The Sabres new top line

What a game against the Lightning, last night a big 7-3 win, was such a fun game to watch and I'm sure the boys loved playing it. I took 3 things away from the game last night; 1. We won a game in regulation! flip I'm still in shock we didn't need more than 60 minutes to get to the final score, it seemed like the Sabres had forgotten how to win in regulation. 2. Where the heck did all this offence come from? when was the last time we scored 7 goals in 1 game? I was shocked by the number of goals we put on the board, I was nervous when it became 4-2, thinking the Sabres were about to let another game slip. How about that Marcus Foligno kid? and 3. The Sabres have a new top line, although they don't have the official title of being the number 1 line; Foligno, Tyler Ennis and Drew Stafford are the Sabres best line right now, forget Vanek, Pominville and Roy teams now have to deal with the new best line. Let's break down the Sabres "new" number one line.

Tyler Ennis

Ennis is a great hockey player, I'm getting tired of people always talking about his size first, him and Nathan Gerbe play with a lot of heart but when it's all said and done they are both HOCKEY PLAYERS!! It is just so fun to see Ennis skating down the ice and making plays, he's having fun and taking advantage of his chances on the 2nd line. In last night's game, he tallied up 2 assists helping to pad his 5 game point streak in which he has 5 assists and 9 points. The best part of Sabres victories is the developing "bromance" between Ryan Miller and Ennis, the big hug they give each other with grins stretching from ear to ear, it just shows how this team is banding together! In 39 games this season Ennis has tallied 24 points, not bad for the 22 year old playing in his second NHL season. No sophomore jinx for Ennis. He is proving to be a great 2nd line centre, a healthy Ennis is a scary thought for the opposition.

Marcus Foligno
I honestly can't say enough about this kid! He is quickly becoming one of my favorite Sabres players. I'd like to thank @Jennilynj one of my followers on twitter, for convincing me to give Foligno a chance. I wasn't too impressed when he got called up after the Kassian trade, I was hoping Luke Adam would get the call. I didn't think Foligno was nearly good enough or ready to be a solid player in the NHL. But now that I've given him a second chance I'm happy I did.  Last night Foligno was a crucial part in the 7-3 win, now I know it sounds stupid to say someone was crucial in a 7-3 trouncing like last night but Foligno's 2 goals really helped set the tone. His first goal was near the beginning stages of the 2nd period and his 2nd goal came near the end of the 2nd period. His second goal in particular was important; it was the Sabres 5th goal of the night but it came minutes after Tampa had scored to make it 4-2. The dreaded two goal lead! Once it was 4-2 a few hearts started pounding, but Foligno came to the rescue and scored his second goal to extend the lead to 5-2 and that was all the Sabres needed.
Last night was Foligno's second two-goal game, the rookie now has 5 goals and 2 assists in 5 games since joining the Sabres on March 10. Foligno is really starting to turn heads and get people's attention; a major reason for his success in the NHL is his time playing juniors and in the minors, the Sabres took their time in letting him develop. The development of young rookies is something fans and sometimes management overlook, but it's crucial for young players to be given time to dominate in the minors, have proper coaching and be fully ready to play in the NHL.
Based on Foligno's play from the last few weeks, I can now understand and see why the Sabres were willing to get rid of Kassian. Foligno is going to be the real deal, I believe he's already better than his brother Nick (currently playing for the Senators) and may even be better than his father one day, big shoes to fill for the youngest Foligno, but something I think he may be capable of. As a Sabres fan I get excited every time Marcus gets the puck, and the opposition gets a little nervous. But right now he is having fun living out the Foligno legacy; "the jump" excites the crowd and reminds them of the days his father was the Sabres captain.

Drew Stafford
Stafford is having a rough season, after an amazing return from injury last season when he amassed 52 points in 62 games, and received a new contract, expectations were high for Stafford in Buffalo. But last night Stafford had likely his best game all season, scoring 1 goal and adding 2 assists. Since he's been paired with Foligno and Ennis, Stafford has been playing his best hockey all season; He's currently on a 4 game point streak (2 goals and 9 points). Whether people in Buffalo want to admit it or not Stafford is one of the best 100 hockey players in the NHL, but it's all about being paired with the right line mates, if you're not with the right guys you're not going to be nearly as efficient or effective.

