Sabres Edge

McNabb's deal for three years

Defenseman Brayden McNabb received a three-year deal from the Buffalo Sabres at annual salaries of $615,000, $690,000 and $840,000, according to a source at the NHL Players Association.

McNabb, whose Kootenay Ice plays its first game in the Memorial Cup, Canadian junior hockey's championship tournament, was a third-round pick of the Sabres in 2009, 66th overall. He had 27 points including 24 assists in 19 games in the Western Hockey League playoffs.

-- Fletcher Doyle

Sabres make Persson an emergency recall

PHILADELPHIA --  It's a little too early to be channeling your thoughts of 2006 but the Sabres are getting injury-riddled on defense again and have called up defenseman Dennis Persson from Portland. He would be in line to make his NHL debut today in Game Two against the Flyers. 

The Maine Hockey Journal is reporting the callup and the Sabres just confirmed it. Lindy Ruff will be meeting with the media at 3 p.m.

Andrej Sekera (upper-body strain) and Shaone Morrisonn are certainly questionable for today, with Morrisonn possible suffering a concussion in Game One. It's unknown if there's another injury on defense necessitating an emergency recall like Persson or if it's simply a case of Morrisonn being unable to go and Sekera being unable to replace him. Morrisonn did not practice yesterday while Sekera did.

Persson was a first-round pick of the Sabres in 2006 but the Swede has struggled at times in his career in the minors and has been passed by several players on the organization depth chart. He had four goals, 13 assists and a plus-5 rating in 64 games for Portland this year.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Gerbe, Grier join Leopold among the missing

The Sabres have just opened practice in HSBC Arena and Marc-Andre Gragnani has joined the team from Portland. Jordan Leopold, as expected, is not on the ice after suffering his hand injury Friday night.

The big news is the absence of red-hot Nathan Gerbe for practice today. No idea what happened to him Saturday although he did take a couple pretty big shots against the Devils. Mike Grier, who limped off a couple times Saturday with what Lindy Ruff said was an aggravated knee, is also not here so we'll have to find out his status after practice as well.

The Sabres have not really decided on defense pairs without Leopold it seems. Tyler Myers is running drills with Chris Butler and Andrej Sekera while Steve Montador is going with both Mike Weber and Shaone Morrisonn.

The forward lines look like this:

Vanek-Connolly-Pominville
Ennis-Hecht-Stafford
Boyes-Gaustad-Niedermeyer
Mancari-McCormick-Gragnani

In addition, Jhonas Enroth remains here splitting time with Patrick Lalime.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Kaleta sent home as injury situation gets worse

PITTSBURGH -- The Sabres are getting mighty thin up front and Patrick Kaleta's knee problem appears to be the biggest injury issue they're facing right now, coach Lindy Ruff said this morning during his weekly appearance on WGR Radio.

The coach revealed Kaleta has gone back to Buffalo to have further examination of his knee, which was struck by a slapshot from Minnesota's Greg Zanon just at the second-period buzzer Sunday night. Ruff said after the game that X-rays on the knee were negative. He said this morning that the knee started to swell here Monday and Kaleta could be out an extended period of time. That doesn't sound good. You have to wonder if another X-ray is going to find a broken bone.

Ruff revealed today that Mike Grier's lower-body injury is a groin problem and that the veteran will skate this morning but it sounded like he's iffy for tonight. Jochen Hecht will also skate today but Ruff said he will not play.

It sounds like the Sabres will be calling up veteran Mark Parrish from Portland and Ruff said there might even be another callup because another player, whom he did not name, is sick with the flu and might not be available tonight. Would imagine that would be Paul Byron or Luke Adam.

9:19 a.m. update: The Sabres tweet they have officially called up Parrish and Adam.

Yeesh. The Sabres skate at 11:30 at Consol Energy Center so we'll have the updates later today.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Sunday morning reads

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- It's a big day for the Sabres from the sunny, chilly Twin Cities as they play the Minnesota Wild tonight at 6. After months of climbing back from that terrible 3-9-2 start, the Sabres can crack the top eight of the Eastern Conference with one point tonight and move ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes with a win. In fact, Buffalo could actually jump from ninth to seventh with a win tonight and a regulation loss by the Rangers in their 12:30 game against Philadelphia (that one is on NBC).

