Sabres notebook
Lalime gets the start in Hawks’ loud house
Ryan Miller has been stellar in goal for the last seven games but the Buffalo Sabres will give Patrick Lalime a chance to play against his former team tonight when the backup goaltender gets the start against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Lalime has not played since the 3-2 loss Dec. 26 at Washington. He’s 2-5-1 in nine games this season (eight starts), with a 3.09 goals-against average and .891 save percentage.
“I looked at the schedule and Chicago is added incentive for him. He used to play there so it’s a good place to drop him in,” coach Lindy Ruff said after practice Tuesday in HSBC Arena. “If you look at the schedule we’ve got some tough travel, with a tough turnover coming back from Dallas [late Thursday night]. We’re going into part of the schedule where we need Patty to play us some games.”
“It’s going to be fun,” Lalime said. “It was all good when I left there. I had a good time and it was time to move on. . . . It’s a loud building there. With 22,000 fans [in the United Center], it’s going to be a playoff ambience.”
Lalime won 16 games for the Blackhawks last season before signing a two-year free agent deal with the Sabres last summer. He’s been better in his last four starts, posting a 2.79 GAA and .904 save percentage but the Sabres lost three because they scored only two goals in each.
“I’ve tried to build on that by looking at tapes and building on the good things I’ve been doing,” Lalime said. “I’ve tried to be efficient, work more, more and more and be in better position.”
Lalime knows he has a tough act to follow in Miller, who has a 1.78 GAA and .951 save percentage this month.
“He’s been very solid, making the key saves at key times and giving us a chance at the end,” Lalime said. “He was spectacular in Detroit [making 45 saves in Saturday’s 3-1 loss]. He’s a treat to watch and I’ve said that since the beginning of the year.”
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Near the end of practice Tuesday, Ruff exploded at his forwards for some lax work during a drill. The coach fired a puck off the glass, unleashed an expletive-laced tirade and even threatened to throw his team off the ice before continuing.
Ruff has worked his lines hard the last two days, including a rare in-season scrimmage on Monday. The Sabres have scored just twice in the last two games and five of their last six goals have been scored by the top line of Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek and Drew Stafford.
“There were parts of practice I was frustrated with,” Ruff said. “Some of the drills we were working on to create offense, I didn’t think we put enough into it. After a while, we put a little bit more into it. The message is that we’ve scored two goals in the last two games. If we had scored a few more, we would have been in better shape.
“We had a real good practice [Monday] but I just felt the boys had the coast mode going today.”
Ruff has dropped Matt Ellis to the fourth line in practice the last couple days with Tim Connolly and Adam Mair. Clark MacArthur has been playing with Jochen Hecht and Jason Pominville.
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The rejuvenated Blackhawks lead the NHL in attendance at 22,603 per game. Just two years ago, they were 29th at under 13,000.
“It was night and day from my first year there to my second year,” Lalime said.
Ruff has fond memories of the old Chicago Stadium and said it will be interesting to see how hockey has been revived in the United Center.
“The old place was special,” Ruff said. “It was one of the most exciting places to go to as a player. I was there in the playoffs early in my career [1980] and that building was deafening. It was a special building.
“To see [the United Center] filled up now and the energy that’s been it, I’m curious to see what’s that’s going to be like.”
The Sabres, by the way, are 11th in the NHL in attendance at 18,532 per game but are playing to 99.4 percent of capacity.
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