Evander Kane is treating his return to Winnipeg as a business trip.
To Kane, it's just another game.
Thanks, Sabres.com
The Buffalo Sabres, losers of six straight games, play the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday afternoon.
Evander Kane and his Sabres are looking forward to earning two points.
Jets fans are looking forward to the return of Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian to The Peg.
In my head, I can hear track suit clad Jets fans and Dustin Byfuglien serenading Evander Kane with a heart felt "Hello"
Hello, it's me
I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet
To go over everything
They say that time's supposed to heal ya
But I ain't done much healing
Hello, can you hear me
I'm in Maitoba dreaming about who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I've forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet
There's such a difference between us
And a million miles
Hello from the other side
I must have called a thousand times
To tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done
But when I call you never seem to be home
Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I've tried
To tell you I'm sorry for soaking your track suit
But it don't matter it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore
Hello, how are you
It's so typical of me to talk about myself I'm sorry
I hope that you're well
Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happened
It's no secret that the both of us
Are running out of time
So hello from the other side (other side)
I must have called a thousand times (thousand times)
To tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done
But when I call you never seem to be home
Hello from the outside (outside)
At least I can say that I've tried (I've tried)
To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart
But it don't matter it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore
***
Dan Bylsma threw his forward lines into the blender and concocted some new formations for Sunday's game.
Jamie McGinn joins ROR and Evander Kane on the top line. Samson Reinhart and Jack Eichel will be reunited on the third unit. Matt Moulson will be back in the fourth line dog house,
Kane – O'Reilly – McGinn
Reinhart – Eichel – Gionta
Foligno –Larsson – Legwand
Moulson –Schaller –Legwand
Gorges – Ristolainen
McCabe – Bogosian
Weber – Franson
Colaiacovo
Johnson
Ullmark
***
The Anaheim Ducks are like the Buffalo Sabres.
They have had a dreadful time scoring goals this season. The Ducks have been shutout an NHL high 8 times in their first 40 games this season.
Just like the Sabres, the Ducks have somm valuable spare defenders who can be parlayed into an instant goal scoring solution or two.
Ducks boast a bevy young, skilled and tough defensemen on their NHL club roster and in AHL San Diego.
Ducks GM Bob Murray and his director of player personnel Rick Paterson have been searching high and low for scoring in any form that they can get it since the beginning of the season. Paterson was in Buffalo on Tuesday night. He and his AGM have frequented Buffalo many times in the first half of the season.
Murray has been searching for a trade that will add a top-line scorer to play with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.
Cam Fowler's name was buzzing through the hockey trade community until he suffered a sprained knee at the end of December. Fowler will be out for up to six week and Murray appears to be getting antsy regarding making a trade. Perhaps it's time to trade another young D besides Fowler.
Murray told the Orange County Register that he is in the process of reviewing options.
"Always trying to improve the team," Murray told the paper via email. "Obviously we're having trouble scoring. Scorers tough to come by, but we won't give up trying."
With Fowler on IR, Hampus Lindholm or Sami Vatanen may be the trade bait that will land Murray his scorer. Another upshot for the Ducks is that D-man Simon Despres, who has been concussed since October, skated today. Despres, 24, will add immediate value to the Ducks D corps when he returns to the lineup.
Prospects Shea Theodore, 20, who is playing well in place of Fowler, and Brandon Montour, 21, are excelling at this time. Theodore is the organization's top D prospect followed by Montour. Both youngsters continue to impress the brass of the Ducks.
Josh Manson, 24, has become a solid defender in the top six group for the Ducks.
Murray may want to pull the trigger sooner than later.
Trading Sami Vatanen, 24, or Hampus Lindholm, 21, may be the way that Bob Murray is leaning right now.
The Ducks would like to sign Vatanen, a righty, to a contract extension. He is earning $1,262,500 this season and will be RFA in July.
Lindholm's entry level deal will expire come July. He, too will become RFA in July.
The Ducks are said to be hot to trot for disgruntled Tampa forward Jonathan Drouin, who requested to be traded in November, and are keeping tabs on other players around the league.
Murray is on the prowl for a goal scorer to help kick start his team's slow-beating offensive heart.
Murray has a first, third, fourth, sixth and seventh round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.
Bob Murray is looking for a scorer, a second round and a fifth round pick in exchange for one of his defenseman.
