Author: Buffalo Winter

Former Sabres player Eric Staal has come back to Buffalo

Here along the Lake Yesterday Jourdon Labarber reported that former Sabres Alternate Captain Eric Staal has be hired by the Sabres as a “special assistant” to General Manager Adams.

It is a solid move by Buffalo to get GM Adams an assistant, particularly someone who has played for the Sabres (32 games), beat us in the semi-finals that led to him to winning a Cup (2006), and has over 20 NHL/AHL seasons of player experience.

This appears to be the first step in becoming a general manager for Mr. Staal, hopefully the knowledge and experience he gains here in Buffalo will eventually lead him to earn the GM position here instead of watching Buffalo players/coaches before him who have become GMs or assistant GMs elsewhere, (for example Chris Drury & Jim Schoenfeld).

Toronto & Dallas Triumph

Maple Leafs 4 – Stars 3 (SC QTR Finals 2-0 Toronto) Toronto only took 20 SOG and made the Florida netminder appear quite pedestrian, the referees also gave a Maple Leafs center two roughing penalties at the same time even though one of his “victims” received an embellishment penalty.

Toronto had a strong response in the third period just 17 seconds after Florida tied the game at three with RW Marner putting the Maple Leafs back in front 4-3 and Toronto convincingly held off the Panthers the rest of the way.

Stars 3 – Jets 2 (SC QTR Finals tied 1-1) The Stars RW Rantanen scored a natural hat trick in the second period and the Jets could not recover and if Winnipeg plans to win down in Texas, they had better begin scoring on the power play.

TONIGHT’S MATCHUPS

Hurricanes vs Capitals 7pm (SC QTR Finals 1-0 Carolina)

Oilers vs Knights 9:30pm (SC QTR Finals 1-0 Edmonton)

Hurricanes & Oilers are Road Warriors

Hurricanes 2 – Capitals 1 (OT) (Series 1-0 Carolina) Washington managed only 14 SOG (none in overtime) all evening relying solely on their goaltender and did not appear ready for the game.

The Capitals were forced into 32 blocked shots compared to 9 blocked shots by Carolina and the Hurricanes outshot the Capitals 32 -14 while dishing out 44 hits.

Oilers 4 – Knights 2 (Series 1-0 Edmonton) The Oilers spotted the home team the early first period 2-0 lead then with three and a half minutes remaining Oilers RW Perry recorded his third goal of the playoffs to make the score 2-1 to end the first period.

Edmonton outshot the Knights 12 – 1 in the second period but could not score then one minute into the third period Oilers center Draisaitl tied the game at two before Edmonton scores twice more in 72 seconds for the 4-2 lead with less than two minutes to play to earn the first win of the series.

TONIGHT’S MATCHUPS (SC QTR Finals)

Panthers vs Maple Leafs 7pm (Series 1-0 Toronto)

Stars vs Jets 9:30pm (Series Gm 1)

Core Four Shine

LAST WEEK’S ANSWER: Rick Dudley

Here along the Lake I would like to humble and sincerely express my appreciation to the hundreds of thousands of hockey fans that did or could have participated in the inaugural Tuesday Trivia.

The top two responders with the most correct answers were Oldfan and Anonymous followed closely by paper2021 and Challenger70.

The intent of Tuesday Trivia was to provide some small challenges to test the hockey data base of fans and to incentivize fans to do their own research and expand their hockey knowledge while making it fun at the same time, or at least that was my intention.

I look forward to stumping as many hockey fans next season as possible.

The contestants receiving a Vintage Hockey Card (VHC) with the adjoining Buffalo Winter original certificate of verification (COV) will be contacted by email for details.

Cup Champions Subdued

Maple Leafs 5 – Panthers 4 (Series 1-0 Toronto) Maple Leafs RW Nylander exploded offensively in the first period scoring just 33 seconds into the game to relieve some of the hyped-up pressure on Toronto to win and scored again with eight minutes remaining in the period for the 2-0 lead.

When Florida scored to cut the lead in half with four minutes left in the first period, RW Nylander responded by assisting on Toronto’s third goal 19 seconds later to restore Toronto’s two goal lead earning the 3-1 score going into the second period.

Even though the Panthers were able to come within one goal twice Toronto did not sit back and attempt to protect the lead, the Maple Leafs without taking advantage of their five power plays still scored five goals and held the lead all game.

TONIGHT’S MATCHUPS

Hurricanes vs Capitals 7pm (Series Gm 1)

Oilers vs Knights 9:30pm (Series Gm 1)