WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
October Edition
Dustin Tokarski has played 22 games this season. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – Dustin Tokarski has accomplished something unusual. Goalies in their 30s more than four seasons removed from their last NHL game rarely return to the big leagues.
Tokarski, 32, not only made it back, he has stuck with the Sabres for more than a year.
Since relieving an injured Carter Hutton on March 22, 2021, Tokarski has played 35 games, including a career-high 22 this season. In his first 11 pro seasons, he made ... Read the full article
Jeff Skinner has scored 26 goals this season. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – In having their three-game winning streak snapped Friday, the Sabres showcased how much they’ve evolved and grown this month.
On a night they clearly weren’t at their best, the Sabres scratched and plowed forward, taking the Washington Capitals down to the wire before losing a 4-3 shootout.
In compiling a 7-3-1 record in March, the Sabres have proven they can thrive in tight games and rise to the level of their competition.... Read the full article
Alex Ovechkin has scored 36 goals against Buffalo in his career. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – At 36, an advanced age in which most superstars are graying or well past their primes, Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin remains a dynamic threat.
Ovechkin, whose Capitals face the Sabres tonight, just scored for the 40th time this season, his 770th career goal. In his 17th season, he’s roaring toward a record once thought to be unbreakable, Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals mark.
Right now, Ovechkin stands 124 goals behind Gretzky, who scored ... Read the full article
Pittsburgh superstar Sidney Crosby has compiled 22 goals goals and 62 points this season. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – The next few weeks present a stiff challenge coach Don Granato welcomes. Starting with tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Sabres play 12 teams in a playoff spot or knocking on the door in their next 13 contests.
Granato know if the Sabres, winners of four of their last five games, including two straight, want to keep improving, they need to face some of the NHL’s top competition.
In Pittsburgh, which is ... Read the full article
Colin Miller is in his third season in Buffalo. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – Expect a quiet deadline day for the Sabres. General manager Kevyn Adams made one trade Sunday, sending defenseman Robert Hagg to the Florida Panthers. Perhaps a few more veterans on expiring contracts will be dealt before 3 p.m.
This deadline lacks the intrigue of a year ago, when Adams was trying to trade winger Taylor Hall, a free agent bust, or in 2020, when ex-GM Jason Botterill loaded up for a playoff ... Read the full article
Craig Anderson is in his first season in Buffalo. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – When the Sabres signed a slew of cheap free agents to one-year contracts last summer, it appeared their tenures here would be short.
After a season or less, they might become expendable. Some of organization’s prospects would mature and the rebuilding Sabres might also acquire better talent.
Well, so far, some prospects – defenseman Casey Fitzgerald and Mattias Samuelsson, for example – have graduated from the minors and earned regular duty. Others like ... Read the full article
Los Angeles goalie Cal Petersen watches the action in Sunday’s win over Buffalo. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – For one game at least, the Sabres got a small taste of playoff hockey, playing a lock-it-down, grind-it-out affair against the Los Angeles Kings.
The Kings, one of the NHL’s biggest surprises this season, stifled the Sabres all afternoon, limiting scoring chances and showcasing rigid structure. When the visitors grabbed a 1-0 lead late in the second period, they were content with sitting on it.
“They know if we keep it 1-0, we ... Read the full article
Tage Thompson has scored 21 goals this season. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
Much of the pregame talk leading up to Friday’s 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues surrounded center Tage Thompson and his emergence as the Buffalo Sabres’ most lethal scoring threat.
Thompson, 24, played 41 games for the Blues in 2017-18 before they sent him to Buffalo in the Ryan O’Reilly trade following that season.
The American, the 26th overall pick by the Blues in 2016, left St. Louis a raw, skinny kid and returned ... Read the full article
Henri Jokiharju was injured Wednesday. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
Barely a month ago, Buffalo Sabres defenseman Casey Fitzgerald was in the minors. The rookie has played just 14 NHL games.
Still, Sabres coach Don Granato possesses so much confidence in Fitzgerald he will replace the injured Henri Jokiharju on the top pair tonight beside Rasmus Dahlin.
Granato said Fitzgerald and Dahlin are “comfortable” with the Sabres’ style and “compatible” with each other.
Kyle Okposo has scored three goals in the last four games. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
Buffalo Sabres winger Kyle Okposo missed this morning’s pregame skate in Montreal because of illness and likely won’t play tonight against the Canadiens, coach Don Granato said.
“I don’t expect him for tonight but he’s still a possibility,” Granato said on a Zoom call from the Bell Centre.
With Okposo probably out and winger Victor Olofsson (illness) also sidelined, Granato said he expects forward Brandon Biro to make his NHL debut tonight.