. there is no salary cap in the NHL on scouting budgets and player development budgets. I plan on increasing...our scouting budgets." --New Sabres owner Terry Pegula at his Feb. 22nd press conference

Early in June, the Sabres held their first ever Draft Combine which lasted four days, something that wouldn't have been considered by the previous regime(s.)

A man of his word, Terry Pegula

It was something that the scouting staff had wanted to do, but the commitment was not there from ownership. Pegula, citing the New England Patriots, mentioned it to GM Darcy Regier who turned it over to Director of Amateur Scouting Kevin Devine.

Devine said that the combine was put together quickly and that there were 35 invitees. These invitees, unlike the NHL draft combine, consisted of some players outside the top-100, all of whom were also evaluated in on-ice workouts, something that's not done at the National Combine in Toronto.

Included in the wide range of players they brought in:  players that they were looking at with the 16th-overall pick, players they were looking at in the third-round, value picks for the latter rounds and local kids.

For an organization that once had the most drafted players that played in the NHL, and which boasts the last three Dudley "Red" Garrett Award Winners for AHL Rookie of the Year, this is a step that would further enhance an already impressive scouting department.

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Joel Armia was drafted 16th-overall by the Buffalo Sabres.

 

The pick was introduced by new owner Pegula and broke a trend. The Sabres had not drafted an overseas player since Jhonas Enroth was drafted 46th overall in the 2006 draft.

 

Buffalo Sabres 2011 #1 pick Joel Armia
 flanked directly by Kevin Devine on his right and
 Jon Christiano on his left with the rest of the
Sabres family.

With an admittedly bare-bones scouting department overseas, why would they pick Armia, who played in Finland's top proffessional league? They had a chance to get a first-hand look at him during the World Junior Championship held at HSBC Arena last winter.

 

Although he didn't do very much at the World's apparently he did enough for Devine to get in touch with a staffer's "friend of a friend" overseas. They received a video package of Armia and after watching that, the Sabres liked him enough to waste no time heading to the podium to select him with their first pick.

 

From the NHL's Director of European Scouting, Goran Stubb:  ""He's big and tall but surprisingly mobile for a player of his size," he said of Armia. "He has a heavy wrist shot that he gets off quickly and is always looking for the empty spots on the ice. He's a sniper with a good selection of shots. You might have to look for him during some shifts, but then, suddenly, he scores the winner."

 

Although Armia is a right-winger and the Sabres are thin at center prospects, Devine and company were thrilled that "THE guy" they wanted fell to them at 16. Devine mentioned his size, 6'3" and his hands and that Armia is a pure goal-scorer. In fact, his minmal English is dominated by two words:  "Score goals."

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

The other Sabres' picks in the 2011 draft:

• #77--Speed-demon, Daniel Catenacci, center
• #107--Texan Colin Jacobs, center
• #132--West Seneca native, Alex "the big" Lepkowski, defense
• #167--Former Kootenay Ice and Brayden McNabb team mate, Nathan Lieuwen, a goalie
• #197--High school product, Brad Navin, center

Interesting to note that both Lepkowski and Navin were a part of the Sabres first-ever draft combine.

For full coverage of the draft and all of the Sabres prospects, visit good friend Kris Baker at:  http://www.sabresprospects.com/

~~~~~~~~~~

Last off-season, the very thought of the Buffalo Sabres taking on salary to get a player they coveted was unthinkable.

 

Yesterday, the Sabres took on $7M in salary to get a big, tough, physical, veteran, top-pairing d-man to play along side Tyler Myers (who,btw, listed Regehr as his favorite player.)

 

Although it took two days for Robyn Regehr to decide to waive his no-movement clause and accept the trade to Buffalo, the deal was consumated with the Sabres not only taking on his $4M salary, but that of NHL outcast and former Buffalo Sabre, Ales Kotalik who will make $3M next season.

 

Terry Pegula put his money where his mouth was and lifted financial constraints in pursuit of Stanley Cups (yes, plural, in his words.)

 

Sabres d-man Chris Butler, who was insisted upon by Calgary Flames GM Jay Feaster, was sent north along with diminutive center-prospect Paul Byron.

 

Butler handled it professionally, calmly and realistically which can be found in the audio here. I've always trumpeted him as a smart, shut-down-type with top-four or even top-two potential.  

 

Good luck, Chris.

~~~~~~~~~

 

Former Winnipeg Jet and Buffalo Sabre
Teppo Numminen should be back in the fold
"doing some work" for the Sabres next season.
He'll probably need those glasses
for his European Scouting Reports.

Butler mentioned Teppo Numminen first in his list of players he's played with and who, probably, had a big influence upon the young d-man and his game.

