Category: Buffalo Sabres

Gameday Preview – 12/15/2018 – Buffalo Sabres v. Washington Capitals

Buffalo Sabres (19-9-4 42pts) v. Washington Capitals (19-9-3 41pts)

 

Time: 7p EST

Station: NBC Sports Washington and MSG Buffalo

 

Preview:

The Washington Capitals return home to finish off their back to back as they face the much improved Buffalo Sabres. The Capitals will look to win their fifth straight game, and do so in a much more better effort than they did last night against the Carolina Hurricanes where they won in the shootout.

 

Buffalo Sabres:

Projected Lineup:

Jeff Skinner — Jack Eichel – Sam Reinhart

Conor Sheary – Casey Mittelstadt – Kyle Okposo

Tage Thompson – Vladimir Sobotka – Jason Pominville

Evan Rodrigues – Johan Larsson – Zemgus Girgensons

Lawrence Pilut – Rasmus Ristolainen

Rasmus Dahlin – Zach Bogosian

Nathan Beaulieu – Matt Tennyson

Carter Hutton

Linus Ullmark

Scratched: Remi Elie

Injured: Marco Scandella (upper body), Jake McCabe (lower body), Casey Nelson (upper body), Scott Wilson (ankle), Matt Hunwick (neck)

 

Keys to the Game:

1. Control the tempo

The Sabres have the luxury of not having to have played last night, so they will want to go into this game and control the tempo of it right off the bat.

 

Washington Capitals:

Projected Lineup:

Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom – T.J. Oshie

Jakub Vrana – Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson

Brett Connolly – Lars Eller – Devante Smith-Pelly

Dmitrij Jaskin – Nic Dowd – Travis Boyd

Michal Kempny – John Carlson

Dmitry Orlov – Matt Niskanen

Jonas Siegenthaler – Madison Bowey

Pheonix Copley

Braden Holtby

Scratched: Andre Burakovsky*, Chandler Stephenson, Tyler Lewington

Injured: Christian Djoos (leg), Brooks Orpik (knee)

* Andre Burakovsky is rumored to be in the lineup tonight, but it is unknown as to who will come out for him to replace.

 

Keys to the Game:

1. Play a full 60 minutes

Last night the Capitals were outplayed and did not control the tempo very well, and going into tonight’s game, the Capitals will need to do that. The Buffalo Sabres are a much improved team and will be wanting to prove themselves against the defending Stanley Cup Champions. The Capitals have to be ready to play the full 60.

 

2. Special teams needs to improve

The Capitals need to stay out of the penalty box. Last night they took 6 penalties and the Carolina Hurricanes scored on three of them. The Capitals need to generate more powerplay opportunities for themselves as well, but with their powerplay they need to mix it up a bit. Get Tom Wilson out there a bit more, as he will create space on the powerplay. Also the Capitals need to get their penalty killing figured out. How they have performed lately is not acceptable.

 

December 5th, 2018 — News and Notes

Today is Wednesday, December 5th, 2018, and these are your news and notes

 

There were ten contests last night.

 

 

FLORIDA 5, Boston 0

Florida Panthers Jonathan Huberdeau is one of five players so far on the season to have multiple points in at least five contests.

 

The Florida Panthers would go on to shutout the Boston Bruins 5-0, giving Roberto Luongo his 77th career shutout, taking sole possession of ninth place on the all-time list for shutouts by a goaltender.

 

 

Winnipeg 3, NY ISLANDERS 1

 

The Winnipeg Jets would score three unanswered goals, all in the final period, to defeat the New York Islanders last night.  Winnipeg’s win would be their fourth consecutive win.

 

New York Islanders Anders Lee would register the lone goal of the contest for his team.

 

 

PITTSBURGH 6, Colorado 3

 

Pittsburgh Penguins F Patric Hornqvist would score a hat-trick in this contest in a short span of 2:43, the quickest ever in franchise history, and the Penguins would double up the Colorado Avalanche by the score of 6-3.

 

 

Calgary 9, COLUMBUS 6

 

In the Columbus Blue Jackets loss, Cam Atkinson would become the second player to register a point streak of at least 11 contests.

 

Cam Atkinson would also register a hat-trick and would surpass Rick Nash for the most hat-tricks in franchise history.

