POSTED ON Tuesday, 10.11.2011 / 4:00 PM
By Kevin Snow - Sabres.com (@kwsnow) / BEYOND THE BOARDS
Luke Adam didn’t play alongside Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville until September 30 in Washington. They combined to score all three of Buffalo’s goals in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Capitals, and collected seven of the team’s nine points. That roll has continued through the team’s first two regular season wins.
Vanek scored twice in the season opener against Anaheim, and Adam chipped in a pair the next night in Berlin against Los Angeles. The trio currently occupy the top three spots in team scoring, having combined for 13 of the team’s 23 points.
With four points (2+2) in two games, the 21-year-old Adam has already matched his 19-game point total from last season. When asked about his individual accomplishments, Adam is quick to compliment his veteran linemates.
“Van and Pommer are both great players, and for myself to be given the opportunity to play with those two guys makes the game a lot easier for me. We’ve been having some success, but it’s early in the season and we can’t forget that.”
Pominville said that Adam’s play in training camp “forced the hand of the organization to keep him here.” But Adam knows that he’s far from having a position locked up for the rest of the season.
“Ever since the end of last year, my goal was to play on this hockey team. I took it one day at a time this summer, and one day at a time through training camp, just trying to get better and better every day. Fortunately I found myself on the opening day roster. But like I said, it’s two games and there’s still a lot of work ahead to stay here.”
Lindy Ruff said Jochen Hecht was upgraded for contact today, and he’s now at the “moderate level” of performance. Hecht was injured on the second day of training camp when he collided with Shaone Morrisonn during a drill. He appeared to be making progress as camp progressed, but said last week that he’d started experiencing headaches following workouts.
Ruff said he was encouraged by what he saw from Hecht during today’s practice.
“I think he took it as far as he’s taken it so far, and should continue to progress unless he has a setback during the week.”
Ruff hasn’t ruled Hecht out for Friday’s home opener against Carolina, but explains that a lot needs to happen over the next few days to consider adding him to the lineup.
“I don’t think there’s any reason to rule him out right now. I don’t think there’s a good enough reason to say he could play Friday yet either,” Ruff said. “We’re in kind of that situation where you evaluate after each practice. When we ramp up the physical play again tomorrow, he will do extra work after practice and be more involved in some physical stuff. Then you wait to see the next day if there’s any ramifications from how he worked.”
The early season success of the Buffalo Bills isn’t lost on the Sabres. While the teams are competing for the media spotlight, Ruff said that it only benefits the city in the long run.
“I hope they keep winning and we keep winning because it makes this a fun city to live in.”
Pominville says his conversations frequently revolve around the local sports teams.
“People want to talk about our new ownership and the Bills. It’s fun to see that atmosphere throughout the city.”
More than 50 members of the Rochester Americans alumni have confirmed their attendance for Thursday’s red carpet event prior to the team’s home opener at Blue Cross Arena. Included among the attendees are Donald Audette, Jason Botterill and Chris Taylor.
The event is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. when the current Amerks players enter Blue Cross Arena. Following that, fans will be able to re-live the storied history of the Rochester Americans by watching Alumni walk the red carpet, where they will sign autographs and pose for pictures. The list of scheduled attendees includes 13 Amerks Hall of Famers, 14 Amerks Calder Cup champions and 13 former Amerks captains.
Vanek scored twice in the season opener against Anaheim, and Adam chipped in a pair the next night in Berlin against Los Angeles. The trio currently occupy the top three spots in team scoring, having combined for 13 of the team’s 23 points.
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| Adam |
“Van and Pommer are both great players, and for myself to be given the opportunity to play with those two guys makes the game a lot easier for me. We’ve been having some success, but it’s early in the season and we can’t forget that.”
Pominville said that Adam’s play in training camp “forced the hand of the organization to keep him here.” But Adam knows that he’s far from having a position locked up for the rest of the season.
“Ever since the end of last year, my goal was to play on this hockey team. I took it one day at a time this summer, and one day at a time through training camp, just trying to get better and better every day. Fortunately I found myself on the opening day roster. But like I said, it’s two games and there’s still a lot of work ahead to stay here.”
Lindy Ruff said Jochen Hecht was upgraded for contact today, and he’s now at the “moderate level” of performance. Hecht was injured on the second day of training camp when he collided with Shaone Morrisonn during a drill. He appeared to be making progress as camp progressed, but said last week that he’d started experiencing headaches following workouts.
