GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Hello from Jobing.com Arena, which will have more than its share of Sabres backers for tonight's game against the Coyotes. Only a few thousand are in with about 20 minutes to the puck drop, but Sabres jerseys are plentiful.
As you can imagine, the weather here is perfect. It was sunny and 75, a perfect day to sit by the pool or wander through Old Town Scottsdale. I did both. And not once did I wonder how much snow has piled up in my driveway back home.
And if anyone reading this is coming to the Phoenix area or lives here, you have to eat at The Mission in Scottsdale. My high school buddy Tom Doody and I went there for lunch, and we were floored. The food was great, but I have never -- NEVER -- received such grand service in any restaurant anywhere. And I eat out a lot in towns across North America.
Anyway, as far as hockey goes, Patrick Kaleta will be back in the lineup tonight for the Sabres after missing 24 of the past 26 games. Adam Mair will miss his second straight game with a cut on his knee. Ryan Miller is in goal, and Patrick Lalime will start Monday in Anaheim.
9:04 p.m.: More Sabres fans than Coyotes fans for sure. At least more vocal. And Phoenix's third jerseys might be the worst uniforms in the league.
FIRST PERIOD
9:13 p.m.: Kaleta's first shift includes him trying to hit everyone. Neck not an issue to him.
9:16 p.m.: Kaleta tests it even more with a spirited fight against Phoenix's Daniel Carcillo, who has 132 penalty minutes.
9:20 p.m.: First commercial break, first look at Ice Girls.
9:24 p.m.: We have 10:09 left, and the shots are 9-1 in Coyotes favor. Make that 10-1 with 9:58 to go. No surprise.
9:30 p.m.: Sabres get their first power play with 7:18 to go and shots at 11-1.
9:32 p.m.: Miller makes early entry for save of game with two stop on Joakim Lindstrom on short-handed two-on-one with Shane Doan after Ales Kotalik misplays puck and falls at blue line.
9:39 p.m.: Strange moment as Nathan Paetsch is about to fight and the linesmen jump in and tackle him just as punches are about to be thrown.
9:42 p.m.: Getting chippy as Drew Stafford puts David Hale down, and Hale responds by throwing Thomas Vanek into the net. No penalties.
9:44 p.m.: Possibly the most physical period of the season ends with 0-0 tie and 15-6 shot edge by Coyotes.
SECOND PERIOD
10:02 p.m.: Game on. The first period featured 23 hits and 42 penalty minutes.
10:08 p.m.: Red-hot Tim Connolly makes it 1-0 with 15:39 left. It's his ninth goal of the year and seventh in six games. He pokes home loose puck as Vanek and Stafford jam at puck in crease.
10:11 p.m.: This place is pretty empty. Wonder how empty it would be without all the Sabres fans. It's certainly not the marquee sporting event in town, with the Cardinals in the Super Bowl on Sunday (when I'll be in Vegas!) and the PGA partying in Scottsdale.
10:15 p.m.: Derek Roy abuses and fights off Ken Klee and sets up Daniel Paille to make it 2-0 wtih 11:16 left.
10:17 p.m.: Sabres need to get Paetsch out of box (he got double-minor and 10-minute misconduct in first) because they have just four defensemen. Jaroslav Spacek is nowhere to be found. He went to dressing room midway through first but came back. Not now.
10:22 p.m.: Spacek has a lower-body injury and will not return.
10:26 p.m.: Paetsch and Carcillo finish what refs wouldn't let them start. Ill-advised with the D-corps hurting.
10:31 p.m.: Sorry, Paetsch fought Steve Goertzen.
10:35 p.m.: Impressive effort by Craig Rivet, Toni Lydman, Chris Butler and Marc-Andre Gragnani as they go for shift after shift and keep the Coyotes off the board. It's 2-0 after two and the shots are now just 18-16 for Phoenix.
THIRD PERIOD
10:53 p.m.: Just been given word from Sabres PR man Chris Bandura that Jochen Hecht has an upper-body injury and also won't return. I believe Spacek was hit early in the first period when he leveled Enver Lisin at the blue line.
11:08 p.m.: There's 11:53 left and it's still 2-0.
11:23 p.m.: We've got 3:21 left and Rivet goes to box for delay of game with Sabres still holding 2-0 lead. Miller and the defense have stood strong.
11:26 p.m.: Shane Doan, who's played with an edge all night, goes over it with a trip with 2:30 left.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. --- Sabres prospect Corey Tropp, kicked off the Michigan State hockey team for slashing a fallen Michigan player (video below), told the Argus (South Dakota) Leader he is sorry for the incident but feels the suspension was over the top.
