Author: Buffalo Winter

With or without starters Sabres still win

Sabres 3 – Penguins 2 (unsuccessful penalty shot)  Pittsburgh gave it their best shot but Buffalo’s tandem goaltending was sparkling in net last night, with 19 years old 5^th round, 141^st overall 2023 draft selection goaltender Scott Ratzlaff who stopped all 10 SOG he faced in the third period to preserve the victory.

This preseason Sabres team stopped four Pittsburgh power plays, blocked more shots, but took 28.3% of faceoff wins, were out hit nearly 2 to 1, and ended up being outshot, thankfully there was strong goaltending from 10 year ECHL and AHL veteran Michael Houser in the first two periods.

HC Ruff made me laugh when after over an hour’s worth of drills, the coach challenged defenseman Mattias Samuelsson to hit a length-of-the-ice shot into an empty net on Wednesday and if he made it, the coach said practice would be over.

The defenseman, after scoring in Columbus, hit the shot and was swarmed by teammates, “After he scored, he looked like a 50-goal scorer,” HC Ruff said. “And he nailed it! That’s probably the most surprising part of practice for me.”

Preseason Sabres continuing on the road to Ottawa for a Thursday night game before heading to Columbus Saturday, meanwhile Buffalo Starters play an exhibition game versus a top professional German team, Red Bull Munchen in Munich Friday afternoon two o’clock EST.

Buffalo Germany Bound

Sabres 6 – Blue Jackets 1  Buffalo winning handily again, as they should, considering the amount of experienced NHL talent each team iced, I listened to the game on Columbus radio and their announcers were lenient realizing the Sabres were gearing up for the Global Series.

In the first period Buffalo scored early and took a total of four SOG and seemed as if they were cruising and not pressing as hard, then Columbus tied the game at one taking 13 SOG in doing so.

Buffalo responded by scoring twice in the second and three times in the third period to take control and win the game, goaltender Levi looked retro in his all tan/brown equipment.

Now as the main team heads to Europe today the players remaining will finish out the preseason schedule beginning tonight in Pittsburgh, and it will be interesting to see if there is any difference in scoring.

Utah Hockey Club

They won again, and without scoring for the opposition, after the Kings tied the game 2-2 it took only 19 seconds into overtime for the home team Hockey Club to win 3-2 and send what looked like a sell-out crowd, home very happy.

If you did not know this was only the second preseason game, by the raucous fans in the stands where you would have been hard pressed to find an empty seat, you might have made the supposition this was a playoff game the crowd was so enthusiastic.

Minnesota, Iowa, and St. Louis contribute to Utah win

Hockey Club 5 – Blues 3 (empty net, penalty shot) Location, location, location is important…In Iowa, home of the Minnesota AHL farm team, last night the Utah Hockey Club (not sure how to refer to them yet) earned their first win of their inaugural season, albeit a preseason contest.

The first score comes from an un-drafted lefty who notched 21 goals last season for Arizona, Michael Carcone in a NHL career barely over 100 games has etched himself in Hockey Club history by scoring twice including the empty net tally in Utah’s first ever NHL exhibition.

Knights 4 – Sharks 2 (empty net)  Heralded Macklin Celebrini did what he will probably do all season, scored and assisted on the power as he help drive San Jose in a 3-2 game before his team surrendered the empty net goal.

Stanley Cup Champions

Panthers 3 – Predators 2

Panthers 6 – Predators 2  Florida begins where they left off, winning, as visiting Nashville lost both games to the defending champs.

ESPN FHL

Former Sabres 3x 20-goal scorer left winger Evander Kane has been scheduled for multiple surgeries and will miss the start of Edmonton’s season with an indefinite recovery time frame, obviously not a FHL keeper this year.

There is still time to join a FHL, and time is what you will have to invest in order to successfully manage your team, at least 5-10 minutes each day to win the week, the more weekly wins the better your shot at a playoff seeding.

Sabres first preseason game of the new season

Sabres 7 – Penguins 3  In this game Buffalo was supposed to win handily because they had most of their starters in the game and Pittsburgh did not, and it went pretty much the way most thought.

Except…goaltending was horrendous on both ends of the ice, .833 and .837 are save percentages you expect from less experienced goaltenders with a preseason squad in front of them, Pittsburgh can use this reasoning but Buffalo cannot.

One hilarious moment was when the Penguins O’Connor swiped the puck off UPL’s pad and into the Sabres net with his hand, of course after review the “goal” was overturned.

The Sabres host a preseason game versus Columbus Monday, before flying off to Germany for an exhibition game before the start of Buffalo’s season versus New Jersey in Czechia October 4^th and 5^th.

The players not making the trip will make up the Sabres squad finishing the preseason here in North America, which provides a unique opportunity for players to be in preseason games they might not actually have been able to participate in.

ESPN NHL FHL

In each NHL season I go all in on just one fantasy team, second or sixth place it does not matter I give it my best to win each of the 22 weeks from October until March either for a playoff seeding or as a spoiler.

This season randomly placed in an ESPN FHL named “Chicago Pro H2H Points League” and began the draft in ninth place, selecting in the ninth and twelve slots and with 10 and 11 having auto picks it essentially on the clock provided two consecutive picks for me.

So fortunately I was able to select both Misters Nylander & Marner, two of Toronto’s premier players with possible line stacking possibilities and endless fantasy points with my first overall selections.

I always prefer to draft Sabres Dahlin early but he was listed as injured and he was taken before my next two picks came up, so I consoled myself with Buffalo’s top scorers Misters Thompson & Tuch who are playoff bound this season and will rack up the points.

Possibly too many Sabres but I also selected the next best thing to Defenseman Dahlin and that is Owen Powers and Mattias Samuelsson, going with… live by the sword, perish by the sword.

I have obtained blocking defensemen that some team managers overlook because they do not get the pretty assist points, and with the waiver wire transactions beginning this morning, we are off and skating .

October fourth is a long ways from today, plenty of time to enter a public league, or create your own at ESPN to participate with fellow fans who also believe in their managerial tactics, talent, and skill to win an ESPN FHL Championship.