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| Hecht |
“I think he took it as far as he’s taken it so far, and should continue to progress unless he has a setback during the week.”
Ruff hasn’t ruled Hecht out for Friday’s home opener against Carolina, but explains that a lot needs to happen over the next few days to consider adding him to the lineup.
“I don’t think there’s any reason to rule him out right now. I don’t think there’s a good enough reason to say he could play Friday yet either,” Ruff said. “We’re in kind of that situation where you evaluate after each practice. When we ramp up the physical play again tomorrow, he will do extra work after practice and be more involved in some physical stuff. Then you wait to see the next day if there’s any ramifications from how he worked.”
The early season success of the Buffalo Bills isn’t lost on the Sabres. While the teams are competing for the media spotlight, Ruff said that it only benefits the city in the long run.
“I hope they keep winning and we keep winning because it makes this a fun city to live in.”
Pominville says his conversations frequently revolve around the local sports teams.
“People want to talk about our new ownership and the Bills. It’s fun to see that atmosphere throughout the city.”
More than 50 members of the Rochester Americans alumni have confirmed their attendance for Thursday’s red carpet event prior to the team’s home opener at Blue Cross Arena. Included among the attendees are Donald Audette, Jason Botterill and Chris Taylor.
The event is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. when the current Amerks players enter Blue Cross Arena. Following that, fans will be able to re-live the storied history of the Rochester Americans by watching Alumni walk the red carpet, where they will sign autographs and pose for pictures. The list of scheduled attendees includes 13 Amerks Hall of Famers, 14 Amerks Calder Cup champions and 13 former Amerks captains.
POSTED ON Thursday, 10.06.2011 / 7:22 AM
By Kevin Snow - Sabres.com (@kwsnow) / BEYOND THE BOARDS
| Additional Interviews |
Follow @Sabresdotcom on Twitter for the exclusive announcement of the captaincy later today, along with video from the dinner on Sabres.com. Keep in mind that Finland is seven hours ahead of Eastern Time, so it could come anytime after 12 Noon ET.
Ruff didn’t tip has hat as to whether it would be a full time or rotating captain, only joking with the media as he walked away by saying, “Do you want me to tell you now?”
The Sabres haven’t had a captain since Craig Rivet was claimed on re-entry waivers by the Columbus Blue Jackets on February 26. Seven different players wore the “C” during the preseason.
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| Ennis |
I had a chance to walk around Hartwall Areena after practice, and made sure to make the trip downstairs to the practice rink known as “The Cave.” Very cool facility – literally. It sits 25 meters underground, so the air in the rink is very cold. Check out this video we shot for more information:
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And did you know: Hartwall Areena was the last concert for Geri Halliwell with the Spice Girls on May 26, 1998. Of course this is just a blatant opportunity for me to mention Ginger Spice in a Sabres blog. People of the world, spice up your life!
POSTED ON Wednesday, 10.05.2011 / 1:19 PM
By Kevin Snow - Sabres.com (@kwsnow) / BEYOND THE BOARDS
HELSINKI, FINLAND -- It was another travel day for the Buffalo Sabres today as they continued on with their season-opening European tour. After an 8 a.m. bus from the hotel in Heidelberg, Germany, the entire Sabres travel party boarded an Air Berlin charter to Helsinki. The two hour and 20 minute flight landed in Helsinki just before 3 p.m., then it was straight to the Hartwall Areena for a quick 45-minute practice.
Lindy Ruff didn’t tinker with lines at all after last night’s 8-3 win over Adler Mannheim. These were the four line combos on the ice today this afternoon:
Vanek-Adam-Pominville
Boyes-Leino-Ennis
Stafford-Roy-Gerbe
McCormick-Gaustad-Kaleta
Matt Ellis and Jochen Hecht both took part in the workout wearing red jerseys. Drew MacIntyre remains on the trip as Buffalo’s emergency third goalie.
Teppo Numminen is excited about his return home to Finland, and talked about his memories of playing some big games at Hartwall Areena.
“I would say the World Cup games are my favorite, when you have your best teams. It’s the best players in the world, and all the NHL players were there. Just to be involved with the talented players, playing for the same reason, playing for your country … it’s really special.”