"It’s one of those things you’re going to regret," he said in the exclusive interview.
Tropp also said: "Obviously I was disappointed in the punishment, seeing it was one of my first offenses since being there."
PEORIA, Ariz. -- The mythical healing power of the desert sun seems to have helped Patrick Kaleta. Maxim Afinogenov and Andrej Sekera? Not so much.
Kaleta skated with the fourth line during the Buffalo Sabres' practice at the Peoria Sports Complex today. He may be available to play Saturday when the Sabres visit the Phoenix Coyotes.
"I'm assuming he will be cleared based on how he's practiced and how he feels," coach Lindy Ruff said. "That isn't definitive."
Kaleta has missed 24 of the past 26 games with a neck injury.
Afinogenov and Sekera, meanwhile, are not skating. Afinogenov has had a setback with the groin injury that has kept him out of the past 10 games.
"Whether it's groin, hip ... that area just isn't responding," Ruff said. "We're trying to get to the bottom of it."
Sekera, who's missed six games and was hoping to be back Saturday or Monday in Anaheim, tested his ankle injury while in western Canada but has been shut down since.
"He was doing good, but it's your typical high ankle sprain," Ruff said. "It doesn't come around as quick as you hope. He was feeling good, but when he tried it it wasn't near where we thought it was going to be, so we've kept him off the ice."
And for those of you wondering if the desert has helped my flu (a short list, I'm sure, but I know at least my mom is curious), I'm up to about 90 percent.
CALGARY -- Welcome from the Pengrowth Saddledome, which is fittingly named after something that goes on a horse. Fitting why? Because I still feel like horse (apples). Even worse, Kevin Sylvester said that's what I look like, too. But in 15 hours I'll be in Phoenix, and the desert will do wonders, I'm hoping.
So the battle of Alberta is no contest. Calgary wins by a country Red Mile. It has charm, it has landmarks, it has everything you'd expect from an Olympic city. Edmonton was like ... Rochester, but bigger.
The press box walk was everything I was told it would be. If you come up the west elevator, you have to walk across the catwalk above the ice. I have a nice picture looking through the scoreboard down at center ice.
In Sabres news, Ryan Miller will start in goal again, while Andrew Peters will replace Adam Mair in the lineup. Mair blocked a shot in Tuesday's win and needed stitches on his leg.
7:52 p.m.: Oh, and by the way, what terrible news about the Boston Hotel. Thankfully, I was there two of the past three Mondays.
FIRST PERIOD
8:11 p.m.: Game on. Looking forward to seeing Calgary captain Jarome Iginla play. Don't think I've seen him in person.
8:17 p.m.: Michigan beats Michigan State for the opening goal. Chris Butler commits bad turnover to former Wolverine Mike Cammalleri in front of the net. Miller, a Michigan State product, stops him once but can't the second time. It's 1-0 Calgary on the power-play goal just 3:51 in.
8:23 p.m.: In my illness I totally forgot: The world's best-looking actress Elisha Cuthbert might be here. She's dating the Flames' Dion Phaneuf, as anyone who followed the Sean Avery saga knows.
8:30 p.m.: Midway through, still 1-0.
8:44 p.m.: End of one, it's 1-0. The Sabres' penalty killers shined with a five-on-three kill, but their power play couldn't even the score for them. Calgary holds a 10-9 edge in shots.
SECOND PERIOD
9:13 p.m.: We have 12:09 left, and it's 2-0 Calgary. Phaneuf intercepted a pass at center ice, skated into the Buffalo zone and bounced a shot toward the net from the goal line. The hop threw off Miller, and it slipped between his pads with 4:10 gone.
No shot of Cuthbert on the scoreboard afterward.
9:17 p.m.: Two straight two-on-ones for the Flames, but no goals. Jaroslav Spacek breaks up the first, and David Moss misses an empty net on the second.
9:22 p.m.: Drew Stafford was not going to be denied his fourth goal in two nights. Winger wins battle for puck down low, receives return pass from Tim Connolly and bulls way to net with 8:17 left. It's 2-1.
9:24 p.m.: Phaneuf, possibly hardest hitter in league, buries Jason Pominville along bench.
9:35 p.m.: Tim Connolly also continues his hot streak, tying the game on the power play with 50.8 seconds left. He has six goals in the past five games.
THIRD PERIOD
9:54 p.m.: Game on. This Sabres team just doesn't let adversity get to it since the big win over Dallas two weeks ago in which they came from three goals down.
10:07 p.m.: We'll see if what I said just now is true: Todd Bertuzzi gives Calgary a 3-2 lead with 12:52 to play.
