I like the overall mood in the room after today's optional skate.
Sabres D Jordan Leopold talked about "the one that got away" in Tronn on Saturday night. Leopold stressed that such a meltdown cannot happen again for his team.
Drew Stafford echoed the sentiment. He said that the Leafs took advantage of Buffalo mistakes, like the Reggie Sekera blunder on the Crabb SHG. Staff says that his team is ready to take care of business and more importantly, take care of the puck tonight.
Lindty Ruff said that yesterday's practice was intentionally designed to be hard and fast so that his players come out of the gate tonight at a high tempo, in their own barn.
Marcus Foligno told me that his team is going to "go after" the Leafs from the opening puck drop tonight.
I expect a better effort from the sabres, considering a win will move the Sabres back into a tie with the Capitals for eighth place. each team would have 88 points with two games remaining in the regular season.
The Sabres are 9-1-0 past 10 at home vs Toronto.
I like the Sabres by two pucks.
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Miller-v-Scrivens.
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Brennan will sit. Weber will play.
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I've known Kevin Sylvester for over a decade. I told him this morning that his wardrobe has come a long way. He told me "I like to look good on, and off the air". Napoli's dresses him well.
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QEW GRUDGE MATCH
-This is the sixth and final meeting between the Sabres and Maple Leafs this season.
-Last meeting: Toronto defeated Buffalo, 4-3, in Toronto on March 31.
-The Sabres are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Maple Leafs; 9-1-0 at home.
-This is the 184th game all-time between Buffalo and Toronto; Buffalo leads the series with a 101-60-22 record. Buffalo is 60-25-7 at home against the Maple Leafs all-time.
STORYLINES
April is Buffalo’s best regular season month since the lockout, with a combined record of 22-10-2 (.676) in 34 games. The Sabres went 4-0-1 in April to finish the 2010-11 season.
The Sabres have won 10 of their last 11 home games vs. Toronto. Buffalo has not lost the home portion of a home-and-home series with the Maple Leafs since Dec. 20, 1970 (4-2 loss). The Sabres are 8-1-2 (two ties) all-time in the home portion of these series.
With a win, Buffalo would sweep the home schedule of their season series with Toronto for the fourth time since the Maple Leafs joined the Eastern Conference before the 1998-99 season: 1999-00 (2-0-0), 2005-06 (4-0-0) and 2009-10 (3-0-0).
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
Buffalo is 31-3-2 when allowing two or fewer goals and 29-6-4 when scoring three or more… Thomas Vanek has seven points (3+4) in his last seven games… Marcus Foligno was named the NHL “Rookie of the Month” for the month of March.
LEADING THE WAY AGAINST THE LEAFS
Thomas Vanek has 43 points (22+21) in 43 career games against Toronto… Jason Pominville has 42 points (15+27) in 45 career games against the Maple Leafs, including six (2+4) in five games this season… Ryan Miller is 26-14-0 all-time against Toronto with a 2.38 GAA and a .924 SV%; Miller has more wins (26) and shutouts (4) against the Maple Leafs than any other team.
MILESTONES
*Robyn Regehr will appear in his 900th career NHL game tonight. Regehr becomes the 19th active defenseman to reach 900 games (130th all-time). Nine other players have reached this milestone as a member of the Sabres (last: Craig Rivet, Oct. 20, 2010). Two of the other 129 defensemen who have reached this milestone are assistant coaches for Buffalo: Teppo Numminen (1,372) and James Patrick (1,280).
*Tonight is Andrej Sekera’s 300th career NHL game. Sekera, the longest-tenured defenseman on Buffalo’s roster, made his NHL
debut on Dec. 9, 2006 at MTL. Since then, he has recorded 80 points (15+65) and 96 penalty minutes with the Sabres.
AVOIDING OVERTIME
The last nine games between the Sabres and the Maple Leafs have been decided in regulation, tying the longest such stretch between these teams since the NHL added the overtime period in 1983-84 (April 16, 2006 to March 24, 2007).
