The Buffalo Sabres get to enjoy the cozy confines of HSBC Arena one more time tonight before heading to the road for five consecutive games. They’ll try to pick up their fourth straight win as they play host to the Minnesota Wild.
After falling off track with consecutive losses in their return from the Olympic break, the Sabres seem to have things going right again. After failing to score more than three goals in 10 straight games the offense had an explosion by their standards Wednesday night against Dallas, netting four goals and adding an empty netter in the final seconds.
First off, I’d like to apologize to readers for not having this in sooner. School has been trucking me with work. Hooray for midterms. Anyway, on to the article:
Dates: February 3rd to March 07th
Record: 3-5-2
In Brief:
When we left the Buffalo Sabres, things were not looking good. They had blown a two goal second period lead to the Pittsburgh Penguins on national television and had strayed even further from the defensively responsible game-plan that
The Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League and the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League announced today that they have extended their affiliation agreement.
The Pirates are currently in the second year of their original deal with the Sabres. The new extension is a long term agreement that re-affirms the commitment between the two franchises.
“Lyman (Bullard, the Pirates Chairman/Governor) and I are thrilled to share this great news with our fans, our sponsors and the entire community, who have experienced firsthand, over the past two seasons, the quality and exciting style of Buffalo Sabres hockey at the AHL level at the Cumberland County Civic Center,” Pirates Managing Owner/CEO Brian Petrovek said. “Greater Portland has embraced a group of world class players, coaches and team staff who have been and continue to be outstanding professionals and people both on and off the ice. We’re looking forward to our future together with high hopes and expectations as we continue to do our part to help develop future Buffalo Sabres and compete for Calder Cup Championships.”
Darcy Regier of the Buffalo Sabres and Mike Gillis of the Vancouver Canucks, general managers of two division-leading clubs, are today’s guests on NHL Hour With Commissioner Gary Bettman on NHL.com and SIRIUS XM Radio at 6 p.m. ET. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly will be the guest host for today’s show.
Regier, one of the longest-serving general managers in the NHL ranks, has been at the helm of the Sabres for 13 seasons. He led the franchise through some of its best seasons, including a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1999 and consecutive Eastern Conference Final appearances in 2006 and 2007. On July 18, 2008, Regier signed superstar goalie Ryan Miller to a five-year contract extension that will see the Olympic silver medalist stay with the Club through the 2013-14 season. The Sabres stand atop the Northeast Division with 81 points and are third in the Eastern Conference.
Tyler Myers had a career-best four point night and recent call up Mark Mancari scored a goal and set up the game winner as the Buffalo Sabres won their third straight game, defeating Dallas 5-3 Wednesday night at the HSBC Arena.
Myers, who had just two points in his last 13 games wasted little time getting on the board, scoring just 55 seconds into the game. Buffalo hadn’t scored more than three times in 10 straight games but matched that by the end of 20 minutes, and they’d need every one of them.
Dallas scored three times in the first against Ryan Miller, who was uncharacteristically shaky Wednesday night. But for once it was his teammates who bailed him out.
When the Buffalo Sabres take the ice tonight at the HSBC Arena against the Dallas Stars, it’s no secret what Lindy Ruff would desperately like to see his club expand upon.
Putting the puck in the net.
Buffalo has been anything but a hotbed recently when it comes to putting frozen rubber behind the enemy goal line. Over their last 10 games the team has scored more than three goals exactly zero times. None.. Zilch… Nada.
The primary reason is a power play that has been about as productive as Buffalo Bills no huddle drive. During the 10-game goal famine the unit has scored just once in 31 attempts. For those not much in the mood for pulling out a calculator, that’s a success rate of 3.2%.
The Buffalo Sabres today announced the 6th annual Scotty Bowman Showcase will take place on Monday, March 29 at HSBC Arena. The Scotty Bowman Showcase consists of two all-star hockey games between high school aged players from Buffalo against their rivals from Rochester. The event will also feature a 20-minute Girls Showcase between games, featuring the top local high school girl’s players from the Buffalo-area club teams. Admission for the games is $5.