10:23 p.m.: Cammalleri puts the Sabres and his old college rival away, scoring twice in 1:24 to give the Flames a 5-2 lead. Hats stream from the crowd with 6:52 remaining.
The Flames might just be getting hot, too. They keep skating toward Miller and hold a 41-27 edge in shots with 2:50 to go.
The trip to Phoenix won't be as joyous for the Sabres as the short journey from Edmonton to Calgary was.
POSTGAME
Stafford: "We worked really hard to get back in the game, get back to 2-2, and the third period we just didn’t focus on getting pucks to the net. We didn’t get anything going.
"There’s no excuses for this. Every team has got to play in your own end in order to be successful. It was just a poor effort in the third in our own end and as far as getting pucks to the net. That’s something we’ve got to get ready for in Phoenix."
Butler on the opening goal: "I had a lane 15 feet wide, and I hit a guy that’s 36 inches wide. It’s just a play you’d like to have back, for sure, because I can make that play. Next time around, I will."
Miller: "We did a great job battling back in the second period, bailed me out after a bad goal. No matter what the shots on goal are, it’s my job to keep the boys in the game and give them a chance to win. Unfortunately, I don’t feel I did a very good job of that."
Lindy Ruff: "Things were going pretty good. We had the first couple scoring chances in the third, and it seemed once they got the go-ahead goal we got sloppy, we got careless, and that led to the fourth and fifth."
CALGARY -- A few news items from today while I slept and the Sabres skipped the morning skate:
*Ottawa owner Eugene Melnyk unleashed an insensitive terrorist attack on anyone who thinks his 13th-place team needs a makeover.
"Anybody that says we should blow up this organization should get their own bomb and go blow themselves up," Melnyk said at a news conference today. "This is not an organization that is completely crippled. It needs fine tuning, it needs some tweaking, it needs a player here, a player there, a few good bounces and that's it. But we are nowhere near that type of environment."
*Tampa goalie Olie Kolzig needs surgery and is out for the rest of the season, and maybe his career is over.
*The Calgary Herald has folks pick the winner for tonight's Sabres-Flames game. My prediction? The game lasts at least 60 minutes, someone earns two points and I cough a lot during it.
EDMONTON -- Hello from Rexall Place, which fittingly is named after a pharmacy chain. Fitting why? Because I feel worse than a Sabres defenseman. The flu is destroying me, but oh well. I'll suck it up. Besides, a little far away to call in sick and have someone else pinch-hit.
So this is my first visit to Edmonton, and it's one of the final stops on my NHL tour as a writer. In the seven seasons covering the Sabres, I've been everywhere but here, Calgary (which I go to right after tonight's game), Vancouver and Nashville. Well, I've been to Nashville, but that had nothing to do with hockey (crazy night while driving from Spring Break in Panama City to the Final Four in Indianapolis. Good times, good times.).
Anyway, was a little worried this place would let me down as I pulled up this morning. The outside is a lot like Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, which is the biggest dump any major sports team can inhabit. But thankfully, my fears subsided as soon as I walked in. It has a few of the modern amenities common now (ribbon boards, nice scoreboard) that Long Island lacks, but the treat is the ceiling.
There's not many places where you can look up and see retired jerseys of legends such as Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Grant Fuhr, Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson. Or where you can look on the other side and see five Stanley Cup banners. Or where you can walk outside and see a statue of Gretzky holding the Cup. (The Islanders
Hope the game matches the building and not my health.
8:58 p.m.: I've now moved three times because we have a new candidate for worst PR staff in league. There's no seating list for press box, and the first two people who picked seats for me were obviously mistaken as I had to move for the regulars.
9 p.m.: Also, the lights have been off up here for about 20 minutes, so if there's a tpyo, you can blame them.
FIRST PERIOD
9:08 p.m.: Game on, and Sabres lead just 10 seconds in. Thomas Vanek forces turnover, and Drew Stafford beats Dwayne Roloson at 19:50. As you'll read in Wednesday's notebook and likely recall anyway, this is a special place for Stafford and Vanek. It's the team that made Vanek rich, and Stafford's uncle Barrie is Edmonton's equipment manager.
9:11 p.m.: Nathan Paetsch, a western Canadian, makes it 2-0 just 1:11 in. Clarke MacArthur beats Steve Staios to the puck in corner to set up the defenseman in the slot.
9:14 p.m.: PR staff comes to life in fine fashion with announcements regarding records for fastest goal and fastest two goals by Oilers opponent. Still, would be nice if I knew where I was supposed to be sitting instead of looking over my shoulder every time someone walks by. (OK, I'll stop whining now.)