Following practice, Ruff met with the media as usual. But there was nothing normal about this press conference. Rather than address the media in a scrum format, Ruff appeared at a podium in front of 25 members of the Buffalo, national and Finnish media that were in attendance. But the normal practice of the media asking all the questions is altered somewhat here as a moderator basically runs the press conference and asks most of the questions. Ruff seemed caught off guard
Despite being played at international venues, both of Buffalo’s games this weekend will be played using NHL-sized ice surfaces. To accommodate the changes, the benches at Hartwall Areena have been moved in 15 feet from the stands.
Lindy Ruff didn’t tinker with lines at all after last night’s 8-3 win over Adler Mannheim. These were the four line combos on the ice today this afternoon:
Vanek-Adam-Pominville
Boyes-Leino-Ennis
Stafford-Roy-Gerbe
McCormick-Gaustad-Kaleta
Matt Ellis and Jochen Hecht both took part in the workout wearing red jerseys. Drew MacIntyre remains on the trip as Buffalo’s emergency third goalie.
Teppo Numminen is excited about his return home to Finland, and talked about his memories of playing some big games at Hartwall Areena.
“I would say the World Cup games are my favorite, when you have your best teams. It’s the best players in the world, and all the NHL players were there. Just to be involved with the talented players, playing for the same reason, playing for your country … it’s really special.”
Following practice, Ruff met with the media as usual. But there was nothing normal about this press conference. Rather than address the media in a scrum format, Ruff appeared at a podium in front of 25 members of the Buffalo, national and Finnish media that were in attendance. But the normal practice of the media asking all the questions is altered somewhat here as a moderator basically runs the press conference and asks most of the questions. Ruff seemed caught off guard
Despite being played at international venues, both of Buffalo’s games this weekend will be played using NHL-sized ice surfaces. To accommodate the changes, the benches at Hartwall Areena have been moved in 15 feet from the stands.
POSTED ON Monday, 10.03.2011 / 12:47 PM
By Kevin Snow - Sabres.com (@kwsnow) / BEYOND THE BOARDS
MANNHEIM, GERMANY --- Jochen Hecht’s homecoming has been marred by another setback. The Sabres forward told the media on Tuesday at SAP Arena that he’s been suffering post-workout headaches recently, further delaying his return to the lineup.
“I worked a little harder last week and had some headaches, so I’m gonna take a step back again.”
Hecht joined the Sabres on the ice following their session today, giving the fans in attendance a chance to recognize their hometown hero. Unfortunately it was nothing more than a pleasure skate for Hecht.
“Before I was able to do practice in the afternoon, but today was almost like rest. I didn’t do much out there. I couldn’t really do much work.
The timing of this couldn’t be worse for Hecht as he returned to Mannheim with the Sabres, and was looking forward to playing in front of an appreciative crowd on Tuesday night. The frustration was evident on Hecht’s face while he addressed an expectedly large media throng this morning.
“I was looking forward to this all summer. The way it has worked out now is disappointing, but that’s the way it is. I have to get healthy for the season.”
Lindy Ruff confirmed at practice today that Jhonas Enroth will start on Tuesday, and is expected to play the entire game.
Today’s practice took place on the SAP Arena’s seconday rink, as workers readied the main sheet for Tuesday’s exhibition game with Adler Mannheim. A Unification Day holiday crowd of an estimated 500 fans watched the practice, including 100 members of a tour group from Buffalo that had traveled through the night. They bused immediately to Mannheim from the airport, and were entertained by a stickhandling drill that turned into a team competition. The Buffalo fans were invited on to the ice after practice for photos and autographs, something that Ruff said was rewarding for all involved.
“It was great to see. Obviously they were a little giddy after getting off their plane, being up as long as they’d been up,” said Ruff. “It made for a fun atmosphere. It says a lot about our fans. To travel all this way, to give them something extra is important to us.”
“I worked a little harder last week and had some headaches, so I’m gonna take a step back again.”
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| Hecht |
“Before I was able to do practice in the afternoon, but today was almost like rest. I didn’t do much out there. I couldn’t really do much work.
The timing of this couldn’t be worse for Hecht as he returned to Mannheim with the Sabres, and was looking forward to playing in front of an appreciative crowd on Tuesday night. The frustration was evident on Hecht’s face while he addressed an expectedly large media throng this morning.
“I was looking forward to this all summer. The way it has worked out now is disappointing, but that’s the way it is. I have to get healthy for the season.”
