An eye on the Amerks with Don Stevens

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-7-2019

A dozen games into their 2019-20 season, the Rochester Americans are doing well. They're tied for third in the division right now with a 7-3-1-1 record with those 16 points placing them tied for fourth in the conference. Rochester is also fifth in the AHL with a .667 points percentage. 

But it hasn't been easy road to get there.

The Amerks started out the season with their head coach up in Buffalo serving as a Sabres assistant. Chris Taylor got the call to Buffalo after Sabres assistant coach Don Granato was hospitalized with a severe case of pneumonia, which his brother Tony described as a "scary" situation. Don Granato was hospitalized for an extended length and Taylor was picked to take his spot behind the bench while his assistant, long-time hockey-man Gord Dineen, became the interim bench boss in Rochester.

According to long-time Amerks broadcaster Don Stevens, whom I chatted with yesterday, things look as if they'll be returning to normal as Granato's "getting better" and they expect him back soon. 

Sabres organization steeped in negativity as Amerks swept out in first round

Published by hockeybuzz.com 4-25-2019


It was supposed to be the year the Rochester Americans "were built for the playoffs" but it ended up being just another year of getting swept in the first round. Rochester lost 3-1 to the Toronto Marlies (TOR) last night and lost the series 3-0. The Amerks have made the playoffs five times in the last eight seasons and they've been swept out in four of those appearances, three by the Marlies and once by the Syracuse Crunch (TBL.) Overall Rochester has not made it past the first round since 2004-05 when NHL players were being locked out and a group former Sabres team president Ted Black called "the Rochester Guys" got to the second round.

The Sabres farm team has had a weird go if it since then. Under owner Tom Golisano Buffalo shared the Amerks with the Florida Panthers in a dual affiliation that lasted from 2005-07 before they shuffled their AHL affiliation off to Portland, Maine for three seasons. When new owner Terry Pegula bought the Sabres in 2011 he reunited the Sabres and Amerks that off season.

Rochester would make the playoffs three straight seasons from 2011-14 but got swept by the Marlies twice and fell to the Chicago Wolves (STL, at the time) in five games. The Amerks would get caught up in the devastation of the tank years orchestrated by the Sabres, and completed by former general manager Tim Murray, then spent three years digging themselves out of that rut. Sabres GM Jason Botterill and his Rochester general manager, Randy Sexton, focused upon the farm system when they took over in 2017 and loaded up the Amerks as best they could. It resulted in back-to-back playoff appearances.

Sexton was on WGR550 Radio with the morning hosts on Tuesday talking with his club down 2-0 in the series and facing elimination. Development and culture were the predominant buzzwords throughout the early part of the interview as Sexton focused upon those being the ideals they wanted to move forward with after taking over. Rochester made it to the playoffs last season with older players and vets trying to lay down a foundation with which to build upon and Sexton called it, "a good start."

"This year," he continued, "we were very encouraged. We injected a number of young players into the roster, we came within a couple of points of winning first place in the division and third or fourth overall in the American Hockey League, which was another step forward. Obviously progress.

"Now we're into a difficult series with the Marlies and that's all part of the development process."

Sabres in New Jersey tonight to face off against a s

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-25-2019


For one brief season, the New Jersey Devils were able to break out of the waning Martin Brodeur-era with a playoff appearance. The Devils were one of the darlings of the NHL last season as they rode an Adam Larsson for Taylor Hall trade with the Edmonton Oilers to the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference and their first playoff appearance five seasons.

Brodeur, of course, led New Jersey to three Stanley Cups during his 21 seasons with the Devils and almost tacked on a fourth one in 2012 before he, backup Johan Hedberg and New Jersey fell 4-2 to the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup finals. As the luster was wearing off the first-ballot Hall of Famer's career, the Devils found themselves in a difficult period of transition while trying to find Brodeur's replacement. Eventually they traded a 2013 first round pick (9th-overall, Bo Horvat) to the Vancouver Canucks for goalie Corey Schneider. Although Schneider was no Brodeur by any means, third-year Devils head coach John Hynes used his up-tempo style to get the offense clicking enough last season and made the playoffs led by Hall's 93 points (39+54.) However they didn't have nearly enough in as they lost to the top seed in the East, the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1 in the first round.

For as much grief as the Buffalo Sabres have gotten, and they deserve every bit of it, the Devils are at the bottom end of a group that's just above the dregs of the league since 2011-12 even with that playoff appearance. The Sabres are by far the worst team during that stretch with a measly .419 win-percentage while the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes and Oilers come in at .462 and .468, respectively. New Jersey is the only other team with a winning percentage below .500 as they come in at .496. The Devils, long known to rely upon Brodeur in net to win low-scoring games, haven't fared all that well in the goal-scoring department either during that span. Buffalo, of course, is at the bottom averaging 2.29 goals/game while New Jersey is next to last at 2.42, just a smidgeon below the Coyotes (2.43.)

Amerks roll on KeyCenter ice, Sabres at Montreal tonight

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-8-2018


The Rochester Americans brought their show to Buffalo, NY last night in a showdown of the top two teams in the AHL's North Division. Rochester sat atop the division two points ahead of the Cleveland Monsters (CLB) and the two teams faced off in front of a sparse, but very appreciative crowd at KeyBank Center, home the Buffalo Sabres. After their 5-2 win, the Amerks increased their lead in the division to four points and continued a streak that has them snaring 19 of a possible 22 points (9-1-1) in their last 11 games.

Forwards Justin Bailey and Wayne Simpson each scored twice for the Amerks while defenseman Zach Redmond also scored. For Bailey it was his first two goals of the season while Redmond's ninth goal of the season kept him in the lead amongst all AHL defenseman and places him third in the league. The 30 yr. old has had a red-hot start to the season with at least a point in all but two of Rochester's 13 games and has goals in his last four of his last five games.

Here are the highlights from the club:







Meanwhile, the Sabres are in Montreal tonight to take on the Canadiens. This will be the second meeting of the season between the two clubs with Buffalo stealing a come-from-behind win on a late third period powerplay goal by Kyle Okposo in their first meeting.

Buffalo is two points behind Montreal in the standings and has struggled as of late against them. The Sabres are 3-4-3 in their last 10 games vs. Les Habitants including an 0-2-2 record last season.

Here was the lineup from practice yesterday:

Jeff Skinner - Jack Eichel - Jason Pominville
Conor Sheary - Casey Mittelstadt - Kyle Okposo
Evan Rodrigues - Vladimir Sobotka - Sam Reinhart
Patrik Berglund - Johan Larsson - Zemgus Girgensons / Tage Thompson

Jake McCabe - Rasmus Ristolainen
Marco Scandella -Zach Bogosian
Rasmus Dahlin - Nathan Beaulieu

Forward Remi Elie skated with Casey Nelson as an extra defensive pair while Carter Hutton and Linus Ullmark were in net.

The Sabres are 1-2-2 in their last five games.

Sabres off 'til tommorow. WNY can focus on Amerks at KeyBank Center tonight

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-7-2018


The Buffalo Sabres won't hit the ice for a game until tomorrow night when they take on the Montreal Canadians at home. Buffalo has had a good start to the season with a 7-6-2 record over the first 15 games and only a -1 goal differential that was pushed there with a 9-2 shellacking of the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.

Although not the youngest team in the league, the Sabres have a young core that included two teenagers (18 yr. old defenseman Rasmus Dahlin and 19 yr. old center Casey Mittelstadt) and have a 22 yr. old captain in Jack Eichel. That core of the future is balanced out by three older warhorses age 30 or older with a myriad of players at various stages of their prime years. The Sabres are about the sixth youngest team in the league.

Chronological age is one thing, but perhaps their play is more indicative of a young team still trying to find it's way. This edition of the Sabres has been inconsistent and although they've not been able to string together more that three wins in a row, on the other side of the equation, they've not lost more than three in a row. Some games they're great (the Ottawa win mentioned above, at Los Angeles and Arizona last month) and some games they're not so great (Boston to start the season, vs. Colorado and at Vegas and San Jose.

What they do have going for them is a youthful core with some high-end talent and some depth that's helping them along and both of those traits stretch down to their AHL affiliate in Rochester.

After losing the first two games of the season (back-to-back at home, no-less,) the Rochester Americans went on an eight-game point streak (7-0-1) and securing 17 of a possible 20 points in their last 10 games. It was a run that propelled them to the top of the North Division. The Cleveland Monsters (CBJ,) whom the Amerks face tonight at KeyBank Center, are second in the division just two points behind Rochester.

The Amerks have a lot of skill, a lot of depth and a group of hardened AHL vets leading the way. They also can score. Presently Rochester's 45 goals ties them with the Chicago Wolves (VGK) in team-goals with the Amerks playing in one more game and they have three of the top five scorers in the league. Veteran defenseman Zach Redmond and forward Victor Olofsson are tied second in the league with 16 points each while defenseman Lawrence Pilut is tied for fourth with 15 points.

Redmond's eight goals leads all AHL defensemen and Pilut's 13 assists sits atop the AHL. Pilut's plus-11 rating leads the Amerks and is tied for fifth best in the league.

Olofsson (23 yrs. old) and Pilut (22) both came over from the Swedish Elite League and are in their first North American seasons.  They lead an influx of draft and free agent talent that came to the Amerks this season and are just two up-and-coming players of interest to the Sabres organization.

Very talented winger Alexander Nylander was drafted eighth-overall by Buffalo in the 2016 NHL Draft and has had a rough go of it in his first two AHL seasons. However there are signs that he's beginning to turn it around with a stat line of four goals, five assists and a plus-5 rating in 12 games. Defenseman Brendan Guhle (2015, 51st-overall) is third amongst Amerks d-men in scoring with six points (2+4) and has an even plus/minus rating.