9:26 p.m.: Sabres' D rallies to take over the illness battle. Craig Rivet takes a kick to the, um, yeah ... there, by Dustin Penner. He's in pain, but goes to bench instead of dressing room.
9:27 p.m.: Roloson also goes to bench, as the Sabres take a 3-0 lead 10:17 in. Edmonton defense is awful as Derek Roy slides through middle and buries Paetsch's pass from slot.
Again, kudos to Steve Knowles, Oilers information coordinator, on announcing anything a writer could need.
9:42 p.m.: Paetsch is paired with Marc-Andre Gragnani, the rookie playing his third NHL game but first as a defenseman.
9:46 p.m.: End of first period, Sabres lead, 3-0. Oilers hold an 18-11 edge in shots but have yet to beat Ryan Miller.
SECOND PERIOD
10:05 p.m.: Just 2:02 into the period, it's 4-0 Buffalo. Roy forces turnover, gets puck to Jochen Hecht, who slides return pass from Jason Pominville under goalie Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers. Oilers are terrible in their own zone. TERRIBLE.
10:13 p.m.: Oilers have their 137th regular-season sellout in a row with 16,839, but it's quiet as would be expected by their lousy start and showing.
10:19 p.m.: Sabres in midst of five-on-three power play.
10:20 p.m.: Make that a four-on-three for 48 seconds as Roy high-sticks.
10:22 p.m.: Impressive back-to-back plays as Miller sticks out pad to stop Kyle Brodziak and Vanek undresses Steve Staios but is stopped by Oilers goalie.
10:27 p.m.: Oilers scored on power play with 6:37 left as Erik Cole sneaks one by Miller from right faceoff circle.
10:31 p.m.: Sabres waste no time answering with their own power-play goal, as Tim Connolly roofs pass from Vanek.
10:38 p.m.: May as well start driving to Calgary. This game can write itself, as the fans who are celebrating the "last minute of play" announcement can attest. Vanek and Jaroslav Spacek score as the Sabres close the period with a 7-1 lead. That's right, 7-1!
Simply dominating.
THIRD PERIOD
11:16 p.m.: We've got 7:30 left, and it's 8-1 Buffalo as Stafford scores again.
Oops, it's 7:20 left, it's 9-1, and Stafford has a hat trick!
POSTGAME
Said Stafford: "This is like the cutest story of the year. How funny is that? What a joke."
Said Lindy Ruff: "We got a real good effort out of our defense. Our forwards did a great job of coming back and supporting and helping them out, but I thought that core six guys did a real good job."
Said Nathan Paetsch: "Everything went right for us."
EDMONTON -- Welcome from Alberta, where it's not as cold as I figured it'd be. The Sabres kick off their four-game Western trip tonight against Edmonton. It's followed by Wednesday's visit to Calgary, Saturday's stop in Phoenix and Monday's fight in Anaheim.
All four teams hold a Western Conference playoff spot (though the Ducks have the benefit of extra games played). So what do you expect of the Sabres away from home?
If Toronto is the Center of the Hockey Universe, Detroit is Hockeytown and Boston is the Hub of Hockey, what does that make Montreal. Hockey's mecca? Nowhere are fans more passionate about hockey than Montreal. In fact, none are even close. Now that the Canadiens are back in contention, it could be more intense than ever.
About 20,000 fans were lined up around the corner near the Bell Centre in sub-zero temperatures. That wasn't for the All-Star Game on Sunday. It was for all-star practice on Saturday morning. Hockey is everywhere you go in Montreal. The cabbies talk about the fourth-linecenter in Phoenix. The waitresses wonder if the Habs' power-play is strong enough to win in the playoffs.
“”I’ve never seen something like that in my career,’’ former Habs great Serge Savard said Sunday. “”I think hockey is more popular now than it was in the ‘70s, when we won four Cups in a row. They had 22,000 people at the workout. You see the people in the streets, people with their cars and their CH flags, the waiting list for season tickets, I’ve never seen that like it is now.’’
It's fun watching them watch hockey. They can't get enough and I couldn't get enough of them over the weekend. It's like Bills fans at the height of the franchise multiplied by 20. You can imagine how loud the Bell Centre was after the Eastern Conference won, 12-11, in a shootout that enabled Habs winger Alexei Kovalev to win the MVP. You would have thought he scored the winner in Game Seven of the finals.
MONTREAL -- Jean Beliveau, Guy Lafleur, Dickie Moore, Serge Savard, Henri Richard and Yvan Cournoyer were among the Canadiens legends who made appearances Sunday at the NHL All-Star Game. They're still hanging around Montreal and being treated like royalty.
