Menin Aeide Thea—A Buffalo Sabres Dynasty

[AdamJones113]

Rage—Goddess, Sing the Rage of Buffalo's Sabres,
μενιν αειδε Θεα...
That cost the team countless losses,
Hurtling down to the Atlantic Division's cellar,
So many sturdy lines,
Feasts for the Panthers and Bruins.
And the will of [owner] Terrence Pegula was moving towards its end.

Begin, Muse, when the hiring first occurred,
Of the newest Coach and GM, brilliant...

Sabres Hire Coach/GM Akilles Yurevich

—Buffalo, New York.
In an enterprising, if somewhat surprising move, the Buffalo Sabres have hired Akilles Yurevich to coach and more importantly be GM for the rebuilding Buffalo Sabres. Owner Terrence Pegula has expressed confidence in his latest personnel move, which came just hours after releasing Lindy Ruff and signing Ron Rolston, who will now serve in an assistant role.

The new commander of the Buffalo Sabres will have to be like his namesake, the great hero Achilles: he endured 10 years of war before conquering Troy. Mr. Yurevich will likewise have to endure a serious rebuilding era, as the Sabres have not made the playoffs since 2010-11 and have traded away Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek.

[AdamJones113]

Settings:

Platform: Xbox 360
Game Title: NHL 14 (EA Sports)
Rosters: Default With Real-Life Changes (Some)
Period Length: 8 minutes (20 sim)
Game-playing: I'll try to play every game, but...
Sliders: All Star+ (i.e. my own sliders, based off of Weapon X's sliders)

[AdamJones113]

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Reserved: Stanley Cup Champions
2013: Ottawa Senators
2014: Buffalo Sabres
2015: Colorado Avalanche

[AdamJones113]

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Reserved: Buffalo Sabres Award Winners

2013/14: Bill Masterson Trophy—D Christian Ehrhoff (2G, 38A, 82 GP)
2013/14: Maurice Richard Trophy—LW Matt Moulson (39G, 25 A)

2014/15: Stanley Cup
2014/15: Conn Smythe Trophy—C Tyler Ennis (5G, 22A, 24GP)
2014/15: James Norris Trophy—D Jamie McBain (30G, 34A, 82 GP)
2014/15: Calder Memorial Trophy—RW Nikita Kucherov

[AdamJones113]

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Reserved: Buffalo Sabres (High, For Now) Draft Picks
2013: #10 overall—Defenseman Aaron Ekblad (Barrie Colts, OHL)

[AdamJones113]

Just a quick note before we open the season at home vs. the Penguins.

Next 5 Games:
1. Pittsburgh Penguins
2. Detroit Red Wings
3. New York Rangers
4. New York Islanders
5. New Jersey Devils

Preseason results: I played the first 5 minutes of each game to research line combos and sliders, and in the end I wound up making the sliders favor defense, with goalies improved and shooting sliders decreased.

Preseason Results 2.0:

Spoiler

Surprisingly, we went 4-0. Miller had 3 wins and Tyler Ennis picked up 3 PP goals. Let's see how we do in the regular season, though...

[AdamJones113]

In Wild Opener, Leino Stars as Sabres Beat Penguins 5-3

Buffalo, New York.

The Buffalo Sabres pulled out an unlikely comeback victory Saturday, going from down 3-0 in the first to a convincing 5-3 win over likely Stanley Cup contenders the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins scored 3 in the first, with Evgeni Malkin assisting on goals by Paul Martin and James Neal, followed by a Beau Bennett rebound. Then Ville Leino took over.

Leino scored the first goal with :58 to play in the first. He then proceeded to score again from the exact same place four minutes into the second period. The Sabres then tied the score with a Drew Stafford goal on a two-on-one, assisted by... Ville Leino.

Halfway through the third period, Paul Martin got two minutes for interference. With :23 remaining in the PP, Tyler Myers got the draw on a faceoff and blasted one into the top left corner.
He did it again 5 minutes later on yet another PP (Malkin for Roughing), assisted by Matt Moulson and... Ville Leino.

3 Stars:
1. Ville Leino— 2 Goals, 2 Assists
2. Tyler Myers— 2 Goals (GWG, 2PP)
3. Drew Stafford— 1 Goal, 1 Assist

The Good:
Ville Leino??

The Bad:
We iced the puck 8 times, and we were terrible in front of the net.

The Goofy: Ryan Miller, first 16 minutes: 7S, 3G. Next 44: 18S. (Total of 25S, 3G).

Special Mention:
Luke Adam, third-line center, earned his minutes with good fore-checking, well-placed shots, and two-way play.

Spoiler

I won't write up a summary for every game, but this was just too good not to.

[AdamJones113]

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Red Wings Pull Out 2-1 Win Over Sabres
The Wings led 2-0 after 2 periods, with goals by Kyle Quincey on a Sabres' defensive zone draw and a beauty by Henrik Zetterberg on a great pass from Pavel Datsyuk. Matt Moulson cut the lead in half with a PP goal, but as the clock ticked down Jimmy Howard was superb. With :5 to play, Moulson had a rebound chance, but Howard made a spectacular diving pad save to rob him a preserve Detroit's win.

Miller Posts First Shutout of Season With 2-0 Win Over Rangers
Ryan Miller made 19 saves and Tyler Ennis converted a breakaway opportunity as the Sabres moved to 2-1 on the season. Cody Hodgson put in the security tally with 4 minutes to play, assisted by Tyler Myers and Drew Stafford. Miller made some clutch blocker saves, and the defense did enough right to make up for Buffalo's ugly 0/3 with the man advantage.