Month: January 2024

Anaheim benefits from happy net goal

The Buffalo Sabres scored two goals while the goaltender was pulled with just over five minutes remaining in the game but the third one proved to be elusive as Anaheim gets an empty netter to escape losing to Buffalo with a 4-2 score.

The Sabres on a West Coast three game road trip continues tonight versus the Los Angeles Kings the number one wild card seeding in the Western Conference boasting an 8-8-6 home record that the Sabres can ruin before heading to San Jose Saturday afternoon.

The Oilers continue to win as they inch ever closer to the NHL record of consecutive wins of 17 games set by the Pittsburgh Penguins with victory number 14 and goaltender Mr. Skinner posted a .964 save percentage as the  Columbus Blue Jackets fell 4-1 to Edmonton last night.

Reduced to playing the spoiler, Buffalo Winter has earned the third highest point total for the week thus far, endeavoring to win out and give each opponent a run for their money.

A city in France or an own goal

During last night’s game between Pittsburgh and Arizona with the Penguins having an advantage with the delayed penalty and pulled goaltender scored on themselves when Mr. Letang attempted a pass that Mr. Malkin could not handle and watched helplessly as the puck went into their own net.

Limoges a city located in the southwestern part of France and is home to fine china porcelain products which may explain why Canadiens probably in New Brunswick around 1970 began calling own goals limoges because of the fragility of the team that scored on itself.

Approximately thirty years ago Toronto residents also began using the term limoges in referring to own goals, and the NHL does not record own goal statistics with some websites only highlighting the team and how many delayed penalties they took and if they were scored upon.

Hockey players similar to everyone else can and do make mistakes, scoring on your own team is embarrassing and disastrous, as the Penguins experienced last night as they endeavored to tie the game at three went down 4-2 then eventually lost the road game 5-2 to the Coyotes.

Coaching the Islanders to a OT win in first outing

It was 10 seasons ago when first time Head Coach Patrick Roy took the reign of an NHL team that he played eight seasons for and that won only 16 games the year before Colorado hired Mr. Roy to be Head Coach for the 2013-14 season.

While coaching centers 18 years old Nathan MacKinnon and 22 years old Ryan O’Reilly, along with 25 years old goaltender Semyon Varlamov HC Roy won 52 regular season games and the Jack Adams Award.

But unable to repeat this feat over the next two seasons sent HC Roy back to the QMHL to head coach his Quebec Remparts where he was Owner/GM and coached for eight seasons prior to the Avalanche.

After winning the QMHL Championship last season HC Roy has now been given an opportunity from the New York Islanders to once again be a Head Coach in the NHL and making an early supposition, it seems like a good fit.

Single digit temps to greet the Lightning

Today’s 12:30 afternoon game is the Sabres last home game for January versus the number one wild card team in the Eastern Conference, Tampa Bay, a team that has only won three more games this season than Buffalo achieved earning a strong home record of only five losses.

Winning their last two games by shut outs and are 6-4 in their last 10 games, Buffalo just past the halfway point of the 2023-24 NHL season and are not out of the playoff seeding picture as of yet.

A victory today will give the Sabres a winning home record and assist in their goal differential before heading out West to battle Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Jose to finish up the month’s schedule.

Will UPL make his fourth consecutive start? Is Mr. Levi going to remain Buffalo’s back-up or get playing time in Rochester? And why are the sports pundits speculating about Mr. Mittelstadt being traded because his contract is not locked down long term, time will tell.

The Hockey News has digitized all of their back issues, and here is a gem worth looking into to understand referees/linesmen and all that they have to go through and how they call the games.

Unyielding and Impenetrable Luukkonen

Buffalo 3 Chicago 0

The Buffalo Sabres swept away the two Western Conference basement dwellers in the past two contests with shut outs, and can earn a winning Home record versus a solid wild card team in the Lightning tomorrow afternoon.

What has to be the best “Slap Shot Moment” for Buffalo this season was last night when their star number one defenseman in the penalty box literally reached over the dasher board to stop the puck as his penalty expired before stepping out onto the ice.

Well that is not allowed so Mr. Dahlin had to spin around and skate right back into the penalty box for another two minutes.

Edmonton 4 Seattle 2

Edmonton marches onward with their 12^th consecutive victory, a 4-2 come from behind down 2-0 performance at home versus Seattle with Oilers Draisaitl (1G, 3A), Foegele (2G), Hyman (1G, 1A), and Kane (2A) leading the offense.

Toronto 4 Calgary 2

Also highlighting why a “two-goal” lead is considered dangerous and difficult to protect the Flames had a first period two goal lead get cut in half by Mr. Matthews with 96 seconds remaining in the period before finishing his hat trick in the second period.

Sabres Players of Note

Buffalo’s former left wing Tyler Ennis is retiring after playing for nearly 20 seasons for teams in the WHL, AHL, NHL, including Swiss and German leagues, a decent 20 goal scorer for Buffalo Mr. Ennis was a spectacular dangler who could excite the crowd with his moves.