Beliveau remains one of the most beloved sports figures in Montreal history and was chosen along with Bob Gainey to drop the ceremonial first puck. Here's a little tidbit about him: He played in his first all-star game hours after signing his first contract. Back then, the defending Stanley Cup champions played against an all-star team from the other five teams.
Moore told a story about sneaking into the old Forum when he was 12 years old and hiding in the duct work for two hours because he didn't want to pay for tickets. The Forum has since been converted into an entertainment center and movie complex. It's depressing.
Vincent Lecavalier had the loudest ovation during introductions. Not surprising. He's from Montreal, and rumors have been rampant that the Tampa Bay Lightning could trade him here. Fans are convinced he would put them over the top for their 25th Stanley Cup.
Whether or not fighting should be banned from the NHL was one of the hot topics during all-star weekend. Commissioner Gary Bettman was asked about fighting several times Saturday, and it looks like it will be around for a while.
Good.
I understand the argument against fighting, especially with Don Sanderson dying three weeks after a fight in Ontario and Flyers prospect Garrett Klotz having a seizure Friday night after a brawl. If you take a closer look, there's a stronger argument for keeping fighting in the NHL.
My position has nothing to do with selling the game or keeping up tradition. It's has everything to do with players policing themselves. There were fewer cheap shots 20 years ago, when players respected one another more and worried about facing the consequences from guys like Stu Grimson. These days, especially with the instigator rule, players can get away with playing dirty.
One thing I don't like is goons always fighting goons rather than the player who started the whole thing.
Is there still a place for fighting in the NHL or no?
MONTREAL -- Sabres minority owner Larry Quinn emerged from the board of governors meetings and announced four upcoming games previously destined for radio only will be aired on TV. The team reached an agreement with MSG and the NHL to make it work.
The Sabres and MSG are splitting the costs of the NHL Network feed, which had to cover the game anyway. The games will be shown on MSG or an alternate station. Quinn had coffee this morning with a league representive and an MSG exec to make it work. It was a good move.
Now, everybody can relax.
Quinn told me this morning that the team was basically trying to save a few bucks on production costs, which are expensive enough and even more on the road in the West. Another reason he struck the deal was because so many fans were upset upon hearing the games were radio only.
The people spoke, and the team reacted. Good job all the way around.
MONTREAL — What happens when a premier player returns home to one of the world's premier hockey cities amid speculation he could be traded there? Chaos.
Tampa Bay Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier is spending All-Star weekend in the eye of a perfect media storm. It's one thing for any great player to wind up in the heavy Montreal rumor mill, but it's an entirely different story when it involves a French-speaking, homegrown superstar.
Lecavalier has been getting the rock-star treatment since he stepped off the plane. He had hundreds of people waiting for him outside the hotel. The demand for him was so intense that the NHL decided to give him his own news conference rather than conduct interviews at a podium like the players in town for the All-Star Game.
The guy barely had enough room to breathe. If that's how it's going to work, why would be want to come here?
A few other highlights from the first full day of all-star weekend:
* Patrick Kane told a story about how he has wanted to play in the All-Star Game since watching Owen Nolan call his shot against Dominik Hasek in 1997. "I was stupid enough to think I could," Kane said.
* The NHLPA voted to keep the current collective bargaining agreement for another two years. There was a clause in the current CBA to re-open the agreement after this season, which would have triggered another round of tiresome negotiations.
* Brian Campbell says hello. He's loving life while living in an apartment in downtown Chicago. He plans to buy a home not far from Wrigley Field after the season. You think he'll qualify for the mortgage?
The Sabres and MSG have to come to some compromise over airing these West Coast games next week and not leave a rabid fan base to radio-only calls -- from substitute announcers that include a Winnipeg-based guy no one in Buffalo has ever heard of. I've been directed to this article in SportsBusiness Journal that came out this week and lists local TV ratings for NHL teams in the U.S. this season. Check out these numbers:
1. BUFFALO 8.87
2. Pittsburgh 6.14
3. Detroit 3.7
4. No one else over 2.3!!!!
Buffalo was NBC's No. 3 market for the Winter Classic behind Detroit and Chicago but I'm floored we are so much further ahead of every American-based team. Except for Pittsburgh and Detroit, MSG's ratings for Sabres game are nearly four times that of the other US markets.
And so they're not going to show four games in a row and be off the air for two weeks? How does that make any sense at all? The Sabres should be on the horn to MSG right now trying to work something out to allow the home-market broadcasts into Buffalo. And I think those ratings show there should NEVER be radio-only games. This isn't the 1970s.
