Minnesota has been struggling mightily to generate chances lately, ending last night’s game with 22 shots (but 13 in the first).  The game before?  11 shots.  They are bottom 5 for the season in shots/game.  One oddity – they lead the league in short-handed goals, with 10.  Something to watch out for.

Gaustad may return tonight, while Stafford most likely will not.  That should keep Mancari in, and I think most of us would like to see if he can continue his strong play.

I am going to take credit for the game last night, as I mentioned yesterday that Myers needed to step up again to get back into the Calder discussions.  Mission accomplished.  Let’s hope he keeps it up for a few more games.

• March 10, 2010 – 22:50 TOI, 1G 3A +4, 4 SOG

Nice.  Right now there’s not another player on the Sabres I enjoy watching more.

 Calder rookie race down to goalies, Myers and Duchene - Greg Wyshynski, Yahoo!

With roughly 16-18 games left for most teams, the Calder Trophy race is fairly solidified and rather surprising … at least in the sense that, for the second straight season, we may not see an offensive player win the rookie prize.

At least if Tyler Myers or Jimmy Howard have anything to say about it. 

I think Myers needs to pick it back up, score some points to get back out in front.

The intriguing story of Tyler Myers - Mike Heika, Dallas News

Buffalo’s 20-year-old rookie defenseman is intriguing for a lot of reasons.

1. He was born in the Houston area and grew up there the first 10 years of his life before moving to Western Canada.

2. He was teammates with Jamie Benn on the Kelowna Rockets.

3. He just might win the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year.

The rest of the article is links to other articles, but some you may not have seen before.

Latest games:

• March 2, 2010 – 25:01 TOI, -1, 3 SOG
• March 3, 2010 – 23:37 TOI, -1, 1 SOG
• March 5, 2010 – 25:21 TOI, -1, 1 SOG
• March 7, 2010 – 28:10 TOI, +1, 0 SOG

That’s two losses (Pittsburgh and Washington) and two wins.  It will be interesting to see if Myers loses ice time due to power play changes.  Sekera is getting a shot on the top unit.

The Sabres, of course, are coming off a 2-1 OT win against the Rangers, while Dallas won 4-3 in a shootout against Washington last game.  This was after 2 games where Marty Turco got pulled after 4 goals on 11 shots, and then ceded the next start to new Star Kari Lehtonen (who promptly gave up 6 in a loss).  By the way, Marc Crawford:

“It’s not going to be every night that your goalie’s going to wear a mask and steal a game for you,” coach Marc Crawford said. “We needed a great goaltending performance tonight, and Marty was absolutely terrific. We love the fact that he fought and fought and fought and fought – and got a payoff.”

I know what he’s trying to say, but really, your goalie wears a mask every night.  At least with the Stars job, Crow isn’t on HNIC anymore.

Paul Gaustad and Drew ‘Angry Eyebrows’ Stafford should still sit tonight.

Dispensing Product

ESPN has shown interest, but I could see this being looked at by teams like the Phoenix Coyotes or Tampa Bay Lightning, especially for road games.  A reduction in the amount of crew needed to be sent on trips would be seen as a cost benefit to the more cash-strapped teams, and would be a foot in the door for the technology.  I do believe ESPN has already called some soccer games remotely during the World Cup, this is the next logical step.  You could theoretically send only a couple of guys to set up the cameras (and not even that if they end up as permanent fixtures in arenas).  It’s definitely a technology to keep an eye on in the future.

I am not quite sure what to make of the Sabres’ scoring woes.  They take plenty of shots, 6th in the league, but they (wince) don’t shoot enough on the power play (22nd at 5 on 4).  Even worse, when the Sabres are up 5 on 3, they are the WORST in the league at shooting.  There are teams that average out to 160 shots per 60min of 5 on 3, and the Sabres?  63.  Atrocious.  (all numbers via Behind the Net)

I almost hate to put this out there, as the ‘yells shoot on the power play’ people will feel obligated to scream even louder.  Seriously though, it is one thing that helps make all the rumors that the Sabres wanted an offensive defenseman at the deadline, maybe to get some more shots from the point.

Vanek will be skating with Connolly tonight, which has, at least, worked well for stretches in the past.  The best playmaker with the best goal scorer should be a no-brainer, but we’ll see.  Buffalo still trails Ottawa by one point for first in the division thanks to some losses by the Sens, but it’s up to them to take advantage.

Check it out, Connolly DID play last night

Ryan Miller had his hero’s welcome, but the rest of his team couldn’t propel him to a win in his first game back.  Hecht scored, Miller had 37 saves, but that about ends the good.  Oh, Ovechkin got nailed once or twice, that was cool.  Beyond that, too many giveaways, odd man rushes, you can’t do that against this team.  39 shots, way too many.  Miller was grumpy after the game:

“It’s frustrating,” said Miller, who didn’t play in Buffalo’s loss at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. “It comes down to attitude. The attitude can’t be, ‘We hope we’re going to win, we hope we’re going to do our jobs so we don’t get yelled at.’ It’s got to be take control, dictate play, and trusting the system.”

You can hear comments from Miller and Ruff here.  I am interested to see what changes might be made for Friday’s game, as Torres will be here, but Goose will still be out.  Will there be callups?  Ennis, maybe?  Have to keep showing these guys that their jobs aren’t safe.  Darcy made his moves, now it’s up to Ruff and the on-ice leadership to make these guys sack up.