Archives for February 23, 2020

‘The start to the game Saturday afternoon was everything coach Ralph Krueger envisioned when preparing the Buffalo Sabres.’

‘”I felt pretty good,” Skinner said with a smile. “I don’t know. I feel like I scored a few times and usually it feels pretty good. … You can use ‘relief,’ I guess, if that sort of fits the story line because of how long it’s been. I don’t know. I just feel happy to get another goal and add to the lead a little bit more.”‘

‘The Sabres (28-25-8) have won four of their last five games and won both of their games in Pittsburgh, including a season-opening win Oct. 3. Jeff Skinner snapped his career-long 22-game goal drought by scoring 5:39 into the third period, his first goal since Dec. 2 and 12th in 51 games this season.’

‘There’s only a small chance the Sabres are going to emerge as a better team come Monday afternoon. The much more likely scenario is they’re actually worse, given the potential of trades involving pending unrestricted free agents such as Jimmy Vesey, Conor Sheary, Johan Larsson or Zemgus Girgensons that will likely yield only draft picks in return.’

‘In October 2017, Knox said, his code wouldn’t open the gate to allow access to his storage unit in Cheektowaga. He had rented it years earlier and filled it with items that had overwhelmed the leaky basement of his small home near Delaware Park. Bins of family photos, documents and memorabilia, artwork and seasonal clothes. Knox walked into the manager’s office to address the issue – they knew him, he said – and the woman behind the desk stammered. “Mr. Knox, I don’t know how to tell you this,” he recalled hearing, “but you don’t have your unit here anymore.” He had defaulted.’