 

 

In this contest, the Calgary Flames would register nine goals in a contest for the 55th time in franchise history but for the first time in nearly eight years.

 

 

The Flames and Blue Jackets would combine for 15 goals, the most since January 16, 2017, when the Penguins would defeat the Capitals 8-7 in overtime.

 

 

 

MONTREAL 5, Ottawa 2

 

Tampa Bay 6, DETROIT 5 (SO)

Frans Nielsen of the Detroit Red Wings would score a hat trick in the contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the second of his career.

Nielsen would be the first Red Wing to have two career hat tricks since Tomas Tatar on December 17, 2016.

 

Toronto 4, BUFFALO 3 (OT)

 

TXHT’s Toronto Maple Leafs contributor, Steve Gardiner, has your full coverage of the contest between the Maple Leafs and Sabres at the following page.

 

12/05/2018 – Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres – Game Recap

 

Minnesota 3, VANCOUVER 2

 

The Minnesota Wild would score two goals in 45 seconds to snap a three-game losing streak with the 3-2 win at the Vancouver Canucks last night.

 

 

VEGAS 5, Washington 3

Cody Eakin of the Vegas Golden Knights scored his 11th goal of the season, leading all skaters for Vegas in the 5-3 win over the Washington Capitals.

 

Washington’s Alex Ovechkin would reach the 20-goal mark for the third time in fewer than 27 games on the season.  He has scored at least 51 goals in the other two occurrences of this feat.

For full coverage of the contest between the Washington Capitals and the Vegas Golden Knights, please go to the following page.

 

Game Recap – 12/4/2018 – Washington Capitals v. Vegas Golden Knights

Arizona 2, LOS ANGELES 1

 

 

Tonight in the NHL…

Image courtesy of the NHL Public Relations and the NHL

 

In the NWHL…

The NWHL held their All-Star Game Draft earlier today with captains Shannon Szabados and Lee Stecklein picking their squads for the NWHL All-Star Game that will be in Nashville, Tennessee.

The 2019 NWHL All-Star Game will be on Sunday, February 10th, 2019 at Bridgestone Arena and will take place following the NHL match-up between the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues.

 

Team Szabados:

Team Stecklein:

 

In NHL news…

 

In case you missed the big news yesterday, the NHL announced that the League will expand to 32 teams with the addition of a franchise to Seattle.

 

Elliotte Friedman released his “31 Thoughts” article today.  You can check that out at the following page.

12/05/2018 – Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres – Game Recap

Transaction Update: Leafs traded Winger Josh Leivo to the Vancouver Canucks for Phil Carcone 

Toronto Maple Leafs (20-8-0 40pts) v, Buffalo Sabres (17-8-4 38pts)

Lineups:

Toronto:

Kasperi Kapanen – Auston Matthews – Patrick Marleau

Mitch Marner – John Tavares– Zach Hyman

Andreas Johnsson – Nazem Kadri – Connor Brown

Tyler Ennis– Frederik Gauthier – Andreas Johnsson

 

Morgan Rielly  – Ron Hainsey

Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev

Travis Dermott – Igor Ozhiganov

 

Frederik Andersen

Garrett Sparks

Scratched: Justin Holl & Martin Marincin

Injuries: Nathan Horton (Back)

Suspension: None

 

Buffalo:

Jeff Skinner – Jack Eichel – Sam Reinhart

Tage Thompson – Casey Middlestadt– Kyle Okposo

Conor Sheary – Evan Rodrigues – Vladimir Sobotka

Patrick Berglund – Johan Larsson – Zemgus Girgensons

 

Lawrence Pilut – Rasmus Ristolainen

Rasmus Dahlin – Zach Bogosian

Nathan Beaulieu – Casey Nelson

 

Carter Hutton

Linus Ullmark
Scratched: None

Injuries: Jason Pominville, Marco Scandella

Suspension: None
Gameday:

First Period:

No Scoring or Penalties

End of 1st – TML –0        BUF – 0

Shots              7                     14

Faceoffs     14/22              8/22

Hits               4                     5

PP                 0/0                   0/0

 

Analysis

Leafs came out flat to start this one. With Buffalo pouring on the pressure for the first 5 or 6 minutes. But Andersen stood tall as normal shutting the door hard. Keeping the game at 0-0 through the first period.

