Sport-scan daily brief

Myers is in the first year of his seven-year extension and has struggled for large stretches of the season. But he knows the trades of Jordan Leopold and Robyn Regehr off the blue line and captain Jason Pominville sends a message that the younger players need to seize control.

“It’s certainly leaning towards that direction it seems,” Myers said. “It’s a much younger team already with the three guys that we lost. There’s always talk and rumors about Thomas Vanek and [Ryan Miller] and their situations too. We’ll cross that bridge when that time comes.

“There’s guys in the room that are going to have to step up, not only on the ice but to take a leadership position in the room.”

Interim coach Ron Rolston said watching the dressing room dynamic will be one of the unique elements of the final 10 games.

“They’re in a situation now where for them it’s to be the next core of leaders coming up for us,” Rolston said. “And before you can be a leader in any capacity, you’ve got to be consistent. You’ve got to take care of your own game because if you’re not, there’s not a lot of people who are going to follow you if you can’t be consistent.”

While the Leopold and Regehr trades were pretty much expected, Myers admitted he was shaken by the loss of Pominville, a player he’s seen every day since his NHL career began in 2009.

“It was definitely pretty strange not seeing him come into the rink the next morning,” Myers said. “I know what he meant to this organization being here so long, being the person he was and the player he was.”

After a brutal start to the season, Myers entered Sunday plus-3 in the last four games and averaging more than 25 minutes of ice time in them. Ennis, meanwhile, was trying to shake a seven-game goal drought.

“You have to worry about getting better,” Ennis said. “You look at the standings and you know where you are. There’s been a lot of changes all year but you have to get better in areas every day. You improve in those areas and as a whole everything starts to get better. I think we’re seeing a little bit of that right now.”

...

“We wanted to give him today off completely because he’s been out there a lot,” Rolston said. “Just wanted to give him the complete rest day off so he’ll be back out there [today].”

Rolston said he’s still holding out hope Vanek can play Tuesday in Winnipeg. The Sabres have no extra players on hand so the only ones not in the lineup Sunday were Vanek and fellow injured forward Ville Leino.

Former Sabres defenseman Henrik Tallinder was a scratch for the Devils after playing the last four games. Tallinder, in the third season of a four-year, $13.5 million contract, has one goal and three assists in 18 games with a plus-3 rating.

...

Goaltender Matt Hackett, acquired from Minnesota in the Pominville trade, had a huge debut Sunday for the Rochester Amerks in a 3-2 shootout win over Albany. Hackett made 39 saves in the game and stopped all three Albany attempts in the shootout.

Buffalo News LOADED: 04.08.2013

668707 Buffalo Sabres

Gerbe, Miller lead Sabres to shootout victory

Buffalo hears the boos as Devils control play

By Mike Harrington | News Sports Reporter | @BNHarrington

on April 7, 2013 - 10:41 PM

, updated April 7, 2013 at 11:45 PM

If the First Niagara Center ice was a pinball machine, the New Jersey Devils would have been guilty of a tilt most of Sunday night.

There were multiple stretches where the Devils hemmed the Buffalo Sabres in their own zone, and a couple that lasted more than two minutes. The play was so interminable and the crowd was so restless the Sabres were getting Bronx cheers just for getting the puck out over their own blue line.

The Sabres were outshot, 39-26, in the game and even gave up yet another short-handed goal. But they didn’t fall apart mentally in the kind of spots they crumbled in earlier in the season. They were physical at plenty of key times and got great goaltending from Ryan Miller.

When Nathan Gerbe beat Martin Brodeur for the only goal of the shootout, they somehow pulled out a 3-2 win over the Devils in one of the stranger games the crowd of 18,703 has seen in a long time.

“Resilient is what it was,” said interim coach Ron Rolston. “We got through it and didn’t break. It worked out all right.”

The Sabres have won three straight for the third time this year and pulled within four points of the idle New York Islanders for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

The defending East champion Devils, meanwhile, are in complete panic mode. They are ninth, and winless in seven games (0-3-4) for the first time since November 2001.

Buffalo got a first-period goal from Patrick Kaleta – his first in 53 games dating to last February – and a second-period tally from Steve Ott. Jochen Hecht and Cody Hodgson got full marks for great passes.

