Twitter is abuzz that the Buffalo Sabres have signed former University of Maine forward Brian Flynn to an entry level contract on Wednesday. Flynn is 6’1″ and weighs in at 185 pounds. It is expected he will report to the Rochester Americans.
During his collegiate career, Flynn accumulated 156 points in 153 games at Maine, serving as the captain for his senior season. This season he finished 3rd in team scoring with 18 goals and 30 assists in 40 games, which was also good for 3rd in Hockey East. He was named to the Hockey East First Team at the conclusion of the season and was a finalist for the Walter Brown Award, an award given to the top US born player in New England.
Ovie had his "Pants on the Ground" last night compliments of Jason Pominville
Well, for the Buffalo Sabres, its not over yet. After another dominating win against the Washington Capitals last night, that hope is growing into something real. Two months ago, this team was in the middle of a franchise record road losing streak and was sitting in the basement of the Eastern Conference and now they managed to turn a ten point gap into the eighth and final playoff spot. At least thats where they sit today.
Currently the Sabres are on a 5 game win streak after posting dominating wins against Tampa Bay, Montreal, the New York Rangers, Minnesota and Washington. Through this current streak, the Sabres have outscored their opponents 22-6, thanks in large part to the line of Drew Stafford-Tyler Ennis-Marcus Foligno and the stellar play of Ryan Miller.
Now this is what the Buffalo Sabres were expecting when they rewarded Drew Stafford with his contract extension. His two goals last night continued to prove that all he needed was the right line mate’s to awaken him from his slumber for most of the season. In his last 6 games, he has 12 points and has had separate 3 point games. Stafford has been a streaky player through out his career and tends to score in bunches, but many get the sense that this time seems to be a little different.
His line mates, Tyler Ennis and recent call-up Marcus Foligno, have certainly helped bring out what many believe is the “real” Drew Stafford. Foligno has played in 8 total NHL games, his first coming back in December against the Senators. While his name didn’t appear on the scoresheet that night, many were excited to see what the youngest Foligno had to offer. In his next appearance, which was 7 games ago, he would score his first goal. After that he was promoted to the line with Ennis and Stafford and the rest in pretty much history. Foligno has accumulated 10 points in 7 games, including 5 goals.
It took 9 games, but Cody Hodgson has finally arrived. He scored his first point as a Buffalo Sabre on Monday night against Tampa Bay by picking up the primary assist on Jason Pominville's power play goal late in the first period. He followed that up by adding a secondary assist on Corey Tropp's third goal of the season in the second period. After that game, the CoHo haters quieted down a bit, but after tonight there is really nothing left for them to complain about.
Hodgson scored what would become the game winning goal 6:15 into the first period. The ovation Hodgson received when his name was announced was glorious to say the least. He’s worked hard and is finally starting to feel comfortable with his new teammates, which is becoming more and more obvious as we watch his puck handling. He is starting to figure out where players are going to be and his passing has become much stronger as games have progressed. just to add icing to the cake (and to silence the rest of the haters out there), he scored again .
Well, its official. Tyler Myers has received the first Shannaban of his career after boarding Scott Gomez during last nights game against the Montreal Canadiens. Myers was slapped with a 3 game ban, which might be a little over the top, but the suspension was very well earned. Boarding is boarding, my friends and I don’t think anyone should be completely shocked over this.
Thankfully our defense corps is pretty deep and while Myers will be missed (by some), it will be fairly easy to cover the void. We have able bodies in Rochester in Brayden McNabb and TJ Brennan. Andrej Sekera is another body once he is over his battle with pneumonia, which is hopefully sooner rather than later.
Myers will miss tomorrow’s game against Gabriel Landeskog and the Colorado Avalanche. He will also miss the Sabres next two road games in Florida against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers. Myers will forfeit $14,189.19 in salary. Check out the video explanation here
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it
was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. . . .
Tyler 1 and Tyler 2 (but really its my BFF Kim and myself)
A rather fitting quote of this game. It was the best of times, see Tyler Ennis’ game. It was the worst of times, see Montreal’s game tying goal with 3 seconds left in the game. It was he age of wisdom, see Derek Roy’s pass to Tyler Myers to win the game in overtime. It was the age of foolishness, see Ville Leino’s giveaway in the first that led to the first Habs goal.
The entire game, the last ten minutes or so being the exception, was completely dominated by the Sabres. It became very evident almost immediately that the Canadiens were a little tired, as Buffalo skated all over them. Somehow, the Habs came out of the first period with a 1-0 lead, despite the tilted shot totals (14 – 6 in favor of Buffalo). Erik Cole opened the scoring after an untimely giveaway by Ville Leino off the wall. Desharnais picked up the loose puck and dumped it back to Cole who slapped it over Miller’s shoulder.
In just his second NHL game, Marcus Foligno came through big time for the Buffalo Sabres last night. He outmuscled Sergei Gonchar behind the Ottawa Senators net late in the third period and threw the puck to the front of the crease, probably hoping Drew Stafford would redirect it in. Unbeknownst to him, or anyone else at first, Foligno was the last Sabre to touch the puck before it careened on over Ben Bishop’s shoulder. Check out the goal here!
Just for some background on the last few days for Foligno, here’s his pre-game interview
And finally, my favorite, Foligno in the locker room post-game. Look at that smile!
This could have been the biggest game of the season so far, a four point game against the team you are chasing for the final playoff spot. One would assume that a team in this position would come flying out of the gate with guns blazing, but not the Buffalo Sabres, not tonight.
This was an extremely poor showing by a Sabres team that swept through California with two shut out wins and handed Vancouver a 5-3 loss only a few days ago. There was almost no effort from anyone outside of the line of Corey Tropp, Matt Ellis and Brad Boyes. The top line of Pominville, Roy and Vanek could have sat on the bench all night and we might have had a chance to win.
Well it has been an interesting few hours, I guess thats what I get for going to work and not being near technology… lame, I know. Any who, Robyn Regehr will not play tonight after suffering a lower body injury two nights ago against the San Jose Sharks. Regehr was hit in the second period by Sharks forward Patrick Marleau behind Miller’s net and gingerly skated over to the bench. He did not return and is listed as day-to-day.
Alex Sulzer will get his first chance tonight to show Lindy Ruff and the Buffalo Sabres exactly what he can bring to the team as he will replace Regehr in the line-up. He will be paired with his Olympic roommate and old d-partner, Christian Ehrhoff. Sulzer says he plays a defensive game with a little offensive flair and lucky for him he gets to play his first game for the Sabres against the team that traded him away on Monday.
Well, well, well. This is the team many were expecting at the beginning of the season. Its a shame its taken this long for them to find themselves and start playing like the team they really are. The Buffalo Sabres are climbing their way back into the playoff race and after posting back-to-back shutout wins, they only sit 4 points out of the final playoff spot. With 18 games left, its no longer that big of a stretch for them to squeak into the postseason, especially because they have 2 games in hand on the Winnipeg Jets, who currently occupy 8th place.
Ryan Miller deserves most, if not all, of the credit for keeping this team in the playoff race. He is finally starting to look like his old self, making crazy ridiculous saves at key moments and stopping all of the 82 shots he faced in games against Anaheim and San Jose. The last time a goaltender posted back-to-back shut outs was December 3rd and 4th of 2010. Coincidently, the last goaltender to conquer that feat was Ryan Miller.
Twitter is abuzz that the Buffalo Sabres have signed former University of Maine forward Brian Flynn to an entry level contract on Wednesday. Flynn is 6’1″ and weighs in at 185 pounds. It is expected he will report to the Rochester Americans. 
