Olean Times Herald

‘Granato spent just one season leading the Rivermen, the St. Louis Blues’ ECHL affiliate at the time. After they captured the Kelly Cup, the Blues promoted him to the Worcester IceCats, and he earned AHL Coach of the Year honors in 2000-01.’

‘“I would expect the guys around him, all of us, putting in a better effort and focus,” interim Sabres coach Don Granato said on a Zoom call this afternoon. “We’re all in it together. And I believe collectively, we all took responsibility that we didn’t help him the way we should’ve last night. And you can break the game down in a lot of different ways, but any way you do it, you can’t overlook the fact we gave our opposition too much time and space, and too many free pucks. And Michael was the guy, as every goalie, who pays the biggest price.’

‘“The last couple games he’s been a stone wall back there for us,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun playing for him and we kind of laid an egg tonight for him. He deserves better, we owe him, especially being in his hometown, we got to be better for that.”’

‘This year, the 6-foot-5, 228-pound Murray, 22, has morphed into the Amerks’ leading scorer, compiling nine goals and 19 points in 23 games.’

‘“He was dynamic,” interim Sabres coach Don Granato said on a Zoom call following the game. “Getting to pucks, pressuring pucks, hanging on and possessing pucks, and obviously finishing. He’s got a lot of talent and he’s getting more and more comfortable every day and developing chemistry and figuring out our system and how we want to play.”‘

‘“It was great in the end that we didn’t win the shootout by scoring the goal,” Granato said on a Zoom call. “We won the shootout by making a save and that’s fitting with how he started the game. He finished the game helping us.”‘

‘“Just to go through the game day process, go through the warm-up and be part of a win is obviously something I’ll always remember,” an excited Lekkas said on a Zoom call Tuesday morning, hours before signing a one-year, $700,000 contract. “Just being here for however long it ends up being makes you really want to earn more chances and stick around.”’

‘In a dreadful year in which the Sabres could finish dead last again, Houser’s first big league start created a feel-good story that provided some excitement and intrigue to a meaningless late-season game.’

‘Sabres assistant coach Mike Bales, a former NHL goalie, will serve as the emergency backup, according to the team.’

‘But the Sabres inked Houser to a one-year NHL contract on March 19, a day before they traded goalie Jonas Johansson to the Colorado Avalanche. Then they recalled Houser from the Rochester Americans to the taxi squad. NHL teams must carry three goalies this season.’