 

Oddly enough, it wasn't the first time Numminen's name was mentioned this past weekend. While talking about their Finnish first-round pick in Joel Armia, Regier mentioned  (:56 mark) "ironically I've had conversations with [Teppo] Numminen about doing some work with us next year."

This is major on a couple levels. First, the whole physically-unable-to-perfom problem that happened for the 2007/08 season when he had heart surgery seems to have been put to rest and Terry Pegula continues to mend the wounds that the previous regime(s) have caused.

Second, Numminen represents a trusted voice overseas as the team expands their scouting department.

Bravo!

~~~~~~~~~~

Also mentioned in that Regier piece was that Williamsville native David Leggio will return in goal for the Rochester Americans.

David Leggio's rise has been
a lesson in perseverence.
The Sabres like him anchoring
the goal in Rochester.

That's right, it was announced that the Buffalo Sabes AHL affiliate will once again be in Rochester, NY as Pegula spent $5M to bring the Amerks back into the fold.

Leggio, who was mentioned here, had a real solid year last season for the Portland Pirates and re-upped for a contract with the Buffalo organization that could reach the $525K-mark.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Regehr trade will be talked about for years to come as a definitive cut from the past on many levels. But one thing that should not be forgotten:  on Saturday, Day-2 of the NHL Draft, Terry Pegula, his wife Kim and Sabres Head Coach Lindy Ruff flew to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan to meet with the new Sabre with Regehr waiting at the airport for the trio to arrive.

Pegula was influential in getting the trade done, and the fact that Ruff is well respected in the league certainly didn't hurt matters either.

It's a family affair. Terry Pegula (L) has
involved his wife Kim in the Sabres operations.
She joined him and Lindy Ruff on an
"ambassador" mission to meet with newly
acquired Sabre Robyn Regehr and his wife Kristina.

The fact that Pegula wanted to personally welcome Regehr to the family and the fact that his wife Kim was brought along to ease any worries that Kristina Regehr, Robyn's wife, might have had with their move to Buffalo shows that the team is really focusing upon total commitment to the player and his needs.

When you add this to the return of "prodigal son," Rene Robert, the on-ice appearance of "The French Connection," the last home game/fan appreciation/alumni party, Rhett Warrener talking highly of Buffalo to Regehr months ago and the recent quote about Teppo Numminen, Pegula certainly is getting noticed by players in the NHL for all the right reasons.

~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of other quick notes before we move on.

Apparently Terry Pegula is a big fan of Tim Connolly. Connolly has been a fan and media whipping boy for the latter part of his career in Buffalo, yet performed admirably in his role vs. the Flyers in the playoffs before getting injured. Regier said that he has talked to Connolly's agent and will continue to do so.

Regier also said that the team would not be buying out Ales Kotalik. Not only that, he said the they wouldn't be buying out any player and that Kotalik "can play in the National Hockey League...and we expect him to come into camp and compete for a postion.

~~~~~~~~~~

The above two notes were taken from a post-draft article by WGR's Paul Hamilton.

At Day-1 of the draft, Hamilton stated on WGR that it felt good to be there. He walked into the Xcel Center in Minnesota with word that the Regehr trade was on the table and said that it was good to walk in and "have the Sabres relevant again."

And relevant they were.

All because of the influence of new owner Terry Pegula.

This from Darcy Regier (via the above link):  "It's the belief system that he brings. He's very focused on winning championships, not even winning one. He's not focused on 'let’s do our best', it's more than that and it's real. He's on a plane up to visit Robyn, he mentioned last night 'I think I'll go up and see him' and he's very focused on making this family oriented, relationship based and he believes that's what will drive our success. I have not been part of an ownership that has taken that much of an interest in the players and the relationships with them and the importance of it for him." 


An absolutely SOLID!!! start to the Pegula-era.

williamsville ny native, david leggio, holding the fort

as the injury bug decimates the buffalo sabres line-up, the team was forced to call up two more players for yesterday's game vs. the pittsburgh penguins...luke adam (40 games--21 goals, 21 assists) and mark parrish (42gms--11g, 24a) joined mark mancari, who was third overall in the ahl in scoring (56gms--32g, 32a,) on the big club...for those counting that's 64 goals and 77 assists leaving the portland pirates...

the trio were replaced by echl center mark voakes (6' 0", 182 lbs) and former hershey bears right wing chris blight (6' 0", 190 lbs.)...

portland pirates goalie, david leggio

in net for the pirates, while pirates starter jhonas enroth remained with the sabres, was williamsville ny native, david leggio...