Those are just a handful of players to watch tonight as the Amerks take the ice for a North Division showdown with the Monsters who, by the way, have the league's leader in points (19) and goals (12.)

Also of note, West Seneca native Sean Malone will make his season debut for Rochester tonight. There was talk of Malone making a strong pitch to make the big club out of camp but an injury squashed that. Malone was cleared by the Sabres and sent to Rochester yesterday.

Game time is 7:05 pm.

Sabres looking to match red-hot Amerks in Oct wins. Plus, notes

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-29-2018


The Buffalo Sabres are off to a very good 6-4-1 start so far and compared to last year's 3-6-2 record at this point it's a great start.

Buffalo went into Columbus on Saturday night looking to extend a three-game winning streak but left Nationwide Arena with a loser point, which was no small feat considering the Sabres went into the third period down by two goals. After playing a solid first period and leading 2-1, things opened up and unfortunately for Buffalo the Blue Jackets had the transition and the firepower to pot three goal and leave the period with a 4-2 lead.

Credit to the Sabres, however as they came back with goals by Jason Pominville off a nice backhand feed from Jack Eichel and Casey Mittelstadt who scored his first of the season on the powerplay. Buffalo went into the overtime session with Eichel, Jeff Skinner and Rasmus Ristolainen on the ice, lost the faceoff and found themselves in their own zone. Ristolainen temporarily stripped the puck away along the wall but the Jackets got it back and Artemi Panarin found himself alone in the right circle and he smoked it past Buffalo goalie Linus Ullmark. Panarin finished the night with 2 goals and an assist.

On the game-winner head coach Phil Housley told the gathered media afterward that his players "did all the right things there" in being aggressive to get the puck, but that "we didn't make that next play." Housley was pleased that his team was able to come back from a two-goal deficit but he did point to that second period where things got out of hand. "We were way too loose," said the coach. "We're not going to win a lot of hockey games playing like that. We know that and it's one thing we can take forward here. We'll learn from the mistakes we made, obviously, but we've got to take credit where credit's due and I think we did a terrific job battling back on the road to get a point."

The Sabres have been playing come-from-behind hockey in the last three games and they've managed five of a possible six points. Which is great that they've been able to find that will to not give up. The good point, according to Housley, is that when his team has faced adversity, "they've looked it right in the eye." But he did say that they can't keep finding themselves in those situations or "it will bite us in the you-know-what."

Buffalo has six wins this season, which is worlds ahead of last season when they didn't get their sixth win until their 23rd game on November 24. They would finish the opening two months of the 2017-18 season with a 6-15-4 record which pretty much set the tone for their last place finish.

With one more win the Sabres will match the Rochester Americans who have seven wins for the first time since 2014-15 when they went 7-1-0 in October. Rochester has been on a red-hot lately garnering 15 of a possible 16 points while on an eight-game point-streak and their 7-2-1 record has them atop the AHL's North Division.

That '14/15 team was lead by names like Phil Varone, Tim Schaller and Johan Larsson up front while Andrei Makarov, Jeff Hackett and Nathan Lieuwen were in net.


*****

Even though the Sabres winning streak was broken on Saturday night, they're still on a four-game point-streak and will be looking to extend it to five games against the Calgary Flames tomorrow night.

Buffalo hasn't had a five-game win-streak since the 2011-12 season when they posted a 7-0-2 mark from March 10-27.

Most of those seasons betwixt and between were littered with one or two ('16/17) four-game streaks and there was the 2013-14 season when they had none, but their best season in that regard was 2015-16, Eichel's first year, when they had five streaks like that.


*****

Although Eichel hasn't been scoring goals lately, he has been a force on the ice and has been setting up his team mates with six assists in his last four games, with three of them of the primary variety and one beautiful no-look backhand that sprung Pominville and Skinner for a 2-on-1 break in Anaheim where Skinner finished.

Speaking of Skinner, he's been on a tear with five goals and four assists ever since Housley put him and Pominville on the top line with Eichel four games ago. Pominville hasn't exactly been chopped liver either as he's scored four goals and added four assists and the entire line has a combined plus-15 rating in those games.


*****

The Amerks have three of the top four scorers in the AHL right now. Victor Olofsson leads the league with 15 points (5+10) while defenseman Zach Redmond is tied for second (Varone) with 14 points (6+8.) Defenseman Lawrence Pilut is fourth with 13 points (2+11.)


*****

And, finally. Ullmark spent two full seasons in Rochester paying his dues and was the Amerks team MVP those two before moving up to Buffalo. Those who follow the Amerks have mentioned that he has a unique way of approaching his post-game interviews.

In the video below via nhl.com, the 25 yr. old Swede, like he's done in the past, will ask for clarification when needed and also points out that the question as asked is actually the answer. He seems as locked in post-game as he is in game and his shy demeanor has a way of hiding just how sharp he is.

He's thoughtful, concise and well-spoken and it's refreshing.

Some firsts for a few Sabres and some Amerks making a push

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-15-2018


The Buffalo Sabres are on the road for the next week playing four more games in six nights beginning tomorrow with a visit to Las Vegas. The Sabres kicked off their five game trip out west with a pretty strong 3-0 shutout win over an Arizona Coyotes team that's really struggling so far. Through their first four games (including the Buffalo loss) the 'Yotes are 1-3-0 and were shutout in all three losses.

Buffalo did a lot of good things in their win against Arizona Saturday night. They pressured the Coyotes early and got a goal just 2:26 into the game as Rasmus Dahlin scored his first career NHL goal by sneaking between three Arizona players in the slot and depositing the rebound off of a Jeff Skinner drive to the net. Skinner was exceptional on that play as he streaked in and drew all the attention while Dahlin followed the play and lifted the stick of an unsuspecting Brad Richardson before burying the rebound.

 

 

Skinner himself finally got on the board as a Buffalo Sabre when he deked 'Yotes goalie Anti Raanta before roofing a sweet backhand to seal the victory late in the third period. The former Carolina Hurricanes winger, whom the Sabres traded for, had been a little snake-bitten as he'd fail to score in his first four games but had been playing well. Buffalo bench boss Phil Housley had praised Skinner for his puck-retrieval work on the forecheck and play on backcheck and it seemed as if it was only a matter of time before he broke through with a goal.

 

Meanwhile on the defensive side of things, rookie goalie Linus Ullmark pitched the first shutout of his NHL career by stopping all 36 Arizona shots. The two-time Rochester Americans MVP got the call after watching veteran Carter Hutton usher the Sabres to a 2-2-0 start to the season. The 25 yr. old Ullmark was poised in net as he calmly took care of the crease leaving very little opportunities for the Coyotes and when they did get off a great shot, he was there to stop it. He was named the game's first star.

 

The Sabres will conclude their two-game series with the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow night in "Sin City." Buffalo defeated Vegas 4-2 in a Monday matinee last week and is looking to even the series in the win column. The Knights beat the Sabres both times as their storybook inaugural season lead them all the way to the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals. Vegas is off to a rough 2-4-0 start this season as they've lost the magic that propelled them to an 8-1-0 start last year.

 

 

*****

 

Dahlin, Skinner and Ullmark are all locked in with the big club this season as are a number of other Sabres players, but there are a few who are fighting to stay. Young players like Tage Thompson and vets like Johan Larsson, Nathan Beaulieu and Casey Nelson are all looking to stick with the club but have some Amerks players who are making a push to replace them.

 

Unlike the past two season where the Sabres organization was devoid of quality depth, this year is different as a convergence of draft picks and free agent signings have upped the level of competition for not only roster spots but for playing time as well.

 

Rochester has six players as healthy scratches, according to Let's Go Amerks writer Keith Wozniak, which should add some urgency to those in the lineup on any given night. Amerks head coach Chris Taylor wants his team to be tough and gritty to play against with the backend joining the play. The first two games he didn't get that as they lost two games against the Charlotte Checkers (CAR) 10-4 at home to start the season. They came back with a win against the Syracuse Crunch (TBL) the team that swept them in the playoffs last season with Wozniak writing "roster changes the first two games of the season set the tone that right now there’s competition for playing time." 

 

“I tried to set the standard right off the bat if you don’t play well," Taylor told the local media last week. "The accountability is there, we’ll put someone else in the lineup."

 

The coach had to stop practice on Friday to get his point across. “It’s not just for our defensive habits out there, its for our offensive habits too. If we’re not used to playing against guys that are hitting in practice and then all of a sudden we’re in a game and not used to it. We need to push each other every day. It’s not acceptable that we don’t practice like we play. We make sure we preached that and we want to make sure we’re doing that and it’ll make us that much better.”

 

Rochester just finished taking two games from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NYI) over the weekend to give them a three-game winning streak.

 

The Amerks are beginning to gel and there are two players in particular who are turning some heads. Seventh round pick Victor Olofsson (2014, 181st overall) is leading the Amerks in scoring through five games with three goals and five assists. The 23 yr. old native of Sweden came to North America after leading the Swedish Hockey League with 27 goals last season. Olofsson is tied for third in the AHL in scoring so far.

 

Another Swede, defenseman Lawrence Pilut, is also having an impact. The undrafted free agent whom Sabres GM Jason Botterill signed in May is second amongst AHL defensemen in points with six (2+4) and is sporting a plus-5 plus/minus rating. Taylor talked of Pilut having to adjust to the smaller North American ice surface and it seems as if the 2018 SHL Defenseman of the Year is doing just that.