Lindy Ruff confirmed at practice today that Jhonas Enroth will start on Tuesday, and is expected to play the entire game.
Today’s practice took place on the SAP Arena’s seconday rink, as workers readied the main sheet for Tuesday’s exhibition game with Adler Mannheim. A Unification Day holiday crowd of an estimated 500 fans watched the practice, including 100 members of a tour group from Buffalo that had traveled through the night. They bused immediately to Mannheim from the airport, and were entertained by a stickhandling drill that turned into a team competition. The Buffalo fans were invited on to the ice after practice for photos and autographs, something that Ruff said was rewarding for all involved.
“It was great to see. Obviously they were a little giddy after getting off their plane, being up as long as they’d been up,” said Ruff. “It made for a fun atmosphere. It says a lot about our fans. To travel all this way, to give them something extra is important to us.”
POSTED ON Sunday, 10.02.2011 / 9:12 AM
By Kevin Snow - Sabres.com (@kwsnow) / BEYOND THE BOARDS
MANNHEIM, GERMANY --- Just hours after landing in Germany, Lindy Ruff put the Buffalo Sabres through a spirited one-hour practice at the SAP Arena. The team touched down at 8:50 a.m. local time (2:50 a.m. ET), and was at the rink two hours later. Ruff said it was important to keep the players in a constant state of motion as they prepare for Tuesday’s exhibition game against Adler Mannheim.
“I think to just get the legs underneath you, and break up what’s going to be a long day. We want to try and stay on schedule, and make sure that everybody stays up and gets back on what would be our North American schedule,” he explained. “We have stressed the importance of staying on schedule, and not laying down and ending up with a three-hour nap and then you can’t sleep during the night.”
Ruff was very pleased with how the Sabres reacted to the lengthy skate.
“I actually thought they looked pretty good. We kept it a little on the lighter side. But overall I thought the boys skated pretty well.”
Thomas Vanek referred to the international sized ice surface at SAP Arena as an “ocean,” but doesn’t foresee any adjustment problems for the Sabres.
“We come out of the corners back home and it’s a scoring chance. Whereas over here, you’re still a mile away. But I think it’s going to be fun. We’re a good skating team and I think we’ll get used to it pretty quickly.”
Ruff tinkered with the lines somewhat at practice. Nathan Gerbe moved up to play with Derek Roy and Drew Stafford, while Brad Boyes took Stafford’s spot on the Leino/Ennis line. Luke Adam centered Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville; and Patrick Kaleta skated with a four-man group that also consisted of Paul Gaustad, Matt Ellis and Cody McCormick. Jochen Hecht skated in a non-contact role, and isn’t expected to play in Tuesday’s exhibition against his former German club team.
“I think to just get the legs underneath you, and break up what’s going to be a long day. We want to try and stay on schedule, and make sure that everybody stays up and gets back on what would be our North American schedule,” he explained. “We have stressed the importance of staying on schedule, and not laying down and ending up with a three-hour nap and then you can’t sleep during the night.”
Ruff was very pleased with how the Sabres reacted to the lengthy skate.
“I actually thought they looked pretty good. We kept it a little on the lighter side. But overall I thought the boys skated pretty well.”
Thomas Vanek referred to the international sized ice surface at SAP Arena as an “ocean,” but doesn’t foresee any adjustment problems for the Sabres.
“We come out of the corners back home and it’s a scoring chance. Whereas over here, you’re still a mile away. But I think it’s going to be fun. We’re a good skating team and I think we’ll get used to it pretty quickly.”
Ruff tinkered with the lines somewhat at practice. Nathan Gerbe moved up to play with Derek Roy and Drew Stafford, while Brad Boyes took Stafford’s spot on the Leino/Ennis line. Luke Adam centered Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville; and Patrick Kaleta skated with a four-man group that also consisted of Paul Gaustad, Matt Ellis and Cody McCormick. Jochen Hecht skated in a non-contact role, and isn’t expected to play in Tuesday’s exhibition against his former German club team.
POSTED ON Wednesday, 09.28.2011 / 10:14 PM
By Kevin Snow - Sabres.com (@kwsnow) / BEYOND THE BOARDS
The last thing Lindy Ruff expected to see in a training camp scrimmage was Patrick Kaleta being helped off the ice by the team’s medical staff. But that was the case tonight, after Kaleta took a shot to the head from Thomas Vanek as he came out of the corner with the puck. It was an out of character play for Vanek, and one that surprised Ruff as well.
