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Rasmus Ristolainen spoiled Ryan Miller's long awaited return to Buffalo by scoring two goals in Buffalo's 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Jamie McGinn and Ristolainen scored to stake Buffalo to a 2-0 leadJack Eichel picked up the first two assisted on both goals, his first career NHL assists.
Henrik Sedin and Chris Higgins scored to tie the game and make the waning moments of regulation a real nail biter.
With 16.8 seconds remaining in regulation of a 2-2 game, Ristolainen scored the GWG from his perch at the point.
With his goal at 19:43 of the third period, Ristolainen scored the latest Sabres regulation GWG since Mike Grier did it at the 19:55 mark of the third period on 3/11/06.
Ristolainen has quickly established himself as one of the most reliable D-men on the Buffalo blue line. Head coach Dan Bylsma seemingly praises the kid's play after every game and practice. Mature beyond his 20 years, Ristolainen has already established himself as one of the young Sabres team whose average player age is 21 years old. Unlike his former first round draft choice buddy Nikita Zadorov, Ristolainen has quickly established himself as one of the best young D-men in the NHL. He is a horse when it comes to blocking shots, playing against the other team's top players and being counted on to get big defensive stops in his own end of the rink. Risto has been all that and more. Risto has lived up to teh advanced billing and truly is a tower of power. By the way, Zadorov, who was the focal point in the Ryan O'Reilly trade with Colorado, was demoted to AHL San Antonio on Saturday. More on that later.
Ristolainen skated 21:17 TOI and took 5 shots on Saturday, scoring two goals.
His biggest contribution was defending against two future Hall Of Famers in Henrik and Daniel Sedin. He told me that playing against the Sedins was a difficult task.
"They are so big and so strong. The cycle the puck well and they know how to pull defenders out of position. We had to be patient and not get chasing them. I thought we did a good job against them".
You sure did, Risto.
Ristolainen told me that he is embracing the leadership role that Dan Bylsma and his veteran teammates have bestowed upon him.
"I'm trying to be a leader by leading in my own way. I'm trying to earn a lot of ice time and play against the other team's best (players)."
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Well done, Buffalo.
I'm proud of you for giving Ryan Miller his well earned standing ovation.
Here is the video tribute that the Sabres played on the JumboTron during the first TV timeout.
Thanks, Sabres
Afterwards, thousands of Sabres loyalists stood up and gave Miller a hearty round of appreciation.
Miller skated from his crease to above the faceoff circles, raised his stick and acknowledged the
Very classy of the Sabres to tip their bucket to Miller and vice versa.
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Welcome to a Buffalo Chamber of Commerce Saturday afternoon.
The sun is shining brightly and the Sabres and Canuckswill be facing off shortly.
On my way into the arena, I couldn't help but notice dozens of fans, young and old, rocking their #30 Sabres sweaters and a few #39 Team USA sweaters. It's a perfect day for Sabres fans to pay homage to Ryan Miller. I fully expect a lusty round of appreciation from the 18,000+ fans in attendance today when Miller takes the ice for warm-ups. I'm told that the Sabres have prepared a video board tribute to Miller to thank him for his 11 seasons of service. The video should roll during the first period of play. Miller has yet to play in Buffalo since he was traded on February 28, 2014. Last season, he suffered a knee injury two days before he was scheduled to start in Buffalo. Eddie Lack started that game. Today, Miller will be given the star treatment by the fans that he made when he was first drafted by Buffalo in 1999.
I'll speak with Miller after the game so stay tuned for that.
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The Winnipeg Jets have sent the Director Of Pro Scouting to Buffalo to watch this afternoon's game.
Curious. Last time I saw him here on press row was last December, January and February when he was scouting Tyler Myers and Drew Stafford.
In late February, Tim Murray and Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff shocked the hockey world when they completed the
blockbuster trade that saw Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian, and goalie prospect Jason Kasdorf move to Buffalo in exchange for Myers, Stafford, Joel Armia, and Brendan Lemieux.
Why are the Jets scouting Buffalo?
Tim Murray has been searching high and low for a veteran left handed defenseman since July when Murray lost the Johnny Oduya sweepstakes to the Dallas Stars.
The Jets have two lefties that may be on interest to Tim Murray.
The first is slick puck mover Toby Enstrom who will earn $5.75 million for the next 4 seasons. Enstrom has high end speed and plays a complete game.
The other is Mark Stuart who has 3 years remaining at $2.65 million. Stuart is a salty veteran who likes to lay the lumber. A Stuart-Bogosian pairing may be in the offing.
Murray could not go wrong with either one of them.
Question is: are they available?
My guess is that Enstrom and Stuart are available.
Both lefties are 31 years of age.
The Jets have $11.2 million in available salary cap space today, however, they have two huge financial commitments that they have to make to two of their top four D that will put a ton of pressure on their cap moving forward.
Dustin Byfuglien is a pending UFA and will command north of $7 million per season. It's not likely that Byfuglien will see the open market next summer. Word out of The Peg ois that the Jets want to re-sign him to a long term contract extension.
Jacob Trouba's entry level deal expires in July and the pending RFA will be in line for a massive pay raise in the $4.5 to $5 million range per season.
The need to re-sign Byfuglien and Trouba will likely render Enstrom or Staurt expendable.
The Sabres and Jets would benefit from a trade at this point. Murray would get a dramatic upgrade for his top four D group while Cheveldayoff would create $23 million in salary cap space that he will nee to re-sign Byfuglien and Trouba to their new back-up-the-Brinks-truck contracts.
More to come....
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NHL legend Scotty Bowman is also on press row today.
Love that man.
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