Here's a look at some items from around the NHL, starting with yesterday's big win over the Flyers:

---The Sabres were in a 2-0 hole, came back, gave up a short-handed goal and finally got over the top for a huge 5-3 win over the Flyers. Memo to Lindy: It's time to use two defensemen on the points on the power play and go a little more conservative. You're minus-10 in shorties this season.

---Today is a big homecoming for Thomas Vanek, who led the University of Minnesota to the 2003 Frozen Four title in HSBC Arena.

---The Flyers have lost three straight for just the second time all season and their lead over Boston in the Eastern Conference is down to just two points. Coach Peter Laviolette is worried they're not matching the intensity level of their opponents. Certainly true yesterday. The Sabres were clearly better over the final 40 minutes. The Bruins, meanwhile, had a seven-game winning streak snapped with an overtime loss to the Penguins. The Sabres, remember, are in Pittsburgh Tuesday and Boston on Thursday.

---I was suprised the Sabres called up Mark Mancari since they seem so thin in the middle and Paul Byron and Luke Adam were both available. Portland beat Bridgeport last night, 8-3, as the tiny Byron completed, of all things, a Gordie Howe hat trick. Without Mancari, Portland tied its season high in goals and set a season mark with five power-play tallies. The Pirates are an AHL-best 20-4-5 at home. Hey, send some of that mojo up to the big boys!

---The Rangers are hoping Marian Gaborik can play today as he's still trying to get back from a concussion. 

---Remember when the Blackhawks were languishing in 10th or 11th place and it seemed the defending champs might miss the playoffs entirely? Next case. They've won eight straight after Saturday's 5-3 win in Toronto and climbed to fourth in the West. Rookie goalie Corey Crawford has unseated Marty Turco and earned every win in the steak. By the way, Patrick Kane & Co. have a big trip planned for Friday to meet another major Chicago booster: President Obama. Kane says he's bringing his camera.

Vancouver's Roberto Luongo became the 25th goalie in NHL history to win 300 games (see the full list here) as the Canucks won at Los Angeles, 3-1, in the late-night special.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Mancari called up and other postgame tidbits

MINNEAPOLIS -- The game in Philadelphia is over but the road trip continues and the news doesn't stop as I sit in a starkly vacant US Airways terminal upon landing. While I was in the air, the Sabres officially called up Mark Mancari from Portland for Sunday's game against the Wild in the wake of the injuries to Jochen Hecht and Mike Grier, who left Saturday's game in the second period. Mancari is currently third in the AHL in scoring with 64 points (32-32) in 56 games. 

Saturday's 5-3 win in Philadelphia was one of those rush-for-the-plane affairs that didn't allow you to soak in all that was going on or collect the kind of notes you normally might after an afternoon contest.

So on the flight to Minnesota, I collected some of these thoughts/statbits:

---The Sabres are really thin in the middle, especially with Hecht out. So they put Brad Boyes there between Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville. Pretty good combination and Lindy Ruff said he liked how Boyes handled the middle for the first time all season. Still, Boyes is best on the wing. I was wondering if we'd see Luke Adam or Paul Byron Sunday but Mancari got the call. Byron, by the way, had a Gordie Howe hat trick for Portland in Saturday's 8-3 win over Bridgeport.

---The Sabres' six-game point streak (4-0-2), all with Terry Pegula in charge, is their longest of the season. They've also got points in the last six on the road, the first time they've done that since October, 2008.

---The Flyers were 21-2-1 when leading after the first period. And they are now 28-6-3 when scoring first -- but have lost four times in the last week doing that! 

---Wonder if Ruff is going to try to use two defenseman on the points on the power play to cut down on the short-handed goal tally. It's at 12 and counting after Kimmo Timonen's goal Saturday and the Flyers had two other good chances as they took advantage of Tim Connolly at the point. The Sabres have scored only two so they're minus-10 in short-handed goals. That means they're plus-11 in all other situations!

---This was the first time the Flyers lost in regulation when leading by at least two goals since a 6-5 loss to the Sabres on Oct. 11, 2006. Many of you emailed to say you remember that one, a game the Sabres won on a Grier goal in the dying seconds.

---Wish all players would react to a benching like Andrej Sekera. He has four straight two-point games since returning to the lineup, collecting two goals and six assists.

---The Sabres blocked 29 shots, the most this year by a Flyers opponent. The Flyers attempted a whopping 83 shots in the game while Buffalo had only 57.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Bulletin: No Enroth, Weber or Hecht today

PHILADELPHIA -- Stay tuned for our live in-game blog on a separate thread but this quick note first: Ryan Miller has led the Sabres on the ice for warmups here in the Wells Fargo Center, and that role is almost always taken by the starting goaltender. Patrick Lalime also took the ice and there's no sign of Jhonas Enroth.

