Sabres Edge

Happy Cinco de Mayo, y'all. If you make it to Cozumel on Elmwood, have one or two (dozen) for me. Till then, a look around the NHL:

*Mike Grier's teammates have had their say. Now it's up to the right winger and the Sabres on whether he'll be back next season.

"He's one of the nicest guys I've ever played with, one of the best leaders I've ever played with," said Ennis, trying to keep his composure while staring straight ahead, refusing to glimpse at Grier. "I hope he keeps playing. I hope he comes back."

Those sentiments echoed throughout the Sabres' dressing room when the players cleaned out their lockers last week.

"I hope he continues to play," left wing Thomas Vanek said. "Mike sat right next to me my first year, and he helped me out a ton. I hope he plays and continues because he's good for this room. He's good not just for young guys but with everyone. He's just a good person, good leader, and he's obviously still a good player."

*With time winding down, chants of "sweep, sweep, sweep" reverberated through the building, and the Tampa Bay Lightning kept pushing the Washington Capitals - all the way out of the NHL playoffs.

Sean Bergenheim scored two goals and Dwayne Roloson stopped 33 shots, helping the streaking Lightning complete a series sweep of the top-seeded Capitals with a 5-3 victory in Game 4 on Wednesday night.

"We're definitely happy, but we're not popping champagne or anything," Lightning forward Ryan Malone said.

Meanwhile, there was no comeback for Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals - only more postseason disappointment.

"It was a tough year - we went through peaks and valleys - but I just thought if we persevered that something good was going to happen," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said.

ESPN's Scott Burnside writes: As we watched the Washington Capitals shake hands at center ice of the St. Pete Times Forum, heads bowed, shoulders drooping, we were struck by one thought: what a waste.

*The Detroit Red Wings played their best game of the Western Conference semifinals. It wasn't good enough.

Devin Setoguchi scored his third goal of the game 9:21 into overtime, giving the San Jose Sharks a 4-3 win over Detroit and a commanding 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals on Wednesday night.

*The Philadelphia Flyers know they can do it. They just can't afford to think about it - not yet, at least.

For the second consecutive year, the Flyers have spotted Boston a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals. Last year, Philadelphia won the next four games to eliminate the Bruins on its way to the Stanley Cup finals.

"We can't look at trying to win four in a row. We're not going to win four games on Friday," Flyers forward Danny Briere said on Wednesday after Boston won 5-1 in Game Three. "We have to win one game and go from there. That's all we should be focusing on."

*The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that more than two months after declaring a “sense of urgency” to find a buyer or investors who would keep the Thrashers in Atlanta, part-owner Michael Gearon Jr. reports limited progress.

A cloud of uncertainty hangs over the Thrashers and their fan base, and in the rumor-rich NHL, speculation has gained momentum recently that the team’s fate could be tied to how another franchise resolves its own muddled ownership situation.

The Phoenix Coyotes are expected to be sold soon, either to a Chicago businessman who would keep them in Arizona or to a Winnipeg, Manitoba, group that would move them to the Canadian city. If the Coyotes remain in Glendale, Ariz., Winnipeg reportedly would pursue another team — possibly the Thrashers, whose ownership group, Atlanta Spirit, wants to shed the franchise’s financial losses.

---John Vogl

The qualification round of the world championships will begin with a rivalry game. The United States and Canada will play each other Friday, the most-anticipated game of the tournament so far.

Sabres center Paul Gaustad is an alternate captain for the United States, while defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani plays for Canada.

---John Vogl

I remember Scotty Bowman talking about a player who had many more goals than assists. He looked at the scoring line for the season, which was 34-18 (goals and assists), and said something like, "He may win the Cy Young Award with a stat like that."

The winner of the NHL's Cy Young Award for 2010-11, then, is Michael Grabner of the Islanders. He didn't score all of his goals against the Sabres, although it might have seemed that way. And Drew Stafford of the Sabres wasn't far behind:

Name – Team – Goals – Assists – Diff.
Michael Grabner – N.Y. Islanders – 34 – 18 – 16
Brian Gionta – Montreal – 29 – 17 – 12
Ryan Jones – Edmonton – 18 – 7 – 11
Scottie Upshall – Columbus – 22 – 12 – 10
Drew Stafford – Buffalo – 31 – 21 – 10
Brenden Morrow – Dallas – 33 – 23 – 10
Nikolay Zherdev – Philadelphia – 16 – 6 - 10
David Jones – Colorado – 27 – 18 – 9
Matt Moulson – N.Y. Islanders – 31 – 22 – 9
Ryan Kesler – Vancouver – 41 – 32 - 9

You can find the all-time leaders by going here.

--- Budd Bailey

Greetings from midweek. Here's a glimpse at what's up in the NHL:

*Drew Stafford's maturation on and off the ice resulted in a career year. Stafford set personal bests with 31 goals and 52 points, becoming the type of player Buffalo envisioned when it drafted him 13th overall in 2004.

