O'Reilly - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Sabres’ Zemgus Girgensons, Flames’ Johnny Gaudreau grew close in junior

BUFFALO – Almost six years ago, Calgary Flames star Johnny Gaudreau met a shy European teenager who barely a year earlier had left his native Latvia to embark on a hockey career in the United States.

At first, as Sabres winger Zemgus Girgensons acclimated to life in the junior United States Hockey League, he was quiet around his Dubuque Fighting Saints teammates.

Within a month, Gaudreau said, his new friend had “changed completely.”

“He’s talking ... Read the full article

Dan Bylsma envisions Sabres rookie Sam Reinhart as center in future

BUFFALO – After a brief run back at center filling in for the injured Ryan O’Reilly, Sabres rookie Sam Reinhart will skate again on the right wing beside center Jack Eichel and Evander Kane tonight against the Calgary Flames.

Someday, Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said, he envisions Reinhart returning to center, his natural position. But Reinhart, whose 18 scores top the goal-deprived team, is most effective on the side right now, Bylsma believes.

“Just really ... Read the full article

Sabres’ anemic offense wasting strong goaltending efforts

BUFFALO – In his last three starts, goalie Robin Lehner has been the Sabres’ backbone, stopping 100 of the 105 shots opponents have pumped on him, a gaudy .952 save percentage.

For his efforts, thanks to just a single goal of support, Lehner earned zero wins.

“It’s frustrating to let those (performances) go to waste,” Sabres winger Marcus Foligno said Wednesday.

For the first time since 2010-11, the Sabres could have four players – Jack ... Read the full article

Connor McDavid steals show in Oilers’ overtime win against Sabres

BUFFALO – As much as Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid tried to downplay the hype, say that Tuesday’s first-ever meeting between the top two picks was really about their teams, in the end, the rookies ended up being the talk of the Edmonton Oilers’ 2-1 overtime triumph against the Sabres.

The game almost played out like it had been scripted, with McDavid, the phenom Sabres fans coveted before the Oilers won the NHL Draft ... Read the full article

Jack Eichel, Connor McDavid won’t buy into hype

BUFFALO – Dan Bylsma, as he loves to do, kept accompanying his words with a sly grin. The so-called rivalry between phenoms Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid is a “made-up” scenario, the Sabres coach said Tuesday.

The Sabres’ 2-1 overtime loss to McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers was the first-ever NHL meeting between the “generational talents” drafted first and second overall last year. The rookies barely know each other.

How could they truly be rivals?

“The hype ... Read the full article

Jack Eichel, Connor McDavid downplay first NHL meeting

BUFFALO – The so-called rivalry between top draft picks Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid, well, that’s simply a “made-up scenario,” Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said.

Bylsma, as he’s known to do, said that with a sly grin. Like just about everyone else, he wants to see the youngsters dubbed generational talents face each other for the first time tonight when the Sabres host the Edmonton Oilers.

“The hype is produced,” Bylsma told a packed ... Read the full article

Sabres goalie Chad Johnson could return as backup

BUFFALO – Just days ago, it appeared Sabres goalie Chad Johnson’s days here were numbered.

In fact, after the backup’s strong 24-save performance in Friday’s 3-1 win in San Jose, the joke became the Sabres should’ve left him there because the Sharks needed a new No. 2 goalie badly.

But the Sharks acquired James Reimer from Toronto on Saturday, the same day St. Louis received Anders Nilsson from Edmonton.

In a matter of hours, the ... Read the full article

Sabres open to bringing Jamie McGinn back in summer

BUFFALO – Come July 1, if Jamie McGinn is available in free agency, the Sabres would be interested in re-signing the winger, general manager Tim Murray said today after trading the veteran to the Anaheim Ducks for a conditional third-round pick in 2016.

Murray had talked a bit with McGinn’s camp about an extension. McGinn, his top asset on an expiring contract, meshed quickly in his first season with the Sabres, scoring 13 goals.

“It ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Jamie McGinn could be coveted before trade deadline

BUFFALO – After 12 seasons as the face of the Carolina Hurricanes, Eric Staal waived his no-trade clause to join his brother, Marc, in New York for the Rangers’ Stanley Cup-or-bust run. Former Winnipeg Jets captain Andrew Ladd is back in Chicago, where he won a championship with the Blackhawks in 2010.

Thanks to a few days of heavy action, the crop of notable rental forwards available before the 3 p.m. trade deadline – the ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Cal O’Reilly on brother Ryan’s injury: ‘He was mad’

BUFFALO – If the Sabres recalled the hottest player from Rochester, goalie Linus Ullmark, not forward Cal O’Reilly, would be up right now, coach Dan Bylsma joked.

Ullmark, who played 19 NHL games earlier this season, dazzled over the weekend, stopping 94 of 97 shots in two wins, including 51 in Saturday’s 6-2 win in Syracuse.

“But we need a forward, not a goalie,” Bylsma said this afternoon inside the First Niagara Center.... Read the full article