Maybe the Sabres are trying to work on this issue behind the scenes. But I reiterate the piece of basic marketing advice that I said yesterday: If the customers want your product, why would you keep it away from them?
MONTREAL -- The best players in the land were converging here this evening for the NHL All-Star Game, which will double as the 100th anniversary celebration of Canadiens hockey. The place has been picking up speed since I arrived shortly after 5. It took me more than an hour to reach my hotel from the airport because traffic was so heavy. The cabbie said it was double its usual volume at that time.
It's a good sign.
What comes from this weekend should be interesting. The NHLPA was voting on whether it should exercise a clause that would re-open the collective bargaining agreement. It would be a major mistake considering the financial state of the game. The players are making too much money to risk getting into another Battle Royale with the owners.
Otherwise, we'll see what happens. There's a board of governors meeting here, so that should stir up some trade talk. It would be nice if the Sabres were involved, but history suggests they'll stand pat until the trade deadline approaches. They're desperate for a defenseman. You never know when GMs get together, but Sabres fans shouldn't get their hopes up.
PatLaFontaine must be in town. There's a news conference for Companions in Courage, so it looks like he'll be opening up another high-tech playroom for kids in one of the hospitals here. He's a class act, LaFontaine, and he continues to give back long after he retired. He wasn't a bad player, either, the last time I checked.
Funny thing happened when I was in line, waiting to check in to the hotel. The lady working the desk was finishing up with a guy with a Wild sweatshirt and said, "merci.'' His reply: My name isn't Percy. It's Dave. Good heavens, dude, you're in Quebec.
I'll bring you updates as things progress this weekend. OK,I'm getting a little thirsty. I wonder if there are any places in town that serve beverages.
TAMPA, Fla. -- My bad. In today's Sabres notebook, I steered you wrong that the four games on next week's Western road trip can be seen in Buffalo on NHL Network, Center Ice or NHL.com's GameCenter because they're not being shown on MSG. They can't. They're all blacked out in Buffalo even though they'll be on those outlets everywhere else. You have no way to follow them except on radio -- and Rick Jeanneret is taking the trip off too. We've already fixed the story to reflect the new information.
Sabres spokesman Michael Gilbert explained the deal to me this morning as protection for the home market, protection for MSG, etc. It's all contractural legalese and that's fine.
As a practical matter, it's ridiculous.
The Sabres' deal with MSG is for 70 games and Versus took eight more this year. That's 78, leaving four games out. Seems to make sense they would choose the four Western games with late starting times during Super Bowl week as the ones to bag. Save production costs, some travel costs, etc-etc. No problem there.
But what it means is the Sabres are off television in the middle of the season for two full weeks because of the All-Star break -- not returning to the air until the Feb. 4 home game against Toronto. I suppose it benefits protection of the MSG contract not to let the Sabres air in Buffalo via other outlets but it bears noting the Versus games are on here. And an outside marketing man would tell you that part of the contract protects MSG but hoses the fans and the Sabres, who don't get their product out when people want to see it.
Baseball fans go through this whole blackout mess a lot too and I've never understood it. It seems like a vestige of the 1970s. You don't want to produce the telecast and pay all that entails for four games, that's fine and totally understandable in this economy. But why allow MSG to prevent your fans from seeing your team in a far-off locale when they're never going to be able to get to the game?
TAMPA, Fla. -- Greetings from the St. Pete Times Forum for tonight's Sabres-Lightning game. Always laugh at the name. Pretty certain the Tampa Tribune just calls this place the Forum in its pages. Odd fact from your blogger: I've seen a Lightning game in all three of their home rinks -- tiny Expo Hall on the Florida State Fairgrounds, the Thunderdome (now known as Tropicana Field in its reincarnation as the home of the Rays) and this place, which opened as the Ice Palace and regularly lured me during spring training trips.
Tampa Bay is still well out of the picture in the playoff race but the Lightning is 8-5 in its last 13 games under interim coach Rick Tocchet. Had a good chat this morning with No. 1 pick Steven Stamkos, who has sat out a couple games recently as the coaching staff works on his conditioning and gives him more intense video study. Stamkos has even been told to take notes during the games he's watching. Asked today what that entailed, Tocchet joked, "It's not like he's up there watching the Lightning Girls."
Lindy Ruff is concerned about Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith, who is a terrific puckhandler. Watch for some long passes out of the goal if Smith gets a hold of the puck. The Sabres are trying to tie their season-high with their fourth straight win but Ruff is wary: "Dallas came in here and lost a game [Monday] Tampa Bay has been going good. We want to go into the break on a high note and the only way to do that is by winning a game."
