So what was the news from Sabres' practice today? For once, there really wasn't any.
The only people missing were the ones with long-term injuries that no one expected to see (Thomas Vanek and the concussion duo of Jochen Hecht and T.J. Brennan). Everyone else was skating, healthy and ready to head to Long Island this afternoon to play the Islanders on Saturday.
"We got them all back," coach Lindy Ruff said.
Center Tyler Ennnis returned after missing Thursday with the flu, while right wing Drew Stafford made it through his second straight day after missing Wednesday's game against the Rangers with an illness.
Call-up Zack Kassian remained with the team and is expected to make the trip.
"Right now the plan would be to take him with," Ruff said. "You never know what's going to pop with us."
That was the first of two one-liners issued by the coach. The other came at the end when someone asked if he watched the four-goal, eight-point show put on Thursday night by Edmonton's Sam Gagner.
"No, too much offense for me," Ruff said with a smile.
What isn't funny, though, is Gagner's one night alone would put him eighth on the Sabres in scoring. The four goals would tie him with Ville Leino, Nathan Gerbe, Tyler Myers, Hecht and Patrick Kaleta. Gagner would vault ahead of Brad Boyes and Ennis.
To hear Ruff's news conference, click the file below.
The Buffalo Sabres, after getting shut out for the second time in seven games Wednesday, rank 27th in the NHL in scoring. There's no excuse for that, center Derek Roy said today.
"We lost a lot of guys down the road, but that’s no excuse for the other guys not scoring," said Roy, who never figured the Sabres would be dwelling near the bottom at 2.33 goals per game. "No, not at the start of the year looking at our team and seeing in training camp how it went and starting off the season well."
Roy is among the Sabres who are struggling to find the net with one goal in 15 games. Brad Boyes has one in 29. Luke Adam has one in 24. Nathan Gerbe has one in 14. Drew Stafford, who returned to practice in First Niagara Center after missing the loss to the Rangers with an illness, has just two goals in 19 outings.
"We’re working on it in practice, trying to score goals and instill drills where we can work at it," said Roy, who wants to remain in Buffalo despite being part of trade rumors. "Everybody’s got to help each other out and keep making plays and keep having confidence."
Forward Tyler Ennis missed practice with the flu but is likely to return by Saturday when the Sabres visit the New York Islanders. Rookie defenseman Brayden McNabb has been cleared to return from a concussion and was sent back to the Rochester Amerks.
"He was cleared and we’ll go get him playing again," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "He needs to play. He needs to play big minutes. The six that have played since [Christian] Ehrhoff and [Robyn] Regehr stepped back in the lineup, the ice times have gone back to more where guys are comfortable playing at, in their range. Those six guys have played well together, so in Brayden’s case he hasn’t played now in a long time, and he needs to go play some good minutes and get back into game shape."
The Sabres tried to put the Paul Gaustad trash-talking story to bed today in advance of tonight's game against the New York Rangers, with Gaustad contradicting Montreal media accounts of the game by saying Max Pacioretty actually started the gabfest after Patrick Kaleta's empty-net goal.
(Be sure to go back to my earlier post from today to see what the whole thing is about and video from the Canadiens' postgame interviews.)
What had been reported was that Gaustad said, "Where's Chara?" at Pacioretty, a reference to the vicious, neck-breaking hit Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara dropped on the Montreal forward last season. The Canadiens then responded by asking Gaustad something along the lines of "Where's Lucic", a reference to Gaustad not jumping in when Ryan Miller got bowled over in Boston in November.
Gaustad said today his diss was in response to Pacioretty's initial chirp.
"I'm just going to address it for the last time today," Gaustad said. "It's something where Pacioretty said something to me, I said something back along the same lines and the guy that kind of brought it up in the media [Montreal's Mathieu Darche] wasn't even involved with it. For Darche to bring it up in the media, in my opinion is stuff on the ice stays on the ice. I don't want to blow it out of proportion. You have to have thick skin in the NHL. I'm fine with it. Just move on."
The Sabres are understandably unhappy Montreal players kept the chirping going to their beat writers after losing to Buffalo at home for the third time this season.
"I could give you one situation every night [where there is trash-talking]," said coach Lindy Ruff. "For them to go public that I thought was ridiculous on their part. They were looking for something to talk about or feel good about after that game and they're barking up the wrong tree if you ask me."
Gaustad plays with noted gabber Patrick Kaleta and joked this morning they feel bad for linemate Brad Boyes having to deal with some of the brushfires those two cause on the ice.
"Trash talking is a part of the game. It gets guys off their game," Gaustad said. "You just have to be careful of not letting guys get under your skin. It's a passionate game. They played hard, we played hard. I thought it was a fun game last night."
As for tonight's game, Ruff said Thomas Vanek will undergo more evaluation this afternoon. Another forward whom Ruff didn't name is sick and Zack Kassian was seen in the building and seems likely to play tonight. Ruff would not commit to putting Luke Adam back in the lineup.
Hear Gaustad's interview and a quick clip from Ruff below, with Ruff's initial comments pertaining to his thoughts on the high-flying Rangers.
The Montreal Canadiens are chafed that Sabres center Paul Gaustad allegedly said, "Where's Chara?" in the direction of Max Pacioretty following Patrick Kaleta's empty-net goal late in the third period of Tuesday's 3-1 Buffalo victory. The quip, of course, is in reference to the ghoulish hit Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara put on Pacioretty last season that resulted in a broken neck.
"He's got a big mouth and he likes to run it," Habs goalie Carey Price said of Gaustad. "What can you do? Can't worry about what he's got to say. He doesn't do much out there."
For one night, at least, Gaustad did as he put together his first three-point game since December 9, 2010. Will be interesting to see what kind of response Gaustad has this morning prior to the Sabres' game against the Rangers. Some Montreal players apparently asked him where he was when Ryan Miller got plowed in November by Milan Lucic. Fair comeback.
The Chara-Pacioreetty play is seen below, followed by clips from the Habs' locker room Tuesday from Price (who starts in on Gaustad at the :55 mark) and winger Matthew Darche. Those clips are from the Montreal Gazette.
MONTREAL -- Tyler Ennis, who has been out since spraining his ankle a second time this season Dec. 17, will return to the Sabres tonight against Montreal.
Not only is he excited to be back, he's thrilled to be making a return to center. He played in the middle in juniors and the minors. With Jochen Hecht sidelined by a concussion, the Sabres needed someone to play center and are ready to try Ennis.
Paul Gaustad may also return from injury. He will skate in the warm-up and coach Lindy Ruff will make a game-time decision on the center's status.
Marc-Andre Gragnani will be the healthy scratch on defense.
To hear the interviews with Ruff and Ennis, click the audio files below.