Need to Do:

Get your legs moving, force the Sabres to skate and play defence.

Second Period:

Leafs Goal–08:33 – Auston Matthews (14), assisted by Ron Hainsey (9)

Leafs Penalty – 11:19 –Conor Brown, 2 mins for Interference

Sabres Penalty –11:39 – Tage Thompson, 2 mins for Hooking

Sabres Goal– 14:01– Sam Reinhart (8), assisted by Nathan Beaulieu (3) and Rasmus Ristolainen (13)

Leafs Goal– 19:50– Jake Gardiner (2), assisted by John Tavares (14) and Mitch Marner (33)

End of 2nd – TML – 2          BUF – 1

Shots              17                    26

Faceoffs       28/44              16/44

Hits              8                      10

PP                 0/1                    0/1

 

Analysis:

Leafs came out to play in this period, despite some bad turnovers the Leafs took lead with Auston Matthews 14th of the season and reclaimed the lead with 59 seconds left in the 2nd with a beautiful tic tac toe play by Mitch Marner and John Tavares which lead to Jake Gardiner putting his 2nd of the season in the net.

Need to Do:

Keep pressuring but don’t sacrifice too much defence for offence.

 

 

Third Period:

Sabres Goal– 02:39 – Jack Eichel (6) assisted by Rasmus Ristolainen(14) and Jeff Skinner (9)

Sabres Penalty –07:16 – Tage Thompson, 2 mins for Hooking

Leafs Penalty –08:44 – Patrick Marleau, 2 mins for Interference

Sabres Goal– 12:57 – Jack Eichel (7) assisted by Sam Reinhart(16)

Leafs Goal – 14:47 – Patrick Marleau (7) assisted by Morgan Rielly(21) and Auston Matthews(8)

End of 3rd – TML – 3        BUF – 3

Shots             27                   37

Faceoffs     36/64                28/64

Hits               10                       13

PP                0/2                    0/2

 

Analysis:

Both teams applied pressure offer for the whole 3rd with Eichel scoring twice to take the lead then Marleau with under 5 minutes in the game to tie it.

Overtime:

Leafs Goal – 04:57 – Auston Matthews (15) assisted by Kasperi Kapanen(9) and Jake Gardiner(11)

End of OT – TML – 4        BUF – 3

Shots              30                   41

Faceoffs     39/66                29/66

Hits               11                       14

PP                0/2                    0/2

Next Up:

Detroit (12-12-4 28pts) vs Toronto (20-8-0 40pts)

Philadelphia (11-12-2 24pts) at Buffalo (17-8-4 38pts)

.

 

December 4th, 2018 — News and Notes

 

Today is Tuesday, December 4th, 2018, and these are your news and notes…

 

 

Tampa Bay 5, NEW JERSEY 1

The Tampa Bay Lightning would win their 20th game on the season, becoming the sixth franchise to have 20 wins in consecutive seasons.

NASHVILLE 2, Buffalo 1

The Nashville Predators for the ninth time this season held an opponent to no more than one goal in a contest, which includes three shutouts.  Nashville would hand Buffalo a loss with the 2-1 win.

 

DALLAS 4, Edmonton 1

In the Dallas Stars 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers, all four goals by Dallas were scored by different players in the contest.

 

Today’s Schedule:

 

In NHL News today…

The NHL Department of Player Safety announced yesterday that Detroit Red Wings F Tyler Bertuzzi has been suspended for two games for unsportsmanlike conduct/roughing in Sunday’s contest between the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche.

 

The NHL today officially awarded Seattle an expansion franchise to begin play in the 2021-22 season.

The Seattle franchise will be the 32nd in the NHL and will be placed in the Pacific Division.  The Arizona Coyotes will be relocated to the Central Division, giving a full balance between all divisions and conferences.

 

For Full coverage of the NHL’s expansion to Seattle…

Elliotte Friedman would release a bonus episode of his “31 Thoughts” podcast yesterday.

