Buffalo Sabres forward Patrick Kaleta was suspended this afternoon for four games by the National Hockey League following a head butt in last night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Jakub Vorcek.

Kaleta has a reputation as a pesky enforcer and surely his past troubles with the league had plenty to do with the stiff suspension.  It’s his second suspension, with his first coming in 2009 following a vicious boarding penalty against Jared Ross.

Kaleta has one goal and 18 penalty minutes in 11 games for Buffalo this season. His suspension is effective immediately, meaning Kaleta will begin serving Friday night when Buffalo wraps up its five game home stand against Calgary.

Whether Terry Pegula, Darcy Regier, Lindy Ruff & Co. like it or not, the Buffalo Sabres are inching towards a full blown goaltender controversy.  Ryan Miller was awful Wednesday night in about six minutes of action; giving up a fat rebound that led to Philadelphia’s first goal and getting smoked on more shots early on that led to a 3-0 hole and Miller being pulled—and boo’d off the ice.

The Sabres stopped the bleeding with Jhonas Enroth in net, who stopped all 15 shots he faced, and the team managed two unanswered goals as Buffalo fell to 1-4 at the First Niagara Center with a 3-2 loss to the Flyers.

To put it mildly, Miller didn’t look impressive again between the pipes and did nothing to quiet a growing fan base calling for Enroth to start getting more playing time.  In a little under three games this season Enroth is sporting a ridiculous 1.39 goals against average and .955 save percentage.  Perhaps he gets his third start on Friday when the Sabres wrap up their five game home stand against Calgary while Miller gets some time to sort things out.

Continue reading ‘Sabres Inch Closer To Goalie Controversy’