 

What Taylor said about having another player ready to take over a spot in the lineup goes for the organization as well. Take a player like Thompson. Although the 20 yr. old right winger has been playing well, he's yet to hit the scoresheet despite playing second line minutes for a good chunk of Buffalo's first five games. It might be a little early to call up Olofsson to replace Thompson but that possibility is there right now only five games into the season.

 

On the back end, Pilut is exactly the type of defenseman Housley and the Sabres love as he has the mobility and offensive acumen to help the Sabres score. And he's proven to be pretty sound in his own end as well. Both Nelson and Beaulieu already have the prospect of Zach Bogosian replacing one of them when he officially returns to action and to have Pilut off to this kind of start is pushing them to play better. Both have done well as Buffalo's third pairing, but there are players ready to take their spots in the lineup.

 

Internal competition is a key driver to success and after many years, the Sabres organization finally has some quality depth which will help drive that aspect.

 

It's a pleasure to be able to write about that.

 

Sabres and Amerks looking for fresh start...in Game-2 of the season

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-6-2018


Perhaps Keith Wozniak of Let's Go Amerks said it best when he tweeted earlier today, "Happy Saturday morning!! A good day to relax, maybe get some errands done, eat a good dinner at home and pretend it's a new hockey season starting tonight in Rochester and Buffalo."

Opening night for both the Buffalo Sabres (Thursday) and their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans (Friday,) wasn't too kind for Western New York hockey fans as the Sabres were shut out by the Boston Bruins 4-0 and the Amerks lost to the Charlotte Checkers (CAR) 6-2. Good news for the Amerks is that despite there being much higher expectations on them heading into this season, they apparently weren't booed off of the ice like the Sabres were.

One similar theme that has to be troubling for both teams is that after training camp, preseason and practices leading up to their openers, they weren't prepared for opening night. Buffalo's Conor Sheary was quoted by WGR550's Paul Hamilton as saying that they weren't ready for what the Bruins were going to bring. This despite the fact that the Bruins weren't in a very good mood after getting drubbed 7-0 the previous night on national TV. Rochester captain Kevin Porter told the local media after their loss that, "We were not ready to play."

And for all the talk of having great practices with speed and intensity? It didn't translate for either team when it was for real.

Not sure what was up with that but both the Sabres and the Amerks will have an opportunity for redemption tonight as they continue with their season-opening homestands. Over in Rochester the Amerks will once again host the Charlotte Checkers while some 70 miles west as the crow flies on I-90, the Sabres are hosting the NY Rangers.

As for Buffalo, they'll be facing a Rangers team that opened the season with a 3-2 loss at home to the Nashville Predators and although it's not like facing a decidedly better Bruins team coming off of an embarrassing loss, the Rangers still have goalie Henrik Lundqvist and a good cast of characters. Buffalo is 3-5-2 in their last 10 vs. the Rangers, 0-2-2 in their last four and haven't beaten NY since January 3, 2017 (4-1 win at Madison Square Garden.)

Perhaps the big question for the Sabres tonight is, "who's gonna step up?"

The 4-0 shutout at the hands of the Bruins left little to like although some players played well. Sam Reinhart had a strong game pushing it to the net while the Sabres fourth line of Evan Rodrigues, Zemgus Girgensons and Jason Pomiville was the best and most consistent line for the club. Both Rodrigues and Pominville had golden opportunities but were denied by the quick left pad of Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak.

Both 18 yr. old Rasmus Dahlin and 19 yr. old Casey Mittelstadt had good games. Dahlin, the first pick in last year's draft had his skills on display but also had some rookie mistakes, which is to be expected. Mittelstadt came off of a middling preseason and started on the third line but looked good enough to get bumped to the second line when head coach Phil Housley did some line juggling in the third period.

Some of that juggling took hold as this might be what the top-six looks like tonight:

Conor Sheary-Jack Eichel-Reinhart
Jeff Skinner-Patrik Berglund-Tage Thompson

Mittelstadt once again is in a third-line role centering Girgensons on the left and veteran Kyle Okposo on the right. Girgensons played a solid north/south game and worked the walls well. He got bumped up after Vladimir Sobotka landed on the injured list with an upper body injury. He's listed as day to day.

Here's what Housley told the gathered media today about putting "Z", as he called him, up with Mittelstadt. "I thought in that (preseason) game against Toronto, a big environment with [John] Tavares playing, we had to make some tweaks and when I put "Z" up there with him I think [Mittelstadt] settled down."

Replacing Sobotka in the lineup is former Dallas Stars winger Remi Elie whom the Sabres claimed on waivers. He'll be on the left on the fourth line with Rodrigues and Pominville.

Word from the rink also has Housley sticking to his d-pairings of Marco Scandella/Rasmus Ristolainen;   Jake McCabe/Dahlin;  Nathan Beaulieu/Casey Nelson.

And, it looks as if starter Carter Hutton will once again be in net. Hutton looked  very good in his first start for Buffalo but was the victim of defensive breakdowns, one of which lead to a wide open Zdeno Chara waltzing in and firing a superb shot that beat him on the short side.

The good thing for Buffalo is that they're playing a Rangers team that doesn't have the impenetrable lockdown capability of the Boston Bruins. However, they're a very fast team that has a good amount of skill. And they have Lundqvist. The Sabres have had difficulties beating any goalies--from starters to backups, from hot to average--over the past seven seasons and they're going to need to find a way to get on the board early to open up some ice.

Housley said his message yesterday to the team was that they did a lot of good things right, especially early on and that they need to keep building on that.

The Sabres were off today save for some meetings. Perhaps the best way to approach tonight's game was to let Thursday go and get a fresh start tonight as they don't want to start the season in an 0-2 hole.


*****

One quick note:

Amerks defenseman Lawrence Pilut had a goal and an assist in his North American debut and was named the game's third star. According to Wozniak, Pilut "improved as the game went on."

That's a good sign for the organization.

An early look at the 2018-19 Rochester Americans with Don Stevens--Pt. 2

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-1-2018


This is the second part of an early look at the Rochester Americans with longtime Amerks broadcaster Don Stevens. (The first part can be found here.)



Over the last year, the Rochester Americans have added a lot quality players to their roster and have a lot of depth, something that hasn't been seen in years. Thanks to the work of Sabres GM Jason Botterill, his assistant GM Randy Sexton and some help from maturing draft picks and some savvy free agent signings, the Amerks said goodbye to three years in the bottom-five of the league with a playoff appearance.

Long time Amerks broadcaster Don Stevens talked about the depth Botterill and Sexton added to the club for the 2017-18 season. "The difference in depth between last year and the year before was tremendous," said Stevens, "and I think it's going to be even that much better this year.

"The depth is growing by leaps and bounds."

No more so than on defense. The Amerks have an extremely strong defense which is so deep that they could possibly make up "two strong AHL defense-corps," according Stevens. However he qualified that by sayin that the strong d-corps might be needed to help out the goaltending.

"Probably goaltending is the biggest suspect area right now," said Stevens who will be headed into his 33rd season as "The Voice of the Rochester Americans." And he didn't limit it to the Amerks either. "The [Sabres] organization had always been near the top, as far as goaltending is concerned where now they're not quite up to where they once were."

Since Ryan Miller was traded away in 2014 there have been a parade of goalies shuffling through Buffalo which includes rookies and journeymen and a season where they set an NHL record when dressing nine goaltenders. Former GM Tim Murray thought he had the answer in net when he traded for Robin Lehner but Botterill let him walk and they're going with a duo of 32 yr. old late-bloomer Carter Hutton (138 NHL games) and rookie Linus Ullmark who was drafted by Buffalo in the sixth round (163rd-overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft.

Ullmark was the team MVP the last two years and carried a heavy weight as he was bombarded with shots in both of his full seasons in Rochester. In 2016-17 Ullmark faced the most shots in the AHL (1678) and last season he was third with 1347 shots-against while finishing those two seasons with a combined 47-39-12 record with a .915 save percentage.

However, Botterill said at the Sabres' year-end presser that the 24 yr. old two-time AHL All-Star would be with the big club this coming season leaving a big void in net for an Amerks team that finished 18th in the league last year with 221 goals against.

Sexton and the Amerks were able to re-sign backup goaltender Adam Wilcox whom Stevens said was "outstanding" both on and off the ice for the Amerks. The 26 yr. old Wilcox will be entering his fourth full AHL season and will be sharing the net, perhaps as a backup again, with Scott Wedgewood, who was signed to a one-year, two way deal on July 1.

Wedgwood was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in 2010 (third round, 84th-overall) but has been well travelled since turning pro in 2012-13. The 25 yr. old Brampton, Ontario native played in Albany for the Devils, was traded to Arizona last October and played for the 'Yotes before being moved to the Los Angeles Kings in February. He finished out the 2017-18 campaign with their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign.

In all Wedgewood has played in 24 NHL games sporting a 7-10-5 record with a 3.05 GAA and .903 Sv% highlighted by a shutout streak of 159:34 in 2015-16 as a rookie. His AHL record is 53-37-10 (eight shutouts) with a 2.38 GAA and .908 Sv%.

Jonas Johansson (2014, 61st) has been less than spectacular and could end up being the starter in Cincinnati with the Cyclones of the ECHL.

Rochester used scoring by committee last season as they finished tied for ninth in the league with 234 goals. Defenseman Zach Redmond lead the team in points with 47 which was 53rd in the league while their top goal-scorer was Sahir Gill whose 18 tallies tied him for 71st in the league.

