WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
February Edition
Robert Hagg will sit out tonight’s game. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – After sitting out Sunday afternoon’s win, Sabres defenseman Mark Pysyk will return tonight against the New York Islanders and play his 500th NHL game.
To make room for Pysyk, Sabres coach Don Granato said Robert Hagg will be scratched. Granato expects Hagg to sit out just one game.
With seven healthy defensemen, Granato has been rotating players in and out. Jacob Bryson watched one game last week before Pysyk was scratched for the ... Read the full article
Tage Thompson has already scored a career-high 15 goals. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – The idea of Sabres forwards Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson someday comprising two-thirds of one of the NHL’s hottest lines would’ve seemed ludicrous a year ago.
Twelve months ago, Skinner was about to become a healthy scratch as his career-worst season hit its nadir. Meanwhile, Thompson was moving in and out of the lineup and skating short minutes as a winger when he managed to play.
Today, Skinner, having scored four times in ... Read the full article
Jeff Skinner hit the 20-goal mark Sunday afternoon. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
In the two seasons following his scintillating 40-goal campaign in 2018-19, it appeared Sabres winger Jeff Skinner would never recapture the scoring prowess he possessed throughout that career year.
Skinner, who enjoyed a dynamic afternoon in Sunday’s 5-3 win, scoring a career-high four goals and adding an assist, looked finished as an elite NHL scorer.
Last season, Skinner scored just seven times in 53 games and was scratched three times. In 2019-20, he recorded 11 ... Read the full article
Casey Fitzgerald has played eight NHL games. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – By the end of that night in Vegas, every member of the Golden Knights knew when Sabres rookie Casey Fitzgerald, the undersized defenseman playing just his seventh NHL game, was on the ice.
“And they didn’t like it,” Sabres coach Don Granato said following Saturday’s practice at LECOM Harborcenter. “It was the better players, that was the beauty of it. We can play him against better players and they’re looking over their ... Read the full article
Linus Weissbach has scored nine goals for Rochester. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – In the third period of Rochester’s 5-2 loss last Friday, rookie winger Linus Weissbach hit defenseman Matt Kiersted hard into the end boards, freeing the puck.
A second later, winger JJ Peterka scored, moving the Americans within one goal of the Charlotte Checkers.
The assist wasn’t exactly pretty or the type of play the speedy Weissbach’s known for making. The Sabres prospect fell to the ice after hitting Kiersted, and it appeared he ... Read the full article
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was injured Jan. 11. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – Sabres coach Don Granato wants goalie prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to develop a rhythm with the Rochester Americans.
Starting Friday, the Amerks play six games over an 11-day stretch. Luukkonen will play the bulk of the contests, giving him an opportunity to find a groove again.
Luukkonen, 22, hasn’t played since suffering an upper-body injury Jan. 11 with the Sabres. After he was cleared to play Wednesday, they sent him back to the AHL.... Read the full article
Casey Mittelstadt has only played four games this season. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – When Don Granato took over the Sabres on interim basis 10 months ago, he said he treated the job like it would be his in the future.
So in his first days, Granato thrust some young players who had been getting scratched or skating short minutes down the lineup – centers Casey Mittelstadt and Tage Thompson, for example – into prominent roles.
Granato, of course, knew the Sabres would be trading or losing ... Read the full article
Jack Quinn was injured in his second NHL game. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – Sabres winger Jack Quinn, who suffered a lower-body injury in Thursday’s 5-4 loss to the Dallas Stars, will be sidelined at least four weeks, coach Don Granato said.
“The injury he has, there’s a window between week four and six that you can really get a gauge where he’s at,” Granato said prior to this afternoon’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers at KeyBank Center. “It looks like it’s going to be at ... Read the full article
Jack Quinn scored his first NHL goal Thursday. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – If Jack Quinn hadn’t suffered a lower-body injury in Thursday’s 5-4 loss to the Dallas Stars, he likely would’ve kept playing for the Sabres in the coming weeks.
The Sabres, of course, won’t simply award their prospects a spot. But given their rash of injuries and that Quinn, 20, had performed so well – he scored his first NHL goal and assisted on another Thursday – he almost certainly would’ve earned a long ... Read the full article
Casey Mittelstadt was injured again Dec. 7. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – Casey Mittelstadt has never experienced anything like this season. The Sabres center, normally a durable presence, has played just four times, missing 36 total games while recovering from two upper-body injuries.
After going down opening night, he sat out 21 straight games. Then in his third contest back, he sustained another injury in the same area and has been sidelined the last 15 games.
Now, Mittelstadt, who underwent surgery Dec. 10, is close ... Read the full article