WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
December Edition
Sam Reinhart has played five NHL games. ©2014, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – The Sabres will scratch top prospect Sam Reinhart for the first time tonight against the Boston Bruins.
It wasn’t hard to see this move coming. The slick center, the No. 2 pick in June, has been skating limited minutes on the fourth line. Reinhart played only seven minutes, nine seconds in Friday’s 1-0 loss to Florida.
The 18-year-old has zero goals, two shots and a minus-1 rating in his first five NHL games.... Read the full article
Ville Leino played three seasons with the Sabres. ©2014, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
Mark your calendars, Sabres fans. When Boston visits Buffalo on Oct. 18, Ville Leino could be a member of the Bruins.
The Bruins, the 2011 Stanley Cup champions and one of the NHL’s elite teams for years, have invited Leino to training camp on a tryout.
The Sabres, of course, bought out the final three seasons of Leino’s six-year, $27 million contact in June. The Finn, who scored zero goals last season, is on Buffalo’s ... Read the full article
Joe Sacco lasted one season with the Sabres. ©2014, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – So much for Joe Sacco scouting for the Sabres. The Boston Bruins have hired the 45-year-old as an assistant coach, a job he had here last season.
The Sabres fired Sacco after finishing 30th overall last season, but quickly named him a pro scout. Sacco was inside the First Niagara Center last week during development camp.
Sacco coached the Colorado Avalanche from 2009-13, earning a Jack Adams Award nomination in 2009-10. ... Read the full article
John Scott and his teammates have endured a lot this season. ©2014, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
Mercifully, 193 days after it started, the most tumultuous season in Buffalo Sabres history will end around 7:30 p.m. Sunday inside the First Niagara Center.
The finale can’t come quickly enough for the reeling Sabres, losers of six straight games and 17 of their last 19.
In a season filled with turmoil, the Sabres endured arguably their roughest game this afternoon in Boston, losing five more players to injury, including goalie Matt Hackett, in ... Read the full article
Matt D’Agostini zooms in on Boston goalie Chad Johnson for the overtime winner Wednesday. ©2014, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Having just won an Olympic silver medal, Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth could finally find some comfort in an otherwise miserable season. Sure, the struggling backup had just one win all year, but he had been Sweden’s No. 2 netminder behind Henrik Lundqvist, his idol.
Perhaps Enroth’s two weeks at the Sochi Games generated some much-needed confidence. The 25-year-old dazzled at times Wednesday, making some brilliant saves against the Boston Bruins before a capacity ... Read the full article
Zenon Konopka skates this morning. ©2014, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – In Minnesota’s fifth game of the season Oct. 12, Sabres center Zenon Konopka broke his left pinky finger. Still, he wouldn’t leave the lineup. He even fought six times with the injury.
Finally, Konopka, a waiver pickup from the Wild last month, underwent surgery during the Olympic break.
“It was bugging me quite a bit,” Konopka, who will return tonight against the Boston Bruins, said this morning inside the First Niagara Center. “So ... Read the full article
The Sabres acquired Linus Omark from Edmonton on Thursday. ©2013, Bridget Samuels
Interim coach Ted Nolan wasn’t too impressed with winger Linus Omark’s Sabres debut in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Bruins.
“Eh, he has to be better,” Nolan told reporters in Boston.
Omark’s hooking penalty 9:07 into the game led to Reilly Smith’s power-play goal. The 26-year-old also set up Matt Ellis in front nicely early and nearly potted Ellis’ rebound in front late in the game.
“We’ll give him a checkmark for just getting here ... Read the full article
Brian Flynn (right) battles Boston’s David Warsofsky on Thursday. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Brian Flynn, the undersized scorer, still wasn’t ready for NCAA hockey. So following two years of prep school, the Sabres center spent a season playing junior in New Hampshire.
“I scored a lot. But then you realize it’s not all about scoring,” Flynn said Friday inside the First Niagara Center after the Sabres prepared for tonight’s game in Boston against the Bruins. “I weighed probably 160 pounds. Trying to go to college (at) ... Read the full article
Drew Stafford (right) celebrates his go-ahead goal Thursday with Christian Ehrhoff. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Break ‘em up. Not only have the Sabres won consecutive games in regulation for the first time all season, they’ve scored eight goals while wowing crowds again inside a lively First Niagara Center.
The Sabres had eight goals in their previous seven games before starting this mini-streak.
Thursday’s 4-2 triumph versus the Boston Bruins might’ve been the best of their nine victories this trying season.
Against the class of the Eastern Conference, Drew ... Read the full article
Brad Marchand played for Ted Nolan in 2005-06. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Ted Nolan only coached Boston Bruins pest Brad Marchand one season, 88 total games in 2005-06. Still, the year under the interim Sabres coach changed his career.
Marchand was 17 years old, heading into his draft season, when Nolan took over the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Moncton Wildcats.
“He really helped me understand more about the pro life, how the pros have to play the game and what you have to do ... Read the full article