Girgensons - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Sabres throttle Leafs, send Toronto fans home unhappy

BUFFALO – For one night at least, the First Niagara Center felt like the old days. A raucous capacity crowd of 19,070 fans roared from start to finish Saturday. The Sabres buzzed up and down the ice all night against the hated Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring goals and creating chance after chance.

The Sabres’ rollicking 6-2 win, just their second regulation triumph this season and first at home, was wildly entertaining, high-octane hockey.

Up in ... Read the full article

Ted Nolan searching for right Sabres line combinations

BUFFALO – Drew Stafford figured what the heck, he had nothing to lose by offering his services at center. The Sabres winger had played the position in high school.

So Stafford recently told coach Ted Nolan he would move if the reeling Sabres wanted to experiment.

“I wanted to let him know I’m comfortable with whatever he throws at myself or whoever I end up with,” Stafford said Friday inside the First Niagara Center. “I ... Read the full article

Young Sabres Rasmus Ristolainen, Nikita Zadorov impressing as tandem

BUFFALO – When you’re struggling and searching for anything to ignite the team, you experiment. So with nothing to lose, Sabres coach Ted Nolan paired Rasmus Ristolainen, 20, and rookie Nikita Zadorov, 19, together last game.

The defensemen became the Sabres’ top tandem in Saturday’s ugly 6-1 loss to Pittsburgh, each skating more than 20 minutes, more than Tyler Myers. Zadorov wasn’t on the ice for any goals against.

“If you look at both ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Tyler Ennis switched to wing; Patrick Kaleta has ‘green light’ to return

BUFFALO – Tyler Ennis is often the Sabres’ only offensive threat. So why did coach Ted Nolan switch the speedster from center to right wing beside Zemgus Girgensons and Matt Moulson today?

You try everything when you only have three wins and 18 goals in 16 games. Ennis has a team-high four goals.

“When you run into obstacles, you don’t stop and quit, and you got to find a way to get over around it ... Read the full article

Sidney Crosby and high-powered Penguins destroy Sabres

BUFFALO – This one lasted one shift. Eighty-one seconds into the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 6-1 annihilation of the Sabres, Kris Letang converted Sidney Crosby’s slick pass, the first of the superstar’s five assists Saturday.

Game over.

The Penguins utterly destroyed the hapless Sabres before a capacity crowd of 19,070 fans inside the First Niagara Center.

The potent Penguins scored again before the Sabres recorded their first shot 13:21 into the lopsided contest. They led 3-0 ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Brian Flynn finally playing again: ‘I had to try to be patient’

BUFFALO – In his first two seasons, the Sabres only scratched Brian Flynn three times. But the 26-year-old forward became a spare part in October, sitting out nine games, including five straight to close the month.

Now, Flynn’s making it difficult for Sabres coach Ted Nolan to take him out of the lineup. He opened the scoring in Sunday’s 3-2 shootout win against Detroit, his first goal in 25 games.

Nolan likes Flynn’s calm demeanor ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Zemgus Girgensons becoming shootout star

BUFFALO – A few weeks ago, Jim Montgomery, Zemgus Girgensons’ junior coach, told me, “I know that he’s not the best in shootouts.”

Why isn’t Girgensons, whose two shootout goals have him in a five-way tie for the NHL lead, good in the one-on-one competition?

“He just comes straight down,” Montgomery said. “He’s always looking to deke his threat of a shot, and I told him that when I coached him, ‘You got to ... Read the full article

Sabres hang tough against Red Wings for shootout win

BUFFALO – Slowly, Sabres coach Ted Nolan believes, his message is sinking in. Following Sunday’s unlikely 3-2 shootout win against the Detroit Red Wings, he pointed out his Sabres are 2-2-1 in their last five games.

Of course, the Sabres lost those two contests by a combined score of 9-0.

Still, the 3-9-1 Sabres, arguably the NHL’s worst club, measure progress differently than most teams.

Against one of the league’s better teams, the Sabres hung ... Read the full article

Hapless Sabres searching for answers with season unravelling

BUFFALO – The anger was evident throughout the Sabres’ tense 90-minute practice Wednesday inside the First Niagara Center.

At one point, coach Ted Nolan, whose reeling 2-8 team was demolished 4-0 in Toronto hours earlier, yelled, “Wake the (expletive) up!” Players exchanged words and shouted in frustration. Captain Brian Gionta banged his stick on the glass and demolished it on the bench.

Nolan said the “10-game grace period” he gives his team each season ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Cody Hodgson close to being scratched

BUFFALO – Make no mistake, Cody Hodgson, the Sabres’ leading scorer last season, is the new right winger on the fourth line beside center Sam Reinhart and Nick Deslauriers.

“Yeah, he’s on the fourth line,” Sabres coach Ted Nolan said curtly this afternoon.

Hodgson could be moved to the press box next.

“He’s pretty close there, too,” Nolan said.

Hodgson, like just about every Sabres forward, has struggled this season, compiling one goal, two ... Read the full article