‘Buffalo finished its season strong, with plenty of quality wins over top competition. But you see how far the Blue and Gold have to go to reach an elite level when you consider their recent past against the Cup finalists: In the last seven games against Colorado, Buffalo is 0-7 and has been outscored, 32-12. In the last 10 meetings with Tampa Bay, the Sabres are 1-8-1 and have been outscored, 43-25.’
Buffalo News
Rocky Mountain High: Avalanche dethrone Lightning to claim Stanley Cup
‘Sakic must have loved the two-way effort of his club. The Avalanche held their lead for the final 27 1/2 minutes and survived Tampa’s 6-on-5 play for the final two minutes without much concern over the final few seconds.’
Mike Harrington: Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen earned a Cup his fellow 2015 first-rounders don’t have
‘When you think back to the 2015 NHL Draft, it was all going to be so simple. Connor McDavid to Edmonton, Jack Eichel to Buffalo and Stanley Cup dreams for the Oilers and Sabres by, oh, 2018 or 2019. It obviously hasn’t worked that way.
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Sabres’ prospect depth strong in Rochester, elsewhere if top guys graduate to NHL
‘Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka, draft choices in 2020, could make the Sabres’ roster out of training camp in the fall. Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will compete for the starting job.’
Mike Harrington: Ben Bishop move was for accounting and Sabres should floor it to spend real money in goal
‘From this view, it’s Holtby or Campbell in goal. St. Louis’ Ville Husso is going to want dollars and terms the Sabres won’t be interested in. They’ll get to the floor. It’s not an issue. The point continues to be this: The Sabres used to spend all the money and it got them nowhere. They’re not a cap team right now and that’s fine. They need to spend the right money. And they have to do it in goal.’
Isak Rosen readying for ‘big opportunity’ with Sabres after tough year in Sweden
‘Rosen will try to make the Sabres’ roster out of training camp, where he’ll line up with or against proven players Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin, Jeff Skinner, Alex Tuch and Kyle Okposo. An immediate jump to the NHL is unlikely.’
Avalanche get rolling early, crush Lightning to take 2-0 lead in Cup final
‘Game 2 was no contest, a 7-0 Avalanche blowout that rolled downhill and never stopped until Colorado had taken a 2-0 lead in the series and moved within two wins of its first Cup since 2001.’
Mike Harrington: Cup finalists J.T. Compher and Brandon Hagel were Sabres picks who never got to Buffalo
‘A stealth pick by GM Tim Murray in the sixth round in 2016, the Sabres let the 5-foot-9 Hagel go for nothing in 2018 when GM Jason Botterill opted not to sign him. That’s even though Hagel had put up seasons of 71 and 59 points the previous two years at Red Deer of the Western League.’
Mike Harrington: It’s Game 2 and that means the Lightning can count on Vasilevskiy to keep them afloat
‘After dropping Game 1 on Andre Burakovsky’s overtime goal Wednesday night, the Lightning hope to join the 1991 Penguins, 2011 Bruins and 2018 Capitals as the only teams to win the Cup after losing the opening game of three series in their postseason.’
Stanley Cup notebook: Colorado’s Cale Makar looking to find the right lane to drive his shots through
‘”I still felt like we were creating, just whether or not we were getting the pucks through or not,” Makar said after practice Friday in Ball Arena. “But I still felt even when they’re blocking shots our forwards are doing a good job retrieving those. For us, it’s just trying to get past that second layer.”‘