Sabres notebook
Kaleta sidelined, but not by concussion
atrick Kaleta may have gotten clocked, but he can still judge time. He remembers the lessons of his past, and he’s eager to teach one in the future.
The Buffalo Sabres forward, the recipient of an unexpected punch over the weekend, missed his second straight game Monday, a 4-3 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in HSBC Arena.
Kaleta had a relapse of the neck and head injuries that sidelined him for seven games earlier this month, but he said he did not suffer a concussion when Los Angeles’ Denis Gauthier popped him Friday.
“My head is fine,” Kaleta said Monday. “I still remember all my math facts.”
He also will remember Gauthier. The defenseman, with a history of straddling the boundary between fair and foul play, isn’t believed to have received discipline from the NHL. Kaleta wouldn’t mind evening the exchange, though the teams don’t meet again this season.
“It’s up to the NHL,” Kaleta said of fines or suspensions. “I’m not going to forget about it. It’ll be in the back of my mind, so hopefully the game versus L. A. next year comes soon.”
Kaleta was on the ice with the Sabres during the morning skate, and it’s possible he could return after the Christmas break. The Sabres are off until Friday when they visit Washington.
“All I can say is I’m feeling a lot better than I did,” Kaleta said. “I felt pretty good just skating out there today, so hopefully I can get checked on again and be ready to go.”
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Sabres center Jochen Hecht left Monday’s game with 11 minutes left in the second period and did not return. A shot from the blue line was tipped and flew up to strike Hecht in the side of the head.
“Jochen just got a cut below his ear and wasn’t feeling well,” coach Lindy Ruff said. “We’re just hoping it’s short term.”
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Chris Butler’s play in his first two NHL games was easy on the eyes of Ruff. The rookie defenseman said the outings were hard on the ears of his fellow blue-liners.
Butler more than held his own in his first look at big-league competition, and Game Three came Monday against the Penguins. Butler’s play has been lauded, and he’s giving credit to blue-line partner Teppo Numminen and the other veterans on the back end.
“Teppo has been unbelievable so far,” Butler said. “He’s been a great resource of information, as have all the defensemen. I’ve been probably in their ear quite a bit asking them a bunch of questions, but they’ve been great as far as helping me along.”
Butler has two assists and is a plus-5 while averaging about 11 minutes of ice time since being called up from Portland of the American League.
“He’s been consistent,” Ruff said. “He’s kept it simple. He’s got pucks to the net. He’s played a strong game for us. We’re using him in that five, six role, and that’s about the ice time he would probably see.”
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The Sabres’ penalty killers had been rolling. They killed 48 straight one-man disadvantages before Montreal’s Alexei Kovalev scored on a four-on-three Saturday to hand them a 4-3 overtime loss. They are now on an 0-for-2 slump as Pittsburgh’s Alex Goligoski capitalized in the third period on the Penguins’ only power play.
“Right when you get on a roll, you get a little more pride and want to keep it going,” Ruff said. “I think our guys have done a great job. When you can kill off that number for that many games [13], guys are doing a lot of things right.”
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Pittsburgh star center Sidney Crosby has set a record for All-Star votes received, surpassing the 1,020,736 garnered by Jaromir Jagr in 2000. Crosby went past the former Penguins sniper Sunday and as of Monday evening had 1,074,001.
With two weeks left in balloting, the Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin also is likely to pass Jagr’s old mark. Malkin had 966,105 votes, though there has been much talk about automated computers tainting the voting.
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