This trio of guys have been on fire as of late, perhaps one reason, 2 of them are fighting to earn their place in the lineup so they want to put their best in. But the chemistry and the effectiveness of this line is quite amazing! If Ruff brakes up this line, then he deserves a plane ticket out of town, these guys are gelling well together and feeding off each other success. These three are major contributors in Buffalo's late season playoff surge, they're playing hard and other players are feeding off their energy, excitement and confidence. It's great to have a team full of veterans in their late 20's and early 30's but those veterans don't always play with the same passion and excitement as young kids trying to earn a roster spot, which is why you need the young guys who are playing for contracts, spots on the team and a chance at the postseason. If a team doesn't have a core of young players (Ennis, Gerbe, Foligno, Hodgson, Tropp) that are excited to play night in and night out and giving it their all, then they won't succeed.

Other thoughts from Last Night
Another happy moment from last night was Cody Hodgson got his first point as a Buffalo Sabre, he finished off the night with 2 assists and was looking good out there, he looks like he's starting to find his game again and get comfortable with his teammates. Just in time for the postseason push, now that he's paired with Vanek it shouldn't be a problem getting him rolling. And he looked really comfortable with Jason Pomminville on the power play.

Pominville is finding his game again (2 goals last night), his line with Leino and Roy is starting to gel and produce points, the Second line with Foligno, Ennis and Stafford is on fire Hodgson and Vanek should be able to ignite each other and the 4th line contributing all over the ice; All 4 lines in Buffalo are a go, Miller is back on his game, and providing the Sabres an opportunity to win night in and night out. The team is gelling and starting to play for each other and most importantly they're having fun out there on the ice! Not to mention we get Tyler Myers back next game after serving his 3 game suspension, and in his absence the Sabres got 4 out of 6 points not too shabby.

This Sabres team is really starting to click, and are just 2 points out. They're hungry for the playoffs, and anxious to dismiss the overrated talk that unmet expectations from the start of the season. The Sabres are a dangerous hockey team right now, and after dismantling the Lightning, they're proving they can and will steamroll over any team in their way of getting to the postseason. We got 9 games to make up 2 points, it's going to be an intense couple weeks as the season rides out. Looking at the schedule I see both the Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals getting about 8-10 more points and the Sabres should be able to squeeze out between 12-14. With that said, hopefully we'll be seeing some more playoff hockey in Buffalo, who knows maybe even a visit to the second round. If I'm a top seeded Eastern Conference team and I see the Sabres coming in the rear view mirror I'm starting to sweat!

The Week That Was

Time to wrap up another crazy week in the NHL.

Stamkos reaches 50
Steven Stamkos is quite the remarkable young hockey player who will likely win a Stanley Cup somewhere down the line in his historic NHL career. Stamkos isn't even 23, yet he has accomplished so much in his 4 years of NHL hockey. On Tuesday night Stamkos scored 2 goals against the Boston Bruins to give him 50 goals on the season, not only has did he reach the remarkable 50 goal platoue he joins an exclusive list of 7 players who have accomplished the feat twice in their career before turning 23! Wayne Gretzky (did it 5 times), Mario Lemieux, Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Bure, Joe Nieuwendyke and Mike Bossy. Not bad company if you ask me!
Stamkos is having an amazing season having scored 35 goals in 30 games he looks to be the front runner for the Rocket Richard trophy, it would be the second time the young sniper has won the award (2009-2010).
Since the beginning of the 2009-2010 season Stamkos has scored 149 goals, the most by any player over that time span and 35 more than Ovechkin and Perry (111). Every time Stamkos takes to the ice the chances of something magnificent happening are great!
This Kids going to heck of a career!

