PITTSBURGH -- Fresh off the best run of his NHL career, Sabres defenseman Andrej Sekera was named the Second Star of the week by the league today. Sekera had a goal and seven assists in the four games as Buffalo went 3-0-1 to start its road trip, which continues here Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Sekera, in fact, is on a streak of multiple-point games -- two in each of his last five outings. The only other Buffalo defenseman to do that in franchise history was John van Boxmeer in 1981. And all of this came, remember, after Sekera sat out as a healthy scratch. That's how you respond.
The No. 1 star was Calgary's Jarome Iginla while the No. 3 star was Montreal goalie Carey Price.
After three games in four nights, the Sabres canceled their scheduled practice this afternoon in Consol Energy Center. The team reported that the only players who skated were Jochen Hecht and Mike Grier, who both sat out Sunday's win in Minnesota with injuries. (Disclosure: I was not there. No direct flights from Minnesota to here and baggage claim at Pittsburgh International was an inexcuseable 40 minutes).
Lindy Ruff said yesterday that Grier was improving and I would say he's a good bet to be in the lineup tomorrow night. He could simply fill in for Patrick Kaleta, whose bone bruise on the knee from stopping a slapshot at the end of the second period Sunday is almost certainly going to need a few days to improve.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