 

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres – 04-12-2018 – Game Day Preview

Gameday Preview:  Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres

Time: Tuesday, December 4th,  2018

Toronto: 19-8-0 for 38 points

Buffalo:17-8-3 for 37 points

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres meet in a tilt between 2 of the top eastern conference teams. Buffalo flying up the standings the last few months, while the Leafs have kept strong despite injuries and contract holdouts of two of their top players..

Top Scorers/Goalie Matchup

Mitch Marner – 38 points (6 goals 32 assists)
John Tavares – 30 points (17 goals 13 assists) 49% on face-offs
Morgan Rielly – 29 points (9 goals 20 assists)
Auston Matthews – 20 points (13 goals 7 assists) 53% on Face-offs)

Jack Eichel – 32 points (5 goals 27 assists)
Jeff Skinner- 28 points (20 goal 8 assists)
Sam Reinhart– 22 points (7 goal 15 assist)
Jason Pominville – 18 points (9 goal 9 assists)

Frederik Andersen
15-7-0 2.30GAA .931SV%

Linus Ullmark
5-0-2 2.57GAA .927SV%

Lineups:

Toronto:

Kasperi Kapanen – Auston Matthews – Patrick Marleau

Mitch Marner – John Tavares– Zach Hyman

Andreas Johnsson – Nazem Kadri – Connor Brown

Tyler Ennis – Pars Lindholm – Josh Leivo

 

Morgan Rielly  – Ron Hainsey

Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev

Travis Dermott – Igor Ozhiganov

 

Frederik Andersen

Garrett Sparks

Scratched: Justin Holl & Martin Marincin

Injuries: Nathan Horton (Back)

Suspension: None

 

Buffalo:

Jeff Skinner – Jack Eichel – Sam Reinhart

Tage Thompson – Casey Middlestadt– Kyle Okposo

Remi Elie – Evan Rodrigues – Vladimir Sobotka

Patrick Berglund – Johan Larsson – Zemgus Girgensons

 

Rasmus Dahlin – Zach Bogosian

Lawrence Pilot – Rasmus Ristolainen

Nathan Beaulieu – Casey Nelson

 

Linus Ullmark

Carter Hutton

 

Scratched: None

Injuries: Jason Pominville, Marco Scandella and Conor Sheary

Suspension: None

Keys to Winning against Buffalo:

  1. Stay Out of the Box
    1. Buffalo has a good powerplay, it will burn you.
  2. Win faceoffs
    1. Winning faceoffs means more puck possession
  3. Kadri
    1. Something has got to give with Nazem Kadri, so far he has been held goal-less this season and he is what drives that 3rd Need to find a way to get him going.
  4. Force the Sabres to take penalties
    1. One of the top powerplays in the league we need to keep it in the game.

 

November 28th, 2018 — News and Notes

Today is Wednesday, November 28th, 2017 and these are your news and notes.

 

There were 10 contests in action last night.

 

-BUFFALO 3, San Jose 2 (OT)

The Buffalo Sabres would win their 10th straight contest, the most consecutive wins since the 2006-07 season in their 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks last night.

The Sabres have won 10 straight contests three times, including this season.

 

-Ottawa 4, PHILADELPHIA 3

Brady Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators would come back from a multi-goal deficit in the last 10 minutes of the game to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3.

 

-Carolina 2, MONTREAL 1

Carolina Hurricanes G Curtis McElhinney would have a 48 save performance, matching a career high, in the 2-1 over the Montreal Canadiens last night.

 

-Anaheim 3, TAMPA BAY 1

Anaheim Ducks G Ryan Miller would have 25 saves in his 373rd career win and is now one shy of the all-time record of 374 set by John Vanbiesbrouck for most wins by a U.S.-born goaltender.

 

-Colorado 3, NASHVILLE 2

Colorado Avalanche’s Mikko Rantanen became the first player this season to have 40 points when he had two assists in the Avalanche’s 3-2 win at the Nashville Predators last night.  With the achievement, Rantanen became the quickest player to reach to 40-point mark in a season since the Avalanche relocated from the Quebec Nordiques in 1995.

 

-Arizona 4, MINNESOTA 3

Despite the 4-3 loss to the Arizona Coyotes, Minnesota Wild’s Matt Dumba extended his point streak to seven games and matched a franchise high for a defenceman.  Ryan Suter achieved the mark of seven games with at least a point twice.

