Eichel - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Sabres goalie Chad Johnson shines in shutout win over Ducks

BUFFALO – Chad Johnson will garner the headlines from the Sabres’ 3-0 win over the Anaheim Ducks, and he should. The goalie dazzled Thursday, stopping a career-high 44 shots, a franchise-record for a shutout.

But the Sabres received contributions throughout the lineup in their third win in four games and 14th overall this season.

The fourth line, so bad last game, was the Sabres’ best trio for chunks of the night, creating defenseman’s Jake McCabe’s ... Read the full article

Chris Stewart has mixed memories of Sabres tenure

BUFFALO – Former Sabres winger Chris Stewart jogged his memory a little, all the way back to last season, the most tumultuous of his eight years in the NHL.

“What was the phrase they were using,” Stewart asked Wednesday after his new team, the Anaheim Ducks, practiced, “‘Tank for McEichel?’”

Yes, that’s the correct one, Chris.

Coming to the rink every day quickly became a difficult experience for Stewart in 2014-15. He learned firsthand winning ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Matt Moulson mired in long scoring slump

BUFFALO – Given the Sabres dramatically improved their roster this season, 20 or 25 goals seemed reasonable for winger Matt Moulson following two down years.

Heck, with two creative centers like rookie Jack Eichel and Ryan O’Reilly available to feed him the puck, even 30 scores, a big number Moulson hit three straight seasons in Long Island skating beside superstar John Tavares, looked attainable.

So much for those thoughts. Moulson, 32, is battling a career-long ... Read the full article

Jamie McGinn and Ryan O’Reilly happy as Sabres teammates, linemates

BUFFALO – Right away, Jamie McGinn could hear the excitement in Ryan O’Reilly’s voice. It was June 26, and the two friends had just been traded from the Colorado Avalanche, only they didn’t know they would be joining the Sabres together.

So McGinn and O’Reilly called each other when they learned the full details of the blockbuster deal from television.

The two forwards had grown close over the years, and they knew moving to ... Read the full article

Ryan O’Reilly’s overtime winner clinches Sabres’ win over Kings

BUFFALO – Usually, Ryan O’Reilly said, if he gets an open look in the slot, he likes to shoot low blocker side on the goalie. But given the Sabres center was falling in front of sliding defender Alec Martinez, he just had to take the best shot he could in overtime.

“I just tried to get it off in that area,” O’Reilly said Saturday after his 100^th NHL goal – a nifty score at ... Read the full article

Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark believes struggles are mental

BUFFALO – Right now, Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark’s struggles are “mostly mental things,” the Swede said this morning. In his last six starts, the rookie is 0-4-2 and has allowed 18 goals. In his last three starts, his save percentage is .859.

Remember, Ullmark, who will start tonight against the Los Angeles Kings, dazzled early on, winning four of his first six starts.

“We know that my game works,” Ullmark said inside the First ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Evander Kane finally scoring

BUFFALO – Realistically, having scored six times in 16 games this season, Sabres winger Evander Kane likely won’t hit his lofty preseason target of 40 or 50 goals.

Scoring once in his first 11 appearances and missing 10 contests with an MCL injury certainly didn’t help.

But that disappointing start has recently become an afterthought, as Kane’s one of the NHL’s hottest scorers as the Sabres start a three-game Canadian road trip tonight against the ... Read the full article

Sabres’ offense explodes in win over Coyotes

BUFFALO – First, Sam Reinhart utilized his soft hands around the net Friday. Jamie McGinn followed with a wicked one-timer off a perfect feed from Jack Eichel. Evander Kane scored later on a short-handed breakaway.

Not only are the Sabres finally scoring goals these days, they’re generating pretty ones, a sure sign the offense is humming for the first time all season.

The Sabres’ third win in four games, an exciting 5-2 victory against the ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Rasmus Ristolainen developing into star

BUFFALO – No one could believe the number that has been attached to Rasmus Ristolainen’s stat line all season: zero.

In 606 minutes, 12 seconds on the ice spread over 25 games – that’s a team-high 24 minutes, 14 seconds a contest – the Sabres’ ace defenseman hasn’t taken a penalty.

“Zero?” Josh Gorges, Ristolainen’s defense partner, asked incredulously Thursday before saying he was “impressed” and “surprised.”

When informed Ristolainen has zero penalty minutes, ... Read the full article

Jack Eichel and Brian Gionta help Sabres down Hurricanes

BUFFALO – Shortly before Jack Eichel’s nifty winning goal in the Sabres’ 4-1 win Friday, the rookie took an ill-advised skate from his own blue line back toward the net and into danger.

Eichel, 19, coughed up the puck to the Carolina Hurricanes, leading to Zach Bogosian’s interference penalty.

But the Sabres, who ended their six-game losing streak, can live with the occasional mistake from Eichel because, just 23 games into his career, the center ... Read the full article