That old jokester Lindy Ruff certainly knew what he had up his sleeve but wasn't tipping his hand one iota when I spoke to him yesterday along with WGR's Paul Hamilton and MSG/Sabres.com's Kevin Sylvester. Enroth was called up last night so I would assume he is playing tomorrow in Minnesota.

It's not official, of course, until the starting lineups are announced but this is your first real indication. Looks like Brian Boucher will go for Philadelphia.

Other roster notes: Jordan Leopold is on the ice and Mike Weber is not. Chris Butler apparently survives. Not the move I would make. Weber was minus-1 Thursday at Carolina -- his first minus outing in 16 games. No Jochen Hecht either so Rob Niedermayer is back in. Guess Hecht's "maintenance day" yesterday was a little more serious than the Sabres anticipated. Weber practiced fully yesterday so I assume he's a healthy scratch. Andrej Sekera's strong play of late has created a logjam on defense. No way he's coming back out.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Enroth joins Sabres in Philly

Goalie Jhonas Enroth joined the Buffalo Sabres this evening in Philadelphia, and the team made his callup from Portland official in an email sent to media outlets at 10:09 p.m.

It's likely Enroth will start Saturday afternoon against the Flyers, although that determination won't be known until pregame warm-ups. 

Enroth is 3-2-1 with a 2.69 GAA and .906 save percentage for the Sabres this season. All three of his wins have been in shootouts, giving him the distinction of being first goalie in league history to win his first three NHL games via the shootout. No one else had done that in their first two victories.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twittter.com/bnharrington) 

Sabres to split goalies but no word who plays

PHILADELPHIA -- It was freezing at the Penn rink so I got out of there after practice. And on the way back to the hotel, I had to get the takeout version of the best cheesesteak there is -- Jim's on South Street. Gotta give it up to Bucky Gleason, who turned me on to Jim's several years ago from his days at AP Philadelphia over better known places that are essentially the touristy Anchor Bar of steaks. Got the cheesesteak with Cheese Wiz (called simply "Wiz" here) and mushrooms.

Found this picture above of Jim's grill line in a Google search and that's pretty much what I had looks like (click for a bigger view). Delish. So that explains the delay in getting you some more updates. 

Apologies. I figure you understand. Onward with hockey talk:

---Lindy Ruff confirmed today the Sabres will, in fact, split goalies this weekend at Philadelphia and Minnesota. But in true Ruff fashion, he only smirked when he said it and wouldn't go into details. Jhonas Enroth was practicing in Portland today so when I asked Ruff if it was Enroth, he coyly said, "We haven't announced anything yet."

If Enroth doesn't come to Philly tomorrow, I find it hard to believe they would send him all the way to Minny for a game. Wondering if Ruff might go with Patrick Lalime against the Wild. Western Conference team, so no four-point swing. And don't forget Minnesota is the team Lalime was embarrassed most against last March, getting booed unmercifully in HSBC Arena after a bad giveaway led to a goal. Sometimes, Ruff likes to let players make up for such things. We'll see.

---The lineup: Ruff said all players will dress for the warmup tomorrow when asked if Rob Niedermayer goes back in. I'm thinking Niedermayer does against the Flyers. Same for Jordan Leopold, who seemed OK in practice today. They certainly could use him over Chris Butler on the power play.

---The Sabres are thrilled that Brad Boyes has scored in his first two games with the club and it's a good thing because Thomas Vanek (only goal in the last 10 games is an empty-netter) and Drew Stafford (no goals in eight games) have suddenly hit the wall. 

"Our key guys are going to have to score," Ruff said. "We're getting away a little bit without Staff on the board, without Van on the board. We need those key guys to put pucks away in those key situations."

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Live from the Coliseum: Sabres vs. Islanders

UNIONDALE -- Greetings from the Nassau Coliseum where the Sabres (again) meet the New York Islanders in their second-last game before the all-star break. I don't care about the standings frankly today (the Sabres, for the record, are 11th in the East and eight points out of eighth with three games in hand on Atlanta).

To me, this game is about pride, about representing the sweater in the 40th anniversary season.