“I think the obvious answer is ‘yes,’” said Ruff, when asked if the hit was too much for a practice session. “Whether Van leaned in too much, or whether Patty was coming with too much momentum … you never want anybody hurt in practice. That’s the extreme case, but he’s going to be fine.”
Ruff also provided updates on injured forwards Jochen Hecht and Derek Roy. Ruff said that Roy is close to returning, but he may be held out of Friday’s game in Washington if there’s any hesitation. Hecht saw another doctor this week, and skated on his own after tonight’s practice. Ruff said the hope is that he’ll start progressing in the next few days.
More than 1,500 fans attended the open practice that started with a full-team autograph session on the First Niagara Center concourse at 5 p.m. The players hit the ice just after 7 p.m., and ran through several drills before taking part in a brief scrimmage. For the players it was a chance to not only get on the ice at night during a week with just one game, but it also gave them an opportunity to perform in front of their home fans.
“I think it’s good for the fans to see what we do on a normal off day,” said Jordan Leopold. “We did a situational scrimmage and had about 30 minutes of practice. And we also had a chance to see the fans and interact with them. It’s a good experience for all of us.”
“I think the obvious answer is ‘yes,’” said Ruff, when asked if the hit was too much for a practice session. “Whether Van leaned in too much, or whether Patty was coming with too much momentum … you never want anybody hurt in practice. That’s the extreme case, but he’s going to be fine.”
Ruff also provided updates on injured forwards Jochen Hecht and Derek Roy. Ruff said that Roy is close to returning, but he may be held out of Friday’s game in Washington if there’s any hesitation. Hecht saw another doctor this week, and skated on his own after tonight’s practice. Ruff said the hope is that he’ll start progressing in the next few days.
More than 1,500 fans attended the open practice that started with a full-team autograph session on the First Niagara Center concourse at 5 p.m. The players hit the ice just after 7 p.m., and ran through several drills before taking part in a brief scrimmage. For the players it was a chance to not only get on the ice at night during a week with just one game, but it also gave them an opportunity to perform in front of their home fans.
“I think it’s good for the fans to see what we do on a normal off day,” said Jordan Leopold. “We did a situational scrimmage and had about 30 minutes of practice. And we also had a chance to see the fans and interact with them. It’s a good experience for all of us.”
POSTED ON Friday, 09.23.2011 / 10:15 AM
By Kevin Snow - Sabres.com (@kwsnow) / BEYOND THE BOARDS
Tonight’s line combinations vs. Toronto:
Vanek-Roy Pominville
Gerbe-Gaustad-Kaleta
Stuart-McCormick-Boyes
Ryan-Ellis-Tropp
Defensemen: Leopold, Gragnani, McNabb, Ehrhoff, Weber, Brennan
Ryan Miller will start and play the entire game. Drew MacIntyre will serve as the backup.
Colin Stuart wore #23 during his recall last season; he will wear #15 tonight.
Jordan Leopold will see his first action of the preseason tonight, and the nine-year veteran knows exactly how he wants to handle his ice time.
“Keep it simple, that’s the basic thing,” he says. “I’m just getting my feet wet after a long summer, and I’m excited to get back out there. To be able to go out and compete again is a good feeling.”
Playing three nights in a row presents a unique challenge for head coach Lindy Ruff in terms of lineup preparation, but he has already formulated a plan for the weekend.
“We’re going to give a group of six forwards back-to-back games, try and get used to the grind a little bit,” explained Ruff. “Obviously it’s different because we’re going to play four lines and the ice time will be down. In some ways I think it’s good that you get accustomed to what you’re going to deal with during the year.”
As the Buffalo Sabres took to the ice at the First Niagara Center to prepare for tonight's game in Toronto, 11 other players found out they were being assigned to the AHL's Rochester Americans.
The group consists of: forwards Riley Boychuk, Jacob Lagace, Maxime Legault, Shawn Szydlowski, Travis Turnbull and Mark Voakes; defensemen Alex Biega, Nick Crawford, Corey Fienhage and Matt MacKenzie; and goaltender Jeff Jakaitis. Of the 11, only Biega had seen any preseason action with the big club.
Rochester will open their training camp on Monday at the Blue Cross Arena.