HUGE cheers from the crowd as the Sabres took the ice by the way. The building is still only about half full just as we kick up the national anthem.
---Mike Harrington
PREGAME: What's this blasphemy? They trot a celebrity out to scream "Let's play hockey" and lo and behold, it was Thurman Thomas -- wearing a No. 34 Lightning jersey. Boo.
Also, the Sabres have just released their broadcast schedule for next week's Western road trip. As many of you already figured out, none of the four games will be on MSG. In addition, Rick Jeanneret will be taking the trip off (he usually sits out one a season). The radio only calls will be done by MSG host Kevin Sylvester, WGR's Paul Hamilton and Curt Keilback, who spent 27 years behind the mic in Winnipeg and Phoenix. Keilback will do the Edmonton and Calgary games, while Hamilton will do the Phoenix game and Sylvester will do the wrap-up Feb. 2 in Anaheim. Jeanneret returns for the Feb. 4 home game against Toronto.
Postgame
Ruff on Tallinder's injury: "Henrik's not good. He's going to be out for a good period of time probably." Tallinder will be reevaulated in Bufalo in the next day or two and Ruff openly admitted the injury situation in Portland means it may be time to look outside for another replacement: "It's either going to be pushing some pieces around or finding a piece."
Third Period
13:44 left: Lightning has tightened up, allowing just two shots so far. Sabres going to another power play, however, as Krajicek is off for interference. Sabres are 2 for 4 with the man advantage so far.
6:04 left: Sabres still down by two. Only four shots on goal for Buffalo in this period.
4:55 left: Miller keeps Buffalo alive by stonig Lecavalier on a breakaway and a quick rebound.
Second Period
Of note: First off, this just in from Philadelphia: Daniel Briere is going to have exploratory surgery for his abdomen on Thursday and is out another two weeks, rendering the Flyers' cap concerns moot. John Vogl had an interesting post on the Philly dilemma earlier today. Briere's situation sounds a little ominous, almost like doctors are looking for something.
19:41 left: Huge start as Roy takes advantage of the 4-on-4 situation to pump home a Pominville rebound to make it 2-1. Nice work by Lydman to get the puck into the zone starts it.
18:37 left: 3-1 Tampa. A few seconds after getting wiped out by Hecht, miller stops Recchi on a 2-on-1 after a brutal pass by Butler behind Rivet. The faceoff stays in the Buffalo end and Tampa scores its own 4-on-4 goal as Lukas Krajicek's shot hits the goalpost but bounces in off a Buffalo player. Haven't seen a replay up here -- somebody help me out. That hit Vanek?
15:56 left: Sabres pull within 3-2 as Kotalik rifles a one-timer from the left point past Smith on a nice feed from Rivet. A power play goal as Jeff Halpern is off for high-sticking. Great power play as Connolly and Lydman also put point shots on net that Smith stopped.
15:00 left: Huge start for the Sabres. An 8-2 edge in shots thus far after getting just five in the opening 20 minutes.
10:48 left: Buffalo had a huge chance to tie it on another power play but Roy clanked a backhand rebound off the post with Smith out of position and most of the net available.
6:08 left: Tampa goes back in front by two as Jeff Halpern blasts one by Miller on a 2-on-1. That's a save that's got to be made as the puck leaked through his arm. Was he playing the pass rather than the shot? Offense has 17 shots on goal this period and he needed to keep his team within one there.
3:05 left: Back comes Buffalo again to make it 4-3. Again, it's Roy potting a Pominville rebound on a power play, with the goal coming on Buffalo's 20th shot of the period. Tampa tough guy David Koci was in the box for interference, his third trip of the period. He's been out of control all night and has been hurting his team.
2:10 left: THAT'S what Miller needs to do. He just stones St. Louis on a clean breakaway to keep things a one-goal affair.
37.4 seconds left: Disaster strikes the Sabres. With Chris Butler off for tripping, Henrik Tallinder goes for tgripping Vincent Lecavalier. Tallinder stumbled to the ice and clearly has a right shoulder problem. What do they do on defense now? HAVE to make a deal, don't they?
5.8 left: Disaster II. Cory Murphy rips one past a screened Miller on the two-man advantage to make it 5-3.
End of the 2nd: Wild period. Three goals for each team. Sabres had 20 shots, Tampa Bay 14 so its 25-21 Buffalo through two. But the Tallinder situation looks large over this one.