I don't want to hear about the improvement of the Islanders under new coach Jack Capuano. Yes, they have some nice young talent and they're 10-6-2 in their last 18 games. But the fact remains that you can't lose three times in eight days to the 14th-place team in the East -- a team that won exactly one game in a 21-game stretch earlier this season and went winless in 14 straight. And the one win was over the equally pathetic Devils, so it almost shouldn't count.

The Sabres have to man up and beat this team today. Period. And I don't want to hear about injuries either. Anybody thinking that the absence of Tim Connolly is really addition by subtraction? Show of hands? Thought so. Let's see how Paul Byron does in his NHL debut. Can he really be any worse than Connolly and Jochen Hecht have been? The Sabres were 4-1-1 when Matt Ellis was here earlier in the year too

Not to slag on the Sabres, because they are 7-3-1 in their last 11. Hard to complain much about that. And they've got a real chance to get even closer to eighth today as Atlanta is at Tampa Bay in a 5 p.m. start. But you can't be losing to the Islanders. Players openly talked about getting all six points in these three games last week. Now the best they can do is two.

They better get those two. End of rant. 

Keep it here for all your updates, especially if you're just going to follow here while watching James Starks and the Packers meet the Bears. If you missed Tyler Dunne's neat look at the Starksmania breaking out in Niagara Falls, be sure to check it out here.

The warmup begins in the 2:30 range so I'll let you know if Cody McCormick is on the ice. He has been battling the flu. Connolly, Patrick Kaleta and Drew Stafford are all out today.  

Update: McCormick IS on the ice. Byron wears No. 24, Ellis his customary No. 37.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Sabres starters: Niedermayer-Gaustad-Grier-Morrisonn-Myers. Goal: Miller
Islanders starters: Comeau-Bailey-Schremp-Martinek-Hillen. Goal: DiPietro 

Scratches: No surprises -- Connolly, Kaleta, Stafford, Butler, Rivet. Evgeni Nabokov is officially listed as an Islanders scratch. They're still waiting to see if he reports.

Third Period

Of note: Clearly, something is wrong with Vanek. He's played only 7:40 in the game. Twenty minutes to go -- refer to what I wrote at the very top of this post. You have to win just one period to win a game against the Islanders. This isn't the Flyers or Penguins here, folks.

4:55 p.m. The puck is dropped.

19:04 left: Another pause. More debris on the ice. Knuckleheads. The PA announcer just warned the fans one more disruption is a penalty. "There's one fan interrupting the game. You point him out, we'll throw him out."

18:12 left: The PP converts as Gerbe scores his third in two games, popping home a neat backhand pass from Ennis. Sabres lead, 3-2.

18:00 left: Gaustad and Tavares go for roughing. Good trade. 

16:07 left: Myers stopped on the goalmouth off a Gerbe pass. But did Bailey knock it in?  Under review.  AND IT COUNTS. Myers' first since Nov. 15. Sabres lead, 4-2. DiPietro has been badly outplayed by Miller in this one. Four goals in 20 shots. Byron also gets an assist as well as Gerbe for his first NHL point.

10:54 left: Shots are 6-1 for Buffalo in this period. Excellent response after Miller kept this team afloat during a rough second.

3:23 left: Nothing was going on. Sabres were on cruise control. Then they started scrambling around. Eventually Jack Hillen's shot from the left point gets through Miller. And now they have to struggle to the finish. Sabres lead, 4-3.  Timeout, Lindy. This note from Sabres info guru Kevin Snow: Paul Byron is the 48th Sabres to get his first NHL point in his first game. Cool.

1:26 left: Niedermayer stopped on 2-on-1 with Gerbe. Pass to the hot man, scoreless one.

23.7 left: Pominville into the middle of the empty net seals a three-goal third and a 5-3 Buffalo win. 

Second Period

Of note: Evgeni Nabokov isn't reporting to the Islanders. Period. He spoke to ESPN.com this afternoon and made his position clear. Islanders owner Charles Wang doesn't understand it.

Weber led the Sabres in ice time at 7:01 in the first period. Byron with a good 5:33 and Ellis at 5:17. Lindy Ruff really shuffled the lines to get everybody time. BUT it looks like there's some issue with Vanek. Everybody in the 4-5 minute range and he was at just 3:13 with only four shifts. He IS on the bench to start the second.

3:58 p.m: The puck is dropped.

19:46 left: Myers for delay of game (puck over glass). Ooof.