This leaves the Sabres with 41 players still in training camp (24 forwards, 13 defensemen and four goaltenders).
Vanek-Roy Pominville
Gerbe-Gaustad-Kaleta
Stuart-McCormick-Boyes
Ryan-Ellis-Tropp
Defensemen: Leopold, Gragnani, McNabb, Ehrhoff, Weber, Brennan
Ryan Miller will start and play the entire game. Drew MacIntyre will serve as the backup.
Colin Stuart wore #23 during his recall last season; he will wear #15 tonight.
Jordan Leopold will see his first action of the preseason tonight, and the nine-year veteran knows exactly how he wants to handle his ice time.
“Keep it simple, that’s the basic thing,” he says. “I’m just getting my feet wet after a long summer, and I’m excited to get back out there. To be able to go out and compete again is a good feeling.”
Playing three nights in a row presents a unique challenge for head coach Lindy Ruff in terms of lineup preparation, but he has already formulated a plan for the weekend.
“We’re going to give a group of six forwards back-to-back games, try and get used to the grind a little bit,” explained Ruff. “Obviously it’s different because we’re going to play four lines and the ice time will be down. In some ways I think it’s good that you get accustomed to what you’re going to deal with during the year.”
As the Buffalo Sabres took to the ice at the First Niagara Center to prepare for tonight's game in Toronto, 11 other players found out they were being assigned to the AHL's Rochester Americans.
The group consists of: forwards Riley Boychuk, Jacob Lagace, Maxime Legault, Shawn Szydlowski, Travis Turnbull and Mark Voakes; defensemen Alex Biega, Nick Crawford, Corey Fienhage and Matt MacKenzie; and goaltender Jeff Jakaitis. Of the 11, only Biega had seen any preseason action with the big club.
Rochester will open their training camp on Monday at the Blue Cross Arena.
This leaves the Sabres with 41 players still in training camp (24 forwards, 13 defensemen and four goaltenders).
POSTED ON Thursday, 09.22.2011 / 3:59 PM
By Kevin Snow - Sabres.com (@kwsnow) / BEYOND THE BOARDS
Jochen Hecht has missed the last few days of training camp because of an injury, and head coach Lindy Ruff has already ruled him out of all three of Buffalo’s weekend games starting Friday in Toronto. Ruff said Hecht’s injury was the result of a collision with teammate Shaone Morrisonn that took place during Sunday’s second day of on-ice sessions.
“He ran into Morrisonn, cut his lip and got stitches. A little bit of it is just being precautionary here. He’ll probably be practicing in full by next week.
Ruff also revealed his goalie rotation for the weekend, saying that Ryan Miller will be the first Sabres netminder to get a full game under his belt this preseason when they visit Toronto on Friday. Ruff also said that Jhonas Enroth will play all 60 minutes at home against the Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Ruff also revealed his goalie rotation for the weekend, saying that Ryan Miller will be the first Sabres netminder to get a full game under his belt this preseason when they visit Toronto on Friday. Ruff also said that Jhonas Enroth will play all 60 minutes at home against the Maple Leafs on Saturday.
POSTED ON Monday, 09.19.2011 / 4:02 PM
By Kevin Snow - Sabres.com (@kwsnow) / BEYOND THE BOARDS
With two days of training camp workouts behind them, the Buffalo Sabres take to the ice tonight at the First Niagara Center for game one of the preseason against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes. The Sabres will play seven preseason contests, and this is their first of five in the next seven days.
Head Coach Lindy Ruff announced this morning that Drew MacIntyre and Jhonas Enroth will split time in the Sabres net tonight, with MacIntyre getting the start. Ruff said that splitting up games isn’t the most ideal situation for a goaltender, but it’s something he has to live with during the preseason.
“With five games in seven nights, we’ll probably split the next one and kind of go every other game after that. Goalies like playing full games, they don’t like just playing half a game. I’ll discuss the preseason, the tail end of it, with both Ryan and Jhonas, and we’ll go from there.”
Ruff said that he’ll be using a group of forwards to kill penalties, but plans to rely on a pair of lines for the power play.
“We’re going to favor the players that we think are special teams players. We want to give the Leino line a real good look, and we want to give Luke Adam’s line a real good look. There may be a couple of situations where we’ll let the other lines operate. But we’re going to lay most of the ice time on those two lines in a power play sense.”