The other Penguin returnee
Perhaps lost in all the buzz over Crosby, was the return of Kris Letang to the Penguins line-up Thursday night. Now It's a stretch to say the Letang is better than Crosby, but right now many are saying having Letang out for the playoffs would be worse than Crosby. Letang is a very important member of the Penguins team, a crucial defenceman. Leang has just over 24 minutes of ice time notched an assists and was a plus-5. Letang was returning from a concussion just like Crosby, and it was Letang's 2nd concussion of the season.

Crosby returns!

Thursday night marked the 2nd return of Sidney Crosby for his concussion/neck issues. Crosby

 re-aggravated his concussion back December 5th after taking a butt end/elbow to the head. Crosby played exactly 16 minutes against the Rangers on Thursday, and finished with 1 assist and a plus-3. Wasn't an expectational return from Sid the kid but it didn't have to be, the Penguins were playing just fine without him. (sounds weird eh?) The 5-3 win for the Penguins marks their 10th straight win and truly solidifies them as top contenders in the Eastern conference. Crosby approached his 2nd return with a different mindset than his first, he was a little more hesitant, emotions weren't riding as high and he wasn't eager to test himself with contact. Not to be overshadowed by Crosby's return, is Malkin. This is still very much Malkins' team this season, so I hope he does not get forgotten about with everything he has done in Crosby's absence. Heck when your name is Sidney Crosby good things happen at 1:42pm on Friday the league officially credited Crosby with a second assist, on the Matt Cooke goal.

Tyler Myers gets suspended
Tyler Myers was handed a 3 game suspension from Brendan Shanahan for boarding Canadians Scott Gomez. Myers will forfeit $14,189.19 in salary over the 3 games. Myers has 2 games left in his suspension.

Hybrid Icing gets a vote of confidence
We've all seen them, a race for a icing skates and sticks get tangled up and one player goes flying into the boards; breaking a leg, dislocating a shoulder and even concussions have all come from icing races. When I watch hockey games and see close icing races I hold my breath, you never wanna see a player go flying into the boards and end up hurt. It would appear the NHL GM's feel the same way and are ready for a change in the icing rules. The change require the linesman to make a judgement call (we all know how those work out!), If the forecheker is leading the play by the faceoff dot the play continues or if the defenseman is leading the play or tied with the forechecker by the faceoff dot the play is to be blown dead and be ruled an icing. There are still a few technicalities with this new rule change, but it's a step in the right direction. It still has to be voted on by the competition comitee before being implemented into the NHL as early as next season.

The Universes goalie make history

Despite being one of the wackiest, strangest goalies you will probably ever find Ilya Bryzgalov is actually a solid netminder when he focus' on just hockey. Going into Thursday nights game against the Islanders, Bryzgalov was on a stretch of 3 straight shutouts and score less streak of 196:13 just 31 minutes shy of the Flyers record 227:40 set by John Vanbiesbrouck set in 1999. Midway through the second period Bryzgalov was able to beat the record and even extended it to 249:43 before two goals were scored on the Flyers netminder. As his teammates pointed out Bryz has finally got his "Swagger" back, and with that swagger he makes this Flyers team Cup contenders.

The ageless Selanne notches another accomplishment
Teemu Selanne passes his childhood idol Jari Kurri on the all-time scoring list, moving Selanne into 19th with 1,399 career points. Selanne also becomes the all time leading scorer from Finland and is third on the list of Europeans.

Suspected first overall pick on the shelf
Nail Yakupov who is widely expected to be drafted first overall at this years entry draft is on the shelf for the remainder of the season. Luckily it is just 3 games the Sarnia Sting winger will be missing, he is out with an upper body injury (stitches in his lip), he is hoping to re turn for the OHL playoffs.

Before I end this blog check out the must see moment from this week in the NHL; Eric Cole high fives the referee;

Unleash your inner Beast

The Sabres have been on a surreal run in the second half of the season; 9-9-2 in the last 13 games the Sabres have gone from 15th in the east to 9th just 2 points back of 8th place. If the Sabres are to make the playoffs it will be historic, no team has ever come back from 15th at the all star break to make the playoffs. There's still work left for the Sabres to make a full comeback and sneak into the playoffs; but with the play of Miller, Ennis, the third line and the new "beastness" Tyler Myers has found I wouldn't bet against the Sabres quite yet. There have been three "beasts" for the Sabres as of late: Ryan Miller, Tyler Ennis and Tyler Myers, today we'll be talking about the later.