18:45 left: The penalty is costly as Matt Moulson bangs home a one-timer off a great pass from behind the net from Tavares, who got what turned out to be a perfect feed from Leopold as he tried to bang the puck behind the net. Game tied, 1-1.

15:02 left: The Sabres go back out in front as Ennis does the give-and-go with Pominville and dribbles one through DiPietro on the backhand. DiPietro has hardly been sharp in this one. Gotta put more pucks to the net. Sabres lead, 2-1. Looked like defenseman Dylan Reese helped the puck in too.

14:33 left: Debris on the ice. Are there a bunch of pennies out there chucked from the crowd? 

11:20 left: A note on the Moulson goal -- the Sabres have given up a power-play tally in six of the last seven games, including all three against the Islanders. Buffalo only killing at a 70 percent clip in that stretch (14 of 20 right now).

10:01 left: Miller with the glove stop on Hiller. Shots are 20-14 for the Islanders at the halfway mark of the game.

9:57 left: After showing highlights of last week's game in New England, the scoreboard and an Ice Girl wearing a Mark Sanchez jersey are leading the fans in a chant of "J-E-T-S."

7:33 left: Miller stones Josh Bailey on a breakaway after a long pass gets through Weber and allowed the winger to go in alone.

6:33 left: Isles are starting to skate Sabres out of the building like last week. They break in on a 3-on-2 and Parenteau taps in Tavares' feed to the goalmouth in front of Grier. Game tied, 2-2. Shots are 24-14.

6:00 left: It gets worse. Hecht gets four minutes for high sticking, cutting Nielsen with a hit along the boards. Stupid play, easy call. And Luke Adam isn't here why?

4:14 left: Miller smothers Comeau's slapshot. They gave the second goal to Moulson, who tapped it in at the goal line before it crossed. So that's Moulson's second of the game.

2:36 left: Miller stops Moulson's shot from the circle a few seconds after Tavares curled the puck just wide of an open net. Close call.

1:53 left: Sabres survive the four-minute power play and now they get one of their own. Just as Hecht gets out, Bailey clips Gaustad and he's gone for four minutes.

End-2nd: Sabres had some good zone time but not a lot of good chances. Still 2:07 left on the PP to start the third. It's 2-2 through 40 minutes and shots are 27-15 for the Islanders. It was 17-5 in that period -- that's six goals in the middle frame for the Isles in the two games here against Buffalo.

First Period

3:09 p.m: The puck is dropped.

19:45 left: THAT is how you start. Morrisson takes a hit to get the puck in the zone. Niedermayer outworks a defender behind the net to get the puck in front to Grier. His shot leaks through DiPietro and Gaustad taps it home. Sabres lead, 1-0. It's Gaustad's fifth from Niedermayer and Grier.

18:25 left: Byron's first shift, centering Ellis and McCormick. He gets thrown out of the circle.

17:05 left: DiPietro stops Gaustad, who was sent in alone by Vanek.

15:00 left: Shots are 6-1 for Buffalo. You'll recall they were 9-1 for the Islanders to start the game Friday. 

13:45 left: Gaustad goes for hooking and the Ice Girls take the ice. Grrrr.

12:16 left: Miller with a couple nice saves on John Tavares and Frans Nielsen. Byron got some PK time early in that penalty with McCormick.

7:42 left: It's a bright, sunny day here but lots of folks are certainly staying home to get ready for Jets-Steelers and to watch Packers-Bears. I'm betting there's about 8,000 or so in the house. The Sabres have skated this way thus far: Niedermayer-Gaustad-Grier, Vanek-Hecht-Pominville, Ellis-Byron-McCormick. Gerbe, who had both goals Friday and played more than 20 minutes, has been spotted and so has Ennis. Odd. On defense it's been Myers-Morrisonn, Leopold-Montador and Weber-Sekera with Gragnani worked in as the No. 7 D. 

6:49 left: Miller with a nice save on Grabner's deflection from in front. Shots are 8-6 for Buffalo as the penalty helped the Islanders reclaim some momentum in the game.

59.6 left: In a game with few whistles, the Sabres have been in trouble for the last couple of minutes. Solid period by Miller, who just robbed Bruno Gervais on a one-timer. Islanders now have a 10-9 lead in shots. It was 6-1 for Buffalo.

End-1st: Sabres hold the 1-0 lead and shots were 10-10.

Byron, Ellis get the call

The Sabres have added Paul Byron and Matt Ellis to their roster for Sunday's game on Long Island. Patrick Kaleta and Tim Connolly have been put on injured reserve and thus won't play Tuesday in Ottawa either.