The team lost a big contributor in Colin Blackwell whose 17 goals and 45 points placed him second on the team in each category. Blackwell was signed away by the Nashville Predators and Stevens called it a "big loss" for the Amerks. The 25 yr. old Blackwell just completed his second full pro season and had a breakout campaign but maybe more importantly, "every time you needed something on the ice," said Stevens, "he was there."

However, the good news is that despite some losses, the Amerks do have some players moving up through the system. Coming over from Sweden in the forward ranks are rookies Victor Olofsson (2014, 181st) and Rasmus Asplund (2016,33rd.) Olofsson just completed a breakout season for Frolunda of the Swedish Hockey League scoring 26 goals while on his way to the Hakan Loob Trophy as the league's top scorer. The 23 yr. old winger has a wicked shot which he uncorked on the powerplay with regularity (league-leading 14 PP goals) which should make the AHL's fourth-best powerplay last season (21%) even better.

Asplund is that 200', all-around player that should help fill some of the void left when Blackwell signed with the Predators. The two-way center reads the game well, and has a high hockey IQ who has the speed to get up ice while adding offense to his game (28 points in 50 games last year.) Despite being somewhat small at 5'11" 176 lbs, Asplund is not afraid to go to the dirty areas of the ice and is solid on the dot.

Those two, along with fellow rookie Cliff Pu, (2016, 69th) will be joining a group of forwards lead by 32 yr. old captain Kevin Porter who finished fourth on the team in scoring last season with 42 points and was tied for second in goals with 17. Also amongst 17-goal club last season was rookie C.J. Smith.

Smith finished third on the Amerks with 44 points (17+27) and 10th in the league amongst rookies. The left-winger was signed out of UMass-Lowell in 2017 and displayed acute vision and abundant smarts to adapt to, and succeed at, the pro level last season. He's one of those players, said Stevens, "who seems to be in the right place at the right time."

The Amerks got swept out of the playoffs in their first post season appearance since 2014. Rochester went into the playoffs fairly strong but Stevens said that it was a case of "the whole team sort of leveling off" with a few players not stepping up when needed. "[They] were trying to step up I don't think [they] knew how to step up far enough," said Stevens of their playoffs struggles.

That leveling off included Ullmark, defenseman Brendan Guhle and winger Alexander Nylander.

Nylander's second pro season was defined by injuries as he missed the first month of the season with a lower body injury and had nagging injuries throughout most of the rest. After an incredibly slow start upon returning in November, Nylander went on a hot streak beginning in mid-February scoring 15 points (4+11) in 15 games. That, along with some pretty good play, eventually lead to a three-game callup to Buffalo in April.

Stevens called this upcoming season "huge" for Nylander and said he's got to come around. "When you think of Nylander he said, "the first thing I think about is that somehow he's got to stay healthy."

Nylander, along with four other players didn't skate at Sabres Development but he was there and looked physically bigger according to those at the rink. The former eighth-overall pick from 2016 has been very underwhelming in his first two pro seasaons for Rochester, but as Stevens pointed out, it's best to remember that he's only 20 yrs. old. "He's the same age at those coming out of Canadian Junior at that age.," Stevens reminded us.

Second year center Sean Malone also came on strong at seasons end and he could take control of a third-line center spot this season (or at least dominate in a fourth line role) with an outside shot at making the Sabres roster out of camp, should he have a good one. The West Seneca, NY native and 2013 sixth-round pick (159th) had a strong finish to the season in a bottom-six role for the Amerks and although he doesn't have the outright skill package he's got chutzpah and good size (6'0" 196 lbs) which he uses to impact on the game in that role. And, " he still has a lot of room to grow [in his game]," according to Stevens.

With training camp more than a month away it's still early in the process but when you look at the overall roster, save for goaltending, the Rochester Americans look to be well on their way to bigger an better things. The veteran core is solid and some of the young players from last year like Smith, Guhle and Malone looked poised to take the next step. Add in some young incoming talent like Olofsson, Asplund, and Pascal Aquin who had a strong development camp along with defensemen Lawrence Pilut and Brandon Hickey, and you have the makings of a team with an upgrade in overall talent and plenty of depth that should, hopefully, take them farther.

In talking with Stevens I got the impression that they overachieved somewhat last season but it got them into the playoffs for the first time in three years. Regardless of the fact that they got swept, those returning this season will have had that taste and should have a better understanding of what it takes to succeed both in the regular season and post season. "Maybe that's one of the things that happens when you haven't been to the playoffs for a while," said Stevens, "you don't know exactly what you need to do to step up."

With the added talent and depth and the experience they gained in the playoffs, that should change.

An early look at the 2018-19 Rochester Americans with Don Stevens

Published by hockeybuzz.com, July 30, 2018


This is the first of a two-part look at the 2018-19 Rochester Americans with broadcaster Don Stevens.



Don Stevens, 'The Voice of the Rochester Americans', will be entering his 33rd season broadcasting games for the club this Fall. In those 30+ years he's seen plenty of good, which includes calling seven Calder Cup Finals and two Calder Cup Championships, and not so good, such has been the last 13 years where the Amerks have not advanced past the first round of the playoffs and have completely missed the post season in seven of those years.

To say it's been rough and rocky travelling for the Amerks recently might be putting it mildly. They got sucked into the morass that was the bottom-dwelling Buffalo Sabres when the organization went with a full-on, scorched earth rebuild. During the 2014-15 season management traded away every ounce of talent on the team and as Buffalo called up Rochester's better players to fill the void, there wasn't much left for the Amerks to work with. In a three-year span beginning that season, trades by then Sabres GM Tim Murray took away some of the better prospects in an already thin system and when added to a decision to rebuild as such, it was a concoction that left the Amerks with a 96-120-13 record from 2014-2017 and a bottom-five AHL finish in three consecutive seasons.

When I talked to Stevens at season's end last year, he lamented the lack of depth in Rochester which was a result of those rebuilding years. "You could see what happened, when we'd lose a player or two players all of a sudden we'd go in the tank," he told me last May, and added that at one point, "nearly half the [Amerks] roster was first-year players or players on amateur tryout contracts." He said "one game they counted eight players on ATO's."

That changed last season. New Buffalo GM Jason Botterill took over in April, 2017 and he, along with his new AGM, Randy Sexton, cobbled together an Amerks club that included draft picks and free agents from previous regimes as well as free agent signings that filled the roster with quality players.

And nowhere is that depth more pronounced than on the blueline.

Buffalo will be icing a much deeper d-corps than they've had in recent memory. 2018 first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin fits right into the top-four the Sabres top-four joining Rasmus Ristolainen, Marco Scandella and, probably, Zach Bogosian. Behind that group is Jake McCabe and one of Casey Nelson, Nathan Beaulieu or Matt Hunwick.

If no trades are made with players from that group, it means the Brendan Guhle (2015, 51st-overall) will more than likely at least start the season in Rochester. Guhle played big minutes for the Amerks last season and was impressive through most of it, including his short stints with the big club. However, the rookie "leveled off" in the playoffs, according to Stevens and he was quick to point out that the whole team did so as they got steamrolled by the Syracuse Crunch (TBL.)

With the situation the way it is, should Guhle need more time the Sabres have the option to send him to Rochester and let him develop properly without the feeling the need to rush him to the NHL. Then again, should he have a strong camp, he could push a player like Beaulieu or Hunwick down to Rochester fortifying the Amerks blueline.

With Guhle Rochester will be heading into the season with a very strong d-corps but even without him they'll have 2017 Rochester scoring leader Zach Redmond (66 games, 15 goals, 47 points) anchoring the defense along with a veteran group that includes Nathan Paetsch, Matt Tennyson, and Taylor Fedun, all of whom have combined to play in over 900 AHL games and over 450 NHL games. Andrew MacWilliam is another vet who brings over 300 games of AHL experience to the blueline.

Joining the vets this season will be Swedish free agent Lawrence "Larry" Pilut, whom the Sabres signed in May and Brandon Hickey, a Calgary Flames 2014 draft pick (64th) who just finished his college career in March, was acquired by Buffalo in June and signed with the club on July 1. In addition, rookie Will Borgen (2015, 92nd,) who got a taste of the pros in an eight-game stint with Rochester last season, will begin his first full pro season with the club.

Filling out the d-corps are a trio of defensemen who will be bouncing between Rochester an ECHL affiliate, the Cincinnati Cyclones--Arvin Atwal, Brycen Martin (2014, 74th,) and Devante Stephens (2015, 122nd.) Rochester also signed 21 yr. old Toby Paquette-Bisson from the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey league.

Stevens was very optimistic about the d-corps saying, "defensively this could be an extremely strong group." However, he did throw in a qualifier when he said that they may need to help out the goaltending which will be transitioning away from two-time Amerks MVP, Linus Ullmark.

And that's where we'll pick up next.

Development Camp darling Vasily Glotov signs with the Rochester Americans

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 7-18-2018


The Rochester Americans announced today that they've signed forward Vasily Glotov to a one-year AHL contract. Glotov was selected in the seventh round (190th-overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft.

When he darted around the HarborCenter ice at Buffalo Sabres development earlier this month during the annual French Connection 3-on-3 tournament, Glotov looked a lot like another Russian who played in Buffalo--winger, Maxim Afinogenov. Although smaller than his predecessor, Glotov displayed the same speed and bursts of energy that Afinogenov parlayed into 10-year NHL career almost exclusively with the Sabres.

During the 3-on-3 tourney, Glotov burst through opening for many chances, some of which ended up being goals, and hopefully the 20 yr. old can build on that strong showing. For as much as we loved Max, and for as many times as he raised the excitement-level at the arena, save for a couple of good seasons, often times Afinogenov did a whole lot of choppin' with very few chips a flyin'.

