Author: Buffalo Winter

Buffalo Bested by Visitors

Sabres 2 – Canadiens 4 (en) Buffalo (G) Lyon posted a .900% save percentage while the Sabres launched 38 SOG and scored on the power play, but Montreal’s goaltender had himself a game enabling his team to even up the season series at two apiece.

Visually the home crowd appeared overly attired in Montreal sweaters, there literally were massive sections all throughout our arena in “Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge”, which will have to be countered with blanketing our home with Blue & Gold sweaters during our long-awaited playoff invitation and participation.

Buffalo travels to the Sunshine State for back-to-back road battles with the Florida Panthers Monday night at 7pm EST then the Tampa Bay Lightning Tuesday night at 7:30pm EST.

Buffalo Goaltender sets new team record

Sabres 4 – Kings 1 (en) It has been too long since any fan or Buffalo player has mentioned the Sabres and the Stanley Cup in the same sentence, here is a quote from (RW) Tuch who earned a hat trick last night, “We’re coming in with a lot of confidence,” (RW) Tuch said. “Everybody’s coming in trying to prove themselves, and we’re trying to prove as a team that we’re legit. We’re not just going to go for the playoffs, we’re going to go for the Cup, and that’s our goal: get better each and every day.”

Sabres humble (G) Lyon has won his 10th consecutive game passing Buffalo veteran goaltender Gerry Desjardins’ 9-game win streak that was earned during Christmas time in 1976, and had this to say about the record, “It’s great,” (G) Lyon said. “It’s awesome to be a part of the history, but when you’re stacked up against guys like Ryan Miller and, obviously, Dominik Hasek, those were the guys that I idolized growing up. So, I’m certainly not going to put myself anywhere near the conversation with those guys.

There has been concern about Buffalo’s success in faceoffs and the number of shots on goal, but last night the Sabres were clicking at a 79% winning percentage in faceoffs during the first period and finished the game with a 62.5% winning percentage overall.

During the second period alone, both teams combined for 33 SOG and the Kings had taken 31 SOG over the first two periods, but when Buffalo was up 3-1 the Sabres held the Kings to just 7 SOG during the third period, squashing any Los Angeles hope of a comeback.

The Buffalo Sabres are a wagon and are rolling towards the playoffs, they have now won 20 out of their last 24 games making the Sabres the hottest team currently in the NHL, and they look to continue this torrid pace at home during Hockey Night in Canada this Saturday 7pm EST as Buffalo plays Montreal for the third time in 15 days.

TOP NHL forwards born in the USA

Here along the Lake Before (RW) Patrick Kane was born and before (C) Mike Modano played in the NHL, there was the “first” American NHL player who scored over 50 goals in one season, for transparency there are 16 American born NHL players that have scored more career goals and points, but (C) Bobby Carpenter is the first American born NHL player to score (1984-85) 50 or more goals in a season.

Teenager (C) Carpenter was 18 years old when drafted in the first round, third overall by the inept Washington Capitals right out of high school and played five games for the U20 World Championship, the Capitals were improving going from winning only 8 Games in their inaugural season to winning as much as 27 games in one season, but not yet a playoff team.

Washington’s (C) Carpenter played a full schedule his first five seasons and scored 32 goals in each of first two seasons, then in his fourth season the Capitals center scored an unheard of 53 goals and 95 points which began the legitimization of American born players in a league dominated by Canadians.

After 22 games in the 1986-87 season the Capitals (7 seasons) traded their star American to the New York Rangers (1 season) who after 28 games traded the center to the Los Angeles Kings (3 seasons) who then traded him to Boston (4 seasons) where he was a 25-goal man twice before resigning with Washington for one season before they let him go and he signed with the New Jersey Devils (6 seasons) where (C) Carpenter won his Stanley Cup.

(RW) Kane and (C) Modano are superior in their statistical accomplishments but not before the first true American NHL superstar broke the ice and paved the way for elite American born centers & wingers, and youth development in the USA as well as disproving that Americans are at a disadvantage and cannot develop/play as well as their Canadian counterparts.

Buffalo 3rd in the Atlantic Division

Sabres 7 – Maple Leafs 4 (en) Buffalo Captain (D) Dahlin earned his first NHL hat trick and scored his 400th career point, in leading the Sabres to victory on the road versus a division opponent.

In his 500th NHL game, Sabres (C) Thompson scored four minutes into the first period for the early 1-0 lead, unfortunately Toronto successfully challenged the goal, but eventually Buffalo’s (C) Thompson scored his 28th of the season and earned an assist (27th) later in the game.

During this game the Sabres did not get whistled for any penalties and scored on the power play; Buffalo’s starter (G) Luukkonen left the game after allowing two goals on five shots approximately halfway through the first period with a lower body injury and rookie (G) Ellis finished the game.

Buffalo finishes January with two home games as the Sabres host the Los Angeles Kings Thursday night 7pm EST and for the third time this month the Sabres will play the Montreal Canadiens this Saturday night 7pm EST.

Two playoff seedings secured

Here along the Lake There are five regular season weekly matchups remaining to play, and our league now has three team managers eliminated, and two team managers guaranteed a playoff invitation one of which is me, Buffalo Winter.

In the next two weekly matchups Buffalo Winter is scheduled to play the top two Eastern Division team managers, Slapshot and Zach’s Honorable Team, before finishing the season playing against three basement teams.

TRANSACTIONS

As you can ascertain, I continue to switch in and out of my roster defensemen that are rated at 1.7, although (D) Durzi is now at a 1.8 rating, additionally I dropped my only Colorado player because a stronger forward became available and as much as I appreciate having an Avalanche player on the team, Colorado’s (LW) Lehkonen just is not consistent enough for me to keep him on the roster.

PLAYERS TO MONITOR

I keep the Buffalo Sabres (RW) Doan and rookie (C) Helenius on my list because I enjoy watching Sabres players doing well, even in an FHL, since I have two Buffalo players on my roster I keep to my strategy by utilizing no more than two players from any one NHL team.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

I maintain leads in the top three scoring categories and hits, then I am second overall in SOG and the all-important point producing blocks.

Remember, even if you are a team manager that has been eliminated, please do not throw away your opportunity to gain valuable experience by keeping your league’s playoff seeded teams honest, make them earn their victories, everything you accomplish this season, win or lose, will assist you greatly in managing a team in next year’s ESPN FHL season.