First Period
15:15 left: The Sabres talked a lot this morning about scoring first but it didn't happen for them again as Steve Eminger beat Miller on the power play with a shot from the point that went five-hole on Miller, who didn't have his stick on the ice. The goal came after Smith stoppedDerek Roy on a breakaway after he took a pass from Pominville on what started as a 2-on-1.
14:41 left: Yeesh. Miller didn't see that one at all. Cory Murphy let it go from the slot and it hit Steve Downie in front. Another five-hole special. All of a sudden, it's 2-0.
9:11 left: Best check of the night by referee Brad Watson, who took out Smith as the goalie was straying behind the net for the puck. They both went down hard. Look for it on a hockey blooper reel near you for, oh, about the next 20 years.
End of the 1st: Talk about nothing happening. The Lightning continues to hold the 2-0 lead even though the teams combined for 12 minutes without a shot on goal at one stretch. Tampa had a close call as Martin St. Louis cranked one off the crossbar with 30 seconds left. Mair went off with 15.6 seconds left on a foolish elbowing call but St. Louis wiped that out with an equally foolish tripping penalty nine seconds later. Shots on goal were 7-5 for Tampa.
TAMPA, Fla. -- Run to this site. Don't walk. Trust me. I have no idea who you are but your link got e-mailed to me earlier today and I say thank you. Someone out there has posted a 360-degree panorama of the interior of the Aud taken last week and it's breathtaking. Let the page load. It takes a little while but it's worth it. The controls to move around the image will load at the end on the bottom left corner.
You can go all the way around the building, see the sunshine pouring in from the holes already made and you can also see a cluster of orange seats on the floor that have clearly been harvested for sale. Wow.
---Mike Harrington
UPDATE: The photo was taken by a Buffalo panographer who goes by the psuedonym "Bill Junior"
TAMPA, Fla. -- Lindy Ruff wouldn't tell me yesterday and he wouldn't tell a gaggle of reporters today what his players did yesterday on their day off. But they were laughing and giggling all about it after practice in the St. Pete Times Forum and they let the cat out of the bag. What did the Sabres do?
They had a team paintball session!
"It was a great time. Guys had a blast," said Jason Pominville "We were able to shoot on each other and have some good stories. It was a little cold but once you get out there and play, you're more worried about getting hit than the weather. I love when we do things like that. Even though we were tired, once we got there everybody was laughing and it's great for team chemistry."
"We leave everybody with a few welts and everybody was in the line of fire so it was a good time," added Ryan Miller. "We weren't trying to be Navy Seals or anything. We were just running around, laughing and having a good time taking your mind off hockey for a day. It comes at a good stretch where we feel good about our game and good about each other."
As a goalie, Miller tries to get in the way of pucks. Was he good at getting out of the way of paintballs?
"I was decent. [Drew] Stafford and I had a little miscommunication. He was waving me out to help him and I stepped out and got smoked by Adam Mair and maybe Derek Roy too. [Daniel] Paille made a dash for it and I got him pretty good. [Nathan] Paetsch and [Derek] Roy tried to make a dash on me and Paetscher got the worst of that one."
TAMPA, Fla. -- Craig Rivet left the ice during the Sabres' morning skate today at St. Pete Times Forum after being struck around the left eye. Frankly, I didn't see if he was hit by a puck or a stick. I was looking at the other end of the ice and Rivet was suddenly down in the corner to my right.
He stayed on the ice for a few seconds, got up and skated off holding his hand to his face. An injury to a defenseman, obviously, is exactly what this team doesn't need. More when practice is over.
UPDATE: Rivet is back after about 15 minutes. Skating aroung gingerly and still putting his hand to his face from time to time. Said Lindy Ruff: "He suffered a pretty good cut. We'll sew him up and put him back out."
Danny Briere, who has played just nine games this season because of injuries, has been cleared by Flyers team doctors to return tonight when Philadelphia hosts Atlanta. But the front office says he has to wait.
The Flyers have dire salary cap restraints, and they can't afford to activate Briere without shedding payroll. So the former Sabres co-captain, whom they signed to an eight-year, $52 million contract two summers ago, likely won't play until after the All-Star break.
"He doesn't feel 100 percent just yet, so we'll hold him out," General Manager Paul Holmgren told Philly reporters. "He didn't feel that good, so (not activating him) is probably the likely scenario. Sooner or later we'll have to do something."
Briere on whether not playing is a business or medical decision: "It's a little bit of both, to be honest."
"It doesn't matter to me," he said. "At this point one game isn't going to change much. It would give me four extra days where I'm not skating, and that might be helpful as well."
Briere has been brought up in trade rumors lately because the Flyers have played well without him, but he has a no-trade clause, according to the Courier-Post story.