Glotov finished off his 2017-18 hockey season with a five-game stint in Cincinnati (ECHL) where he scored a goal and added an assist for the Cyclones and also got in a game for the Rochester Americans. Prior to that he finished his two-year QMJHL career with 44 goals and 93 points in 128 games for both the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and the Shawinigan Cataractes.

The 5'11" 174 lb. Moscow, Russia native always seems to be thrilled to be where he's at and hopefully he can add even more positivity to the Amerks locker room. During D-camp, WKBW's Matt Bove asked Glotov why he was so laid back, pretty fun, easy going and always seemed to have a smile on his face. "You've got to have some fun," said Glotov, "you can be serious sometimes, but all the time? I don't see the point in this.

"You've got to enjoy your life. You only live once."
That living continues in Rochester this fall.

Impressions of, and questions concerning--C, Kyle Criscuolo

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-6-2018


Center--Kyle Criscuolo
DOB:  May 5, 1992 (Age, 26)
Draft:  Undrafted
How acquired:  FA
Last contract signed:  July 1, 2017, 2yr./$1.3 million (two-way)
Final year of contract: 2018-19


2017-18 Stats:  9 games played | 0 goals | 0 assists | 0 points | -4 | 8:01 ATOI

Buffalo Career Stats:  9 games | 0 goals | 0 assists | 0 points | -4 | 8:01 ATOI


What we wrote preseason:  Sabres GM Jason Botterill fortified his AHL team this off season and Criscuolo is a big part of that. The speedy center with plenty of hockey smarts finished his first full season with 41 points (17+24) in 76 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins (DET) and should bring that (and hopefully more) to the Amerks this season.

What we wrote mid-season:  Another player signed more for the Amerks than Buffalo. 'Criso' was also the beneficiary injuries to the Sabres roster and ended up playing in eight games for Buffalo. He failed to register a point but is playing very well for Rochester.

Impressions on his play this year:  "Crisco" is a fast, heady player who lacks ideal NHL size (5'8" 170 lbs.) but has proven to be effective in the AHL. Not much to say about his nine-game stint in Buffalo which also was his first taste of the NHL in two full pro seasons. In Rochester he scored 34 points (15+19) in 51 games and is signed through next season. Should injuries hit the Sabres forward ranks again, perhaps he'll get another short stint but until then, he's needed in Rochester to help the Amerks.

Questions moving forward:  Should he get the call sometime next season, will he get his first NHL goal or point?



Contract info via CapFriendly, stats via sabres.com and hockey reference.com.

Amerks in playoff action tonight with some insight from Don Stevens.

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-20-2018


Usually when I'm talking with Rochester Americans broadcaster Don Stevens at this time of the year, we're doing a recap on the season. Rochester hasn't made the playoffs since the 2013-14 when they dropped a five-game series to the Chicago Wolves (STL) with names like Phil Varone, Luke Adam, Chad Ruhwedel, Brayden McNabb, Joel Armia and Mike Zigomanis on the roster.

It's been all downhill for Rochester since that playoff loss as the parent-club Buffalo Sabres went through a scorched-earth rebuild that burned them as well. Since then they've finished in 28th place followed by consecutive 26th place finishes before they headed into this season with a new front office beginning this season.

"It's been a long dry spell," Stevens told me yesterday prior to joining the team on the bus ride to Syracuse where Rochester begins their five-game series with the Crunch (TBL) tonight. Stevens, "The Voice of the Rochester Americans" for over 30 yrs. called this season a "great turnaround" and a "fun year" as the new regime lead by Buffalo GM Jason Botterill and his assistant Randy Sexton iced a competitive team that "made the games exciting."

Welcome to the scoresheet, Danny O'Regan. Plus Amerks and other notes (Dan O'Reagan, Justin Bailey)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-4-2018


He was Jack Eichel's wingman at Boston University on a Terriers team that made it to the 2015 NCAA Men's Championship game in Eichel freshman year, and only year, in college. He was also a team mate of Eichel's other wingman that season, Evan Rodrigues, if three of his four college seasons. Eichel was selected second-overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Rodrigues was a free agent signee by the Sabres the third member of the line that combined for 159 points (55 goals + 104 assists) in 108 game, Daniel O'Regan, was a 2012 fifth round pick (138th overall) of the San Jose Sharks.

O'Regan was born in Berlin, Germany where, according to his wiki page, he spent parts of his childhood there before his father retired from hockey and returned to the United States. After leaving St. Sebastian Prep School, O'Regan spent a season with the US National Development Program before heading to BU. The smallish forward scored 38 points (16+22) his freshman season and was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team.

After his final year in college, O'Regan began his professional career with the San Jose Barracuda (SJS) where he proceeded to lead the team in scoring with 25 goals and 58 points in 63 games and won the 2016-17 AHL's Dudley "Red" Garrett Award as the league's Rookie of the Year in the process. Over the course of the past two seasons, the San Jose Sharks called up O'Regan for a total of 22 games where he scored one goal and added four assists.

The general consensus on O'Regan is that he's a highly skilled, versatile forward with a great set of hands for scoring or setting up with the big question mark being his overall smallish stature at  5'10" 185 lbs. Rochester American's head coach Chris Taylor had this to say about O'Regan via the team's website, “I heard he’s really smart and he can score goals, so that helps. But first and foremost, I heard he’s a great person on and off the ice, and that’s what we want. We want good people in our dressing room.”

O'Regan came to the Sabres organization in a February26, 2018 trade deadline deal that sent Buffalo's Evander Kane to the Sharks for O'Regan and a pair of conditional draft picks. The following day he was on the ice for the Rochester's morning skate and played in his first game for the Amerks that night with zero points in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NYI.)

Last night the Amerks took on the division-leading Toronto Marlies (TOR) and O'Regan scored his first two goals for Rochester in a 4-1 win over their rivals. His second was an empty-netter but his first was described for what it was, "a skill goal" as seen at the 1:40-mark of the Marlies TV video:




The Amerks face off against the Laval Rocket (MTL) today in a 3 pm matinee at Blue Cross Arena.


*****

Rochester has been struggling for a while after challenging for the top spot in the North Division at one time. However, the Amerks haven't fallen off the face of the earth thanks to a stretch where they've gotten points in 17 of their last 23 games. They head into today's game five points behind the second place Syracuse Crunch (TBL) but with one game in hand.

Adding O'Regan could be a big boost for the Amerks but even without him, some Amerks have been picking up the pace lately.

Forward Justin Bailey, who's been dealing with injury all season, has four goals and five points in his last four games. Second-year pro Alexander Nylander has a four-game point-streak (1+3) and goalie Linus Ullmark looks to be regaining his All-Star form. In his last two games Ullmark has stopped 51 of 54 shots (.944 save percentage) and has not allowed more than two goals in four of his last five games.

All three were contributors in last night's win over Toronto.

A couple of quick notes: 

As shown in the video above, Ullmark is really looking solid. While under duress a couple of times he never flopped around and always kept his head up and body square to the action in and around him. The Marlies were knocking on the door twice in the second period with the Amerks up 2-0 but Ullmark shut it tight.

Nylander got his assist last night after starting an around the horn play with Rochester on the powerplay. But earlier in the game he failed to bear down on a puck and allowed two defenders to quickly collapse on him and stifle a scoring opportunity. Its true that Amerks center Sean Malone probably should have taken the shot instead of passing but Nylander didn't show any desire whilst in an upright position on that play.


*****

Casey Mittelstadt (2017, 8th) and his Minnesota Golden Gophers were swept out of the Big-10 Tournament and are in a precarious positon to get an invite to the Men's D-1 Tournament later this month. Mittelstadt score three goals and added two assists in the two losses to Penn State and finishes his freshman season with 30 points (11+19) in 34 games for Minnesota.

I'm going to be a little selfish here, while also veering away from my normal thought process when it comes to prospects, and say that I'd like to see the Sabres organization sign him now. If they can avoid burning a year off of his entry-level deal by signing him to an AHL contract, even better.

Although the numbers aren't eye-popping by any stretch of the imagination, for one, Mittelstadt was on a sub-par Gophers team. One may also want to take into account that he's a freshman playing against players two, three and four years older than him.

Mittelstadt has the skills and at 6'0" 201 lbs has much of the size needed to get started at the pro level so the jump to the AHL may not be as big for him. Plus adding that type of skill to the Amerks will only make that team better.

Much will be determined by the NCAA selection committee, but if the Gophers are out, I'm of the opinion that Sabres GM Jason Botterill should get that kid in Rochester learning the pro game.

Watch Casey Mittelstadt capture a goal and two helpers last night in Minnesota's 6-5 loss at Penn State. Gophers bounced from B1G tourney, now await NCAA brackets on 3/18. Mittelstadt: 34GP 11-19-30 pic.twitter.com/vwk8E1GJyA

&mdash">https://t.co/vwk8E1GJyA">pic.twitter.com/vwk8E1GJyA
— Kris Baker (@SabresProspects) March">https://twitter.com/SabresProspects/status/970297544440975361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2018
*****

The Sabres are on the ice today getting ready for their first matchup of the season against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs tomorrow night.

Yes, you read that right, the Sabres and Leafs will face off tonight in Buffalo's 65th game of the season and will be playing each other four times over the next four weeks.

According to reports at the rink, Marco Scandella is back on the ice after leaving the ice during Buffalo's game at Florida on Friday.

