Half Way Point: The Sabres are for Real
The Sabres are not just pushing the league, but side panels as well
If someone where to have come up to me prior to the start of the regular season and told me the Sabres would be the class of the league, I would have left the area, found the nearest fire alarm, and pull it. I would have been led to believe that I was speaking to a man who needed to be locked up in an insane asylum, with the key being thrown away.
The Sabres aren't your ordinary squad, however. In the toughest division in the entire league, the team remains on top. They aren't the offensive firepower they began the season with, but they've developed into an effective unit, capable of making the pundits who predicted the team to finish dead last irrelevant to the ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup.
Managing the new expectations doesn't seem to be a problem to the team. With no major injures, the team solders on into the second half of the season, hoping to make the remainder of the season as smooth as the start. While the goaltending remains suspect, the team will still have two months to figure the situation out before the trade deadline is upon us. They'll continue the platoon of Jhonas Enroth and Steve Mason for the time being.
The team is overacheiving alright. It's similar to the much-beloved 1996-97 squad; without a superstar, but a team that works hard on every shift. They're the lunch pail gang, a homage to the teams of old. Even Don Cherry gushes about the grit of the club, even praising European players like Nail Yakupov and Ville Leino for blocking shots, and playing 'the North American' way of hockey.
They do have three players averaging more than a point per game; Yakupov, Cody Hodgson, and Alexander Steen. The latter was acquired by the Sabres without expectations; you could say it was a favor to the Blues to take on his salary in order to process the trade that sent long-time Sabre to the Blues in September. Steen has 25 goals in 42 games, already a career high, and has positioned himself for a nice contract come off-season time.
Even John Scott, who had one career goal in his entire NHL career, has 4 at the half-way point in the season. This is despite the fact he, himself, has been limited, with the constant switch between Scott and pest Patrick Kaleta from game to game in the lineup.
Christian Ehrhoff has played like the captain he was given, despite the fact his linemates have changed throughout the season. He's a Norris trophy nominee, a consummate professional, and a player that is slowly making the fans believe that, in the words of Sabres broadcaster Rick Jeanneret, that this team is good, SCARY GOOD.
If anyone expected this rebuild to happen this fast, they'd be lying. The Sabres are a team that will continue to progress, but I can't say they're pretenders. They can play; they will continue to win, and maybe, just maybe, they become the underdog story that everyone loves to cheer for. And how good is that? The city of ridicule becomes the city of Champions.
It has a nice ring to it.
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Buffalo Sabres 2013-14 Season
Record: 29-11-2, 1st in Adams, 2nd in League
Home/Away: 17-4-2 (Home); 12-7-0 (Away)
P%: 71.4%
GFPG: 4.33 (1st)
GAPG: 2.83 (22nd)
PP: 32.9% (1st)