last night the depleted portland pirates defeated the hershey bears 3-2 in a shootout...leggio was the game's second star with a .938 sv.% and did not allow a goal in the shootout...

back in november, i did a piece on the goaltender who was trying to crack the ahl for the third time...his stats at the time:  8-1, 2.48 gaa, and a .922 sv%...

since then he has maintained his pace...year-to-date for the 6'0", 180 lb. goalie:  18-4, 2.53 gaa and a .919 sv.%...he has not lost a game in his last 10 games (one no-decision) and for the month of march he's 3-0 with a 1.95 gaa and a .943 sv.%...

this weekend, the sabres will finish their seven-game road trip in toronto on saturday night the follow up with a return to hsbc arena for a game vs. ottawa on sunday...

the portland pirates will play three in a row friday through sunday...

nice work by leggio as well as pirates coach, kevin dineen, as they hold the fort

Third time's a charm for David Leggio

He's been the go-to goaltender for the one of the best teams in the American Hockey League. The Portland Pirates are off to a torrid start and after last night's 2-1 shootout victory over the Worcester Sharks at the Cumberland County Civic Center. They sport a very hefty 13-3-1-0 mark overall--one of the top records in the league and the Pirates also are 9-0-1-0 at home, which ties them with the 1993/4 Pirates team for best home record to start the season. That 1993/4 team, by the way, went on to win the Calder Cup....

And their goalie has an 8-1 record, a 2.48 gaa and a save percentage of .922. No, it's not 2006 2nd-round pick (#46 overall) Jhonas Enroth...

Williamsville, NY native David Leggio has been "the man" between the pipes for the red-hot Pirates as Enroth's been going back and forth between Portland and Buffalo.

It's been a good few months for Leggio this season. The undrafted free-agent signed an AHL contract with the Pirates on August 8, 2010 after a strong playoffs overseas for the league champion Turun Palloseura (TPS) in the top Finnish league, SM-Liiga. His playoff record there last season--5-2 with a stingy 1.58 gaa and a solid .948 save percentage.

Leggio's stint with the Pirates is his third try at sticking with an AHL team. After four years at Clarkson University of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC,) leading them to the ECAC title in 2006/07 (his junior year,) Leggio got his first crack at the AHL with the Binghamton Senators in the 2007/08 season. After one game (a loss,) his 4.06 gaa and .778 sv.% left much to be desired...

The following season was spent in the ECHL where Leggio played for the Florida Everblades, helping them to a league-best 103 pts. and garnering him some personal accolades with a reserve spot in the all-star game. The Everblades succumbed to the eventual ECHL champion South Carolina Stingrays in the second round. On a side-note, the Stingrays beat the Alaska Aces in the final with the Aces being anchored by Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, an undrafted free agent who played in 31 games for the Portland Pirates and did yeoman's work.

After leaving Florida, Leggio's next crack at the AHL came with the Albany River Rats and it ended the same way the first one did--one game, one loss, a 7.00 gaa and a .788 sv.%. With the ahl being a disaster, he ended up overseas with TPS Turku for the 2009/10 season...

One of his biggest barriers to success over in Finland would be the language barrier not to mention the adjustment to a different culture. Even with former Clarkson University teammate, and Finnish native, Max Kolu helping him with the language barrier (as well as with shopping,) Leggio had a very pedestrian season going 12-13-3 with a 2.93 gaa and a .901 sv.%. But the playoffs were a different story as leggio lead his team to the championship.

Once again, though, Leggio was unemployed, but he got another crack at the AHL as the Buffalo Sabres came calling. With Lamoureaux gone and no one to back-up Enroth in Portland, Sabres GM Darcy Regier signed the hometown boy to an AHL contract.

Third-time's definitely been a charm for Leggio. Regier and the Sabres could not help but take notice as Leggio paced the Pirates to a fast start going 7-1, and he rewarded the well-travelled, 6'0", 180 lb net-minder with a two-way NHL contract on November 12.

The emergence of Leggio has put the sabres organization in a very interesting and very favorable situation in goal. Presently, the #1 goalie prospect in the system is Enroth.. Goalie-prospects Brad Eidsness, Nick Eno and Connor Knapp are at least a couple of years away from entering the pros as they are all in college and that would leave a major gap in the goalie chain. But with the way leggio's been playing, he may have bought the sabres some time and given them some leeway when it comes to the future of the crease.

It's been a long road wrought with failure for Leggio, but he seems to have accepted that failure is a part of success, an aspect which seems to have kept him well-grounded. It's also an aspect that should eliminate any confusion when it comes to the great confidence/cockiness debate. And david leggio is one very confident goalie right now.