 

-Pittsburgh 4, WINNIPEG 3

 

Pittsburgh Penguins F Phil Kessel would extend his point streak to nine games and is the longest active point streak in the League.

 

-Vegas 8, CHICAGO 3

The Vegas Golden Knights would score a franchise-record eight goals in their rout over the Chicago Blackhawks last night.

 

-EDMONTON 1, Dallas 0 (OT)

 

-Los Angeles 2, VANCOUVER 1 (OT)

After his hat trick on Sunday, it only took the Los Angeles Kings Dustin Brown 53 seconds to score the game-winner in the extra frame to give the Kings the 2-1 win at the Vancouver Canucks last night.

 

Today’s schedule of games…

Image courtesy of NHL Public Relations and NHL.

 

For more news, notes, info, and stats…

 

 

Today in NHL news…

After the firing of Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall Monday, the organization today announced that Chris Pryor, the Director of Player Personnell and Assistant General Manager, and Assistant Coach Gord Murphy, have been relieved of their duties.

 

You can watch TXHT Live tonight at 8p EST on Facebook Live.

November 25th, 2018 — News and Notes

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Today is Sunday, November 25th, 2018, and these are your news and notes covering the NHL and the NWHL.

First in the NHL…

Yesterday’s schedule of games:

 

Washington 5, NY RANGERS 3

The Washington Capitals staged the 50th multi-goal comeback win on the NHL season yesterday afternoon when they defeated the NY Rangers 5-3.

TXHT’s Michael Lindenbaum and New York Rangers contributor Russell Hartman has your recap contest of the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers at the following page.

Game Recap – 11/24/2018 – Washington Capitals v. New York Rangers

 

TORONTO 6, Philadelphia 0

Andreas Johnsson had a hat trick, and achieved the mark in the first period.  Johnsson is the first player to score three goals in the first period since Wendell Clark on October 11, 1986.  Johnsson is the eighth player to score a hat trick in the first period.

With the 6-0 win, this marks the largest margin of victory in a shutout at home since they defeated the Buffalo Sabres 7-0.

 

 

Boston 3, MONTREAL 2

Boston’s D John Moore would go on to score the game-winner for the Bruins, the first goal of his career.

 

Buffalo 3, DETROIT 2 (SO)

The Buffalo Sabres in this contest would win their ninth straight, the most since the 2006-07 season when they won 10 straight.


Jeff Skinner of the Sabres scored his 18th goal on the season, the most so far on the season.  This is Skinner’s first season with the Buffalo Sabres.

Chicago 5, FLORIDA 4 (OT)

The Chicago Blackhawks would go on to win their first road game since their win on October 20th at the Columbus Blue Jackets when Chicago’s Erik Gustafsson would score the game-winner in the overtime frame.

In the last 14 games between the two teams, Chicago has a record of 12-2-0 against Florida.

NY ISLANDERS 4, Carolina 1

NY Islanders Josh Bailey had his sixth multi-point game of the season, leading the team.  Bailey had 20 multi-point games during the 2017-18 campaign.

PITTSBURGH 4, Columbus 2

Pittsburgh Penguins Jake Guentzel had a hat trick of his own in the 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets last night.

Winnipeg 8, ST. LOUIS 4

Patrik Laine scored on five different occasions to help the Winnipeg Jets defeat the St. Louis Blues 8-4 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis last night.

Laine joins three other players to have a five-goal performance before their 21st birthday.

COLORADO 3, Dallas 2

 

VEGAS 6, San Jose 0

The Vegas Golden Knights scored the fastest goal in franchise history in the shutout over the San Jose Sharks last night.

Marc-Andre Fleury posted a shutout in consecutive appearances for the third time.  He is also the second goalie in the expansion era to have at least 5 shutouts in 25 teams games in two different seasons.  He joins Ed Belfour on this list for such an achievement.

 

Vancouver 4, LOS ANGELES 2

Vancouver Canucks rookie Elias Pettersson had a multi-point contest and Adam Gaudette scored his first NHL goal in the 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center in Los Angeles last night.

 

 

Today’s schedule of games:

 

NWHL

 

For the NWHL, there is one game on tap today at 2 p.m., ET

 

You can watch TXHT Live next Wednesday at 8p EST on Facebook Live.