OTTAWA -- Check my earlier post to see the lines the Sabres will likely start with tonight against the Senators. Ryan Miller will be in goal and Marc-Andre Gragnani will be the scratch. Thomas Vanek got through the morning skate OK and should play.
As for injured players, Lindy Ruff said Patrick Kaleta and Brad Boyes both might be options for Thursday's game in Toronto. Tyler Myers was cleared to hold a stick and did plenty of drills on the ice with Teppo Numminen as well.
"We got good news with his last visit [to the doctor]," Ruff said. "He can hanlde the puck now and hopefully we can progress him along quickly."
So it's possible that Marcus Foligno and Derek whitmore's trip here tonight might only be for one game.
"There's a lot of light at the end of the tunnel here," Ruff said. "We've got a lot of them on the shelf but the shelf life looks short for quite a few of them right now."
Whitmore has played nearly 300 AHL games and has a four-goal game for the Amerks this year. He's from the Rochester suburb of Greece and played pee wee games at then-Marine Midland Arena.
"It definitely means a lot," he said. "This year has been good so far. It means a lot wearing the Rochester Americans jersey being from Rochester but at the same time Buffalo was my team as a kid
growing up. I remember playing a couple pee wee hockey games at Marine Midland Arena and wondering if one day I'd ever be able to play in the NHL let alone for the Buffalo Sabres. It's definitely a dream come true."
Hear from Ruff and Whitmore below.
Lindy Ruff
Derek Whitmore
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
tagged
Rochester Amerks | Sabres