The Sabres took that 2-1 lead into the third but the Devils got even at 5:46 on a short-handed goal by defenseman Mark Fayne, his first goal of the season. As Dainius Zubrus skated unimpeded through the Buffalo zone and behind the net, he found Fayne for a quick snapshot from the right circle that beat Miller.

“That’s a tough one,” Ott admitted. “All five of us are accountable. ... We definitely need to fish [Zubrus] out hard, if not lay a body on him so he doesn’t have an opportunity to make a play out there.”

The fans didn’t like the short-handed goal, in part because it was Buffalo’s NHL-high seventh of the year against its power-play unit.

And the crowd wasn’t happy with the extended stretches of play in the Sabres’ zone either. Whether trying a clear or a pass, the Sabres simply couldn’t clear the zone for about a 15-minute stretch spanning the first and second periods.

“They were hemming us in the zone but we did a great job on those two-minute shifts keeping them to the outside, blocking shots,” said Ott, reaching hard to find positives. “They weren’t getting great scoring opportunities yet our fans were booing us every opportunity they had.”

“They want to see better but sometimes it’s going to be a battle,” Miller said of the fans. “Sometimes it’s going to be hard. We need their help. We need them to be behind us. We hear them.

“We know they’re not happy but the encouragement we can get when we’re in a tight game, that can help for some of these young guys. So we’d appreciate it. They hang around, stay for the whole game, be excited, have fun. We’re trying our hardest out there. You saw some sacrifice out there.”

Analyzing the fan base is obviously a slippery slope. Especially given the way this season – and much of the last six years – have gone for a group of ticketholders that has had its patience pushed to the max.

“That’s the way it’s been since I’ve been here,” Rolston said. “We understand what it is. Our job is to continue to do what we can do to change that. That’s all we can do. Keep working at it ... win games at home and hopefully get them back.”

And the crowd did respond when it was warranted like on Ott’s goal, a spectacular three-way passing play with Hodgson and Gerbe. And the entire 100 level was on its feet for the shootout and roared when Miller made the final save on Travis Zajac.

“I would be proud if I was from Buffalo to say, ‘My Sabres won that game.’ ’’ Miller said. “It’s the kind of game you’re going to have sometimes. We’re going to try to clean it up so it’s a little prettier but if it’s like that and we get two points I don’t really mind.”

Buffalo News LOADED: 04.08.2013

668708 Buffalo Sabres

Postgame audio: Shootout survival

April 7, 2013 - 11:53 PM

By Mike Harrington

Here's how I sum up Sunday's odd shootout win over the Devils: Some stretches of brutal play, some nifty passing on both goals, some terrific physical play at times, great goaltending and a survival test.

I didn't like all the postgame chatter about the fans. Steve Ott has talked about it a couple times this year. Same for Ron Rolston. They haven't been here nearly long enough to have a valid opinion on the subject in my mind.

What I liked was this team's physical play. Ott had 10 hits -- 10! -- and Mike Weber had eight to go along with seven blocks. Patrick Kaleta had seven hits. John Scott had three in a seaosn-high 9:11 of play and his mid-ice hit on David Clarkson in the second period helped stem the Devils' momentum.

Really like Ryan Miller lately too. He's 3-1 in his last four games with a 1.73 GAA and save percentage of .945.

A trip around the locker room before I head to the Toronto airport for the trip to Winnipeg.

Ron Rolston

Ryan Miller

Steve Ott

Patrick Kaleta

Buffalo News LOADED: 04.08.2013

668709 Buffalo Sabres

This time, it's for real: Leafs-Wings set for Jan. 1 at The Big House

April 7, 2013 - 12:26 PM

By Mike Harrington

The NHL might be the only entity in the world that likes making announcements on Sunday mornings (see end of lockout) but they made a nice one today with the confirmation that the lockout-canceled Winter Classic of Jan. 1 has been rescheduled for Jan. 1, 2014.