Here's the lines and d-pairings from those at the rink today:

Girgensons-O’Reilly-Reinhart
Wilson-Larsson-Pominville
Pouliot-Griffith-Baptiste
Nolan-Josefson-Okposo

Scandella-Ristolainen
Antipin-Nelson Gorges-
Falk/Beaulieu

LAK @ BUF for a matinee on Kids Day, which hasn't been fun for the kids so far.

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 2-17-2018


It's been said hundreds of times since 2007--the Buffalo Sabres look as if they want to put on a show when playing the home crowd. Which is all well and good. Unfortunately, it seems as if they forget how to play winning hockey while inserting (or trying to insert) some flare to their home games and more often than not as of late, they've laid an egg.

Buffalo hasn't had a winning record at home since 2011-12 when they went 21-12-8 under head coach Lindy Ruff. Since then the Sabres have a gone a combined 81-103-31. This season Buffalo is 8-16-4 at home, which is poor in and of itself, but what's more troublesome is their abysmal play in two of three matinees on home ice, which happened to be during a the team's 'Kids Day' promotion.

The Sabres scheduled six Kids Days throughout the season with the matinee's featuring reduced prices for kids (with the purchase of a full price ticket,) giveaways and other events in an effort to get Buffalo's future fan base excited about the Blue and Gold. However, as the saying goes, "the best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry."

Buffalo has played three games on Kids Day so far this season and they're 0-3-0, which is not anything to get excited about. But when you look at the collective score of 17-5 in those losses, within a disappointing season no-less, it doesn't lay a very good foundation for the fan base of the future.

Kids Day should be like a fun-filled G-rated movie with popcorn and ice cream, some action on the ice with a few hard-edged surprises thrown in for good measure. But in two instances, the horror on display was enough to bring on nightmares.

Back in October the high-flying New Jersey Devils came to town and just annihilated the Sabres 6-2 on the season's first Kids Day. After the Devils scored two goals in the first period of that game, the Sabres answered early in the second with a goal to make it 2-1. Then the bottom fell out as New Jersey scored the next four.

Fast forward to the new calendar year and the Sabres would play even worse in January when the Dallas Stars came to town. Dallas scored the first three goals before allowing Buffalo to score about mid-way through the second period. The Stars responded with four unanswered leaving an indelible 7-1 imprint on the thousands of kids who came in rooting for the home team, but left as boos rained down on the Sabres. In between the New Jersey and Dallas games there were other clunkers, and often times we thought (or hoped) that they'd hit bottom, but nothing could have prepared Sabreland for the utter disaster that was the Dallas game.

That said, it looks as if the Stars game was finally a bottoming out. Buffalo has played very well since then going 6-4-2 in that span which includes a season-long three-game win-streak in western Canada that included back-to-back shutouts. They also had a string of four games in a row where they scored four or more goals (3-0-1,) something they'd been unable to accomplish since the latter months of 2015.

The Sabres last game was in Ottawa on Thursday, and they almost came away with a win. Despite being outplayed by the Senators for much of the game, Buffalo was ahead 2-1 in the late stages of the third period before Ottawa scored with :31 seconds to go. The Sens took advantage of an awkward Sabres change in overtime and won 3-2 while handing Buffalo their 10 overtime loss of the season against only three wins.

Buffalo takes on the Los Aneles Kings today at KeyBank Center, which might be good for the Sabres and the thousands of kids expected to be in attendance. Buffalo is on an eight-game winning streak against the Kings, according to the Sabres, and that includes two wins during their 2013-15 tank seasons.

Sabres.com also noted that Buffalo is 14-1-1 (one tie) in their last 16 home games dating back to 1993 and have outscored the Kings 67-25 and that the Kings have not won at Buffalo since February 21, 2003.


*****

Sabres head coach Phil Housley had been alternating Buffalo's two goalies over the last five games even without a back-to-back and the Sabres are 3-1-1 during that stretch. But, according to reports from the rink, it looks as if starter Robin Lehner will get the call today. Lehner is 3-3-2 since the Dallas game and was in goal for Buffalo against Ottawa and stopping 33 of 36 shots against (.917 Sv%) in the overtime loss.

Also reported is that Justin Falk and Jordan Nolan will be back in the lineup against a rugged Kings team that likes to play a heavy game. Nolan was drafted by the Kings in 2009 (186th-overall) and won two Stanley Cups with LA before they waived him in September and Buffalo claimed him.

The projected lineup this afternoon based upon yesterday's practice:

Kane-O'Reilly-Reinhart
Poliout-Rodrigues-Okposo
Wilson-Larsson-Pominville
Girgensons-Josefson-Nolan

Scandella-Nelson
Beaulieu-Ristolainen
Antipin-Falk

Of note:

--Evander Kane gets moved to the top line with Ryan O'Reilly and Sam Reinhart.

--The bottom-six of the lineup has contributed five goals since Jack Eichel went down with an injury in Boston four games ago. Scott Wilson leads the charge with three, Nic Baptiste has another and Benoit Pouliot, who's been moved up and down on the wing has the other. They've also added four assists. Buffalo is 2-1-1 in those four games.


*****

The Rochester Americans broke out of a very rough patch by laying down a 12-3 beating on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last night at Blue Cross Arena.

It was the most goals scored in an AHL game since December 8, 2002 when the Hamilton Bulldogs defeated the Cleveland Barrons 15-1.

Let'sGoAmerks.com laid out a number of AHL season highs with that 12-goal outburst:

• Goals in a game: 12 (previous was 10 set by the Amerks on November 24, 2017)
• Highest winning margin: 9
• Assists in a game: 22
• Points in a game: 34
• Power play goals in a game: 6
• Goals in the 3rd: 5 (tied with three other teams)

Notice that the previous record for goals in a game this season was also held by the Amerks at 10.

From the box score, three players had two goals each last night--Seth Griffith, Kyle Criscuolo, and Alexander Nylander. Leading the charge in assists and points was Griffith with three while Criscuolo, Nylander, Hudson Fasching, Taylor Fedun, Brendan Guhle and Justin Bailey all had two assists each.

Griffith lead the team with five points while Criscuolo and Nylander had four each.

Linus Ullmark was in net allowing three goals on 38 shots. He did not allow a goal until the Amerks were up 5-0 just over half way through the game.

Matchup Friday: CAN/USA; RCH/TOR; BUF/NJD. Mittlestadt, plus

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-29-2017


Western New York hockey fans have a full slate of games beginning at 3pm today with Casey Mittelstadt and Team USA taking on Team Canada at New Era Field. In the evening the Rochester Americans are at Toronto to take on the Marlies (TOR) and the Buffalo Sabres travel to New Jersey to face off against the Devils Both of those games are 7pm starts.


USA vs. Canada

Perhaps Team USA got caught looking ahead last night and when you add in that they faced a non-descript Slovakian goalie in Roman Durny who probably had a career game while stopping 43 of 45 Team USA shots, it had all the makings for a classic trap game.

The turnaround is all that great for the Americans either as their 8pm start had them playing well into the night and they'll be back on the ice for a 3pm puckdrop today. Reports from New Era Field, home of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, has rough conditions with temperatures in the teens, and an even colder wind-chill. They're also saying the ice will be less than ideal.

Team Canada has been flying on the ice through their first two games outscoring their first two opponents (Finland and Slovakia) by a combined 10-2 score. Having ice conditions as they're expected to be may slow them down a bit. Team USA needs to recover from the loss last night as another loss will make it very difficult to defend their gold medal-winning run last year.

This is the first-ever outdoor game in IIHF World Junior Championships history. Early indications are that they expect 40,000+ fans for the game, which would be the largest in the tournament's history.


Rochester Americans vs. Toronto Marlies

Right now, the Amerks and Marlies are tied atop the AHL's North Division with 44 points each.

Rochester is a pleasant surprise this season after finishing 26th-overall the previous two seasons. The Amerks have a new coaching staff and a revamped lineup that has been on a tear lately. They lost for only the fourth time in regulation dating back to the end of a three-game skid on October 25. In that 27-game span Rochester is 17-4-6.

This is the second meeting between the two North Division rivals. Toronto won the first game 3-2 in Rochester to end the Amerks 10-game point-streak.

Linus Ullmark, who is tied for the AHL lead in wins (14) looks to get the start in net while Garrett Sparks and his second-best 1.85 goals-against average will be in net for Toronto after Calvin Pickard was called up to the Maple Leafs.


Buffalo Sabres vs. New Jersey Devils

The last time these to teams met would be a game the Sabres would like to forget. Buffalo had been dispatched by the NY Islanders two days prior and returned home to get spanked by the Devils.  It was a game where the Sabres tried to run with New Jersey but it turned into a battle between the thoroughbred Devils and the wanna-be race horse Sabres.

Things have change for the Sabres since then, mostly in the style of play as they pulled back the reigns and are playing a much more conservative game. Because of that, they're in games more often these days, and have been playing much better, but their league-low 2.16 goals/game and their 9-20-8 record is an indication that they still have a ways to go. The young and fast Devils sit atop an extremely tough Metropolitan Division with a 22-9-5 record.

Buffalo is 1-7-2 in their last 10 vs. New Jersey, 3-4-3 on the road and hopefully put that dismal October performance against the Devils far away where they'll never see it again. New Jersey won their first meeting with Buffalo by a 6-2 score.

The Sabres are on Game-3 of seven games away from KeyBank Center. By all standards, it's actually a seven-game road trip save for the fact that their game against the NY Rangers in the 10th Winter Classic has been dubbed a home-game in spite of the fact that they're playing in at Citi Field in NY City.

Go figure.


Casey Mittelstadt

If you haven't seen it by now, go to the 1:20 of this video provided by USA Hockey and check out Casey Mittelstadt game-tying goal for Team USA vs. Slovakia.



