Okposo - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Sabres goalie Chad Johnson to start against Lightning

BUFFALO – Against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the NHL’s top team, you figure the Sabres would start No. 1 goalie Robin Lehner, who has played 42 times this season.

But Lehner, fresh off Sunday’s 5-4 home loss to Colorado, will sit tonight for backup Chad Johnson.

Why start Johnson, who has just three wins and zero at home?... Read the full article

Jack Eichel’s absence will hurt Sabres

BUFFALO – Jack Eichel’s high right ankle sprain, an injury that will sideline the Sabres center indefinitely, hit the young star in the midst of a career-best stretch.

Eichel went on a tear beginning Dec. 1, morphing into one of the NHL’s most lethal scoring threats. His 15 goals and 34 points in 30 games since then both rank ninth overall.

The Sabres stand 30th in a 31-team league and have scored the second-fewest goals. ... Read the full article

Thumb surgery to sideline Sabres’ Jake McCabe weeks

BUFFALO – With Jake McCabe out three to four weeks after undergoing thumb surgery today and Rasmus Ristolainen struggling, the Sabres’ defense corps will look much different tonight against the New York Islanders.

Casey Nelson, a recent recall quickly earning coach Phil Housley’s trust, will play with Marco Scandella, Ristolainen’s partner much of the season on the No. 1 pair. Ristolainen, meanwhile, will move back and skate with Nathan Beaulieu.... Read the full article

Sabres’ Evander Kane slumping as trade deadline approaches

BUFFALO – In what are likely his final days with the Sabres, winger Evander Kane said he’s trying to embrace his uncertain future.

Whether it goes down today, next week or hours before the Feb. 26 trade deadline, the last-place team will almost certainly deal Kane, an established scorer set to cash in as an unrestricted free agent this summer.

“It’s not something I really try to block out,” Kane, who was reunited with top ... Read the full article

Sabres notes: Kyle Okposo unhappy with Taylor Hall’s hit

BUFFALO – At the 5:31 mark of the third period in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils, Taylor Hall knocked Sabres winger Kyle Okposo into the boards from behind.

While Okposo bounced right back up, the hit, which only earned Hall a two-minute boarding minor, was scary.

“That’s the play you’re trying to eliminate, right?” Okposo said Wednesday after the NHL fined Hall $5,000, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement. “There’s ... Read the full article

Devils’ Taylor Hall fined $5,000 for scary hit on Sabres’ Kyle Okposo

BUFFALO – At the 5:31 mark of the third period in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils, Taylor Hall knocked Sabres winger Kyle Okposo into the boards from behind.

While Okposo bounced right back up, the hit, which only earned Hall a two-minute boarding minor, was scary.

“That’s the play you’re trying to eliminate, right?” Okposo said today after the NHL fined Hall $5,000, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement. “There’s ... Read the full article

Hot Sabres want to reward fans with home wins

BUFFALO – Jason Pominville sounded a little nostalgic recalling some special memories from his first stint here. Occasionally, when the Sabres winger watches a memorable goal on Youtube.com, the passion he sees from fans in the clips wows him.

“It’s pretty amazing how they respond,” Pominville said Monday inside KeyBank Center after the Sabres reconvened following the NHL All-Star break.

Right now, the Sabres are enjoying their first three-game winning streak this season entering tonight’s ... Read the full article

Hapless Sabres embarrassed by Stars

BUFFALO – There is no rock bottom with the 2017-18 Sabres, a team quickly becoming the worst in the franchise’s 47-year history.

Just when you think they’ve hit it again, they implode, give another effort more feeble and embarrassing than the last one.

Take, for example, Saturday’s miserable 7-1 loss to the upstart Dallas Stars, who annihilated the Sabres all afternoon. After falling behind early, they showed little interest in competing, getting outworked in ... Read the full article

‘Developed’ game helps Sabres’ Nick Baptiste earn recall

BUFFALO – On a loaded Rochester Americans team enjoying its best season in more than a decade, winger Nick Baptiste has gotten a little lost in the mix.

Through 34 AHL appearances, Baptiste has compiled eight goals and 17 points, numbers that rank eighth and 10th on the Amerks, respectively. The former third-round pick scored 25 times in 59 contests last season.

So if Baptiste, 22, isn’t scoring at his regular pace – he has ... Read the full article

Comeback from concussion tougher than Sabres’ Kyle Okposo expected

BUFFALO – Kyle Okposo said he figured everything would be normal again. When the season started, the Sabres winger felt healthy. Five months had passed since a harrowing concussion hospitalized him.

Okposo thought he could immediately showcase the talents that made him an NHL All-Star last season, his first with the Sabres.

But Okposo, 29, struggled early, looking nothing like his old self.

The veteran mustered two assists in his first 10 games. ... Read the full article