Vatanen is 5'10" and 185 lbs. and is intriguing because he is listed as a right shot D, however, he also plays the left side. Pairing him with fellow Finn Rasmus Ristolainen would bolster Buffalo's top pair.
Vatanen makes a lightning fast first pass and skates like the wind. He likes to join the rush and can back check with ease.
Vatanen is a 40 point D-man in the making. He has 5 goal sand 15 assists at th emidway point of this season. He thrives even strength and on the PP.
Tim Murray is looking for 5 on 5 and PP help.
Lindholm is a lefty and at 6'3" and 205 lbs. plays a more gritty, defensive style. he is rock solid in his own end and is always above the battle and on the right side of the puck.
Vatanen averages 21:21 TOI and Lindholm averages 22:12 TOI per game.
Vatanen has 52 hits, Lindholm 26 this season.
Vatanen has 77 shots on goal and Lindholm 69.
Vatanen has 54 blocked shots, Lindholm has 58.
The Ducks are hot on the trail of Tampa forward Jonathon Drouin. Steve Yzerman is looking for a right shot D to QB his PP.
___________________________________________________________________________
I hate to be Captain Obvious here, but, when you are an offensive player who is getting paid to put the puck in the net and your starting goalie makes 42 saves for you against an aggressive opponent, in a hostile building on the road, you better deliver.
Another game, another wasted goaltending and defensive performance by the Buffalo Sabres.
Chad Johnson made 42 saves against the grotesquely gifted Chicago Blackhawks for the Sabres (15-22-4). In the end, Johnson made one blunder that cost his team the win. One chintzy mistake. That's the margin of error in the NHL today. Unfortuanately, Johnson could not erase the gaffe and the Sabres prolonged their losing streak.
Rather then give the guy some goal support, Johnson's Sabres teammates stood around admiring his prowess while they waited for the captain and the rookie to bail them out.
Again.
Seriously, this act is getting old.
The result was the Blackhawks beat the Sabres for their sixth straight win which just so happened to be Buffalo's sixth straight loss.
The Sabres have scored just eight goals during their six game slide.
They are a woeful 15-22-4 at the halfway mark of the NHL schedule. They have just 34 points are which is only three points better than last year's mid-term grade of 31 points. At the turn in 2015, Ted Nolan's club had a 14-24-3 combined record.
I give Johnson and the Sabres full marks for holding Pat Kane, Artemi Panarin and the Hawks in check for the first 55 minutes of the game. The defending Stanley Cup champs were aggressive in Buffalo's end of the rink and they had their quality scoring chances. Johnson was steady and reliable.
In the end, Johnson made one mistake, and that was it. The walls collapsed around him. Rather than have one or two of his teammates pick him up, they sheathed their weapons.
Friday night's loss was a movie we had seen recently. Remember last Saturday afternoon when Detroit's Tomas Tatar scored on Johnson to tie the game with 2:50 remaining in regulation? It happened again to Johnson on Friday night when Philip Danault greased a puck short side on Johnson with 4:57 remaining in regulation.
Johnson, feeling like crap for surrendering yet another lback-breaking goal, looked to his offensive teammates for help. They were were not available to him. For some unseen reason Matt Moulson, Brian Gionta, Samson Reinhart, Evander Kane, Johan Larsson, Zemgus Girgensons, Marcus Foligno and others could not put the puck into Lake Erie right now if they were standing on a dock three feet away from the water.
Moulson has scored just 4 goals in 40 games. That puts him on pace for an 8 goals season. Totally unacceptable considering he is being paid $5 million per season to light the lamp.
Brian Gionta has 4 goals in 38 games.
Kane has 8 goals in 31 games. Girgensons has 3 goals in 37 games. Foligno has 2 goals in 35 games and Larsson has 1 goal in 38 games.
The Buffalo forwards have perfected the art of logo sniping opposing goalies. When they are not burying the puck into the goalie's belly for easy saves, they are ringing shots left and right off the cross bar and posts.
This keystone cops routine is played out and tired. This team lacks finishers. They create chances however cannot finish them at the net. I don't need analytics and jar head logic and research to tell me that the Sabres are a below average scoring team.
In 41 games, the Sabres have scored 92 goals. That's an average of 2.24 goals per game. The damning stat is that Buffalo as a team have only scored 56 even strength goals this season.