"I definitely made some steps in the right direction as far as the type of player that I can be," Stafford said. "I don't plan on stopping. I can still get better. That's the plan over the summer."

*Jerry Sullivan writes the Sabres are in dire need of a mature presence on the blue line. Their young defense had its moments against Philly, but their lack of skill and experience was sadly evident.

There will be several prospects in free agency. Owner Terry Pegula should instruct Darcy Regier to get a proven commodity who can step in and be one of the top two D. It will cost $5 million or more in salary. But we're talking about a team that paid Tim Connolly $4.5 million this season. A top defenseman is well worth the investment.

*Buffalo's status as a hockey-watching town received another boost Tuesday. The Sabres announced they led the NHL in ratings for the first round of the playoffs.

*In an instant, the top-seeded Washington Capitals went from climbing back into the Eastern Conference semifinals to the brink of elimination against the surging Tampa Bay Lightning. Steven Stamkos and Ryan Malone scored 24 seconds apart in the third period and the fifth-seeded Lightning beat the reeling Capitals, 4-3, to take a commanding 3-0 series lead Tuesday night.

*Ryan Kesler drew a penalty, then tipped in a shot for a power-play goal at 10:45 of overtime to give the Canucks a 3-2 win over the Predators on Tuesday night. Vancouver grabbed a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals series, bouncing back from a 2-1 double-overtime loss in Game Two.

*The NHL has exercised its option to take $25 million from the city of Glendale to cover losses by the Phoenix Coyotes this season. The Arizona Republic takes a look at the past two years of the Coyotes saga.

*The San Jose Sharks have been skating hard to the net against the Red Wings, stopping just short of Jimmy Howard while delivering plenty of sprayed ice -- the so-called hockey snow shower.

Are they bugging the Detroit goaltender?

"Nope," he insisted Tuesday.

---John Vogl

Buffalo’s status as a hockey-watching town received another boost today. The Sabres announced they led the NHL in ratings for the first round of the playoffs.

The Sabres’ series with Philadelphia featured six games on their home channel of MSG. Buffalo averaged an 18.8 rating (119,000 homes) on MSG, more than two points ahead of Pittsburgh’s 16.5 for its seven games against Tampa Bay. The 18.8 doesn’t include the 24.0 rating that Buffalo achieved for NBC’s broadcast of Game Six.

The Sabres’ Game Seven loss in Philadelphia on April 26 averaged a season-high 19.7 on MSG. The finale peaked at 24.1 between 8:15-8:30 p.m., and an average of 126,000 homes tuned in to watch.

"This was a perfect stew," Sabres President Ted Black told The News. "People love to watch a team when it’s winning, and it was an exciting team to watch. All the games down the stretch were tight. All the games in the series were tight, except for the last one.

"I’m excited to see where we can take it. When we’re really clicking and when we’re winning that Stanley Cup, you’re going to see astronomical ratings around here."

The Sabres added pregame and postgame shows to their MSG package late in the season. Black said the programs will be back for 2011-12.

"Absolutely, we’re looking at continuing that," he said. "It’s going to be an expense, so the revenue might have to catch up to it, but first and foremost, we’re fans, too. I want more."

---John Vogl

The Sabres rely on Tyler Myers more than any other skater. He's their prime young player, the kind of guy a team can build around during long-term planning.

Myers is aware of his role. The 21-year-old defenseman embraces it. Now that he has two full seasons in the NHL, folks in Sabreland can expect him to accept more leadership roles.

"As time goes on, I'd like to take a leadership role," Myers said last week after cleaning out his locker. "As a young guy, you want to let the more experienced guys and the guys who have been here longer take control if they want to. But, definitely, if I can give myself more of a leadership role coming into next year, I want to do that."

---John Vogl

The United States scored four times in the third period today, rallying for a 4-2 victory over Norway at the world championships. The U.S. team improved to 2-0.

Sabres center Paul Gaustad played his first game for the Americans, recording one shot and one penalty. He has been named an alternate captain for the club. Atlanta's Mark Stuart is the captain, while Los Angeles' Jack Johnson is the other alternate.

---John Vogl

(Photo taken by HHOF-IIHF)

The Flyers' 7-3 loss to Boston on Saturday featured two things that shouldn't have surprised anyone in Buffalo.

A) Danny Briere scored.

2) The Flyers used two goaltenders.

Philadelphia starter Brian Boucher was yanked late in the second period, giving way to Sergei Bobrovsky. The Flyers host Game Two tonight, and they are going back to Boucher.

"Brian will go back in net today," coach Peter Laviolette told reporters. "Today for me is a game where we all have to go back in there and try and right some wrongs. Everybody gets an opportunity, and he deserves it."

---John Vogl