Tonight’s lines and defense pairs:
Ennis-Leino-Stafford
Foligno-Adam-Kassian
Gerbe-Gaustad-Kaleta
Whitmore-McCormick-Tropp
Sekera-Myers, Weber-Gragnani, Brennan-Biega
“With five games in seven nights, we’ll probably split the next one and kind of go every other game after that. Goalies like playing full games, they don’t like just playing half a game. I’ll discuss the preseason, the tail end of it, with both Ryan and Jhonas, and we’ll go from there.”
Ruff said that he’ll be using a group of forwards to kill penalties, but plans to rely on a pair of lines for the power play.
“We’re going to favor the players that we think are special teams players. We want to give the Leino line a real good look, and we want to give Luke Adam’s line a real good look. There may be a couple of situations where we’ll let the other lines operate. But we’re going to lay most of the ice time on those two lines in a power play sense.”
Tonight’s lines and defense pairs:
Ennis-Leino-Stafford
Foligno-Adam-Kassian
Gerbe-Gaustad-Kaleta
Whitmore-McCormick-Tropp
Sekera-Myers, Weber-Gragnani, Brennan-Biega
POSTED ON Friday, 09.16.2011 / 5:09 PM
By Kevin Snow - Sabres.com (@kwsnow) / BEYOND THE BOARDS
Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff met with the media this morning, as the players went through on-ice testing at First Niagara Center during the first official day of training camp. Here are some of the key highlights from Ruff’s session:
On the health of the team:
“Everybody is good, we didn’t have one issue through medicals this morning.” That includes Jason Pominville, who Ruff said “skated well through the testing day.”
Discussing newcomer Ville Leino and his possible linemates:
“He’d be good with a goal scorer; he’s the type of guy who hangs on to the puck and prefers to make plays versus shooting the puck. I’d like to try him with Staff … We definitely have some good options, even throwing a guy like Brad Boyes out there with Ville.”
Talking about other possible line combinations:
“I’d like to go back to Vanek with Pominville and Roy to start with … … I love writing down stuff on paper because I can just crumple it up and throw it out. I call them paper lines because they look good on paper, but when they get on the ice, they just don’t gel.”
How he plans to manage Jhonas Enroth in the backup role:
“Part of my job is that I have to keep Jhonas ready to play. It’s easy to get him in if you’re playing four games in six nights. But again, I’m gonna make decisions that if he’s really playing well, we’ll keep him going irregardless of the fact that we have Ryan.”
Commenting on a visibly leaner and stronger Drew Stafford:
“Coming into last year, I think he got himself into exceptional shape. He went with the same program and tried to build off that. He may be a few pounds lighter, but he’s even stronger. He’s got himself where he thinks he can play at an elite level. Last year was a great year, and with a little better conditioning this year, we hope he can build on that.” Ruff said that Stafford’s physical change was very obvious – “I noticed it when he first came to town. It was one of those when the eyebrows go up.”
On the health of the team:
“Everybody is good, we didn’t have one issue through medicals this morning.” That includes Jason Pominville, who Ruff said “skated well through the testing day.”
Discussing newcomer Ville Leino and his possible linemates:
“He’d be good with a goal scorer; he’s the type of guy who hangs on to the puck and prefers to make plays versus shooting the puck. I’d like to try him with Staff … We definitely have some good options, even throwing a guy like Brad Boyes out there with Ville.”
Talking about other possible line combinations:
“I’d like to go back to Vanek with Pominville and Roy to start with … … I love writing down stuff on paper because I can just crumple it up and throw it out. I call them paper lines because they look good on paper, but when they get on the ice, they just don’t gel.”
How he plans to manage Jhonas Enroth in the backup role:
“Part of my job is that I have to keep Jhonas ready to play. It’s easy to get him in if you’re playing four games in six nights. But again, I’m gonna make decisions that if he’s really playing well, we’ll keep him going irregardless of the fact that we have Ryan.”
Commenting on a visibly leaner and stronger Drew Stafford:
“Coming into last year, I think he got himself into exceptional shape. He went with the same program and tried to build off that. He may be a few pounds lighter, but he’s even stronger. He’s got himself where he thinks he can play at an elite level. Last year was a great year, and with a little better conditioning this year, we hope he can build on that.” Ruff said that Stafford’s physical change was very obvious – “I noticed it when he first came to town. It was one of those when the eyebrows go up.”