The first game will be at 6 p.m. with juniors from each city facing off against one another, followed by a game at 8:30 p.m. between seniors from each city. The winner of the second game will be awarded the Scotty Bowman Cup.
A few quick notes from Buffalo Sabres practice today.
Thomas Vanek was held out of practice with what Lindy Ruff called a schedule “maintenance” day. Vanek has been banged up but hasn’t missed any games. Many think he’s been playing hurt the majority of the year, which may explain only having 19 goals after having 36 and 40 the past two years, respectively.
Paul Gaustad will not be in the lineup tomorrow night when the Sabres host the Dallas Stars. He’s been out with a shoulder injury since getting into a fight Mike Rupp off Pittsburgh last Monday.
Gaustad took part in non contact drills on Tuesday skating on a line with Tim Kennedy and Mike Greer.
While the rest of his teammates enjoy an off day on Monday, Ryan Miller will be busy in the morning. Among other media appearances Miller is slated to appear on the “Today” show at 8:30am on NBC. While there I’m certain host Matt Lauer will ask Miller about his Olympic experience and his out from the closet hottie girlfriend. That’s what happens when you become a real celebrity.
Unfortunately Lauer won’t ask him how it’s going to feel to be in possession of the Vezina trophy when the NHL season is over.
Or about that Patrick Kaleta guy.
Kaleta continues to win the hearts of Buffalo Sabres fans. The gritty but growingly skillful forward scored his ninth goal of the year 2:38 into overtime to give the Sabres a 2-1 win in New York over the Rangers.
A few days before the Olympic break I posted an overview of what the Buffalo Sabres could do around the deadline and where the holes in their lineup were. When 3pm eastern time had passed, Buffalo had made two moves; trading Nathan Paetsch and a second round pick to Columbus for Raffi Torres and shipping Clarke MacArthur to Atlanta for third and fourth round picks.
Looking at the needs presented in the preview article, the Torres trade fills several of them. He could prove to be both the physical presence the scoring forwards need as well as a spark to the rest of the team. Torres has playoff experience, and was a part of the Oilers’ underdog Cup run in 2006, where he scored eleven points in twenty-two games. He also laid this monster body check on Milan Michalek that was instrumental in the Oilers’ defeat of the Sharks; a hit that would have made Scott Stevens proud.
The Buffalo Sabres recalled Mark Mancari on Saturday. Mancari was the Portland Pirates leading scoring with 62 points (22g, 40a) in 61 games and was a plus-14.
He recall comes as a result of an injury suffered by Drew Stafford, in which, Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said in the Buffalo News, “He’s not doing very good. It looks like this groin injury is going to be a good period of time.”
Portland is already shorthanded due with Tyler Ennis (concussion) and Brad Larsen (lower body) out with injuries, and Travis Turnbull and Matt Generous serving their two-game suspensions.
With several new acquisitions playing well in their first games with their new teams, perhaps it’s a good thing the Buffalo Sabres traded for Raffi Torres by Wednesday’s trade deadline. Torres comes into tonight’s riding a five-game point streak before being dealt from Columbus.
He aims to push that streak to six on tonight in his first game as a Sabre as they play host to the Philadelphia Flyers at 7:30pm in HSBC Arena. Many of his family members will make the trek down from Toronto to see him play.
The Sabres are hoping that Torres, listed at 6’0 and 223 pounds provides the physical edge to win puck battles along the boards. He might not be as big as former trade deadline pickup Dainius Zubrus, but he should be able to win along the wall and supply his line mates with scoring opportunities. Zubrus played a similarly important role in the 2006-07 season and playoffs partnered with Chris Drury.
The Buffalo Sabres have been besieged with defeats lately. After showing so much promise through the first half of the season the team has taken several steps back of late, particularly since the start of February. They’ve won just one of their last nine games and offensive woes that have plagued them at times are front and center more frequently.