PK: 76.9% (27th)
Injures: None
Team Salary: $48,120,000
Trades/Free Agents Signings
None
Buffalo Sabres Lines
Marcus Foligno - Cody Hodgson - Alexander Steen
Mikhail Grigorenko - Tyler Ennis - Nail Yakupov
Ville Leino - Steve Ott - Brayden Schenn
John Scott - Colton Gillies - Corey Tropp
Patrick Kaleta
Henrik Tallinder - Tyler Myers
Christian Ehrhoff - Jamie McBain
Brayden McNabb - Mike Weber
Alexander Sulzer
Jhonas Enroth
Steve Mason
Previous Contests
Boston Bruins 2, Buffalo Sabres 1
Phoenix Coyotes 4, Buffalo Sabres 3 (Shootout)
Buffalo Sabres 3, Toronto Maple Leafs 2
Buffalo Sabres 5, Washington Capitals 1
Winnipeg Jets 3, Buffalo Sabres 2
Buffalo Sabres 7, Minnesota Wild 1
Buffalo Sabres 4, New Jersey Devils 3 (Shootout)
Upcoming Games
January 7th, 2014: vs. Carolina Hurricanes (first meeting of the season)
January 9th, 2014: vs. Florida Panthers (won previous meeting 8-5 on 10/25/13)
January 12th, 2014: @ Washington Capitals (won previous meeting 5-1 on 12/29/13)
January 14th, 2014: vs. Philadelphia Flyers (EASN Game; lost previous meeting 5-4 on 11/21/13)
January 15th, 2014: @ Toronto Maple Leafs (Sabres lead season series 3-1, won previous meeting 3-2 on 12/27/13)
January 18th, 2014: vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (won previous meeting 10-7 on 10/10/13. Also, BOBROVSKY)
January 21st, 2014: vs. Florida Panthers (will be third meeting of the season)
Rochester Americans Report
Record: 12-16-4, 5th in North; 28th in AHL
Home/Away: 8-6-2 (Home); 4-10-2 (Away)
P%: 43.8%
GFPG: 2.56 (22nd)
GAPG: 2.84 (23rd)
PP: 16.1% (22nd)
PK: 84% (11th)
Injures: None
Code:
Buffalo Sabres 2013-14 Season Statistics
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Player Pos GP G A P +/- PIM
Nail Yakupov RW 42 23 22 45 8 18
Cody Hodgson C 42 12 31 43 17 32
Alexander Steen RW 42 25 17 42 23 10
Christian Ehrhoff D 42 7 28 35 26 4
Marcus Foligno LW 42 12 23 35 24 76
Tyler Myers D 42 13 20 33 14 70
Steve Ott C 42 9 22 31 24 57
Mikhail Grigorenko LW 41 16 14 30 11 2
Brayden Schenn RW 42 11 17 28 12 21
Tyler Ennis C 42 13 14 27 12 4
Ville Leino LW 42 13 11 24 11 11
Henrik Tallinder D 40 4 15 19 9 11
Brayden McNabb D 40 6 11 17 27 26
Corey Tropp RW 42 4 11 15 9 16
Jamie McBain D 30 3 10 13 2 7
Mike Weber D 39 0 10 10 19 19
Colton Gillies C 21 4 3 7 0 10
John Scott LW 16 4 2 6 8 5
Alexander Sulzer D 19 1 4 5 9 2
Patrick Kaleta LW 28 2 2 4 -1 7
Luke Adam* C 20 0 1 1 1 7
Goaltenders GP W L OTL GA G.AA SV% SO
Jhonas Enroth 28 20 5 2 72 2.63 .898 1
Steve Mason 15 9 6 0 46 3.05 .885 0
Code:
Rochester Americans 2013-14 Season Statistics
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Player Pos GP G A P +/- PIM
Johan Larsson LW 32 12 16 28 3 20
Phil Varone C 32 13 9 22 -4 22
Brian Flynn LW 32 8 13 21 -14 9
Ty Rattie RW 32 7 13 20 1 10
Joel Armia RW 32 8 9 17 -8 4
Zemgus Girgensons C 32 7 9 16 -18 7
Nick Crawford D 32 1 14 15 -8 0
Mike Zigomanis C 32 5 9 14 2 30
Chad Ruhwedel D 32 4 8 12 -6 13
Mark Pysyk D 24 2 9 11 -2 14
Kevin Sundher LW 32 4 5 9 -4 2
Daniel Catenacci RW 32 2 6 8 -1 9
Colin Jacobs C 32 4 3 7 -3 4
Jamie Tardiff LW 32 2 4 6 -19 44
Jerome Gauthier-Leduc D 32 1 5 6 -16 2
Jonathan Parker RW 32 0 5 5 -5 6
Rasmus Ristolainen D 20 2 3 5 -4 2
Drew Bagnall D 32 0 1 1 1 144
Matt MacKenzie D 8 0 0 0 -2 6
Jake McCabe D 12 0 0 0 -5 7
Goaltenders GP W L OTL GA G.AA SV% SO
