Category: Hockey History 1917-2023

Initial weekly matchup victory

Here along the Lake I had a bounce back weekly matchup earning the highest point total (132.5) becoming 1-1 on the season.

I ignore the playoff% until at least a half a dozen weekly matchups have taken place to get a more accurate idea of who is competing for a playoff seeding.

Here are my transactions for the past week, Star Power and Snapshot are the only other team managers to make any moves. The best move so far was dropping (LW) Laine for (LW) Lehkonen, and as picking up rookie (D) Buium could prove fruitful.

Goaltenders are the only player to give you negative points, netminders are a high-risk, high-reward type of gamble, and the safest bet is the wager you do not place, so I do not have goaltenders on my roster unlike my opponent from last week who has three.

Two days ago, when the Sabres were beating the Panthers, my opponent had Florida’s (G) Bobrovsky in net as well as having (G) Stolarz in net when the Maple Leafs lost to the Kraken, lowering his overall score by a negative 2.6 points.

Here is my lineup for tonight’s five games;

you may be wondering why (D) Middelton is on my active roster since he only earns on average 1.6 fantasy points per game, the main reason is blocking which this defenseman already has earned 15 blocks that has contributed 7.5 points besides his hits and shots.

While only registering a single assist offensively you cannot overlook the importance of a blocking defenseman and how much he can contribute to your overall weekly matchup score.

Additionally, ensure your players that are (IR) (DTD) (SSPD) are placed on the bench or into injured reserve and that any players whose teams are playing are placed up on the active roster.

BUFFALO SABRES

Bad behavior by Brad Marchand has cost him 5,000 thousand dollars for his actions with (D) Dahlin’s helmet while in the penalty box.

The Sabres take on the Canadians tonight at 7pm endeavoring to hit the 500% winning percentage versus a division combatant to increase the possibility of moving towards a playoff seeding.

Alex Lyon becomes 31st Sabres goaltender to record a shutout (32 saves)

Sabres 3 – Panthers 0 Buffalo special teams scored twice on the power play and killed off all seven Florida power plays as the Sabres out hustled the Panthers in a game where the woke officials gave a Buffalo player a 10-minute penalty for “abusive language”.

Newcomer (RW) Doan scored both power play goals and (D) Power scored the first goal by a defenseman for Buffalo this season while the Sabres scored twice in less than three minutes during the second period.

Hysterically, Florida’s (LW) Marchand became so incensed after attacking (D) Dahlin that he took the Sabres helmet to the penalty box with him and ripped off the straps before petulantly throwing them onto the ice.

Another incredible incident happened to Florida (D) Mikkola as he held Sabres (C) Kozak and pulled him down to the ice smacking his own face on the ice and was not able to sit in the penalty box for his holding penalty as his face injury was so severe he had to leave the game four minutes into the second period.

The Sabres travel to Montreal for a Monday night game (7pm) against Les Habitants.

Buffalo has earned five straight victories versus Ottawa

Sabres 8 – Senators 4 (en) Ottawa came to Buffalo sporting their awesome looking third sweater, a beautiful red & black with gold trim design, but left our lakeshore with a beating that will not soon be forgotten.

Buffalo had fortuitous bounces, four power play goals (not since 2018 have the Sabres scored four PPs in a game), a shorthanded goal, three players scoring twice and an empty netter to cap everything off.

Buffalo took the 1-0 lead on the power play as (RW) Quinn ripped a shot wide that bounced off the end glass up over the net and off the back of the Ottawa goaltender into the net.

Four minutes into the second period the Senators took a 2-1 lead and after the first three losses one could be skeptical of Buffalo finally winning, but the Sabres scored four times within the next seven minutes taking a 5-2 lead to erase any doubt.

Ottawa did not lay down and scored the next two goals in the first two minutes of the third period to get within one at 5-4, but Buffalo responded in kind scoring 15 seconds later and again 45 seconds after that for the 7-4 lead, and with an empty net goal just under four minutes to play an incredible 8-4 lead and first win of the season.

Sabres are perfect penalty killers

Sabres 1 – Avalanche 3 Buffalo killed off four Colorado penalties to remain at 100% efficiency this season at thwarting opponents power plays.

Sabres (C) Thompson scored his first of the season with teammates (RW) Tuch and (D) Dahlin earning their first assists contributing to the offense.

Additionally, (G) Lyon once again played over .900% save percentage which he has consistently provided over the first three games of the season affording Buffalo the opportunity to win.

The Ottawa Senators arrive in Buffalo tomorrow as the Sabres host their division rivals for Buffalo’s fourth game of the season in an effort to strike the Senators down for the Sabres initial October victory.

First Weekly Matchups

Buffalo Winter vs Mike’s Magnificent Team A close low-scoring matchup between West Division teams to start the ESPN FHL regular season during the five-day week initial matchups.

A strong finish by both teams ensured that the lead MMT earned was kept and now has one up on BW for a playoff seeding, good news is that there are 21 more weekly matchups to battle for division supremacy.

This week’s matchup has Buffalo Winter versus George’s Great Team the division leader from the East Division and to start off this holiday BW has a full roster and GGT has goaltenders that are probable but only five skaters on the active roster with one skater sitting on the bench.

One move of note; had to drop unproductive (RW) Laine for (LW) Lehkonen the Avalanche player already scored twice with an assist as Montreal’s newest player has yet to produce enough to justify keeping him on the roster.

This Christopher Columbus Day the NHL begins early Monday afternoon with the Sabres and Avalanche puck drop at 12:30pm here along the Lake and the other nine games have four afternoon starts with the evening games beginning between 7pm and 8:30pm.