They remain in relatively good shape in the standings; trailing Ottawa for first in the Northeast Division by just a single point with two games in hand. Barring an epic collapse Buffalo will return to the post season for the first time in three seasons. They hold a 10 point lead over ninth place Boston with 20 games remaining.
But with the brand of hockey they’ve played of late it’s debatable if they’ll get out of the first round, especially if they fail to win their division and secure home ice for at least the first round of the playoffs.
It hardly went unanticipated, but before the Buffalo Sabres faced off against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night fans on hand at the HSBC Arena gave Ryan Miller a prolonged, heartfelt standing ovation for his heroics during the Olympic Games. The much deserved reception lasted nearly two minutes; long enough to make the typically unflappable netminder nearly blush.
Sadly, the team gave its fans precious few reasons to get on their feet once the puck dropped.
Miller fared well and was spectacular at times in his return from the Olympic break in making 37 saves, but his teammates continued to wallow in offensive misery as the Eastern Conference leading Capitals skated out of town with a 3-1 victory.
According to a report from Sabres.com, Buffalo Sabres center Paul Gaustad will miss at least a week of playing time with what head coach Lindy Ruff officially called an “upper body injury”.
By upper body injury, he really means a right hand that is sore as hell. Gaustad scuffled with Mike Rupp of the Penguins in the third period of last night’s game and after the fight was over immediately skated off the ice holding his right hand.
“Someone is going to have to pick up the slack,” Ruff said in the online report. “Derek Roy’s percentage in the last five, six games has gone way up so he’ll become a real key faceoff guy for us.”
One thing we know for certain is the Buffalo Sabres will be returning home to face the Washington Capitals tonight at the HSBC Arena. What remains to be seen is exactly who will or won’t be on the roster that was when everyone went to bed last night.
As of this posting the NHL trade deadline was under five and a half hours away and Buffalo had yet to make a move.
Buffalo News Sabres beat writer John Vogl wrote last night that Sabres general manager Darcy Regier was not close to making any trades.
A Buffalo Sabres comeback attempt fell short at Pittsburgh Tuesday night as they lost to the Penguins 3-2 in a duel of back-up goaltenders. Backups Patrick Lalime of the Sabres and Brent Johnson of the Penguins each had solid nights, stopping 25 and 26 shots respectively.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring almost 15 minutes in as Sergei Gonchar drilled a shot just inches off the ice past Lalime on the power play. It was the 200th goal of Gonchar’s career.
The Penguins made it 2-0 at 3:13 of the second period when Ruslan Fedotenko slid a pass through the crease to Lalime’s right and the puck was directed in by an untouched Pascal Dupuis.
Most everyone assumed Ryan Miller would get the start tonight against Canada’s new favorite son, Sidney Crosby and the rest of the Pittsburgh Penguins. This will not be the case going into Pittsburgh, the first game for both teams following the Olympic Break.
Sabres backup Patrick Lalime was the first to break the news to the media that he, not Miller, would be getting the nod versus the Pens. “I’m playing tomorrow and looking forward to it,” Lalime said after practice Monday. “I think he deserves the rest.”
Lalime is 3-3-2 this season with a .896 save percentage and 3.21 goals against average. Lalime faced his former team on December 19th in a 2-1 shoot-out loss. It’s his third appearance against the Penguins
As everyone knows by now, the bad news is Ryan Miller and his United States teammates fell just short of capturing the gold medal in an epic final showdown with Canada. If Sabres fans didn’t already despise Sidney Crosby before, they certainly will now. But lost in the immediate aftermath of obvious disappointment is that the city of Buffalo gained a sporting star on a worldwide level.
Miller already was popular in Buffalo but his performance in Vancouver over the past few weeks has him elevated to cult hero status. Everybody knows Miller now, which of course means everybody knows his girlfriend. Give it a few days and we’ll know his favorite television shows and what’s in his Ipod. That’s what happens when you become famous and wanted by the social media.
He may not have gone to the Olympics looking for personal stardom but he sure came away the sport’s version of a rock star.