Matt Hackett 24 9 10 4 58 2.43 .918 1
Andrei Makarov 9 3 6 0 28 3.35 .879 1
Code:
NHL Standings
Updated January 5th, 2014
Wales Conference
Adams Division
Team W L OTL ROW Pts
Buffalo Sabres 29 11 2 26 60
Boston Bruins 27 11 4 25 58
Toronto Maple Leafs 26 11 6 26 58
Tampa Bay Lightning 23 14 4 21 50
Montreal Canadiens 23 18 2 20 48
Ottawa Senators 23 19 2 22 48
Florida Panthers 19 17 6 17 44
Detroit Red Wings 21 20 2 21 44
Patrick Division
Team W L OTL ROW Pts
New Jersey Devils 29 11 3 27 61
Pittsburgh Penguins 27 12 4 23 58
Carolina Hurricanes 22 17 3 20 47
NY Rangers 21 17 5 17 47
Washington Capitals 16 21 5 16 37
Columbus Blue Jackets 17 22 3 15 37
NY Islanders 16 25 2 12 34
Philadelphia Flyers 15 24 3 11 33
Campebll Conference
Norris Division
Team W L OTL ROW Pts
St. Louis Blues 26 13 2 21 54
Nashville Predators 21 17 4 19 46
Winnipeg Jets 20 18 6 18 46
Dallas Stars 21 17 3 18 45
Minnesota Wild 18 21 5 17 41
Colorado Avalanche 18 19 4 15 40
Chicago Blackhawks 18 23 3 15 39
Smythe Division
Team W L OTL ROW Pts
Edmonton Oilers 23 15 6 22 52
Calgary Flames 23 17 1 22 47
San Jose Sharks 20 17 5 18 45
Vancouver Canucks 20 18 5 18 45
Los Angeles Kings 20 19 4 19 44
Arizona Coyotes 19 17 5 13 43
Anaheim Mighty Ducks 16 20 7 14 39
Code:
NHL League Leaders
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Points Goals
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Player Team Pts Player Team Gs
Richard Nash NYR 49 Alexander Steen BUF 25
Henrik Zetterberg DET 49 Nail Yakupov BUF 23
Zach Parise MIN 48 Tomas Plekanec MTL 19
Phillip Kessel TOR 47 Richard Nash NYR 19
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins EDM 47 Patrice Bergeron BOS 18
Assists Penalty Minutes
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Player Team As Player Team PIMs
Henrik Zetterberg DET 37 Adam McQuaid BOS 161
Zach Parise MIN 34 Matthew Carkner NYI 114
Phillip Kessel TOR 33 Dustin Byfuglien WPG 84
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins EDM 31 Mark Fraser TOR 81
Cody Hodgson BUF 31 Clayton Stoner MIN 79
Wins Goals Against Average
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Player Team Ws Player Team G.AA
Jhonas Enroth BUF 20 James Reimer TOR 1.68
Tuukka Rask BOS 19 Craig Anderson OTT 1.88
James Reimer TOR 18 Cory Schneider NJ 2.03
Cory Schneider NJ 16 Jonathan Quick LA 2.09
Joey MacDonald CGY 15 Jimmy Howard DET 2.11
Save Percentage Shutouts
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Player Team SV% Player Team SOs
James Reimer TOR .941 Craig Anderson OTT 6
Craig Anderson OTT .938 Ben Bishop TB 5
Jonathan Quick LA .934 Roberto Luongo VAN 4
Cory Schneider NJ .932 Semyon Varlamov COL 4
Carey Price MTL .932 Devan Dubnyk EDM 4
NHL News
December 19th, 2013: The Washington Capitals have signed right winger
Colby Armstrong to a one-year contract
December 19th, 2013: The Ottawa Senators have acquired left winger
Matt Cooke from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for center
Derek Grant and defenseman
Ben Harpur
I don't have a joke for that trade....
bDecember 25th, 2013: The New York Islanders have signed left winger
Brenden Morrow to a one-year contract
Mailbag
Don't you just love 3rd line hereos.
I love 'em.
Awesome so far HW, awesome hockey + your wacky humor = a most excellent bagm
I try my best, good sir.