Myers has been on fire of late and last night against the Canadians he scored the OT winner, and likely saved the season/playoff push. The tying goal being scored with .4 seconds left was a potential back breaker for the Sabres, if they hadn't rallied together and scored the OT winner, then our playoff push, everything that's been happening for the last couple months would be for nothing, it would have broken this team mentally and they likely would not have been able to rebound from it. But 2:02 into OT the Sabres had a 3 on 2 rush into the Habs zone, Derek Roy sent a beautiful pass over to Myers who made no mistake and buried the game winner! I'm going out on a limb and saying Tyler Myers is the dark horse MVP of the Sabres this season; he had a rough start to the season, he got benched, got hurt, then came back and recently has been on fire! With his overtime goal last night, Myers solidified his name in the Sabres records; his OT goal was his 8th game winning goal of his career which ties him for the lead for Sabres defense with Brian Campbell and Alexei Zhitnik. It was also Myers 3rd career overtime goal which puts him in first among all Sabres defenseman! Not bad for a guy who was being thrown under the bus at the beginning of the season.

Myers "coming out party" for the season was the game against Anaheim, when he got in his first fight and recorded 7 penalty minutes. At the end of the game in which the Sabres beat the Ducks, a scrum ensued and Myers dropped the mitts with Sheldon Brookbank. The passion in his eyes during that fight spoke volumes, he literally looked like he wanted to rip Brookbank to shreds! But that moment was so extremely important for Myers, he's starting to come out of his shell and take a leadership role on the team, and that's what the Sabres are looking for from their gentle giant. The Sabres drafted Myers and signed him long-term so he could be their next "franchise players," perhaps a future captain, Norris trophy and hopefully bringing the Cup home to Buffalo! The Sabres have big plans for the kid, and he's starting to understand his role more and more, and the fact that he can and should take a leadership role. Since his fight against Brookbank, I've noticed a more relaxed and pumped up defenseman. He's hitting harder, playing smarter defense, taking more chances/shots, jumping up in the play and really laying down the foundation for an excellent defense game in the future. I'm really excited to see Myers develop further in the future; he's going to be a great defenseman.

I love watching Myers on the ice right now, he's so full of confidence, he commits fully to a hit or poke check and doesn't chicken out, he's not afraid to rush the puck and shoot. Although his numbers are down this season (8 goals 13 assists), he's starting to really find his game. But what I really like from this "new" Sabres season in the second half, is how they're banding together and starting to play for their line mates, defensive partners and teammates-- they know how important these games are to the team, the fans and each other and they're finally playing that way. The embrace between Miller and Tyler Ennis after the shootout against Ottawa on Saturday shows it all, these guys are finally playing like a team. It's not just an individual effort each night anymore, they have faith in each other. When Miller was asked what was different about his game in the second half he said "I've learned to TRUST my teammates more!" A good hockey team, and a team that wins a Stanley Cup is team that plays for each other!

The only blunder in Myers game as of late, was the hit from behind on Scott Gomez last night. It was a bit of retaliation for a hit Gomez put on Myers, but Myers is the one meeting with Brendan Shanahan today. I'm guessing he'll receive a 3 game suspension or a $2,500 fine; nothing to serious but serious enough to get the point across, good news is Myers isn't a repeat offender. The hit looked viscous but Gomez did leave himself open for the hit, but Myers did hit him with a little extra aggression. So look for a wrist slap attention grabber.

This Sabres team is dangerous; they're coming together, players are playing amazing, Miller is back, Myers is out of his shell and the shorties (Ennis and Gerbe) are playing like they're 6 feet tall!
I wouldn't underestimate this team, in fact if I were the Rangers I'd be rooting for someone else to take 8th!