Gotta love the Bobby Orr-type ending.

Mittelstadt has been outstanding for the Americans this year as he leads the tournament with three goals.


Slovakians to watch

Team Slovakia won beat the Americans last night on the strength of the aforementioned goaltending of Durny, and he's not even their best goalie.

Slovakia's No. 1 goalie is David Hrenak and although he and his mates got crushed by Team Canada, the 6'2" 192 lb. netminder kept it from being worse as he faced 52 shots on goal.

Hrenak plays for St. Cloud State, the top ranked team in NCAA Men's D-I hockey where he leads the college ranks with a 1.40 goals-against average and a .962 save percentage while being a back-up. Sabres scouts should be very aware of the 2018 draft eligible Hrenak two Sabres prospects, F, Judd Peterson (2012, 204th-overall) and D, Will Borgen (2015, 92nd) both play for the Huskies.

Another Slovakian player who may have already gotten noticed by Sabres scouts is forward Filip Krivosik who scored their first two goals last night. Krivosik, a 6'4" 190 lb. forward plays for LeKi Lempaala of the second-tier Finnish League, Mestis. Also on that team is Sabres goalie prospect Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen (2017, 54th.)

The game-winning goal was scored by Samuel Bucek, a 6'3" 194 lb. forward who plays for the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League. It's Bucek's second season in the USHL and he has 18 points (7+11) in 20 games for the Steel. The moves he put on the entire USA team and his follow through for the winner was impressive.

Mittelstadt, Eichel & Ullmark serve up WNY sweep yesterday

Had this trio of games taken place last month, the results probably would have been different. One can't say what Team USA may have looked like playing in much better conditions outdoors against Team Canada, but odds are the Buffalo Sabres would not have made it out of New Jersey with a 'W'. The Rochester Americans have been playing some excellent hockey as of late, but they lost their only meeting versus Toronto Marlies (TOR) who, up until last night, were leading the AHL's Eastern Conference.

Western New York sports fans haven't had a whole helluva lot to cheer for the past few years as the Sabres have been in a rut with the Amerks right down there with them. Add in the NFL's Buffalo Bills current 17-year playoff drought, the longest in the four major North American sports and it makes for some pretty rough sledding for WNY sports fans.

But yesterday was a good day for hockey those fans. No, make that a great day for not only the present, but for the future as well. All three teams--Team USA, the Sabres and the Amerks--won yesterday. USA and the Sabres won in dramatic fashion while the Amerks pitched a perfect road-game to overtake the Marlies for the Eastern Conference lead. And if that wasn't good enough for you the future of the Buffalo Sabres--Casey Mittelstadt, Jack Eichel and Linus Ullmark--all lead their team's to victory.

Casey Mittelstadt

He's a 6'0" 203 lb. center from Edina, Minnesota who opted to play his senior season at Eden Prairie High School (MIN) prior to the 2017 NHL Draft, which was a somewhat unusual path. And it's good for the Sabres that he did. Mittelstadt scored 64 points (21+43) in 25 games for the Eagles in his final high school season. He started out that hockey season playing for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL scoring 21 points (8+13) in 16 games and after his Eagles were ousted in the semifinals of the state tournament, he rejoined the Gamblers and added another nine points (5+4) in 14 games.

It was a season that placed him top-10 in pre-draft rankings with Central Scouting ranking him as the third best North American skater behind only Nico Hischier and Patrick Nolan who went first and second overall, respectively, in the 2017 NHL Draft. Most thought he was a top-five pick but he slipped to Buffalo and they swooped in to nab him with the eighth-overall selection.

Mittelstadt is in his freshman season with the Minnesota Golden Gophers and has 17 points (5+12) in 19 games. Division-1 hockey features older players, stiffer completion and systems, like the one he faced recently at Ohio State, that are lockdown and defensive. Every inch of ice Mittelstadt has gotten at the D-I level has been earned and although 17 points in 19 games doesn't give the aire of dominance, the work he did prepared him well for a tournament like this against his peers.

Mittlestadt scored three goals in the first two games of the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships being held in Buffalo, NY, including a highlight reel goal on Thursday night, and then he followed that up by continuing to prove that he's been the best player at the tournament so far. In a crucial game that the U.S. needed to win, against the rival Canadians, Mittelstadt came through by assisting on every goal including two primary assists that brought the team back from a 3-1 deficit.

After the game yesterday at New Era Field where conditions were difficult with frigid temperatures and abundant snow through a good portion of the game, Mittelstadt talked about relying on facets of his game other than scoring when things proved difficult. And make no mistake, it was difficult for every player on the ice yesterday.

"Even during the year, that's the first thing I go to if I feel I'm not playing well," he said, via Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. "I go back to stick-handling and my vision. That's the biggest key for me, to make sure that I'm always fine-tuning it."

And that he did as seen on his two primary assists beginning at the 2:22 mark of the highlight video below (courtesy USA Hockey.) Mittelstadt almost had a fairy tale ending to the game but just missed on a shootout attempt that could've have won it, but regardless, for the second game in a row he was name Team USA's player of the game.



That he was able to not only rise to the occasion in difficult conditions, but do so against a fierce rival like Team Canada, in front of the largest crowd to see an IIHF WJC game, no-less, has got the Buffalo fan-base excited. The 4-3 shootout win is being called an instant classic and Mittelstadt's MVP performance has them looking towards the future with a big smile as those talents are not that far away from hitting the NHL.


Jack Eichel

Although Eichel's future with the Sabres became the present in 2015, the same year he was drafted second overall by Buffalo, his "franchise status" has been delayed. He came to the NHL riding a media-fueled "McEichel" wave as he and top-pick Connor McDavid were ready to take the league by storm. But Eichel struggled through large portions of his first two NHL seasons.

We've seen bursts of his incredible skating and skill-level in the past but Eichel had neither the consistency of McDavid nor did he lead his team to the playoffs like McDavid did last season. Instead of his Sabres team moving forward after a solid 2015-16 season, they went backwards and Eichel rumored to be in a power struggle with then coach Dan Bylsma.

Bylsma was fired at the end of the season and was replaced by rookie head coach Phil Housley.

What ensued to begin this season was an on-ice embarrassment that rivaled that of the tank years. The Sabres plunged to the bottom of the league after a rough start and have remained close to last ever since. The month of November was a particularly abysmal month and ended with the team in a rut as the won only once in a 10-game span (1-7-2) to finish the month.

It continued into December with an embarrassing 4-0 shutout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at home followed by an equally embarrassing loss to the Pens in Pittsburgh the next night, all of this with NHL cameras beginning to roll for the "Road to the Winter Classic Series." Eichel was visibly shaken after that first Pittsburgh loss, according to reports from the locker room, and was seen in a one-on-one with team President Russ Brandon. What Brandon said has never been divulged but the follow-up 5-1 loss to the Pens didn't bode well.

Eichel had been playing some pretty good hockey prior to that but the team's struggles had been weighing him down and eventually something clicked. He hit for a goal and an assist in leading the Sabres to victory in Colorado following the back-to-back embarrassments against the Pens, and continued to play a strong, hard-skating 200' game thereafter, although his stat-line might say otherwise.

The virtues of playing a full game in overdrive would finally pay off vs. the Carolina Hurricanes as Eichel scored his first career hat trick and completely dominated regulation. After a tough game against Boston he proceeded to hit for seven points (4+3) in his next four games, including his two goals last night, and carried his team to a 2-1-1 record in the process.

With his Sabres' team down 3-1 late in the second period to the Metropolitan-leading New Jersey Devils last night, Eichel tipped Jake McCabe's shot from the point with 1:55 left and the Sabres went into the third period down only one goal. He then proceeded to score the game-tying goal on the powerplay ala Alexander Ovechkin with a blast from the right circle. Just listen to call from Sabres broadcast legend Rick Jeanneret (courtesy NHL):

What we're seeing of the future is Eichel emerging as a leader through his play. Despite all of the struggles this team has faced all season, he and his teammates, seemed to have fully bought into Houlsey's system and they're slowly trying to turn that into wins. Although the record still isn't there, and they still have many holes to fill, this edition of the Sabres is playing much better hockey and they're slowly building confidence in themselves and the team with Eichel leading the charge.

Last night's win over the Devils wasn't just some run-of-the-mill win. They beat the second-best team in the Eastern Conference, on the road in front of a packed house while being outplayed in the second period as they only had three shots on goal (yet scored on two of them.) The Sabres broke a six--game overtime skid and even got the game-wining goal from a defenseman as Rasmus Ristolainen scored his first goal of the season.

But the driving force behind their 4-3-4 run has been Eichel who's looking more and more like their future captain.



Linus Ullmark

The Rochester Americans are the top team in the AHL's Eastern Conference. Rochster got to that point after a tremendous run that saw them go 17-4-6 since late October and cap it off with a 2-0 shutout win vs. the Marlies in Toronto last night. With the win, Rochester's 20-7-6 record and .697 win-percentage barely edges out the Marlies .667 win-percentage.

Not bad for a team that finished in 26th place the last two seasons and in 28th the year before that.

The Amerks have a lot of things clicking for them centered around a team that was put together with veterans who've won in the past. Although Rochester doesn't have a ton of homegrown prospects in the ranks, the ones they have are really shining.

Free-agent forward C.J.Smith (2017, UMass-Lowell) is having a banner rookie season. His 30 points (10+20) leads all rookies, by far, and places him tied for 10th in the league. And fellow rookie defenseman Brendan Guhle has upped his game with 17 points (6+11) on the season while playing on the top pairing in all situations.

