Campbell - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Sabres, Maple Leafs could become fierce rivals again

BUFFALO – Ask any Sabres player or fan to name the team’s biggest rival, and they would likely peg the Toronto Maple Leafs, tonight’s opponent at KeyBank Center.

Without any recent playoff series – the Sabres haven’t made the postseason since 2011 – or high-stakes regular-season meetings to ramp up intensity and generate hatred, the Sabres don’t exactly have a lot of opponents they detest these days.

The Leafs, their closest opponent at just 100 ... Read the full article

Sabres’ 10-game winning streak in 2006 still holds special memories

BUFFALO – Martin Biron said he remembers it like it happened yesterday. After the Sabres’ stunning run of 10 consecutive wins to open the 2006-07 season ended, coach Lindy Ruff walked in the dressing room, looked around and grabbed a marker.

“Everybody’s heads were down, everybody was mad, everybody was angry that we had lost a game, right?” the former goalie said of the 5-4 shootout loss to the Atlanta Thrashers on Oct. 28, 2006 ... Read the full article

Brian Campbell wants to watch Sabres up close in playoffs

Brian Campbell understands what a special place Buffalo can be when the Sabres are winning.

The popular former defenseman experienced consecutive runs to the Eastern Conference final in the rollicking post-lockout days of 2006 and 2007.

Back then, nothing in Buffalo eclipsed the Sabres’ popularity. KeyBank Center, then known as HSBC Arena, was raucous most nights as the wildly entertaining team piled up wins and goals.... Read the full article

Rasmus Dahlin has opportunity to become one of Sabres’ greats

DALLAS – Brian Campbell noticed something unusual when he watched videos of Rasmus Dahlin, the ultra-talented defenseman the Buffalo Sabres plan to select first overall tonight at the NHL Draft.

Campbell, of course, knew Dahlin skated on the back end. Still, in the clips the former Sabres defenseman and NHL All-Star examined, the youngster moved so swiftly, created so much offense he looked liked his team’s top center.... Read the full article

10 years later, Winter Classic memories still special for Sabres

NEW YORK – When the NHL announced more than 10 years ago it planned to stage an outdoor game in Buffalo, the novel idea the league named the “Winter Classic” was met with some skepticism, including from one of the Sabres’ marquee names.

“Originally, (I was) probably like, ‘I don’t want to play outside,’” former Sabres defenseman Brian Ca mpbell told the Times Herald by phone Friday.

NHL players are creatures of habit. They don’t ... Read the full article

Matt Moulson moving around Sabres lineup

BUFFALO – Early in Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, Sabres winger Matt Moulson skated as a fourth-liner beside fill-in center Nick Deslauriers and Tyler Ennis.

But Moulson, as he has all season, didn’t stay with the same linemates long inside KeyBank Center.

Jack Eichel filled in for Deslauriers, a winger with zero points this season. Moulson also played on the top power-play unit, a promotion with winger Sam Reinhart out.

Moulson, 33, has ... Read the full article

Wild third-period outburst helps Sabres beat Jets

BUFFALO – If the last-place Sabres go on a three-month tear, roar up the standings and do the unthinkable – that’s secure a playoff spot – remember their offensive outburst late in Saturday afternoon’s thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind win.

Down 3-1 against the Winnipeg Jets and trudging toward their eighth loss in 10 games, the Sabres suddenly exploded for three goals in just 4:42, sending the capacity crowd of 19,070 fans into a frenzy.

The wild ... Read the full article

Sabres won’t find elite talent in free agency

BUFFALO – The pickings are so slim in NHL free agency this year, perhaps the most coveted player available, Kyle Okposo, has never cracked the 30-goal or 70-point marks.

Okposo, of course, is a talented winger. The Minnesota native is coming off a 22-goal, 64-point season with the New York Islanders. He has 139 goals and 369 points in 529 NHL games over nine years, including three 20-goal seasons and two 60-point campaigns.

Yes, Okposo ... Read the full article

Former Sabres star Brian Campbell still motivated by early adversity

BUFFALO – More than 12 years later, the number is seared into Brian Campbell’s memory. It is a part of the popular former Sabres defenseman. After a Stanley Cup and multiple NHL All-Star appearances, it still motivates the Florida Panthers standout as he approaches a prestigious milestone.

Back in 2003-04, Campbell’s fifth NHL season, the youngster couldn’t crack the Sabres’ less-than-stellar defense corps, regularly serving as a spare part.

“I don’t forget how many healthy ... Read the full article

Panthers star Jaromir Jagr still feasting on Sabres

BUFFALO – Late Monday, around 10:30 or 11:30 p.m., as many of his Florida Panthers teammates were probably turning in for the night, 43-year-old Jaromir Jagr was allegedly inside the First Niagara Center working out.

“Our cameras caught him,” Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said Tuesday prior to Jagr’s 87^th career appearance against Buffalo, a 5-1 Panthers win in which the Czech scored his 736^th NHL goal.

As Jagr has grown older, his legend ... Read the full article