WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
March Edition
Casey Mittelstadt has played just seven games this season. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
Buffalo Sabres center Casey Mittelstadt will miss tonight’s road game against the Vegas Golden Knights and plans to talk to the surgeon who repaired his upper-body injury, coach Don Granato said.
Mittelstadt left Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, just his third outing since undergoing surgery Dec. 10, with soreness in his upper body after playing just 4 minutes, 59 seconds.
“We want to make sure we’re doing the right things with that,” Granato ... Read the full article
JJ Peterka ranks among the AHL’s rookie scoring leaders. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans
ROCHESTER – Sabres prospect JJ Peterka was recently working his way back into the lineup when the Americans wanted him to start killing penalties during practice.
For Peterka, 20, earning the coaches’ trust signaled his development had reached another level three months into his rookie season.
“He was very proud, he was very excited,” Amerks coach Seth Appert told the Times Herald last week.
The German was so excited that whenever he made a nice ... Read the full article
Jack Quinn scored his first NHL goal Thursday. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – If Jack Quinn hadn’t suffered a lower-body injury in Thursday’s 5-4 loss to the Dallas Stars, he likely would’ve kept playing for the Sabres in the coming weeks.
The Sabres, of course, won’t simply award their prospects a spot. But given their rash of injuries and that Quinn, 20, had performed so well – he scored his first NHL goal and assisted on another Thursday – he almost certainly would’ve earned a long ... Read the full article
Jack Quinn has scored 17 goals this season. ©2022, Caitie Ihring, Rochester Americans
Three days after recording his first hat trick as a pro, Buffalo Sabres prospect Jack Quinn added to his career-best outing for the Rochester Americans.
The AHL on Tuesday credited Quinn with the Amerks’ game-tying goal with four seconds left in regulation in Saturday’s 6-5 overtime loss to the Belleville Senators.
Quinn, 20, is the first Rochester player to have a four-goal game since Derek Whitmore on Nov. 25, 2011. It’s also the AHL’s first ... Read the full article
Sean Malone has recorded 22 points in 23 games this season for Rochester.
Rochester Americans center Sean Malone has undergone surgery to repair a lower-body injury and will be sidelined six weeks, coach Seth Appert said.
Malone, having scored nine goals and 22 points in 23 games, is enjoying a career-best season.
“You feel for him,” Appert said on a Zoom call this morning. “I mean, it hurts us because he was a go-to guy, he was a real leader not only in his attitude and his character, ... Read the full article
Tage Thompson has scored 12 goals this season. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – Coach Don Granato knew it would happen again. COVID-19 has been clobbering the NHL, forcing hundreds of players into protocol over the past several weeks, including 11 Sabres.
“When’s it going to happen to the next guy the way it’s going around the league and around the world?” Granato said following Monday’s practice. “It happens today.”
On Monday, shortly after prospect Jack Quinn joined the Sabres, top center Tage Thompson, the team’s leading ... Read the full article
Anders Bjork has scored four goals this season. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – Over his first 44 games with the Sabres, winger Anders Bjork has struggled to maintain consistency, mostly showcasing flashes of his talent.
Bjork, 25, scored opening night before beginning a 10-game goalless stretch. After scoring in back-to-back contests, he endured a 12-game goal drought in which he was scratched twice.
Sabres coach Don Granato said Bjork must learn to regularly imprint his identity as a player – “His is speed and quickness,” he ... Read the full article
Jacob Bryson has missed two games. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – Coach Don Granato breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday, as zero Sabres entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
Henri Jokiharju, who was held out of Tuesday’s practice as the team awaited test results, skated in Wednesday’s session, giving the Sabres a full defense corps.
“It was a relief on many fronts, just even to run a better practice with six full D,” Granato said of no one entering protocol. “But … they go into ... Read the full article
JJ Peterka played his first two NHL games last week. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
Fresh off his first two NHL appearances, Buffalo Sabres prospect JJ Peterka returned to the AHL brimming with confidence. In two weekend outings, the German recorded two goals and five points for the Rochester Americans.
On Monday, the AHL recognized Peterka’s standout performances, naming him its Player of the Week for the period ending Sunday.
Hours after the Sabres returned Peterka, 19, to the Amerks on Saturday, he registered one goal and three points in ... Read the full article
Don Granato caught a flight to Boston on Saturday morning. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
Don Granato’s Saturday began in the predawn hours in Buffalo. The coach knew he was close to clearing the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol. So receiving good test results meant he join the Sabres in Boston for their matinee.
“I was waiting literally minute by minute in hopes of being here,” Granato said on a Zoom call prior to the Sabres’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Bruins at TD Garden.
When Granato received clearance, he hopped on ... Read the full article