Same setup: Maple Leafs-Red Wings at The Big House on the University of Michigan campus with a concurrent schedule of NHL Alumni, college and high school games on a rink at Comerica Park in Detroit, home of the Tigers. The league said today it expects to have enough alumni available that it will play two alumni games on New Year's Eve.

A world record crowd for an ice hockey game could attend the main event, potentially surpassing the 104,173 that saw the Michigan-Michigan State game at Michigan Stadium in 2010. The league also announced that HBO will again do the award-winning "24/7" series on the Leafs and Wings. And remember, BOTH teams will be in the Sabres' division next season.

And the game will be a marketing dream as well. Check out the jerseys at the top of this post. Plain awesome. Think a few of them might sell?

Buffalo News LOADED: 04.08.2013

668710 Buffalo Sabres

Sabres try to write 'same story' by runnin' past struggling Devils

April 7, 2013 - 12:14 PM

By Mike Harrington

A mostly quiet morning in First Niagara Center in advance of tonight's Sabres-Devils game (Reminder: It's been moved to 7:30 and will be televised on NBC Sports Network). The Sabres skated for about 30 minutes while only a few Devils stopped by since they played last night against Toronto in the Prudential Center.

Ryan Miller will be in goal tonight against Martin Brodeur. Thomas Vanek is out again and did not take the morning skate but interim coach Ron Rolston said that was a scheduled day off and Vanek will return to practice Monday.

This will be the sixth straight game Vanek has missed with what the team is calling an upper-body muscle strain. Rolston said he continues to target Tuesday's game in Winnipeg as Vanek's return date. We'll see.

The Sabres have won two straight and are 5-2-2 in their last nine games but start the day 12th in the Eastern Conference with 36 points, sixth back of the eighth-place Islanders but with a game in hand. According to Sportsclubstats.com's calculations, they need to earn 16 of the 20 points they have left on the table to just have a roughly 50-50 shot at the postseason.

"Same story. Focused on the game in front of us, like a lot of teams are doing that in our situation where they've got to get points out of every game to make the playoffs,' said Sabres interim coach Ron Rolston. "New Jersey is one of those teams and we're one of those teams right now. We're focused on that and we're focused on having to play a certain way to be successful."

Miller is making his fourth straight start. He's 2-1 in his last three with a 1.69 goals-against average and .943 save percentage in those three.

The Devils, meanwhile, are really struggling. The defending Eastern Conference champions slipped to 10th in the East with Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Leafs. They've gone 0-3-3 since Ilya Kovalchuk went down with a shoulder injury and have lost their last three in regulation, scoring just two goals in them.

Brodeur has played all six games in the current slump and posted a 2.45 GAA but only a save percentage of .888

"Now I think it’s desperation," Brodeur said after Saturday's loss. "Every team around us (the Islanders, Rangers and Jets) won. We can’t afford to lose too many more games."

To hear Rolston talk about the Sabres' desperation, the chance for young players to get greater roles and for a veteran like Jochen Hecht to grab a consistent role, click the audio file below.

Buffalo News LOADED: 04.08.2013

668711 Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo Sabres win in a shootout

Written by

Associated Press

BUFFALO — Nathan Gerbe scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Buffalo Sabres a 3-2 victory Sunday night over New Jersey that extended the Devils’ losing streak to seven games.

Ryan Miller stopped 37 shots through overtime, and all three shootout attempts — included a victory-clinching glove save on Travis Zajac.

Steve Ott extended his goal streak to three games, and Patrick Kaleta also scored for Buffalo, which won its third straight.

Steve Sullivan and Mark Fayne, who forced overtime with a short-handed goal, scored for the Devils, who are 0-3-4 in their past seven.

Democrat and Chronicle LOADED: 04.08.2013

668712 Buffalo Sabres

Rochester Amerks top Albany in shootout

Written by

| Staff reports

If every game for the Rochester Amerks was decided by a shootout, a berth in the playoffs would be a lock by now.

The Amerks converted on all three of their shootout chances and newly acquired goalie Matt Hackett stopped all three he faced as Rochester defeated the Albany Devils, 3-2, on Sunday at the Times Union Center.

The Amerks improved to 9-1 in shootouts this season, following up Saturday’s 5-4 shootout win over Adirondack.

