WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
October Edition
Jamie McGinn has celebrated a lot of goals this season. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
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
Jamie McGinn backhands the puck between his legs and past Los Angeles goalie Jhonas Enroth on Saturday. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
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 100th NHL goal – a nifty score at ... Read the full article
Los Angeles goalie Jhonas Enroth enjoyed his time in Buffalo. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Los Angeles Kings goalie Jhonas Enroth takes his fondest memories of his five year-run with the Sabres from the franchise’s darkest days.
Throughout all the losing and turmoil last season, he tended some of his best goal ever, briefly becoming the Sabres’ most valuable player.
Sure, Enroth detested losing. He usually looked beaten down after losses. Still, to the Swede, who briefly lived his dream of becoming the Sabres’ No. 1 goalie, some ... Read the full article
Linus Ullmark is 0-4-2 in his last six starts. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
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
Evander Kane (9) keeps the puck away from Arizona’s Stefan Elliott on Friday. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
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
Cal O’Reilly played with his brother during the preseason. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – The Sabres recalled forward Cal O’Reilly, the older brother of center Ryan O’Reilly, from the Rochester Americans this morning before leaving on a three-game road trip.
Cal O’Reilly, the Amerks’ captain, has three goals and a team-best 14 points in 21 games, including eight in his last seven appearances.
O’Reilly, 29, has played 113 NHL games with Nashville, Arizona and Pittsburgh, compiling 13 goals and 41 points. He hasn’t appeared in an NHL ... Read the full article
Evander Kane scored twice Friday. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
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
Rasmus Ristolainen was all over the ice Tuesday. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
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
Zemgus Girgensons has missed four games. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Sure, Zemgus Girgensons has only mustered one goal and two points in 17 games this season. But the center, 21, is one of the Sabres’ best two-way players.
Not coincidentally, the Sabres have lost all four games since an upper-body injury sidelined Girgensons.
“We’ve missed him considerably,” said coach Dan Bylsma, who noted the Sabres have allowed more scoring chances without Girgensons. “It’s a big piece down the middle and a big piece ... Read the full article
St. Louis goalie Jake Allen keeps the puck away from Matt Moulson on Monday. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Before he even says a word, Ryan O’Reilly’s face usually expresses his emotions. The Sabres center looks beaten down after losses, the missed opportunities and mistakes clearly still playing in his head.
So following the Sabres’ fifth straight defeat Monday, a 2-1 setback to the St. Louis Blues in which they blew a third-period lead, O’Reilly called out his teammates.
“We got to hate to lose more,” O’Reilly said. “I think we’re too ... Read the full article