Byron is second on the Portland Pirates in scoring with 31 points (14 goals, 17 assists). Ellis is fourth with 28 points (8-20). Ellis, of course, spent most of the last two seasons with the Sabres and was up for six games this year. Byron, 21, will be making his first trip to the NHL. The 5-foot-9, 144-pound center was Buffalo's sixth-round pick in 2007.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Back on the ice

The Sabres are on for an early practice here at the Northtown Center of Amherst with a couple hundred kids taking advantage of an unexpected chance meeting and watching them from the stands. They're happy, as they should be. Part of their happiness is probably the fact they weren't in HSBC Arena last night. Lucky them.

The kids aren't seeing Patrick Kaleta, Tim Connolly or Cody McCormick on the ice so we'll have to get an update from Lindy Ruff on their status after the workout. Drew Stafford is skating in a non-contact jersey. Wonder if the Sabres are just going to try to get through the next two games without Stafford to give his groin a couple more weeks of rest.

I would imagine at least one and possibly two players will join the team from Portland for Sunday's 3 p.m. rematch with the Islanders. Mark Mancari scored his 20th goal for the Pirates in last night's win over Worcester. There's one possibility. I'd like to see Matt Ellis back too.

Be sure to click that link to read good-friend-of-the-blog Dan Hickling's report on the Portland game. It was an emotional return to the lineup for West Seneca native Brian Roloff, who scored the winning goal in his first game back with the team after the death of his older brother, Eric, Sunday from cancer.

In other news, South Buffalo's Patrick Kane has been named an alternate captain on Team Lidstrom and will help with the selection process for next week's NHL All-Star Game. 

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Kaleta back, Adam goes down

Patrick Kaleta will be back in the lineup for the Sabres tonight against Montreal after missing seven games with the broken hand he suffered Dec. 28 in Edmonton. The Sabres have sent Luke Adam back to Portland, leaving their roster at 22 players and no spare forwards in house. It appears they'll continue to scratch Chris Butler and Craig Rivet. 

Adam has three goals, one assist and a minus-4 rating in 18 games over four stints in Buffalo.

"I thought Luke gave us a lot of good periods," Lindy Ruff said after today's morning skate. "He needs to go play, to go play 20 minutes a game. He needs to be involved in special teams in a big way which he has been down in Portland. We think a lot of him. It's just not good for him to be here when we're healthy and only play 8-9 minutes. He needs to work on a little bit of play in his own end and he understands that but he's given us some good play."

Adam's return to Portland means he'll be eligible to claim the spot he was voted on for the AHL All-Star Game Jane. 31 in Hershey, Pa.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Mancari gets the call; Morrisonn still out

BOSTON -- Mark Mancari will man left wing on the Sabres' No. 2 line tonight against the Bruins as he was called up from Portland this morning to replace the injured Drew Stafford.

Mancari leads the Pirates in goals (12) and points (26) over 23 games and is plus-6. He has five goals in the last five games and is tied for 10th in the AHL in scoring, but is only four points off the league lead. The 25-year-old played in his 400th professional game Saturday night against Norfolk.

Mancari has two goals and three assists in 16 career games with the Sabres. He will skate tonight, at least initially, with former Portland linemate Luke Adam and Jason Pominville.

"I don't want to mess with the other lines," coach Lindy Ruff said. "If we move him around, then we have to move someobdy from almost every line. Initially, we'll start him there. If it isn't working, we'll make adjustments."

Adam was leading AHL rookies in scoring when he was called up to the Sabres for the third time this year on Nov. 24. Tonight will be his eighth game and he's looking for his first NHL goal. Perhaps an Adam-Mancari pairing could help both of them?

"Luke is a big body and that's a little bit different than the other guys I've played with," said Mancari, whose previous centers in Portland included Tim Kennedy and Tyler Ennis. "He gets in the corner and he's a big guy who can get around the ice and create space for himself and his linemates. You really notice him. He's going to be a great player. He was leading rookies down there in scoring and there's a reason he's up here so quickly and for so long."

Shaone Morrisonn is still not 100 percent after taking the hit to the head from Columbus' Jared Boll Friday against Columbus. So he will sit out and Chris Butler will work with Mike Weber on the third blueline pair. The injured trio of Stafford, Tim Connolly and Rob Niedermayer all skated. Morrisonn stayed late for extra work with assistant coach James Patrick.

