Pominville's population rises
Jason Pominville smiled every time. While sitting in the hospital, overjoyed with the birth of his first child, Pominville would hear the same line whenever a nurse came to visit.
"So, the population of Pominville went up, huh?"
The Buffalo Sabres' alternate captain relished the comment each time it was repeated. He and his wife, Kim, had just welcomed Jayden John into the world Monday, so anyone could have said anything over and over and Pominville would have grinned.
"We're all excited," Pominville said Tuesday. "It was probably one of the best days of my life. It's awesome. It's tough to describe what it really is."
The newest numbers in Pominville's life are 6 pounds, 13 ounces, the weight of his son. His other numbers are good, too. The right winger is second on the Sabres with nine points, and he has reached the score sheet in seven of the last nine games heading into tonight's visit by the New York Islanders in HSBC Arena.
The trick now is to keep active on the ice while being busy at home. Both sets of grandparents are coming to town this week. A bigger factor, of course, is an infant who doesn't care what time the game is or when the pregame nap is scheduled. Pominville heard numerous stories Tuesday about the lack of sleep that awaits.
"I'm sure my wife will do a great job," he said with a laugh. "She's been great throughout the way. She's been there through all this, and I'm sure she'll give me a little bit of slack.
"The new dad is kind of away from the rink. Once I'm here, it's my job, and it's what I'm here to do. But at home it's definitely a fun time right now."
Coach Lindy Ruff, who has four children, smiled while picturing the upcoming months for the Pominvilles.
"There always is an adjustment," Ruff said. "It's a great adjustment to get into. I think everybody realizes that the first family member is special. But when it comes to getting sleep and getting your rest, there's adjustments to be made."
For Pominville and all the Sabres, one adjustment tonight would be scoring against the Islanders. They blanked Buffalo, 5-0, Saturday in the Sabres' previous outing. No player was more active than Pominville. He had eight of the Sabres' 38 shots, yet Martin Biron stopped them all.
"The good about all this is that we get them again," Pominville said. "Those are the nights that you don't know what to do to make it happen."
Connecting on the power play would help. The Sabres entered Tuesday's games tied for 21st with the man advantage, scoring 16.7 percent of the time. They were 0 for 5 against the Isles.
Pominville has been one of the Sabres' most effective players on the power play. He has four points with the man advantage, second to Tim Connolly's seven. A switch back to the point got Pominville moving. He started the season down low, but he's back to his more comfortable position along the blue line.
"I started up front, and it was kind of a place where I wasn't really used to," he said. "It's kind of weird to say since I'm a forward, but I wasn't used to playing there on the power play. Since my first year in Rochester, I've been playing defense. Now that I'm back there, I feel comfortable there, and I feel it's definitely an area where I can help our team."
Said Connolly: "He's great back there. He's got a tremendous shot, and that's what you want out of a defenseman on the power play. He's got a shoot-first mentality, which is really what you need when you're playing the point on the power play."
One of the power-play instructors had a rough day Tuesday. Associate coach Brian McCutcheon was struck in the head by a puck and needed stitches to close the wound.
"He suffered a pretty big cut on his head. I think he'll be OK," Ruff said. "He's one tough coach. It hit him hard."
The flu bug that also blasted the team has been exterminated for the time being. Everyone has rejoined the team, including the two players who missed games because of illness, Paul Gaustad and Patrick Kaleta.
Ruff hinted the duo may have been struck by H1N1.
"Everybody presumes now that anytime you've got the flu it is [the swine flu]," Ruff said, "so I think you just presume that."
The only player not expected to be available is defenseman Toni Lydman. He didn't participate in all of Tuesday's drills because of the groin strain that has sidelined him the last four games.
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