Brad Boyes, between picking up back-to-back spares this afternoon at the Sabres’ bowling fundraiser, said he’s as calm as can be heading into Monday’s trade deadline.
“I’m fine. Been there, done it,” said Boyes, who as a pending unrestricted free agent is a prime candidate to be moved. “I’m not nervous or anything. In years past I’ve been that way, but now I’m feeling just whatever happens will happen.
“If I’m still a Sabre I’m going to go and play. If I’m not I’ll play somewhere else. My whole mind-set is I’m going into practice tomorrow as part of the team.”
The Sabres’ players (minus injured Paul Gaustad), staff, broadcasters and alumni are gathered at Transit Lanes to take part in the team’s Bowl-A-Rama, but the decision-makers are said to be hunkering down in First Niagara Center. General Manager Darcy Regier, owner Terry Pegula, team President Ted Black and coach Lindy Ruff stayed away from the alleys to discuss the team’s options as Monday’s 3 p.m. deadline approaches.
“It’s out of our control now,” Sabres captain Jason Pominville said between frames. “It’s tough, but who knows what’s going to happen? The group might still be together, or it might not. It’s part of what we do. It’s part of what other teams do.
“I really do think it’s out of our control. We’ve done our part to do the best we can to gain some ground and get back on track. The team or the people in place will do what they think is best for the team and the organization.”
Gaustad, the Sabres’ other prime trade candidate, is absent after getting dinged up in a fight Saturday night during the opening shift of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Rangers. A source said he hurt his shoulder. It is unlikely to be serious enough to impact his trade value.
Boyes has missed two games with a left wrist injury. If he remains with the Sabres, he is hopeful of playing Wednesday when they visit the Anaheim Ducks.
“A guy kind of turned and shot the puck, and it kind of jammed my wrist,” Boyes told The News. “It was kind of a slap shot on my wrist. It didn’t feel good.”
WAITING AT JFK TERMINAL 5 -- The Sabres will be off today and back on the ice Monday morning before flying to Anaheim. Of course, the trade deadline is at 3 p.m. and it's hard to imagine they'll all be jetting west. Here's some thoughts in the wake of Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Rangers.
The Sabres are 8-3-3 in their last 14 games and got three of four points over the weekend against the top two teams in the East. Still, Saturday's loss stung and that's particularly true for Patrick Kaleta. He got burned by Marion Gaborik on the tying goal and beat by Ryan Callahan on the winner, although that one really started with Andrej Sekera firing wide on a good chance and Kaleta needing to be back to help out.
Kaleta was pretty distraught after the game but coach Lindy Ruff said he's not going to let the Angola native stay down for long. Kaleta and Paul Gaustad have done a great job in recent games, and they were again solid in helping kill off Tyler Ennis' penalty late in the third period that could have cost Buffalo a point.
I love Madison Square Garden. Great history there and now a spectacular first phase of a multi-year renovation. One quibble: The locker room hallway is completely new and the walls that were lined with pictures of Willis Reed, Rod Gilbert, Elton John, Ali-Frazier etc. are now gone and barren. That's a bummer. I LOVED walking down that famous tunnel during morning skates but it's' no more because of new courtside suites. That's not progress. Wish they could have found a way to keep that.
OK, back to hockey, In Bucky Gleason's Inside the NHL, you get the skinny on what every team might be thinking going to the deadline. On the Sabres, he says, "The Sabres need to figure out where they're going, how to get there and who's taking them."
Few other thoughts on Saturday night (that I didn't really get to due to a major laptop meltdown): Ryan Miller had another strong game but everyone in the building knew Carl Hagelin's first-period goal was a softee. Haven't seen basically any of those from Miller the last dozen games or so. ... Callahan has killed the Sabres. A sensational shortie in Buffalo in December, a shootout winner earlier this month and now an OT winner. ... The Rangers seem like they're still in front in the Rick Nash Derby. I still say: Why? They're first in the East and they're going to give up the store for a guy who's never won a single playoff game in his career. I still say Nash has been comfortable making his money out of the limelight in Columbus. We'll see how he goes in New York or Toronto, if he lands in either spot.
If you missed the game Saturday, here's the full NHL.com highlight package:
Meanwhile, the Rochester Amerks had a crazy game Saturday night, posting a 4-3 shootout win over Lake Erie -- in a 15-round shootout! Bless the heart of the Blue Cross Arena fan who posted the second-longest shootout in AHL history to YouTube so you can see it here.
NEW YORK -- It will be Ryan Miller in goal tonight for the Sabres against Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers. The last time they met, of course, it resulted in a 1-0 shootout win for the Rangers on Feb. 1 in Buffalo.
Brad Boyes is not dressed for Buffalo but Lindy Ruff said in a pregame briefing that Boyes will certainly be ready for the team's West Coast trip. That's provided, of course, the Sabres find no takers for him at Monday's deadline.
Brandon Dubinsky is still in the Rangers' lineup. He's widely believed to be going to Columbus as part of a Rick Nash deal. The Rangers seemed to open up more cap room for that today when they dumped Wojtek Wolski on Florida.
The multi-year renovation of MSG is off to a great start. The new Madison Concourse is simply fabulous, with plenty of room, great food options and views of Manhattan through huge windows that didn't exist in the building's first 43 years.
Cheap plug alert: Read more about what's new here in Sunday's notebook. And be sure to catch our live game blog starting just before faceoff.
JFK TERMINAL 5 -- I have just landed in New York and received the official notice from the Sabres that they have canceled their morning skate in advance of tonight's game against the Rangers. Madison Square Garden is unavailable due to a St. John's-Notre Dame basketball game this afternoon and the Sabres had ice time at Chelsea Piers but opted to simply meet in the hotel and head to the rink for the game in the 4:30 range today.
So we'll speak to Lindy Ruff in the 5 o'clock hour about his surging team, which is now five points out of a playoff spot and 11th in the Eastern Conference standing as we head into the final game before Monday's NHL trade deadline. Just last Friday night after a shootout loss to Montreal, the Sabres were 10 points out and last in the East.
Still, Bucky Gleason writes this morning that the schedule and the number of teams to pass leave the Sabres with a daunting task. It's made tougher when teams above the Sabres play each other, which happens tonight when Washington plays at Toronto.
In John Vogl's game story, he recounts how Ryan Miller was again golden in net and Derek Roy earned a huge measure of redemption in the shootout.
My Sabres notebook talks to Andrej Sekera about his first goal in 22 games, the callup of Corey Tropp and several number-worthy items from the win.
The Bruins, meanwhile, are just 8-9-2 in their last 19 games and the Ottawa Senators can pull within one point of them with a regulation win tonight when the teams meet at Scotiabank Place (Boston will still, however, maintain three games in hand). They also play Tuesday in Boston.
In the Boston Globe, the Bruins were happy with Friday's game (minus the outcome). They should be, because they played a terrific third period and got a good showing from struggling backup goaltender Tuukka Rask.