He wasn’t nearly as busy as his Switzerland counterpart Jonas Hiller, but Ryan Miller was once again a rock in net for the United States as they won their Olympic quarterfinal matchup with the Swiss, 2-0.
With the win the Americans advance to the semifinals Friday at 3pm where they’ll play the winner of the Finland vs. Czech Republic game later today.
Miller turned back all 18 shots thrown his way in recording the first United States Olympic shutout since Mike Ritcher in 2002. He got plenty of help from his teammates defensively, who blocked a mind-blowing 25 shots.
The offensive hero was Zach Parise, who scored both American goals in the third period including an empty netter with 11.2 seconds left to finally seal the victory.
Through three games on the ice Ryan Miller has been the talk of the Winter Olympics. Miller stood on his head Sunday night, making 42 saves as the United States stunned heavily favored Canada in their own backyard.
The Buffalo Sabres netminder is now seeing his celebrity rise in sporting circles daily, and it’s spreading out to the entertainment social media as well. Turns out Miller has quite the hot girlfriend.
It’s now being reported that Miller has been dating actress Noureen DeWulf since May. DeWulf, 25, has been in recent movies like “The Goods” and “Oceans Thirteen” and has a host of television credits to her resume. She’s also been featured in Maxim magazine Hot 100 as one of the most desirable females.
Buffalo now has an actual celebrity. Can you imagine how much his star will rise if the Americans win the gold? You go, Ryan!
**UPDATE** Would anyone mind if we stickied this post at the top forever?
To think we still have about another week left of Olympic Hockey. America may not watch the NHL that much, but they sure will get into a great hockey game. When you have Ryan Miller being the number one trending topic on Twitter, you know that you have something going. Even Alysaa Milano twittered about Ryan Miller making her want to be a Sabres fan. Ryan, six words to Alyssa: My people will call your people (That’s showbiz talk)-
As a hockey fan, I definitely needed that. I’ll be honest, hockey and myself have kind of a love/ hate relationship. There’s just so many games I watch that can bore me to tears. However, having a game like this makes me want to stay up late and watch every single hockey game ever played on skates or roller blades. Do you believe in Millercles? – continue reading…
It’s always better to go out on a positive rather than a negative, which is what the Buffalo Sabres did on Saturday night after posting a 3-1 victory over the Western Conference’s best San Jose Sharks. The win ended a six-game winless streak and was their first and only win in February. Saturday’s game was the Sabres’ last before being off for two weeks for the Olympic break in Vancouver.
Right off the opening face-off, the Sabres played like team that had a lot of success up until recent times, while the Sharks looked sluggish.
Paul Gaustad opened a three goal second period for the Sabres after taking a nice pass from Henrik Tallinder. Gaustad was alone in front as three San Jose defenders drew their attention towards Tallinder in the left corner.
You’d be hard pressed to find a team in the NHL more eager to see the Olympic break than the Buffalo Sabres. For the sixth straight game Thursday night the Sabres failed to skate off the ice with two points and perhaps more alarmingly tlost to the Carolina Hurricanes for the second time in a week, 4-3 in overtime.
Carolina, ranked 14th in the Eastern Conference defeated a sliding Sabres team that’s now 0-4-2 in their last six games and 2-8-2 in their last dozen. They’ve also lost four straight games to teams not currently in the top eight playoff positions in their respective conferences.
The Buffalo Sabres get to enjoy the cozy confines of HSBC Arena one more time tonight before heading to the road for five consecutive games. They’ll try to pick up their fourth straight win as they play host to the Minnesota Wild.
First off, I’d like to apologize to readers for not having this in sooner. School has been trucking me with work. Hooray for midterms. Anyway, on to the article:
The Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League and the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League announced today that they have extended their affiliation agreement.
Darcy Regier of the Buffalo Sabres and Mike Gillis of the Vancouver Canucks, general managers of two division-leading clubs, are today’s guests on NHL Hour With Commissioner Gary Bettman on 
Tyler Myers had a career-best four point night and recent call up Mark Mancari scored a goal and set up the game winner as the Buffalo Sabres won their third straight game, defeating Dallas 5-3 Wednesday night at the HSBC Arena.
