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 .

I hate to point out the obvious, but would someone please explain to me how we lost in the Hodgson trade? As far as I can see, we robbed Vancouver of a very talented player on both sides of the puck, not to mention his face off percentage has been 50% of higher in nine out of twelve games (his lowest total coming in at 33.33% against Tampa). Yes, he struggled to put points on the board, but the chances were there and he was working hard. To say you hate the trade and wish we still had Kassian, lets look as his stats so far with the Canucks. In his 10 games, he has 2 points, both coming against Buffalo back in the beginning of March. He is averaging about ten minutes a game and before tonight’s game against the Blackhawks, hasn’t really lived up to his tough guy persona. I can totally see how we lost out in that trade…

Not to mention, if Kassian was still playing here a certain player by the name of Marcus Foligno would definitely not be wearing the Blue and Gold. Not to repeat myself again, but I feel its necessary. Marcus Foligno is ten times the player Zack Kassian will ever be, which is what made him expendable. Foligno is tough, gritty and will stand up for his teammates. Every time someone has tried to hit Ennis, Foligno is right there to remind opposing players, if they mess with Ennis they have to deal with him. Kassian doesn’t do that now and never will.

Enough of my rambling, back to the game. Tyler Myers returned after serving his 3 game Shanaban for boarding Scott Gomez the last time the Habs and Sabres met. Travis Turnball made his NHL debut after it was announced the Pat Kaleta would not play. He play just over 6 minutes of ice time and led the team in hits with three. Jason Pominville upped the population in Pominville by adding the second goal for the Sabres in the second period.

Montreal played a good game, but could not solve Miller, who stopped all 34 shots he faced tonight. This was Miller’s career high 6th shutout of the season and 28th of his career. Miller has been a big part of the equation for the Sabres recent winning ways, going 11-1-4 in his last 16 starts. In that span of games, he has posted 4 of his 6 shut outs.

Watch CoHo’s post game interview here

Watch Miller’s post game interview here

And finally watch Lindy’s remarks here