Buffalo News

'Smith gave a coy "no comment" after practice Monday when asked about the recent history with the Lightning. But he darn well knows. And if he didn't, he was briefed: Cernak wears No. 81, Kucherov wears No. 86 and those are your targets to send messages.' … [Read more...] about It’s time for Sabres to demand some respect from Lightning

'The Panthers are coming to Buffalo from Ottawa and have a game Sunday in Pittsburgh at 5 p.m., so the switch will actually benefit them on the second day of back-to-back games.' … [Read more...] about Sabres move Saturday’s game against Florida to 1 p.m.

'The latest dose of frustration was Sunday's 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins in TD Garden. The Sabres outshot Boston, 26-22, and yielded just two to the defending Eastern Conference champions in the first period -- but once again made just enough mistakes to get burned.' … [Read more...] about Try as they might, Sabres just aren’t getting the job done

'“We are very happy for Chris to have earned this opportunity,” Amerks GM/Sabres assistant GM Randy Sexton said in a statement. "His tireless commitment to our players and staff, and passion for player development, have rightfully generated recognition as one of the very brightest young coaches in our game.”' … [Read more...] about Amerks’ Chris Taylor named North Division coach for AHL All-Star Game

'The loss dropped Buffalo (17-16-7) to 1-5-1 in its last seven games. The Bruins are 3-0 against the Sabres this season and swept the home-and-home series to improve to 24-7-9.' … [Read more...] about The Wraparound: Boston Bruins 3, Buffalo Sabres 2

'The thinking behind potentially splitting up Eichel, Olofsson and Reinhart is to try to get at least two lines creating offense. Secondary scoring has plagued the Sabres during a season in which Eichel has emerged as an early Hart Trophy candidate, and losing Skinner forced Krueger to consider a different approach.' … [Read more...] about Ralph Krueger overhauls Sabres’ lineup with Jeff Skinner out 3-to-4 weeks

'The Sabres (17-15-7) are winless in five of their last six games and have lost each of their first two games against the Bruins (23-7-9) this season. Now, coach Ralph Krueger will await word on Skinner's availability. The absence of a 40-goal scorer could have a significant impact on an offense that has scored only five goals in its past four games.' … [Read more...] about Sabres lose Jeff Skinner to upper-body injury in shutout loss to Boston

'It's hard to believe one game can promote such a sense of hopelessness.' … [Read more...] about At this point, it’s hard to have any faith in the Sabres

'"We’re working on putting together a schedule in the second half of the season to target some games in Rochester, as long as he continues to play well, as long as he continues to work hard and as long as he stays healthy," Sexton said of Luukkonen. "We’re working through that now. We’ll have something that we’ll talk about with our coaches and with UPL in the coming weeks. … [Read more...] about Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen to receive ‘some games’ in Rochester during season’s second half

'The Sabres had momentum until late in the period, and the Bruins scored the game's opening goal at with 22 seconds remaining on a set play off a faceoff win by Bergeron. Pastrnak faked a shot following a faceoff win and passed over to Bergeron, whose one-timer went into the open net for a 1-0 lead.' … [Read more...] about The Wraparound: Bruins 3, Sabres 0

'GM Jason Botterill, under fire for the Ryan O'Reilly trade the previous summer and lack of movement until getting Brandon Montour at the trade deadline, went outside the box in May by hiring Ralph Krueger and giving the 59-year-old another NHL chance six years after he was fired in Edmonton. So far, so good. The Sabres started 8-1-1, slumped in November but came back in … [Read more...] about Bills are back in the playoffs, Sabres are back in the hunt: Buffalo sports in 2019

'Buffalo, of course, carries the league's longest playoff drought at eight years and counting, but the numbers are worse. With three games left, the Sabres are 311-371-103 for the 2010s and their .462 points percentage is 30th out of 31 NHL teams, ahead of only Edmonton's .452.' … [Read more...] about Sabres and Bruins linked through the decade as matchups loom at the end of the 2010s

'"It’s great. First of all, it’s rewarding to our amateur staff because those guys work very hard, they pound a lot of miles, a lot of lonesome nights and to see our players – it’s great for Dylan Cozens," Sabres assistant general manager Randy Sexton said. "That’s exciting, but hey, we’ve got Matej Pekar that’s a fourth-round pick, and we’ve got Erik Portillo, who’s a … [Read more...] about Dylan Cozens among four Sabres prospects at world junior championships

'"It’s a good development story," Krueger said. "We had him up here, there were some things we thought he needed improvement on and to work on. We communicate that to Chris Taylor, he goes to Rochester, spends some time down there and works specifically on the game he needs to play here in the NHL. It was working down there, too, and he becomes a major player for them. He … [Read more...] about Collaboration between Sabres, Amerks produces ‘good development story’

'"This was a big game for us going into the break -- division game," Rodrigues, who had a team-high six shots on goal, said. "It was big, and it’s obviously one that we wanted and we had our chances to take. This one is a tough pill to swallow a little bit, but we have two or three big division games right after the break before New Years. We have to take this break and come … [Read more...] about Latest loss ‘a tough pill to swallow’ for Sabres entering holiday break