When the Buffalo Sabres take the ice tonight at the HSBC Arena against the Dallas Stars, it’s no secret what Lindy Ruff would desperately like to see his club expand upon.
The Buffalo Sabres today announced the 6th annual Scotty Bowman Showcase will take place on Monday, March 29 at HSBC Arena. The Scotty Bowman Showcase consists of two all-star hockey games between high school aged players from Buffalo against their rivals from Rochester. The event will also feature a 20-minute Girls Showcase between games, featuring the top local high school girl’s players from the Buffalo-area club teams. Admission for the games is $5.
A few quick notes from Buffalo Sabres practice today.
While the rest of his teammates enjoy an off day on Monday, Ryan Miller will be busy in the morning. Among other media appearances Miller is slated to appear on the “Today” show at 8:30am on NBC. While there I’m certain host Matt Lauer will ask Miller about his Olympic experience and his out from the closet hottie girlfriend. That’s what happens when you become a real celebrity.
With several new acquisitions playing well in their first games with their new teams, perhaps it’s a good thing the Buffalo Sabres traded for Raffi Torres by Wednesday’s trade deadline. Torres comes into tonight’s riding a five-game point streak before being dealt from Columbus.
The Buffalo Sabres have been besieged with defeats lately. After showing so much promise through the first half of the season the team has taken several steps back of late, particularly since the start of February. They’ve won just one of their last nine games and offensive woes that have plagued them at times are front and center more frequently.
It hardly went unanticipated, but before the Buffalo Sabres faced off against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night fans on hand at the HSBC Arena gave Ryan Miller a prolonged, heartfelt standing ovation for his heroics during the Olympic Games. The much deserved reception lasted nearly two minutes; long enough to make the typically unflappable netminder nearly blush.
According to a report from 
One thing we know for certain is the Buffalo Sabres will be returning home to face the Washington Capitals tonight at the HSBC Arena. What remains to be seen is exactly who will or won’t be on the roster that was when everyone went to bed last night.
A Buffalo Sabres comeback attempt fell short at Pittsburgh Tuesday night as they lost to the Penguins 3-2 in a duel of back-up goaltenders. Backups Patrick Lalime of the Sabres and Brent Johnson of the Penguins each had solid nights, stopping 25 and 26 shots respectively.
Most everyone assumed Ryan Miller would get the start tonight against Canada’s new favorite son, Sidney Crosby and the rest of the Pittsburgh Penguins. This will not be the case going into Pittsburgh, the first game for both teams following the Olympic Break.
As everyone knows by now, the bad news is Ryan Miller and his United States teammates fell just short of capturing the gold medal in an epic final showdown with Canada. If Sabres fans didn’t already despise Sidney Crosby before, they certainly will now. But lost in the immediate aftermath of obvious disappointment is that the city of Buffalo gained a sporting star on a worldwide level.
He wasn’t nearly as busy as his Switzerland counterpart Jonas Hiller, but Ryan Miller was once again a rock in net for the United States as they won their Olympic quarterfinal matchup with the Swiss, 2-0.
Through three games on the ice Ryan Miller has been the talk of the Winter Olympics. Miller stood on his head Sunday night, making 42 saves as the United States stunned heavily favored Canada in their own backyard.
Wow.
It’s always better to go out on a positive rather than a negative, which is what the Buffalo Sabres did on Saturday night after posting a 3-1 victory over the Western Conference’s best San Jose Sharks. The win ended a six-game winless streak and was their first and only win in February. Saturday’s game was the Sabres’ last before being off for two weeks for the Olympic break in Vancouver.
You’d be hard pressed to find a team in the NHL more eager to see the Olympic break than the Buffalo Sabres. For the sixth straight game Thursday night the Sabres failed to skate off the ice with two points and perhaps more alarmingly tlost to the Carolina Hurricanes for the second time in a week, 4-3 in overtime.
