Sabres notebook
Top centers told to improve or sit
Jochen Hecht and Derek Roy are on notice. Play better, or sit in the press box and watch someone who will. Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff called out his top two centers following Tuesday’s lackadaisical 4-2 loss to Washington. Roy took a tripping penalty at the Capitals’ goal line just 46 seconds into the game and took two shots. Hecht was on the ice for Washington’s first two goals.
“If Jochen Hecht isn’t our best player, if Derek Roy isn’t our best player, if those veteran guys aren’t our best players, we don’t have any chance of winning,” Ruff said. “They got outmuscled. Jochen got outmuscled, he lost some battles. One battle lost led to the [second] goal. If they’re not our best players, we won’t win. It’s disappointing, it’s frustrating, and I’m not going to hide from it. It’s upsetting.
“We’ll take them out of the lineup. Some of them will come out. That’s not an idle threat, either. If you don’t want to compete, if Matt Ellis wants to compete harder and Adam Mair wants to compete harder, then we’ll play the guys that want to compete harder. Then they can make a decision if they want to compete hard. That’s the only fair thing to do.”
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Nothing against Alex Ovechkin, but Evgeni Malkin is the choice of the Sabres’ dressing room.
Nearly every discussion about the top player in the NHL comes down to Washington’s Ovechkin and the Pittsburgh duo of Malkin and Sidney Crosby. The Sabres have played the Penguins four times this season and faced Washington for the third time Tuesday night. So it seemed like a good time to ask the Sabres whom they prefer: Ovechkin, Malkin or Crosby.
More than half of the dozen players polled anonymously selected Malkin. The scoring leader earned seven votes, while Ovechkin got four and Crosby one.
Malkin, the league’s scoring leader with 59 points, has feasted on the Sabres. He had one goal and 10 assists in the four meetings. Ovechkin has played in two games against the Sabres and had the game-winning goal last Friday.
Two Sabres who selected Malkin said Ovechkin is the most dynamic individual player in the NHL. But they preferred Pittsburgh’s star because as a center he can make others better. Ovechkin is a left winger.
Ruff wasn’t polled, but it appears he would have gone with Ovechkin, the reigning Most Valuable Player.
“He consumes a lot of minutes and can stay at a high level throughout the whole game, which makes it tough on the opposition,” Ruff said. “He’s one of the best players in the game. . . . Top one, probably.”
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Sabres right wing Patrick Kaleta is scheduled to spend the next three weeks in a neck brace. Ruff hasn’t forgotten why.
Kaleta suffered a relapse of a neck injury Dec. 19 when he was unexpectedly punched by Los Angeles’ Denis Gauthier. The neck hasn’t been improving and Kaleta missed his fifth straight game Tuesday.
“It’s a neck injury that needs to be stabilized, and he’ll be in that hard collar,” Ruff said. “He can still work out and probably skate, but his neck has to be immobilized.” As the coach walked away he added: “From a sucker punch.”
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