Jason Pominville has registered at least one point in 31 of 40 home games this season. His 44 home points (17+27) tie for fifth in the NHL. Pominville hasn't been held pointless in consecutive home games since Feb. 25 and 26, 2011.
FOLIGNO-ENNIS-STAFFORD
Buffalo’s line of Tyler Ennis, Drew Stafford and Marcus Foligno has combined for 20 goals and 44 total points in the last 10 games:
*Foligno has 11 points (6+5) and a plus-10 rating in 11 games since his recall on March 9. Prior to this recall, Foligno had only played one NHL game. His shooting percentage (37.5%) ranks first among all NHL players with more than five shots this season.
*Ennis has 25 points (10+15) in his last 23 games. The Sabres are 14-3-5 when Ennis records a point this season (41-11-9 in his career) and 6-1-1 when he notches at least two (20-2-2 in his career).
*Stafford has 16 points (7+9) in his last 10 games, topping his previous career best of 12 points in 10 games.
MILLER’S MARCH
Ryan Miller was named the NHL’s “Third Star of the Month” for the month of March. Miller went 10-3-2 with a 2.17 goals-against average, a .930 save percentage and two shutouts in March, including a five-game winning streak from March 19 to 27. Miller was chosen as one of the NHL “Three Stars of the Week” twice during the month, selected as first star for the week ending March 4 and as
second star for the week ending March 25.
EVERYBODY’S CHIPPING IN
With Cody McCormick’s goal on March 27 at WSH, Buffalo has gotten goals from 30 different scorers this season. The total ties Buffalo’s franchise record, set in 1986-87 and matched in 1987-88 and 1991-92.
Lindy Ruff just said that Nathan Gerbe will take the warm-up and he'll likely play tonight. Gerbe skated well in the skate. He winked and nodded his head when I asked him if he's ready for tonight.
Gerbe has missed his last nine games due to an upper body injury that he suffered on March 14.
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Lotsa love for Steven Stamkos in the Buffalo room this morning.
Stafford: 'That was huge of him to help us out like he did last night".
Foligno: "Wow! What he did at the end of that game was great. Its a huge opportunity for us".
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Drew Stafford has 7 goals and 9 assists in his last 10 games for the Sabres. Tyler Ennis has 7 goals and 10 assists in his last 11 games. Marcus Foligno has 6 goals and 5 assits in his last 11 games.
Good morning from First Niagara Center where the Sabres are in the midst of their optional skate.
Lindy Ruff told Howard Simon on his weekly radio show this moirning that Tyler Myers has not skated since injuring his foot while blocking a shot last Friday night vs. the Pens. Ruff said that Myers is definitely out of action tonight.
Myers is not on the ice right now.
However, Mike Weber, Brayden McNabb, and TJ Brennan are on the ice. If I'm telling the truth, I say that Mike Weber plays tonight. He sat out the Saturday game vs. Leafs due to Matt Cooke back stab.
James Patrick is working his D on a simple low-to-high "walk the line" drill. Empahsis being stressed on getting point shots through/
In the absence of his two best D, Myers and Ehrhoff, Ruff will be stressing again that the Buffalo forwards have to make better decisions with the puck tonight. Ruff wants the Leafs to have to travel 200 feet for offensive opportunities. On Saturday night in Toronto, the Sabres forwards failed to get pucks deep and establish time in the Leafs zone. On several shifts, the forwards failures created short ice scenarios for the Leafs to counter-attack more easily on the Sabres.
Ruff is not on the ice either. Nor is Ryan Miller.
More from the room shortly.
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Leafs forward, Joey Crabb, he of the short handed goal on Saturday night, is keen on spoiling the Sabres' postseason plans.
thanks, mapleleafs.com
Randy Carlyle is looking for a strong effort from his team in Buffalo
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