But the backbone of the team is goalie Ullmark.

This is Ullmark's third pro season after coming over from MODO of the Swedish Elite League. Buffalo's 6th-round pick (163rd-overall) in the 2012 NHL Draft split his rookie season between the Sabres and the Amerks when Buffalo goalie Robin Lehner went down with a high-ankle sprain in October, 2015. Ullmark looked solid during his time in the NHL but stayed in Rochester to hone his game.

Last season Ullmark was named the Amerks team MVP after facing the most shots in the AHL(1,678) and compiling a 26-27-2 record with a 2.87 goals-against average and a .919 save-percentage. When it came to the Amerks last season if Ullmark wasn't in net, the team didn't have much of a chance of winning as the rest of the goalies went a combined 6-14-1.

Ullmark learned a lot last season, first and foremost about having to carry a heavy workload as a starter, but also about giving his team a chance to win no matter how many goals were scored against him and that carried over to this season.

This year he once again leads the league in shots-against (721,) yet is fourth in Sv% (.926,) seventh in goals-against (2.33) and is tied for the league lead in wins with 15.

Ullmark was named the AHL Player of the week leading up to the Christmas break after going 2-0-0 with 1.46 GAA and a .956 Sv% and stopping 65 of 68 shots in those two games. He followed that up with a first star performance last night stopping all 22 shots he faced.

To their credit, the Sabres organization made a conscious decision to keep Ullmark in Rochester for one more year of seasoning and for his part, he embraced that role. As the team waddled through some early difficulties and began to find ways to win, or to a least gain a point, Ullmark was in there giving them a chance to win.

Since giving up six goals in a November 22 game vs. the Syracuse Crunch (TBL,) the 24 yr, old has been outstanding. In his last 11 games he has the one shutout (last night,) has allowed two or less goals in eight games and has not allowed more than three goals. Ullmark has faced 284 shots and allowed 19 goals (.933 Sv%) with the Ameks going 7-2-2 in his those games.

If yesterday was any indication of what this franchise has in store for the future, things are looking much brighter in Sabreland. We've all seen Eichel's game-changing play and the fact that Mittelstadt has risen to the top amongst his peers is a strong indication that he could have a major impact at the NHL-level. Ullmark is a tribute to the process of letting players fully develop and along with him in the AHL are players like Smith and Guhle who are learning the pro game and the Sabres systems that are in place.

The Western New York sweep with Team USA, the Sabres and Amerks all winning was a great day for hockey fans in Sabreland and it's one that should be savored as we look towards the future.

Sabres notes while wishing a Merry Christmas and Happy Holilday's to all

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-25-2017


It's the Christmas Break for hockey and if ever a reprieve was needed, now's the time. We Sabres fans know the numbers, but it's good to see that Jack Eichel is heating up.

For the second year in a row Eichel has been out of the national spotlight while the headlines are being grabbed by another strong group of young players making their mark in the NHL. However, after a slow start Jack is back. He had his first career hat trick four games ago against the Carolina Hurricanes and posted five goals and eight points in the four games heading into the break. Of his 32 points (13+19,) only three (all assists) have come on the powerplay and two assists have come with the Sabres shorthanded. Eichel's 27 points at even strength rank him eighth in the league.

Another bright spot for Buffalo is Evander Kane who is still leads the Sabres in scoring with 33 points (15+18) with three of his goals coming with the team shorthanded. Kane, who's in the final year of his contract, has been remarkably consistent in the points department this season. His longest point drought is three games (once) which coincided with a six-game goal drought, also his longest of the season, but even through that rough patch Kane still had four assists and was a plus-3.

The Sabres are off until Wednesday when they head to Brooklyn to take on the NY Islanders and then they travel to New Jersey to face the New Jersey Devils. Buffalo played both those teams very early in the season and got their butts handed to them by scores of 6-3 and 6-2, respectively. Those two games will be a tune-up for the Sabres as they're set to play the NY Rangers at Citi Field in NY City for the 10th Winter Classic.


*****

After the 4-2 loss at Carolina on Saturday, the Sabres last game before the Christmas break, Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News releases some quotes he obtained from Eichel in the locker room. "Jack Eichel was calm, direct and to the point late Saturday night," began Harrington. "No ranting and raving, no rolling of the eyes. Dare we say he was captain-like?"

Eichel has been known for a number of things post-game, but this may be the first time that Harrington, or any other Sabres beat reporter called him "captain-like," especially after a loss. Could it be that the 21 yr. old is in the process of passing through a threshold?

During his hattrick performance at home against the Hurricanes eight days earlier, I was left with the impression that Eichel had finally figured out that when he skates like he can and plays his game, he scares the crap out of the opposition. No further proof was needed of that then on his third goal when he had the 'Canes lost in an effort to follow him:

(thx, Sabres)

It may have been only the second time in his career that he took over a game, the first one almost two years ago in Boston when he and the Sabres defeated his hometown Bruins on the strength of his two-goals and two-assists.

The tools have always been there, but the maturity seems to have been lacking somewhat and it seems as if Eichel is starting to get a handle on the importance of him and his role on the team. In a span of eight days he showed just how much fear he could strike into an opponent and be the voice of the team in absence of Ryan O'Reilly, who missed the game to witness the birth of his and his fiancé's first child.

"I think it shows a lack of maturity as a group for us right now with the position that we're in," Eichel told The Buffalo News after the game. "We played last night. We're traveling, we're in a back to back. They're here and ready and waiting for us. They're at home right before break. You know they're going to come out and play hard. And from the first shift, we're chasing the game.

"We knew what to expect tonight and still weren't ready to go," Eichel said. "It's all about reflection now. Like Coach told us, we've got to look in the mirror here. That was a big game for us to try to win two in a row. Now we have three or four days to think about it. Not good enough."

With the Sabres still in a though spot, it's too early to say whether those two Carolina games were lauching pads for him to take his place amongst the elite, but in the very least, it's a good starting point.

For a link to the Harrington piece, click here.

*****

Rochester Americans forward Stevie Moses was suspended by the team on Friday for breach of contract. No details were given but we've come to find out that he bolted for Finland to join Jokerit Helsinki of the Kontinental Hockey League, according to a tweet from the team.

"This explains why the Amerks suspended him," wrote Keith Wozniak of the website, Let'sGoAmerks in reply. "he took off overseas."

Moses signed a two-year deal with the team through 2019-20.

Some hockey happiness in Western New York last night

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-23-2017


Both the Buffalo Sabres and Rochester Americans got wins last night bringing Western New York some holiday cheer. The Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 in their last home game until January 9, 2018 and the Amerks beat the Laval Rocket (MTL) 3-2 in overtime to continue a roll they've been on for a month. Add in that Sabres prospect Casey Mittelstadt scored a goal and added an assist in Team USA's final tune up before the World Junior Championships that begin in Buffalo on Decemeber 26, and it was a pretty good night for hockey fans in Sabreland.

The Sabres have been struggling as of late in a number of ways, mostly centered around scoring goals. Although not as bad as a stretch earlier in the season, Buffalo was having trouble scoring lately, especially with Robin Lehner in net. In his six starts prior to last night he allowed an average of just over two goals/game on a .940 save percentage yet he was only 2-2-2 through that stretch as the team only averaged two goals per game.

Last night they were having trouble with Flyers goalie Brian Elliott until Ryan O'Reilly squeezed a shot in from below the goal line. It was just  a little lucky, but it was the type of goal they needed at the time. Just over seven minutes later Evander Kane put the Sabres up 2-0 as he tipped in a Josh Gorges shot from the point. Kyle Okposo got the secondary assist on that one but the whole sequence was set up by O'Reilly through his work from behind the net.

From there it was a matter of hanging on for dear life. The Flyers went on the powerplay late in the third as Buffalo defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen was called for delay of game with 3:58 left in the third period. Philadelphia pulled Elliot for the extra attacker and scored with just 12 seconds left on the penalty to make it 2-1. Jack Eichel scored an empty-netter to make it 3-1 but the Flyers closed the gap again with :32 seconds left. But Eichel scored his second empty net goal with :0.6 seconds left on the clock.

It was the first time in Sabres history that one player scored two empty net goals in a game.

That was a good win for the Sabres who were in desperate need of one. Even though they'd remained rather loose through their recent three-game skid (0-2-1,) winning is a good thing, especially the way they did it. Despite being frustrated throughout the game they kept to the game-plan, like coach Phil Housley had been imploring them to do, and eventually broke through.

"I give credit to our guys because we've been in that position before where nothing is going in and, 'Here we go again,'" Housley said to the gathered media afterward. "But they stuck with it. We kept telling them to just keep throwing pucks to the net, it's going to happen.

"Finally, we broke through. We didn't get away from what we were talking about."

Housley juggled his lines for last night's game and inserted Gorges into the lineup in place of rookie Victor Antipin. And it worked.

Buffalo is in Carolina tonight to take on the Hurricanes before the Christmas break in the third and final meeting between the two teams this season. Carolina has beaten the Sabres twice, 3-1 and 5-4 in overtime.

Meanwhile, the Amerks continued their roll with a 3-2 overtime win in Laval, Quebec against the Rockets. Kyle Criscuolo, who scored two goals, tied the score at 2-2 with 1:40 left in the third period while Nick Baptiste scored the game-winner in overtime.

Rochester is has now gained points in 13 of their last 14 games (9-1-4) and are two points behind the Toronto Marlies (TOR) in the AHL's Eastern Conference.

Here are the highlights courtesy the Laval Rocket:




And here's the USA/Sweden highlights courtesy USA Hockey: