Bill Hoppe - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Sabres lose game to Oilers, defenseman Tyler Myers to injury

BUFFALO – Fittingly, a tilt between the NHL’s two worst teams started ominously for the bottom-feeding Sabres. Just 32 seconds in, Jeff Petry zoomed past Jamie McBain and beat goalie Jhonas Enroth easily on the Edmonton Oilers’ first shot.

But the Sabres settled down against the hapless Oilers and their porous defense, taking a 2-1 lead before the first period ended.

At times, the “Battle for the Basement” or the “Game of the Weak” – ... Read the full article

Sabres goalie Ryan Miller wanted Team USA Olympic mask to resemble old one

BUFFALO – If Ryan Miller’s new Team USA Olympic mask for the upcoming Sochi Games looks familiar, it’s because the Sabres goalie kept the same theme he used in 2010.

“I thought it was a cool mask last time,” Miller told the Times Herald on Sunday. “I just want to update the colors. I want to do something more traditional red, white and blue. Last time it was like a little off blue-gray kind of ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Marcus Foligno knows consistency must improve

BUFFALO – Marcus Foligno enters tonight’s tilt with just one goal in his last 17 games and six in 49 contests this season. The Sabres winger might even get relegated to the fourth line against the Edmonton Oilers.

Foligno has performed like a top power forward at times during his three-year career, using his 6-foot-3, 223-pound frame to create space and offense. Sabres fans remember his rollicking introduction to the NHL late in 2011-12. But ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Ville Leino and Chad Ruhwedel to sit against Oilers

BUFFALO – In Ville Leino’s defense, Ted Nolan said, the Sabres winger “has played in spurts, hit a couple goalposts.”

“He’s just missing here and just missing there,” the interim coach said this morning inside the First Niagara Center. “When those things just keep missing, you look at the overall picture that he’s not playing well at all. But, truth is, he has played in spurts. It just didn’t click in.”

Leino has zero goals ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Linus Omark looking to break out against Oilers

BUFFALO – So far, 11 games into his Sabres career, Linus Omark has been a colossal disappointment, compiling zero goals, two assists and seven healthy scratches for the NHL’s worst team.

But the slick winger will return tonight against the Edmonton Oilers, his old team, after sitting the last three games. The Swede might even skate on the top line.

Clearly, interim Sabres coach Ted Nolan hopes a visit from the Oilers ignites Omark, who ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Linus Omark to return against Oilers; Drew Stafford healed

BUFFALO – Linus Omark smiled today when a reporter asked him if he was looking forward to facing Edmonton, his old team.

“I would be lying if I said no,” the winger said inside the First Niagara Center after the Sabres prepared for the Oilers, Monday’s opponent. “Of course, it’s going to be a fun game. I know a lot of guys on the team.”

Omark, a healthy scratch the last three games, will return ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Matt Moulson likely out until after Olympic break

An upper-body injury will likely sideline Buffalo Sabres winger Matt Moulson until after the Olympic break, Ted Nolan told reporters this afternoon in Denver.

“He took a pretty good bang last night,” the interim coach said.

Shane Doan’s hit injured Moulson late in the Thursday’s 3-2 win in Phoenix.

The Sabres have four games left before the break, starting with Saturday afternoon’s tilt in Colorado. Nolan said there’s a small chance the 30-year-old could return ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Ted Nolan on Matt Moulson’s injury: ‘Cross your fingers, hope that it’s good’

Interim Buffalo Sabres coach Ted Nolan doesn’t know if winger Matt Moulson will miss time after the Coyotes’ Shane Doan hit him late in Thursday’s 3-2 win.

“Doctors are looking at him,” Nolan told reporters in Phoenix. “Cross your fingers, hope that it’s good.”

Moulson left the game with 6:05 left and crumbled to the ground in pain after reaching the tunnel behind Buffalo’s bench.

“He took a pretty good, I don’t know if it ... Read the full article

Check out Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth’s Swedish Olympic mask

At first glance, it almost looks like a Buffalo Sabres mask. There’s the blue and gold. There’s the usual brick wall “mohawk.”

But goalie Jhonas Enroth’s Olympic mask for the upcoming Sochi Games is “100 percent Sweden” its artist, David Gunnarsson, believes.

Read Gunnarsson’s blog entry on how he and Enroth created the mask here.

Check out Gunnarsson’s Facebook page here.

Follow him on Twitter here.

Check out images of the mask ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Christian Ehrhoff piling up points again

BUFFALO – Sabres defenseman Christian Ehrhoff never expected he would experience so much losing after signing his massive 10-year, $40 million contract almost three years ago.

Back then, Ehrhoff thought he was joining a team built to contend for the Stanley Cup. These days, he’s playing for the NHL’s worst outfit.

To some observers, the German has looked uninterested at times this season. To interim coach Ted Nolan, Ehrhoff, one of the Sabres’ few remaining ... Read the full article