Tim Murray knows where his team's warts are. It's his job to fix what ails this team at the midway point in the next chapter.
Thank the hockey gods for Ryan O'Reilly and Jack Eichel who are the only two horses pulling the wagon right now.
O'Reilly has scored a goal in the past two games and in three of four. He credited Johnson for keeping Buffalo in the game.
The defacto captain gave Johnson and rookie goalie Linus Ullmark props after the gut-punching loss.
"(They) have been outstanding for us, giving us a chance to win every game," O'Reilly said. "Without having [Johnson] play like that, it would've been a much different outcome. They would've blown us out. We have to help [our goalies] out more and score."
Nik Hjalmarsson opened the scoring with 1:34 left in the first with his second goal of the season when he was allowed to waltz down the slot unmolested for a clean look on Johnson.
No goals were scored in the second period and Johnson made several saves to prevent goals on good scoring chances in the second and third.
ROR sniped Crawford for his 17th goal of his all star season.
O'Reilly and Eichel can't score all of the goals for the Sabres.
"It's frustrating. We have to get on the board early," O'Reilly said. "It's too late to create offense that late in the game and expect to win one. Myself and the rest of the forwards, we have to find a way to generate offense and actually get results early in the game to generate some momentum and confidence".
Jack Eichel entered Friday night’s game with 12 points (4G, 8A) in his previous eight games, including six (2G, 4A). He had his four game point streak snapped in ChiTown.
O’Reilly has 18 points (10G, 8A) in his last 18 games, a stretch that included an eight-game point streak from November 28 to December 14. The point streak tied the longest streak of O’Reilly’s career.
Stop number two on the Midwest roadie: The viper's den in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Evander Kane better bring his ear plugs along with a multi-goal effort. Or less, Jets fans will rin boos and jeers down upon him for three hours.
***
Tim Murray has to find goal scoring from outside the family. Dan Bylsma can't keeping waiting for his slumbering forwards to awaken.
Murray would be wise to wade into the Jonathon Drouin Derby.
Drouin is a par four away from Buffalo right now in AHL Syracuse.
The turbo-charged former 3rd overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft dropped the jaws of the 16 NHL scouts who were in attendance for his first game for the Crunch since being demoted from the Tampa Lightning last Saturday.
Jonathon Drouin was in beast mode Friday night!
He certainly hasn't damaged his trade value, that's for sure.
Last Saturday, Tampa GM Steve Yzerman sent the kid to Syracuse. On Sunday, Drouin's agent cleared his throat and made public the trade request that he made on behalf of his client to the Bolts in November.
Drouin has scored two beautiful goals in the first period against Albany. In so doing, Drouin is telling Yzerman and Bolts head coach Jon Cooper where to go and how to get there.
It's important to note that Drouin is playing center on Friday night, not his natural left wing position. He's showing that he is versatile and playing multiple positions makes him more valuable to other teams.
This goal encapsulates all of Drouin's high-end skills: Pace, vision, speed, skill, strength, and finishing ability.
There will be more scouts and NHL execs in attendance to Syracuse games on Saturday and Sunday. The Crunch host Hershey on Saturday night and then travel to Rochester on Sunday afternoon.
I'm predicting that Drouin will be traded by the end of next week.
Keep an eye on Montreal, Colorado and St. Louis.
*
Nick Foligno is out indefinitely due to a blindside hit from Hurricanes forward Brad Malone.
The NHL has reviewed the play and Malone will not be disciplined supplementally.
Foligno was placed on injured reserve today because of what the Blue Jackets called an “upper-body injury.”
The NHL has ruled that Foligno’s shoulder was th eprinciple point of contact, therefore, no Rule 48 violation.
Personally, I didn't like the hit because Foligno never saw Malone coming with a head of steam at him.
No penalty was called after Foligno was hit by Malone early in the third period in a 4-1 Carolina win on Friday night.
Is it a concussion? It's hard to say right now.
To replace Foligno in the lineup the Blue Jackets have recalled left winger Kerby Rychel from AHL Lake Erie. Rychel, the subject of massive trade rumors, allegedly asked the Jax for a trade last summer. He has 20 points in 21 games for Lake Erie this season. He will have a chance to impress John Tortarella and Jarmo Kekelainen because Foligno is out indefinitely.
**
Join the Discussion:
»