"He still wasn't feeling quite right," Ruff said. "He could play but my decision was not to play him."

Reminder: Tonight's game is a 7:30 contest on Versus, not MSG.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Inside the NHL -- Live Chat

Bulletin: Enroth to start in goal

We'll have our live blog from tonight's Sabres-Bruins game when faceoff time comes at 7:05 but just wanted to send the word that Jhonas Enroth took the ice first for the pregame warmups. That almost always means he'll be the starting goaltender in place of the injured Ryan Miller.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Leggio 5-0

When the Sabres called up Jhonas Enroth to replace injured goalie Ryan Miller, it left their affiliate in the AHL, the Portland Pirates, short a goalie for their game against the Charlotte Checkers and moved David Leggio of Williamsville into the starting role.

After allowing the tying goal in the last second of regulation on Tuesday, Leggio stopped four of five shooters as  teammates Luke Adam and Corey Tropp scored to claim a 4-3 victory in the shootout.

Leggio ran his season record to 5-0 with a .925 save percentage and 2.50 goals against average.

The Portland Press details the game and what the Pirates did for a backup goalie.

Sabres recall Adam

Luke Adam was recalled from the Portland Pirates and will make his NHL debut tonight against the Flyers in Philadelphia, just as Tyler Ennis did last season.

Adam skated with the team this morning. He will wear No. 72. He is second on the Pirates in scoring with 10 points (five goals and five assists) in eight games. Mark Mancari has 11 points. The 6-foot-2, 215-pounder was a second-round draft pick of the Sabres in 2008.

He will replace Rob Niedermayer, who stayed in Buffalo to be with his wife, who gave birth to a girl on Monday.

-- Bucky Gleason

Enroth gone, roster down to 23

Jhonas Enroth is not at practice today in HSBC Arena as the Sabres are apparently satisfied that Patrick Lalime's groin has sufficiently healed for him to back up Ryan Miller in Friday night's season opener in Ottawa. So with Enroth back to Portland and Lindy Ruff's admission yesterday the team is going to stick with 23 players, it looks like your opening night roster is set.

The lines today look like this:

Hecht-Connolly-Pominville
Ennis-Roy-Stafford
Gerbe-Niedermayer-Grier
Gaustad-McCormick-Kaleta

Thomas Vanek is in a gold jersey, meaning he would be skating with the Connolly line to get his work in. Clearly, there's going to be a tough decision on who the 13th forward will be. The assumption here is that it's probably going to be Cody McCormick but no way Lindy Ruff is going to tip his hand yet.

We haven't seen any defense pairs yet to note if Mike Weber remains in the top six with Craig Rivet. Yesterday, remember, the pairs were Myers-Morrisonn, Montador-Leopold, Rivet-Weber and Butler-Sekera. Frankly, that's how I'd start the season. (Update: The pairs, in fact, are the same again today)

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Another Portland signing

Another depth signing by the Sabres for the Portland Pirates: Former Atlanta forward Colin Stuart has signed a one-year contract with the team. It's a two-way deal that calls for a $550,000 NHL salary or $75,000 with Portland.

The 6-2, 205-pound Stuart had a career-high 36 points, including 17 goals, last year for Calgary's AHL affiliate in Abbotsford, B.C. The 28-year-old played 51 games for Atlanta from 2007-09, scoring eight goals. He was the Thrashers' fifth-round pick in 2001.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Tough guy signed for Portland

The Sabres have signed an enforcer candidate for their Portland roster, agreeing on a two-way deal with former Carolina tough guy Tim Conboy.

Conboy, 28, is a 6-foot-2, 210-pound winger. He will make $550,000 if he plays in Buffalo and $105,000 on the AHL part of his deal.

Conboy has averaged 138 penalty minutes a season the last six years in the AHL with Cleveland and Albany. He had no goals, three assists and 87 penalty minutes in 37 games last year for Albany, and no points with 24 penalty minutes in 12 games for Carolina.

Conboy got a four-game suspension for his part in a brawl with current Sabres forward Nathan Gerbe during an Albany-Portland game in HSBC Arena in February, 2009. He also got an eight-game ban following an Albany-Philadelphia brawl during the 2008 AHL playoffs.