Hackett also made 41 saves in regulation and overtime while making his Rochester debut.

He came over from Houston in the deal that sent Jason Pominville from the Sabres to the Minnesota Wild.

“(Hackett) was really good,” coach Chadd Cassidy said. “He made a couple of huge glove saves. There were a couple parts of the game he kept us in it and he was rock solid in the shootout.”

The Amerks (82 points) remained tied for fifth place in the Western Conference with six games remaining. They trail fourth-place Charlotte by two points but are still just three points from being outside the playoff picture.

Nick Crawford scored a power-play goal midway through the third period and Zemgus Girgensons netted the equalizer while short-handed with 4:25 left in regulation.

The third period was a large turnaround from the first two, in which Rochester was outshot 23-10.

“I think we kind of upped the ante a little bit,” Cassidy said. “We played a lot more desperate and won more puck battles. In the first two periods we were doing a lot of standing and watching.”

Albany took a 2-0 lead after Jean-Sebastien Berube scored 2:54 into the third period.

Crawford tallied his fifth goal of the season just over five minutes later with assists from Girgensons and Evan Rankin.

The Amerks killed off a brief 5-on-3 and with about a minute left on the Devils’ power play, Girgensons collected the puck on a 2-on-1 dash down the right side and snuck it in the lower right corner to tie the score.

“He really used his speed a lot tonight. We used him a little more at center ice to open up things up for him,” Cassidy said. “He really stepped it up for us in a huge spot.”

Johan Larsson, Corey Tropp and Colin Jacobs each scored in the shootout.

The Amerks return home to face Oklahoma City on Friday at the Blue Cross Arena.

They then will travel to Albany for Saturday’s game and will take on division-leading Toronto the following day.

Democrat and Chronicle LOADED: 04.08.2013

668713 Calgary Flames

Hall: Candid Baertschi pours out his feelings, demonstrates he’s growing up fast

Top Flames prospect, recalled by NHL club on Sunday, talks about his demotion, his parents’ divorce and the steep learning curve all prospects face

By Vicki Hall, Calgary HeraldApril 8, 2013 12:05 AM135x42RIVlogo

DENVER — Sven Baertschi’s demotion lasted all of 28 days.

Even so, the top Calgary Flames prospect wandered into the team’s five-star hotel Sunday afternoon sounding much older and much wiser than the lost soul dispatched to the minors less than a month ago.

Seeing the other side of crushing disappointment has a way of taking youthful swagger — tenuous by nature — and turning it into the bedrock of quiet confidence.

“I just wish I could have hammered myself in the head for being mad,” Baertschi was saying Sunday afternoon, upon arrival in the Mile High City. “You realize after that, you shouldn’t even be mad for certain things.

“Like I’m a healthy guy. I’ve got everything I need. I’m really close to being in the best league in the world. Other people have bigger problems.”

Sounds like Baertschi is growing up before our very eyes.

“The best decision they made was to send me down,” he said. “You get rattled, you get caught up in things. You’re mad at people. You’re mad at yourself. You don’t even think about why it actually happened.

“After a little while, I understood.”

In a moment he later called the lowest point of his life, Baertschi walked out of the Staples Center into the California sunshine on March 9 down and distraught. With only one point in 10 games, the former first-rounder showed up at work, only to learn he had a free one-way ticket to Abbotsford to play for the farm team.

This is not the way it was supposed to play out. After all, didn’t he score three goals last season in just five games as an emergency recall from the Portland Winterhawks? What about all those No. 47 jerseys scooped up by fans dying for the kid to blossom into the next face of the franchise.

“I think there were a bunch of people worried about me, especially family,” he said. “I felt I let a lot of people down, because there were high expectations.”

Like a grounded teenager banned from attending the high school dance, Baertschi raged. At the organization. At the coaching staff.

At himself, for being foolish enough to tell the world he expected to play the entire season in Calgary.

Rejection is one thing when a handful of people know, but it can turn into quite another when the whole saga plays out for everyone to see.

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget Baertschi is just 20 — not even old enough to legally drink in the state of Colorado.

Down and dejected, the slick left winger phone his mom Daniela at home in Switzerland hoping to find an understanding ear.

“So what?” Daniela said, when her son broke the news.

“What do you mean?’” Baertschi snapped back. “Aren’t you mad or something?

“No,” she replied. “You’re 20 years old. What do you expect? You can’t just walk through everything.”

Even with that motherly advice echoing in his brain, Baertschi went through the motions for the first week or so with the Heat.

He admits it.

Through many talks with Heat head coach Troy Ward, the reality of the situation started to sink in. He began to realize that success as a hockey player — and becoming an adult — are not mutually exclusive.

“I learned that there are so many things other than hockey that you’ve got to take care of,” he said. “If I don’t call my mom for a whole week or somebody from my family for a whole week, I feel terrible. I’ve got to be straight. I understand they’re 5,000 miles away, but these days we’ve got Skype, and we’ve got phones and everything.”

The whole demotion made Baertschi reflect on the time his parents divorced and went their separate ways. He was 13 at the time.

“It hit me hard,” he said. “I sucked at hockey. I sucked at school. I sucked at everything I did. I was really bad. I was so talented at hockey, that I just thought I didn’t have to work at anything. I was always the best, and then at one point I realized that everybody was getting better except for me.”

History has a way of repeating itself.

“In the first couple of games in Abby I wasn’t comfortable,” he said. “I didn’t want to be there. And then at the same time, I realized again if I want to go back up there, I’ve got to perform here.

“I’ve got to show them what I can do here.”

We all, in one way or another, have to succeed in the minor leagues before getting the chance to shine at the next level.

So Baertschi did just that, collecting four goals and seven points in 10 AHL appearances.

He watched in agony last week when his good buddy Roman Horak received the call-up from the Flames. Ditto for Saturday when Max Reinhart was promoted to the big club.

“I wanted to be the first guy,” Baertschi said. “As soon as I heard Roman got called up, I was really excited for him. He’s been really good, and he’s been my linemate in Abbotsford. So I was really excited for him.

”But on the other side, I wanted to be that guy. Same with Max. It wasn’t that I was mad or anything. I knew at one point I would be up here. It’s just the wait that makes you kind of crazy.”

The crazy wait ended late Saturday night when Brian McGrattan suffered a shoulder injury in a 5-2 Calgary loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Baertschi hit the road and hooked up with the Flames for their flight to Denver.

“This is a big opportunity for me,” he said, that familiar twinkle back in his eyes. “It’s an opportunity to come here and show them that I don’t belong down there, and that they should never send me back again.”

Calgary Herald: LOADED: 04.08.2013

668714 Calgary Flames

Reinharts revel in fairy-tale script for son Max’s first NHL game

By Vicki Hall, Calgary HeraldApril 8, 2013 12:04 AM135x42RIVlogo

DENVER — The magnitude of the moment hit Theresa Reinhart when her son Max led the Calgary Flames out onto the ice Saturday night at Rogers Arena.

Her boy’s first NHL game. On Hockey Night in Canada. In his hometown, against the mighty Vancouver Canucks.

Talk about real life following a fairy-tale script.

“I just don’t want to see him get hurt,” Theresa was saying in the second intermission of a 5-2 Calgary loss to the Canucks. “It’s hard for me. I see him as a two-year-old as opposed to a grown man. I just think these guys look mean hitting my baby.

“But he’s a smart kid.”

Smart much like his father Paul, who patrolled the blueline for 11 years as a Flame and Canuck before going on to a successful career as a stock market promoter and financier based in West Vancouver.

“I like watching this more than I liked watching his dad,” Theresa admitted, with her husband in earshot. “It’s more exciting. It’s great.”

All grown up, Max Reinhart, 21, received word of his promotion to the big club Friday night after the Abbotsford Heat fell 4-1 to the Grand Rapids Rampage in American Hockey League action.

From there, he drove about an hour west to hook up with the Flames at their posh hotel in downtown Vancouver.

“I’ve dreamed about playing in this building pretty much my whole life,” he said before puck drop Saturday. “Two teams my father played for.

“I got the call, I couldn’t have been more excited. It hasn’t really hit me yet. I’m still just really excited to be in this situation.”