Here's a look back at the Gerbe brawl:

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Prospect camp opens July 5

Mark your calendars for your first look at the Sabres' prospects. The team announced late Monday afternoon that its annual development camp will run July 5-9 at Niagara University's Dwyer Arena. There will be an on-ice session each day open to the public featuring the camp's 42 prospects. Top choice Mark Pysyk is scheduled to attend. Public workouts are currently slated for the following times:

---Monday July 5, 11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
---Tuesday, July 6, 3:30-4:45 p.m.
---Wednesday, July 7, 4-5:30 p.m.
---Thursday, July 8, 4-6:30 p.m.
---Friday, July 9, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Big stage for Gerbe's playoff debut

Nathan Gerbe arrived from Portland Thursday night fully expecting to simply be a member of the Sabres' "Black Aces" squad of practice players called up from the minor-league team. But Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier had a big surprise for him: Gerbe is going into the lineup tonight for Game Five and will see some time on the bedraggled Buffalo power play.

It will be the first playoff game of Gerbe's career. And while he's played in the World Junior Championships and been the MVP of the Frozen Four, this is clearly a much different stage. The Sabres are in a 3-1 hole and facing a long summer of questions if they suffer an early exit tonight.

"You've got to approach it as any other game," Gerbe said. "I try to compete hard every single game I play. For me, it's going to be no different in terms of focusing and getting ready to go. But there's always going to be some nerves there."

Gerbe had an on-ice pow-wow with Craig Rivet and former Portland teammate Tyler Ennis during the morning skate. What was the Buffalo captain saying to him? "Take it for what it is. It's a pretty special moment to be here. He was telling us about the power play a little bit and some of their defenders. ... I need to add a little speed and grit in front of the net on the power play. Sometimes when the power play is not clicking, it's really simple to get it clicking. It's just to get it in front of the net and get rebounds."

Hear Gerbe's entire interview this morning here:

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

A call to Cody

BOSTON -- Cody McCormick, meet Johnny Boychuk. You would assume that will happen in the first five minutes of Game Four. McCormick, a tough guy who had 17 goals this year in Portland, will make his Sabres debut tonight. The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder will be a badly needed physical presence for a Buffalo team that has lost too many physical battles in this series (see Mark Recchi vs. Tim Kennedy in Game Three) and lost both Thomas Vanek and Matt Ellis on plays involving Boston's defenseman.

"It was a really nice surprise," McCormick said of the callup. "I'm a physical player. I want to finish my hits, get the puck in and be responsible out there. You don't want to run out of position to make a hit or anything like that. You definitely have to make sure you're  thinking out there."

The Bruins certainly will be wary of McCormick.  They know what he's here for and McCormick said that's  fine.

"If that's what they're thinking, we can just keep hitting," he said. "We're going to be in the corners together so it's a good place to get some bangs in. I just want to come out, play physical, get the pucks in good spots, finish my hits and let them know I'm out there."

McCormick played four playoff games with Colorado in 2008 and he showed some skill and toughness in training camp with the Sabres this year.

"He's a big body that can get to the front of the net," said coach Lindy Ruff.  "He can win battles down low. Without Hecht, without Vanek, without some bigger bodies, some of the battles have gone the other way. A big guy who will be able to win some battles will be important to us. He's thought very highly of by Portland."

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Ennis wins AHL rookie of the year award

Tyler Ennis has been named the winner of the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding rookie, giving the Sabres back-to-back winners of the award.

Nathan Gerbe won AHL rookie of the year honors last season in voting from coaches, media and players in each of the league's 29 cities.

Ennis was Buffalo's second first-round pick in the 2008 draft, behind Tyler Myers. The second-round pick from '08, Luke Adam, signed his pro contract with the Sabres earlier today and that draft could easily go down as one of the best in franchise history.

Ennis leads all AHL rookies with 23 goals, 42 assists and 65 points in 69 games for Portland this season. He is also second with six game-winning goals and third with nine power-play tallies and was the most valuable player of the AHL All-Star Game played in Portland.

Ennis scored for the Sabres in his NHL debut Nov. 14 at Philadelphia and has three goals and five assists in seven games for the Sabres this season. With the announcement that Jochen Hecht is out for the final three games of the regular season, it looks almost certain that Ennis will make Buffalo's playoff roster.

Past winners of the AHL rookie award include names like Terry Sawchuk (1949), ex-Sabre goalies Roger Crozier (1964) and Gerry Desjardins (1968), Rick Middleton (1974), Ron Hextall  (1986), Brett Hull (1987) and ex-Sabres captain Daniel Briere (1998).

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)